Friday, April 26, 2013

Swedish army.

I've read a lot about W.'s intellectual shortcomings, but somehow missed this anecdote.

One congressman -- the Hungarian-born Tom Lantos, a Democrat from California and the only Holocaust survivor in Congress -- mentioned that the Scandinavian countries were viewed more positively. Lantos went on to describe for the president how the Swedish Army might be an ideal candidate to anchor a small peacekeeping force on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Sweden has a well-trained force of about 25,000. The president looked at him appraisingly, several people in the room recall. 
''I don't know why you're talking about Sweden,'' Bush said. ''They're the neutral one. They don't have an army.'' 
Lantos paused, a little shocked, and offered a gentlemanly reply: ''Mr. President, you may have thought that I said Switzerland. They're the ones that are historically neutral, without an army.'' Then Lantos mentioned, in a gracious aside, that the Swiss do have a tough national guard to
protect the country in the event of invasion. 
Bush held to his view. ''No, no, it's Sweden that has no army.''
The ignorance on display is pretty amazing here -- but it's the blustery self-confidence despite his wrongness that's galling.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bush was famous for his "incorrectability" long before he became president. He'd stick to his guns no matter how wrong he was, no matter what proof you offered, and no matter how foreseeable the disastrous outcome would be.

Anonymous said...

IOW, typical wingnut mindset. Leading the brethren by example.

willf said...

You're still galled by sh!t the last president did?

Damn it'll be entertaining when you get around to being mad at Obama in 2021.

mw said...

"They're the neutral one," is a subtle little tell. It's exactly the way a grade school student studying for a test would have phrased it. And Bush let slip with this sort of tell a lot. It was pretty clear that he actually was being schooled about remedial topics behind the scenes. ...and then getting all wrong during the pop quiz.

Charles Giacometti said...

Classic behavior of a dry drunk--belligerence even in the face of facts.

Amazing we survived that fucking doofus.

jim said...

Every reputable inside story puts W. in the same role he had in his salad days: a loud, brutal, vulgar & rabidly enthusiastic cheerleader.

Rah rah r-UH-OH.