KFC has constructed an 87,500 square foot KFC logo not too far from the famous Area 51 facility in Nevada. Next on the agenda: filling the Barringer meteor crater with mashed potatoes and gravy.
Archive for November, 2006
I’ve finally managed to curb the spam that has been hitting my comments pages. Unfortunately, that means I had to lock comments so that the only way to post a comment is to register. If you haven’t registered, you can click the link at the bottom of the sidebar, or just click here.
Ok, so the Empi — er, I mean Republicans — no longer have a strangle-hold on the entire US Government. Basically, that means Darth Va — that is, George W. Bush, excuse me — has no choice but to make peace with the now-Democratic Congress. I’m sure the one person whose most upset by this is Emperor Palp — I mean Karl Rove; man, what is wrong with me today?
But now that the blue party is in control of both the House and the Senate, they will definitely become targeted by media kings like Jabba the Hu–(cough cough)Rush Limbaugh–Ok, I need some water to help clear my throat. ‘Scuse me….
Ok, I feel better now. So Bush is still president, but the House and Senate are no longer GOP-run. I was surprised by some of the remarks made by both Bush and Rumsfeld on the “morning after” the election. Bush’s comments that he had to lead some voters by the hand and teach them how to vote:
It’s as if he’s saying, “We didn’t lose seats in the house and senate; the American people are too stupid to vote for the right candidate!” The condescending tone in Bush’s voice — which admittedly is lost in a transcript — is one of the things that rubs me the wrong way. It’s like how he baby-talks the American people when answering questions from the press. Then there’s the way he did a complete 180-degree attitude flip after the elections — no more cocky swaggery Texan — now that he realizes he may not get his way, it’s “let’s sit down and talk and work together”.
Yesterday, an NPR news story on Morning Edition juxtaposed two post-election comments — one from George W. Bush and one from Bill Clinton, both of whom had just woken up to a party-switch in Congress — in order to compare how they both reacted to the changes in government:
Clinton:
“With the Democrats in control of both the whitehouse in congress, we were held accountable yesterday, and I accept my share of responsibility in the result of the elections.”
compared to Bush:
“When I first came to Washington nearly six years ago, I was hopeful I could help change the tone here in the capital. As governor of Texas, I had worked with both Democrats and Republicans to help find common sense solutions to the problems facing our state. While we made some progress in changing the tone, I’m disappointed we haven’t made more. I’m confident we haven’t made more.”
Maybe I’m being picky, but I’m seeing a different attitude towards losing control of Congress from each president. Clinton is a bit more humbled and seems to smell the coffee, while Bush doesn’t seem as sincere. But maybe that’s because in 24 hours, he went from sounding like a cocky Texan to a. . . well, a more normal person.
Compare his comments about the Democrat’s plans for Iraq while he was on the campaign trail:
Monday Night, at a Texas rally:
“They don’t have a plan, but they got a principal, and the principal is ‘get out before the job is done.’”
To his remarks at a press conference on the Thursday after the election:
“I don’t know how many members of Congress said ‘get out right now,’ I mean, they uh, the candidates running for Congress in the Senate, I don’t have that chart, uh, I — I, some of the comments I read where they said ‘well, look — we just need a different approach to make sure we succeed.’ Well, we can find common ground, there. See, fi the goal is success, then we can work together.”
What really makes me distrust the president is how he changes his tone so drastically, and no one seems to care. Though he was asked about his attitude adjustment during the press conference, he responded, “What’s changed today is the election is over; and the Democrats won.” While that’s a refreshingly honest and up-front answer, it really amplifies how Bush’s overconfidence and cockiness is not always grounded in reality. You can see more evidence of this in Bush’s comments in the first press conference on the Thursday after the 2004 Presidential elections. It’s a totally different president then compared to now. And while change can be a good thing, you won’t hear the Bush Administration saying that — at least not until now. Before the recent election, it was “stay the course,” and then, “we’re not saying ‘stay the course’ anymore, but, y’know. . . stay the course anyway”. Hell, you couldn’t listen to a Bush-Kerry debate during the ’04 election without Bush, Cheney or any other Republican calling Kerry a “flip-flopper” because his opinions had changed over the years. My bride-to-be summed up the Bush administration’s “stay the course” policy with her favorite Ralph Waldo Emerson quote (Cited from Emerson’s essay, Self Reliance (1841)): “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”
Gradual change of heart or mind is inevitable when you’re a reasonable person. But a 180-degree cocky-to-humble overnight “flip-flop” is disconcerting and comes off as anything but genuine.
But maybe it’s just me.