I'm a construction contractor and worker from NE Oregon and a child of the sixties so I can, on occasion, be pretty profane and blunt. I don't do it on my blog or blogs I write on, my mother reads them and has assured me (after I used the F bomb once) that I have a better vocabulary than that and that good wordsmithing is more persuasive than shock value and besides, she doesn't like it. I'm 54, live 2500 miles from mommy, and take pretty good care of things without parental influence, but I took that to heart - I am speaking to the public about things of import and they deserve the respect of being treated to intelligent discourse. Evidently our President thinks "shock and awe" includes stupid rudeness to somehow inculcate his image with manliness.
I don't clear brush for kicks, I put buildings together by hand for a living in all kinds of weather, I'm not very big but I'm real sturdy and I spend good amounts of time walking on 5 1/2 inches of wood above very ugly landings - point being that I have plenty of nerve and I'm tough enough to put up with stuff that would put the CiC in the hospital and I don't talk macho when trying to make points. I know exactly what kicking ass is, I've done it and had mine done (not for 20 years now - sobriety is a wonderful thing) and he is all mouth. "We" aren't kicking anything in Iraq, 160,000 troops, primarily from economic ranks invisible to this Texas asskicker, are doing the kicking. Those troops do their job extremely well, and there's the problem. The job of troops is the taking and holding of ground and the destruction of the enemy's capability to wage war. These folks do just exactly that, every opportunity they get. And that is just exactly not what it is that BushCo expects them to do. He expects to use this sledge hammer to create enough order in Iraq for Iraqis to figure out how to get along.
Perhaps if those troops were sent out to round up the "elected" officials, put them in a room, put guns to their heads and promise them that they had 24 hours to put together something, ah...another fairytale.
I'm sick of this faux yokel, plain clear speaking is not machismo dripping slogans, it is the plain unvarnished truth. It will carry itself, without focus group analysis, spin doctoring, or macho nonsense. It will carry itself because lies and liars out themselves as time passes, all you have to do is pay attention.
Pay attention.
I enjoy Ron Beasly's commentary, but I am compelled to say I very much dislike this post of yours, Mr. Butcher. Rounding up officials and putting guns to their heads? Not for me. I don't feel comfortable reading your macho self-description, and unfortunately, your alleged sobriety does not seem to match up with what you've written here -- just the opposite.
ReplyDeleteRon, we agree again. Whether we are or are not "kicking ass" in Iraq, is irrelevant. Bush's use of this salty language is not appropriate. It is the opposite of being humble. It is derogatory and denigrates our troops and even the enemy.
ReplyDeleteThis comment is written by one with 19 years sobriety.
Sorry Ralph
ReplyDeleteI'm with Chuck on this one. As a 61 year old Vietnam era vet I can remember thinking the same thing myself 40 years ago. When I later learned that Johnson had known the war could not be won in 1967 and that Nixon knew it could not be won the day he took office I was sorry that somebody had not done just that.