The right-wingers are all zippy today over this Lt. General Honore telling the press they are "stuck on stupid" for asking questions about Hurricane Katrina at a press conference about preparations for Hurricane Rita.
Basically, "stuck on stupid" seems to mean that asking questions about humongous disasters in the past and why the response to them was totally screwed up is completely irrelevant. If you're not looking forward and forgetting the past, you're "stuck on stupid."
It's fitting that the right wing would love this one, because the M.O. of the whole right-wing is "don't look at our history of bad policy, lies and corruption" — look toward tomorrow when things will undoubtedly be better, wink, wink. To think that maybe the past is predictive of the future is to be "stuck on stupid."
I can just see George Bush using this with reporters...
Reporter: "Mr. President, as you yourself have admitted, Hurricane Katrina exposed the desperate poverty of millions of Americans and our nation's blind eye to their plight. Is it appropriate to cut taxes for chubby pinkish rich people at a time when so many are suffering, especially when the rich have benefited so much from your policies already?"
Bush: "Well, you're stuck on stupid. Like I've said, we're going to help those poor people going forward now that we know they're there."
Reporter: "Are you saying you didn't know the poor people were there and that's why the government has done so little to help them?"
Bush: "Again, you're stuck on stupid. I'm talking about helping those poor people, not dwelling on how they got poor or our ignorance of them in the past. We need to look forward here."
Reporter: "But why should the American people believe that you'll have any interest in poor people when you haven't done anything for them in the past?"
Bush: "Stuck on stupid. I said we're looking forward, not talking about the past. I don't know how to make that any more clear. Next question."
Reporter #2: "Mr. President, almost 2,000 American soldiers have now died in Iraq with no forseeable end to the conflict. When you look back on your decision to invade and your plans for post-invasion activities, do you think you would do anything differently?"
Bush: "Y'all are so stuck on stupid I'm not even going to continue."
(Bush wanders away shaking his head.)
More where this came from at Blunderford.
Ed/Pub:NB
Article comments
1 - Cerulean
Yeah, I'm not as enamored of this guy as some are. During times of chaos, there's an anachronistic tendency to want a tall, confident, white male authority figure to swoop down and make all our problems go away. They are just men, people. Stay conscious.
2 - dave
i think that you don't understand... the press has a right to ask retarted and irrelavant questions, but the person being asked doesn't necessarilly have to answer.
as far as honore is concerned, his job is to get things done, not ponder about the past. he obviously has a lot on his plate and doesn't want to deal with the typical media badgering, but instead would like the media to help him inform the citizens instead of look for a consiracy theory...
for the most part, journalists are pinheads and ask questions that are totally irrelevant. they don't accomplish anything, and they don't help the effort. if they want to do anything, be an outlet for actual information, not for badgering and speculation of conspiracies.
as far as failed policies by the right wing, what failed policies? like tax-cuts? yeah, those just killed the economy. how about we look at liberalism and socialisms failed programs, such as the war on poverty. when are we going to pull out of that? or all of the great society/new deal programs? social security is a joke.
come up with a good socialist program that has actually worked, and come up with a failed conservative program? i'm sure you're going to have a hard time.
3 - voltairean
as a lefty and former resident of new orleans i was never more glad than when honore arrived. he is a do-er and brought the chaos under control. i have no idea what his role was, if any, in the terrible planning and delays getting help to new orleans, but when he got there he was a breath of fresh air.
as far as failed bush policies, dave, um everything the man has touched has failed. he has grossly failed in all his major initiatives. hurricane katrina showed that billions have been wasted in homeland security which is no better than four years ago and likely worse. iraq, by the best estimation, is on the verge of civil war and a training ground for terrorists according to the CIA. Afghanistan is similarly in danger of collapse with the Taliban getting stronger and warlords controlling large parts of the country and opium production surpassing pre-war levels. The medicare prescription drug plan is universally despised by the elderly and your fellow conservatives - who view it as exactly a big gov't socialism program you portend to despise.
Those are his major initiatives and all are miserable and undeniable failures. Add the disasterous response to katrina, as well as some responsibility for 9/11 and you don't get a pretty picture. And this is to say nothing of the corruption, cronyism and shear amoral behavior of the administration.
As far as the economy goes, please. He has created less jobs than any president in recent memory. The stock market is well on the way towards another terrible year. Gas prices are sky high. Poeverty has increased every year of his presidency. Yes, he has proved that trickle down economic theory is a joke - I will give you that. I work in the financial industry and I can tell you that the smart money is treading extremely carefully at the moment. Many fear a severe correction.
At any rate his economic policies have done little to help most Americans but have done a lot to cripple future generations with lots of debt.
This administration is innept at everything but spin and propaganda. What, for the life of me, could you possibly find redeeming? Can you name 5 policies you like? I would be amazed if you could.
