To play the race card as Mrs. Clinton has, to highlight and encourage a sense that we are crudely divided as a nation, to make your argument a brute and cynical "the black guy can't win but the white girl can" is -- well, so vulgar, so cynical, so cold, that once again a Clinton is making us turn off the television in case the children walk by.
"She has unleashed the gates of hell," a longtime party leader told me. "She's saying, 'He's not one of us.'"
May 9, 2008
If John McCain said, 'I got the white vote, baby!' his candidacy would be over."
Peggy Noonan on Hillary.
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143 comments:
Thankfully, I abandoned the Clintons before 1996 and voted for Dole.
If you are a Democrat, you can thank the Clintons for delivering Bush II and the Iraq war. Hillary's vote was pure political expediency.
She now wants every vote to count, including Puerto Rico, when her campaign strategy was to win the California Primary and then close up shop.
something about reaping the whirlwind...? This looks to me like the end game of Identity Politics, and it isnt pretty.
Hillary didn't get the memo: We're all black now. All Americans have ancestors who started out in Africa.
Referring to oneself or one's supporters as "white" is to cross the wrong way on the Bridge To The 21st Century.
Barack's not one of us because he's a socialist -- not because of his race.
And it's a bit of a stretch for a guy who goes to a race-whining church for 20 years and who's married to a constant race-whiner to solely blame Hillary for playing the race card. She did -- no doubt about it, but Barack Obama is not pulling down 90% of the African-American vote solely for his oratory skills and his ability to quit chain-smoking.
"unleashed the gates of hell..." nice -- though "Unleash the Kracken!" would've been better.
She did -- no doubt about it, but Barack Obama is not pulling down 90% of the African-American vote solely for his oratory skills
Obama is pulling down 90% of the African-American vote because she has been race-baiting since before South Carolina.
What is so out of kilter about this, is that we're all used to seeing this race/sex crap pulled on the Repub's by the Dem's, but for the first time (I can recall), they (the Dem's) are actively playing race and sex against each other. They are not used to having it pulled on them.
I admit there is a certain delicious irony about this for we conservatives and libertarians (like me), who always get this crap on a myriad of issues (you name it, I could go on and on).
not completely so Mortimer. I'll agree she's pushed some (maybe many -- who can really quantify I guess?)
Big deal. She does have the white vote, by about 20%. Why beat around the bush?
Obama is pulling down 90% of the African-American vote because she has been race-baiting since before South Carolina.
And the fact that Obama is black has nothing to do with it? How charmingly naive.
rdkraus...
I've enjoyed the spectacle too. Dems beating up Dems over race and gender. They deserve it. Hopefully this is the sad end of identity politics. I'm sure it's not of course.
Race and sex don't belong on anyone's resume
I do believe this democratic party fight is going to set race relations in the country back--no matter who their nominee is.
One of Noonan's complaints is the lack of action on the part of the Super delegates. Agreed.
So we're supposed to vote for a party that allows those boobs to power on? No effin' thank you, They're all complicit.
Unleashed the gates of Hell? Has she opened the hounds of Hell, too?
Grusinskaya: I fear that my time at Vienna has ended. I must return to Freiburg, to the univerisity. The stress and bustle of the city has overcome my sensibilites. I must return to stroll the pathways of the Black Forest and enjoy the charm of a rustic life in the groves of academia. I am overcome with the foul odou of civilization, I can smell a roasting peanut.
Miss Peggy Noonan: But how can you leave the city. The museums, the botonical garden, the constant stream of dog’s urinating that you need to complete you photographic exhibition.
Grusinskaya: I fear I must leave now before these unfortunate tinitypes are published. It appears that they have been altered by some nefarious means to portray me as though I am festooned with a huge goiter. And I who have always been esteemed as a beauty, I can not live with the shame.
Miss Peggy Noonan: But you know it is not true. I feel you are only leaving because you lost the contest as most beautiful woman in Vienna to that winsome young Negress, Hallie Berry. You must realize that this is only a popularity contest that concerns the lower classes. You could not be the Austrian Idol even though you are the most talented. The lower classes loved her and they are the ones who vote in this contest. She is a favorite of the Pullman porters and baggage handlers because of her jaunty caboose. They voted overwhelmingly for her. Plus they would never vote for a white girl.
Grusinskaya: But I have ever been a friend to the lower classes especially the black man. Do I not tip them a pence when they carry my bags and shine my carriage. I can not fathom why they have abandoned me.
Miss Peggy Noonan: Well people tend to vote for those who look like them. That is why I did not compete in this contest. My charms are not for these swarthy heathen.
Grusinskaya: No your bloodless corpse like skin could only appeal to albinos and vampires you nattering twit.
Baron Felix von Geigern’ dog: Woof.
(Grand Hotel, 1932)
Is 92% of the black vote going for the black candidate racist? Is it racist for a white to notice that 92% of the black vote is going for the black candidate? Doesn't the demand for the super delegates to hurry up and "follow the will of the people" frustrate the fundamental purpose of the Dem's super-delegate system?
I'll agree [Hillary Clinton's race-baiting] pushed some [black voters] (maybe many -- who can really quantify I guess?)
Enough to take her lead amongst black voters all the way down to single-digits.
Is 92% of the black vote going for the black candidate racist?
I hope you know this makes as much sense as "Is 92% of the black vote going for the black candidate eggplant?"
Porcelain tea cup poised in mid-sip, Mrs. Noonan sighs, the view of Central Park lush, taxis below a mere murmur.
On her lap, her shar pei, sensing a momentary riffle, warily opens one black eye. Bangles jingling, Mrs. Noonan strokes its tiny doll head, and all again is calm.
The column is written, the tea cool.
I think we are forgetting one of the key rules of "racism": only beige persons can be racist; a person of color, cannot.
