Althouse: The Herman Cain/Donna Summer connection.

August 12, 2011

The Herman Cain/Donna Summer connection.

"A poet once said, 'life can be a challenge, life can seem impossible, but it's never easy when there's so much on the line.'"

40 comments:

Saint Croix said...: For a second there I thought they had made a Love Connection.

Back in two and two.; 8/12/11, 11:58 AM
Saint Croix said...: "He seemed real angry, Chuck. And he took me to Godfather's Pizza."; 8/12/11, 12:00 PM
Saint Croix said...: "Contestant #3. I am way more talented than Anita Ward. But what would you do to Ring My Bell?"; 8/12/11, 12:05 PM
gerry said...: Wow. What a scandal.

It's almost as important as the names of the last seven states to join the union.; 8/12/11, 12:07 PM
ricpic said...: We don't go to the Republican candidate to tell us how tough life is and how he/she will be glad to take care of us. That's the message from the party of happy slaves.; 8/12/11, 12:07 PM
traditionalguy said...: I thought Cain made an acceptable attribution to another person unnamed.

Is the accusation that Cain is not remembering the 30 year old song perfectly right.

Oh, woo woo!

Maybe Cain has other things to do...like lead people.

Not everyone can spend their day on the Google internet digging up memories that no one remembers.; 8/12/11, 12:16 PM
Known Unknown said...: Herman Cain needs better staffers.; 8/12/11, 12:20 PM
ndspinelli said...: I'm flashing to the hilarious scene of Valerie Cherish singing, "I Will Survive." With Mickey dancing in the background, it is one of my top 10 favorite scenes in a sit com; 8/12/11, 12:31 PM
prairie wind said...: Hmmm... I don't think I could vote for a Pokemon fan. Unless he were running against Obama. I would vote for Charizard over Obama. Or Donna Summer.; 8/12/11, 12:51 PM
Anonymous said...: I've always thought of songs as poems and songwriters as poets. How are song lyrics not poems?

- Lyssa; 8/12/11, 1:03 PM
Wince said...: "Not that I want to be anti-gay... but I am. And where do I find the Donna Summer."; 8/12/11, 1:04 PM
traditionalguy said...: Lyssa is right when it comes to Bob Dylan.
Dylan was a poet who put poems to music.

I therefore give Cain a special Bob Dylan Poet Recognizer dispensation.

Cain is too smart for his critics.

(full disclosure: Cain is a friend of mine; and he is very smart); 8/12/11, 1:15 PM
JR said...: "A poet once said, 'life can be a challenge, life can seem impossible, but it's never easy when there's so much on the line.'”

It’s never easy to do a line when you’ve done a line.; 8/12/11, 1:19 PM
prairie wind said...: tradguy, I heard a conversation here in the office in which someone said that Cain has suggested that we ban mosques. Please tell me that he didn't really say that.

The woman I overheard tends to make mistakes in favor of liberals because those conservatives are just that bad.

I know. I should go google it myself but thought you might have something to add.; 8/12/11, 1:22 PM
Shouting Thomas said...: At least he didn't quote She Works Hard for Her Money!

He would never have recovered from that.

It's my favorite Donna Summer. Which isn't saying much.; 8/12/11, 1:25 PM
traditionalguy said...: Prariewind...Herman Cain is a leader.

If he says we need to ban Mosques, the he will get an Amendment passed and he will do it.

His best policy is to really get US energy/oil/coal self sufficiency in place. That will effectively lower oil prices and defund the Billions of Saudi dollars a year now sent for building and staffing of radical Islam Madrassas across the USA to conquer the US from within.

What is your plan?; 8/12/11, 1:34 PM
JR said...: A pizza man is going to deliver U.S. fuel self-sufficiency without Saudi topping?

Yeah, right. I’ll eat that pizza when it’s delivered with better poetry.; 8/12/11, 1:38 PM
Kensington said...: I'm...outraged?; 8/12/11, 1:41 PM
prairie wind said...: My plan? I'm not running for president so I don't really need one; I just need to recognize a good one, right? But okay, my plan:
Get rid of TSA (yeah, it's a personal grudge) and put responsibility for security back on the airports and airlines.
Get rid of the Department of Education and put the responsibility back at the state and local levels.
Cut spending. Even it means massive layoffs in the federal government.
Cain's plan for energy is good.
Sharia law is bad.

