January 18, 2019

Making Beto go away.

They know they have to do it. Here's what the early-stage ousting looks like on Drudge:



Reading the links (in order):

1. "MEDIA TURNING AGAINST 'BABBLING' BETO..." = "Preseason is over for Beto O'Rourke" (Carter Eskew in WaPo, reprinted at CT):
The nation's best and toughest reporters have his number and want nothing more than to take his measure and knock him down.... The love bubble surrounding O'Rourke is leaking. To his would-be Democratic rivals, he's no longer the scrappy, truth-telling, unifying underdog. He is now an upstart who threatens what they have spent years coveting. He is coming after what they think they deserve and he hasn't earned. And right now, there are smart operatives with deep media contacts from several campaigns who are talking smack to anyone who will listen.
2. "CNN: DRIPS WHITE MALE PRIVILEGE..." = "Beto's excellent adventure drips with white male privilege" (Nia-Malika Henderson, at CNN):
Imagine this: A 46-year-old former congresswoman and mother of three, who just lost a Senate bid to one of the most despised incumbents, sets off on a road trip adventure to clear her head. She instagrams part of her trip to the dentist. She gives a two-hour interview to The Washington Post where she shows no real knowledge of policy. Like a first-year college student, she pontificates on whether the Constitution is still a thing that matters after all these many years. And then she writes a stream of consciousness diary entry, where she is all in her sad and confused feelings, over ... something...

And Jack Kerouac-style, he roams around, jobless (does he not need a job?) to find himself and figure out if he wants to lead the free world. This is a luxury no woman or even minority in politics could ever have. But O'Rourke, tall, handsome, white and male, has this latitude, to be and do anything. His privilege even allows him to turn a loss to the most despised candidate of the cycle into a launching pad for a White House run. Stacey Abrams, a Yale-trained lawyer, couldn't do this.....
3. "'Draft' Video Hits Web..." = "Group aiming to draft Beto O’Rourke unveils first 2020 video" (The Hill).



I watched this video before absorbing the message that it's not an ad by Beto himself but by "Draft Beto, a group of Democratic activists urging former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas) to run for president." My reaction? I love the song ("Baba O'Riley"), but I doubt if the group got The Who's permission to use it, and it comes across as very "white male," so maybe it's subversively trying to wreck his chances. See #2, above.


***

What is "Baba O'Riley" really about? I went to Genius to read the lyrics and the annotation, and I see that the song was part of an idea of doing another rock opera (after "Tommy"). Peter Townshend explained:
A self-sufficient dropout family group farming in a remote part of Scotland decide to return south to investigate rumors of a subversive concert event that promises to shake and wake up apathetic, fearful British society. Ray is married to Sally, they hope to link up with their daughter Mary who has run away from home to attend the concert. They travel through the scarred wasteland of middle England in a motor caravan, running an air conditioner they hope will protect them from pollution. There are regular people, but they’re the scum off the surface; there’s a few farmers there, that’s where the thing from ‘Baba O'Riley’ comes in.
ADDED: Here's the Wikipedia article for the Who project, which was called "Lifehouse":
Lifehouse's story was inspired by Pete Townshend's experiences on the Tommy tour: "I’ve seen moments in Who gigs where the vibrations were becoming so pure that I thought the whole world was just going to stop, the whole thing was just becoming so unified." He believed that the vibrations could become so pure that the audience would "dance themselves into oblivion". Their souls would leave their bodies and they would be in a type of heaven; a permanent state of ecstasy. The only reason this did not happen at Who gigs was because there was a knowledge in the listener's mind that the show would end and everyone would wake up and go to work the next morning. These ideas were directly linked to the writing of philosopher Inayat Khan, a Sufi musician who had written about the connection of vibration and sound with the human spirit. Another source of inspiration for Townshend was Meher Baba, who claimed to be an Avatar of Brahman.

What Townshend was aiming to achieve in Lifehouse was to write music that could be adapted to reflect the personalities of the audience. To do this he wanted to adapt his newly acquired hardware, VCS3 and ARP synthesisers and a quadraphonic PA, to create a machine capable of generating and combining personal music themes written from computerised biographical data. Ultimately, these thematic components would merge to form a "universal chord". To help this process, the Who would encourage individuals to emerge from the audience and find a role in the music.