Maybe another way for her to say the same thing would have been to directly point out that Obama is getting 92% of the black vote. I very rarely see this statistic in any MSM reports. Its almost like the elephant in the living room that no one is talking about. But here's the problem with that: since blacks vote predominantly Democratic anyway, the fact that Obama captures the black vote gives the Democrats no advantage against the Republicans.
"Stop the division"? The party has built their politics on division for the past 40 years.
Either identity politics goes or the party goes: This is the real death match of the season.
What on Earth has happened to the much-vaunted "reality-based community"? Deal with the real. It denies reality to say that Obama isn't winning virtually all of the black vote and that he is not doing nearly so well in getting votes from blue collar whites and latinos across the board. It's even more brazenly in denial of reality to think that Paul Begala is wrong that the Dems "cannot win with eggheads and African Americans" alone. One recalls Adlai Stevenson's exchange with a voter: "Senator! All thinking people are with you," cried the voter, prompting Stevenson to reply "lady, thankyou, but that's not enough - we need a majority!" (I always imagine that line in Lino Graglia's voice, for some reason.)
I really am at a loss to see how a simple statement of statistical reality - that Clinton's appeal has been demographically broader than Obama's - can be spun into some kind of awful accusation of "playing the race card." But that's been the Obama campaign's attitude from day one. They have only two defenses to any criticism, both dilatory: complain the question isn't what the American people want to talk about (Michelle Obama's self-centered "this conversation doesn't help my kids" line is the purest expression of this strategy), or cry racism.
The answer to "the question '[w]ho will save the Democratic Party in 2008'" is obvious enough: the answer is "Barack Obama, when he drops out and endorses Hillary Clinton." He won't, of course, but it's imortant to recognize that he no less than Clinton could end the mess tommorow. He really, really wants the nomination and presumably thinks he's better placed to win than she is. She thinks she's better placed to win than he is. If the fight is tearing the party apart, it has to be acknowledged that neither Obama nor Clinton takes that concern seriously, in that either of them could end it if it was really so important. That doesn't mean that Clinton's blameless in protracting the mess, only that the accusation of putting self before party must be leveled at both candidates or neither.
the fact that Obama captures the black vote gives the Democrats no advantage against the Republicans
It may bring many more blacks to the polls than would otherwise go. And the Dems being the Dems have many tried and true ways to exploit that opportunity to the hilt.
Did the Clintons make $100 million dollars in order to have the financial power to promote universal health care or did they promote health care as a way of masking their ambition to gain $100 million dollars. It is not amazing that they are so adept at promoting their own self-interest; it is amazing that they are so adept at convincing people that their self interest coincides with the highest values of the republic. Well in Obama they have met their match. I think Obama initiated his campaign to heal the racial divide in America and sell his books. He is a better salesman than Hillary and that, not tallness or whiteness, is what wins elections.
I really am at a loss to see how a simple statement of statistical reality - that Clinton's appeal has been demographically broader than Obama's - can be spun into some kind of awful accusation of "playing the race card."
Well, because we want to talk about race without actually talking about race. But you already knew that.
Even in a two-party system, you win elections by coalition-building. The question is who can build a better national coalition in November, not who the Democrats are most excited about.
I think Hillary has a legitimate claim to being a better national candidate for President in that she's done better in battleground states. At the same time, she's run a weaker campaign and has higher negatives. So who knows?
Of course, it would be great, as has been noted, to get beyond all the identity politics. But that's not going to happen anytime soon, and it's not inherently evil to talk about campaigns in terms of demographic groups.
"it's not inherently evil to talk about campaigns in terms of demographic groups."
Well Hillary gets the votes of the woman who have husbands that have been porking someone else...Mrs. Spitzer, Mrs. Vitter, Mrs. McGreevy
Mrs. Fossella....jeeez that's a lot of votes.
Barack didn't start out getting 92 percent of the black vote. Hillary and Bill dissed the black vote, and the black community paid them back.
I believe that Bill only got 40 percent of the white male vote in 1992. Perot elected Bill. Bill was unelectable without Perot.
Hillary is unelectable at this point. Whether Barack is electable remains open to question. You can't win an election with unfavorability ratings above 50 percent, and when you have alienated an entire class of people who are your core base.
It's not math anymore, it's psychodrama. If she can't have it, no one can have it. If she has to tear the party apart, she will.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Democratic Party in 2008.
Where no one can tell an out-of-control old black guy to shut up, and an egocentric, powermad white lady to go away.
...and the clincher is, it's for the Party's own good.
And then people wonder why those who aren't remotely Republican, vote Republican in presidential contests, time and again.
Cheers,
Victoria
Obama's entire life story and rise has been about embracing race rather than despite of race. That is the true Obama. Contrast that with a Condi Rice or Colin Powell or Oprah Winfrey. Obama isn't getting the nomination despite the fact that he is black, he is getting the nomination precisely because he is black. As Bob Johnson said from BET, if Obama were a first term white senator from Illinois named Jerry smith he would not be getting 90% of the black vote in the democratic primaries in places like North Carolina.
An Obama presidency could set back race relations by decades in America. 1) An Obama presidency will be used as an excuse to dismantle affirmative action where it is truly needed and 2) the conspiracies and suspicisions that normally surround a president will take on a racial tone with Obama.
Roger J said in part...I do believe this democratic party fight is going to set race relations in the country back--no matter who their nominee is.
My 2 quotes for the day:
"What Bill did for Feminism in America, Obama is doing to race relations" - unknown
"I'm voting for McCain, he's the only adult in the race" - My Democratic wife
The Democratic party is in a big circle and all the bloodshed is self-inflicted. Once the party gets a nominee, all that self-righteous anger is gonna get directed outward. The lecturing, the identity politics, the accusations of racism & sexism, and the embracing of victomhood is gonna be the norm for the election. The election cycle is going to resemble a Rome versus Carthage battle where no prisoners are taken and victor will plow salt into the fields. We will look back at 2000 or 2004 election and wish 2008 would have been that civil.
