Alden Pyle
By John Amato Wednesday Aug 22, 2007 5:06pmI pointed out Bush's Graham Greene reference yesterday. This should prove Bush doesn't read much and neither do his speechwriters. And here too...
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Hunter, over at Kos has a great essay on this.
What a lazy, ignorant little man
Sequel to "The Quiet American"--
"The Worst American President"
Bush has a lot of nerve to invoke Vietnam.....
Just exactly where in the hell was he during the Vietnam era?...
ticktock @ 4:
Going AWOL from the Guard (which his daddy got him into) after getting bounced out of flight school for being a cokehead. Just what you'd expect from such a strong committed leader.
ticktock @ 4:
Protecting Texas from the threat of a Tex Mex Viet Cong surprise attack. The fact that nothing happened is a testament to the efficiency of the service of our glorious leader. Such an ingrate bunch of assholes us liberals are... forgive us, oh great defender of freedom! Without you South Texas would be speaking Vietnamese!
Hilarious, isn't it. Has any human being in history ever "not gotten it" to this magnitude?
The inclusion of these references in the latest Bush speech seem to indicate that at least one of his speechwriters is a closet liberal. He or she obviously wanted to include an open code that would be easily understood by people who can read, but completely missed by conservatives.
If the President's misuse of the lessons of Vietnam sounds familiar, it should. After all, just last week 2008 Republican White House frontrunner Rudy Giuliani said virtually the same thing.
For the details, see:
"Bush, Giuliani Agree on Iraq-Vietnam Parallels."
I'm surprised Busholini didn't refer to "Gomer" Pyle!
I'm beginning to suspect he didn't read "My Pet Goat" to that class at all.
Has anyone checked the transcript to make sure he was actually reading and not making up his own version?
It could very well be that he can't read at all. Which would explain a lot of things.
A truism pulled from William Fulbright's "The Crippled Giant":
We could only hope for such a pragmatic government...
Loonie @ 7:
Maybe Louis XVI, who by all accounts still thought he was being taken to a surprise party as he walked blindfolded towards the guillotine stand.
I am embarrassed for bush... I am not sympathetic... just embarrassed for that indurate little feller who was placed upon that TALL fence post so long ago by powers MUCH larger than he... what a horrible time in the history of this nation this last 7 years have been.
Jeez, I almost feel guilty laughing at him.
Couldn't he at least have rented the movie?
I hope he quotes from Bugs Bunny pretty soon.
What a maroon. Him & his friends of pesky varmints.
MeMyselfAndI @ 13:
OMG; is that for real?
SURPRISE!!
BTW-I can hear Rove and the speechwriters now:
"But I've never read Greene's book. I caught 15 minutes of the film on a flight once."
"Who cares? Didn't you see the polls last week? Nobody reads books!"
"Yeah, besides, if they'll believe Kerry was never in Vietnam, Iraq was behind 9/11, and McCain had a black prostitute, certainly they'll buy this."
Stupid is as stupid does.
Compared to Bush, Forrest Gump is a rocket scientist.
Dipsychus
by Arthur Clough (British, 1819-61)
I drive through the street, and I care not a damn,
The people they stare, and they ask who I am;
And if I should chance to run over a cad
I can pay for the damage, if ever so bad.
So pleasant it is to have money, heigh ho!
So pleasant it is to have money.
-quoted in Graham Greene
The Quiet American (1955), pp. 231-2.
I find it interesting that your president is quoting graham greene. I doubt he ever read the book, it doesn't have pictures.
First of all, Bush didn't include this in his speech, someone else did. Bush isn't bright enough to write a thank-you note, let alone a speech.
I'm guessing that Rove thought it would be a good idea to take an anti-war icon and flip the script to use their words as a defense of the war. Attack your opponent's strength is classic Turdblossom.
But whoever wrote the speech never actually read the book. Cliiff notes, Wikipedia, maybe a quick skim for quotes, but not a careful, thoughtful reading.
But the strategy of attacking your opponent's strength doesn't work if they do more than moan and lay there.
Bush is Abig Pyle.
Oh, man!
Our president is dumb. Even his speech writers are stupid.
Perhaps he was meaning to make a reference to Gomer Pyle, USMC.
It's possible.
(Rubbing eyes in disbelief...)
Did he REALLY just quote the line: "I never knew a man who had better motives for all the trouble he caused."???
Mugsy @ 24:
Oh yeah. Just follow the 'full transcript' link to whitehouse.gov on the post yesterday's reference.
I read in a review of the movie with Michael Caine that the movie option for Graham's novel had been bought up by a right winger, and that in the old original movie the CIA guy was the hero. Maybe the Bush (or his writer) saw that movie.
The President should stick to quoting "The Little Engine That Could."
Bush talking about Alden Pyle reminds me of the time Edwin Meese, as St. Ronald the Reagan's Attorney General, responded to criticism that compared him to Ebenezer Scrooge by holding a press conference where he ACTUALLY DEFENDED EBENEZER SCROOGE. Apparently in wingnut land, Bob Cratchit was just a whiner, and Scrooge was a wonderful employer. I'll bet that Librul liar "Dickens" made up that stuff about Tiny Tim too!
God Bless Us, Every One!
I picked up on this like it was a lightening rod. Bush quoting Greene? Sure. Every time they put literary allusions in his speeches, it's a red flag to remind educated people of how truly dumb he is...and, the paradox...how he remained so after years of excellent schooling. - real impressed with his knowledge of military history, too. And, did anyone else note that his faux cracker accent was on full display? On some, maybe subconcious level, he decided that this audience would respond to a lot of Ya'alls and Nook-yoo-lers and, the sad part: They probably did.
I can't decide if this is just stupidity, that the meaning of the book was missed altogether, or if it is condescension. If you are counting on people not being terribly bright themselves, or not being readers in general, you can get away with this. The Quiet American probably has just enough name recognition that most people have at least heard of it, but not so well known that most everybody would get how misguided the comparison is. After all, it isn't in Oprah's book club.
Somebody mentioned the possibility that it was actually inserted as a prank by a clever speech writer. If you can count on other people at the WH to have not read it, or have missed its meaning, it is so brilliantly wry as to make me shed a tear. A masterful stroke. Who would take the time to cull Western literature for just the right mixture of obscurity and appropriateness to twist its meaning in Bush's mouth and make him appear even more of a fool than he probably is, while giving him the idea he is erudite and worldly? I certainly hope someone is playing a very subtle, delicious joke on that stupid clod.
Read the second volume of Graham Greene's autobiography "Ways of Escape". He describes his travels in the fifties and sixties and touches on American imperialism around the world.
http://www.amazon.com/Ways-Escape-Graham-Greene/dp/0099282593/ref=sr_1_2...
GMB @ 30:
You nailed it, my exact take on this superb "prank." Taking this even further, I see it as the first sign that the "handlers" have recognized bushslut as a true liability, and will soon be dispensing with him. I always said that when he ceased being their "useful idiot" they would (and they will) wash their hands of him.
What I absolutely expect is that his own camp will have him "offed," so they blame it on their ""enemies." At which time the full-blown cheneyslut fascist repression shifts into high gear. Beware...the emperor finally has no clothes AND his puppet-masters know it. The problem for us is: what are THEY going to do (to him) about it, and how will it further THEIR evil aims?
Thanks for the links; good stuff.
This is why Bush doesn't like all that "book stuff" ... it just gets him inta trouble!!
I had Pyles once.
But then I got better.
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