Althouse: "I say, why all the glum faces?"

November 8, 2006

"I say, why all the glum faces?"

The President cracks a joke to begin his press conference.

33 comments:

The Drill SGT said...: I stole this from NRO, but it's frightening on 2 counts:

Nancy Pelosi just told Brit Hume that the war in Iraq is "not a war to be won but a situation to be solved."

1. a belief that we are NOT in a war.

2. and that victory is not an option.; 11/8/06, 5:44 PM
Kirby Olson said...: It's important that the government turn over and other people get a chance. I'm satisfied as long as things remain 50-50 and there are at least two parties in the country.

It will be fun to have new jokes for a while.

The ones about W. and his clan were getting stale.; 11/8/06, 5:55 PM
bearbee said...: To paraphrase Adlai Stevenson - It hurts too much to cry. And I am not too old to laugh.

Kirby Olson said...
It's important that the government turn over and other people get a chance. I'm satisfied as long as things remain 50-50 and there are at least two parties in the country.

I'm with ya.........; 11/8/06, 6:29 PM
Paddy O said...: Meanwhile Governor Arnold won a 25 point landslide in Blue California -- accompanied by a similar landslide keeping Senator Feinstein in power.

Arnold did this by taking his initiative defeat a while back and listening to the people. He became less divisive, more bipartisan, and was willing to give and take. Instead of becoming an entrenched politician fighting to the death, he became someone who worked with the present reality.

Hopefully, Bush will follow Arnold's path, and not the path forged by so many politicians on each side of the aisle. Setting aside the partisanship, even if it means sacrificing core pursuits, might very well set the Republicans up for a great win in 2008. If Democrats use their new power to get back at the President and refuse to move on, they will not hold onto the power they've been given.

My guess is that Bush now will become renewed in the same way. Like gj mentioned, Bush thrives in having to make friends. Having everyone on the same side confused his abilities, I think.

Because of this, in my mind, there's a lot more pressure on Democrats now than on the President. The folks who have been whining now have authority to do something. Will they do a good work and help bring renewed balance to this country, moving us forward? O

Or are the Democrats going to be a lot more like Hamas, swept into a power they weren't ready to have and didn't really want?; 11/8/06, 6:51 PM
tjl said...: "This press conference left me more optimistic about GWB than I've been in the past. He did have a record of working with both Democrats and Republicans in Texas."

He did. But it was vastly easier for Bush to get along with Texas Democrats because the ideological gap between the parties is far narrower in Texas than it is nationally. In particular, in Austin Bush would never have had to deal with anyone as Left as Pelosi -- the existence of such a creature in a position of power in this state is unimaginable.

At this point everybody is making bland assurances that they will work together for the good of the country, etc. etc. These statements are mainly for ritual purposes. In practice, Pelosi is more likely to behave as confrontationally as the last committed ideologue to take over the Speaker's chair -- Newt Gingrich. Let's hope she remembers how excesses like the government shutdown led to Gingrich's downfall.; 11/8/06, 7:33 PM
Ruth Anne Adams said...: I thought the joke was, "Why the long face, Senator Kerry?"; 11/8/06, 8:06 PM
Charles Giacometti said...: More jokes to come. The Dems have the Senate, too.; 11/8/06, 8:13 PM
Simon said...: The glum faces are because America just suffered the worst disaster since Bork's defeat and Kennedy's subsequent confirmation. And Bush is in no position to crack jokes about it since he's as responsible as anyone for making it happen.; 11/8/06, 8:44 PM
Simon said...: Charles,
Yep. It's a total catastrophe. There's an obvious and clear silver lining to losing the House, but the Senate is a different kettle of fish.; 11/8/06, 8:47 PM
Maxine Weiss said...: I'll say.

Democratic Senate + Democratic House = Impeachment ????

From Macbeth: "Present fears are worse than horrible imaginings"

....or, are they?

