Worse Than I Thought
Imagine the Shrubbery justifying not inspecting Chinese food products and using Upton Sinclair’s novel, The Jungle, to explain why it wasn’t necessary.
How about explaining how Tom Joad from John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, would approve of all of the tax cuts and no increase in the minimum wage?
Pretty mind boggling concepts, right?
Well, how about using Graham Greene’s novel, The Quiet American, to justify staying in Iraq?
Yes, people, the White House speech writers have included in the text of the VFW speech an extended quote from a novel that portrays how the US stumbled mindlessly into the Vietnam quagmire.
Via Laura Rozen I found the gory details written by Frank James at The Swamp.
If you were an American and part of the “game,” you had to read Graham Greene, but you never admitted that you had, and you never discussed it. If you worked with the British players, things would come up that referenced Greene’s work, so you had to be aware of them, but you never admitted that you were. Greene was not exactly a fan of American players, for too many all too real reasons.
I don’t think people at the White House read books. The only other explanation is that the speech writers are out to make the Shrubbery look like an even bigger idiot than he already is.
6 comments
…when I first started seeing the Pyle/Greene references yesterday, I thought they were some sort of lame parody. I think you’re right; included amongst the 25% of Americans who didn’t read a book last year are those people who tried to get Gee Dub’s speech all gussied up with a bunch of faux intellectualism based on a profound misinterpretation of one of those books they didn’t read…
It’s like someone quoting Ayn Rand as a supporter of single-payer health care. It’s jarring and you have to wonder who, if anyone, is in charge at the White House?
In an era in which an editor at the LA Times feels free to insert examples in a journalism professor’s opinion piece,,, incorrect examples, as it turns out… what do you expect?
Anything can be used to support or defend anything else; neither factual accuracy nor logical consistency is required. Only in such an era could the Bushists flourish. They may reasonably believe that they can, indeed, fool all of the people all of the time, and in that belief, they may not be far from wrong.
The Onion was right about Bush & Co.: our long national nightmare of peace and prosperity is finally over. I’m tired of this stuff. Could we please have a do-over?
I am almost convinced that The Onion is writing the speeches.
I’m going with your other explanation that “the speech writers are out to make the Shrubbery look like an even bigger idiot than he already is. At this point, realizing that substance is irrelevant, that’s all they have left with which to amuse themselves.
Perhaps this was Karl’s parting shot, a knife in the ribs of the new chief of staff. Of course, no one is going to tell the Shrubbery, so it doesn’t matter much.