On Monday, Ibuki attempted to make light of the "KKK" part of the acronym YKKK, the shorthand being used to describe the informal political alliance between senior members (Yamasaki Taku, Kamei Shizuka, Katō Kōichi and Kan Naoto) of the Liberal Democratic Party, the Democratic Party of Japan and the People's New Party. The acronym hearkens back to the famous YKK internal alliance of up-and-coming LDP members(Yamasaki Taku, Katō Kōichi and Koizumi Jun'ichirō) of the late 80s/early 90s.
As reported in The Yomiuri Shimbun:
「ＫＫＫに多数の黒人が暗殺されたように、自民党の有為な若い人が政界再編の美名の下で暗殺されないよう願う」You cannot make this stuff up.
"Many black people were killed by the KKK (the Ku Klux Klan). I hope that many promising young LDP members are not similarly killed by the political realignment carried out under this beautiful moniker."
For why I call the former finance minister "The Waiter," see this post from last year on a not quite so stunning, but still cringeworthy, Ibuki performance.
Wow, just wow. And to think that this isn't just one person in the LDP that makes such amazing verbal gaffes, but a sizeable chunk of its cabinet over the years. Even more amazing is how they just keep on trucking with their careers much of the time. Between this, Taro Aso's ever-growing library of Greatest Hits, "Baby Making Machines", saying comfort women don't exist, and so much more, it's just mind-blowing what is capable of coming out of some of these politicians' mouths.
ReplyDeleteJapanese politicians never get any kind of significant "media training" which is why they're continuously saying the most outrageous or asinine things left and right.
ReplyDeleteGen, I think this goes beyond media training - if you spout things this crass and offensive then you need training as a decent human being first.
ReplyDeleteI don't know. I think that whenever you give a typical human being a little more power and status over other people, he'll naturally end up saying the most ridiculous offensive crap unless you specifically train him not to. And maybe it's better that they don't get "media training". I don't want to make it any easier for politicians to lie to us in the first place.
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