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May 27, 2008

Dumber Than Bush, Dumber Than Quayle

I pretty much ignored political news this weekend, only to find out that the top story on Memeorandum.com this morning was of a gaffe Barack Obama made regarding Memorial Day.

On this Memorial Day, as our nation honors its unbroken line of fallen heroes—and I see many of them in the audience here today—our sense of patriotism is particularly strong.

As you may imagine, "I see dead people" is a crack being used in blog posts with a great degree of derision and amusement as the freshman Senator's opponents have a field day with his chronically gaffe-prone campaign.

Obama's latest unintelligent statement behind us, Jimmie at the Sundries Shack accurately snipes:

After this campaign, I swear, I don't want to hear one more person crack wise about Dan Quayle ever again. Quayle had a couple very unfortunate gaffes and was forever painted as immature and plain old dumb.

Barack Obama, on the other hand, has enough gaffes to his credit to start a fleet of charter boats and not a single soul in the MSM has even breathed the "D" word about His Deific Changiness. His goofs are coming at a rate of a couple a week now, far more than Dan Quayle ever did and certainly more than George Bush, who has become the Golden Standard of Chimpitude to the left for his verbal advenures[sic].

He makes excellent points.

Quayle was hammered by Democrats as a vice presidential candidate in 1988 for being too inexperienced, serving just two terms in the House and one full-term in the Senate before being selected as George H.W. Bush's running mate two years into his second Senate term(versus Obama, who announced his run for President 1/3 the way through his very first Senate term).

Based upon his weak debate performance against Lloyd Bentsen and a series of frankly stupid comments he made as a candidate and vice president, Quayle was hammered an an intellectual lightweight worldwide.

When Bush '41 was diagnosed with an irregular heartbeat in 1991, the world seemed terrified:

Newspapers in France, Germany, Italy and Britain this week also puzzled over a political system that allows a man of relatively little national experience to stand next in line to the leadership of the world's most powerful nation.

In Italy, La Repubblica in Rome referred to what it called America's "cardio-constitutional crisis," and Il Giornale of Milan heard echoes of European history in Mr. Bush's situation.

In a front page editorial on Tuesday, Il Giornale said, "The invincible President becomes politically vulnerable because of his heir, just as, in the centuries of the dynasties, the absence or the frailty of a successor could undermine the most powerful of kings."

In Germany, a dispatch from Washington that appeared Tuesday in the General Anzeiger of Bonn described the American President as "the most powerful single person in the world" and noted how "carelessly" the American political system chooses its Vice President.

"Dan Quayle may grow with the position as did Harry Truman," the report said. "But the world would rather put its destiny into the hands of a man who has already proven himself."

One of the bluntest reactions came from The Financial Times of London, the bible of the city's business and banking community. In an editorial on Tuesday, the paper wrote: "Mr. Quayle was a cynical political choice in 1988 and, thankless as the Vice President's job often is, he has done little since to convince that he is qualified to serve as chief executive in his own right."

In Paris, Le Monde on Monday called Mr. Quayle "a man who inspires, rightly or wrongly, more jeers than confidence" and wondered whether Mr. Bush would now change his mind about keeping him on the Republican ticket in 1992.

And yet, for all the fear he inspired, Quayle was smart enough that he knew not to start his political career at the home of domestic terrorists who are still proud for attacking their nation, and who still harbor a fondness for cult-leading murderer Charles Manson.

Obama? He did.

Quayle didn't attend a church for two decades built upon a "religion" that is a mix of Marxism, racial identity politics, and Christianity. Obama did, and as a matter of fact, he's still a proud member of that congregation.

Quayle didn't follow a radical, racist pastor espousing conspiracy theories and hate. He didn't include among his other decades-long mentors a radical priest who espouses support for the murder of people he doesn't like. Obama? He did, only recently dropping Pfleger's endorsement from barackobama.com where it resided between endorsements from Rev. Delman Coates and "Eileen P.".


Quayle—along with most third-graders—even somehow seems to know how many states there are in the United States, something Obama hasn't yet grasped.

Barack Obama is far more prone to foolish associations and questionable statements Dan Quayle ever was, and yet has compiled more collective idiocies in just one campaign that Quayle has managed in his entire political career.

Our current President, George W. Bush, is lambasted by the political left for a Quayle-like tendency for verbal gaffes known as Bushisms and is widely regarded by them as an idiot, (even as he has somehow outsmarted them into winning the White House twice), and yet the worst of Bush's 7+ years in office is only on par with what Obama offers up as standard fare.