Lifehouse began as a story written around several songs. Pete Townshend: "The essence of the story-line was a kind a futuristic scene…It’s a fantasy set at a time when rock ’n’ roll didn’t exist. The world was completely collapsing and the only experience that anybody ever had was through test tubes. In a way they lived as if they were in television programmes. Everything was programmed. The enemies were people who gave us entertainment intravenously, and the heroes were savages who’d kept rock ‘n’ roll as a primitive force and had gone to live with it in the woods. The story was about these two sides coming together and having a brief battle."

Under those circumstances, a very old guru figure emerges and says ‘I remember rock music. It was absolutely amazing—it really did something to people.’ He spoke of a kind of nirvana people reached through listening to this type of music. The old man decides that he’s going to try to set it up so that the effect can be experienced eternally. Everybody would be snapped out of their programmed environment through this rock and roll-induced liberated selflessness. The Lifehouse was where the music was played, and where the young people would collect to discover rock music as a powerful catalyst — a religion as it were. "Then I began to feel ‘Well, why just simulate it? Why not try and make it happen?’"

The plan was for the Who to take over the Young Vic theatre with a regular audience, develop the new material on stage and allow the communal activity to influence the songs and performances. Individuals would emerge from the audience and find a role in the music and the film. When the concerts became strong enough, they would be filmed along with other peripheral activity from the theater. A storyline would evolve alongside the music. Although the finished film was to have many fictitious and scripted elements, the concert footage was to be authentic, and would provide the driving force for the whole production.

Townshend went wild, working out a complex scenario whereby a personal profile of each concert-goer would be compiled, from the individual’s astrological chart to his hobbies, even physical appearance. All the characteristics would then be fed into a computer at the same moment, leading to one musical note culminating in mass nirvana that Townshend dubbed ‘a kind of celestial cacophony.’ This philosophy was based on the writings of Inayat Khan, a Sufi master musician who espoused the theory that matter produces heat, light, and sound in the form of unique vibrations. Taking the idea one step further, making music, which was composed of vibrations, was the pervading force of all life. Elevating its purpose to the highest level, music represented the path to restoration, the search for the one perfect universal note, which once sounded would bring harmony to the entire world. Despite Townshend’s grandiose plans, the project had its problems. The theater had its own schedule of drama productions, and wasn’t available on a regular nightly schedule that Townshend insisted was necessary for the band to sustain a "euphoric level" of performance. Townshend: "The fatal flaw…was getting obsessed with trying to make a fantasy a reality rather than letting the film speak for itself." Eventually Townshend had to let go of Lifehouse for his own sake.

Townshend’s inability to translate the ideas in his head to those around him eventually led to a nervous breakdown. "It was a disaster." No one apart from himself actually understood the whole concept of Lifehouse. Even John Entwistle believed that the band were to actually stay at the Young Vic with the audience in a sort of commune.....

Lifehouse has three variations in its storyline: 1971 version

In the world the album is set in, pollution is so bad that the populace are forced to wear Lifesuits, suits that could simulate all experiences in a way that no one would have to leave home. The suits are plugged into a huge mainframe called the Grid, similar to today's Internet, but which also contains tubes for sleeping gas, food, and entertainment; supposedly, someone could live out tens of thousands of lifetimes in a very short period within the Grid. The Grid is controlled by a man named Jumbo.

The story begins when a farming family in Scotland hear of a huge rock concert called Lifehouse occurring in London, a sort of post-apocalyptic Woodstock. Their daughter, Mary, runs away to join the concert. They don't wear Lifesuits because they are supposedly out of the pollution's range and they farm the crops that the government buys to feed the Lifesuiters. Bobby is the creator of Lifehouse. (Bobby was also the tentative name of the project for a time.) He is a hacker who broadcasts pirate radio signals advertising his concert, where the participants personal data are taken from them and converted into music, quite literally "finding your song". At the climax of the album, the authorities have surrounded the Lifehouse; then the perfect note rings forth through the combination of everybody's songs, they storm the place to find everybody has disappeared through a sort of musical nirvana, and the people observing the concert through their Lifesuits have vanished as well....

101 comments:

rehajm said...

Imagine this:

I absolutely can imagine a leftie woman doing everything mentioned. In fact I'd expect it.

Or pretending to enjoy a bottle of suds in the kitchen.

Or shaking hands outside Fenway Park. In the cold.

Wilbur said...

