A month ago, I wrote that although General Stanley McChrystal may have screwed up big-time in his talk with Rolling Stone, he had earned respect for the dignified way in which he handled his firing. He did not plead for his job, claim he was misquoted, or do any of the other things we have come to expect from (civilian) officeholders in trouble. Instead, as I noted, he “manned up” and assumed full responsibility for a monumental mistake.
He handled his retirement ceremony Friday with similar class and dignity, delivering a speech that ace reporter Greg Jaffe of the Washington Post described as “disarmingly funny, personal and often wistful.” He even managed to poke fun at himself:
He began with a warning to the audience not to contradict his romanticized memories. “I have stories on all of you, photos on many, and I know a Rolling Stone reporter,” he said, drawing guffaws from the audience of about 300.
That’s the Stan McChrystal I remember — a general notably free of the pomposity and self-importance that characterizes too many others who wear all those stars on their shoulders. He may have ended his career in a regrettable manner, suggesting he was not quite up to the task of theater-level command, but that should not lead anyone to forget his many distinguished decades of service, including all the years he spent in Iraq supervising the Joint Special Operations Command, which killed and captured many notorious terrorists. As Bob Gates said at the retirement ceremony,”No single American has inflicted more fear or more loss of life on our country’s most vicious and violent enemies.” It’s hard to imagine a better tribute to a consummate warrior.
Careful… you might be setting yourself up.. Palin has yet to release her tax returns.
The same was true for Al Gore. Did anyone care?
She will post anything and everything that she can twist addison.
“Careful… you might be setting yourself up.. Palin has yet to release her tax returns.”
The Palin family tax information will most assuredly reveal them to be of modest means. They are perhaps the poorest of all the major candidates of the last fifty years! This can only benefit the Republicans.
#3,
My comment was not to you so I don’t understand your reply. I wrote nothing about Palin and you reply to me as though I did.
5,
I was referring to Jennifer
Bbbbut, but, but, Joe voted for all those tax increases to give money to the “poor”!
Clearly addison, Hank was referring to Jennifer….that’s why he ended the post with your name – to make sure we all knew he was talking to Jennifer???? Must be an Obama guy – believe what I tell you know not your lyin eyes.
“Bbbbut, but, but, Joe voted for all those tax increases to give money to the “poor”!”
Yeah, that was MotorMouth Joe’s “charity work” – why give dollars out of your own pocket when you can use all OUR money to look like a “hero” to “the poor” instead!?!
But even in that case it doesn’t make sense. Rubin didn’t “twist” anything. It’s a point of fact that Joe Biden gave almost nothing to charity (I have shoes that cost more than he gave).
Perhaps “she will cling to” or “will use anything” “is looking for anything” but “twist” is not appropriate here. She doesn’t even need to do anything other than highlight the fact that the team of “Hope and Change” and Party of the Little Guy is particularly niggardly with charitable givings, despite their high salaries.
I know, however, from history, that pointing out the chasm between someone’s lofty, platitudinous words and their actions is usually a moot point to true believers.
I don’t think it’s a big deal how much Joe Biden gives to charity. He’s doing the Lord’s work as we speak…doing everything he can to help John McCain get elected. And for that we should all be thankful.
I don’t care about Biden’s charitable donations.
But did he expense his train tickets back and forth each night?
Jay, yes he did. We taxpayers have been paying Joe’s Amtrak bills for 30 years- there is a long list at OpenSecrets.
Jennifer
Having a bad morning? You forgot to read your daily DNC talking points, always available on your MSM outlet:
If a Liberal gives nothing out of his/her own pocket to charity, it’s OK ’cause he/she is always working hard to see that the right people get elected to pass legislation giving the government’s (sic) money to the poor.
If a Conservative gives less than 100% of his/her income/assets to charity, it shows that he/she’s a hypocrite since he/she is always working hard to see that the wrong people get elected to pass legislation withholding the government’s (sic) money to the poor.
And, remember when considering the previous paragraph that a vote to increase the amount of the government’s (sic) money to the poor from the previous fy’s amount is considered a “decrease” in money given if the rate of increase is less than that of the previous fy vs. the fy previous to it.
