James Hrynyshyn went to a Hillary rally:
In the hours following the speech, which was delivered before a pair of the largest flags I have every seen draped across the width of Main Street, I got more and more depressed. Not only did Clinton’s speech avoid anything remotely resembling a respect for the challenges and contributions that science poses and offers society, but she seemed to go out of her way to appeal to an anti-intellectual strain that her advisers must have told her holds sway in the largely Republican county in which she found herself.
First there was the repetition of her support for a gas tax holiday, which, as Jake has ably pointed out at Pure Pendantry, is perhaps the stupidest idea yet mooted in this campaign. How she squares this with her not-quite-a-plan to reduce carbon dioxide emissions 80 percent by 2050 is beyond me. Or anyone else, I would think.
Such an idea is, as an educated friend of mine who very much wants to support Clinton told me as we waited for Clinton to arrive, an insult to her intelligence. But then, there was Clinton, insulting the intelligence of her audience every chance she got. The only common theme to emerge from the 30-minute ramble was an attack on our enemies. China is the enemy for selling us lead-contaminated toys and poison pet food. The Saudis are the enemy for exploiting our addition to oil. The rest of OPEC, too. And worst of all are those evil, parasitic “middlemen” who pop up in every corner of the economy, ready to take a cut and give back nothing.
I am waiting for the bus and just listened to Hillary, at a rally in NC, say all of the above and declare that we need to change our laws so that we can sue OPEC for anti-trust violations. Along with that gem were the usual spiel from her these days, including the assertion that not only does Obama not want the BIG EVIL OIL COMPANIES to pay the gas tax for you this summer, but that he wants you to pay for it yourself.
Why doesn’t she just change her name to Huey Long? Seriously, though- when did this happen? I remember when Hilary was the detached policy wonk, who coldly and coolly analyzed problems, and now she has morphed into some unsophisticated bubba who hates the man, hates ideas, and hates everything but joe six-pack and his shotgun and coon hound. I fully expect her to show up to her next rally in the General Lee.
It is depressing, really. Granted, I have a long history of Clinton hatred behind me (and now I think it was a well-founded Clinton hatred), and while I may have thought it was cured and was fully ready to vote for her last October, that has since passed. My Clinton hate clearly only went into remission from 2002-2007, because it has certainly flared up lately. I thought she had turned into a pretty respectable middle of the road Senator, but now I just see crazy every time I look at her. Her foreign policy seems lifted from the Weekly Standard, her domestic policies from the Kingfish, and the faux-populist nonsense seems designed only to dumb down the debate enough to grab a few more votes in the hopes that the supers decide to change their mind and throw the race to Hillary.
Even for a Clinton hater, her decline has been a sad spectacle, and I find the idea of the so-called “Unity ticket” to be horrifying. I don’t want Hillary any where near the White House any more, and Tim was right last night- the kind of crazy Hillary is spewing right now is no different from the David Horowitz crazy we have been dealing with for years. She isn’t campaigning or trying to sell her ideas- she is publicly airing an enemies list. Does anyone really doubt Hillary would propose a Gastaxofascism Week if she thought it would win her two percentage points in NC?
*** Update ***
A link to the OPEC suing nonsense. I can’t believe this is not getting more attention, it is so damned crazy.
Sarcastro
Why doesn’t she just change her name to Huey Long?
The Kingfish took shits that had more political acumen than Hillary has.
4tehlulz
>>so that we can sue OPEC for anti-trust violations
lolwut?
>>I fully expect her to show up to her next rally in the General Lee.
That would be awesome, actually.
Desargues
She’s not crazy, John. She thinks she knows what she’s doing. I believe your post converges with the main conclusion of this article:
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/20626517/hillarys_bitter_victory
Zifnab
See, now I don’t even know anymore. I used to say that Hillary was my last pick for Prez Nominee because she was the most conservative voice in the race. Now it feels like she’s trying to dive right of the neo-cons and left of the populists at the same damn time.
For a while I actually thought I knew what her positions were, even if I didn’t agree with them. Now I honestly have no idea what her stand is on any given issue. Sure, she used to be a policy wonk, but was she a lying policy wonk?
Hillary spent every minute between when she declared her run for the nomination up until Super Tuesday improving her image in my eyes. She still wasn’t my first choice, but she was growing on me as an accomplished and capable politician. Since then, its been an absolute disaster. She can’t possibly have been this bad in ’92 or ’02 or even ’06. The only thing I can conclude is that her failed run for the Presidency has literally driven her insane. I just can’t believe she started out as such a horrible pick.
dslak
I wasn’t the only one reminded of William Jennings Bryant by this little gem:
Who even uses “money grubbers” anymore?
myiq2xu
It’s really bizzare to watch kool-aid fueled CDS destroy otherwise intelligent, rational people.