Uh, Mr. Townsend … could you run that by us once again? Yes, I'll wait for the drugs to clear out of your system. I'll be back in a day or two.

tim in vermont said...

If you think that the Clinton machine in the press is dead, think again. Fidel O’Rourke is just the latest target. It was all in WIkileaks, how the press works with her hand. in glove.

gilbar said...

running an air conditioner they hope will protect them from pollution
and now, i have found, the quintessential example of how STUPID people are.

traditionalguy said...

If the rich Irish kid cannot even win in Texas, after outspending an unpopular opponent 3 to 1, then it is asking a lot from the Dems to seek their Presidential nomination.

tim maguire said...

rehajm said...
Imagine this:

I absolutely can imagine a leftie woman doing everything mentioned. In fact I'd expect it.


Elizabeth Warren pretty much did do it.

To those who are criticizing the "plot" behind Baba O'Riley, keep in mind this was over 40 years ago, pre-Thatcher England. Air Conditioners were new and people did use them to protect against pollution--after all, when they're on, the windows are closed.

Dave Begley said...

The Dems have asserted that Trump is the Manchurian Candidate. Could Beto be the Zeta Candidate?

Beto is from El Paso. Big drug town. Lots of drug smuggling, violence, cash and murder.

So why isn't Beto in favor of a Wall? It would cut down on the drug smuggling.

1. Political. His base wants open borders and the illegals will vote Dem in the elections.

2. Humanitarian. He wants all of the poor of the world to move her for a better life.

3. Criminal. Beto has been bribed by the drug cartels to keep the borders open for drug and human smuggling.

Americans need to wake up to the fact that the Democrat party is working against the interests of American citizens. See, e.g., opioid crisis.

Danno said...

gilbar said...running an air conditioner they hope will protect them from pollution and now, i have found, the quintessential example of how STUPID people are.

And they would be on John Kerry's enemy list.

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/kerry-air-conditioners-worse-isis/

Tommy Duncan said...

Is the lesson here that white candidates should choose campaign songs from Wilson Pickett or James Brown?

rehajm said...

If you think that the Clinton machine in the press is dead, think again.

It's amazing to me you can't get a Hillary trade in many of the prediction markets. Where do people think MSM and deep state loyalties lie, anyways?

Given how quickly the media is stirring the pot it's certainly not an improbability to see Hillary in a Romney role as stalking horse ready to pounce when the early pace setters start crashing.

Matt Sablan said...

Didn't Clinton get a do over after losing to Obama... And isn't she trying for one after losing to Trump?

Maybe Beto needs to be found wandering the woods, deep in thought.

gilbar said...

the sort of people that hope running your air conditioner will protect them from pollution, are the sort of people that hope a
dress wearing, skate boarding, drunk driving, punk 'rocker'; that just happens to be married to a Billionairess ... Is the new hope for america

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

I’m no Beto apologist but pretty bold of that person to claim that there are no rich and idle minorities.

mccullough said...

Beto is good-looking and is the best contrast to Trump. He’s nice and likeable. He’s also fairly young.

The Dems need a white man to win. A woman isn’t going to get it done. And we just had a minority president. We haven’t had an Irish Catholic President since JFK. It’s their turn.

exhelodrvr1 said...

The Democratic Presidential hopefuls for the past three elections have had unusually low-quality resumes.

jaydub said...

If CNN's Nia-Malika Henderson is trashing him maybe he deserves a second look.

Ann Althouse said...

"running an air conditioner they hope will protect them from pollution
and now, i have found, the quintessential example of how STUPID people are."

That's the line that made me read the Wikipedia article about "Lifehouse." I imagined there must be a song that's mainly about air conditioning and pollution. Nothing in the song list that's specifically about about air conditioning, but I looked up the lyrics to "Goin' Mobile" (which is in the set of "Lifehouse" songs):

I'm goin' home
And when I wanna go home
I'm goin' mobile
Well, I'm gonna find a home
And we'll see how it feels
Goin' mobile
Keep me movin'

I can pull up by the curb
I can make it on the road
Goin' mobile
I can stop in any street
And talk with people that we meet
Goin' mobile
Keep me movin'

Out in the woods
Or in the city
It's all the same to me
When I'm drivin' free, the world's my home
When I'm mobile

Hee, hoo!
Beep beep!

