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The Spectacle Blog
Anita_Dunn_poster_copy
Standup comedian Anita Dunn, who doubles as President Obama's White House communications director, now claims she was only joking when she praised Mao Zedong by calling him “one of the two people that I turn to most,” Glenn Beck revealed on his TV show Monday.
Hilarious! There have to be 70 million murdered Chinese rolling in the aisles! What a knee-slapper. Beck revealed last week that Dunn idolizes Mao, the brutal Communist dictator of China responsible for the slaughter of tens of millions of innocent victims.
To recap, in a video from June, Dunn told high schoolers:
A lot of you have a great deal of ability. A lot of you work hard. Put them together and that answers the "why not" question. There is usually not a good reason. And then the third lesson and tip actually comes from two of my favorite political philosophers: Mao Zedong and Mother Teresa, not often coupled together, but the two people that I turn to most to basically deliver a simple point, which is, you're going to make choices. You're going to challenge. You're going to say why not. You're going to figure out how to do things that have never been done before. But here's the deal -- these are your choices. They are no one else's. In 1947, when Mao Zedong was being challenged within his own party on his plan to basically take China over, Chiang Kai Shek and the nationalist Chinese held the cities that had the army. They had the airport. They had everything on their side, and people said, "How can you win? How can you do this? How can you do this, against all the odds against you?" And Mao Zedong said, "You know, you fight your war, and I'll fight mine." And think about that for a second. You don't have to accept the definition of how to do things, and you don't have to follow other people's choices and paths, OK? It is about your choices and your path. You fight your own war. You lay out your own path. You figure out what's right for you. You don't let external definitions define how good you are internally. You fight your war. You let them fight theirs. Everybody has their own path. And Mother Teresa, who, upon receiving a letter from a fairly affluent young person who asked her whether she could come over and help with that orphanage in Calcutta, responded very simply, "Go find your own Calcutta." OK? Go find your own Calcutta. Fight your own path. Go find the thing that is unique to you. The challenge that is actually yours, not somebody else's challenge. One of the things that we see the Obamas, both of them, Michelle and Barack, came out of backgrounds as community organizers, working.
If Dunn's message was about the importance of perseverance and refusing to give up, she could easily have quoted a non-controversial figure such as Winston Churchill, Dale Carnegie, Franklin D. Roosevelt, or Thomas Edison, but she chose Mao, a homicidal maniac. Remember that: she chose Mao as an example of someone whose ideas she elevates and exults.
But now Dunn says, "The use of the phrase 'favorite political philosophers' was intended as irony, but clearly the effort fell flat." Having studied English, this doesn't quite make sense to me.
The following explanation roughly captures what I learned about irony in college:
The essential feature of irony is the indirect presentation of a contradiction between an action or expression and the context in which it occurs. In the figure of speech, emphasis is placed on the opposition between the literal and intended meaning of a statement; one thing is said and its opposite implied, as in the comment, “Beautiful weather, isn't it?” made when it is raining or nasty. Ironic literature exploits, in addition to the rhetorical figure, such devices as character development, situation, and plot to stress the paradoxical nature of reality or the contrast between an ideal and actual condition, set of circumstances, etc., frequently in such a way as to stress the absurdity present in the contradiction between substance and form.
I didn't pick up any irony in her comments, did you? And if she was being ironic as to her "favorite political philosophers," the irony would also extend to Mother Teresa. She didn't say anything about distancing herself from Mother Teresa, so this retroactive pronouncement of irony by Dunn is quite selective, isn't it? A parent of a high school student present in the audience at the speech by Dunn (who has been asked by the White House to lead the Obama administration's war against Fox News) also didn't think the supposed joke was funny. "There was no irony, no sense of humor," he said. "Mao would have preferred to silence the opposition by a bullet to the head."
If Dunn is a practitioner of irony, she should have her license revoked.
(The Obama as Mao poster graphic above is by Matt Holzmann.)
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adren jarrid| 10.20.09 @ 2:28AM
Wow! I watched the GB show when he presented the story. I watched Chris Matthews, and Rachel Maddow too. I just don't get it. Is this really happening to us? Everyone except FOX is supporting this obviously marxist president.
