Gaffe-Tastic State

Former Senator Hillary Clinton's state department did not have a good week this week. First came this report from Geneva Switzerland, where Secretary of State Clinton met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Mrs. Clinton presented the Foreign Minister with a button that was labeled "perezagruzka". Only one minor problem with that.....

Lavrov needled her by pointing out that because of a translation error by the American staff, the button was labeled not "reset" but "overcharge." Clinton tried to laugh off the mistake, but Lavrov insisted, "You got it wrong."

What's even better is that (as King Banaian pointed out on the NARN today) it was not even written in Cryllic! Woops.....

The she moved on to Brussles where....

Hillary Clinton raised eyebrows on her first visit to Europe as secretary of state when she mispronounced her EU counterparts' names and claimed U.S. democracy was older than Europe's.

Even better (for me anyway) was this comment...

"I have never understood multiparty democracy.

"It is hard enough with two parties to come to any resolution, and I say this very respectfully, because I feel the same way about our own democracy, which has been around a lot longer than European democracy."

Now having lived in Europe and experienced their multiparty system I can say it's really not all that difficult to understand. One of the advantages of a multiparty system is that one can not govern without practicing a little of promised "post partisanship" that President Obama promised us on the campaign trail....then again that may explain why his Secretary of State just doesn't "get" European and Canadian style democracy.....

All of that said, I wonder what would have been said in the US media if former Secretary of State Rice had back to back gaffes like this. Would they (or the left-o-sphere) have let it slinde like they are now?????