The Measure of Their Disdain is the Measure of His Success

Tags

Bill Clinton, Election 2012, GOP, Humor, Paul Ryan, satire

 

 

 

I know the idea is a bit hard to stomach, but truly, I lie not.

If you want to know how well a Democrat does at ANYTHING, switch to Foxy Noise immediately after. The more they criticize and moan about how awful it was, well, the better it REALLY was.

So take it from me President Bill Clinton hit a homer, and damaged Mitt Romney perhaps irreparably and made Barack Obama’s job a whole lot easier tonight.

Brit Hume mumbled, “it was a good speech” and then immediately added, “it was as usual, too long.” As we moved along the panel, more criticisms “he was off message, it was all defense”, the pace picked up. By the time it got back to Brit, the speech was still too long, but he now could add that it was “not forward” but “looking backward” and “about as good a defense as one could make–he basically explained why Obama failed.”

“Too much detail,” moaned another, “nobody sitting on their couch can remember all those facts.”

“The fact-checkers will be combing through it all night,” said the panelist who could not come up with any untruths himself.

Well, if you watched it, that certainly was not your impression. Of course people aren’t going to remember all the details. They don’t need to. What they will remember is that Bill Clinton explained the facts to them, and it satisfied them. It was classic Clinton. It was great.

What Clinton did regarding the GOP was masterful. He managed to praise many Republicans, he managed to shame them into remembering what and who they used to be before they became entranced with the Jezebel–TeaParty. He pretty much made it clear that they must bite their collective lips, grab the knife, and excise the abscess before it is too late. They are a doomed party until they do.

If you have any doubt, then follow this link and see what the crazy Right was saying about the empowering speech of Sandra Fluke, you know, the Georgetown law student who was vilified by Rush Limppaw and called a slut. It ain’t pretty folks, and the worst diatribes about her come from the likes of She-creatures Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin.

If you have any doubt about the brilliant speech given by Michelle Obama, go and read John Heilemann’s assessment. It was every bit as good as I thought it was.

By the way, I went back and watched Ann Romney’s speech. It was good, but nothing to compare to Michelle Obama’s. She lacked the ability to carry the punch line, and she over emphasized words at times. Worst of all was her shrill, (vintage Oprah) “I love you Wiiiimen!” which was simply, well a caricature and caused great guffaws (Romney likes guffaws you recall) in our household.

An extraordinary talking point was the Bloomberg report that indicated that from 1962 or so, Democrats have added 42 million jobs to the workforce while Republicans only 23, and this is while they controlled the White House for more of those years.

Oh *snap*. Oh no he dint. No No No ! Paulie boy has been funnin’ with us again. Just when we thought he was a die-hard ideologue, albeit a lying one, he goes and poops in the can. It seems that all the while Paulie has been moaning and groaning and offering to slash your wrists if we don’t get rid of Obama and his CARE, well Paulie was sneakin’ around back of the barn and what? Yes. Yes. Yes HE WAS! Asking for some of them dirty old Affordable Health Care dollars his own self. For a clinic in his own district. Just like he was against the Stimulus before he begged for some it. Oh Paulie dear sweet stupid lying Paulie, you would make Sistah Sarah proud.

Ah, with that adieu, dear bloggy ones, for I am off to a location known as Gonzales Nursery to examine the fauna since our environs is a bit stark still with plenty of planters but each an empty wretch yearning to embrace the tendril roots of its beloved. Translation: we are going plant shopping. Hark, I think I shall write anew of things of Camelot.

Related articles

• Krauthammer On Michelle Obama’s Speech: “I Didn’t Buy a Line of It” (nicedeb.wordpress.com)
• Brit Hume on Bill Clinton’s Speech: It Was Too Long (foxnewsinsider.com)
• Pundits swoon over Clinton’s speech (politico.com)
• Brit Hume Reacts to Mitt Romney’s RNC Speech: ‘He Was Not Trying to Sing and Be Poetic’ (foxnewsinsider.com)
• Eric Boehlert: Fox News completely barren of actual journalism (rawstory.com)

 

Smack Down! Powell and Clinton Tag Team

Tags

Bill Clinton, Billy Kristol, Christine O'Donnell, Colin Powell, GOP, Mike Bloomberg, Neo-cons, Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, teabaggers

First for housekeeping: There is a new post over at Walking in the Shadows, should you be so inclined. I’m not sure yet how I’m going to operate this blog vis-a-vis this one. I’m still working it out in my little old head.