Peace, Maxine; 11/8/06, 8:50 PM
Simon said...: Whatever Wendy Long and Ed Whelan are smoking, I'll take some. Over at Bench Memos, they offer some totally unpersuasive reasons why Bush can still push decent judges through the Senate.; 11/8/06, 8:52 PM
Simon said...: Maxine,
No, I meant wholly on the judges front. A once in a generation chance to take back control of the Supreme Court and really fix some of the more egregious overreaches, totally frittered away.

They have control of both chambers, but impeachment is a non-starter without a 2/3 majority in the Senate to remove.; 11/8/06, 8:54 PM
Anonymous said...: I saw that bit too Drill Sgt. and I fear for the Iraqis. Gates IMO is someone the party shoved at Bush to reach some "peace with honor" state of affairs as recommended by his Iraq Study Group in preparation for 2008.

I agree with Geraldo who said Bush should have appointed Shinsecki--now that would have been a bit NUTS to the terrorists--or he should have fired Rummy two years ago. After last night, Bush really was the lame duck and had to fold and fire Rumsfeld, who I believe he is a patriot but lost control of the war and did us and Iraq real damage.; 11/8/06, 9:09 PM
Anonymous said...: One point of this election might be that Bush hasn't treated Iraq like a war to be won. If Bush won't do it, why would Nancy Pelosi?; 11/8/06, 9:34 PM
Joe Giles said...: If Bush is smart he'll start wooing the newly elected Congresspeeps.

They're of a different stripe than Nancy et al., and they are likely to be of a mind that (with some justification) they are the reason for Nancy's promotion.; 11/8/06, 10:08 PM
reader_iam said...: For whatever reason, he abandoned that strategy

Really, not cynically, the answer is:

9/11

And those oft-cited minutes, in different contexts, when he is said to have stared into space after finishing reading aloud the book he was sharing with young children when the news came in.

I'm not sure there's any space, anymore, whatsoever, for people to consider the idea of a profound shift, an in-a-minute paradigm shift, without instantly going into the "P"olitics thing of it. So very hard, now, NOT to look at things through the prism of the last five years. I understand.

But then. What must it have been like?

Twisted Cheney too. If one can dispassionately look at his record from much, much, much earlier, it's hard not to see a cracked-glass separation.

I'm not justifying here; I'm only pointing out something to consider.

For what that's worth.

And as a cautionary tale. None of us know the future, after all.; 11/8/06, 10:34 PM
John Stodder said...: I wonder if Bush is going to try to cultivate "strange new respect."

Actually, I think he's on a Crawford Countdown. Those old Will Farrell bits had a bit of truth in them. Part of Bush's appeal has always been not being impressed with his own power. But it's also become a source of laziness. On the other hand, the legacy thing might kick in, and if so, he'll focus on something that will outlast his name.

Kennedy -- the Apollo project
Johnson -- civil rights bill and related legislation and court decisions.
Nixon -- Opening up China
Ford -- "our long national nightmare is over."
Carter -- Arab/Israeli peace accords
Reagan -- Chasing away inflation for a generation or more; ending the Cold War.
Bush 41 -- "This aggression will not stand" becoming a key line in "The Big Lebowski." Er, I mean, winning the Gulf War. Also, cleaning up the dangerous S&L mess.
Clinton -- NAFTA symbolizing the US integration into a global economy; ending welfare as we know it.

Bush 43 -- As of now, toppling Hussein, but at an enormous cost and with the final outcome much in doubt.

I think he's going to go back to Social Security. If he managed to get a bipartisan deal that rescued the system from being swamped, and also perhaps addressed pensions, that would be remembered by a grateful nation. His other potential legacy item is the immigration bill, including amnesty. But that would be so controversial, and would guarantee not just a Republican defeat in 08 but possibly the party falling apart.; 11/8/06, 10:48 PM
Maxine Weiss said...: Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse....

Bill Maher just outed RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman on Larry King.

Oh no.

It can't be.

Peace, Maxine; 11/8/06, 10:53 PM
Anonymous said...: RE: Mehlman. This is news? I thought everyone already knew that.; 11/8/06, 11:23 PM
LoafingOaf said...: I haven't seen much in the media about voting machine problems. It's amazing how well voting machines work so long as most people are voting for Democrats.; 11/8/06, 11:39 PM
Maxine Weiss said...: Oh, well Internet Ronin, excuse me...apparently I just haven't been hanging around the correct bathhouses, because neither Larry King, nor I, knew a thing about it.

