Gary Hart: "suppose Bush had read and knew something about....the region"

[Wetzelbill]

Gary Hart: No Child Left Behind

For all but the perversely ignorant, it should be apparent by now that America suffers when it elects leaders who choose not to read. I say "choose" because, whatever else may or may not have happened there, somewhere between Yale and Harvard surely George W. Bush learned how to read. But he seems to have chosen not to. Had he chosen to read, current events could well have turned out much better.
Take for example the second chapter in Stephen Kinzer's very important book All the Shah's Men. This chapter is a brilliant essay on the history of Persia, Islam, and modern Iran set in the context of a larger, dismaying story of how the U.S. overthrow of Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh led directly to the age of terror, the confrontation between the West and fundamentalist Islam, and the unnecessary Iraqi quagmire.

Being men of intelligence, matched only by their arrogance, the neoconservatives surely knew this history but, in the interest of American empire in the Middle East, chose to ignore it. But suppose George W. Bush had read and knew something about the rich, complex and turbulent history of the region, of the rise and fall of Persia, of the cultural and religious tides and typhoons, of the post-632 Islamic chasm. He might then have asked questions of his neoconservative wise men: "Aren't Shiites only ten percent of Muslims?", he might have said, "and aren't Persians different from Arabs?" "Didn't those divisions go back a long way," turning to Mr. Wolfowitz, "and didn't that have something to do with the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980?" "Why were we supporting Iraq," he turns to Don, "while we were selling arms to the Iranians?" "And, Richard, explain to me exactly why the U.S. would want to try to occupy Iraq, even under your friend President Chalabi, when we know how disastrously the British occupation failed?"

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gary-hart/no-child-left-behind_b_50421.html

[Poiuyt]

1. Even if Bush doesn't want to read, he should AT LEAST listen to intelligent and

impartial advisers.

Gary Hart would have made a good president.

[Wetzelbill]

3. I think he would have too

He's proven to be a highly articulate and valuable Dem voice these last several years.

[EFerrari]

6. Gary Hart would have rocked. Too bad we weren't smart enough

to elect him.

[WinkyDink]

19. Hubris actually had impact, back then.

[EFerrari]

20. That was before our media was captured.

Maybe the tubes can help with that. I hope so.

[EFerrari]

2. K&R. It's gobsmacking.

[Wetzelbill]

4. lol

what the hell is "gobsmacking"? :)

[EFerrari]

5. Hey, bill. I've never looked it up but imagine it's that feeling

you get when gobs of bs are FLYING at you.

lol

[Wetzelbill]

7. oh man, I need to start using that

:rofl: :toast:

[DemBones DemBones]

10. It's a British expression. I watch BBC a lot and people say

"I was gobsmacked" meaning "I was speechless" or "I couldn't believe it." At least that's what I get from context. People say it a lot on BBC, along with "Brilliant!" which means "Great!" "Wonderful!" etc.

[EFerrari]

11. Flying bs can take out your jaw and render you speechless

pretty quickly.

lol

[FloridaJudy]

14. "Gob-smacking" is when you smack your gob

(British for face) with the heel of your hand, and say something like "Duh! Why didn't I know that!"

Bu$h will never smack his gob, because he never gets it.

[EFerrari]

26. He'd probably miss anyway.

:)

[Ishoutandscream2]

8. Imagine if George had gone to class not hung over

Imagine if he would have read his history texts. Imagine if he were able to listen to his instructors instead of nursing a hang over. Imagine if he paid attention to world events that were going on around him in the late 60's. Imagine if he had TO BE ACCOUNTABLE ONE FUCKING TIME IN HIS LIFE.

This could go on and on. I'm sick of this illiterate boob who attempts to portray a president.

[BlooInBloo]

9. Imagine if gw wasn't a spoiled cowardly petulant child.

[EFerrari]

12. "Who could have ever imagined" that Junior was a petulant child?

"I can imagine a lot." -- Han Solo

[Kurovski]

13. K&R.

:hi:

[Wetzelbill]

16. hey Kurovski!

How's it going? Good to see you! :toast:

[young_at_heart]

15. Last summer he said that he read "three Shakespears"!

He didn't name them and how many people would describe reading three books of any kind in such a strange way? Pretty embarrassing!

[Wetzelbill]

17. Remember in 2000 when he said he was reading a Dean Acheson bio?

He said that one week, and then a few weeks later in a debate with McCain he was asked what he had learned from reading that book, and he couldn't come up with an answer. So then McCain was asked another question, but before he answered it, he took a minute talking about Dean Acheson and some of his accomplishments and how that influenced him etc, hahahaha. Bush, I tell you what, that guy has invented his own special brand of dumbfuckery. :)

[Bozita]

23. That bio was written for scholars

NO reader reviews for this book at Amazon.

Well?

http://www.amazon.com/Dean-Acheson-Cold-Years-1953-71/dp/0300060750/ref=sr_1_4/002-6498682-5066423?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1180848033&sr=8-4

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Deftly examines Acheson's influential role as political advisor after the Truman administration.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Acheson was one of those politicians who, though out of power, remained influential in the background. Brinkley (coauthor with Townsend Hoopes of Driven Patriot: The Life and Times of James Forrestal , LJ 4/1/92) provides us with a solid and eminently readable portrait of Acheson's life after his retirement as Harry Truman's secretary of state. Describing Acheson's years in the wilderness during the Eisenhower presidency, he explains how John F. Kennedy's arrival on the scene enabled Acheson to perform the role of elder statesman and presidential adviser to both Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Especially interesting is Acheson's reconciliation with Richard Nixon, a man whom Acheson had bitterly detested while serving as secretary of state. Both men, however, shared a similar realist view of foreign policy, and Nixon sought Acheson's advice on a range of issues. Brinkley's book is important for understanding not only Acheson but also the conduct of American foreign policy between 1953 and 1971. Highly recommended.
- Ed Goedeken, Purdue Univ. Libs., West Lafayette, Ind.

Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
See all Editorial Reviews


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[Poiuyt]

18. I heard the three Shakespeares he read were Hamlet, Romeo, and Juliet.

[badgerpup]

24. I was wondering the other day...

when Bush's Summer Reading List was going to be announced...
You know, the list with all the weighty, supposedly relevant, yet trendy books on it
(e.g. The History of Salt from 2005) that's supposed to convince the sheeple Amurkin public that he really IS int...:spray:
intell...:spray:
intelli...:spray:
I'm sorry; I just can't keep a straight face.

NOT dumber than a rock. :rofl:

[LSK]

21. suppose Bush had read the Hart-Rudman Task Force on Homeland Security

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Commission_on_Terrorism

[EFerrari]

22. That would involve reading. n/t

[Marr]

25. A small point, but I really think his labelling of the neocons as

'intelligent' is simply not supported by the evidence.

It seems to me that most of them are the idiot beneficiaries of privilege. Some made careers out of kissing the right asses, others simply popped out of a pampered womb- but none of them has demonstrated any ability to think beyond their own limited and self-contradictory ideology. That is the hallmark of stupity.