May we respectfully use the words “beyond belief”?
TPM Muckraker reports that a White House spokesperson has effectively declared Osama bin Laden’s capture a “success” — even though he has not been captured yet.
Here’s the quote they used, citing CNN’s White House correspondent Ed Henry questioning Frances Fragos Townsend:
HENRY: You know, going back to September 2001, the president said, dead or alive, we’re going to get him. Still don’t have him. I know you are saying there’s successes on the war on terror, and there have been. That’s a failure.
TOWNSEND: Well, I’m not sure — it’s a success that hasn’t occurred yet. I don’t know that I view that as a failure.
Aside from how this underlines the fact that this White House that will never, ever EVER really admit that it has not succeeded in a highly touted goal, this pushes evaluations into a new realm.
For instance:
- To Dennis Kucinich: Your campaign for President is a success that hasn’t occurred yet.
- To Bob Dole: Throw out the Viagra. The evenings are successes that…(NEVER MIND…)
- To college students flunking courses: You’re a Dean’s List success that hasn’t occurred yet.
- To President George W. Bush: Your presidency is a success that hasn’t occurred yet.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.