Of more consequence, please take a look-see at a new blog Republic of Gilead. Ahab, the writer, left a comment on yesterday’s post about the Values Voter Summit. He went as an infiltrator. I’ve added him to my reader, and he promises to keep watch at the goings on of the religious right. We seem to pretty much look to the same sources, but he’ll make my job a whole lot easier no doubt, and he has a nice looking and reading blog.

I saw Colin Powell and President Bill Clinton on Meet the Press. Powell excoriated the “chatter” from the far right that went beyond legitimate criticism of the President. “Let’s get this straight. The President was born in America, he is a Christian.” Both he and Clinton however saved their worst for Newt (the Slime) Gingrich: Clinton said:

Gingrich does this sort of thing from time to time. (Clinton alluded to similar treatment of he and Hillary during his years.) Newt is running for office. He likes to do this kind of thing and stir things up. It’s his shtick. He knows better, he’s an intelligent person.

This is serious paraphrasing on my part, since I can’t locate any transcripts yet (MSNBC doesn’t have them up yet), but the gist is correct. Powell also said that such attacks are inappropriate. “Attack him on policy, not on stuff like this,” he said.

In other words, Newt, you are an irrelevant SOB and go sit down and shaddup.

Meanwhile (you can’t beat that word for a segue can ya?) Sarah forewent the VVS and paid the price coming in #5 in the “who we want to be prez” vote, and spoke in IOWA last night. I only got a snippet, but it seemed the Moosalini was kinda threatening. Kinda like, “estab GOP, you best do as I say or mama is gonna send my grizzlies against ya.” It was I assume a rather not so veiled finger wagging at Karl (the dough meister and soon to be irrelevant) Rove and perhaps at other more establishment types.

Perky Palin as in “PAY lin,” may just be astute  enough (a word she probably doesn’t know), to realize that she is unelectable but she can sure be the power broker and thus amass more $$ to her personal vault in WaSiLLA. Just a shot in the dark on my part.

Speakin’ of which: Palinator’s baby clone, Christine has continued the ways of most of the really wacko right teabaggers–refuse to be questioned! She cancelled stops at Face the Nation and Fox, apparently not ready to, answer a thing.  Foxy will no doubt set her straight – “we made ya baby!”

The Contrarian came up with an interesting scenario. If the GOP nominates an utter wacko (ala Palin or one of her generated clones) might Bloomberg enter the race as a third-party candidate? And if Colin Powell, another centrist, should join him? Well I’d have to think long and hard about NOT voting for them. At least I would have to seriously investigate a lot of written positional material. What think you?

Am I wrong to think that Billy Kristol may be getting a bit nervous? Between Iraq and Sarah, I’m thinking perhaps a lynch mob might start forming outside his residence? I may do a piece on the neo-con wonder boy next week. Stay tuned.

Well, enough today. I’ve added, subtracted, and otherwise cleaned up a few of the blogroll entries. Too many to name but take a look and if you have been around a while and you’re not there, let me know. I tried to add all my new friends, but invariably will miss someone!

Related Articles

• Colin Powell Knocks Down Gingrich and Birthers (themoderatevoice.com)
• Colin Powell: Newt Gingrich’s Obama Critique ‘Doesn’t Make Any Sense’ (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)

The Envelope Please!

Tags

Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Democrats, Election 2008, Joe Biden, John McCain, Media

The Contrarian made a salient point last evening as I groused about some of the usual media nonsense we have so come to expect during this convention. I of course am alluding to the fact that Fox Faux News and MSNBC, and others for that matter, continue to try to set up dramatic scenarios that never seem to come to pass, but are designed to create concern for the viewer that their team is on the precipice and might well self-destruct.

Day by day, the pundits have argued that the DNC was not defining and contrasting the two candidates sufficiently, although the Obama and Dean people continued to patiently explain that day one was devoted to laying out the Obama story. Then it moved to speculation as to whether Hillary would indeed gracefully withdraw, would she encourage her followers to keep fighting somehow in some subtle manner? Would Hillary believers be persuaded or would they “walk” out. We heard of a group that was trying to get super delegates to change their proposed votes.

