Shooting From The Lip

By Harvey Tobkes

Are you sometimes amazed how purportedly smart and respected people, holding high positions (all over the world), can sometimes say and do such dumb things. Presidents, congressman, lawyers, doctors, school principals, elected officials, you name it.

• Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, president of Iran: Israel does not have the right to exist.
• Bill Clinton: I did not have sex with that woman.
• George Bush I: Read my lips, no new taxes
• George Bush II: Iraq has WMD

In fact, I will name a religious leader, Reverend Pat Robertson who joins the “Stupid List,” using the pulpit to plead for the assassination of Hugo Chávez, Venezuela’s president. Somebody should e-mail the sixth commandment to reverend Pat. It says, “Thou shalt not kill.”

When it comes to doing dumb things, like accelerating the mouth before putting the brain in gear, (it’s also called…shooting from the lip), he is surely not in a class by himself; he has many other classmates.

And why is this so prevalent? I submit that many of the professionals mentioned in the categories above, received an education that went beyond and exceeded their intelligence.

Of course, gross errors that are exposed to public scrutiny are an embarrasment for those hiding under the cloak of our ill-advised faith and credence, but when we give a person our trust and confidence, we expect that person to fulfill the obligation.