As Iraq Toll Hits 4000 -- Bush Sees a "Comma"

As the U.S. death toll neared the inevitable 4000 in Iraq, President Bush gave the country another pep talk this week on staying the course, while continuing to argue that history will wash the blood off his hands. Nothing has changed in his claim that when humans, or God, look back at this episode, it will seem like only a "comma."

Back in September 2006, I was first to trace the derivation of this "comma" reference (and a chapter about it appears in my new book on Iraq and the media).

CNN had aired an interview with President Bush conducted by Wolf Blitzer, who asked about the latest setbacks in Iraq and indications that civil war may be at hand. Bush, with a slight smile, replied, "Yes, you see -- you see it on TV, and that's the power of an enemy that is willing to kill innocent people. But there's also an unbelievable will and resiliency by the Iraqi people.... I like to tell people when the final history is written on Iraq, it will look like just a comma because there is -- my point is, there's a strong will for democracy."

Even for Bushisms, this was an odd one. Maybe he meant "coma." No, that would be too negative.

A comma as a metaphor perhaps? If so, for what? All that bloodshed as merely a comma -- a pause in a long sentence -- leading to a hopeful phrase or conclusion? Comma, "and they all lived happily ever after"? Or maybe, comma, "and then we bombed Iran"?

Of course, one can think of other punctuation that might be apt, including "?" for the 150,000 Americans still deployed there, "!" for the cries of the gravely injured, and "$" for Halliburton and other contractors.

Or perhaps, as in the comics pages, when an angry character really wants to curse: "!@#%^&*()#*"

Like many others, I was initially confused -- though appalled -- when President Bush stated that the Iraq war will be viewed as "just a comma." Perhaps he meant to say "asterisk" but did not know how to pronounce it. Or maybe he meant "blip" or "footnote" -- though that wouldn't make the sentiment any less revolting, especially for the thousands of dead.

That sent me googling in search of an answer, which I soon found. This is it: He didn't quite finish his thought, and meant to state that the Iraq war will be viewed as "just a comma, not a period."

Not surprisingly, this is rooted in current Christian teaching, often in reference to Jesus's death, or more generally as "Don't put a period where God puts a comma."

Where does this come from? Not directly from the scripture, apparently. A quote by comedienne Gracie Allen is cited on many religious Web sites: "Never place a period where God has placed a comma."

United Church of Christ parishes in Massachusetts were recently urged to put that quote on banners during Lent and color in the words as the weeks went by.

Of course, many of us of a certain age remember Gracie Allen, the actual and TV wife of the legendary George Burns. Memo to the president: She was the batty one who often talked nonsense.

Or as a minister at a United Church of Christ in Los Angeles recently put it, admiringly: "She would have said whatever came to her mind in a full voice, and lived out its conviction." Sound familiar?

An article in the St. Petersburg Times in November 2005, described a new TV commercial by the UCC -- not a conservative, but a progressive church -- which featured a large comma. "Weighing in on the commercial," the article concluded, "evangelist Pat Robertson is said to have remarked, 'Never place a comma where God has placed a period. God has spoken!'"

And so has the president. Did he fail to finish his thought -- linking the comma to the period -- for fear of invoking his Christianity in discussing a murderous war? Or did he want to avoid being linked to Gracie Allen? In any case, the U.S. death toll represented by this little old "comma," now stands at 4000, along with tens of thousands of Iraqis.

Period.

Greg Mitchell's new book is So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits -- and the President -- Failed on Iraq. It features a preface by Bruce Springsteen and foreword by Joe Galloway, and has been hailed by our own Arianna, Glenn Greenwald, Bill Moyers, Paul Rieckhoff and others.

Comments

[studioh!]

shouldn't there be a comma after the 4 and in front of the zeros?

[ResearchGuy]

Gracie Allen was a very bright lady -- her public persona was carefully crafted for humorous effect. If G. W. Bush were as bright, his regime would not have become a catastrophe of global proportions.

[lucnyc]

I can't believe what I am reading in the press, and hearing on the radio and TV news broadcasts lately. It seems to me that people in this country have very, very short memories. GWB and the Republican party have totally F--ked up this country. Yet no one, seems to remember or care. Also the probability that John McCain or any Republican for that matter could be a serious contender for the white house is scary. Before GWB became President a barrel of Oil was $28, we were not at war, and the US dollar was strong. Most importantly however, we now have 4,000 dead young american soldiers who have given their lives for a frivolous war waged by an incompetent president. What gives? I don't get it.

