"John Bolton's a blunt guy. Sometimes people say I'm a little too blunt."
-G.W. Bush
Blunt: adj.
1. Having a dull edge or end; not sharp.
2. Abrupt and often disconcertingly frank in speech:
3. Slow to understand or perceive; dull.
4. Lacking in feeling; insensitive.
Let's assume that the definition being used to refer to Mr. Bolton corresponds to def. 2 above, "Abrupt and often disconcertingly frank in speech." For this definition, Thesaurus.com offers the following synonyms:
abrupt, bluff, brief, brusque, candid, crusty, curt, discourteous, explicit, forthright, frank, gruff, impolite, matter-of-fact, outspoken, plain-spoken, rude, short, snappy, snippety, snippy, tab, tactless, trenchant, unceremonious, uncivil, unpolished
(My personal favorite from this list: "Crusty.")
Antonyms (meaning opposites) include:
courteous, diplomatic, gentle, polite, soft-pedaling, subtle
(emphasis mine.)
Now, I may be way out of line here, but doesn't it seem like one of the primary qualities one might expect to find in a diplomat would be, oh I don't know, diplomacy? And yet here Mr. Bush is, publicly praising Bolton for his lack of diplomacy.
So, the question is, does this indicate a fundamental misunderstanding of the word "diplomacy", or just a fundamental disregard for the concept of diplomacy?
"Sometimes people say I'm a little too blunt."
Yes, Mr. President, yes they do. The question is, which definition?
Hm, seeing as "blunt" is also a colloqial term for a certain - er, "smoke-producing delivery device", I couldn't help but imagine Shurb suggesting Mr. Bolton had a particular preference for that kind of delivery system, as in, " John Bolton's a 'blunt' guy", whereas the Monkey In Chief might refer to himself as, "a 'flakey' guy" or something similar.
Posted by: KING COMTE I at May 13, 2005 03:27 PMWhat are you anyhow? Some kind of radical environmentalist or some other kind of fugitive from a ding-a-ling ward? One of those idiots who believes we should all die willinly and return the planet to it's rightful owners, the ones that were here first? Like perhaps phytoplankton? Good luck Pally. I sure hope you have a plentiful supply of subcutaneous chlorophyl good buddy because you ain't gettin' none of MY HAMBURGER with FRIES! And "NOBODY better lay a finger on MY Butterfinger!"
Get a job! Get a real job instead of leaching off your parents then maybe you'll get some kind of grip on reality. This is a shoot and kill world ya know. You wanna eat it you've gotta kill it, clean it and cook it yourself.
Beter lick your fingers a lot there Pal because if you are to be true to your stated beliefs that's about all you're gonna have to eat for the rest of your natural life!
Diplomacy is the art of saying "Good doggy" while reaching for a big ole rock.
Posted by: Dan Whoitaker at June 9, 2005 02:38 AMYeah, so you can quote from a dictionary and Roget's Thesaurus. That's a BIG boy. Now, would you have propsed that George W. had sent Saddam a polite email asking him to please be a nice rascal and quit picking on the little kids that didn't have a FRICKING army to go around the country gassing all of his own citizens that wouldnt submit to the rape of their young daughters? "Now you just cut that out Saddam or by golly I might just have to come over there myself and paddle your cute little hiney you big handsome hunka rascal you."
Now where are those Christians? Don't EVEN tell mne we've run out of them already. Now what are we going to feed to the lions? Got 'ny more pacifists we can use in their stead? Bring me some of those fat lazy tree huggers from over there in The U.S. of A.?" The fattest, laziest, greasiest of the lot. And while yer at it, throw one or two on the barbie for my guests and me also. I'll have mine medium rare and passive.
So I guess you're saying you disagree with something I said? At least I think that's what I think I'm hearing.
That's fine. You are free to disagree. However, if encountering opinions contrary to your own upsets you, I would remind you that you have the option of not reading this blog. If you do choose to comment, I'd appreciate if you at least try to maintain a civil tone.
Also, from your statements I infer that apparently you think that war is about killing and eating food? I don't actually believe that's standard operating procedure these days.
Posted by: flamingbanjo at June 9, 2005 11:05 AM