gw jokes about failed search for WMD

[Ugg]

link (http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1178547,00.html)

President George Bush sparked a political firestorm yesterday after making what many judged a tasteless and ill-judged joke about the failure to find weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Mr Bush made the joke at a black-tie event for radio and television journalists in Washington on Wednesday night.

He narrated a slide show, described as the White House election year album, making hay of the administration's reputation for secrecy and strained relations with European allies. But it was the joke about the war in Iraq that drew attacks.

A slide showed Mr Bush in the Oval office, leaning to look under a piece of furniture. "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be here somewhere," he told the audience, drawing applause.

Another slide showed him peering into another part of the office, "Nope, no weapons over there," he said, laughing. "Maybe under here," he said, as a third slide was shown.

How many people have lost their lives or been seriously injured as a result of his failed war? Whoever mentioned last year that this bozo is a sociopath was spot on.

[zimv20]

Whoever mentioned last year that this bozo is a sociopath was spot on.
well, thank yuh, thank yuh very much
/elvis

iirc, pseudobrit was also a proponent of this theory

[diamond geezer]

Did you see he also made a joke about visiting overseas leaders and using a "special" deck of cards so he could recognize them. Also in rather bad taste I thought.

How did the bozo sneak these jokes past his "handlers"?

It amazes me that someone this stupid could be the leader of the free world. If he wasn't a Bush he could never get the job (or maybe any job excepting Burger King).

In US politics, money and connections speak far louder than brain cells or ability.

[wwworry]

I think it's traditional for the president to make fun of himself at that dinner but those kind of jokes also make fun of the people that died in Iraq.

[Desertrat]

Y'all are looking for any excuse to bumrap Dubya. Okay, fine. It seems to me that it's pretty ballsy of the guy to take what appear to be serious jabs at himself. You may think it's making fun of those who died in Iraq; many--me among them--do not.

One thing for sure, I've seen little at this forum to indicate that many here have any sense of humor at all, and little evidence that anybody here thinks of themselves as less than perfect in their judgements of others. Any of y'all ever have any self doubts? That's a generic y'all, not aimed at anybody specific...

As usual, if anybody thinks the shoe doesn't fit, don't try it on...

'Rat

[skunk]

You may think it's making fun of those who died in Iraq; many--me among them--do not.'Rat

Ten thousand deaths on a false premise is a suitable subject for humour? Did you hear that one about the Holocaust? I nearly died laughing!

[mactastic]

Y'all are looking for any excuse to bumrap Dubya. Okay, fine. It seems to me that it's pretty ballsy of the guy to take what appear to be serious jabs at himself. You may think it's making fun of those who died in Iraq; many--me among them--do not.

And you look for any excuse to bash liberals. Come on 'Rat, don't pretend you're above the fray. The word 'bottom feeder' comes to mind.

To me, this ranks up there with 'Bring 'em on.'

One thing for sure, I've seen little at this forum to indicate that many here have any sense of humor at all, and little evidence that anybody here thinks of themselves as less than perfect in their judgements of others. Any of y'all ever have any self doubts? That's a generic y'all, not aimed at anybody specific...

Oh, I didn't realize you came here for a daily dose of comedy. This is the POLITICAL FORUM not the funny jokes forum. Most of what goes on here is serious and I don't have a problem with that.

As usual, if anybody thinks the shoe doesn't fit, don't try it on...

'Rat

It fits me just fine thanks. I am constantly full of self-doubt and self criticism of ideas. And you know 'Rat, you present yourself as pretty confident and sure of yourself. Is that a bad thing?

BTW, did you ever consider your own advice regarding judging others before you took that swipe at Waxman, or any of the ones you've thrown at Kerry?

[miloblithe]

It's disturbing he'd joke about how we went to war on false pretenses. That's the point.

[skunk]

You died in Iraq?

LOFL! :D

Eh? What happened to the post? :confused:

[G4scott]

Somebody told me the other day that the Secret Service has orders that if George Bush is shot, they're to shoot Quayle,

Made in 1988 by John Kerry, followed by...

There isn't any press here, is there?

[OutThere]

Let's see... we'll go in and have a big war, watch everyone dying on TV, but it was all a big joke anyway.

[3rdpath]

so i guess WTC jokes would've been fine too...:rolleyes:

it's not about humor, it's about sensitivity to the value of human life.

i don't recall any other presidents joking about an ongoing war.

it's horribly cavalier.

[diamond geezer]

It seems to me that it's pretty ballsy of the guy to take what appear to be serious jabs at himself.
'Rat

Yes, all balls, no brain.

