I know a few psychologists, and some seem to join the profession due to a sincere desire to help people in distress. And others are attracted to the field because they're nuttier than a squirrel turd themselves. I would put this HuffPo diarist in the latter category:Barack Obama may be the only male politician of any significance in the past, say, one thousand years who is faithful to his wife. Does anyone doubt Obama's fidelity? Now that it's near certain he will be the Democratic nominee, I've been trying to sort out why I don't think this is a good thing. It's not that I'm pro-infidelity, mind you. As a psychologist who has seen many couples torn to pieces over it, I know how corrosive betrayal is to a relationship. Yet, Obama's certain fidelity is somehow troubling me.
Now, to many of you on this site who have seen my postings before (and I want to thank you for the bodyguard I felt the need to hire), you know that I am a Hillary Clinton supporter. Perhaps I was more drawn to her to begin with because of her fierceness. It made me feel safe knowing there'd be this big, strong bear of a Mother in the House protecting her children at all times, ever vigilant and ever ready to do whatever it took to keep us out of harm's way. On the other hand, Obama's monotonic calm admittedly kind of scares me...
[snip]
Obama is a nice guy. And, as most any woman will tell you, "nice" guys finish last. And they finish last because, well, they just aren't very sexy. Power, for better or worse, is a turn on. I have no doubt that Obama wants to be President, which must mean that the guy wants power. And someone, most likely Axelrod, convinced Obama that the time to go for the gold was now — not in 8 years, but NOW. Obama bought into it and, I guess, the rest is history.
But Obama was not ready. Even though he will be the nominee, he, personally, was not ready. And maybe he never would be, come to think of it. Because what Obama seems to lack is what makes these powerful guys sexy: comfort with his aggression...
Here's her HuffPo bio:Dr. Sylvia Welsh is a Clinical Psychologist and Psychoanalyst. She is on the faculty of the NYU Psychoanalytic Institute and the faculty of the NYU School Medicine, Department of Psychiatry. Dr. Welsh treats children, adolescents and adults, families and couples.
Yes, the woman who produced that shallow, puerile analysis has a clinical practice affiliated with a prestigious institution, which makes me wonder if NYU retains Michael Jackson as a daycare operations consultant. Jesus.
McCain apparently thinks he's laid his gnarled, liver-spotted old paws on a winning issue since Obama turned down his invitation to take a stroll in Baghdad:
"To say that we've failed in Iraq and that we're not succeeding does not comport with the facts on the ground," McCain said. "So we've got to show him the facts on the ground."
Appropriately enough, on April Fool's Day of 2007, McCain did take a stroll in a Baghdad market to illustrate that all is just ducky there and to prove that "Americans are not getting the full picture" about Iraq. Only he neglected to mention that he was accompanied on his promenade by 100 soldiers, 3 Blackhawks and 2 Apache Gunships.
I hope he sticks with this "everything is great in Iraq" strategy all the way through November. I can really see that one paying off.
Yes I do -- three, to be precise:
Did Florida Democrats get railroaded into moving up the primary by the Republicans? Were they poor, blameless, innocent victims? Nope:
Anyone with an IQ higher than her shoe size knows Hillary Clinton started giving a shit about the "disenfranchisement" of Michigan and Florida on the day it became clear that she needed those ballots to make some half-assed claim on the popular vote. Back when she was the inevitable candidate, here's what she had to say:
Now, of course, she says Florida's "disenfranchisement" is on par with the oppression of women, slavery, and electoral shenanigans in Florida 2000 and Zimbabwe 2008. And the votes in Michigan should count even though Obama wasn't on the ballot:
Clinton is a politician, and a particularly cynical and manipulative one, so that's not too surprising. So is Geller, the Florida minority leader who enthusiastically signed on to the early primary calendar. But what of Clinton's supporters who now claim this is all about "principle"?
