When the hostages had been released and their alleged captor arrested, a regal-looking Hillary Rodham Clinton strolled out of her Washington home, the picture of calm in the face of crisis.Well, once the hostages were released, it wasn't even a crisis anymore, but what does it mean that she looks held-together when she strolls out for a photo-op?
The image, broadcast just as the network news began, conveyed the message a thousand town hall meetings and campaign commercials strive for - namely, that the Democratic presidential contender can face disorder in a most orderly manner.Oh, good lord, she was not facing disorder. The hostage-taking was over, and even when it was going on, she was not facing it. She was waiting for law enforcement authorities to deal with a troubled man, which they did, without anyone suffering a physical injury.
Did she do anything? Other than canceling her appearances — which she had to do to show decent sensitivity — she made a lot of ineffectual phone calls. For 5 hours, we're told, she "continued to call up and down the law enforcement food chain, from local to county to state to federal officials." She says, "I knew I was bugging a lot of these people."
Afterwards, she used the occasion to make a show of her emotions (or did you think she was cold and mechanical?). She said:
"It affected me not only because they were my staff members and volunteers, but as a mother, it was just a horrible sense of bewilderment, confusion, outrage, frustration, anger, everything at the same time."Is that what you want in a President? Someone who feels extra confusion because she's a mother?
But I don't believe that for one minute. I think that was just what was considered a good script. I don't happen to think it is a good script, because I don't want a President to roil into a mommyesque ball of emotion when a few people are in danger. Yet that's not Hillary. The only question is why she thought a statement like that was a good one. She probably wanted to make sure not to confirm the widely held belief that she's unemotional, and, while she was at it, delight all the ladies out there who lap up emotional drivel.
It was a vintage example of a candidate taking a negative and turning it into a positive. And coming just six weeks before the presidential voting begins, the timing could hardly have been more beneficial to someone hoping to stave off a loss in the Iowa caucuses and secure a win in the New Hampshire primary.Oh, great. Let's just hope there aren't copycats out there ready to turn their despondent drinking binges into a day of fame that helps their favorite political candidate.
Posts
134 comments:
Her press conference appeared like an opportunistic way to boost her campaign. At a later point, she was glowing and smiling when she was about to get a tour of the crime scene.
For reasons other than gender, Hilary would be the worst thing that could happen to the United States. She is a lightning rod for divisiveness. No other major candidate on either side shares that same flaw.
She was regal-looking because she knew Fabio was going to back her up.
What a slobbery sorry excuse for journalism.
"I knew I was bugging a lot of these people."
Rings odd.
Not something a man would say.
Moral of story: If you're a presidential candidate, and you do not have armed security at your campaign offices, you need to, starting today.
The more I think about it, the Hillary! campaign is just a Hollywood production. Actors/actresses, people pretending to be somebody their not, showing up on various stages, cameras rolling, production people there to facilitate, provide narratives. The other candidates, be they Dem. or Rep. are mostly on their own.
Moral of story: If you're a presidential candidate, and you do not have armed security at your campaign offices, you need to, starting today.
Too expensive, I'm guessing. Besides, at half the republican offices out there, someone probably would have said to him "Those are road flares. Now get the f*ck out of here before I shoot you."
The "shoot you" option is quite lawful in New Hampshire and many other states for a would-be hostage taker.
Hiring armed security is just outsourcing the violence decent citizens should be ready to muster.
"She is an immediate lightning rod for divisiveness. No other major candidate on either side shares that same flaw."
Fixed.
In office long enough (two minutes or three?) they will all draw lightning.
She did cancel speaking to the DLC, which she did not want to do, because it might have upset the left wing that she depends on to get nominated. She will want to talk to the DLC once nominated, as she tries to move to the center, but not now.
The last DNC meeting none of the candidates spoke to them. I think that was when they had to go kiss Koz's ring instead. This time some of the others did address the DNC
While I find it horrifying that anyone like Hillary can weasel her way into American politics, I couldn't initially think of any fair way to blame her for any of this. I was put off by that "as a mother" charade; no matter how much PR she bombards us with, she remains about as motherly as the Son of Kong. And I'll need quite a bit of convincing that motherly belongs in a president's job description. But I figured she had the good sense to stay out of what should have been a straightforward police matter. However, I'm majorly annoyed (though not really surprised) by the admission that she was bugging the police after all - the "control freak" shines through, no matter what the occasion. She remains an absurd candidate.
While I find it horrifying that anyone like Hillary can weasel her way into American politics, I couldn't think of any fair way to blame her for any of this. I was put off by that "as a mother" charade; no matter how much PR she bombards us with, she remains about as motherly as the Son of Kong. And I'll need quite a bit of convincing that motherly belongs in a president's job description. But I figured she had the good sense to stay out of what should have been a straightforward police matter. However, I'm annoyed (though not really surprised) by the admission that she was bugging the police after all - the "control freak" shines through, no matter what the occasion. An absurd candidate.
So she is either manipulative or all rolled up in an "mommyesque ball of emotion?"
Well we know it isn't the latter.
F'ing Blogger.
Mmm..something very quintessentially female about her reactions...
"As a mother, it was just a horrible sense of bewilderment, confusion, outrage, frustration, anger, everything at the same time..."
What male presidential candidate would say anything remotely resembling that?
A guy would say something like, "Well, it was a pretty rough time. I thought the police handled it very well. It's a matter now for the courts, and that's all I can say. And, yeah, I'll be visiting those folks up there who had that experience. They held up well, and I'm proud of them."
Bewilderment? Confusion? I do not want a president who blobbers about being "bewildered."
I am not a big fan of her but I thought she looked fabulous last night at the press conference.
Prof Althouse's comment, "She probably wanted to make sure not to confirm the widely held belief that she's unemotional, and, while she was at it, delight all the ladies out there who lap up emotional drivel" is spot on. Sen. Clinton is calculating if nothing else, and if her calculations suggest that action is necessary to shore up support among those who like the emotional drive, then you can count on her. Most of what I've observed about Sen. Clinton is that she is incapable of "curling up in a mommyeqsue ball of emotion" but is quite capable detonating in a thermonuclear fireball of pure rage at her plotical enemies.
Where do you suppose Ted Kennedy got those road flares? The ones from Rose's Oldsmobile had to have been ruined.
No matter. CNN is all over this today, playing up the event like it was 1979 and she'd just negotiated with Iran.
Glen Johnson is an idiot. He either buys all this crap he's writing or thinks someone else will buy it. Most of us face greater danger driving home during rush hour.
"I knew I was bugging a lot of these people, it felt like on a minute-by-minute basis,..." Sounds like Hillary hindered the police if required this much attention. As if someone wasn't going to let her know of significant developments.
As a real woman once told me, "Gag me with a spoon." or was it "Poke me with a fork."