Drill Sgt wrote:
"I'm voting for McCain, he's the only adult in the race" - My Democratic wife
If one is a Republican, this is doubly good.
Not only for the promise of the vote, but for the fact that if McCain wins in November, the Democratic Party will blame Hillary for dragging the nomination out, and making the Dems look bad to the nation in the early goings.
Contrast this to what everyone suspects might happen if he loses -- liberal media will fall over themselves blaming Americans for being too racist to vote for the black guy.
Of course, foreign media will phrase it just like that, though.
Mainstream Media: It's not about analysis and reporting, it's about making America and Americans look bad.
Cheers,
Victoria
Obama is unelectable. He has no appeal in the Red states that normally go Republican. Old white people and poor/working class whites have no connection with him.
Why should they? He's a left-wing 1 term US Senator from Chicago. A half-black Havard Law grad who has the middle name "Hussain". He's spent 15 years going to a church headed by a Reverend who says "G*D D*MN" America.
SO you can kiss Mich, Ohio, Penn, and Florida goodbye & Hello to President McCain. Its Duke, Kerry, McGovern, Gore and Mondale all over again. An out-of-touch Blue state liberal with zero appeal to anyone except minorities and liberal eggheads.
Saul said...
"Barack didn't start out getting 92 percent of the black vote. Hillary and Bill dissed the black vote, and the black community paid them back."
I'm not inclined to think that African-Americans would be so childish and petty as to back Obama out of a malignant fit of pique over bruised feelings, even if the Clintons did "diss[] the black vote," which I doubt. I assume that there are more credible reasons - not necessarily good reasons, but at least credible - for the 92% figure.
The election cycle is going to resemble a Rome versus Carthage battle where no prisoners are taken and victor will plow salt into the fields. We will look back at 2000 or 2004 election and wish 2008 would have been that civil.
Though I agree, it will be interesting to see Obama continue with the "I'm a healer who can unite Red and Blue" while his surrogates are calling McCain a racist because McCain is pointing out Obama's problems
Sloanasaurus said...
"An Obama presidency could set back race relations by decades in America."
What's your answer to Ann's argument that "[i]f we are disgusted by Wright, we shouldn't reject Obama. We should embrace him as the best hope we're ever going to have"?
Obama will have a bitch of a time trying to get elected (regardless of whether Hillary had dropped out of the race two months ago). But Hillary is completely unelectable at this time. The Republicans managed (for better or worse) to nominate the most electable candidate from their party.
The Democratic field was pretty weak from the start. I'm not sure I can name one other than Webb that would have across the board appeal.
McCain is no holier than thou candidate. His b.s. line about Hamas supporting Obama is pathetic. Maybe Hamas is supporting Obama to elect McCain, so we can spend the next 10 years getting killed in Iraq. It's easier to kill Americans in the Middle East than in America.
The Drill SGT said...
"[I]t will be interesting to see Obama continue with the "I'm a healer who can unite Red and Blue" while his surrogates are calling McCain a racist because McCain is pointing out Obama's problems."
I don't see how it will be any more difficult to maintain that line with a straight face than it has been so far! Once he gets off the glib, very abstract "new politics" pablum, he immediately descends into boilerplate divisive rhetoric, blaming all our problems on Bush, Republicans, corporations, etc. "What Obama [d]oesn't [g]et ... [i]s that you don't heal a divide by being on one side of it. ... His and his supporters' notion of 'healing' is 'OK, everyone come on over to this side and then we can march into the future. Anyone who disagrees is a dinosaur, and we can't wait for them to die out.'"
Old white people and poor/working class whites have no connection with him.
Why is it that Obama doesn't trot out his white grandma, Madelyn Dunham? Why?!
Not literally.
I realise she's ailing, and old, but come on, a photo or two wouldn't kill you. This would resonate with older voters like you have no idea.
He has no compunction in holding photo ops with his African granny, after all.
Problem is, old white American voters don't really connect with a lady in a far away country wearing a turban, herding goats...
But just like Obama refuses to involve his other mixed-race half-sister, it's like he's saying, I don't want to voters to think I'm not black enough for them.
There's definitely a psychological component here.
In Dreams of My Father, he described the anguish of growing up mixed in Hawaii.
This prompted one classmate to say:
Most of his teachers and friends express sorrow that they did not know of Obama's racial anguish or inner demons. "I wish I would have known that those things were bothering him, or if they did bother him," said Eric Kusunoki, Obama's homeroom teacher from grades nine through 12. "Maybe we could have helped him. But he seemed to have coped pretty well."
Others are more skeptical that the boy known as Barry felt the angst described by Barack. Furushima said that many of her classmates have expressed dismay at Obama's rendering of the past.
"We are just such a mixed-up bag of races. It was hard to imagine that he felt that way, because he just seemed happy all the time, smiling all the time," she said. "We have so many tones of brown here. If someone is brown, they can be Samoan or Fijian or Tongan. I can't tell if someone is Fijian or black."
But who is to know the demons that struggle in a man's mind...
Cheers,
Victoria
"Why is it that Obama doesn't trot out his white grandma, Madelyn Dunham?"
Isn't she stuck under the bus.
Why should they? He's a left-wing 1 term US Senator from Chicago. A half-black Havard Law grad who has the middle name "Hussain". He's spent 15 years going to a church headed by a Reverend who says "G*D D*MN" America.
And Hillary is a left-wing Yale Law Grad, 1 and 1/3 term senator from New York (who was raised in the upper middle class suburbs of Chicago--have you ever been to Lake Forest? Oak Lawn it ain't). It is ridiculous to claim that Hillary is somehow closer to "the people" than Obama. Bill has the "bubba" bona fides, but even that act is wearing kind of thin.