But mosques? America is about freedom of religion.; 8/12/11, 1:43 PM
prairie wind said...: @Saint Croix: I loved Chuck Woolery. Without him, that show would have been awful.; 8/12/11, 1:46 PM
grackle said...: NYT Headline: The Mystery of Herman Cain and the Donna Summer Lyrics

The Mystery of the New York Times and the Irrelevant Headline.; 8/12/11, 1:46 PM
prairie wind said...: The top item on my plan (the topping on my pizza) is to vote against Obama. And if Cain is the Republican candidate, I'll be happy to vote for him. He won't be, though.; 8/12/11, 1:47 PM
Saint Croix said...: "Contestant #2. I work hard for my money. What will you do to treat me right?"; 8/12/11, 1:52 PM
Saint Croix said...: Back in two and two.; 8/12/11, 1:53 PM
Henry said...: It scans.; 8/12/11, 1:53 PM
Anonymous said...: Prairie Wind: tradguy, I heard a conversation here in the office in which someone said that Cain has suggested that we ban mosques. Please tell me that he didn't really say that.

Cain was my early favorite, so I was strongly assuming that the interpretations of what he said were incorrect, but once I actually watched the video, I had to give up supporting him.

He didn't say that we should (or could) as a nation ban mosques. However, what he did say was that a community could prohibit a mosque if it chose to.

There's been a dispute in Murfreesboro, TN about a mosque that the citizens have been trying to prevent, based on fears over Sharia law. I've not been able to find anything to indicate that there are other, non-religion based reasons like zoning at play, nor have I found anything that indicates that this mosque in particular has any specific issues regarding Sharia law (not that I think that would be enough to prohibit it- if a group wants to argue that sharia law should take place, that is their first amendment right, regardless of how reprehensible it is). I'm not going to re-find the exact quote, but Mr. Cain basically said that if the community doesn't want it, they should be able to prevent it.

That's just not correct under the First Amendment, and it's not acceptable to my mind in a president. (Caveat: President Obama also has no respect for the First Amendment, so I'd still vote Cain over him.) We can certainly say that sharia is bad and wrong, and we can take actions to prevent exercise of it, but we can't prohibit people from organizing and saying that it should be in place any more than we can prohibit people saying tha the tax code should be drastically changed or that criminal law should be reformed.

It sounded like Mr. Cain was trying to walk away from that statement at the debate last night, but, to my mind, the damage is done.

- Lyssa; 8/12/11, 2:01 PM
prairie wind said...: Lyssa, yes, that's what I found out there, and I thought the same thing you did. Nicely put.; 8/12/11, 2:13 PM
edutcher said...: I agree with Lyssa about songwriters being poets; the line probably stuck in his head once he heard it.

Given that the guy's a cancer survivor and brought a regional business back from the brink, it undoubtedly resonates with him.; 8/12/11, 2:13 PM
jr565 said...: Traditional guy wrote:

Lyssa is right when it comes to Bob Dylan.
Dylan was a poet who put poems to music.

I therefore give Cain a special Bob Dylan Poet Recognizer dispensation.

Cain is too smart for his critics.

(full disclosure: Cain is a friend of mine; and he is very smart)

and Dylan described smokey Robinson as America's greatest living poet. Music lyrics do seem to be what poetry has morphed into. Very few people I know, other than English teachers really care about modern poetry (I.e. As written on the page and constructed as poetry). But songs can reach millions. In the case of Robinson, I would tend to agree with Dylan. Dylan is more wordy, and writerly, but there's something to be said for cleverly condensing ideas into simple couplets that adequately express ideas.

Another unrecognized poet, would be chuck berry. Yes, he's considered the first rock guitar hero. But, his tales of Americana and girls and autos are like Norman Rockwell paintings put to music.
They are perfect vignettes that describe things teens instantly relate to a d described with a painterly or journalistic quality (if journalism rhymed and had guitar riffs).; 8/12/11, 2:20 PM
traditionalguy said...: The 11th Circuit in Atlanta has ruled compulsory purchase if health insurance is outside the power of Congress.; 8/12/11, 2:23 PM
traditionalguy said...: Banning mosques is never easy when there is so much on the line.; 8/12/11, 2:26 PM
David said...: Chuck Berry is a top 5 all time rock and roller. In my book he's number 1 musically, and he had the don't-give-a-fuck attitude when it could actually get him in trouble.

But a poet? Nah. Chuck (a very smart man) knew what he was--he still knows. That's what made him great.; 8/12/11, 2:43 PM
Cedarford said...: Prairie Wind -"But mosques? America is about freedom of religion."