Seth Gy| 10.20.09 @ 8:54AM
Yes I ask the same question, too. Is this really happening to America?
Anita Dunn was legitimatizing Mao Ze Dong for US' high school kids. Disgusting !
Alan Brooks| 10.20.09 @ 9:16AM
Dunn is too confused to be taken seriously. Or dopey.
Like when Earl Butz got fired in 1976 for his racist joke, everybody knew he was too silly to be taken at face value.
csrdrunner| 10.20.09 @ 4:36PM
Is she anita dunn, anita DONE or anita DUMB?
I will not use a capital for those I do not respect.
Here is a quote I bet most have never heard, not one I want to quote, however, it is a scary thought.
"What luck for rules that men DO NOT THINK".
you will never guess who said it??
adolf hitler
Blacque Jacques Shellacque| 10.20.09 @ 2:37AM
Oh! It was just a joke! Ha Ha Ha!
HorizonScanner| 10.20.09 @ 3:23AM
It's a race against time. Can ZeroKing and his cohorts complete Grasci's LongMarch through the institutions and thus transform them as per the ZeDung template before all those tiny Amerikans scampering about down there don't do what Mao-Jacketed Anita in her epileptical fever of truth has planned for them by way of tongue-swallowed truth?
Stan Redmond| 10.20.09 @ 4:23AM
Mass murderers have always attracted useful idiots and 'democrats.' They crave the power Mao, Stalin, and Pol Pot have.
Jorge| 10.20.09 @ 4:57AM
What is interesting is that the other media outlets never picked up this part of the story.
It appears the rest of the media are good little pets, and are following the orders of the Whitehouse. What happened to "speak truth to power"? The Media is being led by the nose willingly because they were behind getting Obama in power. So how can they go against him now.
Imagine if she made a comment that Hitler was one of her favorite political philosophers? The media would have been all over that...oh wait she is on the Left. Then the media would ignore it, like they did this.
One of Dunn's excuses is that Conservatives and others quoted Mao. Quoting Mao and praising him as one of your "favorite political philosophers" are two different things.
eVince| 10.20.09 @ 4:58AM
I have watched this video several times - each time looking for the humor in her voice & demeanor.
There is nothing like humor, a joke or light heartedness noticeable in her speech. I was left with NO doubt that Mother Theresa and Mao Tse Tung are her heroes. She should own up to those sentiments and stop the LYING.
Perry| 10.20.09 @ 5:59AM
Dunn is a joke....how can people like this be working for us as government officials? Irony in front of 17-18 year old impressionable high school students? Then she talks about hoe SHE has manipulated the press...what is ironic is the fact that she still has a job and represents the US goverenment.....and one more thing......Dunn you are more than a fascist pig.....you are just a plain pig!!!!!!!
Timothy L. Pennell| 10.20.09 @ 9:39AM
Drip, drip, drip, drip, drip.
"Do you swear to defend the Constitution from ALL ENEMIES, external, and from WITHIN?"
Can you hear me now?
David Ben-Ariel| 10.20.09 @ 9:51AM
Anita Dunn is working hard to be as dishonest as the president usurper, Emperor Obama, the fraud and foreigner, at whose feet she worships (since Mao Tse Tung is dead), has proven himself to be. Shame on her.
Steve| 10.20.09 @ 10:21AM
Anita Dunn "exhalts" Mao's ideas; she does not "exult" them.
Good column.
RJP3| 10.20.09 @ 11:42AM
Of course she would make this joke -- do you see the image above her in this article. They were out there being spread by the Far Right Wing of America before the joke. The sad think is that these smears actually have dups falling for them.
America is watching and taking note. The Far Right Wing is going to have the lowest of the low as their "base" after this latest lame smear on Ms. Dunn.
SierraBear| 10.20.09 @ 2:11PM
Just how did you manage to escape the rubber room to show up here with this inane post? Was your stay at re-education camp a pleasant one?
SoCon| 10.20.09 @ 6:41PM
RJP, Americans are 40% Conservative, 20% Liberal--read it and weep, moron.
