Global
Bush's mojo is strong. There's no doubt about that. But it's true strength hasn't been quite apparent until he was able to turn one of his more obtuse moments into a strategic victory.
Everyone points to the moment where he countered with "of course I know that Osama bin Laden attacked us," as an indication of his intellect taking a beating, but that was more of his typical bowlegged gunslinging rhetoric than a recovery from a brain fart.
However, when Kerry used the word global in its secondary sense, which is something that is comprehensive or total, Bush was totally befuddled. Kerry clearly meant that pre-emptive action needs to meet certain all-encompassing standards. First, you've got to be able to prove to your countrymen that diplomacy has failed and the only recourse is to combat. Secondly, you've got to be able to demonstrate the legitimacy of your pre-emption to the world community.
Hitler couldn't do that in the Sudetenland. Hussein couldn't do that in Kuwait. The US could in Iraq, but that's beside the point.
Bush's rejoinder to Kerry's well-reasoned answer to the question of pre-emption was, "I don't know what he means by a global test?" And so, the dull incomprehension of our current President set into motion one of the most effective spin cycles of the election. So complete was the instant Nuspeak revisionism that the great arbiter of the language, Bill Safire himself, fell for it and embraces Kerry's "global" doctrine as gospel truth.
ADDENDUM by jodru
Condoleeza Rice
MA (Political Science), University of Notre Dame, 1975
PhD, Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver, 1981
Professor of Political Science, Stanford University, 1981
National Security Advisor, 2000 - present
October 3, 2004
"I heard Senator Kerry say that there was some kind of 'global test' that you ought to be able to pass to support preemption, and I don't understand what that means." -- Condoleeza Rice.
Do you have to take stupid pills to work in this administration?
Everyone points to the moment where he countered with "of course I know that Osama bin Laden attacked us," as an indication of his intellect taking a beating, but that was more of his typical bowlegged gunslinging rhetoric than a recovery from a brain fart.
However, when Kerry used the word global in its secondary sense, which is something that is comprehensive or total, Bush was totally befuddled. Kerry clearly meant that pre-emptive action needs to meet certain all-encompassing standards. First, you've got to be able to prove to your countrymen that diplomacy has failed and the only recourse is to combat. Secondly, you've got to be able to demonstrate the legitimacy of your pre-emption to the world community.
Hitler couldn't do that in the Sudetenland. Hussein couldn't do that in Kuwait. The US could in Iraq, but that's beside the point.
Bush's rejoinder to Kerry's well-reasoned answer to the question of pre-emption was, "I don't know what he means by a global test?" And so, the dull incomprehension of our current President set into motion one of the most effective spin cycles of the election. So complete was the instant Nuspeak revisionism that the great arbiter of the language, Bill Safire himself, fell for it and embraces Kerry's "global" doctrine as gospel truth.
ADDENDUM by jodru
Condoleeza Rice
MA (Political Science), University of Notre Dame, 1975
PhD, Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver, 1981
Professor of Political Science, Stanford University, 1981
National Security Advisor, 2000 - present
October 3, 2004
"I heard Senator Kerry say that there was some kind of 'global test' that you ought to be able to pass to support preemption, and I don't understand what that means." -- Condoleeza Rice.
Do you have to take stupid pills to work in this administration?
posted by jodru at 1:07 PM
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