Play the tape machine
Make the toast and tea
When I'm mobile
Well I can lay in bed
With only highway ahead
When I'm mobile
Keep me movin'


Nothing about air conditioning.

The song sounds so rebellious and wild as performed, but look at those words — "toast and tea"!

Ann Althouse said...

I don't think Sally and Ray are supposed to be terribly smart and informed. No point calling them stupid as a criticism of Townshend.

Roger Sweeny said...

And Jack Kerouac-style, he roams around, jobless (does he not need a job?) to find himself and figure out if he wants to lead the free world. This is a luxury no woman or even minority in politics could ever have.

I seem to recall Hillary Clinton doing that.

That is their job and part of the job is finding donors to support it.

Jimmy said...

The obvious next step for the Dems is to run candidates as a Presidium. the group would be diverse, gender inclusive and would deflect actual criticism of individual policies. For State functions, one would have to step forward, but that could be handled on a rotation basis.

tim in vermont said...

I do want to see O’Rourke/Harris, and we can have the gigolo/gold digger ticket. Their platform? Rich powerful lovers for everybody! As long as you are exceptionally good looking, of course. I mean we are not miracle workers! Plus it sounds so Irish.

Qwinn said...

"The Democratic Presidential hopefuls for the past three elections have had unusually low-quality resumes. "

The only qualification Democrats appear to require for their candidates of the last 40 years is "lawyer". That's it. Nothing else required. Go ahead, try to find a single Democrat Presidential OR Vice Presidential candidate since Carter that wasn't a lawyer. (Hint: There are two. One failed out of law school, and the other is the most obscure candidate on the list.)

mccullough said...

After W, Obama, and Trump you just can’t argue that Beto isn’t qualified to be president. Those guys had almost no experience either.

W’s dad was president but the other Bush siblings could say the same thing. W was Chelsea Clinton with a drinking problem. She’ll probably be the next governor of New York after her dad gives her some money to buy 10 percent of the NY Mets.

Beto has more experience than Obama did and is about the same age Obama was. And Trump is a golf course and condo builder turned celebrity.

Beto would trounce Trump among women. The Dems would be nuts not to clear the field for the guy.

wild chicken said...

Dionysian ecstasy through mindless dancing...yeah that's totally new...orgy-porgy!

gilbar said...

{sorry, i'm fixated on this}
Tim iV said...
Air Conditioners were new and people did use them to protect against pollution--after all, when they're on, the windows are closed.


but we're talking about air conditioners in Cars (well, caravans (which i think is British for camper)). While your windows are closed, and you might THINK (Hope?) that it's protecting you from pollution; the air is still flowing through the car without restraint (remember, this is the 1960's, no such thing as cabin air filterers back then)

They are Literally hoping something that does nothing will help, in fact; since it decreases mileage
They are Literally hoping something that makes it worse will help

The Bergall said...

But he's a rock star. I heard it on TV.................../s

Roger Sweeny said...

... the heroes were savages who’d kept rock ‘n’ roll as a primitive force and had gone to live with it in the woods

With their primitive electric guitars and thousands of watts of amplifiers.

Henry said...

This is a luxury no woman or even minority in politics could ever have.

Such short memories.

Roger Sweeny said...

It is good to be periodically reminded of how divorced from reality creative people can be.

Henry said...

You have to love "or even". Did Ms. Henderson net get the Traister memo?

gilbar said...

Go ahead, try to find a single Democrat Presidential OR Vice Presidential candidate since Carter that wasn't a lawyer... and the other is the most obscure candidate on the list.)

i give up? I'm assuming you meant ones that were nominated?

Mondale (lawyer) Geraldine Ferraro (lawyer)
Dukakis (lawyer) Lloyd Benson (lawyer)
al gore (failed out of law school) Joe Liberman (lawyer)
john kerry (lawyer) Edwards (lawyer)

????

Hannio said...

You missed a couple of verses:

Keep me moving
Over fifty
Keep me groovin'
Just a hippie gypsy
Come on move now
Movin'
Keep me movin' yeah
Keep me movin', movin', movin', yeah
Movin' yeah
Mobile, mobile, mobile, mobile, mobile, mobile, mobile
I don't care about pollution
I'm an air-conditioned gypsy
That's my solution
Watch the police and the taxman miss me!
I'm mobile! Oh yeah he he
Mobile, mobile, mobile, yeah

Henry said...

Beto should have called it "a listening tour."

Rory said...

