McCain: The average height of South Koreans ...

[goodgd_yall]

This very tangential comment was heard by many last night, but it was so odd, I think many were not sure they heard right. Here is a portion of the transcript to show---yes---he did insert some irrelevant trivia about the how tall South Koreans were in comparison to North Koreans.

McCain: ...As far as North Korea is concerned, our secretary of state, Madeleine Albright, went to North Korea. By the way, North Korea, most repressive and brutal regime probably on Earth. The average South Korean is three inches taller than the average North Korean, a huge gulag.

We don't know what the status of the dear leader's health is today, but we know this, that the North Koreans have broken every agreement that they've entered into....


http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/debates/transcripts/first-presidential-debate.html

[msallied]

1. Okay, it makes sense now that I re-read it

But most people aren't going to remember that. They're going to see it as a non-sequitur. McCain is saying how undernourished the Koreans are. But it was a poor way to illustrate that.

[goodgd_yall]

2. Is that what he was trying to say?

I still didn't get what point he was making.

Reading the transcript, he sounds even worse, I have to say. He strings thoughts together in a disjointed way.

[AlCzervik]

4. he took a 4 mile walk around the block when he could have walked across the street

he should have just said "North Korea is starving their people to death".

[msallied]

6. BINGO! That's exactly right.

But even the confusion among smart folks at DU is indicative of how the rest of America is going to take that comment. It won't be good.

[vaberella]

7. Which would not be true by any stretch of the imagination. n/t

[Willo]

12. Wow, that was good. Can you translate Palinese too?

:rofl: Seriously, thanks. That line bothered me and your explanation is better than any I could find.

I guess hanging out with Palin is catchy.

[msallied]

20. After 8 years of Dubya, I'm a friggen maestro of interpreting the language of idiots. LOL

[goodgd_yall]

21. ...

:rofl:

[Andy823]

3. I heard that also

I was not sure I heard right, so my son hit the rewind and sure enough that's what he said! I do think he has some health problems.

[featherman]

5. Not fair: Dear leader Kim Il Jong is so short he throws off the average

[lumpy]

8. I wonder if McCain has been to Japan lately.

x

[rucky]

9. It's just one of those things Obama doesn't understand.

and neither do we.

Maybe it's because we didn't spend 5 1/2 years mocked and tortured by the North Koreatamese.

[tularetom]

10. FWIW the average height of an American adult male is 3 inches taller than McCain

Just a guess but I'll bet it isn't too far off.

[vaberella]

11. My problem is the claim at all. It's a mess. I want to know where he got his figures.

First off no N.K. Gov would participate in an average height fiasco that would be compared to S.K. is ludicrous on it's face. That would never happen and unlikely to happen. I'd really like to know where he got his numbers, and what decade they came from.


The whole comment is non-sensical, had nothing to do with the conversation, and the way people say the gov treats it's people is not as stringent as it seems. Yes, they are barely let out of the nation. But N.K. is an extremely developed nation and nothing like even Cuba post revolution. It's fully up to date. The gov just controls everything.

[lurky]

19. Excellent point about the stats.

N. Korea would never allow external authorities in to study the health of their people. And if North Korea reported their own numbers, they would be like, "All North Korean men are twelve feet tall and breathe fire."

[Jackeens]

13. Video Link here...comedy gold

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXa4h7k26QQ

[ej510]

14. They're still taller than troll man McCain.

[Jackeens]

15. See the ad beside the opening post?

For the 'International Korean Dating Site'. Do you get to choose tall South Koreans or small North Koreans? Just wondering.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXa4h7k26QQ

[lligrd]

16. Obama Is 5" Taller Than McCain

Wonder what that means?

[hedgehog]

17. So was he trying to suggest that Obama doesn't undersytand how

repressive the North Korean government is? I think it was a throw back to the old Cold War days when Republicans tried to paint Democrats as pro-Communist.

[FatDave]

18. I don't think it helped when he called Kim Jong Il "Dear Leader" either.

Sounded to me like an endorsement. Or that maybe he was talking about W.