Semantic Memory

“What we have here is a failure to communicate” said the captain to Cool Hand Luke.

El Presidente and his bandoleros are annoyed at everyone who is misinterpreting his mantra “Stay the course”. Apparently, “Stay the course” does not necessarily mean, well, “Stay the course”. According to El Presidente it means “Keep doing what you are doing. Don’t do what you are doing if it is not working – change!”, in other words, it means “Stay the course” or Change – take your pick. El Presidente is showing his flexibility and adaptability when it comes to his policies in Iraq, why can’t people see that?

“A dunk in the water is a dunk in the water” said El Presidente front man when asked about the remarks made by El Presidente’s second in command, El Diablo. In a radio interview, Scott Hennen of WDAY in Fargo, N.D., asked El Diablo on Tuesday, "Would you agree a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?”. Without hesitation El Diablo responded: "Well, it's a no-brainer for me". So why are the detractors of El Presidente, El Diablo, and his bandoleros up in arms? El Diablo didn’t mean torture waterboarding techniques, Ay! Dios Santos Perdonanos! – we don’t torture. El Diablo was referring to clean fun games such as bobbing for apples, and a friendly dunking game at the local pool with your friends – in this case the enemy combatants and their interrogators.

Maybe what we have here is an impaired semantic memory.