Anyway, I've got the whole sordid, and tawdry (but fabulous) story on my blog.

Love Maxine; 11/9/06, 12:19 AM
Mortimer Brezny said...: I think Bill Maher posts here, actually. He's downtownlad.; 11/9/06, 7:25 AM
Icepick said...: John Stodder, I remember different legacies:

Kennedy: Boinking Marilyn Monroe! (He clearly wins this contest, and without having to cheat in Texas and Chicago to do it!)
Johnson: Vietnam, creating the welfare-state that destroyed the black family in urban America.
Nixon: Watergate, and making the phrase "I am not a crook!" famous.
Ford: WIN buttons, and making the Chevy Chase prat-fall famous. (Really, Chase should send a cut of every paycheck he gets to the charity of Ford's choice.)
Carter: Killer Rabbits! 444 days of America Held Hostage!
Reagan: Astrology, amnesia, Altzheimer's disease and Helen Thomas's red dress fixation.
Bush 41: Dana Carvey's career, Neil Bush, W.
Clinton: Stain-resistant blue dresses, "I did not have sex with that woman!", and blowing up third-world pharmaceutical factories instead blowing up terrorists.

W's legacy will be the myriad of contributions he's made to the English language: "the internets", "fuzzy math", "decider", etc.; 11/9/06, 7:48 AM
Icepick said...: Oh, heck, I forgot Clinton's other great legacy:

[delivered with a childish "I'm smarter than you" smirk - you know, the one that never actually works on parents] It depends on what the definition of "is" is.; 11/9/06, 7:51 AM
Icepick said...: And Maxine, I think I love your hair a little more every time I see it.; 11/9/06, 7:53 AM
MadisonMan said...: I thought Ken Mehlman was just a confirmed bachelor!; 11/9/06, 7:56 AM
Charles Giacometti said...: Loafing Oaf claims, "I haven't seen much in the media about voting machine problems. It's amazing how well voting machines work so long as most people are voting for Democrats."

I just did a search for "voting problems" on Google News and got 14,600 hits.; 11/9/06, 10:06 AM
Maxine Weiss said...: Whoa, Bill Maher is MOLE on right here on little ol' Althouse Blog ???

OMG I wish I'd have known sooner.

I'd have worn more makeup.

Peace, Maxine; 11/9/06, 10:14 AM
Mortimer Brezny said...: How old is Ken Mehlman anyway?

Gay.; 11/9/06, 10:57 AM
sonicfrog said...: The glum faces are because America just suffered the worst disaster since Bork's defeat and Kennedy's subsequent confirmation.

But I thought Bork won the oscar that year... oh, sorry, that's Bjork, and now that I think about it, she lost too. But she did have the best dress.

"I was going to wear my swan but I decided they're so last year" Steve Martin on her choice of garb.; 11/9/06, 11:32 AM
MadisonMan said...: Yeah, but how many times has he turned 39 now?; 11/9/06, 2:36 PM
knox said...: ...Nancy Pelosi just told Brit Hume that the war in Iraq is "not a war to be won but a situation to be solved."
1. a belief that we are NOT in a war.
2. and that victory is not an option.

Drill, I heard this on the radio and stood there shaking my head and thinking "oh shit." It is indeed frightening. However, I don't give Pelosi even that much credit that she doesn't consider Iraq a war... I think she is simply doing a Clintonesque word game.

If it's not a "War," when she and the Democrats pull out before we have won--more importantly, before we have fulfilled our commitment to the Iraqi people--then they haven't "lost" anything! Why, on the contrary, they've just solved a little "situation." Convenient!; 11/9/06, 3:31 PM
Anonymous said...: Maxine: Sorry if that sounded like a criticism - it wasn't meant as one. I thought Mehlman was outed some time ago (about the time of the scandal about the guy who turned out be a male prostitute having a White House press pass).; 11/9/06, 7:08 PM