The “reality based community” is like a bunch of angry chihuahuas.
cleek
for all her noise about this gas tax thing, she hasn’t sponsored or proposed any legislation to actually make it happen, right?
she’s fulla shit.
marjowil
This is the same Hillary that voted for the flag-burning amendment and the video game censorship bill, not even going to the AUMF, Kyl-L and bankruptcy bill. She will say anything to get a vote, just as Obama has been saying is everything wrong with today’s politics.
She is also operating under the 90s 51% strategy, where the repubs are the majority and you’ve got to try and fool them into thinking you’re one of them.
Whether or not Obama can deliver on “new politics,” etc., at least he gets it that this election, in which red counties are turning blue as people go Dem, is the opportunity to change the map. With young people and new voters coming out in droves, we can for once possibly see substantive change in direction for the country. The difference is acknowledging that awakening red voters CAN move left, as opposed to moving the debate rightward in a doomed attempt to be like be more Bush than Bush, more Cheney than Cheney, more McCain than McCain.
If (god help us) we dems blow it this year, there may never be another chance to correct course.
PsiFighter37
The part about suing OPEC insults my intelligence. I took a course on international law this semester (I’m a college student…at least for 2 more weeks), and that’s about as laughable a suggestion as it gets. I’m sure that would be OPEC’s response as well…and appropriately so.
Dreggas
Hillary has managed, in 7 months, to destroy the Clinton brand in the eyes of so many, it’s almost as if she watched what Bush did the past 7 years to the republican/bush brand and said “Oh yeah, it’ll only take me 7 months to do it”.
Bootlegger
Keep the fucking gas tax, raise the fucking gas tax, just fix the goddamned roads and bridges before more people are seriously injured. Really, this is insane, cheapen gas so more people drive on roads in terrible need of repair? What kind of policy is that?
Richard Bottoms
It’s funny really, insane Hillary hatred dooms universal health care, Hillary lesbian-hitman commie venom helps her become a Senator, and now she’s evil personified as she battles Obama for the nomination.
She managed to win Pennsylvania, a rather inconsequential state mind you, but still a win. It’s Hillary or Obama in November, I don’t really care which one.
With triumph this close after 25 years of Republican dominance I don’t see anything but a rout. We are going to put a massive boot into the GOP rectum no matter who is left standing when the balloons drop at the convention.
Bootlegger
And what is up with the anti-intellecutalism? I she gonna denounce “global warming” next?
ThymeZone
Yes, I saw that same appearance, and had to shake my head and go “whubba?” because I wasn’t sure I actually heard her say that.
I knew she would say anything, but Jeebus.
All she needs to complete the image now is a Budweiser baseball cap with grease stains on it, and a piece of hay sticking out of the corner of her mouth.
dslak
Lesson of the day: If you accuse your opponents of “CDS,” you don’t have to address the merits of what they’re saying.
John S.
So true.
People drinking the Klinton Kool-Aid and having gone into a full-blown state of derangement on account of her are truly frightening to behold.
And you would know.
Jake
I think the gays are probably her next target, since West Virginia is coming up.
Tim Fuller
Teacher fired for Wizardry
Enjoy.
Barbara
I have no idea what Clinton stands for anymore. I am pretty sure she will not call for a “re-examination” of the legality of abortion anytime soon, but I think that’s as far as I can forecast. Either she is pandering without regard to the expectations of those who might vote for her (fuck’em over once she turns out the lights in the state) or she truly has no real policy on things like energy and the environment (apparently this latest gambit has seriously pissed off environmental groups). And someone is going to come from somewhere and say “well who gives a shit about environmental groups!” and my response would have been: well, I thought until last week that Clinton did, and I’m pretty sure when the Oregon and Montana primary campaign schedules roll around she will again. Maybe it was ever thus, and the Internet has made it much more obviously so, but more and more it just looks pathetic.
Bootlegger
That’s right, they are so damned elitist.
Penn
Maybe she’s had a moment of clarity about what her campaign is doing to the party, and is throwing herself on her sword, making Obama the obvious and only candidate, to unify the party?
…nah, doesn’t seem likely.
Doug H. (Fausto no more)
Fixed. You can follow the Clinton campaign’s slide just by noting the decline of troll2x’s posts.
Ted
This from the cry-baby who told John to “Fuck you” just yesterday because you didn’t like his post.
Angry, ANGRY Myiq!
John S.
I really hate this state sometimes.