Wow you people really hate her. And you talk about Bush Derangement Syndrome. Thankfully, Bush would never conduct some opportunistic press conference.
At least she didn't have a banner in her press conference.
To paraphrase Driving Miss Daisy,
"I hope I don't spit up."
It may have been a carefully crafted response, but I have to say-- if I were Hillary, I would avoid saying things like "I know I was bugging them". It plays into the perception of her being a hectoring nag.
If she wins, be prepared for a resumption of hubby's eight year burlesque act in front of the cameras. Why anyone would want four or eight more years of such mockery, I do not know.
C'mon people. Who REALLY buys this crap? This was STAGED to allow her to look as if she can handle crisis. The "hostage taker" is on the payroll. For pete's sake, nobody wanting to really take hostages is going to put FLARES on their chest.
C'mon people. Who really buys this crap? This was STAGED to allow her to look commanding, in charge, whatever you want to call it. The "hostage taker" is on the payroll.
Robin said...
C'mon people. Who really buys this crap? This was STAGED to allow her to look commanding, in charge, whatever you want to call it. The "hostage taker" is on the payroll.
8:54 AM
I think "Robin" is STAGED.
Compare and contrast.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QG0yEu6UUBE&feature=related
EnigmatiCore-
"...perception..."?
I think it's a bit more solid than that....
Did anyone notice the Hostage Taker was wearing a shirt and tie? A ell planned event no matter who staged it.
I haven't watched the video. This post is mostly a reaction to some ridiculous journalism.
One of the people arrayed behind Ms. Clinton was NH Attorney General Kelly Ayotte, of Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood, fame.
I wonder if they had a nice chat about the case behind the scenes?
downtownlad makes an important point: if only President Bush had been on the ball, calling up and down the law enforcement food chain, from local to county to state to federal officials. You know, "bugging a lot of these people..." the entire War on Terror situation could've ended peacefully without anyone being injured.
The rare clumbers and I went for our morning walk. It is brisk here today is NYC.
I spoke to my parents in Scony who said they are expecting a snow storm.
Now the rare clumbers are both chewing on some fabulous soup bones that I purchased at a glamarous meat shop in my hood.
Sometimes my life is just too fabulous I can't take it.
Actually Meade, if Bush had acted and gotten fighter planes in the air of New York and Washington quickly enough, he could have prevented the second tower from being hit and could have prevented the plane from crashing into the Pentagon.
They did have a month's warning after all, that Al Queada was possibly going to use hijacked planes to attack New York. But he ignored that memo . . .
That would be "actually" in your paranoid gullible delusional mind, laddie.
You just can't give anyone credit, unless they're a damn Republican can you?
You're a damn disgrace to Blogging.
Useless asshole.
No wonder people like to threaten you. It's the top story on Memeorandum. Enjoy the fall out.
I see that downtowntroll is back with his lies and distractions.
Y'know, Ann, I've been reading your blog for a long time and I have to say that I think you've come up with a new one: Hillary Derangement Syndrome. Is there anything the woman can do that isn't a scripted conspiracy, and how does your attitude toward her differ from the far left's attitude toward Bush?
Nobody claimed she's unemotional. The claim is which emotion. Vindictive, is the usual one.
The question for her is usually how to turn it to her advantage.
But she looked Presidential. Chris Matthews says she looked Presidential. Craig Crawford says she looked Presidential. It's all about the Presidential look.
Walking like a man, hitting like a hammer, she's a juvenile scam.
Never was a quitter, tasty like a raindrop,
she's got the look.
Heavenly bound cause heaven's got a number when she's spinning me around,
kissing is a colour. Her loving is a wild dog,
she's got the look.
She's got the look.
She's got the look.
What in the world can make a brown-eyed girl turn blue.
When everything I'll ever do I'll do for you
and I go: la la la la la she's got the look.
Fire in the ice naked to the t-bone is a lover's disguise.
Banging on the head drum, shaking like a mad bull,
she's got the look.
Swaying to the band, moving like a hammer she's a miracle man.
Loving is the ocean, kissing is the wet sand,
she's got the look.
And she goes: na na na na na na na na.
The conspiracy angle is silly. My disgust is with the fawning "journalism".
As a father, editor-in-chief's rude hostility gave me a horrible sense of bewilderment, confusion, outrage, frustration, anger, everything at the same time.
The question for her is usually how to turn it to her advantage.
She doesn't have to; she has a mostly willing media establishment rooting for her candidacy.
I think downtownlad (aka dtl) needs a nickname in honor of his leaving the country (to Asia). I will come up with a few and let Ann's readers pick the best one.
So far I have :
1- THAI ME UP .
2- LICK AT YOUR OWN RISK (MADE IN CHINA).
3- DON'T LET THE OLD USA HIT YOU IN THE ASS (ANYMORE).
"For 5 hours, we're told, she "continued to call up and down the law enforcement food chain, from local to county to state to federal officials." She says, "I knew I was bugging a lot of these people.""
To what purpose? The cops knew he was there. They have done this before. Why call all those people? What is the point.
"if Bush had acted and gotten fighter planes in the air of New York and Washington quickly enough, he could have prevented the second tower from being hit and could have prevented the plane from crashing into the Pentagon."
You really are a idiot. Suppose those planes were close by and on alert and could intercept. What would you be saying today about Bush shooting down a commercial airliner that MIGHT be hijacked and MIGHT be flown into WTC tower.
"You just can't give anyone credit, unless they're a damn Republican can you?"
Another jackass. Credit for what, exactly? If she was in the building with this guy and came out composed, absolutely she would get credit. She wasn't. I am sure my employers were composed in their homes the night I ended up on the wrong end of a pistol at work. So what. What credit do you feel we are not giving her?
DTL's right. A real take-charge President would have out down the kiddie book and ordered NORAD to shoot down Delta 1989.
Who was the golfer who's private jet suffered a loss of pressure and was flying on auto pilot across half the country? It took forever for a fighter jet to get up in the air and catch up with that plane. DTL approval or not, until 9/11 our defensed pointed out of the country, not in. To even make that argument, 6 years later, is not just idiotic, but has zero relevance to this particular issue.
If I was a SWAT officer, I wouldn't want her passing judgement on the tough decisions in realtime. She's not trained to deal with this. She either didn't know or didn't care she was out of her element.
The aides said Clinton immediately canceled her trip and began working the phones. She later told reporters she had New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch, a fellow Democrat, on the phone in eight minutes.
When I read that I immediately thought "My Pet Goat". Accurate or not, that is precisely the point that is coming across to the reader. Pretty clever writing, if not hammer on the head obvious to some of us.
BTW I'm not saying I think it's a completely fair analogy, just a clever one.
