John Stone’s Bloviations

“What I meant to say”, “What he meant to say”, seems to have become the norm in the Washington, Democratic Party circle.

It has become increasing obvious that Conservatives actually say what they mean, the first time. There is no need for translations or interpretations. There is no need for another Conservative to come behind the first and restate the first’s statement in other words or terms – damage control. And most Conservatives, when speaking about what they are passionate about, don’t need a speech which is fully scripted and teleprompted.

Robert Gibbs, White House Press Secretary, has become Obama’s clean-up hitter. And boy, does he, as well as other White House offices, have their hands full.

On Monday, May 18, 2009, Jonathan Passantino of FOXNewws.com wrote about an article by Eleanor Clift, Newsweek magazine’s Washington contributing editor.

According to Clift’s report on the Newsweek blog, Biden “said a young naval officer giving him a tour of the residence showed him the hideaway, which is behind a massive steel door secured by an elaborate lock with a narrow connecting hallway lined with shelves filled with communications equipment.”

Clift continued: “The officer explained that when Cheney was in lock down, this was where his most trusted aides were stationed, an image that Biden conveyed in a way that suggested we shouldn’t be surprised that the policies that emerged were off the wall.”

“What he meant to say … ”

On Monday, Biden’s press office issued a statement in response to this story, denying the bunker report.

“What the Vice President described in his comments was not — as some press reports have suggested — an underground facility, but rather, an upstairs workspace in the residence, which he understood was frequently used by Vice President Cheney and his aides,” said Biden’s spokesperson Elizabeth Alexander. ”That workspace was converted into an upstairs guestroom when the Bidens moved into the residence. There was no disclosure of classified information.”

Passantino’s article continued to describe how “neighbors complained of loud construction work being done at the Naval Observatory” and that “they believed workers were digging deep into the ground”. This “would support Biden’s report of a secret bunker, but officials never confirmed the purpose of the work performed.”

Of course, Joe “The” Biden has required more damage control than any other Obama administration official, yes, even compared to Palosi.

On Thursday, April 30, 2009, Biden appeared on NBC’s “Today” show where he said he would advise against riding the subway or taking commercial flights and implied schools should be shuttered amid confirmation of the first swine-flu relation death in the U.S. “I wouldn’t go anywhere in confined places now. I would tell members of my family, and I have, I wouldn’t go anywhere in confined places now. It’s not that it’s going to Mexico, it’s you’re in a confined aircraft when one person sneezes it goes all the way through the aircraft. That’s me. I would not be, at this point, if they had another way of transportation suggesting they ride the subway.” “If you’re out in the middle of a field and someone sneezes that’s one thing. If you’re in a closed aircraft or a closed container or closed car or closed classroom it’s a different thing.”

“What he meant to say.”

About two hours after the interview, Biden’s office issued a statement attempting to clarify the vice president’s remarks. “The advice he is giving family members is the same advice the administration is giving all Americans: That they should avoid unnecessary air travel to and from Mexico. If they are sick, they should avoid airplanes and other confined public spaces, such as subways. This is the advice the vice president has given family members who are traveling by commercial airline this week,” Biden’s spokeswoman, Elizabeth Alexander, said in a statement. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs apologized for Biden’s remarks, saying the vice president misspoke.

In mid April and during an interview with CNN, Biden said he told Bush in the Oval Office: “Mr. President, turn and around look behind you. No one is following.” Karl Rove, Bush’s top political adviser in the White House, called the conversation “fictional.”

FOXNews.com also has a “list of 14 amusing yet cringe-worthy “Bidenisms” made during the vice president’s more recent political career.” They are as follows:

– On March 13, 2009, Biden addressed a former Senate colleague by saying, “An hour late, oh give me a f**king break,” after he arrived on Amtrak at Union Station in Washington, D.C. The vice president’s expletive was caught on a live microphone.

– During a Feb. 25, 2009, interview on CBS’ “Early Show,” Biden encouraged viewers to visit a government-run Web site that tracks stimulus spending. When asked for the site’s web address, Biden could not remember the site’s “number.”

