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本帖最后由 Rubygenisu 于 2012-4-1 09:42 编辑
Is This Thing On?The 8 worst "hot mic" blunders of all time.
BY URI FRIEDMAN | MARCH 27, 2012http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/03/26/is_this_thing_on?page=0,0
The microphone has long beenboth a politician's best friend and worst enemy. In 1948, for example, ThomasE. Dewey got himself into trouble when the train he was traveling on lurchedbackward toward a crowd of supporters in Illinois, just as the Republicanpresidential candidate was preparing to speak into a microphone. "That's thefirst lunatic I've had for an engineer," Dewey huffed. "Heprobably should be shot at sunrise." Never one to miss an opportunity, Democraticincumbent Harry Truman praised the "allDemocratic" train crew, while the "lunatic" engineer himself declared, "Ithink as much of Dewey as I did before, and that's not very much."
You'd think we would havelearned a thing or two in the six decades since, but apparently not. President BarackObama has been stung by the open mic on three separate occasions. And on Monday, ithappened again. Microphones caught Obama telling Russian President DmitryMedvedev after a meeting in Seoul that he would have more "flexibility" to dealwith issues such as missile defense after the U.S. presidential election.Here's a transcript and video of the exchange, per ABC News:
Obama: On all these issues, but particularly missile defense, this, this can be solved but it's important for him to give me space.
Medvedev: Yeah, I understand. I understand your message about space. Space for you...
Obama: This is my last election. After my election I have more flexibility.
Medvedev: I understand. I will transmit this information to Vladimir.
The conversation has sparkedan outcry among conservatives. Mitt Romney's campaign pounced, tweeting, "@BarackObama:I'll have more flexibility to _______ after the election,"prompting followers to fill in the blank with everything from "impose peace plan" on Israel to "act more European." The Republican National Committee has alreadycome out with an ad asking, "Whatelse is on Obama's agenda after the election that he isn't telling you?"
Just a tip: if you have toask "Is this thing on?" better to be silent than sorry. Here's a look at theworst tempests in a teacup roiled by the open mic. And if you think Obama put hisfoot in his mouth, just wait until you hear Putin's rape joke or recall whatReagan's slip of the tongue almost caused.
BARACK OBAMA/NICOLAS SARKOZY ON BENJAMIN NETANYAHU During a G-20 summit in Cannes,France, in November 2011, journalists who tuned into a translation before theywere instructed to do so overheard French President Nicolas Sarkozy callingIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a "liar" who he couldn't "bear" whilediscussing France's vote in favor of the Palestinian bid for UNESCO membershipwith Obama. "You're fed up, but I have to deal with him every day," the U.S.president reportedly responded.
The comments caused a stir inthe United States (then-Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann urged Obamato apologize to Netanyahu) and in France (Sarkozy met withleaders of the French Jewish community to explain his comments), but they alsogenerated a great deal of debate in Israel.
"I was embarrassed to readwhat Sarkozy thinks about our prime minister, and I was even more embarrassedto hear that the U.S. president agrees with him," Labor Party legislator DanielBen-Simon told the JerusalemPost. "If[Netanyahu] lies so easily to important officials, just imagine how much helies to us." On the other end of the spectrum, Danny Danon, a lawmaker whobelongs to Netanyahu's Likud Party, declaredthat "Obama's true face was revealed, as were his cold and disrespectfulpolicies towards Israel and Prime Minister Netanyahu."
The Israeli press was equallydivided. Over the course of several days, op-ed headlines included, "Don't Trust the French," "Don't Trust Barack Obama," "Obama, Talk Is Cheap," "Our Friend in Paris," "Why Should Anyone Believe Netanyahu?" and "Netanyahu Is Less of a Liar Than Past Israeli PMs."
In March, Netanyahu "had"to cancel a visit to Paris but did meet with Obama at the White House. Thistime, Obama spoke of "friendship"and "unbreakable" bonds -- at least when the microphones were on.
