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'Just a Comma' Becomes Part of Iraq Debate

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hnumpah:

--- Quote ---Could the statement that President Bush actually made be presented in its actual context?
--- End quote ---

You could probably go to the White House web site and read the speeches he gave using that quote, since they mentioned he used it several times in different speeches lately.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/

Plane:

--- Quote from: hnumpah on October 05, 2006, 04:50:52 PM ---
--- Quote ---Could the statement that President Bush actually made be presented in its actual context?
--- End quote ---

You could probably go to the White House web site and read the speeches he gave using that quote, since they mentioned he used it several times in different speeches lately.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/

--- End quote ---

Good idea,
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As for the comma. This has been brewed around; Peter had a word or two to say about it today. The comma refers to the period of time between last year's election and today. We're talking about -- well, the President is making the point is, when you look at a history book, a 10-month period is a comma. Now, some people have tried to say, how dare the President refer to this as a comma; he's being glib about the deaths of Americans. That's outrageous, and the people who say that know it. What they're trying to is, willingly or not, wrench a statement out of context and try to use that as an opportunity to accuse a President who is deeply aware of the human cost of war of being calloused about those costs. It's just not true.

And I've talked to him about this a number of times. It was simply -- what he means is that in the grand sweep of history, 10 months is not an epic. Now, there is -- if there is a chasm in here it has to do with what the President said and the way it's been twisted by people who know what the context was.

Q The war is three-and-a-half years old.

MR. SNOW: I know, but notice that "comma" reference was simply referring to the time since -- what he really is referring to is the short lifetime so far of the government. Everybody trying to say, ah-ha, and trying to draw conclusions, is it working, isn't it working; do you have confidence in the Prime Minister, do you not? It's 10 months old. It's a government that is still in its infancy and trying to deal with a host of complex and very important issues. So when you take it in the broad sweep of history, and as we look back -- you and I probably -- well, you may, centuries from now, but I don't think I'm going to last as long as you will, Helen -- but the facts is --

Q Tough. (Laughter.)

MR. SNOW: Yes, probably. But if you look in the broad sweep of history, that will be seen as a comma. That small beginning of a new government -- that's what he's referring to. He's not talking about the war as a comma.

Q But isn't that 10-month period significant only because, in fact, the violence has been so terrible? I mean, the reason we're talking about that time period is the trauma that's going on in Iraq.

MR. SNOW: No, it's significant, Peter, because it is the dawning of a new government. And if you take a look, the violence is a factor. We've been saying for some time that we expected it to spike up, but also you have a number of things that are going on that are very important. You probably saw yesterday they demobilized a police unit in Iraq because of suspicion that they've been working with militias in committing acts of terror. That was one of the things that we have talked about, the importance of getting control of the police, having assertiveness on the part of a national government to make sure that you had all the institutions working toward the benefit of the people.

So there are a number of things that have been going on that you would expect at the beginning of a government. It's being tested, and furthermore, as the 90-10 document -- that is the Pentagon's quarterly paper -- noted back in May -- this was the one that Bob Woodward cites -- that the bulk of the violence right now, you have some sectarian violence and you also have a fair amount, although it's a small wedge of people, of al Qaeda and other terrorists who are trying to inflict maximum damage. That's to be expected.

But on the other hand, what you also see are concerted efforts to create a sense of national reconciliation so that especially those who are involved -- the so-called rejectionists, people who have so far rejected an invitation into government, will, in fact, decide that it's in their interest to be part of a political approach to putting together a unified and peaceful Iraq.

Q The President's statement was open to misinterpretation, let's say. Why did he use it a couple more times after he first did and people reacted --

MR. SNOW: Because he didn't think he had --

Q Why wouldn't he want to avoid any misunderstanding on something so obviously --

MR. SNOW: Maybe he didn't think that people were going to be -- were going to spend so much time trying to twist it out of context. But I'm pleased to have been able to place it in context.

hnumpah:
That wasn't from any of Bush's speeches showing how he used the reference in context, that was Tony Snowjob at a press briefing trying to explain it away.

Plane:

--- Quote from: hnumpah on October 06, 2006, 08:43:23 PM ---That wasn't from any of Bush's speeches showing how he used the reference in context, that was Tony Snowjob at a press briefing trying to explain it away.

--- End quote ---



I never see President Bush quoted in Context.

I think that is strictly against the rules .

Whatever he really means is less important than what improvements can be made to what he says.

hnumpah:

--- Quote ---I never see President Bush quoted in Context.
--- End quote ---

Oh, come on, Plane, all you have to do is look.

This is from the Remarks by the President at Richard Pombo for Congress Breakfast, Stockton Memorial Civic Auditorium, Stockton, California speech listed on the White House web site:

"You know, it must seem like an eternity to you, when you think about those elections last December. It certainly does to me, in some ways. Ultimately, when this chapter of history will be written, however, it's going to be a comma -- the Iraqis voted, comma, and the United States of America understood that Iraq was a central front in the war on terror and helped this young democracy flourish so that a generation of Americans wouldn't have to worry about the extremists emanating from that country to hurt the American people."

Or you could check out the CNN transcript of the interview with Wolf Blitzer on 24 September:

--- Quote ---(from the article)
Bush used it in an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer aired on Sept. 24 in talking about Iraq.
--- End quote ---

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