“You know, I’m embarrassed. Do you know the Web site number?” he asked an aide standing out of view. “I should have it in front of me and I don’t. I’m actually embarrassed.”

– At a Jan. 30, 2009, swearing-in ceremony of senior White House staff, Biden mocked Chief Justice John Roberts for his presidential oath blunder on Inauguration Day.

“Am I doing this again?” Biden said, after Obama asked him to administer the oath. When Biden was told the swearing-in was for senior staff — and not cabinet members — the vice president quipped, “My memory is not as good as Justice Roberts,” prompting a stern nudge from Obama.

– On Inauguration Day, Jan. 20 2009, Biden misspoke when he told a cheering crowd of supporters, “Jill and I had the great honor of standing on that stage, looking across at one of the great justices, Justice Stewart.” Justice John Paul Stevens — not Stewart — swore Biden in as vice president.

– When criticizing former GOP nominee John McCain in Athens, Ohio, on Oct. 15, 2008, Biden said, “Look, John’s last-minute economic plan does nothing to tackle the number-one job facing the middle class, and it happens to be, as Barack says, a three-letter word: jobs. J-O-B-S, jobs.”

– In a Sept. 22, 2008, CBS interview, Biden misspoke when he said Franklin D. Roosevelt was president when the stock market crashed in 1929.

“When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, ‘Look, here’s what happened,” he said. Herbert Hoover — not Roosevelt — was president in 1929, and television had not yet been invented in 1929.

– During a Sept. 12, 2008, speech in Columbia, Mo., Biden called for Missouri State Sen. Chuck Graham, who is wheelchair-bound, to “stand up.”

“Oh, God love ya,” Biden said, after realizing his mistake. “What am I talking about?”

– At a Sept. 10, 2008, town hall meeting in Nashua, N.H., Biden said, “Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice president of the United States of America. Quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me.”

– Biden mistakenly referred to Alaska governor Sarah Palin as the “lieutenant governor” of her state during a town hall meeting on Sept. 4, 2008 at George Mason University in Manassas, Va.

“I heard a very, by the way I mean this sincerely, a very strong and a very good political speech from a lieutenant governor of Alaska who I think is going to be very formidable, very formidable not only in the campaign but in the debate,” Biden said.

– Biden said he was running for president — not vice president — during a Sept. 1, 2008, roundtable discussion in Scranton, Pa.

“Today is the moment for me as a United States senator running for president to put aside the national politics and focus on what’s happening down there,” Biden said.

– Biden referred to John McCain as “George” during his vice presidential acceptance speech on Aug. 27, 2008, at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Co. “Freudian slip, folks, Freudian slip,” he explained.

– Biden confused army brigades with battalions when speaking about Obama’s plan for sending troops to Afghanistan.

“Or should we trust Barack Obama, who more than a year ago called for sending two additional combat brigades to Afghanistan?”

– During his first campaign rally with Obama as his vice presidential running mate on Aug. 23, 2008, Biden introduced Obama by saying, “A man I’m proud to call my friend. A man who will be the next President of the United States — Barack America!”

– On Jan. 31, 2007 — the day Biden announced his presidential bid — the Delaware Senator was roundly criticized for calling Obama “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”

OK, so I’m picking on Biden, just a little. I’m just glad that I’m not the one who has to cover for him and give the “What he meant to say” interpretations.

What I’m trying to get at here, is that this is a primary example of the White House faces each and every day when it comes to the words uttered by its officials, without scripting, without Teleprompters. This is in direct contrast to Conservatives.

Rush Limbaugh’s controversial comment that “[He] wished Obama to fail”, was exactly that. And he backed that up in an interview with Sean Hannity this past week on Hannity’s America (Fox News Network). When Limbaugh spoke at C-PAC earlier this year, there were no Teleprompters and from what I could see, nothing in the way of notes. He spoke from his heart, from what he knew.

This is very common among Conservatives who speak. There is a passion about where they stand and in what they believe. There is a passion about what direction our nation needs to go. And when Conservatives relay their beliefs to others, there are no stammers, no stutters. No one has to come along behind them and say:

“What he meant to say.”