I assume that there are more credible reasons - not necessarily good reasons, but at least credible - for the 92% figure.
Way back before the South Carolina primary when Hillary was still ahead and Obama was only an intriguing sideshow, pundits were innocently asking each other whether black women would vote their race or vote their gender. For whatever reason the question made me flash on the OJ trial. I predicted right here they'd vote their race, and I was called a racist.
If you want to know why 92% of blacks are voting for Obama, review the OJ trial and the mentality of the jury. The jury which blacks far and wide cheered and celebrated when a demonstrably guilty black murderer of two white people got off. Same dynamics.
If you think increased black turnout will save Obama in the general, you're just dreaming.
Almost all blacks live in either (1) Blue states like Calf/Md/DC/NY/Ill that always go Democrat no matter what or (2) the South that will go for McCain since the whites always outvote the blacks. The only exception is VA - given the Northern Suburbs.
Blacks *always* vote 80-90 percent Democrat for POTUS. Increasing their turnout by 10 percent will change nothing.
You know I always wondered why Hell would have gates. Usually a gated community has walls and gates to keep the bad guys out. I guess a prison has gates but that term belies the currant usage.
Hell. A gated community.
Current usage. Currant usage is only when Victoria is baking tarts. Sorry teacher.
Simon said...What's your answer to Ann's argument that "[i]f we are disgusted by Wright, we shouldn't reject Obama. We should embrace him as the best hope we're ever going to have"?
I guess 3 things:
1. I expect racial attacks from the likes of Wright, Obama, and the Left. I think that the positive spin by the Obama/Alhouses of the world on why Obama can heal race issues is clearly a fantasy, and that the Wright issue to me is a huge negative indicator on Obama's judgement. First to bath his kids in that filth and secondly to expect that the American public would understand.
2. Black/white race relations is going to be pretty irrelevant in the future. Brown/black or Brown/white may be.
3. I don't think America will ever elect somebody who doesn't consider him/herself an unhypenated American first. I bet Colin and Condi think of themselves first as Americans. I know Barrack and Michele don't
Currant usage is only when Victoria is baking tarts.
What! Lies and more lies. I pay people to bake tarts.
And then I are one at night.
Cheers,
Victoria
Noonan has been on fire lately. Absolutely loving her editorials.
I smell some award.
Completely agree with her on this. Hillary has officially gone insane.
On a seperate but more important note tankey season has arrived. Are you all ready? Biceps and triceps should be defined, sculpted and ready for action.
Sorry, I just thought that Victoria and tart sort of goes together. Like ham and eggs.
Cheers,
Trooper.
Like ham and eggs.
Hall and Oates.
I'm horny today.
I walked down the avenue with the rare clumbers today and everywhere I looked their was hot, prime hog that I wanted to do.
Cool hats, sunglasses, tshirts. Big arms, tits, fabulous shoes, interesting facial hair. Lots of dark meat and foreign languages being spoken. It was enough to drive a girl insane.
It was too much. I had to go home to my fabulous loft and relief myself.
You know when the Temptations played Pottstown PA and the two young musicians heard their music, they were truly inspired. You could say that David Ruffin opened the “Gates of Hall and Oates.”
When I was like 6 I wanted to do Oates.
Trooper, one doesn't OPEN the Gates of Hall and Oates. One unleashes it. Sheesh.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to read Ron Paul's new book. I need a real laugh.
Cheers,
Victoria
Aaaarrrgh!
I get why the blackvote is so for Obama-If I were black I hope that his stance on the war would make me bail out but other than that-I'd be all over it.
Why does Obama look so damn good?
The black vote has been there for a long time for the Democrats and what kind of candidates have the African community been given in return?
Look at the Leadership page for the Democrat party and there is not one person of color who's photograph is there. At the very bottom there is the name of someone who barely anyone would recognize.
The Democrat party had years to promote and give leadership positions within their own party and they have not done it.
Jess Jackson and Al Sharpton have been thrown out there but Obama is the first to get there through more provincial means and he has barely the experience you would want.
But! Obama looks damn good by comparison and finally the African American community has someone they can vote for-A FIRST.
For those of you interested in the hot new hair care products they are Davines Alchemic Shampoos and Conditioners and Depth Charge Seednoir Prewash Hair Therapy by Moltan Brown.
I was at the salon/spa yesterday for my monthly cut, color, wax, pedi/mani, tan, facial, mud bath, massage with hot rocks and got up to date on what is hot and what is not.
You heard it here first fellow republicans.
Within that small confine Obama is a grrreat candidate by comparison. Obama put out in the bigger pond though and-the guy is too pegged to the Left, too mired in Chi-cago and too inexperienced-and it's going to cost them.
Obama is young and he can run again the next two times out, and the fact that Obama is not mainstream enough for the rest of America has the possibility of not getting resolved for decades.
Run don't walk to your nearest Niemies for these exclusive hair care products.
Added bonus-these products are exceptional for your scalps.
titus-
Do us a favor find a young republican willing to do Peggy Noonan...
Gawd maybe she'll stop drooling over Chris Matthews when she is '"on" with him.
The Noonster-she's like the republican Pauline Kael.
As much as it pains me to say this, this one time, I agree with Peggy Noonan.
Man, that smarts.
But, hey, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
Currently, I am all about Kiehls facial products...again.
I abandoned Kiehls for a few years when I was into Dr. Hauschka but I am back.
Again, run to you nearest Niemies or Saks and stock up on Kiehls for your summer beach season.
Many fellow republicans would love to do Peg.
She is cute, bouncy, has fabulous highlights, looks like a decent bod and loves the pope.
What more could a young republican ask for?
