Thank you Mwaulmiu….

Far be it from me to interrupt you if you’re making a mistake…

p. anthony allen is “appauled” by George Bush’s jest, and I am “appauled” by the fuzzy thinking of p. anthony allen (not to mention how “appauled” I am at his spelling).

At any rate – was the Messiah jesting when He said ICE agents were “terrorizing” people? Or is this another case of Him taking a position that He does not really believe in (like Iraq, public campaign financing, FISA, gun control, etc.)?

But, if you prefer to believe that I am slow, have a field day.

I believe I understood your words quite well. I respect the fact that when you mask a word by referring to “it’s connotative meaning” that you are shifting into weasel word mode.

Obama is certainly respected by all ICE agents for his rhetoric. And the New Yorker cover is just a cartoon and only idiots don’t see the satire. And Pennsylvania is full of people clinging to their guns and their funky religion. It is all so, well, subject to the connotative meaning.

Can’t we all just be sophisticated?

When President Elect George W. Bush met with congressional leaders in Dec. 2000 he quipped; “If this were a dictatorship, it’d be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I’m the dictator.” A few years later while sitting in the Oval office he repeated a similar line.

Was I appauled that a U.S. president would say such a thing? Quite frankly, yes! Is it inappropriate for a president of a free and democratic society to refer to himself as a dictator? In my opinion, yes! As president elect, was it a “good place for him to start” when it came to dealing with the opposition parties in the congress? If I were an Independent or Democrat in congress I’d want to know if he was “for real”!

Finally, were such “words” so damning that you or I should worry ourselves about his ablilities to effectively run and care for our country? In my opinion, NO! Frankly, I saw Bush as just another politician “speaking through the jawbone of an ass.”

Remember when Bush said he wanted bin Laden dead or alive? It was deemed inappropriate talk for a President.

Well, saying ICE is “terrorizing” or American troops terrorize women and children in the dead of night is not a good way to take over ICE and the military as President.

Obama, if elected, will have to work with these people. Having their respect is a good place to start.

Sampson slew the Philistines with the jawbone of an ass. Presidential candidates should not be seen as speaking through the jawbone of an ass.

The irony is that, no matter what candidate you support, if he or she makes a statement that the opposition views as a “gaffe”, supporter will do what supporters do…support! The opposition will do what the opposition does…oppose!

La Shawn is a smart woman. I believe she knew the question would spark a bit of heated debate. A lawyer friend once told me, “in a debate, never ask a question that you don’t know the answer to.”

I wonder what Senator Obama would think if someone wrote that his white granny “terrorized” him with her ignorance and bigotry.

Hopefully he’d say, “well, that’s not quite what she did, though her words were quite hurtful..”.

Hopefully…

Words…things you often cannot take back.

Do a Google news search on the word and you’ll find that besides the hyperbolic usage (banks terrorizing Wall Street, for instance), the word tends to be directly related to causing someone fear of severe injury or death. This is how most people understand the word. Using it to describe the actions of ICE, who certainly do not regularly kill people in their raids, is irresponsible for someone who’s words would carry as much weight as the President of the US.

We have done exactly the same thing with the word “torture.”

Why couldn’t Obama chosen to say that ICE “scares” people. I am sure someone hiding from the law gets scared when the law shows up. But when ICE “terrorizes” people it is on a whole different level of emotional impact. If ICE cuffs the “victim” is that “torture?” And is the person cuffed by ICE a “victim” of a torturing, terroristic organization or is he a “victim” of his own poor choices?