Dreggas
Kinda like how the freepers react when calling any and all criticism of Bush BDS…I’ve said it for a while, the Clinton campaign and their supporters has become a sad reflection of the bush years.
Dennis - SGMM
Then there’s this gem:
“Totally obliterate them.” Men, women, children. We don’t even have a treaty obligation to respond if Israel is attacked – let alone totally obliterate sixty-six million people. If a Republican threatened to obliterate Iran most of us here would be piling on him as a warmongering fool.
President Hillary Clinton would bomb Iran, if only in the interest of being re-elected. Hell, President Hillary Clinton would bomb San Francisco if she thought it would get her re-elected. She’s gone off the rails.
Bootlegger
Damn.
I dated a girl in highschool whose father wouldn’t let her watch magicians on TV because they were pracitcing “dark arts”. I’ll never forget watching tv at her hosue and that Polaroid commercial with David Copperfield came on. Her father cam sprinting out of the back room to slam off the tv (they had buttons back then). Fortunately his daughter was a lot more fun.
4tehlulz
>>”Why don’t we hold these Wall St money grubbers responsible for their role in this recession?”
Well, at least she left out the “Jewish” before “money grubbers” .
Yeah, low bar, I know. But you take what you can get.
nightjar
Teh Kingfish making history.
Lavocat
Pure political power grab: do whatever it takes. Literally ANYTHING.
Lie, cheat, steal – whatever it takes, to get The Brass Ring with the Nuclear Football Attachment.
C’mon, now: did we expect any less from a Clinton?
rawshark
I saw a picture of her the other day giving an speech while standing on the back of a late model pickup truck. Lord help us. Are people fooled by that? ‘She’s standing on a pickup truck, she shares our values.’
Frank Jacobs
I vehemently defended Bill and Hillary during the 90s. I defended Hillary’s involvement in the failed Health Care Bill; after all, if she was a good policy wonk and willing to do the difficult legwork, math and arm-twisting, why *shouldn’t* she be involved? I defended Bill during the Lewinsky fracas, noting that not only was the whole thing a politically-motivated charade, but also I wasn’t sure that I was entirely against the notion that the guy who’s finger rested on the button of the largest arsenal in the whole godless world should be getting his pipes cleaned on a semi-regular basis.
This whole thing makes me wonder – was I wrong all along? What else was I wrong about?
Generally I have a pretty solid sense of where I stand on matters of policy, but in terms of these character issues, I admit that I’ve been very, very shaken by the Clintons in the last few months.
rawshark
This can’t possibly be true. It just can’t.
vwcat
She began morphing some in Ohio but, in the run up to Pennsylvania she totally lost it. I think the media talking up her populist thing and egging it on along with Hillary’s penchant for always going for the overkill. Never subtle. She goes overboard.
So, she is now morphing into a cartoon of a populist.
I did read on Huffpo that she is definitely going for the nuclear option May 31. She is going to force the Bylaws committee to count Michigan and Florida. Half on the board are Clintonistas and even if the board would think it wrong, democrats have long learned to be spineless when it comes to the Clintons strongarming.
She is definitely planning to steal the nomination from Obama regardless of the outcome of the remaining states.
Frank Jacobs
rawshark: The lowest of low-information voters won’t be fooled by that. One name: Fred Thompson (it even looked a lot like she borrowed his campaign’s truck, as one commenter here pointed out).
Genine
Well, if there is CDS, Hillary has certainly helped contribute to it.
I still think that, underneath it all, Hillary is a decent person. Like Obama said, she is a product of the political machine. But, unlike Obama, she is not taking any initiative or opportunity to get past it or evolve in a different way.
And so, I have to say, with love and compassion in my heart, that Hillary Clinton can kiss my ass.
She had the money, the backing and the goodwill and the moment it appeared she’d have to work for the nomination she started acting like a two-year old (my apologies to parents of two year olds) and squandered it all away. I am sick to death of seeing these qualities in our “leaders” and it has to stop.
Dennis - SGMM
Well, if the teacher really is a wizard those people are in trouble: “Shrinkus Genitalia!”
Fledermaus
Oh.My.Gawd. That’s so never-going-to-happen stupid I don’t even know where to begin.
Punchy
Can I buy a sometimes-vowel, please? Jesus.
vwcat
You have to wonder what she is thinking. The things coming out of her mouth, even if it is pandering, ect., has to worry the democrats and supers.
It is pure Bushisms now and even if our leadership is spineless they have to be banging their heads against the wall thinking she has gone off the deep end.
Punchy
You’d think Teh Gays will target her instead, being that she’s an asshole.