[KarenZipdrive]

Bush has never made a remark in public that did not contain at least one questionable word or phrase. Take a person of sub-par IQ and mix it with years of brain damage caused by alcohol and drug abuse, and you get someone whose language skills are indecipherable.
Bush is merely a marionette anyway. He says whatever his owners tell him to say, and they don't care how he says it.
It's not like he's held accountable.

[WilliePilgrim]

I think he must have meant that he was in a coma. But I agree, when it comes to understanding what he means, it's anyones guess but you could hardly go wrong by very far by presuming the most ridiculous and uninformed meaning.

[avicenna]

Well - at least he is unique as an American President for whom English is a second language and he doesn't appear to have a first.

[ResidentChimp]

I think President Bush meant that the surrender Monkeys will seem like a comma. The historically illiterate who inhabit the Huffer universe aren't able to do anything but hate those who don't conform to their appeasing ways. Why don't some Huffers give a few indications of what Obama is saying rather than speculte on President Bush's speeches which you aren't qualified to understand?

[knighthowl]

I won't "speculte" on Bush's speeches, but perhaps that is what makes me unqualified to understand them. At the same time, I wasn't aware that the comma remark came from a speech. But no doubt I am also not qualified to understand when Bush is giving a speech. On the other hand, we all know when W is telling a lie.

[checkmoot]

The comma represents 4000 deaths ? Oh, I forgot. A few hundred thousand Iraqi men, women and children don't count. After all, just a bunch of ragheads. Way to go Greg.

[ResidentChimp]

Since it Was the Arabs who killed 95% percent of those Iraqi men, women and children; why don't you address your post to them?

[knighthowl]

I believe we now have proof of alternate universes. Which one are you from, Chimp? I am sure that many Iraqi's have killed many others. You, however, seem to be forgetting that we killed a good many (which we refuse to count) with our own bombs and rockets. We are also responsible for many deaths from our destruction of their infrastructure. But, most importantly, 95% of this death and destruction would never have occured if we had followed international law and stayed out of Iraq.

[msfiskvletterman]

3/23/08
11:45pm
Alexandria, VA

Thank you for researching that quote about the comma. I never would have figured out what he meant by it. Now that I do understand, I am appalled.
In my opinion, God has nothing but exclamation points for this disaster in Iraq.

[MrJoyboy]

The hallmarks of a psychopath are lack of empathy and remorse. Bush is a textbook case.

[DoninJoisey]

And denial of reality.

[thinkb4uleap]

Is it not true that psychopaths/sociopaths are known to continue their inhumane behavior less any external intervention?

[WatchingTheParade]

I don't understand how Bush lives with himself...almost 4000 dead, just heartbeaking...

[itmaybetoolate]

See the comment by Mr.Joyboy. No empathy - no remorse. He is not fully what we would call "human."

[duckfan00]

Cheney has Bush convinced that like Lincoln and the Civil War he needs to 'stay on course' in Iraq. Of course the rest of the world knows these two are in denial and somewhat delusional. We will pay the price for their deception and mistakes for a long time. History will not be kind though. The sad commentary I find are the cable news and network people like Andrea Mitchell,Tim Russert,Wolf Blitzer and the rest (all of faux news) hammering candidates like Obama and Clinton while Iraq and economy are going in the toilet. Bear Stearns was just a warning. Honest Abe with Bush/Cheney I am afraid not. Please can Doris Kearns Goodwin get some guts and speak some truth about the worst administration in US history....5,10,50 years from now it does not make a difference lies are still lies...

[pinky112]

The man is an idiot, period.

[ReasonIsMyReligion]

I-M-P-E-A-C-H

[UnionJok]

I cannot look at G. Wanker's picture for long before my mind rebels, and his eyes and nostrils blur into little commas, apostrophes, or single quotes lying on their sides. ("Lazy" is the all-too-appropriate term from the blazonry of cattle branding.) The simian lips become one big, drooping lazy parenthesis.

As I look at the main post, there is an ad illustrating this perfectly.