Signed, Sealed, and Flubbed
[Guest post by DRJ]
Barack Obama has an interesting signature:
“President Barack Obama’s signature on the health insurance reform bill at the White House, March 23, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)”
In addition, Andrew Malcolm at the LA Times’ Top of the Ticket noticed an interesting gaffe from Joe F***ing Biden, his second today. This one was delivered “in the East Room of the White House just before Obama used his left hand to sign the measure with his distinctive scrawl:”
“Biden is fond of quoting poets in public, usually Irish ones and often in the Mideast for some reason. But today the man who was a senator while Obama was in the sixth grade chose another nationality.
Here’s what he said, according to the White House transcript:
As I said just before the president signed the healthcare bill, I quoted Virgil, the classic Greek poet, who once said, ‘The greatest wealth is health.’ The greatest wealth is health. Mr. President, you’ve made us a nobler and wealthier nation by providing for the health of your fellow citizens.
Here’s the problem, as loyal Ticket reader Mike points out:
Virgil wasn’t Greek. He was Roman. Very Roman. So Roman, in fact, that the author (70 BC-19 BC) of the “Aeneid,” among other famous works, is buried in Naples.
As in Napoli, as a graduate of Syracuse (Siracusa in Sicily) might know. But, hey, Biden’s boss thought Canada had a president and they speak Austrian in Austria. And he went to Harvard.”
Andrew Malcolm is on a roll.
— DRJ
Its worse than that — apparently, while this verse is credited to Virgil in hundreds or thousands of places on the internet, scholars of his work say it doesn’t appear in any of his poems.
Lets call it “poetic license”.
shipwreckedcrew (c0d6cd) — 3/23/2010 @ 10:13 pmWell at least he can spell “potato.”
I hope.
Seriously, isn’t it interesting what the MSM finds a sign of “stupidity” and what they find “wise”?
For example:
http://gatewaypundit.firstthings.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/biden-newsweek1.JPG
Nope. The MSM isn’t partisan or biased. Not at all.
Eric Blair (21af67) — 3/23/2010 @ 10:17 pm#2,
Machinist (9780ec) — 3/23/2010 @ 10:29 pmThat made me throw up a little in my mouth.
Or “Sycasuse” as Baracky spells it.
Patricia (e1047e) — 3/23/2010 @ 10:51 pmThe self-important psychopath used several pens to make his spasmodic signature. A sign of the times.
j curtis (5126e4) — 3/23/2010 @ 11:06 pmI think all the modern Presidents do that, don’t they? The pens are retained as mementoes or given as souvenirs of the signing.
DRJ (daa62a) — 3/23/2010 @ 11:20 pmi think *this* Virgil quote is more accurate these days: Una Salus Victus Nullam Sperare Salutem
redc1c4 (fb8750) — 3/23/2010 @ 11:32 pmZERO has many strange first, but they really aren’t. Like he thinks he is the first to invent the useful idiot voter by using the promise of free stuff. Marxism, been done by many before, always meets with the same end, lots of dead people and still no free stuff. There were plenty of USA Communists and Socialists throughout history who used the same joke on the never ending supply of useful idiots.
I just wonder why people keep falling for it over and over again.
bill-tb (541ea9) — 3/24/2010 @ 3:31 amEric Blair : You still believe that old lie? It must be true that a lie can travel around the world before the truth can get to the front door.
As the Irish of South-western Ireland (and their descendents) would say “You have no history.” That means that you do not understand the past or past events.
The whole Dan Quayle/Spelling Bee meme depended upon the fact that very few people know and/or understand the Spelling Bee Rules. Dan Quayle, under the rules, could only accept a “spelling” that matched the spelling version on the index card for that word.
There are two spellings of the word – potato American version) and potatoe (English version.
The person who made out the index card ignored the rule to use the American version and wrote down the English version.
Was this an honest mistake or an attempt (successful) to damage Dan Quayle’s reputation?
No investigation was reported on by the media. So, fortified by the remarks of such “experts” as Leno & Letterman, the meme continues to infect our history.
Longwalker (996c34) — 3/24/2010 @ 5:30 amOr Sycacuse, which was on the bracket Obama was working on,
ian cormac (349188) — 3/24/2010 @ 5:34 amBiden would probably prefer we forget his record at Syracuse. The university, not the city in Sicily.
