Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly.
He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
But Italy re-elected Berlusconi, again by a very slim margin. Now that he’s in office, the legislature is giving him what he wants, just like our Congress does for Cheney/Bush.
I thought it was only France that hated the US and therefore was the bete noire of the Republican party during our approach to the Iraq invasion. Well you know how it turned out. Frankly, ever since I have missed good cruisants in the US. Maybe they will come back when Obama is elected pres.
I love how these CIA-spread myths end up as the gospel truth, when they are nothing of the sort. Even Keith Olbermann fell for this one.
No, Kennedy did not say he was a donut.
He said, “Eich bin ein Berliner.” And if you look up Berliner in a German dictionary, you will find that while donut is one meaning, the other meaning, the one Kennedy was obviously saying, is this:
“to be born in Berlin; to be a native Berliner; to be Berlin-born”
I am never surprised to hear the ignorant say Kennedy said this “wrong,” when he didn’t. But my heart sank when good ol’ Keith Olbermann fell for the disinformation. Wow. I guess if a few people say it, it’s suddenly true, eh?
Will all of you reading this please help spread the TRUTH about what Kennedy said? No doubt this will come up in the next few days as Obama prepares his own version of such a speech.
Yeah – Kennedy was one of the most literate, intelligent presidents we ever had. No way his advisors would let him make such a silly gaffe. But of course, it was no gaffe. And yeah – it just goes to show how easily ANY of us can be fooled!
What’s the context behind this? Keith often reports things that he knows to be absurd or ironic with that mocking smile he conjures up sometimes; was this one of those moments?
This reminds me of a joke I once heard a German comedian tell.
“My mother was from Frankfurt, and my father was from Hamburg. This makes me both a Frankfurter and a Hamburger.”
If it was a joke, it was very badly delivered for Olbermann. I got the impression he believed it. And he’s usually got great comic timing. Nah – I think he fell for this one. And he’s far from the only one.
I remember that at the time that my German teacher said the proper usage was “Ich bin Berliner”. Adding the “ein” changed the usage to that of a profession. i.e. Ich bin ein Zimmermann (I am a carpenter) vs “Ich bin Zimmermann” (I am Carpenter {the name}).
Same here. The first time I heard it was from Keith. At the time I thought he was making one of his “let’s play oddball” jokes, but it fell flat with me. I’ve heard the speech and I know what JFK said and what he meant.
I have seen the video of JFK delivering that speech. It was powerful and moving, and there was absolutely no doubt about what he said or what he meant.
Two thousand years ago — Two thousand years ago, the proudest boast was “civis Romanus sum.”¹ Today, in the world of freedom, the proudest boast is “Ich bin ein Berliner.”
Freedom is indivisible, and when one man is enslaved, all are not free. When all are free, then we look — can look forward to that day when this city will be joined as one and this country and this great Continent of Europe in a peaceful and hopeful globe. When that day finally comes, as it will, the people of West Berlin can take sober satisfaction in the fact that they were in the front lines for almost two decades.
All — All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin.
And, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words “Ich bin ein Berliner.”
I call bullshit on that whole “I am a donut” thing. Sounds like something that might have come out of one of the fascist thinktanks to sully and diminish the record and reputation of a great man.
I don’t know where Keith got it, or what his intentions were in airing it on Countdown. I want to be charitable given his long running habit of speaking truth to power and puncturing reich wing talking points, but I call bullshit on that reprehensible attempt to rewrite history, no matter where or by whom.
Pardon my French. I’m an Okie. I call ’em like I see ’em.
on July 22, 2008 at 11:52 pm
First assassination. Then character assassination.
Exactly. The posthumuous assassination of Kennedy bothers me almost more than the physical one. Wasn’t it enough that they robbed him of the rest of his life and us of one of the few really decent leaders we’ve had?
.
US leadership doesn’t give two shits what the rest of the world thinks … some 6,407,000,000 human beings.
