Silly Season

Actual quote from someone who knows better:

"If Kerry's not brave enough to be seen drinking French water, what kind of courage can we expect in the infinitely more vital position of commander-in-chief?"

Comments

[Katherine]

Part of the reason it's silly, by the way, is that even assuming the reporter isn't just wrong about what Kerry's thinking, and even if choice of water brand on the campaign trail were a relevant criteria in choosing a commander in chief, and even if the Bush campaign hadn't been pushing the "Kerry is French" line for, what, 6 months, all politicians do this sh*t. I have worked on several campaigns, and was amazed to know that major candidates are generally only allowed to drive in American-brand cars. Nevermind that GM makes some cars overseas and Honda makes some in Ohio, let alone that an 8 mpg SUV would be perfectly acceptable. And this was a liberal Massachusetts gubernatorial candidate in a primary campaign; it's not like the United Auto Workers were a major player.

And if you're trying to make a campaign issue about stupid sh*t like this--whether it's "Kerry looks French" or "isn't Kerry stopping drinking Evian because we say he looks French kind of like GIVING INTO THE TERRORISTS?", you are very much part of the problem.

[sidereal]

Well, 'should' might be accurate in some kind of principled context, but 'has demonstrated the ability to' would certainly not apply.

The jokes about Bush falling off of his bike and so on are equally asinine, but to my knowledge nobody has seriously tried to tie his pretzel choking and dog dropping to his foreign policy.

[sidereal]

Whoops. . 'should' doesn't appear. . just mentally inserted that. I dispute 'knows better' on the strength of megabytes of evidence.

[geoduck]

Yeah, that was my thought as well. When has Bird Dog *ever* shown that he knows better? I really, really wish Tacitus would either come back from Redstate and do a little housecleaning at his site, or rename the damn thing.

[felixrayman]

What a howler.

From the memory hole:

The cafeteria menus in the three House office buildings changed the name of "french fries" to "freedom fries," in a culinary rebuke of France stemming from anger over the country's refusal to support the U.S. position on Iraq.

Ditto for "french toast," which will be known as "freedom toast."

The name changes were spearheaded by two Republican lawmakers who held a news conference Tuesday to make the name changes official on the menus.

-CNN

[Katherine]

Hey, this isn't intended as a bash Bird Dog thread--that's the last thing we need right now. I think he's very very partisan, and sometimes trusts sources he shouldn't, but he's no Glenn Reynolds; he's written some good stuff.

I'm more annoyed by the general focus on trivia. It is inexcusable that in a piece that's supposed to be about Kerry's vision of the war on terror, the Times reporter speculates on why Kerry doesn't drink Evian but does not write anything about how he's planning to secure nuclear weapons and materials in about 1/4 of the time Bush plans to take. In general the reporter falls for the bullsh*t "are we really at war" question, which is THE single most effective trick the administration has used in its campaign against Democratic Strawman*.

Bush is not just incompetent at achieving his vision for the war on terror. He's insincere.

*phrase stolen from praktile.

[Katherine]

d'oh. I accidentally deleted "Kerry should argue that" before "Bush is not just incompetent at achieving his vision for the war on terror. He's insincere."

[Jesurgislac]

The thing I found silliest of the whole renaming of "French" to "freedom"? French toast's named after a guy called French. Who was only not a US citizen because he was born before there was a US to be a citizen of.

[Democratic Strawman]

Must ... raise ... taxes ... and ... give ... sovereignty ... to ... French.

[Sebastian Holsclaw]

Silly to focus on trivia like that when earlier in the same piece Kerry compares his law enforcement method regarding terrorism with trying to control prostitution. I wonder if he has heard that prostitution pretty much doesn't get controlled?

[blogbudsman]

Sounded to me like he just doesn't like Evian water because of the minerals. This is much ado about nothing. Bottled water is an incredible growth industry. Most grocery stores have a whole aisle, with countless choices. I pity both candidates for all the 'reporting' they have to endure. Silliness. Pure unadulterated silliness.

[blogbudsman]

And Katherine, if you've ever stood at the counter at a Detroit airport rental car counter and hear the near panic when the right model car isn't available for some poor sales person with an appointment at FoMoCo, you're missing out on a true American experience.

[ali]

I hear Afghan hillmen talk about Franks, meaning westerners. I suspect 'The French' is a similar concept for the GOP. No offense meant to Afghans here.

Kerry should be slapping the bar and ordering Pastis all round.

It's sipping Johnny Walker Black with Gulf Royals that Yanks should worry about. The French do that not nearly as well as Texans.

[liberal japonicus]

Ah, a blast from the past. Maybe he's just worried about the benzene

legal disclaimer: This comment should not be taken as an attempt to equate Perrier and Evian. The comparison is only made for comedic purposes.

[Anarch]

This comment should not be taken as an attempt to equate Perrier and Evian. The comparison is only made for comedic purposes.

Oh my god: you've just made an oral equivalency argument. For shame!

[Katherine]

This New Republic article is relevant.

[Sebastian Holsclaw]

The TNR article is good at revealing that Kerry likes to have policy stances so arcane that to one crowd he can summarize it as "I'm for it" and one day later can summarize it as "I'm against it". Great marketing. Awful at letting us know what the hell he thinks.

[heet]

I've grown weary of the crap thrown around at Tacitus. BD's post takes a stupid article in the Times and adds an extra few layers of stupidity and just for good measure he adds a itty bitty picture of the WTC getting hit by a plane. In a general sense I'm sick of partisan scorekeeping but I'm especially sick of people like BD, who should know better, carting out the same tired, inconsequential, refuted, and uttery moronic claptrap the talking heads spout on Fox. Maybe the election is too close and the partisans are too amped up but I've been driven further and further away from a mindset that gives the Republicans the benefit of the doubt. What with the Nevada registration garbage, feigned outrage at every nitpicky thing Kerry has ever done, and the huge load of pork passed the other day, I just don't have the strength to know those things and still believe the Republican bloggers are conversing in good faith. Nov 2nd better come soon!