Another shining moment for dear leader:
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – Nelson Mandela is still very much alive despite an embarrassing gaffe by U.S. President George W. Bush, who alluded to the former South African leader’s death in an attempt to explain sectarian violence in Iraq.
“It’s out there. All we can do is reassure people, especially South Africans, that President Mandela is alive,” Achmat Dangor, chief executive officer of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, said as Bush’s comments received worldwide coverage.
In a speech defending his administration’s Iraq policy, Bush said former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s brutality had made it impossible for a unifying leader to emerge and stop the sectarian violence that has engulfed the Middle Eastern nation.
“I heard somebody say, Where’s Mandela?’ Well, Mandela’s dead because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas,” Bush, who has a reputation for verbal faux pas, said in a press conference in Washington on Thursday.
Update:
Here’s the video.
Comments
13 Comments so far. Leave a comment below.What a fookin’ moron.
Was he not alluding to a figurative Mandela?
“Bush, who has a reputation for verbal faux pas, said in a press conference in Washington on Thursday.”
Does he really?
This is turning out to be an IQ test for the left. Though the results will be skewed by those of you who are only pretending ignorance.
How embarrasing for you. The President’s quote was a compliment to Mandela. A leader during tyranny who comes out the other side to lead his nation out of darkness. A moral man. None exist in Iraq. Saddam had them killed. That’s Bush’s point. He did not say Mandela has passed. It’s respectful to wish there was a Mandela in Iraq. Should we just not bring his name up until the 89 year old passes away? The original question that the President was referring to was someone asking: “Where is this region’s (middle east) Mandela?” Is that person to be derided as someone who mistakenly thought that a frail 89 year-old Mandela was making the rounds, dodging jihadists in Iraq? I really can’t believe that someone would have misunderstood the President’s evoking of Mandela’s name in his statement. I can believe this though:
As one of the legions of faceless, nameless, wise-ass, know-it-all bloggers to get yet another shot in at George Bush… you should be embarrased. You should be embarrased that you’re among a generation of kids who are getting their “news” snippets from YouTube, the daily show, and fellow bloggers.
How embarrassing is it to not know how to spell the word embarrass. I guess that’s what you should expect from a Bush apologist.
I would like to know if the rest of Shrubs supporters are embarrassed yet….
I should be embarrassed about getting my news from The Daily Show? The people who watch The Daily Show are generally better informed of the news. There was some poll or other with some interesting figures on this very subject. People who watched The Daily Show/The Colbert Report were the second best informed by a small margin, I want to say they were beat by people who read newspapers.
So unless you’re an avid newspaper reader then you’ve got no reason to go around bashing The Daily Show. Especially if you get your news from a local channel or one the major news networks which seem to be increasingly celebrity focused. It’s like E! news passes for the real stuff now-a-days.
As for what Bush said, it’s likely that it was meant in the way you say. Still, he definitely could’ve phrased it better, or at least one would hope his speech writers could have (at this point I figure either Bush can’t memorize them or he’s hired an incompetent friend to write them). He stated that Mandella was dead. He didn’t say “The Mandellas of Iraq are dead” or “Any would-be-Mandellas are dead”, he said “Well, Mandella is dead”.
I concede that it’s totally possible that Bush meant it to sound exactly as you, Rico Bach, have said. However he failed to convey that and instead managed to convince people he thought that Mandella himself was dead.
translation: watch FOX News or be derided with speling urrurs from the psuedo-intelligentsia.
As much as I dislike his condescending tone, Rico Bach’s comment is correct. Bush was referring to a figurative Mandela and not the actual man. Personally, I’m more embarrassed that the news outlets got this wrong. Didn’t they watch the President’s Q&A or at least read the entire transcript before fetching a quote and writing up a story on a mistaken premise? Here the blame should be laid where it really belongs: with the lame news media we have in the U.S.
I get his clumsy point, but that doesn’t change a thing about his awful rethorics.
But I agree, maybe us Bush bashers should be careful with statements that can be excused so easily.
I’m disappointed you linked to this story. It’s making a lot of people I usually like to read look petty for taking this remark out of context. He was obviously speaking figuratively. The reason this bothers me is that I’m on the LEFT, and instead of pointing out one of the 1000 things that have been awful about our president, you’ve fallen into the trap of fighting this losing battle.
Mandela should totally have a publicity picture taken in a coffin, a la Abe Vigoda.