"But O'Rourke, tall, handsome, white and male, has this latitude, to be and do anything."

It's amazing how they launder out the privilege of money.

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

Someone made the joke that the way TV weatherpeople are going, soon they'll be saying something like: last night I dreamed I was a butterfly. Today, I wonder if I'm a butterfly, dreaming I'm a man. Back into the minivan (or was that Hillary?), off to the next truckstop to mingle with real people. If by any chance they ask you to get up on a table and make a speech, just say "I'm so fucking proud of you guys."

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

“but I looked up the lyrics to "Goin' Mobile" (which is in the set of "Lifehouse" songs):”

As someone who has had the lyrics of Who’s Next tattooed on his brain since the age of 13, I’m shocked by Althouse’s failure to remember the closing lines of Goin’ Mobile. More important than Beto, certainly.

Lucid-Ideas said...

You want to know what kind of paradigm-shifting history making non-fiction literature - in the vein of "Origin of the Species" - I would like to see?

A complete psych-profile of a statistically relevant population of the journalists that produce this shit. I would like to settle once and for all if this is truly cognitive dissonance (subconscious - un-self-aware) or if they actually know consciously what theye're doing. Is this hive-mind or more focused instructions for some dark lord aka Journolist? The ability of these people to fawn over a candidate or someone one moment and turn on them in such a coordinated fashion - on a dime - is truly remarkable.

Do these people believe their own headlines? To quote Brad Pitt in Seven - Do these people ever wake up one morning after writing 10 op-eds for and then 10 op-eds against, look in the mirror and realize, "Holy shit I'm really fucking insane?"

Seriously, such a piece of work would be groundbreaking. The kind of thing that would change society because you could actually know what to look for and keep them as far away from influence as possible.

This is also why it will never happen.

Henry said...

Stacey Abrams, a Yale-trained lawyer, couldn't do this...

Stacey Abrams begins 'thank you' tour in Albany Monday

Bay Area Guy said...

Beto O'Rourke v Congressman Robert O'Rourke (D- El Paso)

The former has mysterious appeal, the latter? Not so much.

Some genius political marketing on this one.

Coca-Cola v carbonated brown fizzy sugar water.

Henry said...

If Beto is Kerouac, who is his Neal Cassaday?

Curious George said...

Pfffft. None of this crap matters. "Beto" wrapped up the presidency with that border video. Right Althouse?

Fernandinande said...

Nia-Malika Henderson drips a pantload of brown female privilege.

Tom T. said...

They used a fifty-year-old song?

rehajm said...

since it decreases mileage

On the highway, running the air conditioning with the windows up is more fuel efficient when compared to the AC off and windows down. It's the drag...

Infinite Monkeys said...

"He is coming after what they think they deserve and he hasn't earned."

They let Obama do it.

"Can politics be like punk rock"? If they're going to include that question, why aren't they playing punk rock? Maybe the B O'R similarity between the song title and his name was too much to resist.

gilbar said...

rehajm said...
since it decreases mileage
On the highway, running the air conditioning with the windows up is more fuel efficient when compared to the AC off and windows down. It's the drag...

Again, we're talking about 1960's cars. They (and Campers) have so much drag it doesn't matter if the windows are up or down (and their AC's are VERY inefficient)

Fernandinande said...

"No one knows what it's like to be the Batman, to be the sad man."

JAORE said...

"He is coming after what they think they deserve and he hasn't earned."

And thus a thousand little Hillary seeds awoke in the spring.

chickelit said...

Who named him "babbling Beto"? Was that the media doing Trump's work?

William said...

To be fair, Townsend is less pretentious than Wagner, and his music is more accessible........Is there any recorded case where music has made someone a better person? I know it can help you feel better, but does it actually inspire you to be better? Wagner's operas were considered to be the most immersive and transformative music experience, but I don't think the music actually transformed anybody. Or maybe the transformative process was in a negative direction, as with the Nazis.

sdharms said...

1. he is not handsome
2. he is metro-sexual looking, not masculine so Beta fits.
3. he is a LIGHT-WEIGHT, empty suit just like Obama
4. he is a priveledged white kid. Ann, didn't you know he is a trust fund kid?
None of these will keep him from getting elected.

William said...

Beto is a good looking guy. He could have married a far better looking woman than his current wife, but he's not superficial. He knows that looks are only skin deep, and that there are more important things than good looks. We should take heed of his example and wisdom.

