# President fiddles while soldiers burn **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [August 7, 2005, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-fiddles-while-soldiers-burn/315978 "2005-08-07T10:05:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-fiddles-while-soldiers-burn/315978/41 "2005-08-07T18:21:42Z")
> [@Fear Itself](#): > > [Just like they did for Reagan](http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/reagan/2611681): You know, I have never been a fan of Reagan, but that story is very sad. Poor guy. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-fiddles-while-soldiers-burn/315978/42 "2005-08-07T19:06:39Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > I’m just wondering why, exactly, his vacations are now so important to you? Because in more than a year’s time, I’ve changed my mind. In fact, you were instrumental in facilitating that. You stopped at post #89, but there were more than 300 posts in that thread. You were uniquely level-headed and reasonable at a time when I was on very strong medication. You’ll recall that I even made a retraction of some of my comments in that thread based on your good arguments. Also, as I’ve pointed out elsewhere, I’ve changed my mind about _Farenheit 9/11_ itself. My wife and I saw it on Showtime HD, and aside from a nit here and there, it was overall quite a good documentary. Anyone who has been here more than a year and hasn’t changed his mind on anything at all is missing an awful lot of good points. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-fiddles-while-soldiers-burn/315978/43 "2005-08-07T19:13:42Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Because in more than a year’s time, I’ve changed my mind. In fact, you were instrumental in facilitating that. You stopped at post #89, but there were more than 300 posts in that thread. You were uniquely level-headed and reasonable at a time when I was on very strong medication. You’ll recall that I even made a retraction of some of my comments in that thread based on your good arguments. Also, as I’ve pointed out elsewhere, I’ve changed my mind about _Farenheit 9/11_ itself. My wife and I saw it on Showtime HD, and aside from a nit here and there, it was overall quite a good documentary. Anyone who has been here more than a year and hasn’t changed his mind on anything at all is missing an awful lot of good points. Fair enough. We’re all allowed to change our minds. I guess i was just wondering whether any particular event had tirggered the change, or whether it was a slow build-up of circumstances. Also, i hadn’t hadn’t seen you opinions on F9/11 since you saw the film. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-fiddles-while-soldiers-burn/315978/44 "2005-08-07T19:25:19Z")
> [@bienville](#): > > I realize that it is **Liberal** ’s intention to pit the President in this Thread, but I would rather discuss the entertainment aspects of the President’s vacation and perhaps critique the proficiency of his fiddle playing. > Could we please have this Thread moved to **Cafe Society**??? I never ever do this, but ROFL. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-fiddles-while-soldiers-burn/315978/45 "2005-08-07T19:29:04Z")
> [@TVeblen](#): > > Ka_chiiiing_! Turnabout. Sauce for the goose and all that. > > You made your point, **Binarydrone**. Don’t whine to us about this being ‘trolling’, **Liberal**. Having a thread wrenched astray by somebody working an agenda is really, _really_ annoying, isn’t it? Now why don’t you just ponder on that for a while. Veb, I did ponder it, which is why I apologized and promised to take any future such complaints to the Pit. Regarding your betrayal of confidence in your position as moderator, I do not wish to discuss that with you in this forum. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-fiddles-while-soldiers-burn/315978/46 "2005-08-07T19:34:06Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > Fair enough. We’re all allowed to change our minds. > > I guess i was just wondering whether any particular event had tirggered the change, or whether it was a slow build-up of circumstances. > > Also, i hadn’t hadn’t seen you opinions on F9/11 since you saw the film. If you search on Farenheit with my username, it’ll turn up. Regarding the vacation thing, it is the convergence and accumulation of everything over time. The war has become a wart the size of pumpkin. It is time the man dealt with it. ---
**Author:** ![Harborwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-fiddles-while-soldiers-burn/315978/47 "2005-08-07T19:39:01Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > According to an [LP press release](http://www.lp.org/media/article_169.shtml), President Bush has begun a five week — _five week_ — vacation at his Crawford Ranch in Texas. I’m reminded of one of the Will Ferrel President skits (one of the few things he is actually funny in). "I’ll be your president 24/7. Twenty-four days a month. Seven months a year. > [@](#): > > Why the hell doesn’t he fly in his fucking fighter jet to Iraq and relieve a pilot so _he_ can have a vacation? Well, the crotch bulge he was sportin in that photo op would put the fear into the insurgents. > [@](#): > > I swear, this fucker is on the fast track to becoming the second worst president, after Jackson, that we’ve ever had — a war-mongering, draft-dodging, pansy-ass hypocrite and liar who has made us the enemy of the whole world, spent our treasury like Paris Hilton in Milan, turned “freedom” into a meaningless buzzword, and turned back social progess a half a century. You remember Jackson? Liberal, you fail to understand that being the president is _haaaard_. Sometimes he totally has to work and stuff. I mean, jeez. Those press conferences are really really hard cause he has to like speak and stuff. Besides, for all we know he may pretend that the brush he clears are insurgents. Do you think he makes machine gun noises or falling bomb noises when he does it? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-fiddles-while-soldiers-burn/315978/48 "2005-08-07T19:49:52Z")
> [@Harborwolf](#): > > Besides, for all we know he may pretend that the brush he clears are insurgents. Do you think he makes machine gun noises or falling bomb noises when he does it? In between the occasional hand waving and “Look at _me_, Daddy!”, probably so. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-fiddles-while-soldiers-burn/315978/49 "2005-08-07T19:55:28Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > It’s not quite fair to compare Bush’s vacation and everybody else’s, but if the WH doesn’t want the press to do so, they shouldn’t refer to it as a “vacation”. It just breeds resentment in the vast majority of Americans who will never take a five-week vacation in their entire lives. Very well put. ---
