<< RICH, WHITE, AND STUPID ~ MAIN ~ BEYOND THE BOUNDS OF DECENCY >>

TALK ABOUT JUMPING THE SHARK

Yee-haa! It’s an old-fashioned fake turkey shoot, following a prolonged plastic turkey undersupply. Here’s David Rossie, associate editor of New York state’s Press & Sun-Bulletin:

Talk about jumping the shark. This was Bush’s second shark-jump, actually. Remember that hello-I must-be-going Thanksgiving Day visit to the soldiers in Baghdad in 2003? The one where he came out from behind a curtain, said a few words to the soldiers who had been herded into the hall, posed with a plastic turkey, jumped back on Air Force One and was back in Crawdad, Texas, in time for dinner?

Difficult to remember something that never happened, David. And former Time deputy Washington bureau chief Margaret Carlson, now filing lies for Bloomberg News:

The last time Bush was publicly this happy was Thanksgiving 2003, when not just the cabinet but some in his family were stunned to see the president hoisting a fake turkey in a hangar at Baghdad International Airport just as the Associated Press was publishing a White House release on the meal Bush was supposedly enjoying at the presidential ranch in Crawford, Texas.

Attention, Margaret: turkey not fake! We continue counting down until August 30, which will mark 1,000 days since commencement of the terrible turkey scandal.

(As it happens, August 30 is Turkey’s Victory Day.)

Posted by Tim B. on 06/16/2006 at 12:04 PM
  1. Anything to advance the Bush-bashing action line… even if it’s a proven lie.

    Focking lemmings.

    Posted by Spiny Norman on 2006 06 16 at 12:16 PM • permalink

  2. (As it happens, August 30 is Turkey’s Victory Day.)

    Rather convenient coincidence, is it not?

    Hey, I’m just raising the question…

    Posted by Dave S. on 2006 06 16 at 12:20 PM • permalink

  3. The so called msm is a decomposimg corpse, the head rotted off a long time ago , it retains only its most basic of motor functions, dementedly and ever more futiley pushing the same tired old crap, Bush this blah blah, Bush that blah blah,

    These dinosaurs have been running on empty for so long, they wouldnt know journalistic integrity if it bit them on there big fat liberal arses

    Posted by phillip on 2006 06 16 at 12:52 PM • permalink

  4. Sort of o/t but not, I saw on AOL news that CBS is kicking Dan Rather out.  Dan Rather doesn’t want to quit.  Now they’ve taken the news bit down.  But I bet they manage to get rid of him.  The only sad thing is, they’re probably only doing it because he’s 74 years old and they want younger news people, not because he’s a news-twisting lunatic.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2006 06 16 at 12:57 PM • permalink

  5. I said that the fake flying plastic turkey was the plucked serpent Quetzalcoatl and would never die. And nobody believed me. Yet here we are, near to marking the first 1,000 days. It flies, and I rest on my laurels.

    Posted by ForNow on 2006 06 16 at 01:18 PM • permalink

  6. #5 ForNow: Hey, I’m a believer. So, how do you get rid of this thing: cut some kossak’s heart out? JUST KIDDING, GUYS!!!

    Say, who’s the “Annie Oakley” in this plastic turkey shoot; I mean, who has peddled the story most avidly? For that matter, who started it?

    Posted by paco on 2006 06 16 at 01:51 PM • permalink

  7. #2

    Rather convenient coincidence, is it not?

    I question the timing…

    Posted by WingDynasty on 2006 06 16 at 02:06 PM • permalink

  8. It’s a tough meme, that’s for sure. I think we need to step up the prophylaxis.

    Posted by mojo on 2006 06 16 at 02:08 PM • permalink

  9. What small-minded, petty people these are.  They aren’t saying anything about anything - except to make some gratuitous swipe at Bush because he’s happy.  They prate on and make perfect fools of themselves.