Taylor Marsh yesterday (in comments):
The only thing the Democratic Party can stand for is COUNTING EVERY VOTE... I don't care what the candidates agreed to, because they should never have agreed to disenfranchise voters. Ever. Count the votes. Period. I can't make it any clearer.Isn't that precious? She really believes that me and millions of other Florida voters count! It isn't all about pimping her candidate. Why, I bet if you look back in her blog archives, back to the days following the DNC's reprehensible decision, Marsh would have posted copious protests, standing in solidarity with us poor disenfranchised Sunshine Staters and Michiganders.
(crickets chirping)What? No stinging denunciation of Howard Dean? No plans to march on the DNC? Nope. Just posts about what a dick Ted Nugent is, birdwatching and now-ironic paens to Keith Olbermann, who has since become Public Enemy Number One. It's almost as if she really didn't give a shit about us after all. I'm crushed. (Not.)
So McCain finally rejects and denounces the pair of looney pastors whose endoresment he sought, the Reverends Parsley and Hagee:
"I obviously find the remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible and a repudiate them," McCain said in a statement released late Thursday afternoon.
Referring to the Hitler comments, McCain denied foreknowledge of them, but also used his statement to differentiate his "pastor problem" from Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama's.
McCain's statement continues, "I did not know of them before Reverend Hagee's endorsement. I feel I must reject his endorsement as well. I've said I do not believe Senator Obama shares Reverend Wright's extreme views but let me also be clear Reverend Hagee was not and is not my pastor or spiritual advisor and I do not attend his church. I did not attend his church for 20 years. I have denounced statement he made immediately upon learning of them and I do again today."
Notice that the "maverick" who not long ago spoke so movingly of running and "honorable" and "civil" campaign focused on the "issues" of course did not bypass the opportunity to invoke Wright again.
Now, as I've mentioned, I have about as much use for religion as a tortoise has for a snowboard, so maybe I don't get it. But isn't it just as bad -- if not worse -- to be linked to a nutty pastor by virtue of your own avid attempts to seek said nutjob's political endorsement as opposed to attending a church led by a loon?
In the latter case, you may be voluntarily subjecting yourself to stupefying nonsense, but it's on your personal time and not in the pursuit of a political goal. Therefore, it seems to me that there are fewer inferences that could be made about the political implications of your attendance than can be fairly made when you specifically seek a political endorsement. That's this godless heathen's take anyway.
Purple prose
McCain had another hissy fit yesterday in response to a statement Obama made about his (McCain's) failure to support Jim Webb's GI Bill:Both Senator Webb and I are united in our deep appreciation for the men
and women who risk their lives so that the rest of us may be secure in our
freedom. And I take a backseat to no one in my affection, respect and devotion
to veterans. And I will not accept from Senator Obama, who did not feel it was
his responsibility to serve our country in uniform, any lectures on my regard
for those who did.
That's about 1/100th of the statement, which can be read in all it's whiny, unctuous, self-serving, lengthy glory here. It reviews a history of McCain's involvement in the Navy from birth to WWII to Vietnam and beyond. The bottom line implication seems to be that McCain cannot be criticized on any military issue by anyone who did not serve in the military.
This seems an odd stance for a presidential candidate in a nation committed to civilian rule to take. If Grandpa Simpson gets elected, we're in for not only four more years of Bushian policy but will also be treated to junta-like rhetoric and long, flowery speeches that will rival Fidel Castro's May Day marathons.
I've got a better idea: Why don't all of you fuck off and let the Democractic Party get around to the important task of electing the nominee who won by the goddamned rules that you signed up for? Jesus H. Christ singing "Rocky Mountain High" in the noon-day sun in Denver, they just don't get it. "DNC" stands for "Democratic National Committee," not "Democratic National Clintons."
I sincerely hope Senator Clinton is just blowing smoke up her supporters' asses with all this talk about taking the FL and MI delegate fight to the convention, but from her recent remarks, in which she preposterously compared the situation to Florida 2000, slavery, Zimbabwe and the suffragette movement, it appears she's opting for a scorched earth policy, just as Rachel Maddow predicted. Can anyone talk some sense into her? If not, we're screwed.
