I don't know, Lorie, after this round of Congressional elections, I'm prone to think Bill Maher is right. Obnoxious, no doubt, but maybe spot-on.

Unfortunately, bo, what Maher is referring to is the fact that anyone could be so stupid as to vote Republican or be a conservative or a Christian, etc.

Maher has trouble saying anything because of his nose getting in the way. #1 idiot.

"One has a stronger hand when there's more people playing your same cards."

"I like to tell people when the final history is written on Iraq, it will look like just a comma because there is -- my point is, there's a strong will for democracy."

Now that's clueless.

Intentionally taking quotes out of context to contort their meaning and then believing your own distortion? Yes, clueless, indeed.

Agreed, Falze...maybe my assessment of the statement was "fake but accurate" eh?

Oh, so sorry wingnuts, I meant:

"You know, one of the hardest parts of my job is to connect Iraq to the war on terror."

"We shouldn't fear a world that is more interacted."

-And the money shot:

"As you can possibly see, I have an injury myself -- not here at the hospital, but in combat with a Cedar."

-said while in a roomful of combat wounded.

That's clueless. Or just plain fucking dumb. Take your pick.

Sen. Stevens' quote is a riot! As far as I can tell I think he meant to say "I forgot to check my e-mail...damnit!" LOL

I hesitate to pile on Bush but myPetGloat you forgot that, when George Stephanopoulos asked about James Baker's plan to develop a strategy for Iraq that is "between 'stay the course' and 'cut and run.'" Bush responded, 'We've never been stay the course'

Steve,

You might want to provide the FULL text of the interview, otherwise it comes across as the cherry-picked soundbite that it is. (I know this "stay the course" topic has been covered ad nauseum here at the site, so I'm not going to rehash the entire argument, save to say you have your interpretation of what it means and I have mine and leave it at that.) But as far as "gotcha moments" go, this is a big yawner.

MPG: Clearly, the President is being self-effacing about his "injury"; a joke you've completely misconstued. Seriously, do you really think he'd be that insensitive...come on now...

Granted the President is grammatically challenged and has said some really embarassing and stupid things, and I'll give you those. But these two...forget it...they miss the mark.

How about that time Bush stood in front of a bunch of students and told them to study hard or if they proved to be too stupid they'd get shipped off to Iraq - man, what a clueless ass that Bush is, right?

Oh, wait. Maybe I got a detail wrong there.

Funny how this game can be played, ain't it?

-

Bo - exactly.

Peter F. I'll grant you Bush's quote has been covered ad nauseum and its not really obnoxious, just clumsy as befits much of what Bush says but for Condi Rice who has a reputation for elegance, her remarks during the early stages of the Israeli bombing attacks in Lebanon seem to qualify her for the list "What we're seeing here, in a sense, is the growing -- the birth pangs of a new Middle East And whatever we do, we have to be certain that we are pushing forward to the new Middle East, not going back to the old one.

Steve,

Not to excuse anyone's dumb/thoughtless/insensitive/grammatically challenged/illogical/inappropriate metaphors/"WTF did you just say?" statements because politics is after all a public relations business where you should be aware of what you say, but I think if ANY of us Average Joes and Janes had a mike stuck in our face 24/7 we'd be caught saying some pretty stupid crap from time to time, too. It doesn't implicity imply that we're stupid or incompetent or incapable of leading, however.

On the humorous side, any reporter worth his or her salt would have or should raised their hand and said "Uh, excuse me, Ms. Secretary, but you just scrambled our brains on that one. Would you care to revise your birthing metaphor again...it made a lot of us feel, well, all oogy and a little creeped out, really."

Seriously, do you really think he'd be that insensitive...come on now...

"That's not what I asked you. How's your boy?"

Noooooo, of course Bush would never be insensitive...

Brian,

If you're referring to the Senator or Rep. (and I believe you are) who reacted like a petulant asshole to the President, ignoring the President's original question and genuine concern for his son AND instead chose to politisize the moment. THEN when the President rightfully and thoughtfully chose to ignore the Senator's attempts at politicizing what was clearly intended to be a personal moment of concern, and asked the question again, that he was somehow being insensitive.

You've GOT to be kidding. If not...

Based on what I know as of now, I think Mr. Hersh has got it wrong. To me, nothing the American soldiers has done is as extreme as what they did in Vietnam. I mean, come on now, millions of Vietnamese lost their lives in that war! Why does Mr. Hersh forget the napalming and the slaughter of Vietnamese by American soldiers at My Lai?

I think Brian, Herman, MPG et al are just pissed that they weren't picked for making the most obnoxious statement.

If you're referring to the Senator or Rep. (and I believe you are) who reacted like a petulant asshole to the President... AND instead chose to politisize the moment.

"Well, Mr. President, I'd sure like to get him out of Iraq."