    I’m not a fan of Bush.  I’d prefer a much more aggressive war - against Iran, especially.  But how can one not be pleased to see genuine happiness on the face of a war time president who has just visited the middle of a war zone.  That smile carries more than the teeny-tiny notion that the media is the absolute center of the universe and the prime concern of this president; i.e., the smile is saying more than, “Boy, I put one over on all of you jerks in the media.” (Though who could blame him for such a thought.  I wish like hell he was more concerned with the propaganda war in this country! Again, more aggression, please.) But the press has such an astoundingly provincial self-importance that they are completely blind to the role they actually are playing in this war.  This is what passes for sophistication on their citizen-of-the-world godlike perch that sits above it all and doesn’t take sides.

    Posted by saltydog on 2006 06 16 at 02:18 PM • permalink

  10. #4: You watch: before it’s over, Rather will have climbed to the top of an oil tank and started shouting, “I made it, Ma! Top of the world!”

    Posted by paco on 2006 06 16 at 02:25 PM • permalink

  11. We can step up the prophylaxis, but the battle will rage forever, as if in Valhalla, or as if against Ghidarah the three-headed monster, which in fact is the plastic turkey in another guise.

    Yes, mojo, there is a plastic turkey, and there will be a plastic turkey as long as there are leftist boys & girls of all ages to believe in it. A thousand years from now, mojo, nay 10 times 10,000 years from now, the plastic turkey will continue to await the time when the stars are right again—then let humankind tremble! "For with those which eternal lie, with strange eons even death may die."

    Posted by ForNow on 2006 06 16 at 02:26 PM • permalink

  12. Remember that hello-I must-be-going Thanksgiving Day visit to the soldiers in Baghdad in 2003? The one where he came out from behind a curtain, said a few words to the soldiers who had been herded into the hall, posed with a plastic turkey

    Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t he reviving a seperate myth here- the one where the soldiers were dragged out of bed early in the morning to present BusHitler with a photo-op?

    Posted by Ross on 2006 06 16 at 03:02 PM • permalink

  13. It’s not a turkey, it’s a farkin’ phoenix.

    Posted by Dave S. on 2006 06 16 at 03:26 PM • permalink

  14. Speaking of false realities, leftists are still living in 2002 and seem to be on the verge of a total meltdown.

    Read the comments, it’s just too funny.

    Posted by aaron_ on 2006 06 16 at 04:09 PM • permalink

  15. Talking heads discuss non-existent plastic turkeys.  Makes me wonder if those talking heads need new batteries.

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 06 16 at 04:10 PM • permalink

  16. Bush is a conservative big-government wanker, there’s no doubt about it. However, what’s with all the lying?

    For someone like me, Bush’s administration is deeply disappointing. Reagan he ain’t. However, his one saving grace is that he magnificently pisses off the people I really want to see pissed off and gets them contorting themselves into such ridiculous shapes that the mainstream could not possibly mistake them for anything other than the lunatics that they are…

    Posted by James Waterton on 2006 06 16 at 04:12 PM • permalink

  17. Lying from the left, I should say.

    Posted by James Waterton on 2006 06 16 at 04:14 PM • permalink

  18. Hrm. Silly, naive me. Horses for courses and all that.

    Posted by James Waterton on 2006 06 16 at 04:25 PM • permalink

  19. James, I agree wholeheartedly. For someone the Democrats and the assorted motley Leftist allies paint as a neo-fascist and exploiter of the poor and “downtrodden”, his domestic spending policies would’ve made the Clintons blush.

    Posted by Spiny Norman on 2006 06 16 at 04:32 PM • permalink

  20. Even if this plastic turkey rubbish were true, they make a big deal out of it as if Bush were the first politician in the history of the universe to pose for a PR photo-op.

