Credit Where Credit Is Due
You've got to hand it to the North Korean government. They may have screwed up their economy, they may be dooming their populace to starvation and a life in isolation. That's all true, and they deserve serious criticism for that.
But man, can they spit out the vitriolic international political rhetoric.
Check these quotes from the North Korean Foreign Ministry, in reference to John Bolton, the U.S. Undersecretary of State for Arms Control:
"We know that there are several hawks within the present U.S. administration but have not yet found out such rude human scum as Bolton. What he uttered is no more than rubbish which can be let loose only by a beastly man bereft of reason."
God, that's great. I'm being totally serious. The 'human scum' bit got the headline, but "rubbish which can be let loose only by a beastly man bereft of reason"? That is priceless stuff. Wouldn't our political lives be much more enjoyable if our honchos were inclined to use such florid language? Instead, we get declarations that we used "darn good intelligence".
Why are the North Koreans so upset with John Bolton? Well, he made a speech in Seoul last week that was critical of North Korea, calling life for the ordinary people there "hellish". How dare he!
The North Korean statement goes on, with highlights like:
Bolton's speech "make(s) one doubt whether he is a man with an elementary faculty of thinking"
and
"such human scum and bloodsucker is not entitled to take part in the talks."
Bloodsucker? What the hell is that? That's such an outrageous ad hominym attack that I'm sure Bolton himself must have laughed like the bloodsucker he is when he heard it. Finally, Pyongyang provided a diagnosis for Bolton, citing his "political vulgarity and psychpathological condition".
Not just psycho, not just pathological, but psychopathological! Never in a million years would I think of calling my own worst enemy a psychopathological bloodsucker. You wonder if this was just an off-the-cuff speech, or whether they actually sat down and crafted this. ("Let's call him a dog fucker! No? Too far? How about human scum and bloodsucker? Beautiful...")
Either way, I'm impressed.
11:04:17 AM 
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