Did Edwards really say that Bush can't walk and chew gum at the same time?

[thebaghwan]

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=584&e=1&u=/nm/20040130/pl_nm/campaign_republicans_dc

Mehlman complained: "Senator Edwards called the president a 'phony' and just last night said our president couldn't, quote, 'walk and chew gum at the same time."'

Alright!!!

[Nite Owl]

1. Yep,

it was a good moment.

[BlueEyedSon]

2. Edwards just gained a few percent

in my personal poll!

[Justice]

3. Taken Out of Context

It was Edwards' best line of the night -- what he said was

A president has to walk and chew gum at the same time. (not the)

Talking about the president's war on terror at the exclusion of a domestic policy. He said a president needs to do both foreign and domestic policy.

But when he said A president has to do both -- walk and chew gum at the same time -- it had two levels - first the intended level and second the practical level - the current president cannot do both foreign and domestic OR walk and chew gum.

The crowd roared with laughter - they loved it, they got it.

I don't remember Edwards saying phoney though.

[JI7]

7. not yesterday, but some time ago

he said it about a few months ago. called bush a phony. and it wasn't a mistake or regret since he repeated it again.

[leyton]

4. Not so directly.

I think what he said was, and I'm paraphrasing, "Bush is just a commander-in-chief. He is commanding our troops and fighting terrorism, but ignoring his duties - he's not leading in the economy, the environment, etc. Well, a President should be doing all these things, and as President, I will be able to walk and chew gum at the same time."

(EDIT: Oops, Justice beat me to it.)

A great line, and definitely a jab at Bush, but not so directly.

Studies do show that Bush can't watch football and chew pretzels at the same time, though.

[lancdem]

6. I love it!

[DjTj]

5. From the debate:

BROKAW: Senator Edwards, do you think they would get enough help from our so-called Arab allies in this fight that is going on between those members of the Islamic movement who believe that we're unworthy and heathens in this country, and what the Bush administration is trying to do to close that schism that exists in too many areas?

EDWARDS: I think the answer is no, we don't get enough help in a lot of areas.

For example, the Saudi royals, who we're so dependent on Saudi Arabia for our oil, and we've not moved this country in the direction we need to go toward energy independence, which is desperately needed; cleaner, alternative sources of energy, more fuel-efficient vehicles, because we're so dependent on them for oil, the fact we don't get the cooperation we need from them.

And there's a complete disconnect between the leadership, not only in Saudi Arabia, but in a number of these Islamic countries and their people and their attitudes toward America.

Can I just go back a moment ago -- to a question you asked just a moment ago? You asked, I believe, Senator Kerry earlier whether there's an exaggeration of the threat of the war on terrorism.

It's just hard for me to see how you can say there's an exaggeration when thousands of people lost their lives on September the 11th.

I think the problem here is the administration is not doing the things, number one, that need to be done to keep this country safe, both here and abroad.

And number two, the president actually has to be able to do two things at once. This president thinks his presidency is only about the war on terrorism, only about national security. Those things are critical for a commander in chief.

EDWARDS: But as we're going to talk about, I'm sure, going forward, there's a lot the president's not doing, about jobs lost, about a health-care crisis in this country.

The president of the United States has to actually be able to walk and chew chewing gum at the same time, has to be able to do two things at the same time.

[ET Awful]

8. From the Kansas City Star. . .

"A president has to be able to walk and chew chewing gum at the same time."

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/world/7837415.htm

I also heard it with my own ears this morning on NPR Morning Edition on the way to work :).

I was laughing my butt off :)

[Strelnikov_]

9. Filling In The Blanks

From referenced article -

"Yet Mehlman voiced confidence Bush would prevail in the November election, saying the race would boil down to a choice between a Republican president who wanted to take the nation forward <toward economic feudalism and domination of the world's waning oil resources> and a Democratic foe who would take "America backward <to a time of peace, prosperity and equality>."

[xultar]

10. Yes, that was a GEM!!! n/t

[nannygoat]

11. Remember this?

Subject: John Edwards & George W. Bush's Positions on Gum Control
http://www.bettybowers.com/drudge.html

[HFishbine]

12. Blown opportunity

The better line would have been, "Bush can't walk and chew pretzels at the same time."

[NewYorkerfromMass]

15. much worse than that

he can't even sit on a couch and watch TV and eat pretzels.....

[dsewell]

13. You all DO remember this was originally a Gerald Ford reference?

When Gerald Ford was president, he was notorious for being clumsy--tripping coming down airplane stairs, and so on. Hence the Chevy Chase impression of him that consisted largely of falling down. Some wag (maybe one of you remembers) observed that Ford had trouble walking and chewing gum at the same time.

[PurityOfEssence]

16. LBJ said that he'd been playing football too long without a helmet

n/t

[PurityOfEssence]

14. Yes, and it was a big mistake

America is deeply anti-intellectual and always has been. This is where Kerry gets hurt. Although Clark and Edwards are both VERY smart, they don't come off as eggheads, so they have the best of both worlds.

Junior is the patron saint of the stupid. He's also another "proof" of the myth of the American Dream: that the average (or less) can truly succeed if they're hard-working and pure of heart. (Of course, this is broad-spectrum idiocy: Junior's lazy, corrupt and started life with scads of money and endless privilege.)

Mocking Junior's intelligence, fun as it is, is a huge mistake, and as an Edwards fan, I wish he hadn't said it.

It would be fun to watch Junior have to prove it...