SamFromUtah
Teacher fired for Wizardry
Damn, I never expected the century after the 20th to be the 17th.
She is also operating under the 90s 51% strategy, where the repubs are the majority and you’ve got to try and fool them into thinking you’re one of them.
Which might not be so bad if it had ever actually worked. Faith-based political strategy = lose.
Krista
We had a Governor-General by the name of Ray Hnatyshyn. The “H” was silent and the “y”s were pronounced like “i”s (short i, so it rhymes with “physician”).
So phonetically, I’m guessing that James’ last name is pronounced “ri-ni-shin”, with the emphasis being on the second syllable.
ThymeZone
Yes, a nice beautifully restored pickup truck, probably a collector’s item, not a real rusted, mud-splattered work truck. Standing in the shiny truck in a $1000 pantsuit and sporting a $500 coif.
Hey, it worked for Fred Thompson in Tennessee.
Dennis - SGMM
Note that newly-minted populist Clinton isn’t talking about taking on the HMO’s, the banks or the credit card companies. She knows who her real friends are and they look nothing like you and me.
ThymeZone
The truck, which probably hasn’t been near any actual work in many years.
Jorge
What I’m learning? Obama has patience like no other politician to come along in a long time. I’ve thought that his reluctance to deal with the day to day media cycle frenzy to be a problem,, but more and more it seems like he is the only sane person in America.
The nomination has been his since February and he knows it. Hillary can be shrill and yell an scream all she wants, but after tomorrow he is going to be around 175 delegates away from the nomination with around 270 superdelegates undecided.
My guess is that by the first or second week in June, Obama will have a delegate lead so large that he’ll be able to say “OK, let’s seat Florida’s delegates as voted and sit the Michigan delegates 56 percent for Hillary and 44 percent for me” He’ll come off looking like the hero, Hillary won’t have an argument anymore and everyone will be happy.
She ain’t going to knock him out and he’s already won on all the judges cards. What we are watching know is the final round of 15 rounder in which one fighter won 9 of the first 12 rounds so the other fighter is going for low blows and head butts. No one likes to watch their guy get nut-punched over and over but it is almost over. Mid June we get to hold up the belt and get drunk.
Dennis - SGMM
I once worked with an engineer whose last name was Trcka. He pronounced it “tretchka” with the emphasis on the first syllable.
rawshark
She is calling everyone in that crowd a rube. Whoever said the speech would work better if it was delivered from the back of a pick up truck is saying all those people at the rally are idiots and Clinton apparently agreed.
If she goes to Florida and accuses Obama of being a wizard then we know she’s a republican.
KRK
Isn’t Chelsea Clinton a rather well-paid hedge fund manager? I’m just an ignorant elite, but aren’t hedge fund managers middlemen/persons?
When can we expect Clinton to denounce and reject her daughter as an enemy of America?
Please don’t buy into and/or repeat this “nuclear option” garbage. As that HuffPo article makes clear, for this “option” to even be possible absolutely everything has to go right for Clinton between now and June. That is, she wins big in Indiana, pulls even or wins NC, and convinces the bulk of the supers to come to her side.
Only then would she even have a chance of pulling strings on the credentials committee. This is as unlikely as ever, despite political writers’ efforts to continue to make it seem like there’s a real race to the finish.
ksmiami
But why can’t the average joe see through her shit?
cbear
Man, that is cold.
KRK
Bingo.
rawshark
Any other red state dwellers hearing office talk about how the dem candidates are just killing each other and are ruining any chance of getting their vote? Is there a polite way of telling them that the opinions of those who were never going to vote for a woman, black man or dem matter very little? For some I don’t feel the need to be polite (they’ve ‘called’ me a traitor so screw them). But for others I want to make them aware that their little gigglefests over trivial crap shows they have a problem, not the candidates.
Dennis - SGMM
Probably for the same reasons that they voted for Bush.
Krista
When Did She Become Bubba?
I must be tired. For one brief second I read that as “When Did She Become Blubber?” and had a total Judy Blume moment. Then again, the namesake of that book also pandered to her former enemies in an effort to retain her newfound popularity, so maybe it’s not that much of a literary stretch.
(And please, don’t take my comment as an opportunity to start twitting her about her appearance. There is plenty that is objectionable about her campaign without talking about the size of her bum in her pantsuit. It just lends credence to those who claim that the criticism of her is rooted in sexism.)
Ripley
I have to wonder how much of this is actually Hillary and how much is actually the soothing, dulcet whispers of her campaign people. If you’ve ever heard her speak when she’s trying to push a talking point or a “catchy slogan”, she’s terrible at it – rehearsed, affected, just trying too hard. It’s like a guy trying to start ‘the wave’ and nobody really follows along. It’s almost embarrassing. (Think of her recent “Yes, we will !” chant… lame!)
