Yeah, when Obama appeared right outside my office window — just a few weeks ago — I got email telling me that if I looked out my window I could expect a visit from the police. Then they just shut down the whole law school building for the entire day and closed all the blinds. They hung a giant building-sized curtain all down one side of a dorm that had a view of the central mall where the President appeared.
And now he's coming back to the City of Obama Love — Madison, Wisconsin — to create a final burst of glowing adoration on the morning before Election Day, and our town is thrown into disarray once again for photo-op purposes, because we are the fresh-faced folk who still gaze upon him with awe. There are the young people — whose professors will undoubtedly free them from classes once again — and the aging liberals — who will surely feel the pull of the lugubrious dronings of Mr. Springsteen.
City employees have also been warned. "Offices facing MLK Jr., Blvd. and Wilson Street will need to be locked and vacant with the blinds drawn," Mayor Paul Soglin wrote in an email Friday afternoon to staff and city alders. "Adherence to this directive is imperative as the health and safety of our employees may be negatively impacted if we fail to enforce this directive," he added.Adherence to this directive is imperative as the health and safety of our employees may be negatively impacted if we fail to enforce this directive.... jeez, he's talking like a robot! What are they threatening to do to us if we look out a window? Negatively impact us....
We're told the city streets downtown will begin closing Sunday morning, a full day before the appearance. People are asked to amass at the top of State Street and form 2 lines which will proceed in opposite directions around the Capitol Square to the site of the rally (which is right in front of the City-County Building, the place you go to early-vote). Picture all 4 sides of the Capitol Square streaming with political people. A fabulous photo-op, which might remind us of the big Wisconsin protests of 2011 — you know, those anti-Scott Walker demonstrations which Barack Obama steered way clear of. He wasn't there for the demonstrations or to boost Walker's opponent in the recall election last spring. Obama wasn't there for the Madison lefty-liberals when they needed him, but they'll be there — presumably! — when he needs them.
Given the hasty plans for the rally, Lindskoog [a downtown parking manager] is anticipating gridlock and scarce parking will greet anyone who ventures downtown after 6 a.m. Monday. The crowd, he says, is anticipated to hit 50,000.Ha ha. Like a snow day. Like some sort of natural disaster that shuts a city down. That's always so fun. And don't come downtown, anybody, because it will be a nightmare, but be sure to come downtown, everybody, because there's a fabulous festival unreeling in our town again, our town, the President's favorite town, where he loves the way you love him. Now, smile for the cameras, Madison people. You're the chosen scenery once again!
"We're hoping people treat this like a snow day," he said with a laugh.
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111 comments:
Don't stare directly into your gods eyes. He doesn't like it.
I hope someone in the audience is wearing the t-shirt with this line:
" You keep lyin' when you oughta be truthin' "
(from Nancy Sinatra, These Boots Are Made for Walkin', a reference to B. H. Obama's cowardly acts in Benghazi, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbyAZQ45uww)
How about wearing the t-shirt with this line:
" You keep lyin' when you oughta be truthin' "
(from Nancy Sinatra, These Boots Are Made for Walkin')
I don't have to worry much about this.
The big names all vacation and record in Woodstock at one time or another.
So, I see them in their vacation homes, usually at a casual jam session.
Learn to play an instrument and move to Woodstock!
He's getting his last full measure of adulation as president. Bye Bye.
Okay! Alright! Now I want to try somethin': why don't we go "Mmm..." Yeah, okay, good - that's what I want you to do.
I hear Prince and Diana Ross had the same fetish.
Must be a black thing.
PS The Romster has an ad countering Barry's "voting is the best revenge.
"I'm asking you to vote for love of country".
That's gonna leave a mark.
The boy god needs mother's milk. Where else but Madison, WI.
Funny that for more than a year Obama treated Madison like it would give him the herp.
...the aging liberals — who will surely feel the pull of the lugubrious dronings of Mr. Springsteen.
lol.
Lugubrious dronings? I wouldn't use that phrase for the Boss, but it certainly strikes a chord if you apply it to Obama.
