Re: [Gnu-arch-users] [OT] the poetry of donald rumsfeld

[Pierce T . Wetter III]

> > You know my whole complaint even before this whole thing got started 
> > was
> > that President Bush, or his advisors, made a tactical mistake in 
> > making
> > this about WMD.  Do they exist or not?  I don't know, and for the most
> > part I don't care.  They were a bad excuse to begin with and I 
> > expected it
> > to come back and bite the President where he sits, in the long run, 
> > before
> > it ever began. If they had just made it an issue of going in after
> > terrorists and those supporting them, I think that would have been
> > sufficient and reasonable.  But operating from the WMD position was 
> > weak
> > and really makes it look like he was finishing Daddy's fight for him.
>
> When Kerry (most likely) wins in november --

  I don't think that will happen. The stuff I've read of Kerry's puts 
him
too far out there.

>  I think that will
> represent just about 0 change in foreign policy and military policy.

 That's true enough, the president is always a centrist.

> The "WMD thing" is a joke.  An insult to the American people and the
> world.


  That's actually unfair to the administration, Tom. You have to get 
your
info somewhere other then CNN. I'm not one of those people who think 
that
media is biased to the left or right. I just think they are biased 
towards
making money. Every time anyone in the administration talked about Iraq 
before the war they listed _several_ reasons for getting involved in 
Iraq. The media picked 1/2 of the sexiest one, and "punched it up".

 However, Rumsfeld, Powell, Rice and others had lengthy pieces in 
Foreign Affairs* prior to all this talking about the problems.

 So if you feel insulted Tom, write to CNN.

 In fact, if you really want to get pissed off at the US media, go to 
the state department website and sign up to get the transcript of the 
daily briefing emailed to you. You'll find certain things:

  1. The media ask the STUPIDEST questions. Considering its the state 
department, you'd think the reporters there would have at least a 
minimal smattering of history, political science, knowledge of other 
cultures. Sadly, I think they spent their college years stoned...

  2. The media regularly try to get the person giving the briefing to 
rephrase things so that they are more "exciting", which generally means 
dumbing it down and losing all nuance.

  3. Anytime its a slow news day, the US media regularly try to get the 
spokesman to say something bad about some other country just to have 
something to report.

> So far, I have the impression that Bush and Kerry are spokesmen for
> the same meta-organization.   There's very little essential
> difference.  Vote for kerry because that helps to kill the religious
> lunatics and the laise faire lunatics.

 Kerry just brings his own set of lunatics...

  Pierce

*

 Foreign Affairs (www.foreignaffairs.org) is THE magazine for the US 
Foreign Policy Establishment. Every major decision the US had made 
since WWII has been previewed and discussed in that magazine first. I 
can't recommend it highly enough.

Also:

Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld will apprear on CNN Larry King 
Live at 9
p.m. EST.