BARACK OBAMA ON QATAR During a Democraticfundraiser in Chicago in April 2011, Obama, not realizing that CBS News's MarkKnoller was still recording his remarks after a question-and-answer sessionwith reporters, informeddonors that Qatar's emir, SheikhHamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, "is a big booster, bigpromoter of democracy all throughout the Middle East. Reform, reform,reform -- you're seeing it on Al Jazeera." But, he added off the cuff, theemir "himself is not reforming significantly. There's no big move towardsdemocracy in Qatar."
What made the commentsparticularly embarrassing is that, earlier in the day, Obama had met with Thaniin Washington and praisedQatar's leadership in Libya and "whenit comes to democracy in the Middle East" (the emir, in turn, promised tosend Obama tickets to the 2022 World Cup, which his country is hosting).
The Qatari daily The Peninsula quicklyissued a pointed rebuttal:
We strongly believe that change and democracy should come from within and should never be imported or we will have what happened in Iraq. Maybe in Qatar, our pace is slow but we have no doubt we are in the right direction. We are sure that we will achieve all that we have set for in our Vision 2030, likely eight years ahead when you come for World Cup 2022. We believe Qatar is on the learning curve and we are making progress in practicing democracy -- from media to public debate and education....
Mr. President, we have often written about U.S. foreign policy having double standards and being unmindful of the process of the change in Middle East. We do not want U.S. to export democracy to us because we don't want to repeat the Iraq experience. But be assured, we can build our own process.
VLADIMIR PUTIN ON MOSHE KATSAV At the end of an October 2006press conference between Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmertin Moscow, a reporter caught the Russian president cracking a joke about rapecharges against his Israeli counterpart Moshe Katsav (the Israeli president waslater found guilty)."What a mighty man he turns out to be!" Putin reportedlyquipped. "He raped 10 women -- I would never haveexpected this from him. He surprised us all -- we all envy him!"
Kremlin spokesman DmitriPeskov later admittedthat Putin made the wisecrack but argued that it "in no way means thatPresident Putin welcomes rape." For good measure, he added that "Russianis a very complicated language, sometimes it is very sensitive from the pointof view of phrasing" (Putin, for his part, claimed thatjournalists probably "heard something and began to have ideas").
The Russian daily Kommersant may have summed up thecontroversy best. "This was one of those moments when you just can'tbelieve your ears," the paper marveled.
GEORGE W. BUSH ON HEZBOLLAH In July 2006, during a G-8lunch in Russia, a live microphone caught President Bush venting to BritishPrime Minister Tony Blair about the United Nations' stance on the conflictbetween Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. "See the irony is what they need to dois get Syria to get Hezbollah to stop doing this shit and it's over," Bush noted inreference to Syria's alleged support for the Islamic militant group (about 1 minute into the clip).
Bush didn't think much of theincident ("he rolled his eyes and laughed" after seeing the transcript, WhiteHouse Press Secretary Tony Snow told reporters),but the famously plainspoken president did catch some flakin the press. Tony Blair faced withering criticism as well. Here's howIreland's SundayTribune described the exchange,referencing Bush's apparent greeting of "Yo, Blair!" (some reportstranslated this line as "Yeah, Blair").
"Yo Blair," the leader of the Free World greeted his gofer. He proceeded to slap down the prime minister's efforts to intervene in the Israeli bombing of Lebanon. Tony sidled away, tail between his legs, his subservience captured for posterity on Bush's microphone.
During a visit to parliamenta couple days after the summit, Blair was reportedly heckled with cries of "yo!" from opposition lawmakers.
JACQUES CHIRAC ON BRITISH FOOD This doesn't technicallyqualify as a hot mic gaffe, but it's too good to exclude. In July 2005, Frenchjournalists overheardFrench President Jacques Chirac making fun of British food with GermanChancellor Gerhard Schroeder and Vladimir Putin. "The only thing [theBritish] have ever done for European agriculture is mad cow" disease, Chirac reportedly joked. "You can't trust people who cook as badly as that. After Finland,it's the country with the worst food."