Must me the main reason isolationism is a good thing for everyone. So please refrain from invasion, occupation and nation ‘rebuilding’ in the 21th century.
The masses, which includes you and me, don’t count for anything in any world leader’s mind. They’re gonna play their games and have their intrigues. No one France cares what I think of Sarkozy. No one in Venezuela gives two shit what I think of Chavez. We all have to live under the dunces that get the power of our respective countries. Yes, some leaders are slightly better than others, but let’s not pretend that our wishes are going to be or ever been presented by our president.
Europe has social democracy, obviously here in the US, we do not.
But let’s not assume that the Obama/McShame race is 50/50, the US Media wants us to think that, that this is a squeeker, that it’s razor-thin margins determining the next president. Of course they want us to believe that, it increases ad rates and it also makes it A LOT EASIER to steal the election AGAIN.
They don’t like to harp on it, but it seems Obama is what, 6-10 points or more ahead of McBam-Bam.
The President’s folks didn’t let the press in, but we got some exclusive video of POTUS talking up a storm at Pete Olson’s fundraiser on July 18th. Click and take a look. transcript below the video.
It is uncertain, there’s no question about it.
Wall Street got drunk, it got drunk, (it’s one of the reasons I asked you to turn off your tv cameras.) It got drunk and now it’s got a hangover. The question is how long will it sober up, and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments.
And now we got a housing issue, not in Houston, and evidently, not in Dallas, because Laura was over there trying to buy a house today. (laugher.. Crawford!)
I like Crawford, unfortunately after eight years of asking her to sacrifice, I’m now no longer the decision maker. She’ll be deciding, thanks for the suggestion! I suggest you don’t yell it out when she’s here. Later, telling her “Hey honey, we’ve been on government pay now for 14 years… so go slow!”
It’s uh.. caused me to lose my train of thought. Anyway.
watch it while it’s still up, the utube vids already been pulled, and listen to the haves and have mores get a good laugh…ha, ha, ha….worthless sob.
Millions of Europeans can’t be wrong.
They might not be this time, but they have been before and likely can be again.
But Italy re-elected Berlusconi, again by a very slim margin. Now that he’s in office, the legislature is giving him what he wants, just like our Congress does for Cheney/Bush.
I thought it was only France that hated the US and therefore was the bete noire of the Republican party during our approach to the Iraq invasion. Well you know how it turned out. Frankly, ever since I have missed good cruisants in the US. Maybe they will come back when Obama is elected pres.
I think that once Obama is elected, the entire nation will smell like French lavender. I’m sure of it.
I love how these CIA-spread myths end up as the gospel truth, when they are nothing of the sort. Even Keith Olbermann fell for this one.
No, Kennedy did not say he was a donut.
He said, “Eich bin ein Berliner.” And if you look up Berliner in a German dictionary, you will find that while donut is one meaning, the other meaning, the one Kennedy was obviously saying, is this:
I am never surprised to hear the ignorant say Kennedy said this “wrong,” when he didn’t. But my heart sank when good ol’ Keith Olbermann fell for the disinformation. Wow. I guess if a few people say it, it’s suddenly true, eh?
Will all of you reading this please help spread the TRUTH about what Kennedy said? No doubt this will come up in the next few days as Obama prepares his own version of such a speech.
Damn, for real? And I consider myself to be somewhat informed.
Well, at least you know that one person has been told. And really, it’s so lame. Words have multiple meanings.
Geeze…
Yeah – Kennedy was one of the most literate, intelligent presidents we ever had. No way his advisors would let him make such a silly gaffe. But of course, it was no gaffe. And yeah – it just goes to show how easily ANY of us can be fooled!
What’s the context behind this? Keith often reports things that he knows to be absurd or ironic with that mocking smile he conjures up sometimes; was this one of those moments?
This reminds me of a joke I once heard a German comedian tell.
“My mother was from Frankfurt, and my father was from Hamburg. This makes me both a Frankfurter and a Hamburger.”
