Rum remark wins Rumsfeld an award

Rumsfeld tries to make a point...

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has won a "Foot in Mouth" award for one of his now legendary bizarre remarks.

Mr Rumsfeld won the prize for comments made at a news conference in February last year which left observers baffled.

"There are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns," he said.

The British Plain English Campaign annually hands out the prize for the most nonsensical remark made by a public figure.

Stiff competition

Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns - the ones we don't know we don't know

A spokesman for the organisation, which tries to ensure public information is delivered in a clear manner, said Mr Rumsfeld's remarks were typical of the kind of comments they were trying to prevent.

"We think we know what he means," he told Reuters news agency.

"But we don't know if we really know."

Mr Rumsfeld fought off stiff competition for the award from actor turned California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger among others.

Mr Schwarzenegger weighed in on the gay marriage debate with the comment "I think that gay marriage is something that should be between a man and a woman."

And European Commissioner Chris Patten came close with his remark that the British Conservative Party had committed political suicide and was now living to regret it.

Previous winners of the award have included US actress Alicia Silverstone and actor Richard Gere.

But despite Mr Rumsfeld's rather outlandish mode of speaking, fans of the tough-talking US defence secretary argue he is misunderstood.

There are dozens of websites dedicated to the "poetry" of Mr Rumsfeld and there is even a book, entitled Pieces of Intelligence, dedicated to interpreting his statements as a form of existential writing.

Rummie's comments constitute a nice tautalogy on epistemology, yet unproven.

"The only thing that we can KNOW with certainty is that we KNOW nothing at all."

He's got ya right where he wants ya! :wave:

Yeah, with his boot firmly on my neck. I thought you Cons were against big government. Make up your mind, will ya?

joebordenrebel Wrote:Yeah, with his boot firmly on my neck. I thought you Cons were against big government. Make up your mind, will ya?

Once again, confusion arises when one supposes Repubs are conservatives. They aren't. It is a sad thing, but the fact is that a true conservative, if he were elected to office and tried to really return the federal government to constitutional government, would be torn apart by the socialists and the Repubs. Unlimited government pays enormous dividends to those who wield its power and to those who benefit from the wielding of that power. The current George understands that, or maybe its Karl Rove who understands that. But if you think for one moment that the socialist pygmies who would be king don't understand it, then you are a sad case indeed. We mere citizens are subjects of these parties, and thanks to the bastardization of public education, those "citizens" now coming of voting age are a mere mob. They haven't any idea of history, what constitutional government means (they think it only means getting your Miranda rights when you popped for cocaine), and both parties are very comfortable with this U.S. Dept. of Education produced mob for an electorate.

For example, if the Repubs were conservatives, they would not be fighting for "tax cuts" that take effect years away. They would be fighting for hard limits on rates of taxation and the permanent elimination of things like the death tax. They would be seeking an amendment to the constitution to restict, organize and and simplify taxation, restricting taxation to the means of raising money for necessary and constitutional government functions, rather than a tool for social engineering. Are they doing this? No. Why not? Because they like having unlimited taxing power as much as the socialists. Theylike unlimited government every bit as much as the socialists.

Both parties make me puke my guts out.

Quote:Both parties make me puke my guts out.

As usual, I agree with paleo conservatives on that point!