Monday, May 09, 2011

That's So McRaven

May 9 (New York Times) -- Even the most serious of subjects - like the killing of a hunted terrorist leader - apparently needs its light moments.

At the White House last week, President Obama one such opportunity in a report that, to confirm Osama bin Laden's height after he had been killed, a Navy Seal laid down on the floor next to his body. Evidently this improvised approach took Mr. Obama aback. The Washington Post reports that the president wondered aloud to an aide, "Could we not afford to buy a tape measure?"

So, officials familiar with the event said, during a private Oval Office meeting with Vice Adm.
William H. McRaven, who oversees the Seals, Mr. Obama thanked the admiral for a job well done in Pakistan, and presented him with a plaque - with a tape measure on it.



1 comment:

Charles said...

Off-topic: Regarding your conversation with Dahlia Lithwick on BlogTalk Radio, I am surprised that you didn't take her to task for the statement that justices like Thomas and Alito are acting as extremists because they were raked over the coals in their hearings. Over at MercRising, I ask the following questions:

"[F]irst, if someone takes revenge on completely unrelated parties because of what some Senators said about them years earlier, are they fit to sit on the Supreme Court?

Second: does Dahlia Lithwick not understand that Senate hearings for candidates for the Court constitute a job interview for a great job, with a high salary, plenty of benefits, and enormous power? Does she think that judges should not have to answer questions that are no more severe than those asked of many a job applicant?

Third: Hasn’t everything alleged against Clarence Thomas been proven to be true?"

I confess that I listened to the interview with half an ear, so perhaps I missed something important. But it seems to me that this was a moment in which someone needed to stand up and say in clear tones audible from a neighboring state: "WTF!?!?!"

--Charles