(pause)
“Yes, I know, this joke sucks also in German.”
If it was a joke, it was very badly delivered for Olbermann. I got the impression he believed it. And he’s usually got great comic timing. Nah – I think he fell for this one. And he’s far from the only one.
And cute joke. 😉
I remember that at the time that my German teacher said the proper usage was “Ich bin Berliner”. Adding the “ein” changed the usage to that of a profession. i.e. Ich bin ein Zimmermann (I am a carpenter) vs “Ich bin Zimmermann” (I am Carpenter {the name}).
BTW, I never heard the “donut” story until recently. However, in my day, it was spelled doughnut, showing how spellings and usages change.
I blame it on Dunkin’!
Same here. The first time I heard it was from Keith. At the time I thought he was making one of his “let’s play oddball” jokes, but it fell flat with me. I’ve heard the speech and I know what JFK said and what he meant.
According to your teacher though, Kennedy got it right – he was saying he was a “Berliner” – not “Berliner Kennedy”.
I have seen the video of JFK delivering that speech. It was powerful and moving, and there was absolutely no doubt about what he said or what he meant.
American Rhetoric: John F. Kennedy – Ich bin ein Berliner (I am a Berliner)
I call bullshit on that whole “I am a donut” thing. Sounds like something that might have come out of one of the fascist thinktanks to sully and diminish the record and reputation of a great man.
I don’t know where Keith got it, or what his intentions were in airing it on Countdown. I want to be charitable given his long running habit of speaking truth to power and puncturing reich wing talking points, but I call bullshit on that reprehensible attempt to rewrite history, no matter where or by whom.
Pardon my French. I’m an Okie. I call ’em like I see ’em.
First assassination. Then character assassination.
Exactly. The posthumuous assassination of Kennedy bothers me almost more than the physical one. Wasn’t it enough that they robbed him of the rest of his life and us of one of the few really decent leaders we’ve had?
If Obama says انا بغدادي (ana baghdadi), I will puke.
I still don’t give two shits what Europeans think of our candidates, but those numbers are devastating.
.
US leadership doesn’t give two shits what the rest of the world thinks … some 6,407,000,000 human beings.
Must me the main reason isolationism is a good thing for everyone. So please refrain from invasion, occupation and nation ‘rebuilding’ in the 21th century.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."The masses, which includes you and me, don’t count for anything in any world leader’s mind. They’re gonna play their games and have their intrigues. No one France cares what I think of Sarkozy. No one in Venezuela gives two shit what I think of Chavez. We all have to live under the dunces that get the power of our respective countries. Yes, some leaders are slightly better than others, but let’s not pretend that our wishes are going to be or ever been presented by our president.
Senate backs plan to end oil speculation
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5imPz0z6szykAL-CAKZDEZOAiDREgD9230VK00
That’s what poll numbers here should look like.
And so this matters, WHY?
Fuck and Shit!, America doesn’t give a crap, why would the rest of the world?
Anyway, THEY DON’T GET A VOTE!
Take it to the U.N.
Europe has social democracy, obviously here in the US, we do not.
But let’s not assume that the Obama/McShame race is 50/50, the US Media wants us to think that, that this is a squeeker, that it’s razor-thin margins determining the next president. Of course they want us to believe that, it increases ad rates and it also makes it A LOT EASIER to steal the election AGAIN.
They don’t like to harp on it, but it seems Obama is what, 6-10 points or more ahead of McBam-Bam.
Why is he preferred over McCain?
Man, if you gotta ask the question, you ain’t never gonna understand the answer.
chimpy gets caught in a major faux pas; from the abc affiliate in houston:
watch it while it’s still up, the utube vids already been pulled, and listen to the haves and have mores get a good laugh…ha, ha, ha….worthless sob.
Bourbon Street’s profit margin just doubled with Shockey going to the Saints.
tee-hee.
(now I have to wipe the coffee off my screen)
.
Nice!
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."