clueless

[BonosSaint]

http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles?id=n20060101182109990006&cid=771

Sigh.

 

[deep]

Bush showed reporters an injury to his forehead, a scrape from "combat with a Cedar" while brush-clearing at his ranch. "I eventually won. The Cedar gave me a little scratch," he said.

"Sorry about your legs."

 

[joyfulgirl]

 

[Liesje]

I'm no fan of the war or Bush, but what's wrong with him visiting wounded troops and awarding purple hearts?

 

[trevster2k]

^nothing wrong with the visit but did you read his quote about the scratch. He is an idiot, "combat with a cedar", he doesn't have the right to utter the word "combat" especially at that place where young men suffered injuries thanks to his "war on terror" or whatever the hell his reason is.

Who cares about his scratch?

 

[nbcrusader]

Did he offend any military personnel? Any evidence of that? Did the military personnel find humor in his statement? Or was it simply offensive to those opposing the war?

Strikes me as another straw man argument to bash Bush...

 

[Liesje]

^nothing wrong with the visit but did you read his quote about the scratch. He is an idiot, "combat with a cedar", he doesn't have the right to utter the word "combat" especially at that place where young men suffered injuries thanks to his "war on terror" or whatever the hell his reason is.

Who cares about his scratch?

Yeah, I read it. So he made a little joke. I think I'd be quite honored if the President, or even my Senator, came to visit me in the hospital. Sometimes, in situations where everything sucks so bad, you need a little humor...like laughing in place of crying. I'm sure I made even worse jokes with my friend Amanda while she lay there dying of cancer at age 20. We should've been saying goodbye, but no one wants to talk about loosing limbs or blood transfusions or the grim chance of recovery....you just make stupid jokes and say dumb things b/c it's too sad to say anything else. I don't find anything malicious in what Bush did. A little distasteful after the fact, maybe. Honestly, like I said, I've never been a fan of Bush or a supporter of this war, but I don't think it's right to attack someone's character or intent based on one little remark.

 

[nbcrusader]

but I don't think it's right to attack someone's character or intent based on one little remark.

Reality check = we're talking about Bush in FYM.....

 

[Liesje]

Did he offend any military personnel? Any evidence of that? Did the military personnel find humor in his statement? Or was it simply offensive to those opposing the war?

Strikes me as another straw man argument to bash Bush...

The article doesn't even specify when Bush made the comment. For all we know, he could've said that before the visit but the reporter thought it would be a nice spin to throw it in there at the end.

 

[Liesje]

Reality check = we're talking about Bush in FYM.....

heh...yeah. Well, I'm not defending him....but like I said, my friend and I said some dumb things and made some dumb jokes with Amanda while she was dying and if people are using this article as another reason to hate Bush, God help me after what you guys would think of me if some clever journalist wrote about me spending time with Amanda and then threw in a stupid little comment like that at the end.

 

[indra]

Honestly, like I said, I've never been a fan of Bush or a supporter of this war, but I don't think it's right to attack someone's character or intent based on one little remark.

The problem is it's not just one little remark, the man has a long (many years) history of stupid remarks. Most people learn from their errors. This one doesn't even know he's made any. That's the problem.

 

[VertigoGal]

Distasteful at worst, I guess. I don't think he meant any harm

And his history of quotes makes me doubt his intelligence moreso than his character, honestly.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

I'm not going to bash him for one remark, but it does seem to be a fairly consistent pattern of insensitive remarks and poor word choice. I think he is awkward and nervous in certain situations and perhaps that also leads him to make clueless, insensitive remarks. He should think more before he speaks, we all should.

 

[BonosSaint]

I think why this troubles me so much is that this is the President of the United States, the Commander in Chief who, in his own words, sent these soldiers into harm's way.

This is not a casual visitor or a friend. This is the Commander in Chief who made the decision for which the soldiers are now suffering the consequences. I would expect better after a visit to those soldiers who gave so much than to quip to get a laugh from the reporters. Perhaps some real sense that he appreciates the sacrifice these soldiers have made in other than a scripted speech. No pass here.

 

[nbcrusader]

If Bush's comments made the soldiers laugh, then what's the point? We were not his audience.

 

[Liesje]

I think why this troubles me so much is that this is the President of the United States, the Commander in Chief who, in his own words, sent these soldiers into harm's way.

This is not a casual visitor or a friend. This is the Commander in Chief who made the decision for which the soldiers are now suffering the consequences. I would expect better after a visit to those soldiers who gave so much than to quip to get a laugh from the reporters. Perhaps some real sense that he appreciates the sacrifice these soldiers have made in other than a scripted speech. No pass here.

But how do we know they were even offended? Since when do we give a flying turd what the reporters think? And soldiers make a conscious choice to enlist in the US military. I'd feel a lot differently about Bush's hospital visits in general if these were drafted men and women.