So, I went to the Obama rally today. Earlier in the week, there were articles in the local paper saying the 20,000-seat venue might not be filled -- that people were pissed off at Obama for boycotting Florida, nobody would show up at noon on a work day, etc. Well, they ran out of tickets a couple of days ago, and the crowd was large, fired up and ready to go.
I took my fourth grader along, and by the looks of the crowd, she wasn't the only school kid playing hooky today. Thanks to the piss-poor parking facilities and stupid trolley system, we didn't get particularly good seats, but I brought a camera with a zoom lens, hence the close-up photo.
Obama gave his standard stump speech, focusing almost entirely on McCain. He gave a short tribute to Clinton, saying she's a tough competitor, etc. It was nothing I hadn't heard him say before, but it was totally worth the hassle to see him in person. He can work a crowd like no politician I've ever seen.
The crowd was wonderful -- highly enthusiastic, and I definitely got the sense that we were proud to have candidate like Obama to get behind. It's not a feeling I'm used to experiencing. There were people from all walks of life -- the crowd definitely reflected Obama's line: rich, poor, black, white, young, old, etc. My daughter made me buy her an Obama t-shirt on the way out. Kids get it.
One of the most rabid and venomous anti-Obama HillShills, Larry "Flowbee" Johnson, has been been touting the existence of a video containing political dynamite that will knock one of the presidential candidates out of the race. How does he know the tape exists? Reliable sources have said so:Four Republican sources have told me that the tape exists. I’ve also been informed that Karl Rove and his allies have a copy of it and are using it to raise funds for independent expenditure groups. The tape, I’m told, will be disclosed as the GOP October Surprise. It’s a ticking time bomb.
Got that? Four Republicans say the tape exists. And we all know Republicans never, ever lie, so therefore, the tape must exist. Just like the WMDs did.
"Democrat" Taylor Marsh has joined in the fun, linking to Flowbee's screed. All are breathlessly analyzing Obama's push-back against GOP attacks on his wife yesterday, speculating that although he ostensibly protested because he doesn't think vicious attacks on his wife's patriotism are fair, what he's really afraid of is the disclosure of The Video. You know, instead of just being annoyed that people are attacking his wife. Flowbee again:And I’ve learned that a right-wing Republican billionaire has put a $1 million bounty on the video. He doesn’t want John McCain to win, like a number of conservatives, and thinks Obama is a pathetically weak candidate. The billionaire wants that video released now.
Well, I want that right-wing Daddy Warbucks to pony up, because I have The Video! That's right, pretty soon we'll be farting through silk here at the Cracker Compound, because boy, is this video ever political dynamite. Holy shit, you won't believe it! This is blockbuster stuff. This makes the release of the stupid old Pentagon Papers look like the purloining of a Bush family Christmas card featuring Barney the Scottish terrier.
Flowbee had it all wrong, though. It's not some lame-ass tape of a whitey-baiting church sermon featuring scores of the scary black folks who apparently haunt Flowbee's dreams. Oh no. It's far more politically damaging than that. It describes actual felonious activity as well as an unbelievable breach of ethics and a breath-taking betrayal of trust.
Now, I'm not dumb enough to post something like this on YouTube. That would be tantamount to peeing in my chili. I couldn't very well ask Flowbee's right-wing Republican friend to pay me one MILLLLLLLIONNNN dollars after distributing The Video for all the world to see, could I? But fear not, readers. I will not leave you on tenterhooks. You deserve better than that -- both of you. So here's a short summary of the contents of The Video:
Unbelieveable, huh? Well, it's all true. And it gets better. Part of the reason this candidate's wife got hooked on narcotics in the first place was to alleviate the pain of her role in the Keating 5 scandal, an influence-peddling scheme that almost took down her husband's political career.
Whoa, now does that scandal not beat some imaginery whitey-bashing church scene all to hell and back? I think so. Can I haz my million now? Thank you.