    Posted by EmilyJones on 2006 06 16 at 04:42 PM • permalink

  21. #16, you said it.  I’m not pleased with Mr. Bush’s stance on immigration, or his big-government meddling in things that ought to be left to the private citizen.  But, as you said, he pisses off the right people.  The thought of a Democrat winning the White House in ‘08 nauseates me.  Even if they get a reasonable middle-of-the-roader, he’d be subjected to nearly impossible to resist pressure from the inmates on the left who have obviously taken over the asylum.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2006 06 16 at 05:20 PM • permalink

  22. And I say “he” because I honestly don’t think Hillary has a chance.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2006 06 16 at 05:21 PM • permalink

  23. The plastic turkey on the mantel in the first act is fired in the third, is the rule of narratives.

    Posted by rhhardin on 2006 06 16 at 05:35 PM • permalink

  24. I was reading somewhere the other day that Kos’s candidate in Connecticut (can’t remember his name; the one that looks like Martin Sheen’s ugly brother) may actually have a chance of defeating Lieberman. Lieberman is being advised by some to run as an independent (though Lieberman apparently isn’t attracted to the idea).

    Posted by paco on 2006 06 16 at 05:53 PM • permalink

  25. Never mind. Allahpundit reports that Ned Lamont is still trailing Lieberman by 15 points. I expect this gap to increase to triple digits by the time the primary rolls around (i.e., the only thing Ned Lamont might run for, ultimately, that he has a chance at may be the state line).

    Posted by paco on 2006 06 16 at 06:17 PM • permalink

  26. O/T - Fine op-ed about an Australian war hero in today’s The Australian -

    Wallace was among the first into the valley and he was quickly pinned down by enemy fire. Forces inspired by Osama bin Laden were all around, armed with machineguns and mortars. For a while, it looked as if Wallace might not make it out.

    But, surrounded as he was by frightened young Americans, some of whom were barely old enough to shave, he helped launch a tremendous counterattack, and came home alive.

    Wallace would later receive the Medal for Gallantry, the first member of the Royal Australian Corps of Signals to be so honoured since Vietnam. The Australian Defence Force said it was for courage under fire and because he “maintained composure under sustained heavy attack from enemy forces”, as well as for “providing leadership to those around him”...

    As US commander Tommy Franks told reporters after the fight: “I’m not sure it will ever be fully declassified, but it literally brings tears to my eyes. The Aussies brought bravery to a whole new level."

    Here.

    Posted by walterplinge on 2006 06 16 at 06:46 PM • permalink

  27. Dunno about Lamont/Lieberman.
    This looks pretty desperate

    Posted by Jim,MtnViewCA,USA on 2006 06 16 at 07:49 PM • permalink

  28. 1000 Days!
    What a grimey milestone.

    Posted by blogstrop on 2006 06 16 at 07:55 PM • permalink

  29. That article in the Australian ref’ed by walterplinge above is terrific, btw. Don’t pass it by.

    Posted by Jim,MtnViewCA,USA on 2006 06 16 at 07:57 PM • permalink

  30. Props to Maggie, she’s corrected her article.
    New Version
    Bush’s Sneak Trips Won’t Fix Iraq: Margaret Carlson (Correct)
    (Corrects to delete reference to fake turkey in third paragraph.)

    Posted by Jim,MtnViewCA,USA on 2006 06 16 at 08:02 PM • permalink

  31. Just an aside.

    Wouldn’t a plastic turkey be far more difficult to organise, and alot more expensive, than a real turkey?

    Posted by geoff on 2006 06 16 at 08:07 PM • permalink

  32. #26. Lee starts the book with a famous quote, often attributed to George Orwell: “We sleep soundly in our beds because rough men stand ready in the night to visit violence upon those who would harm us.”

    It’s a sentiment we would soon forget if stories such as this one weren’t told.

    Exactly so.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2006 06 16 at 08:13 PM • permalink

  33. Wouldn’t a plastic turkey be far more difficult to organise, and alot more expensive, than a real turkey?

    Of course it would. It’s just easier for the left to dismiss the gesture of goodwill as fake, if the Turkey was fake.

    Reminds of those arseholes who claim McDonald’s burger patties are made from ground up worms; it’d be hellishly expensive to breed and grind up enough worms for all those Big Macs, when minced beef is so easy to obtain.

    Posted by AlburyShifton on 2006 06 16 at 08:50 PM • permalink

  34. Here’s yet another fake turkey sighting:

    Foreign Policy’s Passport blog.

