Administration Asserts Holbrooke's Last Words Were 'Joking Exchange'

[sixmile]

Nothing more to see here, folks. Move along.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/12/14/holbrooke-last-words-afghanistan-obama_n_796628.html

'The Obama administration is trying to dismiss the reported last words of veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke, its point person on Afghanistan and Pakistan who passed away this week, as a joke.

Administration officials said Tuesday that Holbrooke's final words, "You've got to stop this war in Afghanistan," were part of a jovial back-and-forth with the medical staff.

"At one point, the medical team said, 'You've got to relax,'" State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley told reporters on Tuesday, relaying what he said he had heard from people who were in the room with Holbrooke at George Washington University Hospital. "And Richard said, 'I can't relax, I'm worrying about Afghanistan and Pakistan.' After some additional exchanges ... finally said, 'Tell you what, we'll try to fix this challenge while you're in surgery.' And said, 'Yeah, see if you can take care of that,' including ending the war."

Added Crowley: "But certainly, it says two things about Richard Holbrooke in my mind. Number one, he always wanted to make sure he got the last word. And secondly, it just showed how he was singularly focused on pursuing and advancing the process and the policies in Afghanistan and Pakistan to bring them to a successful conclusion."

more at link

[gratuitous]

1. Called it

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=4522&mesg_id=4539

[bemildred]

2. Yep, dying is just another humourous occasion ... nt

[jobycom]

5. You joke about thinks you can't do anything else about. nt

[bemildred]

11. Like dying? nt

[JoePhilly]

18. Ever been to a funeral?

Or better, an Irish wake?

[jobycom]

19. Exactly like dying.

Ever read a "Famous Last Words" list? They are full of quips.

And of course this was a conversation before going in for surgery, so he didn't know he was dying. He was nervous, and people joke when they are nervous.

[JoePhilly]

29. Bingo

[jobycom]

3. Makes more sense then him saying "You need to end the war" to a surgeon. nt

[SpiralHawk]

4. "Ha ha. Real funny" - Dead and Maimed Human Beings

"Ha ha. Real funny."

- Flat-busted USA Taxpayers who got suckered into this ugly Gas-pipeline CRUSADE & Bottomless Money Pit by a pack of royally rank republicon lies & misrepresentations.

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. I'm Nascious

If this is a

SAVE THING BY THE ADMINISTRATION.

nevermind.....

[Ichingcarpenter]

9. To Take A Person that Worked his whole life on Peace and Negations.

IT REALLY DOES CHEAPEN HIS LIFE.

[glitch]

14. It doesn't cheapen Holbrook's life. It cheapens Crowley's credibility.

Or whoever said it was part of jovial exchange.

[Hawkowl]

7. The Whitehouse is SICK!!

Now it's funny? A dying man's last words are just a gut buster? Have you heard the one about the truck bomb in Afghanistan? Or I shipped 500 pallets of cash to Afghanistan and all I got was this lousy T-shirt?

Sick, incompetent PR fucks.

[Hawkeye-X]

8. Obama - if you won't respect Holbrooke's words

then I suggest that you and your entire administration resign effective immediately so President Pelosi can arrange her transition team before Boehner takes over.

Hawkeye-X

[Ichingcarpenter]

13. "END THIS FUCKING WAR"

well, the fucking is not part of the quote but geez

I am a poor wayfaring stranger
While traveling thru this world of woe
Yet there's no sickness, toil or danger
in that bright world to which I go

I'm going there to see my father
I'm going there no more to roam
I'm only going over Jordan
I'm only going over home

I know dark clouds will gather round me
I know my way is rough and steep
Yet beauteous fields lie just before me
Where God's redeemed their vigils keep

I'm going there to see my mother
She said she'd meet me when I come
I'm only going over Jordan
I'm only going over home

[Name removed]

10. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[QC]

12. Actually, Holbrooke's last words were praise for the administration's decision

to raise the choco ration from ten to five grams.