And since you clearly have not studied your history, those FDR liberal programs you detest pulled this country out of the Great Depression. In a recent WSJ article, conservative scholars ranked FDR as the 5th greatest president of all time.
Finally, why would you suggest looking at failed liberal policies right now when the right controls every branch of government? Are you scared what an analyses might show? I wish scary was a proper definition for this administration. Unfortunately its much worse than that.
4 - Dave Nalle
Wow, I'm glad I don't live in Voltairian's fantasy universe. The real one is so much more pleasant.
Dave
5 - voltairean
LOL. are you the same dave? that is the best you got? you can't even come up with five? five comes after 4 and before 6 FYI. and what part of my post is fantasy? your attitude is typical of the remaining support for Bush. Diehards all, often of the religious right, where reliance on faith far outweighs overwhelming evidence contrary to set beliefs. that group is so blinded that jesus himself could not show them the light. is this you? if so, best of luck. if not, give me some facts that support your characterization that bush has been successful in anything.
6 - WTF
It's so easy to typecast from your the fast ass stuck in your computer chair.
Homeland security saved us from the airports... and that about as far as the money went. Oh yeah, some police stations got gas masks.. whoopee do dah.
Reality... the war on terrorism wasn't directed on the ultimate terrorist of all "Mother Nature" She's mean, she's unforgiving, she'll kick anyones ass and is no respector of race, religion, or ethnic origin. She's fears nothing and can actually change the face of the earth overnight. How, may I ask oh puny ones... can we attempt to fight with that?
Aesop fable quote "Oh what a great dust we rise -- said the fly upon the chariot wheel"
We can't, we should have some mobilization capability. We have proven that only the military can adequately respond to a disasters of magnitude. But the Red Chinese Army can do that too! That's easy, from a military perspective... plus it's damn good PR. But to even pretend that the forces of nature, in all the fury and impact that nature can muster, can be mastered by flesh and blood, is absolutely assinine! Give nature it's due. It's too powerful. When the analysist start quoting things like... this storm has more power than 300,000 hydrogen bombs... get the hell out of the way... it's a killer, an earth mover, a tidal wave producer.... and will leave a scar the size of England (80,000 square miles). Don't be misled into thinking anything less. To do so IS stupid.
7 - 1Potato
Exactly, Voltarian. Bush is not nearly conservative enough. We need another Reagan.
1. Drilling in Alaska is probably a
good policy right now. I believe he supports this.
2. Shunning Arafat consistantly showed resolve determination, possibly leading to the rise of other powers in Palestinian territories.
3. The Bush doctrine. No new attacks on USA since 9-11. Libya abandons nuclear effort.
4. Patriot Act. Controversial, but many arrests and no new attacks on USA.
5. Tax cuts. Economy rolling along after horrendous disaster of 9-11 and 100 billion dollar hurricanes which squarely hit our refinery industry in Gulf Coast. Low unemployment, low inflation.
I don't give him an A plus, but he has shown strength with foreign policy. Sometimes you have to actually use the military, heaven forbid. Lincoln and Washington DID NOT have 65% approval ratings when they were in office. I think Bush has a lot of vision in his desire to spread democracy in the middle east. For whatever reason, you can't or don't want to see that. To you, he either wants to kill babies, get oil, or prove how macho he is. You can believe that if you want, who can stop you? Whatever turns you on.
8 - 1Potato
That's your five, Volarian.
9 - Cerulean
I don't have a problem with Honore's work as a commander, just with people getting too enamored of buzzwords and not questioning things.
10 - The Duke
Honore is an extremely busy man right now. He doesn't have time for stupid questions, from stupid reporters hustling for a scoop. The questions clearly illustrates the breakdown of our education system, and the idiots who are produced by the diploma mills. And yes I understand there are a pile of reports on this blog. Believe me, I'm not impressed.
11 - gonzo marx
interesting take on it
if the man is so busy, and has no desire to answer Questions, then perhaps the political handlers shoudl refrain from scheduling him to do these press conferences...and instead have some spokesperson perform the duties..you know..like a press secretary, or assistant or some such
but if yoru purpose is to cash in on the chachet of an individual taking on a herculean task..well then some guy in a suit just won't do
definately a dilemma for the Administration PR machine
Excelsior!
12 - The Duke
Agreed. Generals are interesting folks, some are political PR animals, others roll up the sleeves and get down to business. Honore strikes me as a no BS, better get hoppin' ball buster. He's deeply entrenched in the Army way, and he's working the machine. I don't think he cares for the press.
I wonder if Patton was a role model?
Naw, Patton was a social butterfly with a course vocabulary. The movie, was a lie, Patton grew up in elite social circles, his family and his wife's were both very well off. Quite the polo player, I understand.
Why should Honore have a PR advisor? Yes the reality is that to be correct nowadays you have to pander. But in my opinion Honore ought to leave the insignificant crap (long drawn out press conferences) to whomever he reports to. Or, have the press try to keep up.