Mike K (2cf494) — 3/24/2010 @ 6:13 amThe site is reloading much faster.
Mike K (2cf494) — 3/24/2010 @ 6:13 amLongwalker, I do have a bit of history, in your own parlance.
I am well aware that Dan Quayle’s treatment was unfair. It was just more demonstration of the MSM’s differential treatment of individuals. I remember Ted Kennedy defending Quayle against accusations of his being “stupid.” Didn’t matter.
We could always Clarence Thomas his opinion on that subject.
As for the “comedy-based media,” we all know how a nobody like Tina Fey was able to impact a national election…and win awards for doing so. When I doubt that Ms. Fey has run anything other than her mouth in her life.
But it is all about serving Teh Narrative.
Eric Blair (21af67) — 3/24/2010 @ 6:28 amI forgot about that connection, Mike K, and his performance there, had nothing to do with the law he authored (VAWA), being overturned by the Supremes, or another law, FISA serving as a stumbling bloc to us, uncovering the 9/11 plot
ian cormac (349188) — 3/24/2010 @ 6:35 amI think Biden plagiarized part of that speech – oh, maybe all of it.
Dmac (ca1d8c) — 3/24/2010 @ 7:02 amDoes this mean that he does not approve of the bill?
Sabba Hillel (dd522e) — 3/24/2010 @ 7:04 amVirgil Greek? That’s like calling Jefferson a British statesman. No, it’s worse – it’s like a whole different language, dude – which is kind of significant for poetry.
Truman, who never went to college, could have cleaned his clock. I can only weep for our once great nation.
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tango (76733b) — 3/24/2010 @ 10:06 amI am looking forward to see what somebody who does personality profiles from signatures has to say.
MD in Philly (59a3ad) — 3/24/2010 @ 10:22 amLooks like he saw he had many more pens than expected so he had to make his O in about 10 strokes…
kimsch (2ce939) — 3/24/2010 @ 10:32 amAs Slow Joe would say “big effing deal–so I made one effing little mistake”. Of course, if truth were told, Slow Joe would have to say that about 20 times a day.
Mike Myers (3c9845) — 3/24/2010 @ 11:02 amIt looks like BO has spent some time thinking about and stylizing his signature. Just like a Jr High School girl with her first crush, practicing writing “Mrs. John Smith” over and over again. I’m so proud to have such a shallow President.
anne (ee680a) — 3/24/2010 @ 11:35 amDo that not have access to Google at the White House?
Try guys. Just try. Please.
Em (017d3c) — 3/24/2010 @ 12:34 pmanne’s got a point. This looks like an athlete’s autograph. In fact, I wonder if Obama sells autographs a lot. Ebay shows some baseballs he signed in this style.
I don’t mind it. But it’s amusing.
Dustin (b54cdc) — 3/24/2010 @ 12:39 pmEm…maybe Google at the White House has gone the way of Google in China. Oh wait, maybe it has gone the way of Google in China before Google put their foot down to China.
Now where was I?
yourlilsis (424a94) — 3/24/2010 @ 12:39 pmSabba Hillel and SPQR,
I’ve wondered about those restrictions, too. How can this be paid for with public funds but it’s use restricted to official news media and personal use?
DRJ (daa62a) — 3/24/2010 @ 1:25 pmDRJ, it can’t be restricted. The White House photographer is a federal government employee. There is no copyright on the work of federal employees. Therefore, there is no legal way to restrict the use of White House official images. Period.
Now Obama can prohibit the use of his image for commercial purposes where he appears to endorse a product or service. But that’s not copyright based. I can go photoshop a White House image all I like and Obama can lump it if he does not like it.
SPQR (26be8b) — 3/24/2010 @ 1:31 pmWhy do I think a handwriting expert would have a field day with that signature? Is it just me or does that look like a really really arrogant signature?
And have any of you watched the way he signs? I know he’s a lefty but so is my daughter and she doesn’t look like such a dork when she writes…he puts his arm way up over the top of what he’s writing on and curves his hand down to the bottom to write….never seen anything like it. It makes him look as dumb as he is.
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