Revenge? in Madison?
Does Romney have a 24-hour ready response team?
If so, here is one t-shirt to every one.
First Love: Country
LOVE greater than REVENGE
LOVE best medicine to REVENGE
NB: If you watch Bond movies like, Never say Never again. The SPECTRE says that his will use REVENGE has his motivation to get the west go give money.
REVENGE: THE LAST REFUGE OF A COWARD
But if it was President Romney, you Madisonians would be able to gaze out the windows at him to your hearts's content, right? Because the Secret Service would not need to protect him to the degree they must for President Obama? Who would want to assassinate Romney? No one, he would be adored, right!
I wonder if this t-shirt idea too exploitive of Obama's female fans: "Undecided voter -- will trade vote for blowjob."
I remember thinking Springsteen was passe'... in 1976.
The Boss obviously felt it more important to break away from hurricane-relief benefits and charity work to get back on the campaign trail.
Only respect for the cops and Secret Service people and not wanting to make their job harder would keep me from watching out of that window, on principle.
The very idea of some asshole riding into town and having his people direct me and my movements for their own purposes infuriates me. Clowns on a power trip don't get to tell me what to do.
@CL: Caused your comment to get caught in our spam filter. Released now.
Good clip.
Wow. A little too much to work with here.
First, the giant curtain is possibly the best symbol for this administration. It would be easier for all of us if they just hung it right in front of President Obama's stage (Wizard of Oz style) instead of in front of building windows. Or maybe they could just pass out hats that had mini curtains in front of everyone's eyes.
Second, the crowd control directions sound like something out of Numbers. Madisonians (though, not in a Jamesian way) must be sure they are ritually clean before attending.
Third, comparing President Obama's visit to a snow day is very apt. Everyone skip school and work! Play and have fun. We'll leave today's work for tomorrow.
Inga, I could be wrong, but given that Romney doesn't have the ego the size of (#&*$% Jupiter that Obama has, I think he is courteous enough to choose to hold his campaign appearance in a location that would not require extremely disruptive security measures.
I'll hit your PayPal generously, if you drop a moon on the boy.
For example, the rally that he held last night that drew 30,000 people was not held in downtown Toledo.
True story: I remember as a very young child my father was looking out the front window intently onto the side street we lived on.
I said, "what you looking at?"
He said, "a parade is gonna come by."
Believing him as only a kid can, I remember standing at the front door for at least an hour, eventually getting a pillow to sit on, until my mother eventually took me aside and told me there would be no parade, and "Dad was kidding you."
Despite the Madison rally, which will really come by, I imagine some Obama supporters feel the same way.
You just watch, that giant curtain will never ever ever never ever be used in a Romney presidency. Nooooo, he will be loved and adored, no one would even consider harming a hair on his noble head.
"The lugubrious dronings of Mr. Springsteen." Genius. Most overrated rock star supports most overrated president.
"But if it was President Romney, you Madisonians would be able to gaze out the windows at him to your hearts's content, right?"
No.
Everyone is annoyed by the disruption to their lives, no matter which president it is and no matter how legitimate the security measures are.
People have lives and responsibilities. I was in San Bernadino when Reagan came to Irvine and they practiced security for his motorcade for THREE DAYS. Three days of needing to take into account snarled traffic and disruptions if you had to be anywhere at all on time. The fact that I liked Reagan is entirely irrelevant.
"The lugubrious dronings of Mr. Springsteen." Genius. Most overrated rock star supports most overrated president.
Inga, considering the absolutely vicious scapegoating I see every day from all sides on my FB page, I believe any person in public office faces a grave risk from the loonies of all persuasions.
I don't know why anybody would want to face the viciousness, hatred and loss of privacy.,
Inga, champion of missing the point. I can never decide whether you truly don't grasp what other people are saying or whether you're another Althouse satirist.
I love how your eyes closed
For jobs and Benghazi
And when I underbus you
I love how you adore me
I love the way you vote for me numerous times
But chattel most of all
I love how you love me
Dear Leader.
