QOTW

I think that Austrian is the primary second language in New Pennsylvania.

What language was spoken in Bechtesgaden?

He could sign up to take classes from Arnie.
He should also take lessons in Swiss and Belgian. I'm sure Berltz could help.

BTW, Is it true, as Steyn said on the show, that Korea once threatened to nuke Montreal because they figured America wouldn't retaliate? Shows kind of a subtle understanding of the North American dynamic, but maybe too clever by half.

Added fun:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/5110631/Silvio-Berlusconi-threatens-news-blackout-after-reports-of-latest-gaffes.html

Can anyone point out any substantive political/philosophical differences between The Goracle (2000), John Kerry (2004) and His Obamaness?

2000=2004=2008=1984.

"He could sign up to take classes from Arnie.
He should also take lessons in Swiss and Belgian. I'm sure Berltz could help.

Posted by: albertaclipper at April 6, 2009 2:53 PM "

Not to be too picky,but the Ombamadingaling speaks crappy enough ai it is! Maybe you meant Berlitz"???
And hey. If the Owe says Austrian is a language,it MUST be so!!! So what do germans speak?

It shows a woeful lack of understanding of international affairs.

I would like to sit and ask Obama - where was Hitler born? What precipitated World War I? How about WWII? What and when was the Korean War (or police action if you prefer)?

When did Hawai'i become a state?

Who was Charles Martel? etc etc

Without TOTUS, Obama doesn't even seem fluent in "American".

Charles Martel? He be da pimp who done drives da Monte Carlo with plush carpet in-de-terior down on Jefferson in Dee-troit. word bro!

Ahhh Austria. Clever little country that has managed to convince much of the world that Hitler was German and Beethoven was an Austrian...

What an absolute pleasure to listen to Mark Steyn this morning on WMAL. He is an articulate, thoughful, graceful man who knows his subject well and uses devestating wit to disarm the opposition. Woe to the western world that the likes of Hitchens and Steyn are few and far between. This is a prime example of what a public school system does not provide - the ability to think, write and debate.

Simple slip-up, it is sorta like forcing Wagoner out, insulting the Chinese via the Treasury Secretary, threatening the Bank CEOs with populist revolt, adding 10B to the EPA budget over two years in a recession, the Recovery and Re - Investment Act which contained the EPA funding as Stimulus, the Omnibus bill with an 8% rise in spending therein, oh ya protecting the AIG bonuses so they could act all shocked later, giving DVDs as parting gifts, being unable to find a Democrat that pays their taxes, putting non-car people on the Auto-Task force, daily making assumptions of what citizens want from the Government... OK now I have a hand cramp and not even half way through my list.

Easily forgiven little things like that?

Reminds me of the Berlitz commercial. English captain..."We are sinking!...We are sinking!". The German coast guard..."what are you sinking about?"

Erik: "It shows a woeful lack of understanding of international affairs." Obama may have a woeful lack of understanding of things international, but I don't think this incident is particularly significant in that regard -- it's trivial, really. I get really annoyed when news sources pick up on small missteps and try to turn them into major gaffs. Same for blogs.

Remember when Dan Quayle said he'd like to see Latin America, but he didn't speak Latin? How is this any different?

Before I saw the article I was certain this was a fun play on words in regards to the Keynsian vs Austrian schools of economics.

I guess it works on multiple levels.

LindaL - with respect, I think this is significant. This in my opinion reflects the astonishing lack of depth of this man.

We have had some very bright people in the position of POTUS in the past; this one appears to be a serious lightweight.

During one's life, one accumulates knowledge, through reading, experience and curiousity. I have a feeling he's really lazy and incurious.

I'm sure he'll have something more to say on the subject in his third book about himself.

I agree with Erik Larsen - this slip shows the lack of knowledge of Obama. Note also that if it had been Bush who said it, the MSM would be all over it. As it is, with Obama, each gaffe is hidden. Just like his obeisance - and that's what it was - to the Saudi King was hidden by the MSM who either didn't report it or said he was 'merely picking up something from the floor'. Yeah.

Add to that illiquid's list, plus all the others, including the various insults to Heads of State, and his new 50-50 blame game, or rather, Blame America - and it's a mess.

I don't understand Mark's fixation with how the Mugabe....oops, my bad,.. Obama trillions will be repaid. Debauching the currency while enforcing price controls is a common third world government ploy to remove the economic clout of one's opponents who don't appreciate the benefits of being ruled by clueless Marxists who are stealing everything.

In any bankruptcy those with the largest pile of IOUs and hired muscle get paid off first. China will likely settle for Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and complete control of the Port of Long Beach as a free port/Chinese naval base for 200 years.

Check out the facial expression of the female reporter when obamamama makes the gaffe.

Right over her head......looks like she is about to have an orgasm....

OBJECTIVITY....ZERO

PATHETIC !

remember 57 or 58 states in the union............anyone with any sense at that moment knew this guy was a hollow man...

is there a translation somewhere?
I only speak Canadian

LindaL: "I get really annoyed when news sources pick up on small missteps and try to turn them into major gaffs. Same for blogs."

In an important sense, I agree. It's easy to appear small-minded to fence-sitters (i.e. most people) if you fixate on this sort of thing.

However, I do like to apply the DSM (double-standard meter) by asking myself the simple question in (the increasingly numerous) cases like this: would the media have pointed this out and derided it if GWB had said it?

If the answer is yes (and it always is), then it deserves not to go unremarked. Besides, it really is funny.

And remarkable too: I don't know anyone who would have made the same mistake. The analogy is with the stereotypical tourist who travels overseas and wonders whether "American" is spoken in the country he's touring.

