Wednesday, September 21, 2005
"Stuck on stupid"
Yes, the phrase is bound to become part of our lexicon after first being uttered at yesterday's press conference with N.O. Mayor Nagin and Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré (transcript, audio, and commentary at RadioBlogger and video at The Political Teen). Impolite, provoking, perhaps insensitive, all those things for sure. But what a kick to hear someone in authority tell a reporter that a job is getting done as it should and that the details are inappropriate to publicize. Just think how much less human degredation would have occurred if the mayor and governor had allowed Honoré to be in charge when the feds offered the troops, before Katrina.
P.S. For chuckles, think about the uproar if any politician refused a question from the press with the new phrase.
P.P.S. The t-shirt should just say "yasos".

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Permalink | | posted by jau at 10:00 AM


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Anonymous Anonymous — at 4:54 PM, September 21, 2005:
I don't think he was saying that the details are inappropriate to publicize, just that in an emergency reporters should focus on what's most important right now. He also said, "I apologize to you, but let's talk about the future. Rita is happening. And right now, we need to get good, clean information out to the people that they can use. And we can have a conversation on the side about the past, in a couple of months." I love the "you're stuck on stupid" line myself because reporters have deserved that so many times. I'm glad someone finally said it, but I'm also sorry that the general's main point (focus on what's important) will be forgotten.
 

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Blogger jau — at 5:08 PM, September 21, 2005:
Do you think it will be forgotten? I don't think so. And he did say it's "none of your business" but I agree that I think he meant "right now". He'd been pretty clear on that after Katrina, too. I sure love plain-speaking people! It's hard to do, though cuz people take it wrong awfully easily.
 

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