Why not have the briefs at oh-dark-thirty whereever Honore happens to be at the time. That will thin the press corp out a bit. Or garner a bit more respect from Honore himself, if they can hack it.
13 - gonzo marx
you miss the point..the press conferences are called by the WH, and are there for THEIR PR purposes...the goal is to try and have some of the generals innate competence rub off on the WH after their abysmal performance in the early going
as such, it behooves them to get the "best" media face in the camera, but if the general is not it himself, it tends to defeat the purpose
Excelsior!
14 - John Bil
Why is it those making all the claims of why Bush is bad, never have any better solutions. They only have "oh he is stupid".
15 - voltairean
1potato, I appreciate the effort. don't agree with any but you proved me wrong. Though Alaska drilling is pretty weak since best case scenarios would not make a dent in the oil market. Nevertheless its still five. I won't quarrel with your five since they are your opinion but you do state a few factual errors.
1.Libya abandoned its nuclear aspirations long before Bush doctrine.
2. You may be right about the arrests per the Patriot Act but it has resulted in few convictions.
3. Many of your economic assertions are incorrect as is your assertion that we are hummming along now. While I wish you were right here, I can tell you that a lot of smart money is bearish with a looming recession a distinct possibility. We shall see.
So, is there anything you don't like about Bush?
16 - Cossack
"During times of chaos, there's an anachronistic tendency to want a tall, confident, white male authority figure to swoop down..."
uh, Gen. Honore is black.
/
voltairean, shhhh. shhhh. c'mere, closer. don't tell anyone, but the great depression is over. don't let that get out...
/
17 - Dan
"uh, Gen. Honore is black."
I think Cerulean was talking about Bush.
18 - 1Potato
The things I don't like about Bush are starting to pile up, now that you ask.
Immigration, very weak. I didn't like the way he marginalized that volunteer group at the border. I think Reagan would have called them Patriots.
Cronyism and nepotism in appointments is irritating. Then again, everyone President does it. I think Sandy Berger and Madaline Albright were awful, even though they had the credentials. But overall I don't think clinton put his "homies" in such important positions as Bush. Clinton would give his friens the traditional ambassadorship posts. Some of the FEMA and homeland security chiefs and such have been lame.
I also wish he would get more specific about alternative energy. Why don't we have alternative energy vehicles on the horizon? Like Kennedy and the Apollo program, he she set a deadline for that.
Where is the American ingenuity?
I also think he should personally fight back more against his political opponents. He let's everyone else do his attacking. That has a certain nobility to it, but it seems a little squirelly. For example, the President should thank Cindy Sheehan's son for fighing in the war, reinlisting and sacrificing his life. He give condolences to the mother but ask the country to honor him by honoring his serice and who he chose to be, and not to try and negate that. After all, whose life was it, his or hers? How would the left counter that? It would be hard since they support "choice", I think.
I just hope we get Bin Laden and Zarkawi and take the steam out of that whole insanity. I think we can agree on that, at least. Forget "winning" and "losing" the war, let's just some bad guys. I think we all (most) agree that those two are forces of evil and that killing them would be, a la Martha Stewart, a good thing. The American economy mostly takes care of itself, in my opinion.
19 - voltairean
Perhaps dialog between us is pointless 1potato because one of us has to be out of his mind and i am pretty sure it aint me. and im sure you think the same.
but come on. you wish bush would fight back more? what, it does not count when rove and his surrogates do it for him? he has the power to stop rove but he doesnt which makes him one of the most vicious attack politicians ever. certainly of my life time there is no equal. he has no boundaries. people have gone to jail for nothing b/c of them. lots of people have been fired from jobs as retribution for the truth. he has wrongfully slimed every candidate he has ever run against. but it is not just candidates but anyone who speaks out against him. the list is endless but includes gore, o'neill, clarke, sheehan, kerrey, cleeland, wilson, and countless whistle blowers. and lets be honest, it is not just rove and the surrogates, bush does a damn fine job by himself. this is just one of the most incredulous statements i have read on this board. if you were just yanking my chain than kudos to you b/c i bit. WOW.
finally it really does not matter what you think about the economy but rather how you invest. maybe i let my politics figure in on my economic outcome, but i have never been more defensive than i am now. invest carefully.
20 - Tyrone
Hey Cerulean, Honore is black, not white. You're stuck on stupid.
21 - cowgirl
"I don't have a problem with Honore's work as a commander, just with people getting too enamored of buzzwords and not questioning things."
The weird thing is, this isn't a new phrase, as many right wingnuts are claiming. See here and here. And, in searching this "new catchphrase", I notice someone echoing my exact sentiments heyah. Kanye West said that Bush doesn't care about black people. I think it's more like Bush, and his supporters, don't really know many. If they did, they would have heard this "new catchphrase" back when I did...like a gabillion years ago.