The most expensive White House race ever is throwing up a rich catalogue of gaffes and unwisely uttered truths.
Republican candidate John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama have seen their campaigns rocked recently by supporters who planted their feet squarely in their mouths.
Former senator Phil Gramm, a top McCain advisor, undercut his boss’s fervent efforts to show voters he gets their economic plight when he declared America a “nation of whiners” mired in a recession of the mind.
PHOTO: AFP
Civil rights icon Jesse Jackson insists he is a passionate Obama supporter but seemed to betray his real views in a whispered aside on an open microphone.
“I want to cut his nuts off,” Jackson said, accusing the Illinois senator of talking down to black people.
These are classic examples of people blurting out things they believe, but would be wise to keep to themselves — or as columnist Michael Kinsley once famously put it: a gaffe is when a politician tells the truth.
Obama foreign policy advisor Samantha Power took a trip to Britain during the primary campaign and appeared to leave her discretion back home.
Power branded Obama’s Democratic rival Hillary Clinton a “monster.” It’s a sentiment perhaps shared by some inside Obama’s campaign, but it jars with the high-minded tone he has adopted for his White House bid.
She resigned not long after that gaffe.
It’s not just surrogates who can get foot-in-mouth disease. McCain’s sense of humor sometimes causes him problems.
Last week, as tensions with Tehran flared, McCain was told by a journalist that US cigarette exports to Iran had soared. “Maybe that’s a way of killing them,” he quipped, before hurriedly adding: “I meant that as a joke.”
Perhaps the underlying message of all these missteps is that in a campaign as long as this candidates and their backers are bound to make mistakes. (AFP)
這場有史以來最花錢的白宮大位爭奪戰，頻頻傳出發言不當或輕率吐露真言的狀況。
共和黨候選人約翰．麥肯和民主黨的巴拉克．歐巴馬兩人最近都因幕僚失言而震撼選情。
麥肯的重要顧問前參議員費爾．葛蘭姆表示，心智衰弱的人民讓美國淪為一個「抱怨國」。麥肯積極想證明他了解選民的經濟困境，但費爾等於捅了他一刀。
黑人民權領袖傑西．傑克遜強調他是歐巴馬的狂熱支持者，但他卻在一支沒關的麥克風旁低聲說出「違心之論」。
傑克遜說：「我想把他給閹了。」他指責這位伊利諾州參議員貶低黑人。
這些都是人們脫口說出不該說的真話的典型例子；就像專欄作家麥可．金思利轟動一時的名言所說：政治人物說出事實就是失言。
歐巴馬的外交政策顧問莎曼珊．包爾在黨內初選期間出訪英國，結果她顯然把判斷力留在美國了。
包爾批評歐巴馬同黨的競選對手希拉蕊．柯林頓是個「怪物」。這可能是歐巴馬陣營內部部分人士對希拉蕊的看法，但卻有違他力倡的高格調競選。
她在那次失言後不久便主動請辭。
不只是代理人會說錯話，麥肯的幽默感有時候也讓他惹上麻煩。
德黑蘭上週試射飛彈造成國際情勢緊張，有記者告訴麥肯美國出口至伊朗的香菸數量大增，他就嘲諷說：「也許這是殲滅伊朗人之道，」隨後又趕緊補充說：「我說笑的啦。」
也許這種種失言背後的原因就是，在這種長期抗戰的選戰中，候選人和他們的支援團隊不可能不犯錯吧。
（法新社�翻譯：袁星塵）
Microsoft on Feb. 28 announced it was retiring Skype, the online voice and video call pioneer that the tech titan acquired in 2011. “Starting in May 2025, Skype will no longer be available,” said a post from Skype support on X, directing users to sign into Microsoft’s Teams platform for further use of its services. Skype was founded in 2003 by Scandinavians Niklas Zennstrom and Janus Friis in Estonia, revolutionizing Internet communication by offering free voice calls between computers and affordable rates for calls to landlines and mobile phones. Over the years, and as Internet speeds improved, Skype evolved to
A: China’s animated blockbuster “Ne Zha 2” also smashed a box office record recently. B: It’s No. 7 among the world’s best-selling films, grossing more than US$2 billion globally. A: I t has even become the world’s highest-grossing animated film, while the political metaphors in it are causing controversy. B: But who is Ne Zha anyway? A: Ne Zha, often spelled as “Nezha,” is actually a mythical teenage deity with superpowers. A: 中國動畫片《哪吒2》最近也打破紀錄。 B: 該片已衝上影史票房排行榜第7名，全球狂賣超過20億美元。 A: 聽說它甚至是全球最賣座的動畫片，影片中的政治隱喻卻引爆爭議！ B: 但哪吒是誰？ A: 哪吒的名字常被拼成「Nezha」，是神話中具有超能力的青少年神明。
People desire a sense of purpose in their lives, but they often remain idle unless they have a clear reason to act. This concept is illustrated by the retirement paradox. People work hard to prepare for a future without work but find life meaningless after achieving that goal. A study was carried out to determine if a reason, even a minor one, could encourage idle people to take action. __1__ Upon finishing the first, they were instructed to drop it off at a location either right outside the room or at a spot farther away, which would take around
A: Were there any highlights at the Oscars this year? B: With 13 nods, French director Jacques Audiard’s “Emilia Perez” broke the record for most Oscar nominations earned by a non-English film. A: Wow, it broke the record of 10 Oscar nominations set by Taiwanese director Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” B: On the eve of the Oscars, Lee was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) Awards. A: It seems that Hollywood has finally become more diverse. A: 今年的奧斯卡獎有什麼亮點嗎？ B: 法國導演賈克歐迪亞的《璀璨女人夢》榮獲13項提名，打破了非英語片紀錄！ A: 哇打破了台灣導演李安的《臥虎藏龍》10項提名紀錄。 B: 李安則在奧斯卡前夕，獲頒美國導演工會「終身成就獎」。 A: 看來好萊塢終於比較多元化啦。 (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times／台北時報張迪)
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