Shecky Obama
Michelle Malkin helpfully lists Barack Obama’s misstatements over the last few months.
Move over, President Bush, Obama has been misunderestimated as a malapropist:
The guy’s a perpetual gaffe machine. Let us count the ways, large and small, that his tongue has betrayed him throughout the campaign:
Last May, he claimed that tornadoes in Kansas killed a whopping 10,000 people: “In case you missed it, this week, there was a tragedy in Kansas. Ten thousand people died — an entire town destroyed.” The actual death toll: 12.
Earlier this month in Oregon, he redrew the map of the United States: “Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go.”
Last week, in front of a roaring Sioux Falls, S.D., audience, Obama exulted: “Thank you, Sioux City. … I said it wrong. I’ve been in Iowa for too long. I’m sorry.”
Explaining last week why he was trailing Hillary Clinton in Kentucky, Obama again botched basic geography: “Sen. Clinton, I think, is much better known, coming from a nearby state of Arkansas. So it’s not surprising that she would have an advantage in some of those states in the middle.” On what map is Arkansas closer to Kentucky than Illinois?
Oh all right, one more:
Earlier this month in Cape Girardeau, Mo., Obama showed off his knowledge of the war in Afghanistan by homing in on a lack of translators: “We only have a certain number of them, and if they are all in Iraq, then it’s harder for us to use them in Afghanistan.” The real reason it’s “harder for us to use them” in Afghanistan: Iraqis speak Arabic or Kurdish. The Afghanis speak Pashto, Farsi, or other non-Arabic languages.
Now, go read the rest for yourselves—because you won’t read this stuff anywhere else in the press. “Tiny” Iran, fifty-seven states—it’s all there.
Bob said,
May 21, 2008 @ 2:39 pm
There is a difference between ‘gaffes’ (”Sioux City”) and trying to appear ’smart’ when you don’t know (Kentucky-Arkansas, Afghan-Arabic screw ups). The ‘attempting to appear smart’ when you’re not smart (but have a good speaking voice) is more important. Let’s face it–he doesn’t have the academic background of Hillary, but it’s better than McCains. At least McCain will admit he doesn’t know.
grant coffin said,
May 23, 2008 @ 1:13 am
Bob, do you know that Obama went to the Ivy league schools for his doctorate degrees but you think HRC has a better academic background? And you think he has better schooling than McCain who graduated from the Naval Academy, generally considered to be one of the toughest schools to from which to graduate? We may be witnessing the result of the quota system in college admissions.