As it becomes increasingly obvious -- even to the willfully obtuse -- that Senator Clinton's campaign is ensnared in the porcelain vortex, many Obama supporters, including Obama himself, are calling for party unity. I think the vast majority of Clinton supporters will eventually come around. If they are at all on board with their candidate's platform, they'll have to recognize that Obama would be preferable to McCain, even if they've developed a personal antipathy to Obama during the bruising primary season.
Just talked to a 55-year-old Columbus, Ohio resident named Cynthia Ruccia, a spokesperson and organizer for a group calling itself "Clinton Supporters Count Too." ..."We have a plan to campaign against the Democratic nominee," the group said in a press release Thursday. "We have the (wo)manpower and the money to make our threat real. And there are millions of supporters who will back us up in the swing states. If you don’t listen to our voice now, you will hear from us later."
Some even accuse Mr. Obama of chauvinism, pointing to the time he called
Mrs. Clinton “likeable enough” as evidence of dismissiveness. Nancy Wait, 55, a
social worker in Columbia City, Ind., said Mr. Obama was far less qualified than
Mrs. Clinton and described as condescending his recent assurances that Mrs.
Clinton should stay in the race as long as she liked. Ms. Wait said she would
“absolutely, positively not” vote for him come fall.
75,000 people turned out to see Obama in Oregon. Could any other American politician do that?
Mr. Obama might have to relinquish his claim to the title of the candidate of "hope." Sure, he hopes we can move beyond partisan sniping and zero-sum political warfare toward a more functional government. But despite the knock on Obama's optimism and the criticism that his aspirations are naive, his objectives look like James Baker-style realpolitik in comparison to McCain's fanciful vision of the state of the nation after his first term as president:
Why, he practically promises a pony in every pot! Of course, McCain doesn't say how a continuation of George W. Bush's disastrous economic and foreign policies for another four years is going to deliver the ponies; I guess we're supposed to just hope doing the same old shit suddenly and miraculously yields an entirely different result. To her credit, Senator Clinton rightly characterized this ad as "'Mission Accomplished,' only postponed into 2013."
McCain, the media's most marvelous muthafuckin' mavericky maverick ever, opened his campaign by promising "straight talk" and an "honorable discussion among friends" that focused on issues rather than distractions (cough-cough -- Hamas loves Obama -- cough-cough). Well, we can see what a big fat lie that was. He's just another craven, Rove-directed, fearmongering GOP toady.
Don't expect the media to notice, though. They'll continue hanging the "maverick" label on the doddering old fart as if he ever took a courageous political stance on anything that he didn't jettison the moment it became a liability to his personal ambitions. "Maverick" my ass.
Obama is coming to a city a short distance from the Cracker Compound, and I'll be there. Expect bad phone camera photos next Wednesday. And here is how on the ball the Obama organization is: I heard about his upcoming event on the news this morning and tried to score (free) tickets by contacting the venue where it's being held.
The poor, harassed lady who answered the phone had no earthly clue how tickets were being distributed. She said the venue staff were in a meeting about it then and to call back later. I did, and the poor thing STILL didn't know and said the meeting was still in progress (four hours later).
You might reasonably assume here that I'm talking about some wind-socked cow barn masquerading as a community center. But it's actually the venue that hosts the local NHL hockey team (though why on earth any Floridian would give two shits about hockey is beyond me) as well as big-time concerts, etc.
Anyhoo, within the hour, the Obama campaign sent me a personalized email invitation, and I scored a ticket online immediately. If Obama runs the White House the way he conducts his campaign, I predict a permanent Democratic majority for the next 5,000 years.
Gee, I thought the more rabid anti-Obama blogs would be in full Clinton triumphalism mode today, what with their favorite being crowned Queen of Appalachia and all. And there's plenty of that. But one of the most hacktacular HillShills, Taylor Marsh, reveals something very interesting amid the crowing and auto-pimpitude: She thinks the pro-Hillary forces in West Virginia and elsewhere are a bunch of whiny cry-babies who need a symbolic mommy to make them feel better -- and Hillary is that mommy!