As to Clinton's "mommy" statement, the writer says this about it:
It was a thawing moment for a stoic figure who once snapped that she opted for professional life instead of staying home to bake cookies.
We're supposed to think, "She really identifies with the cookie bakers after all. She's just stoic, not cold and unfeeling!"
I thought her statement sounded contrived and somewhat nonsensical.
I wonder how effective an article like this is. Does it impress more than those it repels by, what they regard as, blatant pandering?
"Pretty clever writing, if not hammer on the head obvious to some of us."
It will work with the shallow thinkers. And DTL. But I repeat myself.
Oh come on Ann. You're just jealous because she got attention and you didn't.
Hillary is going to be carried into the WH on the shoulders of a fawning press that questions nothing she does or says. Money laundering? Events canceled becuase her "supporters" are being indicted? None of it matters.
And when we have a president in the WH that the press does not question, it will be the end of America as we know it, and the beginning of the very "tyranny" we've been hearing defines Bush for the last 7 years.
That should concern people across political lines. An American president should not have an adoring, obedient press - leave that to the Chavez' and the Castro's.
At first, I wondered why her press conference was in Washington. Wouldn't a normal person have rushed to NH when the incident started?
Then I looked at the scene and recognized she was trying to make it look like the White House lawn. (and it did!). Pretty thoughtless though. Anyone else would have been on the tarmac in NH as soon as possible in order to comfort aides and address the media once it was over. Instead, one gets the impression she spent the afternoon with her make up and hair specialists.
Calculated. Tiresome.
Prof A
You're dead on, but the MSM will "print the legend".
In any event, you quote Hill as saying:
"as a mother, it was just a horrible sense of bewilderment, confusion...."
Mother Courage?
Why was I reminded of George Romney (repeat, George) in '68 whining about being "brainwashed"? The MSM laughed him to death (political death) over that. Now they will parade this as another example of Hillary, the President in waiting, acting, well, presidential, unlike, say, Bush on 9/11. Take that, Rudy!
Jeff - the golfer was Payne Stewart. It took 76 minutes for a jet fighter to make contact with his jet.
DTL and editor-in-chief are amongst those incapable of rational discourse, suffering from a thought disorder or personality disorder. Trying of make a logical point with them is a waste of time.
Doyle predicted it yesterday and I agreed with him. That agreement meant it was certain to happen
"...if Bush had acted and gotten fighter planes in the air of New York and Washington quickly enough, he could have prevented the second tower from being hit and could have prevented the plane from crashing into the Pentagon."
Nonsense. A friend of mine was in the command center at Griffiss AFB on that day. They had neither the resources nor the time to prevent either attack. I have absolutely no reason to doubt her account. Her frustration as she told me this was palpable.
On another point, isn't it odd that Hillary felt compelled to shut down her faraway Iowa office while leaving the office in neighboring Massachusetts open?
Teddy Kennedy’s TV Apologia after his, um, inconvenient Mary Jo incident:
“All kinds of scrambled thoughts -- all of them confused, some of them irrational, …went through my mind during this period.
…………………..
“I was overcome, I’m frank to say, by a jumble of emotions, grief, fear, doubt, exhaustion, panic, confusion and shock….”
Wow you people really hate her. And you talk about Bush Derangement Syndrome.
What I can hardly wait for is impeaching her after she gets in. Get me one of those bumper stickers that says IMPEACH.
"Like a mother"?!
Yuck.
She's running scared.
Dorothy: I'm frightened, Auntie Em! I'm frightened!
[Auntie Em's image appears in the crystal ball]
Auntie Em: Dorothy? Dorothy? Where are you? It's me, Auntie Em! We're trying to find you! Where are you?
Dorothy: I'm here in Oz, Auntie Em! I'm locked in the witch's castle, and I'm trying to get home to you, Auntie Em!
[Auntie Em's image fades out]
Dorothy: Oh, Auntie Em, don't go away! I'm frightened! Come back! Come back!
[the Wicked Witch's image appears in the crystal ball]
Wicked Witch of the West: Auntie Em! Auntie Em! Come back! I'll give you Auntie Em, my pretty! Heh heh heh heh heh heh heh!
[to the camera]
Wicked Witch of the West: Heh heh heh heh heh heh!
(The Wizard of Oz, 1939)
Sorry that was the transcript from Hillary's first hostage crises.
A quick note to those who thing an armed guard (or armed citizen, for that matter) would have made a difference, how?
One cannot shoot a bomb. By the time I could get a gun out of those security holsters we wear a real bomb would have blown us to bits. Plus the chance of a dead man's switch, ie a button that causes a loud noise when the pressure is released, make a gun useless once the bad guy is inside.
The citizenry also gets unhappy when we pop people who have a bit of extra bulk when they are outside and far enough away that the bomb exploding is fairly harmless.
it should teach us that while hillary showed the modest restraint and hopes for peacefull solutions, that we can only think of rudy sending in a swat team and shooting everyone in sight.
Welcome back,
Your dreams were your ticket out.
Welcome back,
To that same old place that you laughed about.
Well the names have all changed since you hung around,
But those dreams have remained and they're turned around.
Who'd have thought they'd lead ya (Who'd have thought they'd lead ya)
Here where we need ya (Here where we need ya)
Yeah we tease him a lot cause we've got him on the spot, welcome back,
Welcome back, welcome back, welcome back.
(John Sebastian)
You will never be able to PROVE this, because I am sure that precaustions were taken not to put ANYTHING in E-mails or checks. But what if Hillary, who has lots of money available, both legal and illegal, planned this whole incident? What if the guy in New Hampshite is being paid a large sum of money to oose as a hostage taker, just to give Hillary her moment in front of the cameras, both humanizing her and presenting an image of a future President "in command," someone ready from the first day to be President? This occurring when she has shown that she cannot take even the most obvious punch, being knocked flat by a question from Tim Russert. And Obama had Oprah on the campaign trail while Hillary was stuck with Barbra Streisand, yesterday's star. Even Bill was slammed AND REDICULED when he obviously lied abour oposing the Iraw War from the beginning. The crown of "inevitability" is slipping. No one was hurt, so this may have not been a serious hostage-taking. Who plans to strap on a bomb and then gives up to the police? The hostage taker killed and injured no one, not even himself. The matter was handled locally by the police while Hillary, from hundreds of miles away, was able to pose and preen and shift the spotlight. wE'll see if Hillary urges lienency when the "hostage-taker" comes to trial -- after all, he was intoxicated and did not know what he was doing, no one was hurt, and he is SO sorry. Justice must be tempered with mercy. Is $5 million dollars, tax free, worth five years in the slammer? The expectation may be that President Hillary may pardon him during the first term, thus demonstrating her "compassion."
"a horrible sense of bewilderment, confusion, outrage, frustration, anger, everything at the same time"
Hillary! in a nutshell. Just another day at the office.