The Brits, needless to say,weren't happy. Under the pun-riddled headline, "Chirac'sreheated food jokes bring Blair to the boil," the Guardian quoted British chefs saying "aman full of bile is not fit to pronounce on food" and "I'd serve himlangoustines followed by good Aberdeen Angus beef and then give him a heartattack with some sticky toffee pudding."
But when London was selected overParis as the host city for the 2012 Olympics days later, it was the UnitedKingdom's turn to gloat. As an op-ed in the SundayMercury put it:
If Jacques Chirac had not stuck his size nines in it before the vote by having a pop at Britain and their less-than-appetizing cuisine, then maybe Paris would have won.
In the end, it was London's hunger to get the Games, rather than Paris's apparent self-confidence that they would win, that triumphed.
JEAN CHRETIEN ON U.S. POLITICIANS While waiting for PresidentBill Clinton to arrive at a NATO meeting in Madrid, Spain in July 1997, Canadian Prime MinisterJean Chrétien (pictured above, third from right) issued a scathing critique of the United States that was picked up bya television network's audio system. "In your country, in my country, all the politicians would be in prisonbecause [the Americans] sell their votes," he told the prime ministers of Belgiumand Luxembourg, in reference to the U.S. political system. He bragged aboutCanada standing up to the United States and even joked about starting themeeting without Clinton.
Clinton later shrugged offthe remarks (calling Chrétien a "great leader" and "superiorhuman being," and vowing to "get even" on the golf course), but the primeminister's comments proved more divisive in Canada. "Mr. Chretien has managed to insult the American political process, the president,the Congress, state and municipal leaders, and the U.S. public service,"Preston Manning, the leader of Canada's opposition at the time, declared. Butan editorial in Canada's Globe and Mail was more glowing:
For years, our diplomats in Washington have had to focus on Congress. Whether the issue was acid rain, softwood lumber, a global ban on landmines, or a treaty on chemical warfare, Canada has often had to put its case not just to the president, but to Congress, as well as interest groups, who wield enormous power in the system.
Thus, when Mr. Chrétien laments the inability of Mr. Clinton to get his way on NATO or Haiti, he shows a critical understanding that a Canadian prime minister must have of the reality of Washington.
Mr. Chrétien should speak from the heart more often. Candor becomes him.
JOHN MAJOR ON HIS CABINET MEMBERS In July 1993, British PrimeMinister John Major let frustration over his difficulty in securing approval ofthe European Community's Maastricht Treaty spill over during an off-the-recordchat with a television reporter, not realizing that he was still being taped. Mostfamously, Major called threeof his Euroskeptic ministers "bastards" for opposing European integration. (Theprime minister never identified the Cabinet members by name, though that didn'tstop the British press from speculatingabout their identities.)
The gaffe only furtheraggravated the divisions within Major's Conservative Party over the treaty and continuedto resonate in the British political arena for quite some time. In 2004, the Independent reported that several Tory lawmakers who had by then embracedthe term "bastards" reunited to raise "their glasses toMr. Major's fit of pique."
RONALD REAGAN ON RUSSIA In August 1984, PresidentRonald Reagan made the mother of all microphone blunders. "My fellowAmericans," he joked duringa sound check for a radio address. "I'm pleased to tell you today that I'vesigned legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in fiveminutes." (The radio address was actually about a much more mundanesubject: religious groups meeting in public high schools.)
Reagan aides and reportersmay have laughed at the president's playful banter, but America's Cold War enemy wasnot amused. When the audio leaked, Politico notes, the Soviet military briefly went on high alert, U.S. officials had to assure the Kremlin that Reagan's remarkhad been in jest, and Reagan's poll numbers against Democratic presidentialcandidate Walter Mondale temporarily slipped.
A few days after the incident, the Associated Press reported that aSoviet commentator named Genrik Borovik had appearedon television to criticize Reagan and his "maniacal idea" ofdestroying the Soviet Union. "People say a man's level of humorcorresponds with the level of his thinking," she observed. "If this is so, thenisn't this too base for the president of a great country?"
Aswe've learned in the decades since Reagan's scandalous sound check, even presidentsof great countries sometimes forget to turn off the microphone.
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