Pete Hoekstra, who I first wrote about when he ran a Super Bowl ad using racist stereotypes, made news last month in his capacity as U.S. Ambassador to the Netherlands. CNN reported it in US ambassador's 'fake news' claim backfires.
In an interview with a Dutch reporter, US Ambassador to the Netherlands Peter Hoekstra denied a comment he made in 2015 about the "Islamic movement," calling it fake news. Then he denied his denial.I had the following to say about this news my comment on A Novel Excuse for Lying.
LOL and ick, Pete Hoekstra. I'm embarrassed to admit that he's from Michigan. Worse yet, he served in Congress for 18 years including a stint as Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee from 2004 to 2007, making him about as Establishment Republican as one gets around here. He came in second to Rick Snyder in the Republican Primary for Governor, as a lot of independents and Democrats crossed over to keep someone they saw as too conservative from winning the nomination. He then ran for U.S. Senate in 2012, losing to Debbie Stabenow. He showed his ass then, as his campaign hired the same ad firm that made the Christine O'Donnell "I am not a witch" spot. They made a commercial that used Chinese ethnic stereotypes and aired during the Super Bowl. It pissed off a lot of people, including a Chinese-American Republican County Commissioner who promptly donated to his primary rival. After that loss, I thought I'd never hear about him again. Ha! He's back!At least six users on Booman Tribune agreed with me, rating this comment as excellent (4 of 4), making it my highest rated comment on the site last month. As for Hoekstra, I doubt his Islamophobic remarks, his denial, and his denial of his denial are that well regarded.
The worst part is that Hoekstra's not a bad pick for Ambassador to Holland on paper. He was born in Holland, he has governmental experience, he has foreign policy experience, he has Establishment credentials, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, and all kinds of people who look good on paper are disasters in person, Hoekstra included.
Enough reality. Back to fantasy for the three-day weekend.
"Back to fantasy"? If this is reality, it's more fantasy-like than fantasy is. No fantasy film could get away with somebody denying he had said something, then denying that he had denied it when presented with proof. It would be too weird. Stick with plausible stuff like talking raccoons.
ReplyDeleteStill, we obviously can't expect Donald "shithole countries" Trump to be good at choosing diplomats. Diplomacy is yet another subject he knows nothing about.
The past two days, if not the entire year, are a demonstration that reality has no editors, as fiction at least has to pretend to be believable. As for talking raccoons, "Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2" didn't win any awards this week. On the other hand, "Wonder Woman" did.
DeleteAnd to think, as I noted, that this is as good a choice as Trump is likely to make.