Honestly, I think her campaign is its own worst enemy. They’re obviously wigged out by Obama’s appeal and speaking skill, so they’re trying to copy-cat him with ‘dumbed down’ rhetoric. That said, if she truly believes what she’s spouting, or believes this new campaign style is a winner for America, she doesn’t deserve another term as Senator, much less the Presidency.
Dennis - SGMM
So “Hindenbum” and “Bumtanic” are out?
John S.
Because the average joe is ______________, the same reason why they thought _______________ was true, just like they thought invading Iraq would be a good idea.
Fill in the blanks.
KRK
Slavs are very frugal with their vowels. Lots of words just forego them altogether. It’s pretty great once you get used to it. My online name, for example, means “neck” in Slovak. (Though, oddly enough, that’s not why I chose it.)
p.a.
Any southern primaries after NC? Can’t wait to see Hillary in a truck with a confederate flag on it. Would pay good money to see that. Maybe a speech about states’ right to reject control by Washington elitists.
Idiotic
THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS!! FOR HILLARY!!
Brachiator
Senator Clinton has always been strong on analysis, but weak on execution.
Hillary is having fun doing her Blue Collar Momma thing, and seems to have found a way to connect with people who don’t want change, who believe that there are easy answers to complex problems, and who can be easily conned into believing that the elites who make up both parties give a rat’s ass about the little guy.
It’s working for her with her target audience in Indiana and North Carolina. And her acolytes elsewhere can indulge in an easy cynicism in which they convince themselves that Hillary doesn’t really believe any of the crap that she is spewing, but is just playing to the rubes for the greater good.
So Hillary Clinton’s antics don’t upset me because I no longer take her serious as a candidate for the presidency.
Jen
Here’s a weird gay thing. I went to the Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Raleigh, and the crowd was at least 2/3 Obama and much louder. Nearly everyone had a pin or sticker or something announcing their allegiances. And one I saw over and over again, on probably at least 10 people, was a little rainbow pin that said “out for Hillary” — men and women. This, and little old blue-haired ladies, appeared to be her 2 core support groups.
Somehow that just seems wrong and weird to me. Maybe it’s because when I think, of at least gay men, in the abstract, I think of someone kind of cooler than me who I wouldn’t want to judge my wardrobe, shoes, or window treatments if I had any. And you’d think they’d look at Hillary and say, did she send a blind person into the thrift store to shop for that pantsuit, because OMG!
More seriously, DOMA? Don’t ask/don’t tell? My husband thinks she gave an interview to a gay magazine that Obama wouldn’t talk to. Surely there must be more to it than that…?
ThymeZone
{ spits food two yards across room }
Perfect.
Rick Taylor
It just struck me how funny it is, originally the great uniter, the one who could reach across the aisle and bring people together. He got a lot of flack for this from blogs sympathetic to Hillary which I agreed with at the time, so it’s funny to say the least to see her metamorphosis.
John S.
Homosexuals can be low-information voters, too.
If you peruse the blogosphere a bit, you’ll find Hillary’s difficulty in even uttering the word ‘gay’ disturbing. From an interview on LOGO:
Svensker
Ha ha ha. You’ve been missed, Jen.
But, yeah, why the Hill is an appealing “fag hag” eludes me as well. But apparently she is. Cuz it sure ain’t her policies.
myiq2xu
Actually, you’re wrong. One college course does not make you a lawyer.
Foreign businesses and even governments are sued in American courts all the time.
dslak
He didn’t, but I don’t see what that shows. Obama doesn’t address gay rights according to the rules of identity politics. He actually talks about it in other venues.
So “Obama didn’t give an interview to this one paper but Hillary did” is only evidence that Hillary is following the traditional, Democratic pandering mode for primaries. His speeches on gay rights in front of hostile audiences show 1) that he’s slightly to the left of her on the issue, and 2) that he actually believes what he’s saying, rather than just hitting up homosexuals for money and then knifing them when it’s electorally beneficial.
Zifnab
Obama is black and notably more religious than Clinton. The con-servatives have been trying to blunt Obama’s godly appeal by calling him a secret muslim or a satanist or whatever bullshit they come up with. But the in-the-know Democrats have an idea of where Obama’s allegiances lay. And the black church has never been a friend of Gay America.
Dennis - SGMM
No more wrong and weird than the blue collar voters who supported her despite her, and her husband’s, support for NAFTA. We’ve entered the Golden Age of Politics wherein you can get many to vote against their own interests by talking up the right line of bullshit.
