Brodner's Cartoon du Jour: Naked Campaign #22: Flat Tire of the Day
August 7, 2008
The McCain Gaff-a-Day Express rolls on...on the rims. After handing out tire gauges to mock Obama's reminder to keep tires inflated, McCain admitted that, yes, it is a good way to affect gas mileage. All the king’s consultants can't keep this tube pumped.
Our latest Naked Campaign film globe-trots with Johnny Mac. On a personal note: Headed for Tel Aviv to show these films at the International Animation and Cartoon Festival. I'll have pix when I get back. Meantime, tune in, turn on, draw like mad.
Brodner's Cartoon du Jour Archive
"...a very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq-Pakistan border."
The Non-gaffe:
"And it's not surprising then they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them..."
Personally, I prefer the gaffe. Guess, I am just funny that way.
When I think of McCain I always think of Alexander Haig—not when Haig was a military man but when he served under Ronald Reagan as Secretary of State—a position to which the typical candidate carries a certain sense of refinement, especially in terms of language skills; not necessarily an impressive knowledge of foreign languages but a superior command of the English language. Haig did not fit the bill—he apparently had his own language that popped up at inopportune moments to the embarrassment of the White House, but perhaps more importantly he was not a conceptual thinker—though Haig obviously sees himself as one or at least he did back in the 80’s (given Haig’s age today I am not sure he would even grasp the concept—while McCain might catch the drift but might not be sure whether it was a complement or not.) Still with Haig what comes to mind are his famous Haigisms or Haigledygook and SecretarySpeak (check out Time archives-It’s really great)—like instead of saying he lied Haig would say something like he’d engaged in a “terminological inexactitude” or that that must have been a “tactical misrepresentation”. With Broder’s representation of McCain’s geographical knowledge—I guess in terms of Geography McCain might claim that he’s the true artist in these matters.
But I will lay out these Haigisms and perhaps Broder can conjure up some McCainisms to humor us with—because I can still remember when I read this more than twenty years ago while I was sitting in the Hoff Brau Haus in Germany doubled over in fits of laughter—so much so that the Beer Frau thought I was drunk—which I guess I was but when I showed her what was making me laugh so hard she instantly got me a new beer.
Careful Caution. A repetitious redundancy but preferable to careless caution. Similar to his "longstanding in time."
Caveat. An Al-verb, a victim of the general's verification program, to which resistance is verboten for even the most insolent little noun. As in: "I'll have to caveat my response, Senator."
Contexted. The past tense of Haig's verbicose veins. As in telling Senator John Glenn that his question cannot be answered "in the way you contexted it."
Epistemologicallywise. The only thing less clear than the meaning of this word is how many hyphens it should have.
Exacerbating restraint. A Pushmi-Pullyu, as in expressing the hope that the Soviets would do nothing "to exacerbate the kind of mutual restraint that both sides should pursue."
Menu. Used with careful caution as in:
"In each instance the menu—and I use that term guardedly—of assets available to the West will vary."
Nuanced and nuance-al. As when the secretary of solecism talks of "nuanced and fundamentally sharp departures" and "nuance-al differences."
Posthostage-return attitude. An imploded word cluster that may be the result of reading too many NATO command manuals in German.
Saddle myself with a statistical fence.
A techno-cowboy's metaphor that borders on the kinky.
The very act of definitizing an answer.
A punishable act in most English-speaking countries.
This is not an experience I haven't been through before. Definitely not a non-Haigism.
Doesn’t this way of “thinking” conjure the McCain mentality? Perhaps it’s a military thing?
I took these Haigisms from http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,949069,00.html in case this is problematic. (legal crap and all)
Still it is too bad that Time has lost its color – today when I pick up Time I feel like it’s the American Pravda at least we still have the New Yorker and that does make me happy). Maybe this will change after November? Hope so
As I mentioned in an earlier post, this is Obama's race to loose and he now appears well on his way to doing so.
Too many lawyers running his campaign reeks out from the TV screen and nausiates the average voter. Too many "study groups". Not enough "turkey talk". Its what polluted Kerry and will continue to pollute Demo candidates until they stop being dominated by the large lawyer cartels (maybe never).
I could not agree more...the Dem. candidates are never "themselves"..the voters see through that crap and wonder what kind of leader allows others to manipulate their very basic values in the name of winning. I don't know if they are all lawyers as you state. But they are quote-unquote professionals.
If Gore was himself in 2000-he wins.
If Kerry was himself in '04-he wins.
If Obama is himself, speaks from the heart, and stops listening to these hacks....he wins.
Thank you. (You may be the only person in months of vigorious blogging who publically agreed with me).
These 'advisors' are not all lawyers. They are mostly lawyers with legal networks that raise big fists of large checks. They handle the American public as if we are a court-room jury rather then a family. While these "study groups" are generally quite accurate, the professional pundits neglect to realize that while they may be picking up new supporters with theyr morphing positions, they are also loosing old supporters (who may never come back). The new supporters may also leave later-on, when the opponent does his own study-grouped morphing. Its similar to two married men, both competing over the same single woman. At best, only one will win her, at worst--neither will and both may loose their respective wives in the process.