[struggle4progress]

15. That's an obnoxious spin from Amanda Terkel

Statement from the Vice President on Richard Holbrooke
Today, I lost a great friend and America lost one of its greatest warriors for peace ... http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/12/13/statement-vice-president-richard-holbrooke

Statement from the President on Richard Holbrooke
... He worked as a young foreign service officer during the Vietnam War and then supported the Paris peace talks which ended that war. As a young Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, he helped normalize relations with China. As U.S. Ambassador to Germany, he helped Europe emerge from a long Cold War and encouraged NATO to welcome new members. As Assistant Secretary of State for European and Canadian Affairs, he was the tireless chief architect of the Dayton Accords that ended the war in Bosnia 15 years ago this week, saving countless lives ... http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/12/13/statement-president-richard-holbrooke

[FLAprogressive]

16. this administration will go through ANY lengths to spin information. It's disgusting and Bush-like.

[FirstLight]

17. invasion of the body snatchers, man

Obama has been turned into a pod person...it is the only explanation for the crazy coming from the WH right now.

I just don't get it, man

[JoePhilly]

20. For those flipping out .... do you recall this ...

"I hope you're all Republicans."

This is what Ronald Reagan is reported to have said after the assassination attempt.

[arcane1]

23. But that's TOTALLY DIFFERENT

for some reason...

[dflprincess]

25. Which is not quite the same as making a joke out of a needless war

that is destroying countless lives and driving the U.S. to ruin.

I never met the man but somehow I find it hard to believe he'd make a joke out a foreign policy blunder this large - even if he was nervous. He probably repeated it as he was going into surgery because he hasn't been able to get Obama to listen to him.

[JoePhilly]

27. Not at all hard to believe ...

The man knows he's having serious surgery and may die. The doc tell him he needs to relax, he tells them its hard to relax, not because of his own potential very near term death, but because of something else, the war in Afghanistan. The docs tell him don't worry about that, we'll take care of it. He says ok, well if YOU are going to take care of it, well now I can relax.

Such a joke has NOTHING to do with Afghanistan. If he was joking, he was joking about the potential for his own death, using other unrelated factors (like Afghanistan) as the things that APPEAR to cause him to be nervous. Many men in a similar situation will make some joke about how angry their wife might become at them for causing such a fuss.

No one is joking about Afghanistan. This seems more like a man smiling in the face of his own death.

[JI7]

36. he wasn't joking about the war itself but about the doc telling him to relax

when he had things like afghanistan on his mind.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

21. Why does the WH feel it's necessary to address this?

During Bush's administration David Letterman showed a photo of a child nodding off as he stood directly behind Bush as he was giving a speech (Bush loved to use children and servicemen as backdrops). The audience got the joke, laughed, and that was it.

Until the next day, when the WH claimed it hadn't happened, that the Letterman people had photoshopped the kid's head in to embarrass Bush.

Wrong move. It gave Letterman another chance to show the photo and to make fun of the WH response.

To which the WH responded that the kid wasn't even at the event, that Letterman was making the whole thing up.

Wrong move.

Don't these guys (WH staff) know that if you just ignore these things people will let them pass. Very few people know who Holbrooke was -- except, perhaps, as the man who brokered the peace between Willie Nelson and Stephen Colbert as to whose Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor was superior.

Most rational people understand that humor is used to defuse a tense situation, and going into life-threatening surgery qualifies, IMHO. They would take the statement for what it's worth and move on.

Finally, a lot of people don't know or care about the situation in Afghanistan. They've got their own problems to deal with -- like paying the rent or buying food for their kids. Holbrooke's comment doesn't even appear on their radar screen.

So all the WH has done is turn a one-minute news bite into a more significant story. Good strategy, guys!

[JoePhilly]

31. Holbrook has been our special envoy to Afganistan ...

He's not an anonymous kid falling asleep behind Bush.

The WH can't ignore his death, not can they ignore whatever he may have said prior.

Its impossible. And comparing Holbrooke's death in that way is ridiculous.