Biden is a true democrat candidate- exactly in the mold of Al Gore & J Kerry. They too had an Ebenezeer Scrooge view of charity. If you discount the 2 years before they were nominated ( & by definition while they were running) their charitable contributions were pathetically frugal. They care for the poor as long as it is with others’ money.
Joe Biden: What’s In Your Wallet? ™
And he a “devout” Catholic too!
Does anyone know why Senator Biden doesn’t have an apartment in DC? Does he consider four hours a day in transit a net plus?
addison
My guesses:
No one will rent to him. He talks too much & too loud!
Furthermore he stiffs the help at XMAS time!
There are studies clearly showing that left-wingers engage in little charitable giving. They believe the government should handle all these needs. Thus, Joe Biden is being logically consistent. The real question is whether the majority of Americans feel comfortable with this mindset.
How about Biden and Obama medical records ??
“Despite income ranging from $210,432 – $321,379 over the ten-year period, the Bidens have given only $120 – $995 per year to charity, which amounts to 0.06% – 0.31% of their income.”
This actually underestimates Biden’s miserliness with regard to charity. As a senator he has benefits and perks that are beyond the dreams of all but senior level corporate executives. Also, he can use campaign funds to pay for a host of expenses that normal people would have to pay out of income. I doubt he has personally paid for air fare for a vacation in 30 years. I doubt he has personally paid for a meal at a restaurant.
A typical mid level corporate exec would have to earn a couple of hundred thousand more per year than Biden does to maintain the lifestyle he and other senators take for granted.
I find it hard to believe he was so stupid as to leave himself open to looking as miserly as this. Or maybe it was the arrogance of thinking he would forever dodge release of the returns.
What Inwood said.
“I find it hard to believe he was so stupid as to leave himself open to looking as miserly as this. Or maybe it was the arrogance of thinking he would forever dodge release of the returns.”
Maybe he had a realistic assessment of his own presidential prospects.
Biden didn’t give because he was waiting for the secular Messiah to extend the loving hand of government everywhere. What does an individual have to do with that?
David Thompson nails it.
I’m not so sure the Palins have low income. We’ll see. It will also be interesting to see what deductions they took.
Either way, Biden should have been giving more to charity, given his 40 years of high income off of the public dole.
We should also eliminate the charitable deduction (about half of which goes to local non-profit hospitals and alma matters) instead of raising marginal tax rates on working households.
I don’t know why this of concern to you Ms. Rubin. John Mccain has said the middle class covers people up to 5 mil. By that standard, Biden is but a pauper. Keep digging though, maybe you’ll find out if Joe can’t remember he owns five houses.
Stuck–
He was joking. You are not only a troll, but an idiot as well.
Fun House,
wouldn’t it be really fun if you can actually find that quote? You may see some things that you didn’t know, before accepting the propaganda from the Obama campaign.
He or she owns those five homes? Keep researching.
Joe does not need to own any houses; he’s been stiffing the taxpayers with bills for all his living expenses since the day he was weaned off mama’s tit.
Blow me, Fresh Air. Come November 7, all of you racists will be a hurtin’
#31,
How do you know what color we are or that the general distaste for Obama has anything to do with his skin color? Find one–one–comment here where someone writes they are against Obama because he has brown skin. Find it.
Is your intellectual arsenal so bereft that you really stoop to the “you’re a racist” non-argument? You people on the Left have destroyed the meaning of the word ‘racist’. It has been defined down to “any opposition to what White liberals think Black people should be, say, or do”.
What you wrote in Post #27 is not true. It simply isn’t. Don’t get testy that you were corrected by someone who can read.
McCain’s comments, from the transcript at Saddleback Church:
10 [...] IF YOU’RE JUST TALKING ABOUT INCOME, HOW
11 ABOUT FIVE MILLION. SO — BUT SERIOUSLY, I DON’T THINK
12 YOU CAN — I DON’T THINK, SERIOUSLY THAT — THE POINT IS
13 THAT I’M TRYING TO MAKE HERE SERIOUSLY — AND I’M SURE
14 THAT COMMENT WILL BE DISTORTED [...]
It’s obvious–glaringly so–that it was McCain’s attempt at humor. If you watch the video, you’ll see he’s joking, you’ll hear the crowd laugh, you’ll see Rick Warren smiling. A joke.
