Buzz Aldrin and some Fox News moron interview

[Linguofreak]

Strauß was an excellent successful and appreciated politician, no matter if there was affairs and people who don't like him.

That a politician is "excellent, successful, and appreciated" does not mean that he is not corrupt. The following is a list of some popular politicians I can think of off the top of my head, some of them had reason to be popular, others should have stayed out of politics, some you will probably like, some not:

Reagan
FD Roosevelt
Teddy Roosevelt
Lenin
Clinton
Obama
Kennedy
Mussolini
Huey Long
Churchill
Hitler
Lincoln
Washington
Strauß
Putin

All of these were/are great politicians. The problem with some of them is that they were/are *too* great.

---------- Post added at 11:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:53 PM ----------

Franz Joseph Strauß was a criminal, I don't think you do him a favor to name him in the same sentence as Kinski, who was crazy, but great.

From the little I know about him, it looks like he was, but keep in mind Moonwalker's original statement about him: He knew how to kick journalistic butt. The world could use a few politicians like that, though hopefully not as corrupt.

 

[Urwumpe]

I don't want my politicians to waste their time annoying journalists. Especially if they just do their job. It must not be the play with the media, that Schröder did, but somewhere around Merkels manners would be nice.

 

[tblaxland]

my sisters cant understand it i even tried telling them its just a controlled bomb but they still dont understand it of course they cant even turn on there ps3 so they sure are idiots when it comes to technology and science

A sure way to make a student not listen is to tell them they are an idiot (or even think of them as one, since it will be expressed in your body and/or verbal language anyway).

 

[Linguofreak]

I don't want my politicians to waste their time annoying journalists. Especially if they just do their job. It must not be the play with the media, that Schröder did, but somewhere around Merkels manners would be nice.

Now, I'm not intimately familiar with the media habits of German politicians, but the recent course of politics in the US has shown me that we definitely need some politicians that know how to deal with the media: First, by not being in bed with it, second, by not deliberately picking fights with it, third, by not getting painted into a corner when the media picks a fight with them, and fourth, by painting the media into a corner when it picks a fight.

 

[Urwumpe]

The media is part of your job as politician. you get your information from them and your voters get their information about you from them.

You can work with them professionally, which does not mean: Talk about nothing that can't be demented. Sometimes you have to say something.

Also, journalists like working with politicians who are really professional...only bad journalists seek the others. You can make a big sensationalist story out of a bad politician once per year, but your bread and butter work is getting the important information and that requires you to not annoy all politicians.

 

[Moonwalker]

That a politician is "excellent, successful, and appreciated" does not mean that he is not corrupt.

On the other hand, that Strauß was corrupt, just like Kohl was as well, does not mean they are bad politicians all along the line. If for example Clinton says that without Kohl the world would have looked different in the 20th century, he is certainly not wrong. I don't disagree Clinton, but also not Gorbatschow and Bush senior (they all praise Kohl with good reason). Of course this is related to Kohl and not to Strauß. But because there was affairs/corruption doesn't make Strauß and/or Kohl insignificant or non-successful. Being chancellor for 16 years is something non-excellent politicians don't achieve. And regarding Strauß: people, especially critics, should wonder how many bavarians actually would like to see a Strauß again rather than a Seehofer (the current bavarian premier).

But as you pointed out, my actual concern is that I would like to see politicians and other public persons who are able to play with the media and treat them in a "proper" way whenever required. But as former chancellor Helmut Schmidt said for example: we don't have real statesmen anymore these days, almost on every side. I agree. What we have these days is basically bootlicker, do-gooder and "political correctness", which is just a terrible bootlicker-term. Boring mishmash.

 

[insanity]

But as you pointed out, my actual concern is that I would like to see politicians and other public persons who are able to play with the media and treat them in a "proper" way whenever required. But as former chancellor Helmut Schmidt said for example: we don't have real statesmen anymore these days, almost on every side. I agree. What we have these days is basically bootlicker, do-gooder and "political correctness", which is just a terrible bootlicker-term. Boring mishmash.

Strauss had a member of the media arrested for telling the truth about the army's inability to deal with the East. That really isn't proper.

 

[Urwumpe]

Strauss had a member of the media arrested for telling the truth about the army's inability to deal with the East. That really isn't proper.

Actually, it wasn't about arresting the journalists. The journalists really violated a law, the NATO report wasn't classified for fun.

But: Strauß not only violated law himself by ordering the arrests and even damanded arresting the author of the article in Spain, including having the editor of the magazine arrested for 103 days without a judge reviewing the case and by bypassing the minister of justice. He also denied being responsible, despite actually using the case for personal revenge against the magazine, which had earlier that year exposed that Strauß supplied the FIBAG company with Pork barrel contracts (a parliamentary investigation found Strauß innocent, but that was no surprise at that time, the German government was pretty corrupt in the first decades and possibly still is...in the hindsight, it is easier to see)

The only reason why Strauß was not thrown into jail himself, was a political favor and a pretty bigot ruling of the court: Because Strauß was thinking that he was acting lawfully, he was not acting intentionally criminal. He got convicted of violation of authorities and deprivation of personal freedom, but just not punished.

But this scandal was effectively the end of the federal career of Strauß and the reason why Schmidt got elected.