Down in Texas, and elsewhere in the South, we have a saying: "Bless his heart" (or, in the feminine, "Bless her heart"). This phrase is used to signal affection for someone, frequently just before or just after noting one of their shortcomings.
The amazing thing about this phrase is that you can couple it with the most withering critique, but the phrase "makes that okay."
F’rinstance: "Bless his heart, Lester never did have the sense to come in out of the rain" or "Bless her heart, Betty Jo’s entry into this year’s apple pie contest tasted like it had been made with persimmons."
"Bless his heart" is like of like putting a smiley face after an insult on the web.
Well it seems that the MSM has an equivalent to this. Witness:
At the end of a day of meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao and other Chinese officials, Bush held a session with a small group of U.S. reporters and spoke at length about issues like religious freedom, Iraq and the Chinese currency.
The final reporter he called on critiqued Bush’s performance earlier in the day when he stood next to Hu in the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square to deliver a statement.
"Respectfully, sir — you know we’re always respectful — in your statement this morning with President Hu, you seemed a little off your game, you seemed to hurry through your statement. There was a lack of enthusiasm. Was something bothering you?" he asked [SOURCE].
It appears that "Respectfully, sir" is the MSM equivalent of "Bless his heart." It’s a phrase to "make okay" whatever outrage is about to pass the reporter’s lips.
Only it’s darker than "Bless his heart," because there can be (and usually is) genuine affection expressed with the latter phrase.
There isn’t any of that in the reporter’s "Respectfully, sir" and certainly not in the patently false "you know we’re always respectful."
This question was anything but respectful, and calling it that didn’t make it so. It only called attention to the fundamental rudeness of the question, which can only be described as an ill-willed, nitpicky, and petty effort at "gotcha" journalism.
The question was asked purely to embarrass the president. It certainly was not a serious attempt to elicit information that would be valuable for the public to know. I mean, if there was a urgent global crisis that the president was aware of and that was what was what was on his mind, he could scarcely be expected to tell that to the reporter.
The question also has the appearance of trying to stir up ill will between the president and his Chinese hosts by overtly suggesting that he wasn’t enthusiastic about relations with them. Trying to stir up trouble between the U.S. and China in a diplomatic situation like this isn’t just asinine, it’s positively unpatriotic.
No president should be asked such a blatantly insulting question in such a diplomatic situation. Not Bush. Not Clinton. Not anybody.
Oh, and think what a sterling example of the free press the reporter set for the Chinese. Yes, that’ll make Beijing want to loosen control of reporters in China. "My asinine behavior is what y’all have to look forward to if you free the press, guys!" is what this guy telegraphed to the Chinese leadership.
Despite the fact that the reporter was acting like an arrogant, nitpicking, petty little man bent on troublemaking, the president had a good comeback:
"Have you ever heard of jet lag?" Bush responded. "Well, good. That answers your question."
Nice comeback.
Still, that reporter needs a trip to the woodshed.
Bless his heart.
This reminds me of when people say “No offense, but…” and follow with something critical, or more often, offensive. In fact, I don’t know if I’ve ever heard it used before a constructive criticism. I’ve only heard it used to try and make okay something that should be phrased much more charitably or something better left unsaid.
Pastors and ministers in my part of the South (Appalachia, which makes me an Appalachian-American) will sometimes say “God bless him” (or her) as an equivalent to bless his heart.
The reporter actually said “we’re always respectful” with a straight face? Wow.
Another tactic is to use a Yiddish accent. You can say just about anything if you use a Yiddish accent:Oy, did they tell you? There’s an operation for that now?
Cf. also “With all due respect.”
I liked your apple pie/persimmons example.
‘thann
Considering the Chicom persecution of Christians, their lack of repentance over the Tienanmen Square Massacre, the piratical seizure of the recon plane a few years back, their open preparation to seize Free China and subject her (surviving) people, why do we have relations with them? Why do we let them, through slave labor, put an economic half-nelson on us?
Supporting US/Chinese relations is what is unpatriotic, to the US, and basileus tou Theou.
What do persimmons taste like?
You hear the words, “With all due respect to my venerable colleague,” or “With all due respect to my fellow learned counsel” — you know a slam is coming —
“Bless his heart” just sounds so much nicer.
Persimmons, from my MINIMAL experience, suck all the moisture out of your mouth and leave you puckering so badly that you have no idea what the taste is. Mebby mine wasn’t ripe, but it’s not an experience I’d repeat without a lot of coaxing.
Persimmons, from my MINIMAL experience, suck all the moisture out of your mouth and leave you puckering so badly that you have no idea what the taste is. Mebby mine wasn’t ripe,
No, no! That’s what persimmons are SUPPOSED to do! They’re the fruital equivalent of alum.
Is this another one of God’s Little Jokes?
Gosh, why didn’t the reporter just say, “I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, sir” and THEN slam him? Because everyone knows that makes the offended party look like he’s easily offended. 🙂
Reminds me of the hypocritical usage of “the Right Honorable Gentleman from” in the UK Parliament or “my distinguished colleague from ” that they use in the US Congress. Set em up with a compliment, and then smack em down!
Persimmons, when allowed to ripen, will not leave you with that awful feeling or expression on your face! When ripe, they are succulent and as sweet as love. (I don’t think I’ve ever bought them ripe from the store, though. You have to wait a bit.)