I like bad taste jokes as much as the next guy, but I didn't go using lies and 9/11 to justify a pre-planned invasion of Iraq and then use humor to try gloss it over.

[zimv20]

One thing for sure, I've seen little at this forum to indicate that many here have any sense of humor at all

THE PROFESSOR OF COMEDY

OPEN ON:
INT. AN OFFICE IN A TALL BUILDING -- DAY

DAVE sits at his computer typing, occasionally looking out the window. STEVE is at his computer, typing.

DAVE
Today is the worst day to be cooped up in an office.

STEVE
Yeah, September 11 was a pretty bad day for that, too.

Wait for audience groans.

STEVE (cont’d)
What? That’s funny! Come on!

STEVE (cont’d)
(calling offstage)
Professor?

THE PROFESSOR OF COMEDY enters, wearing a white lab coat and glasses. He has mussed hair and is carrying a pointer.

PROFESSOR
Let’s apply the Comic Volatility Formula.

An assistant carries in a flip chart with “Cv = I/?T” written on it.

PROFESSOR (cont’d)
I, intensity of tragedy, divided by the square root of T, time in months, equals Cv, the Comic Volatility. When making a joke, a pun, or a parody of a tragic event, the longer one waits, the chances of the funny being accepted are greater.

DAVE
Can you give us an example?

PROFESSOR
Of course. Consider the O.J. Simpson killings.

The PROFESSOR flips to a clean page and writes the example as he speaks.

PROFESSOR (cont’d)
Two people, divided by, oh, sixty months square root of, equals a comic volatility of point two five. That is well under our guideline of one hundred. Very stable. Make the joke.

The PROFESSOR hands the marker to DAVE.

PROFESSOR (cont’d)
You work through the example of the Titanic.

DAVE
Let’s see... fifteen hundred people divided by square root of... nineteen twelve... one thousand eighty months. So that’s... forty-five point six two.

PROFESSOR
Good work. Midrange, but still acceptable. Old people may be offended, but we find ourselves with a good, hearty laugh. Steven, nine eleven ought one.

STEVE
Ummm.... two thousand, eight hundred twenty three, divided by ten months squared...

PROFESSOR
Square root, Steven.

STEVE
Sorry... so that’s.... aw geez. A bit early, huh?

PROFESSOR
Quite.

DAVE
I thought so.

STEVE
Sorry, everyone. Hey, how ‘bout them Crusades?

BLACK OUT.


this work is copyrighted, written in july 2002. anyone care to calculate the comic volatility for the iraq war?

[miloblithe]

excellent post zimv20

[toontra]

I think these kind of "jokes" by GW illustrate perfectly the mind of the man. For him, politics really is a game - see what you can manipulate here and there for your own purposes. Nowhere do I get the sense of a man in public office with the aim of doing good, or he would realize that these attempts at after-dinner humour are deeply unfunny to 95% of the world's people.

"Rat, if you think this is humour then you have gone down in my estimation.

[IJ Reilly]

Calm down everybody, it's just an example of the President's "compassionate comedy" policies.

[Desertrat]

I took the WMD thing to be probably the nearest thing to an admission of "We screwed up." that we'll see. Yall have your own ideas of additional meanings; fine. I disagree with that view. Simple as that.

You've never read any post of mine in any thread where I did any liberal-bashing. I've expressed disagreement with ideas, but I don't bash. Waxman? Sorry, I've read too many of his comments during his career in Congress to have even one iota of respect for him. And it's not because he's a liberal. It's because (Bleep!!!) Dunno do any of you know of U.S. Rep Barbara Jordan from Houston. She was a liberal; happened to be black. I'd have voted for her over many conservatives I've known. She died just way too young. Just her presence added class to any gathering.

As far as humor in political stuff? Hey, when Yahoo news has a headline that the Santa Fe city council is going to consider safety restraints for dogs (and other pets?) in automobiles, it's danged well time to give up taking politics very seriously. The inmates have taken over the asylum, and we've voted them in. I say these inmates are Democrats and Republicans and liberals and conservatives. They're in city councils, state legislatures and the Congress. And governors' mansions and the White House.

To varying degrees they have ultimate power over all of us. All that elections do is change inmates.

Change it? I'd love to. I've been trying to figure out how for a long time. Me and a whole bunch of other folks. So far, so bad.

'Rat

[vwcruisn]

I took the WMD thing to be probably the nearest thing to an admission of "We screwed up." that we'll see. Yall have your own ideas of additional meanings; fine. I disagree with that view. Simple as that.