SGT Ted said...

"This is a luxury no woman or even minority in politics could ever have."

What the hell do they think Hillary did from 2000 until 2007?

What women and minorities have are these unexamined idiotic assertions used by hipster racists to prop up narratives that are separated from reality.

Maillard Reactionary said...

Babbling looks better on women.

alanc709 said...

"After W, Obama, and Trump you just can’t argue that Beto isn’t qualified to be president. Those guys had almost no experience either.." W had no experience? Remind me, which state was Beto governor of? W was governor of Texas, and a popular one. God, it never ceases to amaze me how mindless so many of you are.

mccullough said...

His wife is attractive and will age well. And having money never goes out of style. Plus, if you’re wife is a moron then there’s a good chance your kids will be morons as well.

mccullough said...

W was governor of Texas like Hillary was senator from New York. W was a total lightweight. His dad had to bail him out this whole life. Guy was a spoiled drunk who sobered up finally at age 40. He would be sleeping under an overpass if he wasn’t born into the Bush family.

As bad a president as Obama was, he didn’t do something as stupid as invade Iraq. Only a lightweight with daddy issues is that fucking dumb.

alanc709 said...

Gee, William, she may be homely, but her dad's a billionaire. That might sweeten the pot a bit, so maybe "Beto" isn't quite as discerning as you claim.

alanc709 said...

No, Obama and Hillary cozied up to Russia, turned Egypt over to the Muslim Brotherhood and opened the floodgates of migrants into Europe by abandoning Iraq. Sounds like another Nobel Peace Prize in the works.

mccullough said...

Yes Obama and Hillary are stupid like W. It’s good to criticize all of them. But some people need to defend W. Since his parents died last year, the list of people defending W is dwindling. Guy is and always has been a moron. Spoiled. Entitled drunk.

Drago said...

This entire conversationis irrelevant.

The dem nominee will be Michelle Obama, and it wont even be close.

glenn said...

A fake Mexican, a fake Indian and Katlin Jenner walk into a bar.

exhelodrvr1 said...

Bush had been a governor - even in Texas, that provides far more "experience-which-would-crossover-to-the-Presidency" than anything Obama, Hillary, Sanders, et al. had. And the same thing is true about President Trump's background. And Romney's.

gerry said...

I am so tired of the white-privilege trope that I won't vote for anyone but whites anymore (except Beto, of course). Whites have become more disadvantaged, more discriminated against, than anyone else.

tim in vermont said...

Bush may have his faults, but to compare Fidel O’Rourke’s qualifications with his is ridiculous. Same with Trump, Trump had far mor qualifications than Beto’s which seem to be that his Hispanic housekeeper liked him and called him “Beto” and that he married into big money because he’s hot.

Hotness is is qualification. Trump and Bush had real accomplishments.

tim in vermont said...

Blogger William said...
Beto is a good looking guy. He could have married a far better looking woman than his current wife, but he's not superficial. He knows that looks are only skin deep, and that there are more important things than good looks. We should take heed of his example and wisdom.


Yeah, marry for money!

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

LOL I agree.

This is all from Team Clinton Crime Machine. The donors are still waiting and expecting their pay-out.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

It will be interesting to watch how Clinton, Inc.( CNN) threads the take-down needle.
It must be done under cover.

Ann Althouse said...

"You missed a couple of verses..."

Ah thanks. So I was right... and wrong...

I remember those lines now that I read them...

tim in vermont said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
tim in vermont said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
John henry said...

"And Jack Kerouac-style, he roams around, jobless (does he not need a job?)"

I got a kick out of this. I've heard that anytime a newspaper asks a question, the answer is "no".

Certainly true in this case.

Robbie O'Rourke does not need a job.

He is filthy, stinking, rich. (To use the fascist characterization)

He got his money the Kerry way, he married it.

His father-in-law is one of the 10-20 richest men in the US.

So no, CNN, Robbie does not need a job,

John Henry

Ann Althouse said...

"As someone who has had the lyrics of Who’s Next tattooed on his brain since the age of 13, I’m shocked by Althouse’s failure to remember the closing lines of Goin’ Mobile. More important than Beto, certainly."

I found the song, but failed to drag the actual line out of my memory.