Genine
OMG, Judy Blume reference! I love it! Makes me want to give you a kiss and give cbear something to think about.
Btw, did you read Forever? I read it in the school library. Needless to say, I grew up in a big East Coast city, I don’t see that book being able to survive the school board in BFE.
Meanwhile, The Carpetbagger just talked about keeping perspective about the election, about what’s at stake and even Hillary would be better than McCain on his worse day.
Which is why, though I am not crazy about her, if she is the nominee I will vote for her. There is just too much at stake. I don’t have the luxury of living in a blue state that will go blue no matter what. I live in freakin’ Colorado and every vote against McCain counts.
Scott H
Hillary Clinton and Buzz Bissinger walk into a bar…
There’s no joke, just two people realizing “40 years perfecting [their] craft” is circling the crapper.
Pooh
My totally in the tank for HRC GF actually admitted to me last night that she is getting “annoyed” and “depressed” by the messages she has been getting from the campaign recently. Given the amount of satisfaction this gave me (not to mention gloating opportunities) you know it had to be bad to reach this point…
myiq2xu
From Bob Somerby today:
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Jen
The opportunities for drag are greater, if frumpier? They see the mullet and Big Bird yellow scarf and just want to help, a la “Clueless”?
As far as I know, the polling doesn’t break down into gay/straight anyway, so I don’t even know if my perception gleaned from pins at one event is accurate.
Doonhamer
Andrew Sullivan’s been all over this, how the Clintons have had the Human Rights Campaign in their backpocket for years. Yes, in spite of DOMA and DADT.
On my blogs at a couple of the gay social networking sites I belong to, I posted links to a couple of Sully’s posts about why the GLBT community should consider Obama. I eventually removed them as I got tired of being flamed by unthinking Hillary supporters (I didn’t mind debating them, but it’s difficult to carry on a debate when the site limited responses to 255 characters).
cleek
Sullivan’s been trying to figure out that little puzzle for months. no good theory yet.
Jen
If I were looking for a fag hag, I’d look no further than Nancy Pelosi. I’m just sayin’. That woman can wear Armani like nobody’s business.
Tom in Texas
Jen;
From my experience, there is a long history of mutual suspicion within the African American and gay communities. Some influence comes from the black churches, but many black friends I’ve talked to resent any comparison with the civil rights struggle because they feel that gay people can hide their identity and did so for centuries. They are not segregated and unable ever to assimilate, as blacks were for most of our nation’s history. The same dynamic is actually in play with Latinos and blacks as well. In both cultures, gays are basically ingrained to hide their identity — they are much like southern states in that regard.
slippy hussein toad
Well, MyIQ1/4*.002+3.14159U is probably gone, having deposited his pathetic attempt to defend Hillary, but just to give people an idea of why some of us aren’t happy with Hillary:
#1, Her promise to “obliterate” Iran. Have a look at what “obliteration” means in the nuclear context.
I mean, maybe some people just take it as a toss-off comment that doesn’t mean anything. In that case, why should we take any of her other comments seriously? And if it’s not a toss-off comment, then she really does mean that, virtually unprovoked, she would visit that kind of horror and destruction on millions of people we barely know anything about.
It’s pandering to the WORST ELEMENTS of our society, the stupid fucks who think that we’re living in some kind of Arnold Schwarzenegger film. Except I would trust Gov. Schwarzenegger to be more intelligent about this topic than Clinton. Her say anything campaign has reduced itself to absurdity, and what’s funny is that somehow she has to go back to the Senate after this. And not be laughed at every time she opens her mouth.
Dennis - SGMM
myiq, the post read “I have since learned from a reader that Barack Obama also supported that bill.” Um, that’s not a very high standard of proof.
On the other hand:
scrutinizer
I think some of the GLBT Hillary fans still have their noses out of joint over the McClurkin kerfuffle.
Dreggas
the same reason it took so many of us who defended them to see it.
As far as gay support, I am beginning to think they suffer the most from stockholm syndrome. Given DOMA/DADT I think the Clintons played em all for chumps with “Oh yeah, it could have been worse”.
Dennis - SGMM
Whoops, meant to include the last part of Obama’s statement:
Jen
The decisions based around identity politics are just kind of weird to me. Not so much with the A-A community, because I think there’s a logic there: he’s black, he’s great, white folks like him, and he can actually win this thing. It’s a lot more than support just because he’s black. I think even Bill Clinton realizes by now that Barack Obama ain’t no Jesse Jackson.
I just remembered about Elton John. I don’t know what that means, but I guess it means something.
