Suitably Flip

These Rhetorical Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty

In his second face-reddener in as many days, Barack Obama revealed that only rarely and inadvertently laid bare anti-war supposition - that American soldiers lost in Iraq gave their lives in vain.

Rookie mistake, O.  Your more seasoned colleagues have learned to dance the rhetorical dance of virulently decrying the American military and the hideous bidding they do, without so overtly derogating fallen servicemen and women.

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Update:  In the comment thread at the above-linked Hot Air post, there's some disagreement about whether this was a Freudian gaffe or a deliberate migration by Obama into a more patently anti-military position among his fellow primary contenders.

To flagrantly plagiarize my contribution to the discussion: I think it’s still fair to call this a gaffe, insofar as Obama will inadvertently irk those who contort themselves into the Pelosi-style bundle of nuances in order to nominally support the troops while blasting everything they do. They’ll be quick to look past it of course, but I think this insufficiently nuanced rhetoric from Obama is a combination of his being a relative newbie to the game of illogic as practiced on the national stage and of the kid gloves with which the press has handled him to date.

He’s thus far unsullied by any meaningful rebuke by press or opponent, so he’s likely starting to feel that whenever he opens his mouth, he automatically disgorges little piles of pure and unassailable liberal sputum for his legions to fawn over. Whenever he gets his first real bashing, whether at the hands of the Clintonistas or the media, we might expect him to suddenly find a more measured diplomacy.

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These Rhetorical Pretzels Are Making Me Thirsty

In his second face-reddener in as many days, Barack Obama revealed that only rarely and inadvertently laid bare anti-war supposition - that American soldiers lost in Iraq gave their lives in vain.

Rookie mistake, O.  Your more seasoned colleagues have learned to dance the rhetorical dance of virulently decrying the American military and the hideous bidding they do, without so overtly derogating fallen servicemen and women.

---

Update:  In the comment thread at the above-linked Hot Air post, there's some disagreement about whether this was a Freudian gaffe or a deliberate migration by Obama into a more patently anti-military position among his fellow primary contenders.

To flagrantly plagiarize my contribution to the discussion: I think it’s still fair to call this a gaffe, insofar as Obama will inadvertently irk those who contort themselves into the Pelosi-style bundle of nuances in order to nominally support the troops while blasting everything they do. They’ll be quick to look past it of course, but I think this insufficiently nuanced rhetoric from Obama is a combination of his being a relative newbie to the game of illogic as practiced on the national stage and of the kid gloves with which the press has handled him to date.

He’s thus far unsullied by any meaningful rebuke by press or opponent, so he’s likely starting to feel that whenever he opens his mouth, he automatically disgorges little piles of pure and unassailable liberal sputum for his legions to fawn over. Whenever he gets his first real bashing, whether at the hands of the Clintonistas or the media, we might expect him to suddenly find a more measured diplomacy.