For the record: I was a member of the Who fan club BEFORE their first album was released in the U.S., when only "I Can't Explain" was on the American radio and "My Generation" was something I only read about in the magazines from which I cut out the photographs I had all over my bedroom walls.

I love the early Who, and to me, "Tommy" was a wrong turn. "Who's Next" was good, but it was part of the 70s grandiosity that I did not support at all.

I liked Roger Daltrey better before he got all Robert Planted up, when he was more arty and stuttering.

Ann Althouse said...

""And Jack Kerouac-style, he roams around, jobless (does he not need a job?)""

Seems to me, Hillary did exactly that with her "Scooby" road trip — enthused over by the agenda-setting media.

John henry said...

The other day Robbie said he thinks the US Constitution is obsolete. I'd love to see someone ask him:

Mr O'Rourke,

If you are elected President, you would have to take the following oath:

"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Yet the other day you said you think the Constitution is obsolete. How, believing that, could you take the oath in good faith?"

I'd love to hear his answer.

BTW: This is another think PDJT lies about. He keeps saying that he took an oath to protect the American people. He never did. Only to protect the Constitution.

John Henry

Martin said...

I have no feelings toward O'Rourke, who just seems like another crappy politician.

But I now know that there is a CNN commentator named Nia-Malika Henderson who is incredibly racist.

Martin said...

btb, no, Beto does not need a job, his wife stands to inherit well over $1Bn.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Teenage rape van

Charlie said...

Lifehouse was stupid and a huge mess but Who's Next is one of the top 5 greatest rock albums of all time. So there's that.

Skeptical Voter said...

We're talking Beto Meh Nia here.

Leland said...

Hollywood likes Beto, but then they were fine with Weinstein for a very long time. The thing is, if he drops out too soon; how will I know the bad drivers here in Texas. Right now, they all self-identify.

Oso Negro said...

Let me just address Nia Malika Henderson in my authentic old white man voice - "FUCK OFF! I am sick, sick, sick to death of your minority grievance cult. GO TO ANOTHER COUNTRY WHERE BROWN SUN PEOPLE ARE THE MAJORITY!"

Note the lack of compassion for uppity colored folk and use of standard English, with proper punctuation expected of an old white guy.

gilbar said...

William said Beto is a good looking guy. He could have married a far better looking woman than his current wife,

But he would have had a very hard time marrying a richer one!

Yancey Ward said...

The first comment is completely correct- if Beto were a woman, he would lauded for doing exactly what Beto is doing today- indeed the very CNN writer herself would be writing hagiographies to such a female candidate.

As for Beto himself I can only say, "Welcome to the party, pal!"

cacimbo said...

Seems like John Kerry II. Especially when he was skateboarding.

wildswan said...

My fave

"Glenn said:
A fake Mexican, a fake Indian and Katlin Jenner walk into a bar."

next lines

"An aging shattered fake feminist, is sitting there, staring into her California Chardonnay. Every day she walks in the woods, stumbling, mumbling, "It was the press, it was the Russians, Comey did it, Donna betrayed, Debbie got caught." Glancing up, she sees the Young Fake Guns swaggering toward the very low bar. A strange light begins to shine in her eyes. "Hey pig farmer, you think you can just come in here?" Pig farmer? Fake laughs tinkle and tinsel among the rhinestone identities. The strange light deepens, glows red and a strange stream of incoherent words bubble forth - "Foster, Whitewater, Monica, Benghazi, where are the scandals of yesteryear? We came, he died; you come, you dare to pretend you can pretend better than MEEEEEEE." With that she launches across the room, actually flying. The fake Mexican runs, all he knows how to do but he doesn't win the door. The fake Indian offers a bowl of Pow-Wow-Chow but doesn't stand 1024th of chance. Katlyn avoids toxic masculinity unfortunately for either and both him and her. Last xis standing, the fake feminist sways and a low satisfied growl rumbles deep inside. Time for my walk, she thinks. Going outside she finds that Nancy, the horse she rode in on, has been cancelled. Green bile churning, she turns and a stranger says "Sad. So sad. We'll meet again. Hiho Silver, away." Who was that masked man? The townsfolk are standing gazing after him.

Richard Dolan said...

"and it comes across as very "white male,"

I haven't followed Beto or much of the (prior) media mania about him, but I did watch the video. I agree that he comes across as very "white male," in the white-guys-can't-jump way. He seems a bit of a stiff -- the jerky, arm-slashing stuff was especially weird -- and he has a voice that sounds like it should be spouting platitudes and cliches which, as it happens, is what he was doing. If that's what got Texas all atwitter, there must be something special in the water down there.

buwaya said...

