Obama's Opproprium 3/24/09

Every speaker has a mouth.
An arrangement rather neat.
Sometimes it's filled with wisdom.
Sometimes it's filled with feet.

Robert Orben
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Come in. Have a seat.
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So Barack Obama made an inappropriate comment did he? Well Mr. President, join the club. One could publish an extensive book filled with nothing but silly remarks made by United States Presidents. Imagine what it would be like if you were held accountable for every stupid thing you've said in your life, especially if you were in a position of authority when you said it. How many not so clever things would you like to take back?

You have probably heard of the blooper tapes. If you haven't actually heard one you're in for a good laugh if and when you do. Every radio and TV station in the land is required to keep a recording of the day's broadcast. When something strange happens on the air there is a record of it. If it's an amusing mistake it will be rerecorded and put on a blooper tape. One of the radio stations I worked for had such a tape and here are my two favorite extracts from it.

NBC News was covering a story about two engineers who went down into a missal silo to do some repairs and couldn't get out again. The news announcer began the program very seriously by saying "This is NBC News trapped in a missal silo."

A woman was being interviewed on the radio whose job was to design very high class, beautiful bathrooms. At the end of the show, the interview thanked the woman for being on the show and the woman replied "So glad to wee with you."

Another example of this sort of idiocy is the man who was announcing the end of a very important coast to coast broadcast of a live symphony orchestra concert. Evidently he was nervous or unprepared or something, but he concluded by saying "And now this is announcer's name speaking. Good night."

I have to confess to you that I am on one of those blooper tapes. I was working for a major radio station in New York City. It was political convention time. I have no idea why I said this and, in fact, I didn't even know I had said it until I came in the next day and they played the tape for me. I have a copy of the goof, and I can play it whenever I want to laugh at myself. I said "Last night Ronald Reagan was nominated for a second term as President in front of thousands of cheering Democrats."

Never measure a person by his failures and mistakes. Measure him by his successes. Because that's the way we want to measure you.

DB - Vagabond Journeys
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Check out the results of the WINTER QUIZ and the invitation to the SPRING QUIZ below. And have yourself a springtime day.
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