This was a strange election. The media was bizarre in its approach.

I can't believe that the two major candidates never had a "mano a mano" debate - rather, we had people sending in strange questions through YouTube, (with people dressing up in chicken suits to improve the chance of their question being asked), and putting forth fluffball questions that required no serious thought.

It appears that Obama was a Media Sponsored Enterprise, promoted to improve ratings and hence advertising revenue, regardless of his suitability to the position.

I've seen many people wanting positions who appeared "superficially great" - but who were nowhere near ready to take on the position for which they were applying. They should have either waited for a few years, or not applied at all.

I believe that Obama would have made a fine lower level politician who only had to make stirring speeches - but when it comes to the important decisions of the presidency - that required "content" and "character".

Rush Limbaugh's ratings improved after the Obamaton attack dogs were set loose.

Other than that the jury's still out, far as I know.

Obama has trouble putting a sentence together without the teleprompter. Just a little side effect of doing coke for 20 years.

Kyla:

Because Dan Quayle never said it. http://www.snopes.com/quotes/quayle.asp

As usual, it's another lie picked up by the lazy and uncritical media and repeated often enough that it has a ring of truth.

"Preening buffoon" That's a good one.

I agree that this is kind of a poor way to show off his international image, but after losing two generations of young men to those squarehead krauts, we've earned the right to call them whatever we feel like calling them. As a matter of fact, we should have the right to make them speak English.

How long before Obama becomes known as the first Gen-X President?

I've just looked it up in my Austrian/English dictionary and the phrase Obama was searching for translates to:

"My Hovercraft is full of eels"

KevinB - thanks for that - I thought the Quayle thing was a true story. Interesting . . . . .

"My Hovercraft is full of eels"

"My nipples explode with delight!"

President Obama does speak another language and you hear it ad nauseum. Let us step out of the darkness into the light for up is not down nor is sideways forward but surely the path is clear.....

"Obama did NOT bow to King Abdullah"

http://www.imao.us/index.php/2009/04/dont-believe-your-lying-eyes/

My father who in the R.A.F. was in vacation in Austria after the Anschluss and noticed all the tanks and heavy artillery en masse. In a letter home he said "We are going to lose this war".

I thought Obama spoke Malay or something like that, at least whatever he rememembers from his early childhood. I notice he was very impressed with Harper answering reporters' questions in lengthy and fluent French.

Nicola - we are sure lucky to have Harper. Not a grandstander, just a solid performer.

He could certainly objectively outperform Obama if they were put in a "joint press conference" - but I wonder even then if PMSH would be appreciated . . .

gOOgOO has anschlussed with Herr bOw-wOw?

Yavole, myn hair. Iss gut.
Mao say, tly it.
...-

"Google edits out "Obama bowing" search

I decided to check Google to see how much reporting had taken place on Obama's bow to the Saudi King.

Google has a feature that will pre-fill a drop-down menu based on what you type. For example, when I typed the letters O and b, it started listing various Obama topics. As I typed out O-b-a-m-a b-o-w, the drop down menu listed "Obama bowling". I continued to spell out the word "bowing" and the menu selection remained "Obama bowling".

So I clicked on my original selection "Obama bowing" and clicked "Images". There is not a single image of Obama bowing to the Saudi King on Google. There are various photos of Obama bowing his head to pray, along with other miscellaneous photos of Obama.

Then I clicked on "Web" to see what stories were posted about this episode. The only stories listed by Google are all from blogs, which means one of two things - either there are NO stories from any news organization other than blogs, or Google is not listing them."
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2223626/posts

"Ich bin ein Wiener."

With German being a pluricentric language, Austrian dialects should not be confused with the variety of Standard German spoken by most Austrians, which is distinct from that of Germany or Switzerland.

Etc.

It was entirely appropriate to use the word "Austrian" in that context. F*ck, what a bunch of knucklewalkers.

Get a life.

Now Bush -- he was far better at royal protocol:
http://www.tmz.com/2008/01/15/bush-the-king-and-i/

Now, now MsMew

If they were smart or sophisticated, well, they wouldn't be conservatives, now would they?

Same with your exhortation: "Get a life".

If they had a life, they wouldn't be...well, you know.

Ooooooops....my post should have read obamarama......and double ooooooops, my wife, who is German, confirmed that Austrian is a separate dialect of the German language......oooooops

Awwww...bleet formed a sentence!
Friggen idiot.

MsMew,

Swearing & calling people names is so Neanderthal, but hey I'm not judging you.

h.ryan

Do you think it's wise to throw the word "idiot" around when you guys have got a post here and a lengthy thread based on a fallacy caused by rampant stupidity?

Well, I guess you do think it's wise.

Which sort of proves my point, huh?

maz2 - I'm not sure of the point of your snip. I typed in 'obama bowing to saudi king' and Google came up with pages and pages of videos and commentary of that same bow.

As for Austrian vs German, my understanding is that one refers to both versions as German. Austria has its own dialect and Germany has its own - but both are versions of German. Just as we speak English in America and in England and in Australia - each with different accents and some vocabulary differences.

maz2 - I'm not sure of the point of your snip. I typed in 'obama bowing to saudi king' and Google came up with pages and pages of videos and commentary of that same bow.

As for Austrian vs German, my understanding is that one refers to both versions as German. Austria has its own dialect and Germany has its own - but both are versions of German. Just as we speak English in America and in England and in Australia - each with different accents and some vocabulary differences.

You have no point bleet, you are a moron, nothing personal. Now off to KOs with you little boy.

Austrian? Let's put some shrimp on the barbie then.