===============
No it isn't, not absolute freedom of religion. That is sacred parchment worshipping crap.

America cannot tolerate a religion that challenges other norms, laws - or endangers it's people.

In a sense we were lucky that the great challenges America faced from Communist totalitarianism and Fascism did not bundle their politics with religion. That Marx did not say that Churches to the Soviet be built or believe that religion was not an opiate but the salvation of proper killing under a religious-sanctioned moral code. Same with the Nazis, who did not go with early theorists desire for national socialism to have a replacement religion for Christianity.

We were lucky that we were isolated from the Popes temporal affairs influence in the early 19th Century and could put up with his churches here (before the War of Italian Independence ended Catholic secular claims of rule).
We still screened Papists from office before then unless they gave 1st loyalty to America vs, the Pope.

We of course have had to put the foot down and say that certain human sacrifice cults, polygamy were not acceptable despite what 1st Amendment worshippers claimed. But they were small potatos. And in the 19th century no real love of lawsuits existed for suing about shooting Hawaiian cannibals or quashing the Warren Jeffs of the day.

Unfortunately, unlike our escaping what to do if communists had come in and organized in the sacred walls of Temples to the Soviet with Stalin as 1st Prelate, or Holy Nationalist Socialism churches had been built...
we aren't so lucky with Islam. Which claims secular and sectarian authority and duty to conquest as part of their religion. Mosques are the center of the recruitment and conquest drive. The Founders in their writing, clearly thought "Mohammedism" as they called it was completely incompatable with Reason, Enlightenment, and none of them should be welcomed into "our alliance of States".

And to a lesser extent, we have not done much about Zionism and Christian Zionism - which is also a secular and sectarian mix that demands it's followers have 1st loyalty to Israel. And while not the menace Islam is, Zionism has in i'ts ranks some very powerful and influential people that have hijacked elements of US foreign policy and cost American lives in war.

The 1st Amendment on freedom of religion is no more absolute than freedom of speech. It wasn't in America's 1st half of existence, nor should it be now.; 8/12/11, 2:48 PM
edutcher said...: Let's not also forget that, when they were at their most unctuous and self-aggrandizing, the Lefty Boomers made a great show of proclaiming ALL the songwriters of their generation poets, as opposed to all those hacks - ya know, guys like Cole Porter and the Gershwins and Richard Rodgers - who did it for money back when Mom and Dad were their age.

WV "spaches" What Irish politicians make.; 8/12/11, 2:58 PM
eddie willers said...: I'd rather he quote Paul Simon:

"It was a slow day
And the sun was beating
On the soldiers by the side of the road
There was a bright light
A shattering of shop windows
The bomb in the baby carriage
Was wired to the radio"

WV: trudepon....as opposed to falsedepon; 8/12/11, 3:09 PM
Saint Croix said...: C4, I have clearly hijacked this thread for Chuck Woolery. Damn if I'm going to let you hijack it for anti-Zionism. How many hijackings do you think a thread can support, anyway?

You got 2 and 2, buddy. Run!; 8/12/11, 4:08 PM
Phil 314 said...: This is standard CEO speech stuff. I'm sure New York's mayor, in his former life, did this many a time.

Of course coming from the New York magazine I assume its the standard:

See, aren't those Republicans sooo stupid narrative.

But I can only respond by saying:

RACIST!!!!!

(And that's a double racist for dissing Mr. Cain and Ms. Summer.); 8/12/11, 5:04 PM
Phil 314 said...: Do it to me again and again
you put me in such an awful spin
in a spin

I love to love you baby

THAT'S poetry; 8/12/11, 5:06 PM
traditionalguy said...: Lyssa and Prarie wind...That is a great idea for a disguised invasion of the USA by a string of interlinked armed insurgency training and recruiting bases run by Saudi Arabia.

Just label them as god submissive's meeting places for periodic chanting by believers in the duty to systematically exterminate Jews and Christians, also called Mosques.

Maybe the Jews and Christians can flee this country to Islamic countries and be free to build Churches and practice their religion...or maybe not...the Coptics are not doing so well.; 8/12/11, 5:42 PM
Peter Hoh said...: I guess Cain is going after the youth vote. My son is quite impressed. Back when he was 8, Pokemon 2000 was his favorite movie. He's having fun taking a stroll down memory lane.

Ah, the good old days.; 8/12/11, 9:19 PM