Maybe she uses Depth Charge Seednoir Prewash Hair Therapy-that may be asking too much but would be absolute heaven.
Simon: Anne's argument smacked of appeasement- do this or they'll do that. She'll have to disguise it better than that.
What about David Brooks article today? He says us republicans need to rebrand ourselves similar to what the Tories in the UK have been doing.
I say no. I think we are doing all the right things and don't need to change a thing.
Should we as republicans focus on and reevaluate our "brand"?
Do we need to take a look at where and who we are in 2008?
titus-
Come on!
Suck it up-you could do a
Nooner with Noonan.
I'm sure she has Afternoon Delight on the eight trac just waiting to be fired up.
hee, hee....
In other news, Republicans vote against Mother’s Day
Marching in lockstep -- right off a cliff!
Ha-ha-ha!!!
Trooper,
Victoria would be a Lemon Tart.
Sweet, Tangy and Tart at the same time.
titus
Oh ya David Brooks-
What the Tories did was finally find someone with hair.
They haven't run one with hair since Maggie.
Any party that votes against motherhood has really gone off the rails.
I think we are doing all the right things and don't need to change a thing.
I agree. let's hope the Republicans don't change a thing. It's been working so well.
But why do they hate motherhood so much?
So that's the winning ticket...hair.
Well do I have the hair care products for them.
See my postings above.
Those products are a winning and fabulous formula.
Black Seed Oil-it is white hot!!!
Well that and they tarted up their website with some green paint/slogans.
titusgetme the ax!!!! said...
"Many fellow republicans would love to do Peg. She is cute, bouncy, has fabulous highlights, looks like a decent bod and loves the pope. What more could a young republican ask for?"
I dunno, man, Maureen Dowd seems much more the ticket. As to Brooks' article, I don't think that American conservatives need to do anything that the Tory party is doing - I do think, however, that the party could benefit significantly from listening to Newt Gingrich, who remains just about the only person in the party talking sense loudly and often lately.
As much as it pains me to say this, this one time, I agree with Peggy Noonan.
Indeedy! How the netroots fell in love with the Villagers. The feel good hit of the summer! From Joe Klein to David Broder to Gail Collins. They looooove the purple state schtick Obama offers. Touching!
Come to think of it the netroots and Manhattan snobbery is more closely linked than previously thought. Hmmph.
Now that race and gender have become the only intellectual tools of analysis for most Democrats, BO and HC have no choice but to phrase things in those terms.
These tools of Marxist psychological warfare have been standard weapons in academia for at least thirty years, and now they threaten to become standard operating tools in every Democratic nomination process.
They don't lead to anything but scapegoating and implosion, and that's why I have left the Democratic party.
"It's my party and I'll cry if I want to -- you would cry too if it happened to you."
I just wonder how McCain will counterattack it once it's used on him. I think he will laugh a lot and hit it on the chin, and it will go down in 15, and America will rejoice.
But you never know. RGC could still take over the whole country, and even worm its way into red state discourse, dislodging the last vestiges of Lockean liberalism and the standard principles of classical liberal discourse.
Peggy Noonan is the Blanche Dubois of punditry.
Indeedy! How the netroots fell in love with the Villagers. The feel good hit of the summer! From Joe Klein to David Broder to Gail Collins. They looooove the purple state schtick Obama offers. Touching!
WTF? I agree with one article and that means all this?
Dude, you project way too much. Keep wishin...
Is 92% of the black vote going for the black candidate racist?
Probably around one-third of them would still be voting for him if he was white. So it is only about 60% racist.
Good lord, could the Dana Milbank column liked by Think Progress possibly be more incoherent? Talk about a guy of talent smashing it on the rocks of two-clever-by-half.
***
That said, I despise such congressional shenanigans as this, the amount of time these people waste on pure, trivial crap. (This, among other reasons, is why I was not just unimpressed, but outright disapproving, of efforts a couple years ago to get these people to stay in Washington more and "work harder.") Don't care which party does it--and they both do, it just ebbs and flows depending on circumstance and current power balances--it equally disgusts me.
As for Mother's Day resolutions, I don't give a rat's ass. Truly, I think it's dumb that it, along with Father's Day, for example, are "officially designated" "national" commemorations at all. I'd vote against them on that basis alone. You wanna honor your mother or father? Well, then go right ahead. Why the hell do we need government approval, disapproval or even acknowledgement of an "official" day?
Voting against Mother's Day does not mean a whole party or philosophy hates mothers. To say so is every bit as shallow and cynical and stupid as to pretend that setting up these days actually means anything of merit. It's just preening.
For the record, just about the only "offical" days I think the federal government has any business declaring is Veterans Day and Memorial Day, and then only because those honored then served at the behest of the federal government and on behalf of the nation. (Election Day should also be one, to allow the maximum of access and convenience for voting.) That's the only argument that holds water with me. Other than that, I think, all this stuff is a crock.
Sorry, folks, but sometimes I just get fed up.
What's your answer to Ann's argument that "[i]f we are disgusted by Wright, we shouldn't reject Obama. We should embrace him as the best hope we're ever going to have"?
My answer would be that "we" don't need hope. White, Asian, and Hispanic Americans are doing just fine, and are integrating nicely (although of course unassimilated illegals represent an ongoing problem. Hell, black immigrants from Africa and the Carribean are integrating nicely as well.
The people who need hope are that portion of native black America which is currently beset by problems of poverty, crime, illegitimacy, etc. Accepting a President who is either cozy with anti-white racists or actually racially prejudiced against whites himself is not a price I'm willing to pay to help that portion of American society. They can keep waiting.
Maybe the effect of rejecting Obama will be that that section of America will fall back into bitterness and racism. They'll really only hurt themselves by doing that.
Maureen Dowd seems much more the ticket.
Please tell me you're kidding.
I mean, she DEFINES bitter.