    Posted by P. Froward on 2006 06 16 at 10:19 PM • permalink

  35. #14 aaron_,

    That’s a classic! Dig it:

    ‘Don’t worry about coming up with a “solution.” Even if we could, Rove would mischaracterize it ...

    ‘I think the Democrats COULD coalesce around something like that.’

    Perfect: They don’t have a solution. They don’t even have a position. They can’t come up with one. He knows it. He cannot imagine why that might matter.

    And he figures an echoing trunkful of absolutely nothing is just what the doctor ordered to unite and fire up the Democratic Party.

    He’s wrong. I hope.

    Posted by P. Froward on 2006 06 16 at 10:28 PM • permalink

  36. Looking at that bear ad I have to say it’s politics, Jim but not as we know it. Dear lord, who knew anyone drop to the niveau of a Charmin ad in serious discourse? Oh the suspense of waiting to see if these bears will do what bears do in the woods! Makes Kos’ home invasion nipple twister spot look good.

    And why not polar bears, Sen Joe?

    Posted by kiwinews on 2006 06 16 at 10:32 PM • permalink

  37. Who was the journo who said that it didn’t matter if the turkey was fake or not because it was a perfect metaphor?

    Man, that David Rossie is one bitter, old sourpuss. Poor guy, he never made it out of Binghamton (a real armpit). Probably drinks heavily.

    Thanks for the link, walterpling; that was great.

    I sent Carolyn O’Hara an email, P. Froward. These people are just making themselves look silly now.

    Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 06 17 at 12:21 AM • permalink

  38. O/T - but two great reads:

    Christopher Pearson, ‘Cultures are not all Equal’
    http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19490928-601,00.html

    He mentions:

    Amitai Etzioni, ‘The Rights and Responsibilities of Immigrants’
    http://www.quadrant.org.au/php/article_view.php?article_id=2051

    Both suck the mist out of the moral and intellectual swamp of so-called ‘social justice’, ‘diversity’ and ‘multiculturalism’.

    Pearson has little good to say about about the University of South Australia. Here’s something I wrote for them about the wise words of educational pundit, Bob Smith (Smith, Bob (1998, September). ‘For the teacher researcher: reviewing some of the preconditions to curriculum reform.’ Curriculum Perspectives, volume 18, number 3, pages 33-40)

    “Smith (1998, September) sets forth some of the preconditions necessary to optimise improved educational outcomes.  My responses to the rating scales under ‘professional persona’ (p 34) suggested that my self-image ... blah, blah.  I had more difficulty with some of the ‘ethical disposition’ statements.  I agree that all teaching and teaching products are value-laden and that one must always give thought to power transactions in curricular change but some of the descriptors are primarily political statements. Were they not more a rating of my ‘political disposition’?  Smith’s use of terms like ‘social justice’ have their origins in specific political policies and orientations, and though agreeing that there are injustices in Australian society and in the Australian classroom, I feel that the author and I might not concur over their extent, or our preferred means to address them ... Ethical disposition and political outlook are of course not mutually exclusive terms or concerns but we should, perhaps, be more attentive, first, to their differences.”

    The lecturer’s response to this was ‘interesting critique’.  Hmmm

    You can see how delighted I was by Pearson’s piece.

    I’m a big boy now and kid myself I know what bullshit smells like.  It’s the kids and young undergraduates I worry about, God help their poor propagandised arses.

    Posted by Inurbanus on 2006 06 17 at 12:28 AM • permalink

  39. Wow, Jim, I just hit your link. Do I detect the stench of desperation wafting across the continent from the direction of Connecticut? Good Lord, Joe, what were you thinking? The generally reliable Rasmussen has Lieberman-46%/Lamont-40%. If Lamont actually pulls this off, there’ll be no living with Kos.

    Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 06 17 at 12:44 AM • permalink

  40. If Lamont actually pulls this off, there’ll be no living with Kos.

    Huh?  He’s already an insufferable twit....how could Kos get worse?

    Although I’m sure he’s happy to dig that hole even deeper.

    Posted by The_Real_JeffS on 2006 06 17 at 01:23 AM • permalink

  41. Mr Tim

    Difficult to remember something that never happened, David.