AllenS said...
I'll hit your PayPal generously, if you drop a moon on the boy.
You just want a peek at the Alhousian bottom.
Inga said...
You just watch, that giant curtain will never ever ever never ever be used in a Romney presidency. Nooooo, he will be loved and adored, no one would even consider harming a hair on his noble head.
Ooooh, somebody sounds bitter.
Clinging to their Marxism and pot, no doubt.
Yes, Inga always misses the point, but then she's reading with the motivation of deliberately misconstruing the statements of opponents.
And, she's wrong. I'm reading tons of what are very close to outright threats of violence against Romney on my FB page.
Noooooo, Romney is egoless. He is a caring giving warm hearted Plutocrat, er, um, I mean Democrat, no no , that's not it, I mean Republicrat! No that's not right, just what is he? Anything you want him to be .....for now. Who knows what he'll morph into as President Mitt Rommminney. Like a caterpillar into a butterfly, beautiful!
Speaking of revenge: After a profoundly disappointing event earlier in my life, several of my friends counseled me with the famous quote by George Herbert: Living well is the best revenge. And they were right!
Living well and asking not what my country can do for me but what I can do for my country, I might add.
"the lugubrious dronings of Mr. Springsteen"
That is just about the best line you have ever put on your blog.
Bravo!
I think that presidents should stay home out of respect for people. I have thought so, and said so, ever since that Reagan visit.
I realize that's not possible. But whoever it is, Inga, *whoever* it is, ought to at least seem aware and understanding that they are genuinely messing up people's lives... and not just those who dislike them, but their supporters too.
Are there really not places that Obama could give a speech that minimized disruptions? That was the thing about him speaking right in the middle of campus at Madison, wasn't it? It was maximum disruption. A stadium, for example, is usually a little out of the way and is already configured for handling crowds. It's not nearly as photogenic, though, is it.
And, now Inga changes the subject she raised without bothering to respond.
I went to a Romney rally when he was in Defiance, Ohio. First rally I've ever attended and I have to say, I didn't really enjoy the mini concert...I just wanted to see Romney. Since I'm not from Ohio I found the politicians I wasn't familiar with a little boring too.
I must be the only one who doesn't enjoy the freebie concert since it seems something every Presidential candidate has to have. The fireworks were a cool bonus though.
Obama in Madison, just days before the election.
Could Newcastle need coal?
Nope, not bitter, why should I be Obama hasn't lost. I'm making fun of the faux outrage over a President visiting a city, how dare he! And how dare he be protected by Secret Service, the nerve!
I don't know why anybody would want to face the viciousness, hatred and loss of privacy.,
I believe it is because that stuff is just noise to people who are truly principled and dedicated to a larger vision. It's the same reason why people suffer for their faith. Viciousness and hatred from the smallminded, smallhearted and uncomprehending can't change the larger truths that certain people feel they are in the service of.
Or, as the great philosopher Eminem said, just blow 'em off and keep goin'.
On to the curtainless freedom of a Rommmminnney Presidency!!!!
"the lugubrious dronings of Mr. Springsteen"
That is just about the best line you have ever put on your blog.
Bravo!
When Romney is president we can compare the two instead of make up stories.
Will Romney shut down the middle of busy cities when he comes to give speeches? Will he visit the same city again and again? How much does each of those visits cost the city? I forget.
We can compare the cost of Romney and Obama state dinners, too. What was it? Almost $5K per person when he entertained the Mexican president? We paid for that.
Thomas, you might need new Facebook friends!
Maybe they could run the NY marathon in Madison.
Could Newcastle need coal?
Every time I hear that phrase I think of Timothy Dexter.
heh
Much of the etiquette of the royal court was to discourage attack.
Getcha a refill, Inga?
Vinegar and water, as usual?
Shouting Thomas, why the hell are you spending so much time on Facebook?
Will we see the ritual stoning of the Romney effigy?