Someone should talk to David Sedaris about this. I love that guy. He has a little spiel about how he hates the rainbow flag, and who voted for that anyway.
scrutinizer
It’s a shame to see Somersby going into the tank for Clinton. He used to fact-check his stories a lot better than that.
KRK
Nice, try, Dennis.
But your pesky facts have no power in bizarro world!
Svensker
Wow, Bob Somersby is a fun guy, isn’t he?
John S.
Yeah! Take that uninformed MUPpets!
Pursuant to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA) of 1976, a foreign sovereign nation (or its agents, instrumentalities, or subdivisions) may be sued in U.S. court.
Of course, the likelihood of foreign parties actually being held to account over the rulings of an American court…Well, let me sum it up in three words.
China. Intellectual property.
Jen
I forgot to mention something else lately. Our Democratic governor, who was handily elected to 2 terms, was booed at the J-J dinner, and then talked over as he spoke. He endorsed Hillary. Hillary herself was received cordially, even warmly, and she did herself a favor by staying on common, anti-Republican and anti-Bush ground. But the booing of a sitting Democratic governor at a Democratic party event, I think is probably a first.
Barbara
Re: suing OPEC. There are three issues:
The first is extraterritoriality, which is, the initial sale of crude oil, which is the subject of the cartel occurs, in a sovereign nation other than the U.S. Cartel behavior in foreign countries can become subject to U.S. antitrust laws (see: Archer Daniels Midland, lyseine), but if all the sales that are subject to the price fixing take place outside the U.S. the case for application of U.S. law might be hard to make.
Second, your own dear United States Supreme Court some time ago (more than two decades) interpreted the U.S. antitrust laws as not permitting antitrust recovery to indirect purchasers of a commodity. What that means is that the only purchasers who would have standing to sue OPEC nations for damages attributable to OPEC price fixing and market allocation and output control are Exxon, et al., which directly purchase crude oil. No, it doesn’t sound too likely to me either.
Third, OPEC nations are sovereign. Even within the U.S., the antitrust laws do not reach conduct engaged in or supervised by a state that has adopted a policy that would otherwise be considered inimical under the antitrust laws, like exclusive dealing or price fixing.
By the logic of Mrs. Clinton, African nations ought to be able to sue the U.S. and E.U. governments for commodity price supports and agricultural subsidies that pose artificial competitive constraints to producers of agricultural goods in developing nations, who really could use the foreign currency.
Grand Moff Texan
It’s really bizzare to watch kool-aid fueled CDS destroy otherwise intelligent, rational people.
Even her lick-spittles are borrowing Republican lines.
Behold! Hillarieberman Republiclinton!
.
John S.
Yeah, you and Somerby are both pretty light on facts these days. Like you said, drinking the Klinton Kool-Aid warps the mind of people that used to be rational and sane.
4tehlulz
Better: OPEC. Oil. Embargo.
Grand Moff Texan
It’s not like Somerby is going to face the truth any time soon. That dishonest sack of shit has his snits, and that’s all that matters to him.
.
cleek
she’s got the Hillamentum!
Grand Moff Texan
It’s a shame to see Somersby going into the tank for Clinton. He used to fact-check his stories a lot better than that.
Unless Joe Wilson or yellowcake was involved, you mean. He’s Mrs. Haversham, and his pretty white cake has been rotting since 2000.
.
KRK
People are getting sloppy, forcing me to do research. I resent this.
First, someone said something about Clinton supporting an amendment to the Constitution that would have banned flag burning. Myiq then conflated the amendment with a bill and called people dumb-ass because Obama supported it too. Dennis then provided proof that Obama voted against the amendment, thinking that that answered Myiq’s comment.
Turns out, both Obama and Clinton voted against the constitutional amendment and both voted for a proposed amendment to the bill containing the constitutional amendment, a legislative swap that would have made flag burning illegal without changing the constituion. (Clinton was one of 6 co-sponsors of this attempt to amend the bill regarding the constitutional amendment.)
So their votes were exactly the same.
Result is that Myiq is a dumbass because instead of competently defending Clinton’s record by pointing out that Clinton actually voted against the constitutional amendment (which was the issue that had been raised), he wrongly conceded that Clinton had made that vote (which she hadn’t) but argued that Obama’s vote in favor of the legislative bill was the same thing (which it wasn’t).
Andrew
I was really hoping that this would be about a guy playing the Sir-Tech games on an Apple IIe emulator.
slippy hussein toad
Really, any reason will do. It’s not like an academic dissertation is required. Shills are stupid. If they were here to tell the truth they wouldn’t be shilling.
chopper
just when i thought her campaign couldn’t get dumber. i find chunks of better policies than that in my stool.
myiq2xu
Actually, regarding the flag burning amendment, Hillary and Obama voted the same.