Ann, I had the exact same reaction to the article about how "calm" Hillary was in this "crisis." Oh puh-lease. That ranks right up there with how "sophisticated" the 9/11 hijackers were to have planned their big day. (My god, they read a airline schedule for Pete's sake.)
If being "calm" during a hostage crisis that you are not directly involved in and for which you know none of the participates or victims personally is some indication of fitness for the presidency, then I declare everyone who lives in my neighborhood, including most of the children, fit for job.
"it should teach us that while hillary showed the modest restraint and hopes for peacefull solutions, that we can only think of rudy sending in a swat team and shooting everyone in sight."
Why? When has he done anything like that? And phoning everyone in site is modest restraint? Bet the people on the other side of her phone didnt think so.
"Who plans to strap on a bomb and then gives up to the police?"
Crazy people.
"The hostage taker killed and injured no one, not even himself."
Hard to when you wire yourself to road flares. I think the guy just caught Tommy Boy on cable the night before.
So will we be getting Truthers with opinions on road flares and duct tape proving this was a inside job?
I would have felt a lot more reassured if she had read us a few pages of "My Pet Goat".
"When has he done anything like that?"
41 shots!
I have already dicussed how the election of Hillary Clinton could kill David Broder, but now I'm afraid we might lose you, too, Ann, if she's elected.
"41 shots!"
Then you have the responsibility to go to the FBI and let them know you have the proof that he sent the cops there with instructions to kill everyone in the vicinity.
I wondered if anyone would make that foolish comparison. Didnt take much time.
What Hillary did was what many in the boomer generation do best: Self-glorify. Like DTL they loudly talk the talk with no thought or ambition to ever walk the walk, pay the price, or be held accountable for their delusional statements. What they are really doing is using smoke and mirrors to conceal their predilection for living their lives down the proverbial rabbit hole.
Can one imagine the hew and cry if the POTUS had shot down an airliner based on the suspicion that it was going to fly into a building as a commandeered cruise missile? "OHHHH, The humanity!" The Arabs would have called for beheadings, the ACLU would have been apoplectic in describing lack of jurisdiction, violation of various and sundry alleged rights of the heroic hijackers who were trying to save the plane, and rascist attitudes of Americans against middle easterners.
Sounds like the thesis for HRC's rambling diatribe for her sisters at Not-all's-Wellesley" which must have been the first iteration of the Vagina Monologues.
If being "calm" during a hostage crisis that you are not directly involved in and for which you know none of the participates or victims personally is some indication of fitness for the presidency, then I declare everyone who lives in my neighborhood, including most of the children, fit for job.
No shit Hillary! was calm. Hell, she wasn't even in the same State. The press bootlicking just goes on and on.
That and she isn't even in the goddam police food chain. She should have stayed off the phone and had her staff montor the progress, so as to let the police do their job unhindered by distractions.
To me, she would have shown more leadership by saying that, once she knew the police had the situation in hand, she had every confidence in the Police to do their job and that she was going to stay out of their way and let them do so.
If I was a SWAT officer, I wouldn't want her passing judgement on the tough decisions in realtime. She's not trained to deal with this.
I made the same point earlier, despite my personal feelings about Hillary:
If I was the commander on the scene, the LAST thing I would allow is putting the perp in touch with Hillary as demanded. That would set up an extortion scenario: "Sen Clinton, use your considerable power and influence to do X or I will kill the hostages".
She did the right thing by staying out of it.
No shit Hillary! was calm. Hell, she wasn't even in the same State..
Bitch! Plus, after the Clintons' knew the gig was up after all those bodies turning tits up in the 90s, there's no way they would show their face in the same State when orchestrating this "hostage crisis".
Ever wonder just how much they would get away with if not for right wing pundits and right wing websites keeping them honest? Drug running, murder, extortion -- I'm just glad Scaife spent those millions so the rest of us would know what really was going on.
Sheesh!
That's OK, last time a Democrat president dealt with a "hostage crisis" things turned out pretty well.
Ronald Reagan got elected!
If he had only road flares, everything that I have said is emphasized. He can now go into court and argue that this was just an attention-getting stunt ("a cry for help") provoked by alcohol, adn no one was ever in any real danger. If you will remember "Tommy Boy," he was hailed as a hero after his fake explosives stunt. I do not recall any scene where he was hauled off to jail. Of course, you will never PROVE any of this. The goal from the beginning would have been to avoid leaving any trace that enabled anyone to PROVE this. Hillary herself might not have been told. Do you really think that those in the Clinton War Room would have a MORAL objection to this? Did Hillary have a moral objection to planting questions at a town meeting? If she spends the next two weeks talking about how it was important that she was cool in the crisis, we will know. This is an excellent way to remind everyone of her White House "experience" as compared with Obambi (while also sucking up the oxygen from Oprah). Nothing the Clintons do is spontaneous. Check out the video of Bill Clinton telling a joke at Ron Brown's funeral and then spotting a camera and instantly wiping away a tear. This is an excellent way to "humanize" Robo-Hillary without her having to say it, while reminding everyone of her steely problem-solving capabilies. By the way, I do not remember my law professors being like the glamorous and brainy Ms. Althouse.
"I'm afraid we might lose you, too, Ann, if she's elected."
How so? As I've said many times, I expect to end up voting for her. Don't you think you should have to be more of a wit to live up to your name? All you've got is that I must be crazy. Yawn! You've got nothing.
This is just another manufactured "major news story" that news outlets do of a minor event that the producers have found are a ratings bonanza with emotional women that lap the stuff up and stay glued to coverage long enough to buy 3 sets of Chef Tony's knives and 2 bottles of "Head-On" pain reliever.
LA car chase - #513 in the modern news era where all real news is ignored for two solid hours of Live! From a Helicopter! Car Chase! On tape delay so you won't be offended if Something AWFUL happens!
Angry black people in New Orleans with no energy to wade out of knee deep water to get out of New Orleans, but plenty of energy to wade from store to store for freebies or to scattered TV camera crews ....
Trapped miners! Hero rescuers! Hero cops! Hero governor fying in to make speeches. Hero lawyers oozing out from under rocks saying they are "trapped miner family defenders" and there will be lawsuits. (Story stays alive for a week, unlike the miners which all the experts know are almost assuredly dead within 1 hour of the explosion from lethal gas..but the miners are assumed to be alive for media ratings, politican PC, and false hope for family's sake)
Drunk guy in NH claims he has a bomb. But there are hostages! And a Hillary tie! On a day with major news, let's not cover any of that shit and focus on The Drunk! The Hero Cops! Our Hero Hillary!