[moondust]

22. In fairness...

I think the truth of the story needs verification from the medical team before everyone blows a gasket.

[SugarShack]

24. Oh I doubt he was joking while rushed for medical help....last thing he would do is joke! I met him.

he's was definately the most serious guy in the room! I met him at the Bush/Kerry Debate in Fla right before the vote. He would not joke about ANY war, at ANY time, let alone when he knows he's facing his own mortality! NEVER! How absolutely stupid of the prez press staff to come up with such a line! Obama pays these guys?

[bushisanidiot]

26. Of COURSE he was joking around! He had no idea he was about to die

and neither did anyone else.

news to DU AND FR: NOT EVERYTHING IS A FUCKING CONSPIRACY THEORY!

[Ichingcarpenter]

28. Thank you Mr. Expert on Death

Geez... your experience in living and working with death in life


is

JUST A FUCKING REVELATION.

[JoePhilly]

30. You seem very offended by the very notion that he was joking ...

And you demand credentials from those you would disagree with ... I don't know the person you responded to ... but ...

In my teens, I worked in a cemetery to make money for college. And from that experience, I can tell you first hand that humor is a critical part of how people deal with death.

It is not uncommon for mourners to be quite somber at the funeral, and to be joking about the deceased 30 minutes later. Or consider an Irish Wake. Its a PARTY for the deceased.

As for whether those who may be facing death may make jokes ... many of them do. Not all folks heading into surgery panic, or pray, or cry, on their way to surgery. Many try to hold it together and laugh about their situation. The jokes can take many forms.

Reagan after being shot, jokingly said to his surgeons, "I hope you are all Republicans."

The notion that Holbrook was joking with his surgeons to relieve his own anxiety is not that strange.

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[JoePhilly]

40. +100000

I have to give you major RECS for hoping for the death of another person, whether a DU member, Democrat, Republican, or other. That's unusual, but on DU of recent, I guess not that unexpected.

After all ... hopes such as yours, for the death of others, are both very liberal and very progressive. Yes?

But of course, you don't mean it ... and if mom caught you on her computer hoping for the death of others, you'd be in big trouble, right?

Look ...

I see my own death, as I see yours ... in the larger scheme of things, they are relatively non-events. As was our individual births.

Neither you nor I lived for 1000s of years of human history. As a result, neither recalls any of that. Today, our brief, insignificant lives, happened to cross paths. And you hope I die sooner than you. That will show me!!!

You, apparently do not see the humor in your life, my life, or in our assured deaths.

I find all of it very funny.

[laughingliberal]

32. If he had no idea he was about to die, his medical team had not done a very good job of explaining..

his condition to him. Yes, there was a chance his surgery could be successful but I felt, on hearing of it, he had a very slim chance to survive.

[TexasObserver]

34. He wouldn't have said it in that moment unless he meant it.

[Recursion]

42. Did Reagan *actually* hope his surgeons were Republicans? (nt)

[TexasObserver]

46. Of course he did.

[mod mom]

35. Unbelievable. I can't believe I worked to get this admin elected.

[Mike 03]

37. Maybe so, but how, honestly, do you all reconcile this with his involvement with the

Genocide in East Timor?

Has he matured and regrets it, and realizes Afghanistan is a disaster? I could believe that.

[Hello_Kitty]

38. Memo to WH: There is one appropriate way to handle the last words of a dying man.

That's to STFU about it. "We have no comment about that" would have sufficed.

[Union Scribe]

39. You're so right. There was no need for this.

The administration seems to be playing a marathon game of "how many feet can we fit in our mouth"

[laughingliberal]

41. Yes. And they're ahead in that game. nt

[stillrockin]

43. Amen.

[Catherina]

44. The WH spin is as sick as fuck. n/t

[nc4bo]

45. Yea - joke about Afghanistan. ha. ha. ha.

There are probably some people/corporations/governments who are :rofl: about our 2 illegal wars anyway. :rofl: straight to the bank.