So, in defending Appalachians against charges of racism, Marsh offers instead the view that they're a bunch of snivelling, bed-wetting weenies who need hand-holding and "psychological" bromides that fly in the face of pointy-headed economics-based facts? Jesus H. Christ playing dueling air banjos, that's condescending.Folks, it's simple. It's not about race. It's about empathy...Oh, and she also shows up. Barack's not a windsurfing tank riding swiss cheese eating Phillie [sic] steak guy, but he's also not a get down with the folks, hear their troubles, fix them with whatever helps including the psychological offering of a gas tax holiday type of guy either. If you saw Obama's disastrous campaign stop in Cape Girardeau, Missouri yesterday you'd know what I mean. (I'm from Columbia, Missouri.)
[Emphasis added. Also, would that be the same Missouri in which Obama defeated Clinton? Yeah, I guess she means that one...]
Who says George W. Bush hasn't sacrificed for the war effort?"I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal," he
said in an interview for Internet hub Yahoo! and Politico magazine.
"I don't want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the
commander-in-chief playing golf," he said. "I feel I owe it to the families to
be in solidarity as best as I can with them."
Yeah, losing a son...not playing golf for 5 years. In times of war, great sacrifice is truly required all around. Perhaps even more offensive to those troubled by the pointless sandtrap of Iraq is the spectacle of Bush getting a micro-boner every time he refers to himself as "Commander in Chief." Another thing I'm not gonna miss come January 2009.
Election news
So, Hillary Clinton wins BIG in West Virginia and gives The Greatest Speech Ever, as characterized in advance by Terry McAuliffe. "The Gettysburg Address"? "I Have a Dream"? Mere solipsistic piffle. "Got to HillaryClinton.com and donate money!" Now there's a ringing phrase that will be forever enshrined in the pantheon of great American oratory. Suck it, Mr. Lincoln.
But the big political news on Planet Reality is that a Democrat won Mississippi's 1st district seat. That's a district George W. Bush won with a landslide in 2000 and 2004. It's the 3rd special election in solidly Republican districts that the GOP candidate has lost. Looks like the GOP is going to get its ass handed to it this fall.
Crazed, bespectacled fetus look-a-like James Carville sees the handwriting on the wall:James Carville has been one of Hillary Clinton's most energetic defenders, but on Monday he all but declared Barack Obama will become the Democratic nominee for president.
Speaking to students at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, Carville argued Clinton should stay in through the final nominating contest in early June, but said the Democratic tide appears to be moving in Obama's direction.
"I still hear some dogs barking," Carville said, according to The State newspaper. "I'm for Senator Clinton, but I think the great likelihood is that Obama will be the nominee. As soon as I determine when that is, I'll send him a check," he added.
This won't go over well among the more deranged Clinton supporters. Pasting Carville with the "Judas" label he tried to stick on Richardson will be the least of it.
The tone of the extreme pro-Clinton chorus is growing ever more twitchy as they watch their candidate circling the drain. Oh, tonight will be a good night for them, as Hillary is crowned Queen of Appalachia (they've all rediscovered their Coal Miner's Daughter roots -- even the ones from Brooklyn). But that just postpones the inevitable.
My prediction: only a small percentage of those now swearing to boycott the Democratic Party unto the 11th generation will actually follow through on that threat come November. Good sense (and fear of a Supreme Court stacked with ravening wingnuts) will prevail for most.
That small percentage of dead-enders worries me though. I don't think they're electorally significant, but their potential to go all Squeaky Fromme on us cannot be ignored. Luckily, they don't seem particularly competent, imaginative or resourceful. They'll probably make some silly gesture of wronged sisterhood, like shaving their heads or something, and ultimately be shooed off President Obama's White House walkway with nothing more lethal than a broom.
I've had a psychotic asshole boss or two in my time, but nothing compared to this. Via Rumproast, here's Bill O'Reilly, who was apparently a rage-o-holic prick even back when he had a full head of hair. Stick around to the end to watch him petulently fling off his coat and jacket mike. Trust me, Bill-O, the little people know how to get back at hissy-fit-throwing prima donnas like you. Do you fetch your own coffee? I bet you've consumed more piss than a urinal at the Pabst Blue Ribbon Hospitality House.
