Someone Buy Dana Milbank a Sense of Humor
The Washington Post’s Dana Milbank mocks President Bush in this piece, in which Milbank gives new meaning to the term “clueless”:
Earlier this month, President Bush was almost done with a speech to a group of minority journalists when he dropped a rather startling proposal.
“We actually misnamed the war on terror,” he said. “It ought to be the Struggle Against Ideological Extremists Who Do Not Believe in Free Societies Who Happen to Use Terror as a Weapon to Try to Shake the Conscience of the Free World.”
Or, if you prefer to abbreviate, SAIEWDNBIFSWHTUTAAWTTTSTCOTFW.
Ladies and gentlemen, the Bushism has returned. The malapropisms that adorned Bush’s 2000 campaign before going into remission during much of his presidency have reemerged to garnish his reelection bid.
In other words, Milbank actually takes Bush’s little joke seriously, and uses it as an alleged example of a Bush verbal miscue.
Nice going, Milbank. Nothing like proving yourself to be a humorless boob to a nationwide audience of newspaper readers.
I would bet that the only people who still read Milbank and don’t hate Bush only read him to make fun of him. The ones who hate Bush probably nodded knowingly and were happy that their view of Bush was reinforced.
I know I can’t read past the first paragraph of any Milbank piece. It’s like reading a mystery when you already know who did it.
The only surprise in a Milbank piece is whether it was Bush being machiavellian, Bush being an idiot or Bush being a puppet of Cheney/Haliburton.
Comment by Veeshir — 8/17/2004 @ 5:26 am
Wait you mean that wasn’t serious?
Heh, that’s gotta be embarrassing for Dana. I love it.
Comment by Dash — 8/17/2004 @ 7:31 am
this is really funny. it’s double funny, because part of a politician’s job is to be amusing; then add the jerk who made satire of satire unwittingly.
but seriously, I had a moment like this once, as a journalist. and I can promise you, no matter what Dana says, it’s gonna hurt for a long, long time.
Comment by tee bee — 8/17/2004 @ 11:52 am
Where’d you hear that the Bush quote was actually a joke? To say, “he was joking” could be used to explain away a lot of the stupid things he’s said–inaccurately, but no matter. Not that this is necessarily the case here, but I was curious how you know the context to be what you presume it is.
Comment by Tom — 8/18/2004 @ 11:05 am
I don’t know, but I am confident that it is, from the context. Aren’t you?
Also, Eugene Volokh says that, according to the NEXIS transcript, there was laughter afterwards. I know, I know: you think they were laughing at him. Whatever.
Look, you and Dana Milbank can think he was being serious if you like. The rest of us can tell pretty easily it was a joke.
Comment by Patterico — 8/18/2004 @ 11:57 am
“If you don’t stand for anything, you don’t stand for anything!”
-11/2/00
“Why don’t you mentor a child how to read?”
-St. Lous, 1/5/04
“We had a chance to visit with Teresa Nelson who’s a parent, and a mom or a dad.”
Jacksonville, 1/9/03
“There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.”
-Nashville, 9/17/02
“Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teach our children.”
-Source unknown, 9/18/95
“You teach a child to read, and he or her will be able to pass a literacy test.”
-Newsweek, 3/5/01
“I was raised in the West. The west of Texas. It’s pretty close to California. In more ways than Washington, D.C., is close to California.”
-LAT, 4/8/00
“Will the highways on the Internet become more few?”
-Unknown Source, Jan. 2000
“Rarely is the question asked, Is our children learning?”
-1/11/00
Comment by Tom — 8/18/2004 @ 12:57 pm
[...] Judge Alito’s sense of humor has been described as "quiet and sly." It’s not as flashy as that of Justice Antonin Scalia, nor as snarky as that of the young John Roberts, but it’s definitely there (notwithstanding Dana Milbank’s somewhat juvenile attempt to portray Judge Alito as a humorless nerd). [...]
Pingback by Confirm Them » Alito: Beards and Lawn Flamingos are Okay, But Statues of Felines Aren’t — 11/14/2005 @ 9:06 pm