OUR NEW GET TOUGH DIPLOMACY

One of my friends sent me the following dispatch about our new get tough diplomacy. He wrote: With any luck we may not have to go to such extremes...because, judging from the picture of their Glorious Leader (which accompanied the dispatch), it looks like international sanctions are already negatively impacting their textile, optical, and hairstyling industries.

U.S. TO RESPOND TO NORTH KOREA WITH 'STRONGEST POSSIBLE ADJECTIVES'
Obama prepared to consult Thesaurus; leaves Adverbs Option on the table

May 26, 2009

One day after North Korea launched a successful test of a nuclear weapon, President Obama said that the United States was prepared to respond to the threat with "the strongest possible adjectives."

In remarks to reporters at the White House, Mr. Obama said that North Korea should fear the "full force and might of the United States' arsenal of adjectives" and called the missile test "reckless, reprehensible, objectionable, senseless, egregious and condemnable."

Standing at the President's side, Vice President Joseph Biden weighed in with some tough adjectives of his own, branding North Korean President Kim Jong-Il "totally wack and illin'."

Later in the day, Defense Secretary Robert Gates called the North Korean nuclear test "supercilious and jejune," leading some in diplomatic circles to worry that the U.S. might be running out of appropriate adjectives with which to craft its response.

But President Obama attempted to calm those fears, saying that the United States was prepared to "scour the thesaurus" to come up with additional adjectives and was "prepared to use adverbs" if necessary.

"Let's be clear: we are not taking adverbs off the table," Mr. Obama said. "If the need arises, we will use them forcefully, aggressively, swiftly, overwhelmingly and commandingly."