In fairness to Hillary, the whole kabuki ritual is media-driven and basically serves an audience of emotional vampire housewives who lap this shit up eagerly and boost ratings to huge levels. Hillary, unlike Governors who actually do huge work in a hurricane or Cali wildfires, is like the Governor with "trapped miners!!" But she and her handlers recognize her phony Kabuki role the media created for her. Do something! Even stupid symbolic things that have no bearing on reality - lie cancelling speeches and closing your offices in other states! Be visible! Be calm and leader-like! Free PR for you, Hill! Whore for the cameras, Hillary! The media expects this, demands this, and will demote you from Hero-In-Charge to Heel faster than you can say "Brownie" unless you show dramatic, bottomless emoting, vehement lauding of all the Cop Heroes and the Courage of the Victims and Their Victim Families.
The whole show is absurd and pornographic - but it is all about those bon-bon munching older housewives driving ratings through the roof and media capitalizing on it with their patented Hero-Villain-Victim! narrative that anyone with sense or ambition knows they have to play their role to the hilt and give up what the media demands. Or else!
In that sense, as a party to the absurd, Hillary! performed spendidly.
1. Emote but calmly and majestically for the cameras? Check!
2. Play her target demographics? "As a concerned mother who cares about children I was moved into action (doing things of utter inconsequence the media lapped up because I was playing along with their need for me to be taking meaningless steps of decisive Presidential-like action!) Check!
3. Pander to Hero Cops and Poor Victims? "I was on the phone for 5 stright hours calling families and all the law enforcement I could think of." (Hello, FBI Hostage rescue team? This is the former Co-President and a concerned mother. There is this drunk up in NH that says he has a bomb...Hello? Hello?)
Check!
4. Follow-on pandering: Then fly up hours after the "rescue" by "heroes" of the "heroic victims" from the drunk guy? A primo pander-moment good for a days worth of sound-bites.
Then meet with and console the "victim families""?
Well done, Hillary! Double check!
5. Cancel an important speech that you didn't want to give at DNC because it offends "nutroots types"? Check!
The absurdity of America as a declining civilization with a clownish media, favoring the symbolic over the rational steps leaders and citizens should undertake, everyone trapped in the role expected of them - the NH Hostage Crisis and TV ratings quadrupling Story of Nov 30th showcased all that rather well.
downtownlad said:
They did have a month's warning after all, that Al Queada was possibly going to use hijacked planes to attack New York. But he ignored that memo . . .
Well guess who was warned in the Summer of 1996?
Retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Robert "Buzz" Patterson -- a military aide to Clinton from May 1996 to May 1998 (one of five officers entrusted with carrying the bag containing the codes for launching nuclear weapons) -- published Dereliction of Duty - The eyewitness Account of How Bill Clinton Compromised National Security. FROM page 139:
"During the summer of the 1996 attacks, I myself learned first-hand that the administration knew that terrorists were plotting to use commercial airliners as weapons. The president received a Presidential Daily Brief, or PDB, every morning. It…contained the president’s daily intelligence update from the NSC. A senior NSC representative normally delivered it to the president. On weekends, at Camp David, and on vacations, the military aide was responsible for delivering and retrieving the brief.
One late-summer Saturday morning, the president asked me to pick up a few days’ worth of PDBs that had accumulated in the Oval Office. He gave them to me with handwritten notes stuffed inside the folders and asked that I deliver them back to the NSC.
I opened the PDB to rearrange the notes and noticed the heading "Operation Bojinka." I keyed on a reference to a plot to use commercial airliners as weapons and another plot to put bombs on U.S. airliners. Because I was a pilot, this naturally grabbed my attention. I can state for a fact that this information was circulated within the U.S. intelligence community, and that in late 1996 the president was aware of it."
"Excuse me, Pres. Ahmadinejad, I hate to keep bugging you, but could you please discontinue building those nasty nuclear weapons?" Hillary said out of a horrible sense of bewilderment, confusion, outrage, frustration, and anger.
"I am soooo sorry to keep bugging you, Pres. Ahmadinejad, but could you pleeeeease stop building those nuclear weapons?" Hillary said with a horrible sense of bewilderment, confusion, outrage, frustration, and anger
"As I've said many times, I expect to end up voting for her. Don't you think you should have to be more of a wit to live up to your name? All you've got is that I must be crazy. Yawn! You've got nothing."
Because, of course, Ms. Alhourse, voting for someone you have nothing positive to say about isn't crazy at all.
However, nowhere in that piece did I imply David Broder--or by further implication, you--is crazy. Crazed, perhaps, at the mere mention of Hillary's name, but crazy, no. I hope you weren't misreading my piece the way so many of your readers misread yours, as you have pointed out on more than one occasion.
And I don't quite understand how living up to my name, which I have said on many occasions is a tribute to the brave Swift Boat Veterans, requires me to be witty anymore than your living up to your name requires you to be a creaky old house.
The only question is why she thought a statement like that was a good one.
The only question is how blog posts like this one get written. It is not possible to engage in more baseless specualation than has been done here.
The more I think about it, the Hillary! campaign is just a Hollywood production. Actors/actresses, people pretending to be somebody their not, showing up on various stages, cameras rolling, production people there to facilitate, provide narratives.
Allen, I'm sure you're not a naive person, but that describes politics in general.
"Excuse me, Pres. Ahmadinejad, I hate to keep bugging you, but could you please discontinue building those nasty nuclear weapons?" Hillary said out of a horrible sense of bewilderment, confusion, outrage, frustration, and anger.
Linda, that's just stupid. Hillary has clearly reserved the right to act against Iran moreso than any other Democratic candidate. I doubt she has done so only so she can latter demonstrate she is a "mommy-esque ball of emotion" (a phrase that I hope obtains the notoriety of other Althousian utterances.)
"If you will remember "Tommy Boy," he was hailed as a hero after his fake explosives stunt."
Yeah, I also remember it was a movie. You know what movies are, right? You understand those colorful stories on the box in your living room are not real, right? Do dogs talk to you also? Any voices in your head?
cedarford, whenever you're not slamming someone I like(which doesn't not happen nearly enough), you're the best "p*ssed-off prose" stylist around.
I did not bring up "Tommy Boy." I think it was originally brought up to suggest that anyone noticing that the explosives were harmless road flares was bringup up the fictional "Tommy Boy." I frankly had not even thought of it until it was cited. I am no particular fan of the late Chris Farley. I was only pointing out the fictional "Tommy Boy," the hostage taker was treated as the hero and not subjected to jail (or even arrest), so the original point actually proved the reverse.
"It took 76 minutes for a jet fighter to make contact with his jet."
Yes, and there was only 17 minutes between the first and second WTC towers being hit. Before the first tower was hit, no one in their right mind would have expected this to be happening. (Except Cheney, of course, who was on the phone with the terrorists the whole time.) So you really expect that 17 minutes later they would have a fighter aloft to shoot down the second jet? And as others have said, even had that happened, the spin would be "nobody KNOWS the second jet was going to hit the tower, so Bush killed all those people." That poor schmuck just can't win.