These first two were, in each case, laid to rest and abandoned by the media on the following day. Because in truth, a new “created” speculation had been dreamed up. Day three saw the speculation about Bill Clinton. Would he seize the podium and refuse to leave? Would he talk about himself too much, Hillary too much. Would he endorse in the “right words.” Remember Hillary had failed to say the magic words, “he’s ready to lead.” Would Bill?

Of course, as we saw, Bill sunk the putt, hit the bulls eye, threw the touchdown, whatever you metaphor might be. He was magic as only Bill can be. He said all the “right words” and in the right order too. He was gracious, clearly perturbed at the over exuberant reception, urging everyone to sit down. He was funny, he was angry, he was direct, he was logical, he was plainly just good old fashioned convincing. He was everything that Obama and his people could have wanted. He clearly made Howard Dean happy. He was Bill as only Bill could be, the man who actually can convince people that “it depends on what your definition of is, is.”  I kid you not, as we used to say. He can charm the petals off a rose. He can convince that black is white and white is black.

He did it. And of course, it was not good enough. No, Foxy’s Hannity was left stammering, almost comically, “Well, well, just because he SAID Obama was ready to be president, doesn’t mean he is does it?” Poor Sean, in fact it was poor Fox all evening, as we tripped over quickly at the end of each speech to get their silly reaction.

But the evenings festivities were far from over. Next up was Beau Biden, son of Joe, Attorney General of Delaware, good looking and articulate. He brought the house to tears as he related the story of his youth, his mother and sister’s death in a car crash, the months in hospital for him and his brother, the Dad who was always there. And in the most precious moment, he exclaimed, “and then, some five years later, Dad met Jill and we got married.” What a story, what a family. Michelle is crying, and so is half the audience.

While Biden didn’t give nearly the speech Bill Clinton did, who could? He was sincere, he was real, and he connected I suspect with the working class family. His remarks about his mother and the things she taught him resonated as true. He hit McCain and hit him hard, prompting Fred Barnes on Fox to be nearly apoplectic with anger. “He challenged Senator McCain’s Judgment!” he sputtered,  “not just his policies, but his judgment!” Indeed he did, and he was right. McCain was dead wrong on a number of foreign policy decisions–such as the war with Iraq and his statement a couple of years ago, that Afghanistan was a “success” and competed pretty much.

I thought by and large that most of the speeches were excellent last night. John Kerry did an excellent job, especially in finally defending himself against the vicious attack machine of Rove/Bush. That stands well as we face the new onslaught of vile crap from Rove/McCain.

Why do we thank the media? Their relentlessly lazy journalism, that raised suspicions and speculation about all kinds of issues that “might” derail the convention, might backfire, might indicate this or that split in the Democratic fabric, never materialized. But most of us knew that they never would. But they sure did make a lot of otherwise uninterested folks watch didn’t they? And for that we thank them. Unintended consequences can be such a bitch sometimes.

Tonight the finale. Of course McCain folks are squealing like stuck pigs. All I hear is a deep envy that they can’t do the same. Their games begin to appear more and more childish in light of the serious business Democrats are about, talking about real issues that affect real people. McCain and his band of buffoons can continue with the “emperor” jokes, the “Barakatheon” and the toga jokes, and we will address issues of health care, veterans care, the oil crisis, and rebuilding our standing in the world of nations. McCain can click his heels together and try to wish us away, but alas for him, we are here and here to stay. Oh, gosh John Sidney, you scuffed those $580 pair of Farragamos? I”m sure Cindy can fly in the family jet and pick you up a new pair before your next rally at a minor league field.

Conventional Thoughts

Tags

Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, Brian Schweitzer, Democrats, Election 2008, Hillary Clinton, Mark Warner

She hit it out of the ballpark! It was brilliant, touching, uplifting, and aggressivHillary did what everyone knew she could, and most knew she would. She left no doubt that she was behind Barack Obama. “No way, no how, No McCain!”

We watched via MSNBC, mostly because I was interested to see what Rachael Maddow might have to say. Sadly that was pretty much a bust, given the venue, outdoors with a “peanut” gallery of boos and yeahs depending on who was speaking. It was not worth the effort.

The speech however, was breathtaking and had everyone on the edge of their seats, and many in tears. In the most dramatic moments, she lined up all the reasons she had run for President. And then said, “And for all these reasons, I’m supporting Barack Obama.” More specifically, she challenged any recalcitrant follower with: ” Did you just vote for me?” The implication was clear, if you voted for her policies, then there was only one answer, vote for Barack as the only candidate who conceivably could carry them out.