    Oh if only that were true.

    Posted by Huck Foley on 2006 06 17 at 01:25 AM • permalink

  42. Margo, turkeys, culture wars, dead iraqis, Bush… it’s good to see the blogmire has moved on from 2003.

    Posted by Miranda Divide on 2006 06 17 at 04:52 AM • permalink

  43. Of course, these topics are the gift that keep on giving....

    Posted by entropy on 2006 06 17 at 05:47 AM • permalink

  44. Margo, turkeys, culture wars, dead iraqis, Bush… it’s good to see the blogmire has moved on from 2003.

    Feel free to start your own blog…

    Posted by AlburyShifton on 2006 06 17 at 07:13 AM • permalink

  45. This has gotten so old.  The turkey was REAL!  The farkin pumpkin pie was plastic, but the turkey was real!

    why not give them something else to obsess about?

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2006 06 17 at 10:12 AM • permalink

  46. Miranda Divide you’re an asshole.  Have you realized that?

    Posted by Texas Bob on 2006 06 17 at 10:14 AM • permalink

  47. Realizing that one is an asshole requires self-awareness and a willingness to be objective.  Miranda doesn’t possess either capability.

    Posted by RebeccaH on 2006 06 17 at 11:03 AM • permalink

  48. The generally reliable Rasmussen has Lieberman-46%/Lamont-40%. If Lamont actually pulls this off, there’ll be no living with Kos.

    If (when) Lamont loses, Kos will crow about how close his support made the contest.

    If Lamont wins, Kos will have succeeded in putting a Democrat in the US Senate to replace - a Democrat.

    Go, Kos!

    Posted by Dave S. on 2006 06 17 at 11:12 AM • permalink

  49. Huh?  He’s already an insufferable twit....how could Kos get worse?
    If Lamont wins, Kos will have succeeded in putting a Democrat in the US Senate to replace - a Democrat.

    Oh, if there’s one thing life teaches, it’s that it can always get worse. Kos at 0-20 is insufferable. Kos with a win under his belt (especially a win like this) is insufferable squared. And Lamont would be replacing a Democrat who is an adamant, reliable supporter of the GWOT, Zionism and the Iraq compaign.

    Posted by Kyda Sylvester on 2006 06 17 at 12:04 PM • permalink

  50. It would be quite hard for Lamont to beat Lieberman in the general election. Rasmussen: “In the General Election, Lieberman wins handily as either a Democrat or an Independent.” Lieberman already indicated some time ago that he would be quite willing to run as an independent.

    Posted by ForNow on 2006 06 17 at 12:19 PM • permalink

  51. Miranda, a lot of us never made it out of 2002.

    Posted by aaron_ on 2006 06 17 at 02:11 PM • permalink

  52. Oh, if there’s one thing life teaches, it’s that it can always get worse. Kos at 0-20 is insufferable. Kos with a win under his belt (especially a win like this) is insufferable squared. And Lamont would be replacing a Democrat who is an adamant, reliable supporter of the GWOT, Zionism and the Iraq compaign.

    Ah, but Kos claimed victory when one of his losers made the Republicans spend more than they planned to on a presumably safe seat. So if the Dems have to spend money on Lamont in the general election that they wouldn’t have had to with Lieberman being safe, then Kos will temper his gloating, right?

    Right?

    Errr, never mind.

    Hey, I wonder if the Republicans have a legitimate candidate in this race. Conceivably, Lieberman (IND) and Lamont (D) could split the Dem vote and the Republican could squeeze in on a narrow plurality.

    Any Connecticans on this thread want to chime in and correct me?

    Posted by Dave S. on 2006 06 17 at 03:56 PM • permalink

  53. Page 1 of 1 pages

Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.

Members:
Login | Register | Member List

Please note: you must use a real email address to register. You will be sent an account activation email. Clicking on the url in the email will automatically activate your account. Until you do so your account will be held in the "pending" list and you won't be able to log in. All accounts that are "pending" for more than one week will be deleted.