They both voted “nay”
myiq2xu
I was right about the bill, but didn’t address the proposed amendment. The original poster was wrong, but you call me names.
Southerndemocrat
Don’t insult the Kingfish by comparing him to Clinton. I know you have a better grasp of history than that. When Long was catapulted to the Governor’s office, Standard Oil was a veritable monopoly that ransacked Louisiana, all the while, using their connections in the state house to pay little or no taxes. Louisiana was the 2nd poorest state in the union, was one of the only states with out constructed roads, and the people could not afford to send their kids to school. Long was the result of the ruling class’s obscene greed and complete disregard for the working folks of Louisiana. Long would not have been necessary had the ruling class paid their fair share.
scrutinizer
Oh, bless your heart, myiq. I know you never do that yourself. I’m sure that calling us kool-aid fueled angry chihuahuas with CDS isn’t name-calling.
Dave_Violence
Hillary’s going to win in November… No stopping her.
says
Poor Hillary, she sounds more shrill with each passing speech. And more desperate. It’s pathetic watching her morph into the hideous, nameless thing she’s becoming. At this rate, before long she’ll be saying, “Down with the elitists!”
grumpy realist
Hmm, I can think of another foreign cartel that Hillary might want to sic the law courts on as well…can anyone say de Beers?
Yeah, like that’s going to work, either.
Go ahead and sue OPEC, dearie. It’s won’t do anything but emphasize the slide of the US into irrelevance, but it will make your tiny little heart go pitter-pat a little stronger, and you can continue waving it over the heads of the rubes to get the fools to vote for you.
Bob In Pacifica
The gay support meme, as I’ve heard it, is that Hillary appeared in pictures with S.F. Mayor Gavin Newsom in the months after he was performing gay marriages and Obama didn’t.
I don’t know the details or how true it is but Newsom, who is a Clinton supporter, said recently that no one wanted to be a picture with him and generally downplayed it all.
zoe from pittsburgh
I really wish that somewhere along the way Hillary had decided that keeping her dignity was a high priority in this campaign.
What I can’t figure out is why she’s doing what she’s doing– the NRA-style gun ads, the GOP tax holiday and the everyone-is-an-elitist-but-me argument. I used to think she was brilliant but now I’m not so sure. She’s playing right into nearly every anti-Hillary stereotype that the GOP ever spun against her. I really am starting to think that she made a faustian pact with Bill after Monicagate and we’re all suffering for it.
Hillary has become so phony that if she were to magically get the nomination the GOP would shred her crazy patchwork quilt of an identity in a matter of weeks. The only thing that might slow them down is that there are so many loose dangling threads they wouldn’t know where to start.
zoe from pittsburgh
As a member of the LGBT community I think neither Hillary or Obama can claim that they are better on our issues– they both support civil unions and reject marriage, support hate crimes legislation, ENDA, immigration rights for partners, etc.
However, Obama has said that he’ll repeal DOMA and I haven’t heard Hillary say that she would do so too. Campaign-wise, Obama has a pretty substantial LGBT outreach and mentions “gays and lesbians” in his stump speeches– or at least he did when I saw him in Pittsburgh.
Regardless, I don’t really measure either of them by GLBT issues, I’m not that kind of voter, and I’m just happy that gay marriage isn’t being demagogued the way it was in 2004.
Rick Taylor
Amen.
Evidently all those right wing stereotypes weren’t all just stereotypes. The campaign sure has been an eye opener for me.
That’s certainly how it seems to me.
Brachiator
Which black church is that? A.M.E.? Baptist? Church of God in Christ?
There is no more a monolithic black church than there is a monolithic black community.
The idea that “the in-the-know Democrats” know Obama’s heart is a scurrilous bit of innuendo that is easily refuted by Obama’s public record with respect to gay rights.
There is, for example, a piece from a gay newspaper, The Washington Blade, which notes that even though Jeremiah Wright did not clearly endorse gay marriage, he has been decidedly gay friendly in other areas. And even here, avoiding the simple-minded “guilt-by-association” nonsense of the mainstream media, the article notes that Obama’s statements and actions have been more definitively supportive of gays than his pastor’s positiions (Obama pastor backs gay rights):
If anything, many gay rights organizations have been cowardly in their refusal to acknowledge Senator Obama’s gay-friendly statements and in passively playing their own despicable “guilt by association” games in allowing a false image of Obama as “black and so by definition anti-gay” to hang out there so late into the primary season.