**Author:** ![Muffin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muffin/32/4341_2.png) [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-fiddles-while-soldiers-burn/315978/50 "2005-08-07T20:10:49Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Veb, I did ponder it, which is why I apologized and promised to take any future such complaints to the Pit. Regarding your betrayal of confidence in your position as moderator, I do not wish to discuss that with you in this forum. This thread has been liberated by the liberal. ---
**Author:** ![vibrotronica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/a9a28c/32.png) [@vibrotronica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vibrotronica)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-fiddles-while-soldiers-burn/315978/51 "2005-08-07T20:27:27Z")
> [@grienspace](#): > > Since when is spending 5 weeks at home a vacation? > > Do you honestly believe that the president won’t even be working during this time? > > Sheesh He wasn’t working very hard when he recieved the memo titled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in United States” was he? ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-fiddles-while-soldiers-burn/315978/52 "2005-08-07T21:59:36Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Veb, I did ponder it, which is why I apologized and promised to take any future such complaints to the Pit. Regarding your betrayal of confidence in your position as moderator, I do not wish to discuss that with you in this forum. **Liberal** , I just want to take a moment to say that if my post, even for one second, caused your enjoyment of the SDMB to diminish to the point that you felt that you had to report me as a troll to the moderators (as seems to be the case), well I guess that I should say that I am sorry. I mean, that would be the right thing to do, right? To see that you were being annoying, and then stop? Right? Rest assured that you have shown me the light, and I will now look to you as a good example and go forth and hijack no more. Because hijacking is wrong, I can see that now ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-fiddles-while-soldiers-burn/315978/53 "2005-08-07T22:11:45Z")
The only blindness I see here, Liberal, is your insanity. Please, seek some kind of help. You’re really losing whatever tenuous grip you used to have on reality. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-fiddles-while-soldiers-burn/315978/54 "2005-08-07T23:23:32Z")
> [@Binarydrone](#): > > **Liberal** , I just want to take a moment to say that if my post, even for one second, caused your enjoyment of the SDMB to diminish to the point that you felt that you had to report me as a troll to the moderators (as seems to be the case), well I guess that I should say that I am sorry. I mean, that would be the right thing to do, right? To see that you were being annoying, and then stop? Right? Rest assured that you have shown me the light, and I will now look to you as a good example and go forth and hijack no more. Because hijacking is wrong, I can see that now You did precisely what Skipmagic [said not to do](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=6446468&postcount=47). I followed the proper procedure for reporting you, completely unware that the report was not confidential. It seems to me that if reports of trolling are to be made public, then there is no point to the prohibition against public troll accusations. Kinda defeats the purpose. I cannot recall such a report ever being made public before for the purpose of humiliating the reporter, or for any other purpose. But I’m inquiring about that through other channels. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-fiddles-while-soldiers-burn/315978/55 "2005-08-07T23:24:49Z")
> [@Monty](#): > > The only blindness I see here, Liberal, is your insanity. Please, seek some kind of help. You’re really losing whatever tenuous grip you used to have on reality. What do you think Bush should be doing with his time? Should he just forget about the war, as he has done with Bin Laden, and leave it to fizzle out eventually on its on? ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-fiddles-while-soldiers-burn/315978/56 "2005-08-07T23:38:33Z")
Meh. Looks like some exception to the rules were made. Boy that sure sucks. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2005, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-fiddles-while-soldiers-burn/315978/57 "2005-08-07T23:44:01Z")
Okay. Well, now that you’ve gotten your nut, anything to say about Bush getting ten times the vacation time that soldiers get? ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2005, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-fiddles-while-soldiers-burn/315978/58 "2005-08-08T00:04:17Z")
I guess that Bush is just a little more equal than they are. ---
**Author:** ![Metacom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecae2f/32.png) [@Metacom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Metacom)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2005, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-fiddles-while-soldiers-burn/315978/59 "2005-08-08T00:54:00Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > Okay. Well, now that you’ve gotten your nut, anything to say about Bush getting ten times the vacation time that soldiers get? Thanks to his hard work and natural talents, Bush is much more wealthy then those soldiers. It’s only natural that Bush should reap greater rewards then they. I know it can be hard for liberals to see through their goggles of wealth envy, but some people have earned more then others, and trying to take that from them is tyranny. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2005, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-fiddles-while-soldiers-burn/315978/60 "2005-08-08T00:58:39Z")
> [@Metacom](#): > > Thanks to his hard work and natural talents, Bush is much more wealthy then those soldiers. It’s only natural that Bush should reap greater rewards then they. > > I know it can be hard for liberals to see through their goggles of wealth envy, but some people have earned more then others, and trying to take that from them is tyranny. You mean, Grand Daddies hard work? 😉 Now how in hect in the same day do I go from slamming Lib to siding with him. These boards are great. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-fiddles-while-soldiers-burn/315978.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/president-fiddles-while-soldiers-burn/315978.md?page=4)