Most Terrifying Quote of the Day
“President Clinton is, arguably, the greatest political talent in a generation. [It was] incredible ... to see how effective he was in communicating with people. In 1992, I truly felt as if I was part of something much bigger than myself. (As for Gore, we) probably won Florida and still did not win the election, many of us were left feeling a bit unfulfilled. I like to say we didn’t lose—we just didn’t win. Politics and government are my professional love and passion. Soon enough I will be ‘tanned, rested and ready.’ To quote two Republican icons, General Douglas MacArthur and Arnold Schwarzenegger, ‘I’ll be back.’”
--Chris Lehane
Published online 10-22-2001 11:24:45
©2001 The Amherst Student
Reassuring Quote of the Day
``Our goal is not to demystify things for the other side. The goal is to confuse. It is to make more difficult. It is to add cost. It is to frighten. And it is to defeat the Taliban and the Al Qaeda.''
--Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
Rummy reacts to press query as to why some pot-bellied journalist with a
computer couldn't join the jump into Afghanistan with the Rangers.
Dan, The News Man, Soldiers On: Even with a Dunkin' Donuts dusting of deadly Anthrax spores around the office, Dan Rather isn't afraid. He and his staff are showing up, blowing off their keyboards and setting an example. Why, Dan isn't even being tested himself. This guy is tough.
Never Again: Yesterday we mentioned how much we liked the AC-130 gun ship being used in Afghanistan. We reproduced an E mail that had some inaccurate descriptions of that mighty weapon. This taught us that seemingly half of our Ldotters are not only vets but smart ones. We now know more about the AC-130 gunship than Rummy Rumsfeld. From now on we'll just call the big things - big 'ol airplanes that go boom, splat, kapow! Any more mention of ordinance will be set in chick terms, it's safer.
The Real Digital Divide: Again this morning, the news is heavy with the fog of anthrax. Thankfully, John Podhoretz has a quietly reasoned overview for us. What is far less quieting is the word that most of the government run health facilities throughout the country don't even have Internet connections that would permit them to share basic emergency health information with the CDC. Anthrax doesn't make us hysterical - ignorance does.
Dissing Hill, Hissing Hill: For those who missed the early reports of Hillary's humiliation at Madison Square Garden Saturday night (some time after an energized cop leaped to the stage and told binLaden to "kiss my royal Irish" rear) -Greg Pierce recounts the moment in the Washington Times.
An Ldotter E mailing from Germany wrote that when they played the clip on German TV they turned down the roar of the booing crowd. This left Hillary standing on stage screaming her head off and no way for German viewers to figure out why. We smiled.
Wuss Alert: Like church and state, we feel the other guy's religion and our war should remain separate. As political Muslims keep warning how dreadful it would be for us to bomb during Ramadan, we thought we'd remind them that not a few people the killed in NY may have just come from mass. They may have had some Christmas plans. Their kids may have been planning a confirmation or bar mitzvah soon. And while we're at it, someone might remind them of something called the Yom Kippur war. Why should we honor their "religion" when their mass murders dishonor it so completely? We say boom, splat, kapow relentlessly until the job is done.
Your Royal Irish LComStaff
-- Anonymous, October 23, 2001