CJHill| 10.20.09 @ 11:44AM
I work at a small mid-western university and what I find even more disturbing than Dunn is the fact that most of the students I work with have no idea who Mao was. They're clueless to the fact that he killed 70 million people. Add Dunn's praise on top of their ignorance and we have an atmosphere where Mao becomes an accepted hero because those who control the school system want it that way.
godblessbush| 10.20.09 @ 1:31PM
At least Obama is not as vile as george bush. That's a relief we may all live with.
Tim | 10.20.09 @ 2:55PM
Explain how GWB is/was vile? What did he do PERSONALLY to YOU that would encourage such an asinine statement?
bill| 10.20.09 @ 6:48PM
He poked the Iraqi hornets nest in the chest when he so cavalierly said "bring 'em on!" after his invasion. Few men were lost before the yale cowboy with no military experience made that statement and FIVE THOUSAND DIED as a direct result after that inane statement...he killed my one and only son. Got it? Sh** for brains?
SoCon| 10.21.09 @ 12:34AM
Bill, I'm sorry for your loss if what you wrote was true, but Obama's Marxist policies threaten all of us. We could lose our country.
At least your son was part of a winning effort, more than can be said for Obama's disastrous Afghanistan policies.
Tim| 10.21.09 @ 4:57PM
Hey Bill,
While I sympathize with your loss, your son chose to join the military. Thats the gamble. He knew the risks when he signed the dotted line to join, and so should have you. And, oh by the way, there is no need to use foul language, for you do not know me and while I could call you a nasty name, I will refrain, as I don't need to do so to feel better about myself!
Curlegirl| 10.20.09 @ 1:39PM
Why is it everytime vile comments made by Obamas administration are called to the matt they always defend those comments by lying that they were a "joke that fell flat"??? I think she should be drug tested. It was obvious she suffered from cotton mouth and delusions from some medication she was on.
SierraBear| 10.20.09 @ 2:04PM
If you examine her hairstyle as it is in silhouette, she gives the impression of the pathetic, hapless clown that dons a lampshade on the head at a party...hilarious indeed!
Older American| 10.20.09 @ 2:21PM
Hmmm she likes a guy that was responsible for "eliminating" 60 mil+ people - Cultural Revolution.
Now it makes sense.
BO & Company want control of Health Care to eliminate 60 mil of us 'ol folks (with obvious cultural problems) and the social security and medicare problem go away.
Its all about the money. Find out who benefits in the $$ department and you see who is behind this mess
fdcol63| 10.20.09 @ 2:40PM
Unfortunately, this is no laughing matter.
We all need to wake up and stop what's happening to America before it's too late.
Barnestormer| 10.20.09 @ 3:03PM
And who says this white house doesn't have a sense of humor? Take Anita Dunn. Please.
konig| 10.20.09 @ 3:25PM
That Anita just cracks me up!! She is soooooooo funny!! You should be able to tell from the video that she is just joking... You people would probably find no humor in Hitler or Stalin or Pol Pot either! Some folks just can't take a joke!
shipley130| 10.20.09 @ 4:29PM
The joke is that she never turns to Mother Teresa. She only reads communist literature. MMM MMM MMM, that is funny stuff.
ChuckS| 10.20.09 @ 5:34PM
We have a Kenyan, not American pretending to be president. He cannot be Impeached only thrown out.
dkd| 10.20.09 @ 5:42PM
dunn is the joke. so is this president.
One Independent| 10.21.09 @ 2:51PM
If I had to watch that video again and see that tongue moving in and out, up and down, I would positively THROW UP! What on earth is wrong with that harridan? She appears to be having some kind of seizure.
jake| 10.21.09 @ 3:41PM
Did anyone esle see how many times she had to wet her lips and swallow during the High School speech? Very wierd. Like a dope smoker with dry mouth. Nice pick Obama. She's a glam.
Brian| 10.22.09 @ 9:24PM
Yeah, Nick Gillespie over at Reason said she reminded him of Gabby Hays.
Mark| 11.1.09 @ 1:06PM
It is certainly a mistake to list FDR among the "non-controversial" since he was, like Mao, a 'homicidal maniac'. He may not have been quite as competent at mass homocide as Mao was, although it wasn't for lack of trying; and when it came to lying, he was at least Mao's (or Dunn's) equal.
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