Honey and vinegar is quite healthy, add water and stir. Cures all.
Do they have the legal right to tell people they can't look out their own windows?
If the venue is so unsafe that they might end up shooting innocent people for looking out a window at President Attractive Nuisance then maybe they should choose a different venue.
I like to hear what people of political and artistic persuasions have to say, Inga.
That's why I'm here to.
I played a role, albeit minor and technical, in making this web technology into a reality.
I'm even interested in hearing what the absolutely incoherent, drunk, mad and stoned have to say. That's why I pay attention to you.
Gosh, even Inga perceives that Romney/Ryan are going to win. Michael Barone, Karl Rove are calculatingly optimistic, very encouraging to us GOP faithful. But Oop is reallly tipping her hand here and showing us that the lovers of O are perv=ceiving the same result==>President Romney! Roll with it Inga, it's a new age! This is the year 1!
One of the major tropes of Shakespeare, Inga, is that the madmen and madwomen like you have a special knowledge that one should pay attention to.
Decoding that knowledge can be difficult. It's like trying to figure out why the forest will advance on Dusinane.
Hey "Boss," better bundle up against the cold cause YOU'RE AN OLD MAN now.
If the numbers I've heard are right the dinner for the Mexican leader cost half the expense of the Stardust mission to retrieve particles from a comet. Add in to that the expense of a couple trips to Madison and how close would we be to sending out another spacecraft to sample the heavens?
When they asked Michael Jordan to endorse Harvey Ganntt when he ran against Jesse Helms he refused to do it. He said "Republican buy shoes too."
How come Obama never utilizes the services of Madonna? Sexism? I think Madonna's body of work closely parallels the vision and achievements of Obama and that her fan base are the kind of people who will vote for Obama if they're awake that day.
Obama is getting a little worried about the turnout.
His base will busy looting on election day.
shorther Inga: I'm melting!
"Lugubrious dronings?"
A friend of mine from NJ actually got mad at me once when I said Springsteen always sounds to me like he's badly constipated and straining to pass a stool.
Springsteen always sounds to me like he's badly constipated and straining to pass a stool.
I thought he was born to run.
@Ali, I prefer a different verse from the same song:
"Now what's right is right, but you ain't been right yet!"
Good one, Darrell!
FWIW, my thought is that if Obama feels the need to campaign anywhere in Wisconsin, then he knows he's lost. That it's Madison, of all the left-wing loonie fringe locations, only adds emphasis.
Do you think the Madison Police will follow any Secret Service directives to remove homeless people's belongings that they leave in public spaces? Just because those piles have the potential to hide a bomb, I'm sure caring compassionate Democrats like Springsteen & Obama would not want to infringe on the rights of the homeless.
I hope we soon get a President willing to take on the Secret Service and cut that boondoggle down to size.
I don't think it will be Romney - he will have bigger fish to fry starting out, and the fish lobby will be out in force - though there is hope.
This kind of behavior is seriously out of date, even in the former Communist states, and should not be tolerated in America of all places!
I sincerely don't want any such thing to happen to our President, but I really don't understand why leaders, especially ones in open western nations don't get shot more often. If an assassin can see the target, they can shoot it. You might have to accept getting caught, but our crazy enemies are blowing themselves up to kill much lower value targets all the time. Bush almost got taken out by a shoe assassin, but for his panther-like reflexes.
I got email telling me that if I looked out my window I could expect a visit from the police. Then they just shut down the whole law school building for the entire day and closed all the blinds.
That's horrible. I had no idea.
...take on the Secret Service and cut that boondoggle down to size
I understand that this is the main reason the Obamas were not invited to Prince William and Catherine's wedding. The secret service stuff was too much and would interfere with the celebrations.
Inga said...
Noooooo, Romney is egoless. He is a caring giving warm hearted Plutocrat, er, um, I mean Democrat, no no , that's not it, I mean Republicrat! No that's not right, just what is he? Anything you want him to be .....for now. Who knows what he'll morph into as President Mitt Rommminney. Like a caterpillar into a butterfly, beautiful!