Sorry, folks, but sometimes I just get fed up.
Ooh. I'll have another slice of that tangy tart, RIA!
In other news, Maureen Dowd still can't get a date.
Cheers,
Victoria
A three way with Maureen and Pegger could be hot.
Under the bus, he threw me under the bus,
His own - albeit White - grandmother.
And you Euros will make a fuss
When your time comes? Don't bother.
I imagine quite a bit of hair in the three way with Pegger and Maureen.
Red Hair flying this way, blonde hair jetting that way.
Like most Irish broads Peggy bloomed beautifully but then went all stringy.
Obviously, Fourth of July is OK, too .. .
John, I'll answer that quite candidly: I think the limited shot that Titus tee'd up here (he was responding to madawaskan's exhortation to "find a young republican willing to do Peggy Noonan"), so much as one where she gets a productive way to take out her frustrations and bitterness. Context is all. Self-absorbtion, selfishness and searing contempt aren't disabling qualities in a one night stand, depending on one's proclivities, which if anything reinforces my conclusion that Dowd would be more fun than Noonan, since the Noonan seems quite nice.
Reader, that's a good example of the limits of poll questions. If I get asked in surveys and opinion polls and whatnot whether I believe there should be change in Washington, I think the answer is obviously yes. So much of what Congress spends its time doing is embarassingly silly, and so much of what they actually produce is excreable. Congress' processes are in dire shape - given a free hand, I would eliminate the practice of extending remarks in the record (I encourage everyone to do this, by the way: that's a pernicious evil that any one member of Congress could put a stop to, so I encourage everyone to ask candidates for Congress whether they will refuse unanimous consent to revision and extension of remarks), throw out C-SPAN, require that every bill expressly state its Constitutional authority or authorities, on pain of being stripped of its presumption of constitutionality in judicial review, and mandate that when a quorum is not present, the business of the house stops until one is. And I would look for a way to eliminate "omnibus bills" through the rules - legislation should exhibit subject-matter compactness. That doesn't mean a single-subject rule, but it does mean that all provisions in a bill must orbit a common purpose defined at a specific level of generality.
So I do think Washington needs change, but I always worry that if I say so on a poll, it will be inferred that I support Obama, who I think is less interested in changing any of the things that are really broken in Washington, and that really require attention, than any politician of whom I'm aware, and who I know is running for an office which, should he attain it, will diminish his power to deal with those problems. It is Congress that is "what is broken in Washington," and you don't fix that by getting in and then spending most of your time there trying to persuade the voters to let you parachute out again.
Voting against Mother's Day does not mean a whole party or philosophy hates mothers. To say so is every bit as shallow and cynical and stupid as to pretend that setting up these days actually means anything of merit. It's just preening.
Oh, you haven't met "AlphaLiberal" before?
I'm reading along, hoping for a "Grand Hotel" reference--Trooper York does not disappoint--and then there's AlphaLiberal, the turd in the punchbowl, with the latest left wing talking points.
When last we paid attention to AL, he was berating Ann for not jumping on the "McCain plagiarism" story. Non-story as it turned out. Not that he ever apologized. Or ever admits to being wrong.
But your statement above encapsulates exactly why we can't ever have smaller government.
If somebody wants to spend $500 billion destroying the Bill of Rights and call it a crusade against child porn, you can't vote against it! Why, that would mean you were for child porn!
Or drugs. Or terrorism. Or you hate sick people, poor people, black people....
Or whatever.
As I've said before, every conversation that involves a governmental solution should begin with the question: "Should the government be involved in this area at all?"
The answer should usually be "No."
But I'm in my own persecuted minority.
I would say Dowd is a one night stand and Pegs is the one you marry.
Fellow republicans I think Vito is going to resign.
The only republican house member in the NYC area.
How sad.
He was kind of hot. I would of had his love child.
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY READER!!!!!!
I know you are a great mom and deserve the best. I hope you get a nice home made card made with construction paper and glitter and elmer's glue and macaroni.
I just hope that you kid is smarter than me and uses uncooked
macaroni.
To all the wonderfull moms who post here like Ruth Anne,reader,
Freeman, Dust Bunny, the professor and all the rest....Happy Mothers day all you Mothers.
Blake, I'd add a number of other steps to the inquiry. Just off the top of my head, the steps to ask are: Is this really a problem that requires a solution? If so: Is this a problem that can be solved, by anyone (that is, are we sure we're acting because we think we can fix the problem, not just because something is bad and we want to be seen as concerned)? If so: Can government solve this as efficiently as private action? If so: Can the federal government solve this problem more efficiently than state governments? If so: Does this bill propose the most apt and/or best means to resolve this problem?
thank you so much for the mothers day well wishes trooper.
i think of myself as a wonderful mom but did not expect such warm wishes-it is appreciated!!!
I am sure that the rare clumbers will leave a nice steaming mothers day present all your own. Salud.
Simon: So much of what Congress spends its time doing is embarassingly silly, and so much of what they actually produce is excreable. Congress' processes are in dire shape...
Plus, no voice votes, only roll call votes, and each and every law must have an expiration date of no more than eight years since it's passage. That way we get to see which bastards are voting time and again to fund boondoggles such as a helium reserve.
Furthermore, if State A gets a federally funded bridge to nowhere, the rest of the 50 states can then sue State A, and the legislators who voted fund it, on behalf of their citizens to recover triple the portion of their income taxes which went to fund said unconstitutional pork project.
Michael, I think that's too broadly-drawn for me to agree to. I don't object to sunset clauses on appropriations bills, but to apply it across the board would, I think, be a mistake. The result would be total chaos, in my view. As to no voice votes - applied across the board, that's obviously a silly principle (there's no need for a roll call vote, for example, to approve the journal). That having been said, I think you could write a rule that attacks the concern that I think you're really getting at here, which I take to be something like, no voice votes on serious, substantive legislation. Perhaps the way to start would be to say "no voice votes on appropriations bills" and see how that does?