Yep, that sounds like a petulant asshole politicizing the moment, I guess. Maybe if you have Fox News blared loud enough.

genuine concern for his son... what was clearly intended to be a personal moment of concern,

What makes it so clear? My guess is some aide whispered in Bush's ear, "That's Jim Webb, sir. Ask him about his son". Of course, that's just my guess. Without actual knowledge, anyone who'd declare anything to be "genuine" or "clear" has GOT to be kidding. If not...

The trouble with having to come up with a list of obnoxious quotes is that, if the compiler was completely objective, 90% of them would be by Andrew Sullivan.

Brian,

Your "guess" is a logical turdburger. Nice try to wriggle out of that one, but it fails miserably.

That was sarcasm, you linguistic genius. I GUESS that explains why you think Webb's respectful but non-lapdog reply was "petulant".

"Saracsm is the protest of people who are weak." John Knowles, A Separate Peace

Trust me, your low-brow use of sarcasm is easy to pick up on. Unfortunately, it is neither funny or even supports your point. In short, it's droll, empty and trite, which is reminiscent of much of what you have to say on most subjects.

LOL! The standard predictable and dishonest retort from the right: "I knew that, and it doesn't matter anyway, <insert-name-calling-here>!"

Nope, you're not getting off that easy with a cheap and flip comment, Brian.

1.) "Dishonest...retort?" How? Because you're sarcasm is weak and pointless? And that's dishonest? No, that's about as an honest as it gets.
1a..) The final clause is not name-calling. It was, to borrow your phrase, "sarcasm, you linguistic genius." Now THAT"S name-calling.
Finally...
2.) You disproved nothing of what I said about Webb's petulantace in politisizing Bush's original question, YOU NEVER had a real answer for it. Why? Hard to dismiss or excuse Webb's cold-hearted, classless and graceless response possibly? And because there is SOME merit to your thought that Bush was likely told by a handler about Webb's son, let's ask a better question: What the hell difference does that make? Is that any way for an ADULT, let alone a public figure, to respond to a civilized and personal question, let alone the President of the United States? Would you have approved of it had the parties been reversed? There is NO excuse for it. You want insenstive and thoughtless? Look at Webb before you look at Bush.
3.) You lefties always accusing us neocons of defending Bush on any and everything. But here is a situation where Webb was clearly classless and out line, yet you're defending him. I would NEVER defend Bush or any GOPer if they acted like that toward a sitting President. Never.
4.) Finally, if Webb really wanted to get under the President's skin and probably render him speechless, he could have repsonded as such: "Thank you for asking, Mr. President. He's doing fine and I miss him terribly. I'd sure like to get him out of Iraq." If you can come up with a better, more classy response, I'd like to hear it.

I ain't holding my breath.

You disproved nothing of what I said about Webb's petulantace

You can't "prove" petulance... (did I already call you a linguistic genius?). It's a subjective interpretation of a statement. Which everyone except you seems to apply to Bush's retort, not Webb's statement.

Hard to dismiss or excuse Webb's cold-hearted, classless and graceless response possibly?

Boy, you are really a piece of work. No, it's not hard to dismiss it at all, because to reasonable people none of your adjectives apply. He respectfully addressed Bush as "Mr. President", so that part is clearly not described by your mouth-frothing. Then "I'd sure like to get him out of Iraq". Hmm, cold-hearted? Nope, Webb's the one whose child is at risk. Classless? Nope, just a simple statement. Graceless? Nope, he was respectful and straight-forward.

The brou-ha-ha that you seem to miss was Bush's cold-hearted, classless, and graceless response. You say Webb could've fallen all over himself with "golly gee, Mr. President, sir, it sure is mighty good of you to ask, gee willikers!" Well, Bush might also have responded, "I know, Jim, we all want them home. So let's work together in the name of bipartisanship and win this thing!" If Bush said that, this never would have been news. It was news because of Bush's testy response, not Webb's unremarkable statement.

you're not getting off that easy with a cheap and flip comment, Brian.

Oh, rest assured, I already did. Watching you weaseling on the rest of this stuff is just like watching a bug wiggle its legs after you've already squashed it.

Brian,

Gee, emotions are subjective? Well gosh gee willikers, thanks for pointing that point out that out to this Stanford grad. I dun might never figured dat one out!

(Your argument of how Webb was respectful is laughable. What you're saying is that if he had said "Shove it up your, Mr. President" that that is being respectful. It completely ignores the rest of Webb's response! LOL. And "everyone except you"? Who is "everyone"? WTF is that about? "Everyone" who was raised in a mannerless household? Just weak.)

You clearly believe think it's OK to ignore any sense of decorum or display any social graces when greeted or asked a quesiton by the President of the United States or ANY authority figure. If that's how you REALLY feel, if you think that it's REALLY "reasonable" to respond with a cantankerous, undignified and politcally motivated response to a personal question, then fine--we are at an impasse.

And that's where this ends.