Sorry, you can try to sell this, but I ain't buying. Yeah, he's Mr. Malaprop, but if I had a nickel for every time I saw "Muslim" conflated with "Arab" here, I'd have... well, at least fifty nickels. And we're all supposed to be smarter than he is, and we're not speaking off the cuff.
You're really stretching here; it's a common slip, and you know it.
aerocontrols
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He didn't say that Pakistan is Arab.
hgc
Penultimate Amazing
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I think it's a common misunderstanding, through ignorance. I don't know that it's a common slip of the tongue.
But what can I say? I just expect something better from the President of the USA than I do with a bunch of posters on an Internet forum. When he visits a non-Arab country, he ought not to refer to them as Arab.
aerocontrols
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aerocontrols
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McClellan's spin aside, there's absolutely nothing wrong with Bush's original phrase.
If Pakistan becomes prosperous and democratic then it can be a force for freedom and moderation in the Arab world.
McClellan's not spinning in this case. You are.
I'm sure anytime the President mis-speaks there is some interpretation, however broad, that would render it factually correct. Just like when he spoke of catapulting his own propaganda.
As far as "Bushisms" go, this one is very minor. But even when we have the President's press secretary admitting that Bush made a mistake, why the need to defend the malopropism?
aerocontrols
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Well, as long as you're wired directly into the truth of the matter, I guess that settles it.
aerocontrols
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He wasn't speaking off the cuff. He was reading prepared remarks.
Because McClellan has the intelligence of, of, of, well, I can't think of any fauna or even flora I'd want to insult so let's go to the non-photosynthetic Eukaryotes and put him somewhere there.
Hutch
A broken man on a Halifax pier, the last of Barret
If that was the case, I think a bit of proofreading might have been in order.
You are right in an strickly objective sense of what he said-reading it by the numbers, so to speak, but the inference made (and please note the Geography thread for the appallingly high level of ignorance of Americans on where places are) that most folks would pick up on listening is Pakistan = Arabs.
He needs more creative writers or editors.
CapelDodger
Penultimate Amazing
Why, then, did he say Arab? Is he not equally concerned with freedom and moderation in Iran? Or Indonesia? Afghanistan? These are also Muslim countries, which is the only commonality between Pakistan and the Arab world. If he didn't "mis-speak" Arab for Muslim - and his speech-writer didn't mis-write it - what particular influence can he think Pakistan has on the Arab world that it doesn't on the rest of the Muslim world?
1) In the Arab countries (ex-Iraq, of course), we're trying to encourage the governments to change. In Iran, we're trying to encourage the people to change the government. 2) Pakistan, like most of the Arab world, is Sunni, whereas Iran is Shi'ite. The two countries used to be very close, but not so much for a couple decades now in no small part because of that. 3) Indonesia is kind of it's own case - it's already had its democratic revolution (against a secular government -- go figure) and is, we all hope, on its own path to propserity.
I think his remarks were appropriate and there's nothing wrong with them. If he had said something like "the peace pact in Northern Ireland should serve as a source of inspiration to the Israelis and Palestinians" I don't think anyone would accuse him of calling the Israelis Catholic.
CapelDodger
Penultimate Amazing
Presumably because, in the Arab world, the people can't be trusted. The government model is OK, the problem is policy. Pakistan, free and moderate - that's still run by General Musharraf, as I recall. I see your point : a good model for the Arab world but not what the US would like to see in Iran.
More because of rivalry over Aghanistan. Do you really think Bush's speech-writers make such distinctions?
There's no hope for the Javan Empire, I'm afraid. The previous army-led model might turn out to be the better bet from a US standpoint. It used to think so when Commies were the insidious enemy, and Islamism is just as insidious an enemy.
That's an appropriate analogy of nationalist conflicts. Not, to my mind, at all germane.
Sorry, but even I, a noted Bushie-basher, can't go with that one.
I strongly suspect it's to be read in the same sense that the USA is "a significant force in the Far East." It is, but that doesn't make the USA Chinese or Korean.
Looks like he was reading a (poorly) prepared communique.
I strongly suspect it's to be read in the same sense that the USA is "a significant force in the Far East." It is, but that doesn't make the USA Chinese or Korean.
Looks like he was reading a (poorly) prepared communique.
