“I don’t like to sit around in meetings for hours and hours and hours. People will tell you, I get to the point. Meetings should be crisp and should end with decisions. Talking matters less than doing. People who make up Republican White Houses come from the business world and are used to a business-like routine: getting in early, getting it done and going home. Democrats tend to come from the world of government service, which is much more hectic and much less disciplined.”
So this is how we find ourselves in a War we can't win, because our dear leader thinks
"talking matters less than doing." Well deary, had you sat "around in meetings for hours and hours and hours", we might not find ourselves in this situation in Iraq. Buy hey, I guess sending children, men and women to die is no big deal in your world. Nothing to discuss here, just do it.
The second part of his comment is utter arrogance, but I would expect nothing less from an incompetent.
People who make up Republican White Houses come from the business world and are used to a business-like routine: getting in early, getting it done and going home.
Getting it done = running it into the ground.
Posted by ann at March 15, 2006 05:48 AMHopefully they'll fall asleep and never wake up.
Posted by axelgrease at March 15, 2006 06:19 AMI would like to apologize for my language and demeanor yesterday. I'm afraid I fell for the troll bait and lost my temper. I will not allow it to happen again.
Posted by tempus at March 15, 2006 06:21 AMtempus, Happens to the the best of us!
There is always a trigger I've found, a sensitive subject to each one of us.
Make fun of them and keep the humor coming!
Posted by bbtb at March 15, 2006 07:06 AMtempus, no need to apologize. It happens to everyone. The trolls are like pedophiles, they look for the vulnerable (you said you were in a bad mood); that's like a little kid alone on a street corner to them. They're scum, don't give them a second thought.
Posted by iamcoyote at March 15, 2006 07:18 AMOne of Eric Alterman's retired military correspondents had a particularly good description about why accountability matters:
To the general public (and to the non-Sea Services) this is often and sadly a hard concept to grasp, but it is a necessary one for those who are given responsibility for decisions that can make the difference between life and death. After all, the sea is unforgiving. One who is given unique authority over others who falls short of what it takes needs to be removed from doing any more harm than he or she may have already caused. You can delegate responsibility to someone to achieve a particular goal but you, as a Commissioned Officer (or a President), cannot escape the judgment of accountability. For example, when you are given the "con" on a U.S. Navy ship, you are accountable for everything that happens during your watch. No special pleading about conditions that may have existed before your assumption of that position will save you from harsh judgment should you run the ship aground, hazard your vessel unnecessarily or collide with another vessel. You voluntarily took the con and are expected to understand all important conditions prior to assuming command. Without accountability power lacks legitimacy and we are left with official lawlessness and despotism. The Master Chief, of all the writers, should know better and is being disingenuous when he shifts blame for 9/11 and other lapses of judgment and offenses committed by this Administration to previous ones. I fault the 9/11 Commission for the same dishonesty. The 9/11 attack, the cooked evidence for the Iraq invasion, the Katrina debacle, the abuse of power in domestic spying involving hundreds of thousands of Americans with no connection to al-Qaeda, the widespread corruption involving billions of dollars in misappropriated funds all occurred on the watch of this President. Some of these involved unforgivable acts of omission and others were acts of commission involving the abuse of power.
No one forced George W. Bush to be President. He pursued that office and insisted on taking it even when all indications were that such a claim lacked democratic legitimacy. He sought it a second time through artifice and ruthlessness, cynically knowing that the perspective of time and discovery would be too late to stop him from continuing to pursue these acts. The judgment of the President's acts will play out in the political sphere, but there is another concern that I believe it is imperative that we understand. That is, it is time for this standing and institutionalized volunteer military-which increasingly is being manipulated and used as a pawn by economic and political elites through a presumptuous executive branch-be brought back into the fold of democratic government through reform before it is too late and we suddenly realize that we have reason to fear it.
Posted by Mary at March 15, 2006 08:36 AMOh Tempus, no apology needed. The trolls deserve our wrath now and then. Beside, compared to our friend GOW, you were mild.
Posted by Judith at March 15, 2006 08:38 AMBTW, I think we need some more dipshit-purging on a couple of threads. He's come around for his daily irrational ranting.
Posted by ann at March 15, 2006 10:11 AMThank you bbtb, iamcoyote, and Judith for your understanding. It is much appreciated. I made a fool of myself.
Did anyone watch the Daily Show interview with Paul Hackett? Hilarious. A sense of humor is certainly beyond most politicians. Catch it a Crooks and Liars: http://www.crooksandliars.com/
Posted by tempus at March 15, 2006 12:05 PM"at Crooks and Liars". Moron.
Posted by tempus at March 15, 2006 12:07 PM