Thursday, March 25, 2004
Our President, The Comedian
I really thought our president was a hell of a funny guy when he repeatedly told this utterly hilarious joke several times after 9-11:
You know, I was campaigning in Chicago and somebody asked me, is there ever any time where the budget might have to go into deficit? I said only if we were at war or had a national emergency or were in recession. (Laughter.) Little did I realize we'd get the trifecta. (Laughter.) But we're fine.
What a lucky guy! He got his trifecta! Too bad it was Al Gore who actually mentioned the trifecta. In much more tasteful terms, of course...
Needless to say, I wasn't shocked when Bush spewed forth another comic gem last night...
There was Bush looking under furniture in a fruitless, frustrating search. "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere," he said.
What a riot! 570+ soldiers dead for a rationale that didn't hold up, but damn, that guy sure is funny!
I can't wait to see the joker laugh his ass back to the pig farm next January...
UPDATE: David Corn puts Bush's stand-up into a historical context:
Even if Bush does not believe he lied to or misled the public, how can he make fun of the rationale for a war that has killed and maimed thousands? Imagine if Lyndon Johnson had joked about the trumped-up Gulf of Tonkin incident that he deceitfully used as a rationale for U.S. military action in Vietnam: "Who knew that fish had torpedoes?" Or if Ronald Reagan appeared at a correspondents event following the truck-bombing at the Marines barracks in Beirut--which killed over 200 American servicemen--and said, "Guess we forgot to put in a stop light." Or if Clinton had come out after the bombing of Serbia--during which U.S. bombs errantly destroyed the Chinese embassy and killed several people there--and said, "The problem is, those embassies--they all look alike."
Yet there was Bush--apparently having a laugh at his own expense, but actually doing so on the graves of thousands. This was a callous and arrogant display. For Bush, the misinformation--or disinformation--he peddled before the war was no more than material for yucks. As the audience laughed along, he smiled. The false statements (or lies) that had launched a war had become merely another punchline in the nation's capital.
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