Anyway, the scariest thing about this episode is the tagline underneath Glen Johnson's jaw-droppingly suck up story. It says "[Johnson] covers the 2008 presidential race for The Associated Press."
Oh yeah, the AP's not in the bag for anybody! Could he possibly have been more fawning and sniveling and shading his eyes from Hillary's regal glow? This is among the most insipid, cringe-inducing pieces of writing I've ever seen. There is hardly a single paragraph that doesn't drip with spin and Johnson's fanboy infatuation (go through it one paragraph at a time and see for yourself). And while a late entry, Johnson surely is now a leading candidate for 2007 Girlieman of the Year.
Finally, the minute I heard there was some dude with "a bomb strapped to his chest" I said to myself, "It's a fake bomb." White folks just aren't suicide bombers.
"Ginger said...
Did anyone notice the Hostage Taker was wearing a shirt and tie? A [w]ell planned event no matter who staged it."
Mr. Eisenberg doing his best Michael Douglas impression from "Falling Down".
I'm sure Mrs. Clinton handled it just fine. Pray tell, what was to "handle"? Especially for someone with a gigantic PR machine behind her.
Incident happens. She stays out of site, issues a staement that she cancelled her speech. Wait. Wait some more.
When it's over, wander out on the lawn and make a sympathetic statement.
What exactly was the alternative? Does she get credit for not running screaming into the street? I don't get it.
To the person who said we're Hillary haters---no, we're media haters. It's this kind of insipid coverage that gets our backs up.
Whatwas Hillary's response? It was to clse the Campaign offices in...IOWA!!! That's ten states or more away! What a great solution. If there was a take-over of a military base or a grammar school somewhere, her plan woould be to shut embassies in Katmandu. sheesh. We need a candidate that can hit the ground running in this environment we are in.
"I was only pointing out the fictional "Tommy Boy," the hostage taker was treated as the hero and not subjected to jail (or even arrest), so the original point actually proved the reverse."
The point is that this guy had road flares for dynamite. So did the movie. What else happened in the movie is not relevant. The idea that this was staged is ludicrous.
Behold the pathetic public display of alcoholism:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nVIpN0Dcag
Fabulous parody here.
downtownlad said:Actually Meade, if Bush had acted and gotten fighter planes in the air of New York and Washington quickly enough, he could have prevented the second tower from being hit and could have prevented the plane from crashing into the Pentagon.
Actually, clowntownlame-o, if Bill Clinton had not turned down two or three opportunities to get bin Laden in the 6 years after the first Trade Center bombing, he could have prevented 9/11 entirely.
Trooper York said: Sorry that was the transcript from Hillary's first hostage crises.
But which one was Hillary? :) Or was that her two alters? :)
The "staged" idea is ridiculous. There's no way she would ever do that. However, even fully knowing that, I can't help thinking, "Nobody got hurt, nobody could have gotten hurt. Hmmm."
"Fabulous parody here."
Fabulous? Fabulous? You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
The AP article has all of the earmarks of a PR press release.
I would not be surprised if some little elf (or elfette) was hard at work from 12:45 until deadline.
Jon Swift said..."Because, of course, Ms. Alhourse, voting for someone you have nothing positive to say about isn't crazy at all."
Since "voting for someone you have nothing positive to say" doesn't define me, you've got nothing. And I think voting for people you don't much like happens all the time. I think refraining from falling in love with the politicians you're going to have to trust is actually the height of sanity. This bullshit fawning over Hillary, as seen in that article, is not sane.
"However, nowhere in that piece did I imply David Broder--or by further implication, you--is crazy."
And nowhere in my comment did I say I read your piece. I read your comment here and that's all. And I interpreted "we might lose you" as a reference to my losing it. Perhaps you meant to say I'd kill myself. What is it?
"Crazed, perhaps, at the mere mention of Hillary's name, but crazy, no. I hope you weren't misreading my piece the way so many of your readers misread yours, as you have pointed out on more than one occasion."
Again, I didn't read your piece. Don't flatter yourself.
"And I don't quite understand how living up to my name, which I have said on many occasions is a tribute to the brave Swift Boat Veterans, requires me to be witty anymore than your living up to your name requires you to be a creaky old house."
I didn't adopt a pen name. If I were making up a name for myself, it wouldn't be Ann Althouse. I would at least make it Ann Oldhouse.
Xanthippas said..."'The only question is why she thought a statement like that was a good one.' The only question is how blog posts like this one get written. It is not possible to engage in more baseless specualation than has been done here."
What on earth is your problem? You quote me asking a question about why she chose to make that statement. Why isn't it a good question? We're not supposed to examine the statements of the candidates? What sort of a pathetic peon are you? You look like you're just completely in the tank for the candidate and can't stand to see her criticized. It's not possible to be more lame.
What on earth is your problem?
My problem is that on this blog and many others, completely hyperbolic and conclusory assumptions about people's motives and actions qualifies as "analysis."
You look like you're just completely in the tank for the candidate and can't stand to see her criticized.
No. Of the three major Democratic candidates, Hillary is my least favorite. What I can't stand to see is a mere personal dislike as transmitted through the "Hillary is inauthentic" meme, justified as mere "criticism." I'd feel the same about any of the candidates, Republican or Democratic, whose actions and positions are willfully and wildly misconstrued.
"Why is it ludicrous to think that the whole thing was staged? Because Hillary and Bill are too honest to ever stoop to such tactics? This comes at a convenient time, does it not? It reclaims the spotlight just when the press would have been fawning over Oprah, and the narrative on Hillary would have been asking if she has lost her "mojo." This put Hillary in her best light -- strong, caring, "Presidential." Tell me again why it is unthinkable that she staged this? A bomber in a suit and tie? Especially one who carries a fake bomb? Especially one whose purpose dovetails perfectly into Hillarycare? To the Clintons, everything is, or can be, "political theater."
"Why is it ludicrous to think that the whole thing was staged? Because Hillary and Bill are TOO HONEST to ever stoop to such tactics? This comes at a convenient time, does it not? It reclaims the spotlight just when the press would have been fawning over Oprah, and the narrative on Hillary would have been asking if she has lost her "mojo." This put Hillary in her best light -- strong, caring, "Presidential." Tell me again why it is unthinkable that she staged this? A bomber in a suit and tie? Especially one who carries a fake bomb? Especially one whose purpose dovetails perfectly into Hillarycare? How many conincidences do you need. Also, she needed to act during the writer's strike and before Letterman and Leno returned to begin to crack funny lines about Huma, the Muslim and body Chief of Staff. To the Clintons, everything is, or can be, "political theater."