Update: I guess Bill-O's army of lawyers is running around frantically trying to keep this vid off YouTube (what with O'Reilly's frequent scolding of lefties for their naughty potty mouths). Here's a link to Gawker's version.
100% honorable, brave, civil-campaign devotee John McCain continues to smear Obama as the darling of Hamas. Obama was asked about it during an interview and said the following:"This is offensive and I think it's disappointing, because John McCain
always says, well, I'm not going to run that kind of politics and that engages
in that kind of smear I think is unfortunate, particularly since my policy
toward Hamas has been no different than his," Obama said in an interview with
CNN Thursday.
The Illinois senator added: "For him to toss out comments like that
I think is an example of him losing his bearings as he pursues this nomination.
We don't need name-calling in this debate."
This comment sent McCain's ghost-writer and senior campaign advisor, Mark Salter, into a screaming hissy fit:First, let us be clear about the nature of Senator Obama's attack today: He
used the words 'losing his bearings' intentionally, a not particularly clever
way of raising John McCain's age as an issue. This is typical of the Obama style
of campaigning.
Huh? While it's true that McCain is a doddering old fart who can't keep the major combatant groups straight in the war he wants to continue for at least another 100 years, I think Obama's meaning was pretty clear in context: McCain calls for civility while deploying Rovian smears because he's so intent on getting his gnarled old paws on the presidency.
Salter goes on in a similar vein, displaying the classic symptoms of the psychological phenomenon known as "projection," in which one attributes one’s own unacceptable or unwanted thoughts or/and emotions to others:Senator Obama has good reason to think this plan will succeed, as serious
journalists have written of the need for 'de-tox' to cure 'swooning' over
Senator Obama, and others have admitted to losing their objectivity while with
him on the campaign trail.
Gee, that must be why the press ignores Obama's nutty pastor in favor of running endless loops of the lunatic rantings of Reverend Hagee, whose political endorsement McCain actively sought. Oh, wait. He must mean the press, which McCain accurately refers to as "my base," favors Obama. Sweet Jeebus splattered on the fender of the Straight Talk Express. These people are freaking ballsy.
But Team Obama had a swift and devastating response:“Clearly losing one’s bearings has no relation to age, given this bizarre
rant that Mark Salter just sent out. It’s clear why a candidate offering a third
term of George Bush’s disastrous economic policies and failed strategy in Iraq
would want to distract and attack, but it’s not the kind of campaign John McCain
has promised the American people that he would run."
Suh-NAP! This is gonna be fun.
Well, now we know: Apparently Senator Clinton will not go gently into that good night:
"I have a much broader base to build a winning coalition on," she said in an interview with USA TODAY. As evidence, Clinton cited an Associated Press article "that found how Sen. Obama's support among working, hard-working Americans, white Americans, is weakening again, and how whites in both states who had not completed college were supporting me. There's a pattern emerging here," she said.
Clinton's blunt remarks about race came a day after primaries in Indiana and North Carolina dealt symbolic and mathematical blows to her White House ambitions.
It's been over since February, really. But after last night's Carolina trouncing and the squeaker in Indiana, even Hillary Clinton stalwarts such as Karl Rove and Pat Buchanan threw in the towel. Joe Scarborough was visibly depressed about his "girlfriend's" (his word) defeat in NC and relatively poor showing in Indiana. The pundits seem ready to move on to Obama vs. McCain.
It's clear now that the only path to the nomination is a superdelegate coup without even the figleaf of a popular vote "victory" that entails counting a state where Obama wasn't even on the ballot. That's never gonna happen. So now what?
It was fascinating to watch the talking heads on the various channels trying to read the tea leaves and predict Clinton's next move. The consensus seemed to be that she would soldier on for the next few contests (in which she is heavily favored) and bow out gracefully when Obama wins Oregon so they can both go out on a winning note.
