When I read someone’s sig on RPGnet which contained the quote “I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we’re really talking about peace.” attributed to our brave Boy King, I thought I must be missing something. There was some context missing, or extenuating circumstances. However, tonight I noticed a link after the quote, with a date. The link led me to a government website (U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, of all things) and a speech ‘about home ownership’ in which this quote occured, in June of 2002.

It’s odd enough that he spends time talking about ‘The War on Terra’ (hey, that…kind of makes sense!) in a speech on home ownership, but, well, I think it’s odd he spends all his time stumping for his social security agenda rather than running the country, too. I guess I can’t understand the subtle concept that “They [the terrorists] hate the idea that somebody can go buy a home.” (Are they Commies?)

Anyway, I hope I missed a big spout of public outcry over this quote three years ago, but I doubt it. Here it is in context so you can see that I’m not distorting him:

I want to thank the choir for coming, the youngsters for being here. I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we’re really talking about peace. We want there to be peace. We want people to live in peace all around the world. I mean, our vision for peace extends beyond America. We believe in peace in South Asia. We believe in peace in the Middle East.
-real quote from transcript above

I think we already have the [War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength|text|three slogans], in a country where we give away liberty after liberty to preserve the freedom to…umm, be exploited and lied to by an increasingly powerful government; in a country where real or feigned stupidity comes across as simple, straightforward, manly action to the man in the street. But to the best of my knowledge, this is the only one of them Big Bubba has actually avowed publicly. But at least with the guide he’s given us, we understand where he stands:

We want there to be war. We want people to live in war all around the world. I mean, our vision for war extends beyond America. We believe in war in South Asia. We believe in war in the Middle East.