Comments on: I know exactly how Obama feels …

By: Ian

Ian — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 17:31:04 +0000

I thought this was going to be one of those “Separated at Birth?” things. Go ahead, look at the photographs again!

By: Dan J

Dan J — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:37:11 +0000

Let’s not forget another handshake photo that got a bit of press just a few years ago: “Shaking Hands: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein greets Donald Rumsfeld, then special envoy of President Ronald Reagan, in Baghdad on December 20, 1983.” I think the press that it got was directly related to a perception of more selective memory on behalf of the Republicans at the time.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 11:12:29 +0000

If I recall correctly, it is mainly the republicans that have the selective memory.

By: Stephanie Z

Stephanie Z — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:50:20 +0000

Wayne, I’m not even sure I’d agree that it’s concentrated in politicians. We just see a lot more of them.

By: Wayne Conrad

Wayne Conrad — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 10:32:40 +0000

“Republicans have a very selective memory, don’tcha think?”

I think, if you look at it objectively, you’ll find that selective memory is an attribute generally shared by the human race as a whole, but concentrated especially in politicians.

By: Dan J

Dan J — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:53:58 +0000

Accompanying the photo of Ford and Brezhnev in Gerald R. Ford's life in photos at boston.com:

President Ford with Leonid Brezhnev in 1974 after the Soviet leader tried on Ford's fur coat in Vladivostov, just prior to the two leaders' formal meeting.

But in At Ease in the White House by Stephen Bauer, p. 164, we have:

The Russian leader, Leonid Brezhnev, had agreed with him wholeheartedly and was giving him a warm and smiling send-off at the airport. Ford had noticed that Brezhnev kept looking at his coat wistfully—an Alaskan wolf fur coat Ford had worn to fend off the severe Russian weather. President Ford simply took off his coat and presented it to Brezhnev as a farewell gift.

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:42:24 +0000

But did he autograph it for you?

He offered and I declined.

By: PattyP

PattyP — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 09:37:52 +0000

All I have to say is (despite my being an environmentalist and animal rights advocate), that’s one seriously bad-ass coat Khrushchev’s wearing.

By: Zeno

Zeno — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 08:51:38 +0000

And I once shook hands with Anastasio Somoza, president of Nicaragua. I must like right-wing totalitarians!

By: Dan J

Dan J — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 08:50:58 +0000

But did he autograph it for you?

Republicans have a very selective memory, don’tcha think?