No, you vacuous harpy. He is a man, who makes shit happen for the betterment of himself and others. His self interest coupled with his generosity has allowed him a modicum of success that many of us strive for. However, for jealous envyists like you, why he might as well have stolen everything he ever had. But you see, while you try to make your little moronic quips pretending to be pithy and substantive, you just end up looking like a shallow clinger to an ideology of jealousy, envy, hatred, and divisiveness pretending to uphold some noble ideal that if your are smarmy enough and snarky enough, people will like you and people will see you are somehow on their side. Keep lying to yourself. You and your kind are good at it.
The Brits have "security" for both the royals and the top political leaders, but they strive to be as unobtrusive as possible.
Here the display of "Imperial Security" has become vastly more important than real "security" as such.
Inga said...
Shouting Thomas, why the hell are you spending so much time on Facebook?
And now Inga, the human harpy has transmogrified herself into Mrs. Gladys Kravitz of Althouse. The nosy busy body all up in peoples business like a good government bureaucrat asking you for your papers. Look out Thomas, you are spending too much time on FB and how come? You should be eating your peas and carrots like a good little prol.
Then they just shut down the whole law school building for the entire day and closed all the blinds.
They shut down I-25 in the middle of Denver for the first debate. Because I-25 is THE major north/south arterial for the city, most people who worked in Denver left work early - like 2 - 3 pm. As an economist, I couldn't help but wonder at the cost of the lost productivity.
Yes, you should listen to me Shouting Tommy. I think you see some of yourself in my madwoman's words.
Inga seems to be acknowledging a Romney win. It will be fun to have her comments change from presidential love to presidential loathing, while at the same time mine reverse as well.
Aren't we just all too predictable?
How's the new meds Meth, helping any?
@Meade RE: Living Well ....
Herbert was broadly misunderstood by my mother, who often quoted that line dismissively of the critical, but less fortunate around her.
After recent setbacks, in search for self-acceptance and serenity, my spiritual guide has helped me move beyond the trappings of living well, toward a more intentional focus on the living part.
I believe Mitt Romney lives well. No amount of slanderous criticism by garage and his ilk can sway me from that conclusion.
Wyo sis , I think it will be very close. Much closer than I thought it after the Democratic convention. We shall see who the victor shall be! Whoever he is, we will still live in the greatest nation on earth.
Hope my daughter won't have to do another deployment to Afghanihell.
I hope we get out of Afghanistan as well.
The lives lost there have been a tragic waste.
Good grief Liberty, if anyone can be dissuaded from voting for the candidate they've chosen at his late date, save some calamitous scandal, well then they should just stay home.
Wyo sis, I agree, that lives were wasted in the two wars, Iraq and Afghanistan, especially after Bin Laden was found and killed.
Inga said...
How's the new meds Meth, helping any?
How's your failed ideology? Helping any? Going to dig through Thomas' trash soon?
Inga said...
we will still live in the greatest nation on earth.
Of course you do, because it still allows fascists like you to remain in it without repercussion.
"If somebody wants to shoot me from a window with a rifle, nobody can stop it, so why worry about it."
JFK, in a conversation with Jackie and a top aide the very night before his assassination.
Sorry to see the new meds haven kicked in yet Meth, give it some time.
I hope we soon get a President willing to take on the Secret Service and cut that boondoggle down to size.
I don't think it will be Romney - he will have bigger fish to fry starting out, and the fish lobby will be out in force - though there is hope.
This kind of behavior is seriously out of date, even in the former Communist states, and should not be tolerated in America of all places!
Valerie Jarrett will no longer have four Secret Service agents to protect her?
Inga,
I'm sorry that you fail to understand why we were in Iraq and are in Afghanistan.
After the 9/11 attack was carried out, Osama bin laden was never that important.
It's also a shame your daughter refuses to understand why she is in Afghanistan, or why you refuse to is ten to her, because I know it was explained fully to her multiple times.
Can't you hang a huge Romney banner from the State Law Library windows?
