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It's amazing to witness the gift of gap that high level politicians possess. Obama says "not going to scramble jets." What the public assumes he means: - "Thr

by deelowe 11y ago

It's amazing to witness the gift of gap that high level politicians possess. Obama says "not going to scramble jets." What the public assumes he means: - "Three letter agencies and the military won't be conducting clandestine operations to proactively seek out and remove Snowden from a foreign country." What he actually means: - Quite literally, he's saying that they won't be sending fighter jets to go blow up Snowden. Of course that would be silly and not make any sense whatsoever, but it doesn't change the fact that this is what he was referring to.

kbenson 11y ago
Well, yeah. Because "scrambling jets" actually means something specific[1]. I actually don't think it was his intention to imply "we won't send any planes to where he's at" because that's stupid. Of course there's the possibility of a diplomatic mission, or DOJ officials visiting the country in question to discuss matters with the officials there. To assume his words meant we had no intention of even visiting a location he was at requires either assumptions about words people don't know the meaning to, or a very naive interpretation of how things get physically get done. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrambling_(military) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrambling_(military)
pakled_engineer 11y ago
As an aside a good example of this politically evasive precision in speaking was Clinton's famous "I did not inhale" line when confronted if he had ever used marijuana. His answer was true, he's allergic to smoke and was well known around campus for baking/eating marijuana not inhaling it. Speaking of Clinton and document leaks, next time Hillary Clinton is asked about the classified email server scandal take note of her precise replies, it is impressive how politicians can fire out precise answers when pressured to both deflect and deny accusations and protect themselves at the same time by later claiming precision.
gaius 11y ago
Also his use of "boots on the ground"

by deelowe 11y ago

kbenson 11y ago

Well, yeah. Because "scrambling jets" actually means something specific[1]. I actually don't think it was his intention to imply "we won't send any planes to where he's at" because that's stupid. Of course there's the possibility of a diplomatic mission, or DOJ officials visiting the country in question to discuss matters with the officials there. To assume his words meant we had no intention of even visiting a location he was at requires either assumptions about words people don't know the meaning to, or a very naive interpretation of how things get physically get done. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrambling_(military) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrambling_(military)

pakled_engineer 11y ago

As an aside a good example of this politically evasive precision in speaking was Clinton's famous "I did not inhale" line when confronted if he had ever used marijuana. His answer was true, he's allergic to smoke and was well known around campus for baking/eating marijuana not inhaling it. Speaking of Clinton and document leaks, next time Hillary Clinton is asked about the classified email server scandal take note of her precise replies, it is impressive how politicians can fire out precise answers when pressured to both deflect and deny accusations and protect themselves at the same time by later claiming precision.

gaius 11y ago

Also his use of "boots on the ground"