Wow. What exactly do you think anybody else (Republican or Democrat) would have done in the exact same situation? Do you think Giuliani would have inserted himself onto the scene like Jack Bauer? Do you envision Mike Huckabee turning into MacGuyver and rescuing the hostages with nothing more than a shotgun shell and a lint filter?
This is beyond petty. It's fair to analyze the AP reporting of the event, but why don't you just admit that there is nothing Hillary could have done that would generate a positive response from you? That's obviously the way you feel, but you're trying to dress up your feelings in some type of quasi dissection of her response.
There was nothing she should have done, as I said in the original post, except express concern. My post is mainly a criticism of the reporter. But I didn't like "as a mother, it was just a horrible sense of bewilderment, confusion, outrage, frustration, anger, everything at the same time." Why do you have a problem with this? People are way overreacting to this post. It's pathetic obeisance to the Clintonosity.
To Professor Althouse:
Madam,
As the Ghost of a Gentleman dead these 200 years and more, it was with great Pleasure that I observ'd the Name of the late Dr. Swift among the Members of the Audience at this, your Theatre of Topicks, as I call it. You may imagine the Eagerness with which I anticipated bandying Pleasantries and perhaps a Reminiscence or two with One who, although not without Controversy and Contention, entertain'd, and yet gave much Occasion for sombre Reflection to those with Wit enough to perceive his Points. I had suppos'd that Dr. Swift had become, as I have, a Ghost, and that he had at last found a Means to convey his Thoughts in this very odd Way with writing Machines call'd Computers.
Altho' when alive, I had not the honour of Dr. Swift's Acquaintance, we did, I am sure, have certain Friends in common. You may suppose it a not unreasonable Hope that the mention of a familiar Name might unburthen Dr. Swift's writing Hand and soften his Cholerick Temper.
Alas! All my Plans and eager Anticipation have been for naught. The Namesake of Dean Swift remains simply that: a Namesake, and not a Ghost imbu'd with the Spirit of the Original. The pretended Dr. Swift, while of a Temper sufficiently Cholerick, has little Wit enough, and a thin and sour Expression that bears no close Perusal.
Madam, please forgive my Expressions of Disappointment, directed not at you or your Productions, but at the Author of such thin Gruel, and be assur'd that I remain,
Your Humble & Obt. Servant,
Sir Archy
Hey, Sir Archy is back! Can Blogging Cockroach be far behind?
Thanks for coming by on this December Saturday, when I'm feeling a bit like a ghost myself, exiled in this strange city.
Well I am amazed that you feel exiled when good fellowship and cheer is just a few short blocks away.
Are you attempting to pick her up? I think Ms. Althouse would have to be REALLY miserable. Maybe if you talked that 18th Century English like Sir Archy. Otherwise, I salute your ambitions.
Thanks, Trooper.
Come by the store anytime.
""Why is it ludicrous to think that the whole thing was staged? Because Hillary and Bill are too honest to ever stoop to such tactics?"
Sigh. Because the minuet gain is far outweighed by the huge risk if it came out. Why in the world take that risk? What, if any, long term gain do you see her getting?
It's pathetic obeisance to the Clintonosity.
Great line.
You can see it in her eyes," he says after Bill Clinton has him to the White House. "She can't continue to appear like those Frenchwomen at the guillotine during the revolution, just watching and knitting, knitting . . ." "She's so steely. She even claps in a controlled way."
I think the hostage crisis teaches us more about Hillary's critics (and her blind followers) than it will ever teach us about her. Hillary is damned no matter what she says, or doesn't say, reacts or doesn't react. Her critics call her divisive, and blame her for the divisiveness. I say vote for her, or vote against her...but I think the over-analysis says more about everybody else and little about her.
Did yesterday's hostage crisis teach us anything about Hillary Clinton?
Short answer: no.
Longer answer: nope. :)
I was talking politics with some coworkers yesterday, and it struck me that 2008 might actually be a time of togetherness for people across the political spectrum. We're united in not liking our options -- the Democrats don't want Hillary or Obama, and the Republicans don't want their guys. I kind of get the feeling that whoever wins, the losing side will dislike them and the winning side will be like "yeah, we don't really like him/her much either but so it goes".
I kind of get the feeling that whoever wins, the losing side will dislike them and the winning side will be like "yeah, we don't really like him/her much either but so it goes".
And that won't be good enough, and it won't be left there.
Mark my words.***
"...it struck me that 2008 might actually be a time of togetherness for people across the political spectrum. We're united in not liking our options ... .
This is not a new phenomenon, and its fleeting nature won't be either.
Again ... ***
Oh yes, let's do take a closer look at those breasts.
More incisive Althouse analysis, I see.
Ms. Althouse says: "I didn't read your piece. Don't flatter yourself."
How odd that you would consider your reading something, something that you then go on to criticize, to be a form of flattery. Who is self-flattering whom?
To Professor Althouse.
Madam,
It is with sincerest Thanks that I note your kind Acknowledgement of my small Comment. It was written in haste, and I fear not sufficient to the Task of a proper Criticism of the Performance of our pretended Jon Swift.
Having not Room to consider this Matter at its fullest, and to redress those Evils of Style so manifest, I will only say that the Conceit of the suppos'd Death of Mr. David Broder, to be caused by an Apoplectick Fit upon the Election of Mrs. Clinton, is one that the genuine Dr. Swift might have employ'd.
Such a Piece must be written, however, with great Delicacy, lest it appear too violent and give genuine Offence to Mr. Broder. A fine Example of comick Writing in this vein by Dr. Swift, may be found in The Partridge-Bickerstaff Papers. In this Instance, the Object was a Person held in almost universal Derision in his Day, so that it may be just to allow Dr. Swift more Scope for lower Raillery than would be thought proper in a Paper where the distinguish'd Mr. Broder is to play the leading Rôle.
Instead of a vain Attempt to emulate Dr. Swift, the Style and Manner of Mr. Addison has much to recommend itself in making this Jest. To write as Dr. Swift requires an Imagination at once free of Cant and Bathos, Sardonick yet properly Tragick, with a Variety of parodick Abilities most rare. Our pretended Dr. Swift fails in most of these Accounts.
Mr. Addison's Style is lighter, more regular, avoids giving Offence, and is capable of delicious Irony and fine humourous Moments. If a Writer would strive for Distinction from the common Course of modern Expression, he or she would do well to follow Dr. Johnson's famous Advice:
Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison.
Madam, aside from my slight Attempts to play the Critick, I would attempt to play the Friend, and enquire of your State of Mind, whereby you feel yourself already a Ghost. Perhaps the Loneliness of Separation from familiar Scenes, and finding yourself alone in a strange and large City, give you the Apprehension of what it were to be wandering the Earth, an unnoticed and disembody'd Spirit.