She finished with a flurry, referring to McCain/Bush as  aptly meeting in Minneapolis/St. Paul, for like the twin towers, they were so alike it was hard to tell them apart. She ended with reference to Harriet Tubman: “When you hear the dogs, keep running, when you see the torches, keep running, when you hear the voices, keep running, keep running, if you want freedom, keep running.” And then she made it even more clear. “The fate of our country depends on it.”

Of course, Fox-Idiot land had its own take: Bill Kristol, self-styled author of the Iraq war, which undoubted gives him huge credit as a savvy person, said “Hillary gave the most minimalist speech she could get away with.” Mort Kondraky echoed this. By the morning Foxy was dragging out “body language” experts to analyze the correct height of Hillary’s eyebrows to determine if she really meant what she said.

Even MSNBC by morning had run out of accolades and was trying desperately to manufacture some sort of theory that would give them a topic of conversation until the next legitimate piece of real information came across their desk. Lots of speculation now as to whether Hillary and Bill REALLY mean their endorsement, or whether they are just doing enough to get by. Lots of speculation as to whether they are already underway to prepare for 2012. Speculation, is in the end all it is.

Of course, even more speculation about what Bill will do tonight. My thoughts are simply this. Politicos are ego driven animals. Bill has to know he rather severely damaged his credibility among many of his supporters. His personal issues with not being given enough credit for the 90’s by the Obama campaign has worn thin with voters. He started making mistakes in North Carolina and has made enough since then to make many of us shake our heads in dismay.

Thus, I think that Bill will be very conscious that his legacy hangs in the balance here. Any suggestion that he or Hillary did less than they could in hopes that Obama would fail, will essentially destroy any chance she might otherwise have should that happen. He will, I believe, do his best to top his wife in throwing his full weight behind Barack’s campaign. To do less, will brand him forever as a sore loser and a man interested only in the Cult of Bill.

We might do well in actually listening to “Hillary” supporters who said two things I recall last evening. The first was that the media seemed to be making a much bigger thing out of all this divisiveness than they were actually seeing or experiencing themselves. Secondly, those who were interviewed after the speech were solidly moved to Obama by Hillary’s words. Enough said on the topic.

As to the other participants last night. Mark Warner gave the keynote address. It was an excellent speech, touching all the points required, but it lacked any real pizazz. It was delivered in a dull fashion. This was predicted by Carville who knows Warner well, and says that he doesn’t have that flair. He correctly said that the speech would be excellent in every respect but not a foot stomper. Warner is running for the Senate from Virginia, and thus could not hammer Republicans hard since he needs them as voters to gain the Senate seat. He did contrast effectively McCain’s stances versus Obama’s, but with little rancor or meanness.

Warner’s best moment was in shaming the Bush administration. Following 9/11 when every American was willing to sacrifice for the country in any way at all, here was the time, Warner claimed, that Bush could have asked America to move away from dependence on foreign oil. We could have begun then, and every American would have looked for ways to help. Instead, Bush led America down the path of useless war. Bush, Warner claimed, didn’t believe in the American people enough. By implication our oil crisis today is the result.

The best of the “other speeches” was given by Montana Governor, Brian Schweitzer’s speech was terrific. Homesy and slightly “Rodney Dangerfieldish” in presentation, it went over well, and had them laughing and shouting in the aisles. Even President Clinton was seen to be laughing and clapping enthusiastically. I thought he overshadowed Warner’s more quiet and thoughtful presentation. In reality, the Montana Governor gave the real “keynote” address. He tied McCain and Bush together at the hip and called their oil interests the “petro dictators” which was met with a roar of approval.

All in all, I think the night was a great success. I look for the drama to build again tonight as both Bill Clinton and Joe Biden take the stage. All is being readied for the big event. So far, I think that Howard Dean and Barack Obama’s teams have done a stellar job.

Two asides: At or near the end of Hillary’s speech, Bill Clinton could be clearly seen mouthing: “I love you, I love you, I love you.” And– I’m told that at the Twin Towers, in Minneapolis/St. Paul, overlooking the Republican Convention site, is a new billboard just erected today–George and Johnny in the famous embrace, with the words “This is change?” I love it!!!!!!!