The real humor is you’re doing exactly what he said some would: distort his comment.
Just another putzhead. Oops! Was that a racist comment?
Lefties are truly deranged. No sense of humor, no separation between the personal and the political. Frankly, no matter who wins this election, I will be just fine the day after. There may a dramatic increase in the suicide rate in Berkeley, though.
Maybe “Get a life” is something that should be shouted at all of us posters sometimes, especially when we start taking a scalpel to posts to determine who was being addressed by
whom. Well, shout “get a life” at me, because I’m going to have a go at arguing whom ole’ Hank in Michigan was referring to.
I think it’s clear he was talking about Jennifer and that he simply failed to insert a comma before writing “Addison”. Hank is, I am assuming, a native speaker of the language. No native speaker would begin a sentence with “She”, a subject, follow it up with a predicate and then name that “she” at the end. Read his sentence aloud. It’s sounds way clumsy, doesn’t it?
One more argument. Addison(Joseph?) had just written to say that Jennifer’s dilating on Biden’s support for government tithing and aversion to personal tithing, was no hot issue waiting to happen. So Hank was concurring with her- though he misread her subtext.
That was my psuedo-talmudic exercise for the day. I’m going to impose a moratorium on myself on posting to Commentary today and I suggest you guys do the same.
Of course he was joking. Just like he’s joking today, daring anyone to find one instance where he has flip-flopped. LOL.
And what kind of asshole, uses somebody’s elses handle to make phony quotes that person never said IE comment #31.? The lying kind it seems. But that’s just a normal Republican these days.
Being a devout Catholic doesn’t mean you can’t be a cheap screw. Unfortunatley, it does mean that you can’t screw cheap, unless, of course, you’re screwing at home. Now, depending on your agreement with the missus, this screwing around the house could be the most expensive free screwing you’ll ever do. Has Mrs. Biden published her credit card statements anywhere? Maybe, they hold a clue to Joe’s mood swings?
Wow. A Democrat who doesn’t want to give with his own money, but is willing to take everyone else’s to do what he sees fit. Sounds like the other guy that’s on the top of the ticket.
She goes to church regularly, I am quite convinced that palin will rack up in excess of 12% of her family income as donations to charities, including her church.
Let’s see, Biden makes more than 2 times what I do, ignoring the perks of his job. We typically contribute more than $3,000 per year to charity (thanks to my wonderful wife’s prodding), or about 3 to 15 times what he did, depending on the year.
So, per dollar of income, we contribute to charity 6 to 30 times what he does for every dollar we earn?
Oh, wait – for Biden, it’s OPM – Other People’s Money!
Biden – front runner for the “Ebeneezer and Marley All-Time Skinflint Award”.
As someone else mentioned, it was the same with Al Gore, Bill Clinton and so on. The Clintons were even claiming deductions on their used underwear. When Bob Dole released his returns when he was running, he was donating almost half his income to charity.
A study has shown that Republicans donate more money. It’s not a surprise. Republicans believe in charity. Democrats believe in government.
I will forward the motto of a Liberal I saw posted by a poster at another site:
“I got mine, so I will take yours and give it to the people who will vote for me.”
Hey Jen,
If you’re so upset about Senator Biden taking the train to work, why don’t you ask Her Majesty Madame Palin why she forced the poor folks of Wassilla to buy her a brand new Suburban as soon as she took over as mayor for her exclusive use? Kind of a gas guzzler isn’t it? And by the way, I actually bothered to look at that “table” with the average charitable donations – and by their accounting figures, taxpayers who make as little as $15K – $30K are supposedly donating almost $1,500 of it to charity? Sorry, but where I live that kind of money will barely cover rent, insurance and sometimes food. No one is donating $1,500 on that kind of an income.