Keep Titus' hog away from the trough
'Fore he mucks up someone's Mother, somehow.
Thanks, Trooper. I'm taking my kid to a raindate-baseball game which he won by participating in a reading relay thing-ie. Not as cool as an overpriced lunch and a facial, but the look on his face when I said I didn't mind changing plans and skipping all that was priceless ... and worth it.
***
Back on topic: Far from "turn[ing] off the television in case the children walk by, one of the very few "good" things to come out of this campaign season were all the teachable moments. It's been interesting. And while the point is well taken with regard to "If John McCain said ...," I still think there's plenty of blame to lay at both the Clinton and Obama doors.
I would also like to wish all of our mothers a happy mothers day.
May you enjoy a patriotic mothers day with your wonderful american children.
Now I have to go to the gym to to pecs and tris.
It is raining and I want to go out tonight but I don't want to ruin my hair.
High Pundit Law: To publish a fact you know to be false, quote the man on the street! [like Dowd] In this case with Noonan a "longtime party leader". Something deep inside them wants to punish someone they loathe - but they know it's false and can't say it in their own voice- so they turn to the old tried and method of quoting someone else. It's simple!
"M" is for the million things she gave me,
"O" means only that she's growing old,
"T" is for the tears were shed to save me,
"H" is for her heart of purest gold,
"E" is for her eyes, with lovelight shining,
"R" means right, and right she'll always be,
Put them all together they spell "MOTHER,"
A word that means the world to me.
(Circa 1915 Words and Music by Howard Johnson and Theodore Morse)
Another take, from Anglachel:
The code we learned to speak in our liberal arts colleges falls to the wayside, and I read claims of being rid of the old evil "white working class" (What of us who are not that thing? What of those of us who are?) in a final conflict to end all conflicts and there will be a purified party to which will flock millions of new, young, untainted followers, ready to be led into the land of Goshen.
Note: This blogger writes extensively about the HRC/Obama conflict, and she is unabashedly pro-Hillary. There's lots that she writes with which I disagree, but yet there's often some good insights, as well. I wouldn't say this is one of her best, yet it does seem at least indirectly on point. (Can something BE "indirectly on point"? Meh, nah, probably not. But you know what I mean.)
Mom I remember mom all the love I remember
You have a place in my heart forever
She was down for me every time I fell
Mama had to come get me at the county jail
Look at me in the courtroom facing time
Hoping the judge reduce my crime
Mama never used to fuss but I knew she was hurt
Look at me on the street corner putting in work
I tried hide to hide the fact that I was slinging rocks
Mama used to find crack bags in my socks
I would lie until the day they wasn't mine
But you can rest assure and do time
It all came to the light she knew the scoops
I was out running with the wrong groups
Mama needed me so I had to change my style
And on top of that I'm looking at a brand new child
I ain't no time for having cops chasing me
Realizing jail ain't the place to be
I remember
This song is for anybody who's lost somebody
Ya know what I'm saying
I lost my mom
But she still lives with me in my heart
To the day I leave to the day I die
I will forever keep u in my mind and my heart
B'coz I remember
I remember
(BLAC HAZE, Album: Res-Sa-Rec-Shun)
Lord, Trooper, you'll have me retching before the day is over.
One thing I have to wonder about polls showing Hillary being a better match against McCain. Are these polls simply asking each person two separate questions: 1) "Would you rather vote for Obama or McCain?" 2)"Would you rather vote for Clinton or McCain?"
I have to think that any advantage Clinton has over in Obama in this sense has to be artificial. Clinton backers like to say they wouldn't back Obama in the generals (and I'm not only speaking about the independents who could go either way), but that's about as believable as the vast number of Republicans that said they wouldn't vote for McCain once Romney dropped out. You may still hear one or two of these people every once in a while, but for the most part they've all come to the realization that they would much rather have an unideal Republican than a Democrat.
With Obama supporters, I think you have to believe many of them really wouldn't vote for Clinton. If Clinton wins, it will be over the popular vote, majority of assigned delegates and states, etc. Anyone who thinks this wouldn't disenfranchise a large number of Democrats, (you have to think a large percentage of African-Americans, and probably around a significant portion of other Obama supporters), simply doesn't have great foresight.
I think those that believe Obama cannot win against McCain have to acknowledge Clinton cannot either, especially with the way she would have to get the nomination in the first place. The difference between the two then would be an Obama nomination wouldn't leave a bitter taste in the mouths of Clinton democrats for years to come. I really do believe that a Clinton nomination could spell the end of a competitive Democratic party, which would be a good thing if the Republican party wasn't so shitty as well.
Plus, no voice votes, only roll call votes, and each and every law must have an expiration date of no more than eight years since it's passage. That way we get to see which bastards are voting time and again to fund boondoggles such as a helium reserve.
So long as we're totally redesigning the legislature, my preference would be to have a third legislative house with the sole power to levy taxes, issue bonds, and grant requests for money from the other two -- not to propose spending, but simply to grant or deny requests for spending from the other houses. Have votes for the members of that house be based upon the amount of taxes paid by each voter rather than on a per capita basis, thereby giving people a say in how their money is spent in direct proportion to how much of their money they actually contribute.
That's my little pipe dream.
So long as we're stuck with two houses, though, I have to disagree with the idea of having all laws expire. There are some laws that truly ARE essential to the functioning of our republic -- laws that will absolutely have to be passed again once they expire.
"Fine," you might say, "they'll easily pass again".
Right. But just imagine, if you will, all the pork that will get tacked on to those bills, as every one of the hundreds of Congresscritters out there realize that they're giving the President a choice between signing the bill and, for example, letting the legal authorization for the existence of the Air Force expire.
