Hell, I watched him make this comment and understood his meaning full well. The author of this article is the one that looks like an idiot. What President Bush said was a compliment and a very high one at that, about Mandela.
Posted on 09/21/2007 9:15:35 PM PDT by paulat
Mandela still alive after embarrassing Bush remark Fri Sep 21, 8:15 AM ET
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Nelson Mandela is still very much alive despite an embarrassing gaffe by U.S. President George W. Bush, who alluded to the former South African leader's death in an attempt to explain sectarian violence in Iraq.
"It's out there. All we can do is reassure people, especially South Africans, that President Mandela is alive," Achmat Dangor, chief executive officer of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, said as Bush's comments received worldwide coverage.
In a speech defending his administration's Iraq policy, Bush said former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's brutality had made it impossible for a unifying leader to emerge and stop the sectarian violence that has engulfed the Middle Eastern nation.
"I heard somebody say, Where's Mandela?' Well, Mandela's dead because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas," Bush, who has a reputation for verbal faux pas, said in a press conference in Washington on Thursday.
Jailed for 27 years for fighting white minority rule, Mandela became South Africa's first black president in 1994. He won a Nobel Peace Prize for preaching racial harmony and guiding the nation peacefully into the post-apartheid era.
References to his death -- Mandela is now 89 and increasingly frail -- are seen as insensitive in South Africa.
One must be pretty dense not to understand what he meant.
So, what did President Bush actually say? Here’s the quote in context, from the White House transcript:
Part of the reason why there is not this instant democracy in Iraq is because people are still recovering from Saddam Hussein’s brutal rule. I thought an interesting comment was made when somebody said to me, I heard somebody say, where’s Mandela? Well, Mandela is dead, because Saddam Hussein killed all the Mandelas. He was a brutal tyrant that divided people up and split families, and people are recovering from this. So there’s a psychological recovery that is taking place. And it’s hard work for them. And I understand it’s hard work for them. Having said that, I’m not going the give them a pass when it comes to the central government’s reconciliation efforts.
In this context, it is clear that the literal meaning of “Where’s Mandela?” is “Where is the Iraqi who will play the role in his country that Mandela played in postapartheid South Africa?” This was a pithy metaphor, not an “embarrassing gaffe.”
Now, how did Reuters get the story wrong? There are, it seems to us, three explanations:
Stupidity. The reporter was so bone-headedly literal-minded that he simply did not understand the rhetorical device Bush was employing.
Laziness. The reporter wasn’t actually at the press conference and didn’t bother to check the context of the quote.
Dishonesty. The reporter knew full well that Bush was speaking metaphorically and deliberately twisted his meaning in order to fit the stereotype that Bush “has a reputation for verbal faux pas.”
Reuters is beyond disgraceful. Why don’t they just come right out and admit that they wish the US were a Soviet-style socialist republic, completely subservient to the UN, and that George W Bush had never been elected President.
The MSM is so pathetic and dumb it boggles the mind.....To any person with a 5th grade education, completely understood what GWB was saying / implying.
There was no mistake or "embarrassing remarks" here by GWB. It is the MSM who should be embarrassed that they can't follow simple language.
Hell, I watched him make this comment and understood his meaning full well. The author of this article is the one that looks like an idiot. What President Bush said was a compliment and a very high one at that, about Mandela.
My vote.
Absolutely...I can just see the headlines tomorrow:
Bush declares Mandela dead!
This one has been on FR about 10 times today!
LOL, it gets harder and harder to distinguish between Reuters and Scrappleface, except that Scrappleface is comical on purpose.
I did a search on the title for Mandela and saw nothing...what are you seeing?
I hate when the MSM is this way. I hope everyone gave it one star. Wish there was a comment section there too lol
I have read about this on other sites, mostly conservative, and on many, the site’s resident lefty moonbat would agree with the Reuters article, that President Bush had said that, and meant that.
I blame the publik skoolz.
Stupidity. The reporter was so bone-headedly literal-minded that he simply did not understand the rhetorical device Bush was employing.
Laziness. The reporter wasn’t actually at the press conference and didn’t bother to check the context of the quote.
Dishonesty. The reporter knew full well that Bush was speaking metaphorically and deliberately twisted his meaning in order to fit the stereotype that Bush “has a reputation for verbal faux pas.”
Excellent analysis.
Personally, my money is on #3. But basically, those are the possibilities.
I'm not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree, but I got it.
A Reuters guy called me recently for a repair on his laptop. It was all I could do not to broil him over the phone. What a biased, fraudulent organization.
I hope somewhere...some Reuters editor is going to start to sweat and say, “Maybe we should not have run this this way....”
What IDIOTS!
That alone shows that any "misunderstanding" of this comment is entirely invented.
I'm all for criticizing Bush's frequent misstatements, but come on.
Some news agency did something similar within the past couple of weeks, about Bush's visit to Australia, saying he made a bunch of "blunders". Chief among them was he started to go off the stage in one direction and was directed to go the other way.
When Bill Clinton was president, every event was a celebration, every speech perfect, every step flawless. No editing involved, of course.
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