The same press that excoriated Bush and Quayle for lesser offenses is giving Obama a free pass for a continuing series of verbal stumbles, stumbles that would have them tied up in knots denouncing the intelligence of Republicans. Is it because Obama is an African-American that they refuse to question his intelligence, or is it because he's a Democrat?

If the former, the media is racist; if the latter, they are biased to the point of being incompetent. Perhaps they are both. Andrew Sullivan was a Quayle apologist who is now firmly behind Obama and seemingly blind to his faults. Other members of the media are just as bad, or worse.

Don't get me wrong. Barack Obama isn't an idiot.

Barack Obama is pretty, he reads a teleprompter beautifully, and when given the time to compose a speech, he writes beautiful words as well, empty though they so often are. He just doesn't do well when forced to think on his feet, or under pressure.

By that standard, he is "dumber" than Bush, and "dumber" than Quayle, issuing forth a staccato beat of misstatements and empty platitudes when under the slightest pressure. That should not be a surprise. He's a remarkably shallow candidate with a considerable record of ducking responsibility and hard decisions in his meager legislative record, and is utterly lacking of any meaningful executive experience.

It would nice for the press to acknowledge these truths. It would be nice of the to recognize that Obama isn't the Messiah.

He isn't even a decent Brian.

Update Good Grief. Two huge gaffes in one speech?

Has anyone copyrighted the term "Obamanation" yet?

Posted by Confederate Yankee at May 27, 2008 10:41 AM
Comments

Obama also claimed on the weekend that his uncle helped liberate Auschwitz. Curious since the Red Army liberated Auschwitz and the US never entered Poland. What use is a Harvard education if it dosnt let you lie convincingly during a run for president?

Posted by: grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr at May 27, 2008 11:24 AM

Um, when we flog a pol about idiotic gaffes perhaps we should also pay attention to the difference between what Obambi passes out as "standard fair" Unless they have changed English since I was in school the term is "standard fare".

Posted by: Peter at May 27, 2008 01:10 PM

Good point, Peter. Fixed now. I never claimed fluency, just a couple of degrees. :-)

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at May 27, 2008 01:46 PM

Obama's accolytes prove the long term plan of the US Ed system - MTV meets Affirmative Action

Posted by: Bandit at May 27, 2008 02:08 PM

Even with this torrent of stupidity pouring hourly from the Lamb of Chicago the preening continues. Barry could never be less than genius, could he? He is smarter than Edwards and might be as smart as Hillary, that is all we can really allow on the evidence. This puke is actually even ignorant by Democrat standards which is saying a mouth full. In debate with McCain can he hold it together on live national TV with his witlessness at the mercy, not of the press corps or fellow Gramscians but from McNasty hisself? Doubtful.

Posted by: megapotamus at May 27, 2008 04:34 PM

As I asked in another thread, can Obama spell "potato"?

Posted by: C-C-G at May 27, 2008 05:09 PM

More to the economic point, I have talked with several oil people high in the industry (we have a boom going here in Shreveport). They have all indicated that if Obama and the Dems get the government, they are capping the wells before paying excess taxes. Thus, his election could be an economic storm.

Posted by: David Caskey at May 27, 2008 07:29 PM

I posted on this subject http://becauseimright-nocomme1.blogspot.com/2008/05/barack-youre-no-dan-quayle-and-no-thats.html a week or so ago, concentrating more on a sort of side by side comparison of Quayle's experience and qualifications and Obama's. There is simply no way to look at their records and not conclude that Quayle was much more qualified: more expeienced, more accomplished, etc.

Obama is Quayle without the brains. The fact that the media has given this low-ender a free ride is one of the great journalistic scandals of our time.

Posted by: Nocomme1 at May 27, 2008 09:20 PM

But, Obama isn't a Republican, so his false steps can't mean he's stupid.

Only Republicans have it written in their party constitution that they can only nominate idiots for president. Inductive logic tells me this, because as far back as I can remember or check, they have only nominated idiots. I checked all the media reports. All idiots.

And clearly Harvard must just hand out MBAs to kids of rich, important people. Or, Bush Sr. had the CIA pressure them into giving the son a degree....

....Yeah....That's the ticket...

Posted by: usinkorea at May 27, 2008 10:21 PM

The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the - Web Reconnaissance for 05/28/2008 A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day...so check back often.

Posted by: David M at May 28, 2008 10:25 AM