Every bill that comes up for a vote is an opportunity for Congressmen to add pork, regulations, and other cruft to that bill. The more votes, the more cruft.
Sorry, posted that on the wrong thread.
reader
Anglachel is scary smart although I don't always agree either.
More to that check this out from the New Creative Class, and New Democratic Party. It's NOT a parody.
Cultural Shift: Out with Bubbas, up with Creatives. . . . Obama has all the markers of a creative class background, from his community organizing, to his Unitarianism, to being an academic, to living in Hyde Park to shopping at Whole Foods and drinking PBR. These will be the type of people running the Democratic Party now, and it will be a big cultural shift from the white working class focus of earlier decades. . . . Culturally, the Democratic Party will feel pretty normal to netroots types. It will consistently send out cultural signals designed to appeal primarily to the creative class instead of . . . the white working class.
Something tells me that coalition building is his weakest trait.
Nice catch, Garage Mahal. That does read more like a parody than the earnestly serious piece that it (sadly) is. It also has a big detail wrong - Obama is not a Unitarian, his church part of the United Church of Christ. Both denominations have histories that go back to New England Congregationalism, but they are not the same denomination, or, to the extent one sees Unitarianism as being post-Christian and non-Christian, the same religion.
Mothers are so overrated.
Oh yeah Meade. Yo Momma.
Yo momma so stupid when she saw the NC-17 (under 17 not admitted) sign, she went home and got 16 friends
Obama has all the markers of a creative class background, from his community organizing, to his Unitarianism, to being an academic, to living in Hyde Park to shopping at Whole Foods and drinking PBR
Obama drinks Pabst Blue Ribbon? That's a shocker!
"Obama drinks Pabst Blue Ribbon?"
That just makes him a hipster doofus.
I had him pegged as a Zima drinker.
I admit it...I am part of the creative class.
I came from white working class but now am creative.
Although my mother always told me I was a creative little boy....
I am going out tonight fellow republicans.
Tapas at a fabulous restaurant, then drinkies at a fabulous lounge then dancing at a fabulous club.
I am interested in field greens as well as goat cheese and scallops and crab nuggets tonight.
I am also interested in bread crumbs delicately sprinkled on top of something fabulous and expensive.
Trooper: Do you not own a spell checker?
It's Yo-Yo Ma, dude. Sheesh.
And I doubt he has time for your stupid seven-teenager movies.
My spelk cheik is bruke yuo dump cuck.
Out with Bubbas, up with Creatives. . . .
God what is happening to the Democratic Party? It's the equivalent of Republicans saying:
"Out with the NASCAR dads, in with the technocrats"
Say goodbye to the White House for the next 50 years, if you get rid of the Bubbas.
Cheers,
Victoria
I have mango body butter on my person tonight and I am smelling myself and it is making me horny.
No cologne-that is gay.
Currently I am determening the ensemble....
The possibilities are endless, but are they really?
You always need to start with the staples: shoes, watch, belt and move on from there.
The hog and sack were waxed and gleaming-like a freshly mopped rare marble vase.
Better watch out of for the staples, then. They'll show.
Friends are calling at this moment each discussing wardrobe possibilities.
I don't give a shit what each of them are wearing. The goal is to be the most fierce and hands down I win.
No deodorant either. The combination of the orange mango butter and my BO is absolutely divine.
The fabulous watch will indicate class, style, taste and nouveau money as my friends who actually came from money will remind me.
The rare clumbers are making me totally feel guilty as they know what is about to happen-me leaving.
I am getting the look from both of them and it destroys me.
It will only be a couple of hours though.
"Say goodbye to the White House for the next 50 years, if you get rid of the Bubbas."
I don't know. They'll still have the Crackers, Rednecks, White trash, and Peckerwoods.
And Jew-hating Georgia peanut planters.
Wait a minute....
They can have the creative class and the rednecks?
Why don't they own the south then?
Simon,
That'd be icing. What is needed is for the people to just start asking that question. The media loves focusing on the government--not doing something or doing something wrong, primarily--but we can do so much (and so much better) without getting the Beast involved.
Michael,
I'm game. Expiration dates for everyone/thing. That was Jefferson's idea. And where its absence is really felt is in things like Social Security and the other tax systems.
This generation is slave to the rules made by THAT generation. They actually had Jefferson in the John Adams series say that one generation has no right to impose law on the future ones. I agree (even if the show was obviously more aligned with Adams' thought).
Rev,
Dead on about the pork. They hide it but maintain that it's nothing to be ashamed of. No more secrecy!
Upthread I mentioned "Manhattan snobbery". To be clear I meant to convey snobbery at the Lordly New York Times, and not citizenry of NYC.
"If John McCain said, 'I got the white vote, baby!' his candidacy would be over.""
And if a male columnist had referred to a 60 year old female US Senator as a "white girl" they would be called out on it.
"the black guy can't win but the white girl can"
To Peggy Noonan that sounds a lot safer than saying "the black boy can't win but the white lady can".
Even though either one is basically true.
To all who try and retort, "Oh but 92% of Blacks isn't racist".
1. When has Obama ever held that over Hillary's head?
2. Hillary had 65% of black vote, probably due to her surname, before SouthCarolinagate
3. 92% of blacks did not vote for Jesse Jackson, How is this just because Barack is black? He's half white too. The same idiots raising a ruckus about blacks overwhelmingly voting for Barack are the same ones who were trying to paint him as the 'Black candidate'. Please spare me.
4. No one made a fuss about white people voting overwhelmingly white while all the candidates were overwhelmingly white!
5. Blacks are 13% of the whole US. Only 90% of that is Democrat. and only 90% of that is behind Barack. How the hell is 90% of 90% of 13% of the US 'bullying' the election?
Good game.
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