But Rachel Maddow invoked the Nuclear Cockroach scenario. She thinks Clinton will take this all the way to the convention no matter what happens. I don't know what to think. What say you?
Laura Bush condemned the military government in Burma yesterday for its
"inept" response to a deadly weekend cyclone, marking an unusual foray by
the president's spouse into a high-profile foreign policy crisis.
"The response to this cyclone is just the most recent example of the junta's failures
to meet its people's basic needs."
Everyone knows the gas tax holiday is a stupid idea. Anti-Obama, pro-Clinton economist and NYT columnist Paul Krugman admits it's a bad idea, along with just about every other reputable economist with an opinion on the issue. An ordinary voter begged to differ, however. Stephanopoulos turned the mike
Hillary Clinton is smart enough to know it's a dumb idea too, so why is she pushing it? Because she's betting on stupid. She knows the idea sounds good to low-information voters, i.e., those who "go with their gut," the kind of voters who choose candidates based on whether or not they'd be fun to have a beer with. In other words, the type of voters who almost elected George W. Bush twice.
The anti-intellectual tone of the Clinton campaign would be funny if it weren't so potentially damaging. The "just us folks" vs. "nancy-pants intellectuals" strategy has long been the GOP standard. It's all they've got since the rich people they actually serve aren't numerous enough to elect them if they ran on their real agenda -- creating more wealth and power for the wealthy and powerful.
As the GOP has demonstrated repeatedly -- most recently in 2004 -- betting on stupid isn't a sucker's bet. As noted intellectual Albert Einstein said, "Only two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidy, and I'm not sure about the former."
So is Clinton wise to tap the apparently bottomless well of stupidity? It sounded like she thinks so when she said this at an Indiana town hall meeting today:"I think we've been for the last seven years seeing a tremendous amount of
As if the Bush administration's problems stem from an infestation of intellectuals in the White House. Still, it's a tried and true populist line. But a decidedly non-elitist at the town hall meeting failed to reliably join in the anti-intellectual torch and pitchfork mob Senator Clinton was attempting to rouse:
government power and elite opinion behind policies that haven't worked well
for hard working Americans."
over to a woman who said she supported Obama and said she makes less than
$25,000 a year.
"I do feel pandered to when you talk about suspending the gas tax," the
woman said, adding: "Call me crazy but I actually listen to economists
because I think they know what they've studied."
File this one under the "even a blind squirrel finds an acorn every now and then" category. Peggy Noonan, magic dolphin believer and vestal virgin of the Temple of Reagan, kind of gets the Reverend Wright thing:I am out of step. There is something that is upsetting others whom I care about and whose thoughts are often not unlike my own. And it's not hitting me the same way.
[snip]
I also think that if Hillary Clinton wins because of the Wright scandal, it will leave a sad taste in the mouths of many. Mr. Obama reveals many things in his books, speeches and interviews but polarity and a tropism toward the extreme are not among them. What happened with Mr. Wright should not determine the race. Mr. Obama's stands, his ability to convince us he can make good change, his ability to be "one of us," that great challenge for a national politician in a varied nation, should determine the race.
But I am finding it hard to feel truly upset about what Mr. Wright has said. This is the out-of-stepness I referred to. So here I will talk not about how people will respond to him but how I do.
[snip]
Few voters will be more inclined to vote for Barack Obama because his friend, mentor and pastor is extreme. They will think it makes Mr. Obama less attractive. They will not think Mr. Obama handled the challenge with force, dispatch and the kind of instinct that turns dilemma into gain.
And yet . . . it doesn't get my blood up. It doesn't hurt my heart. It doesn't make me feel I need to defend my country. Because I don't see it as attacked, only criticized in a way that is not persuasive.
Mr. Wright seems to me to be part of the great "barbaric yawp," as Walt Whitman called the American people fighting, discussing, making things and living. I like the barbaric yawp. I don't enjoy it when it makes me wince, but at least when I am wincing, I know the yawp is working.
Ms. Noonan, who has made a career of daintily emitting patrician yawps, may be onto something here. Who would have guessed?