Additional meanings? you just admitted its (close to) an admission that "we screwed up." So Bush is making a joke about screwing up. Thats fine, but this particular screw up has been at the expense of thousands of lives. Where are the aditional meanings? Im a bit confused. Do you think its ok to joke about a mistake that cost thousands of lives? I dont, and I dont think the families of dead soldiers would either. But hey.. maybe Im wrong.

[zimv20]

Do you think its ok to joke about a mistake that cost thousands of lives? I dont, and I dont think the families of dead soldiers would either. But hey.. maybe Im wrong.
let's find out by applying the comic volatility formula!

Cv = I / (sqrt) T

I = 694 coalition fatalities (http://www.iraqometer.com/)
T = # of months since event

T is open to interpretation, since the conflict is ongoing. for convenience, let's use May 2003 (about 11 months ago), since that's when Mission Accomplished was declared.

so...

Cv = 694 / (sqrt) 11 = 209

that is much higher than 100, which is where the "acceptable" cut-off is.

now let's check it by including more in the value of I (Intensity):
694 coalition soldiers killed, plus
11,000 iraqi soldiers killed, plus
3391 wounded GIs, plus
8800 civilian deaths

(all data from http://www.iraqometer.com/)

Cv = 23,885 / (sqrt) 11 = 7201

yes, definitely too high. so when will the iraq war be funny (i.e. Cv = 100), given the higher value of I and assuming all killing stops immediately?

(sqrt) T = I / Cv = 23,885 / 100 = 238.85
T = 57,049 months = 4,754 years

according to the Comic Volatility Formula, Bush is indeed a little early.

[Neserk]

I think these kind of "jokes" by GW illustrate perfectly the mind of the man. For him, politics really is a game - see what you can manipulate here and there for your own purposes. Nowhere do I get the sense of a man in public office with the aim of doing good, or he would realize that these attempts at after-dinner humour are deeply unfunny to 95% of the world's people.

"Rat, if you think this is humour then you have gone down in my estimation.


He seems to think he is a baseball team owner. Wasn't that his dream?

[vwcruisn]

let's find out by applying the comic volatility formula!

Cv = I / (sqrt) T

I = 694 coalition fatalities (http://www.iraqometer.com/)
T = # of months since event

T is open to interpretation, since the conflict is ongoing. for convenience, let's use May 2003 (about 11 months ago), since that's when Mission Accomplished was declared.

so...

Cv = 694 / (sqrt) 11 = 209

that is much higher than 100, which is where the "acceptable" cut-off is.

now let's check it by including more in the value of I (Intensity):
694 coalition soldiers killed, plus
11,000 iraqi soldiers killed, plus
3391 wounded GIs, plus
8800 civilian deaths

(all data from http://www.iraqometer.com/)

Cv = 23,885 / (sqrt) 11 = 7201

yes, definitely too high. so when will the iraq war be funny (i.e. Cv = 100), given the higher value of I and assuming all killing stops immediately?

(sqrt) T = I / Cv = 23,885 / 100 = 238.85
T = 57,049 months = 4,754 years

according to the Comic Volatility Formula, Bush is indeed a little early.


haha that made my night :p

[Thomas Veil]

Hey, hey, hey...don't criticize our Commander in Chief. After all, he's still looking for WMD.

http://users.adelphia.net/~tjveil/images/shifty.gif

[IJ Reilly]

You've never read any post of mine in any thread where I did any liberal-bashing. I've expressed disagreement with ideas, but I don't bash.

And comparing Ralph Nader to David Duke -- is that not bashing? I fairly begged you to explain this remark, but you chose not to. As to Waxman, how about quoting some of the remarks you think gives you a license to bash him?

[pseudobrit]

Made in 1988 by John Kerry, followed by...

Was Bush shot?

[vwcruisn]

Was Bush shot?

nope... so i dont think that annalogy works, let alone the fact were talking about 1 person (bush, who wasnt killed) vs. thousands that were.

[Opteron]

I think it's traditional for the president to make fun of himself at that dinner but those kind of jokes also make fun of the people that died in Iraq.

Not only that, it also again reduces his credibility. That joke was rather tasteless.

[pseudobrit]

nope... so i dont think that annalogy works, let alone the fact were talking about 1 person (bush, who wasnt killed) vs. thousands that were.

Plus Kerry's joke was funny. 'cause Quale is real dumb.

Bush's joke about himself is funny for the same reason.