The idea of the song-cycle is fascinating. It fits very well in New Age Science Fiction, the stuff of "Dangerous Visions", Harlan Ellison's now classic collection.

Townshend was more interesting than I thought. It seems he was a Science Fiction geek, or at least he hung out with some of them.

The scenario is a cross between E.M.Forster ("The Machine Stops") and William Gibson. The tech is non-digital retro, understandable given its time.

A very good find.

buwaya said...

Not that I ever liked the Who, as music.
Never was my thing.
My wife says I will not listen to anything made after 1812.
That is a slander, and I must always correct her.
I will not listen to anything after 1912.

Skippy Tisdale said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Skippy Tisdale said...

William asks, "Is there any recorded case where music has made someone a better person?"

This song made me a better person:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7yg2liftZU

buwaya said...

Also consider the connections with "The Matrix".
Townshend put in a "Matrix" idea there.

Not that it was original with "The Matrix", made in 1999, the virtual reality idea has been kicking around a long time, and was often slotted in to some dystopia. E.M.Forster was almost there really, in 1909.

Bill Peschel said...

I always found the Who fascinating. I loved "Who Are You," especially "Guitar and Pen," which expresses the frustrations any creative type goes through to create something solid out of an impression. While their "Kids Are All Right" documentary is considered a hagiography, it demonstrated just how much they kicked ass, especially in the early days.

Recently, I ran across a YouTube video about Keith Moon's drumming (which astonished me when I heard "Cobwebs and Strange" off their "Quick One" album). The commenter pointed out that Moon was not really tasked with keeping to the beat (like Ringo did brilliantly), but playing the drums as if it was contributing to the song like a lead guitarist. He went beyond keeping time into being a creative force of his own, which was why when he died, that phase of "The Who" was over. They can find a drummer, but they'd never find another Moon.

buwaya said...

BTW,

Notice the coordination?

Once seen, it can't be missed.

"Media turning against" indeed. The propaganda line has added a new task, and the subroutines have been activated. Several, in parallel, with perfect timing. Just a bit of housekeeping code, ending a redundant process.

n.n said...

This is how democracy is aborted... in a flurry of Jew privilege and diversity. Surely, a progressive slope.

eddie willers said...

I will not listen to anything after 1912.

Make an exception for Rhapsody In Blue.

Dad29 said...

It was reported that O'Rourke married into a very wealthy family. Real estate development. So no, he doesn't need a job--although if I were his F-I-L, I might begin to drop some serious hints.

Joanne Jacobs said...

O'Rourke looks very young in the video -- too young to be president. He also uses "f---ing" in a speech. I would like to see a higher standard of public decorum, not a candidate who swears like a college kid.

john burger said...

I am confused by the use of "Baba O'Reilly" in the campaign video. That song is more about "tuning in, turning off, and dropping out" than searching for ways Baba O'Roarke can save us from ourselves. (Ed. Note: I was also confused when Reagan used Springsteen's "Born in the USA" back in the 1980s - nobody read the lyrics or listened to Bruce's lamentations for how returning Vietnam vets were treated.)

Is the song supposed to trigger fond memories of the fading Baby Boomers so they can relate to him? By his own admission, O'Roarke is a punk rocker a la the Ramones, the Sex Pistols and the Dead Kennedys, and not necessarily the mods or rockers from the late 1960s and early 1970s, whom punk rockers considered wankers and posers(sp?).

Millennials, the new favorite age bracket and voting bloc, by contrast, would probably prefer Greenday, NOFX, Weezer, and Rancid, but their songs would probably freak people out and make horrible campaign video soundtracks. Could you imagine "American Idiot" blaring as O'Roarke goes on his quest for political meaning and personal direction, all the while knowing that he alone will rise from the ashes of the Trump Administration like the Phoenix (maybe from Phoenix?) to rescue us from the most recently disastrous 4 years?


jvb



LA_Bob said...

But he's a rock star. I heard it on TV.................../s

"You know I read it in a MAGA-uh-zeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen...."

Bob from Alhambra

DEEBEE said...

That second point seems to accurately describe AOC. Except her whiteness would be overlooked because of the OC of her last name