OBEY!
They shut down I-25 in the middle of Denver for the first debate.
Yet Hempstead Turnpike remained open to cars (it was closed to trucks) during the second debate at Hofstra University, even though it runs right in front of the campus and closing it would have been much less disruptive than closing I-25.
Inga said...
Sorry to see the new meds haven kicked in yet Meth, give it some time.
Sorry to see you are still a bottom dwelling fascist. Give it some time, even the lowliest shit floats to the top eventually. Happy swimming, you human turd.
resistance is futile
Instapundit has an (actually more than one) post about Margaret Thatcher.
Some policeman assigned to No. 10 thought his career was over when he discovered he had stepped in some dog poo outside and tracked it with him insidee No. 10.
Instead the Great Maggie first cleaned off his shoes and then got down on her knees and scrubbed the carpet. No mention in the media until now, when another police/bodyguard wrote his memoir!
The very idea of some asshole riding into town and having his people direct me and my movements for their own purposes infuriates me. Clowns on a power trip don't get to tell me what to do.
I'm still irritated about the time the secret service wouldn't let me cross the street for a block because Hillary was giving a speech inside a building, so this would infuriate me, especially at work. I also had to walk all the way around some buildings because Gore was giving a speech one time. Funny how I never got inconvenience like that for a republican...(although I did accidentally drive in Bush's motorcade for a second before they started waving me off!)
The point just passes you right by doesn't it.
Worst case they're gonna shoot you if you look out that window.
But you might die happy, thinking "I love Big Brother."
Inga: Hope my daughter won't have to do another deployment to Afghanihell.
So you're voting for Gary Johnson?
Apparently the man himself was in Milwaukee this afternoon. I went to General Mitchell Field to pick my husband up from a long business trip and he was supposed to land at 4:30. But his plane was kept circling the airport because Air Force One was on the ground. He finally landed about 5. By the time we got the luggage, we went over the half hour free parking. President Obama cost me $2.00 today.
"President Obama cost me $2.00 today."
How much do you suppose 30 minutes of jet fuel cost the airline?
I was thinking about that too, and passengers who missed connections and were stuck in Milwaukee overnight (who pays that hotel bill?) I'm also glad The Little Guy and I had planned to park in the garage and meet my husband at the baggage claim. We would have circled the arrivals section many times, wasting gas, while waiting for him to come out. One isn't allowed to park and wait in the arrivals section.
"Methadras said...
Don't stare directly into your gods eyes. He doesn't like it."
HA HA HA SWEAR - just before reading comments I wrote this in an email to my daughter: "so please, as much as possible just stay the heck away (as far away as you can from those loons and their leader) from the entire area, and if you have to be near for classes, be careful and for God’s sake don’t drink any Kool-aid or look into their eyes! (Ok, kidding on that part, but seriously, these people are kooks so just stay far away until their dear leader departs!)-Love, your Ma.
And on the lyrics comments, best was heard at the Law School last week "[after R&R win] I am going to stand in front of the White House and play "Sweet Home Chicago!"
Ann writes:
"What are they threatening to do to us if we look out a window? Negatively impact us...."
They're threatening to have a SS sniper shoot you as a potential assassin if you do it.
"They're threatening to have a SS sniper shoot you as a potential assassin if you do it."
Shouldn't there be an "implicitly" before "threatening" thre?
Regardless, some daring person with a life-size dummy (and some steel plates for protection below the window level) might test this out. What possible authority does the federal government have to commandeer people's homes and offices in this way?
Having raised the explicit vs implicit distinction, I guess I ought to make my point more explicit, eh?
If gregq is really correct, then note that those are the ROE for war, in an active battle zone. What else could it be, if the rule is "Anyone who is seen is automatically considered a threat and will be shot on sight"?
For myself, I don't really think that's what the SS would do, hence the implicit nature of the threat--someone wants you to be worried as to what the outcome to you would be, while still having the plausible deniability of saying, "Oh, no, we never said any such thing!"
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