I have never defended Bush’s war record overmuch - and I won’t here. But I must note that this was regarded as a joke by listeners - the news stories all say this was a joke. He was talking to a politician in West Virginia who recently had twin boys - and he was wisecracking about that.
Read a certain way (in the joking tone likely present at the time) and claims of being a war hero likely weren’t implied at all - just claims that Barbara and Jenna turned the house into a war zone. This admittedly does not come through in print, and it is understandable that people might read a claim into it that I don’t think was implied at all.
What? Your explanation doesn’t make any sense at all. If by “war”, he meant the “war zone” that his girls created, why would he say he’d choose war over raising twins? That’s a ridiculous spin you’ve got going on there.
This is the only time he ever “claimed” to be any kind of war veteran, from what I can see, and he was clearly making a joke at the time. I typically let politicians off the hook for their jokes, even when they go wrong. That isn’t “spin” - just something I do.
You can believe what you want about that statement. Obviously it has had a tremendous impact - since Bush’s political career has since ended, right?
Yeah, he was making a joke, but he was still implying that he’d been to war. He wasn’t saying war = raising twins. His joke wouldn’t make sense if that’s what he meant. And yeah, liars are never successful, right?
Jesus Christ. I can’t believe this shit. What the hell was he thinking?!
He could have said that he “served during Vietnam.” He could have said that he was a “Vietnam-era veteran.” But what was he thinking saying that he actually “served in Vietnam”?
My wife actually woke me up as she was leaving for work this morning to tell me this, adding that no veteran would ever vote for him now.
The worst part is that I actually think the guy would do a great job in the Senate. Up till now, his reputation in Connecticut has been rock-solid. He’s been Attorney General for nearly 20 years, and hasn’t been seriously opposed in years. He could have won election for any office he wanted, including Governor.
He’s an extremely talented, hard-working, intelligent guy. He’s not your typical glad-handing politician; instead he’s more of a nose-to-the-grindstone, no-nonsense, workaholic. (Personal note: I actually bump into him about once a month and exchange pleasantries.)
Now he has to go and do something like this. It’s reminiscent of Eliot Spitzer, another extremely talented former Attorney General (and later Governor) who threw his career away for something even more ridiculous.
I’m very disappointed, and I think that it’s a damned shame. If this torpedoes his candidacy, it will be a loss for Connecticut and the U.S. Senate.
ANYTHING pretty much goes in a joke, if you are actually attempting to make a joke. Stretching the truth, bad logic, and bald (bold?) face lies are part and parcel of jokeworld.
:rolleyes: So, you’re agreeing with Mr. Moto that by “war”, Bush was just saying his girls made the house messy? And you’re calling me stupid? Jesus Christ your own fucking self.
Didn’t you learn anything from right-wing radio? If they accept it at face value, it’s a rallying cry. If they point out that it’s bullshit, it was obviously just a joke. Get with the program!
Sadly, though, they’re right about at least one person on this forum, as RTFirefly acknowledges.
I think it’s unfortunate that they are going to use this crap to paint all liberals or all Dems with the same rbush, because that’s obvious garbage; at the same time, I think it’s unfortunate that RTFirefly feels as they predicted Dems would feel.
Worship of the military must be a close second behind some brand of Christianity when it comes to popular US religions. So he probably did feel as such.
But it’s a problem more inherent to the two-party system than we as Americans would probably like to admit. I think everybody’s going to have their line over which a politician can go before you decide to vote for Someone Else. The fewer real choices you have, the farther away that line is going to be.
Looking at it another way–I can see why some people are going to say to themselves, “Blumenthal lying about something that happened 45 years ago is not going to affect my day-to-day life, but the vote of a US senator might do just that.” Not that I agree or reject that argument, but it’s there.
It’s not like he’s the only Democratic candidate, though. There’s Merrick Alpert, who should be doing a lot better in the polls than he is. Wanting to hold onto the seat doesn’t mean embracing any democrat out there, no matter how scummy.
I’ve pretended to be or have done or suffered a gazillion things to set myself up for a “good” joke/line/comeback/snark/whatever. I seriously doubt I am the only one.
Bush was trying to make a comedy comparision between war and raising twin girls. I am sure just about any parent could “get it”, even if they didnt find it particularly funny.
And its not like he was telling this to a vet who had his legs blown in real action during a serious press conference so he could mislead folks about his frontline service. He was telling this to a fellow PARENT.
If you want to bitch about his flyboy days not being real service or that whole AWOL thing, have at it. His poor decisions as president, got plenty to bitch about there.
But your fucking retard fixation on an OFFHAND JOKE as some kind of solemn oath by Bush that he had in fact served on the frontlines and had seen combat just highlights you for the rabid, fucking, mega retard, Bush hater that you obviously are.
And congrats on dragging up irrelevant ancient Bush history. Maybe we can get one of your retard cohorts from the Republican side to drag Clinton into this as well and totally derail a perfectly decent pitting of someone that deserves it.
Another facet to this story, that I think warrants equal parts entertainment, is that one of his opponents, one Linda McMahon, as in Mrs. Vince McMahon of World Wide Wrestling/Entertainment fame, has proudly taken credit for supplying some damning video to the Times for the job.
As Pat Buchanan put it, ‘you don’t leave your fingerprints in Washington.’ I think Linda was taking pointers from the hubby and decided a nice folding chair across the back right in front of the referee was the way to go here.
The McMahons are both unabashed conservatives, and they’ve used WWE programming to advance their political ideals in a frankly disgusting manner at times.
