Originally posted by Seagoon
Hi Dead,
Ah, "Scotty" is Scott McClellan. I kept thinking either Star Trek or the Rocky Horror Picture show. I had no idea Flatbar was so chummy with members of the Administration. 
Thanks for providing the transcript. Clearly the Press Conference didn't end abruptly because he was flustered, it went on from 2:42 to 3:24 which is about 40 minutes longer than I think I could stand taking questions from the D.C. Press Corps.
As far as the two questions you cite, the problem as always, and I say this as respectfully as I can having spent several years in and around the media, is that the Press Corps seldom if ever knows anything about the subjects they are asking questions about. For instance, I seriously doubt whether anyone in the room (possibly including McClellan) had ever heard the term "shaped charge" or understands that plastic explosives can be used to open a cockpit door without decompressing an Aircraft. Clearly the reporter's understanding of the term "shoe bomb" went only as far as the information contained in the words themselves and she hadn't even considered the fact that one takes the shoes off in order to use them ("you either blow off your feet...").
The same sadly goes for the 6th commandment question. Very few members of the press these days have any grasp on the content of the bible and certainly Judeo/Christian theology is well outside their ordinary areas of of interest. A consideration that Christians and Jews have been eating animals, executing murderers, and going to war for millennia for instance, might have led to a reconsideration of the clearly inflammatory 6th commandment question, but once again only as much information as is conveyed in the KJV English of the words was comprehended by the questioner.
- SEAGOON
No argument from me on the shoebomb - a dumb question, but - as I said - a mildly weasly answer: a simple "I don't know" would be better. He is the spokesperson for the president, so I don't expect a great intellect, or any huge amount of expertise. But I didn't cite the questions as a sign I paid them much stock - merely to help you identify the current White House Press Secretary.
As to the second - a rather weasly answer there yourself. Using your logic, the fact that Xians and Jews have been indulging in taking the name of the lord in vain, adultery, stealing, bowing down to graven images, bearing false witness against their neighbours, and coveting their neighbours' stuff for millennia would justify all of those, too.
Of course this being the bible, it's just a big old ethics buffet, where everyone picks and chooses what they want, and there are thousands of interpretations. The "kill" issue is apparently still debated amongst scholars of the Hebrew.
But given Bush's profession of xianity, the question seems a fair one: any inflammatory implications stem more from Bush's actions and implied beliefs, than the question itself. Indeed the question seeks to clarify the matter.
All these musings are however rather off topic. Back to the shoe bomb fluff in hand, and the real question that it involves: what is this elderly nonsense detracting everyone's attention from? The Katrina hearings? Brazil's move to start uranium enrichment? Or something even more juicy?
