shake that cat

Now if they'll just set this press conference to music

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, in the question-and-answer portion of remarks to the Newspaper Association of America/American Society of Newspaper Editors, April 22, 2004:

Q: Mr. Secretary, I am not a correspondent for Al-Jazeera. That's the good news. I may sound like one. However, my situation is worse. I am Arabic -- (inaudible) -- journalist teaching journalism at Iona College in New Rochelle, New York. My question is that in recent weeks, a couple of composers have come up with musical renditions of your speeches, classical and popular. Now that this talent of yours has been discovered, what do you plan do to do with it?

SEC. RUMSFELD: What was the last part of that?

Q: What do you plan to do with this talent that has come out?

SEC. RUMSFELD: Are you talking about that silly compact disc that some opera singer sings my press conferences?

Q: There is more than one. (Chuckles.)

SEC. RUMSFELD: Are there more than one? (Laughter.)

Someone gave me a copy of this thing, and here is this woman with a wonderful voice singing my press conference. (Laughter.) Now, if that doesn't tell you something about the state of the world! (Laughter.)

They're not kidding. How did the Apple slogan go? "Rip. Mix. Burn. Have door kicked in and CDs confiscated by the 101st Airborne."

Throw a couple of bucks in the tip jar to the right and we'll see if we can get Ashcroft to record a cover version.