Politics and the English Language, Take 5,271,009
Apparently Wolf Blitzer introduced a segment with this query . . .
Now, with two U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups in the region, is there a growing chance the United States could find itself at war with Iran?
“Find itself” at war with Iran? Like, “ZOMFG, all of a sudden I’m bombing another country! And all I did was laboriously position assets in strike range and launch them! WTF?????“
« « (Update) U.S.: It is “Not Helpful” to Raise the Issues of Torture or Black Prisons | Main | That Radical Doherty » »
Comment by Thoreau —
February 28, 2007 @ 9:38 pm
Aw, man, I hate it when I inadvertently drop a bomb on somebody!
Comment by Mona —
February 28, 2007 @ 9:45 pm
“So, like Mom, I just totally found myself pregnant, and like, it is just so bogus, to the max.”
Comment by Leonard —
February 28, 2007 @ 10:13 pm
I guess this could be dubbed the “once in a lifetime” theory of imperialism.
Comment by Jim Henley —
February 28, 2007 @ 10:32 pm
THIS is not my beautiful war!
Comment by Fraud Guy —
February 28, 2007 @ 10:48 pm
To quote the living celebrity who is distracting people from issues like this: “oops, I did it again.”
Comment by Thoreau —
February 28, 2007 @ 11:29 pm
Maybe we’ll have a virgin war: Nobody did anything to create it, it just happened.
Comment by Brett —
February 28, 2007 @ 11:54 pm
I particularly like Jim’s use of ZOMFG.
Comment by Leonard —
February 28, 2007 @ 11:57 pm
There is precedent, as always, in a Lincoln misquote! From the 2nd inaugural:
“Both parties deprecate war, but one of them would make war rather than let imperialism survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.”
Comment by Steve —
March 1, 2007 @ 12:18 am
There is precedent, as always, in a Lincoln misquote!
Bester would seem more apposite, given the post title. Millions for defense, but not one cent for survival! All reet, all reet!
Comment by Eric the .5b —
March 1, 2007 @ 12:27 am
Funny, that sounded completely reasonable to me. “With the Administration prepping to go to war, are the rest of us going to get dragged along into it?”
Comment by mtraven —
March 1, 2007 @ 12:43 am
It makes sense if you take it as given that the government is not equated to the people or country, which I presume is not a foreign sentiment here. We the country will find ourselves at war because they the government dragged us into it.
It’s a very interesting question how much responsibility We have for what They do, given that We sort of elected Them.
Comment by Leo —
March 1, 2007 @ 12:49 am
Hmm, Odd, I sort of thought Iran has been at war with us for 30 some odd years.
Comment by josephdietrich —
March 1, 2007 @ 5:55 am
There I was, mindin’ my own business, just floatin’ around in the Persian Gulf and the Straights of Hormuz, and BAM! Out of nowhere my attack aircraft get launched on thousands of sorties into Iran. I mean, I had no idea something like that could happen!
Comment by ajay —
March 1, 2007 @ 6:41 am
Well, you were wrong, Leo.
Comment by Alex —
March 1, 2007 @ 7:19 am
I hate to say it, but when two navies and air forces are sailing around each other in a patch of sea the size of a phone box, there are plenty of things that can go wrong.
Usually there are arrangements made to deal with this…
Comment by Jon H —
March 1, 2007 @ 8:22 am
It’s the geopolitical version of the Onion’s “Why Do All These Homosexuals Keep Sucking My Cock? “
Comment by Barry —
March 1, 2007 @ 10:00 am
Comment by Alex —
“I hate to say it, but when two navies and air forces are sailing around each other in a patch of sea the size of a phone box, there are plenty of things that can go wrong.
Usually there are arrangements made to deal with this… ”
The idea, Alex, is that Bush/Cheney ain’t accidentally moving naval forces into that ‘phone box’; they’re being beefed up quite deliberately, to start a war.