It is my experience that Spirits are never alone. The Living are punish'd by Isolation; whereas, as Milton says, 'Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth.' I hope you may take some Comfort in these lines of Mr. Addison:
For my own part, I am apt to join in Opinion with those who believe that all the Regions of Nature swarm with Spirits; and that we have Multitudes of Spectators on all our Actions, when we think Ourselves most alone: but instead of terrifying Myself with such a Notion, I am wonderfully pleas'd to think that I am always engaged with such an innumerable Society, in searching out the wonders of the Creation, and joining in the same Consort of Praise & Adoration.
With sincerest Expressions of Solicitude, I remain, Madam,
Your Humble & Obt. Servant,
Sir Archy
I opened the PDB to rearrange the notes and noticed the heading "Operation Bojinka." I keyed on a reference to a plot to use commercial airliners as weapons and another plot to put bombs on U.S. airliners. Because I was a pilot, this naturally grabbed my attention. I can state for a fact that this information was circulated within the U.S. intelligence community, and that in late 1996 the president was aware of it."
Proof positive that Buzz Patterson can't be trusted, much less with classified information.
She spent the afternoon memorizing her lines for the press conference.
Sir Archy, it is a delightful surprise to be criticized here with such style and wit, and by someone who actually reads that which he disparages. You are always welcome to drop by my modest blog to express your profound disappointment in my work, though I think your talent is wasted on mere commenting and hope that one day I shall have the pleasure of reading your own blog.
"How odd that you would consider your reading something, something that you then go on to criticize..."
Bzzzzt.
False.
I criticized your comment here. You came over here, remember? I can react to that. I'm not obliged to visit your blog to rebuff what you deposit over here. That's not how I prioritize my reading.
Oh, and check it out, he's back and trying to get Sir Archy to read his blog.
Please forgive me, Ms. Althouse, for expressing genuine pleasure in the someone else's prose and taking the spotlight momentarily off you.
Bitch! Plus, after the Clintons' knew the gig was up after all those bodies turning tits up in the 90s, there's no way they would show their face in the same State when orchestrating this "hostage crisis".
Ever wonder just how much they would get away with if not for right wing pundits and right wing websites keeping them honest? Drug running, murder, extortion -- I'm just glad Scaife spent those millions so the rest of us would know what really was going on.
Sheesh!
Just what the hell does this have to do with my post? I am critisizing the allegedly objective MEDIAs blatant butt kissing/fawning/bootlicking style of reporting at how Hillary! was sooo calm and brave, when Hillary! wasn't threatened at all, much less in the same State as the event.
They tout her "leadership" when she has no authority at all over the situation. They are literally making shit up to make Hillary look "presidential".
This isn't about what Hillary! did or didn't do. This is about an un-critical press covering for a thrid rate politician in order to get her elected President.
Ann Althouse's "Did yesterday's hostage crisis teach us anything about Hillary Clinton?" was discussed by Howie Kurtz on CNN's Reliable Sources this morning.
Whether or not I think that Hillary Clinton showed grace under pressure during this alleged crisis, will not affect the way I vote in November 2008 whatsoever. If anyone thinks that we did learn something about the character and ability to handle a tough situation that does not make me want to vote for her anymore than I do now, which isn’t very much. She has definitely had the experience of dealing with difficulties in the media, i.e. the years that the other Clinton spent in the White House, but anyone with basic Public Relations skills could’ve handled this situation just the same. Hillary showed us nothing special on Friday and she still will not overcome the fact that she is lacking in experience of being responsible for the health and safety or hundreds, thousands, much less millions of people like she would be if she were to become the 44th President of the United States of America. Overall Hillary becoming the president would be a very bad thing for our country. We are so divided we need a president that will be acceptable by both parties who will be able to bring us back together as a nation. I have personally heard so many people express such disapproval of Hillary Clinton that I would be afraid to know what would happen to this country were she elected president in 2008.
To Mr. 'Jon Swift.'
Sir,
It is the Mark of a rational and ambitious Author that he may, if not accept criticism, at least forbear it. While our Performances may improve with Rehearsal, what better Guide do we have for such Improvement than honest Appraisal?
It is with no mean Asperity, Sir, that I have offer'd up my Critical Observations, slight as they may have been. I have perus'd the recent Playbills of your own Theatre of Topicks, and have found the Subjects and Conceits of your Offerings excellent ones, which might have entertain'd and excited the Imagination of the original Dr. Swift, were he alive in these contentious Times. Where I see a Deficiency, Sir, is in the Execution of your Imitations upon Dean Swift's Style.
In my Day, one Kind of poetical Literature that enjoy'd a Vogue, was the Imitation of an ancient Author. Thus we had many a Scribbler producing Odes after Horace and Pastorals after Virgil. Such Poems had, by the time of Dryden, become an Embarrassment, altho' they have continued to be dribbl'd out to this Day. One of the best of 'em was Johnson's London, after the Third Satire of Juvenal, written in the year 1738. 'Twas Dr. Swift, I believe, who observ'd that the Original Poem need be in a Dead Language, and the Poet even more Dead, for the modern Author to emerge with any Credit.
'Tis my Opinion, Sir, that an Imitation upon any Author in a Modern Language, poetical or not, is a very hazardous Undertaking. I can tell you that I would not attempt any such Performance upon Dean Swift's Style. Whether this Timidity bespeaks Discretion or want of Powers, I will leave for Others to suppose. If, however, you wish to continue in this vein, you will have my Admiration, Sir, for your Ambition, and my honest Censure for your Failures, if any there be.
I am thus honoured that you have invited me to continue to observe your Efforts, knowing that I am of a somewhat Critical Temper. You may be assured of my occasional Visit. As I have said, I bear no essential Ill-Will. In the same way, Partisan Zeal does not much inform my Opinions. I am as willing to be amus'd by Satires and Jests upon Tories equally as Whigs. In this, I hope I resemble Mr. Addison, who, while himself an adherent of moderate Whiggery, form'd the Character of Sir Roger de Cloverly, his Tory Squire, with such Delicacy and Sympathy, as to admit of no other Hand making any Alterations or Additions.
As to your Disputes, Sir, with the charming impressaria of this place, both you and Professor Althouse should understand that I am very unwilling to enter further into Authors' Quarrels. I maintain a Fondness for Professor Althouse and her Productions that can never be shaken, but as any rational Person would never willingly limit himself to a Diet of one Dish only, so I reserve the Privilege of sampling the Wares of many another Cook.
I feel all the Impropriety of such a late and over-long Reply, but wish to assure you, Sir, of my Admiration of your Efforts, and that I remain,
Your Humble & Obt. Servant,
Sir Archy
Just what did Hillary have to say in all those phone calls "up and down the law enforcement food chain"?
"Hi, we are Hillary Clinton and you're not!"
I think they shouldn't allow women to run for office.
Post a Comment