Is Hillary out of her mind? In justifying staying in the election, she referenced RFK’s assassination and Zimbabwe’s presidential elections. What is she trying to say? Are the Democratic primaries similar to Zimbabwe’s democracy? I won’t even comment on the RFK reference.
The other day I came across this sentence in The Enchantress of Florence, and it pretty much sums up the U.S.’s entire predicament in the world:
Then a strange moment came, a moment of the kind that determines the fate of nations, because when a crowd loses its fear of an army, the world changes.
That’s the death of victory. No threats, posturing, no preventative or preemptive war seems to deter anyone anymore. That’s what Israel proved in Lebanon, what the U.S. is proving in Iraq, and the end result has been the great death of military victory.
Yes, guerrilla warfare was what Alexander Hamilton preached in 1776 and the Minutemen practiced to defeat the British or how the Spanish defended themselves against the French in 1808. Military might, whether in Somalia or Vietnam, has always had trouble when fighting someone else’s map.
Nonetheless, this feels even greater today. With the globalization of information, we are even more aware of the fact: the crowd’s lack of fear in the face of an infinitely superior army foretells not the end of war, but the end of victory.
The word on the street is that if Hillary goes gracefully, the remaining Super D’s will let her finish out the race, but if she continues her slash and burn tactics, then they will come out in unison and end it now.
Many voices have already spoken against Hillary’s latest Race Card rantings about
how Senator 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.
including Bob Herbert, Eugene Robinson, and Maureen Dowd. Even Charlie Rangel, a Clinton supporter, found those comments difficult to explain away. If Hillary thought that Obama’s “clinging” comments came off as elitist, then what do these comments come off as?
I suppose that what they actually prove is the end of the Clinton Regime. It’s insane, like Crazy Eddie’s “everything’s on sale“. We’re witnessing the final days. Friday’s Wall Street Journal editorial described it best: Continue reading
One thing that we’ve learned over the course of the Democratic primaries is that people are incredibly predictable. Regardless of the pandering and negative attacks and endless press coverage, people did not change the way they voted. Wright didn’t hurt Obama and the Gas Tax didn’t help Hillary. We are demographically conditioned. White women over 60 and uneducated white men voted for Hillary. African Americans, educated whites, and younger Americans voted for Obama.
So don’t even try to fool yourself and think that you have free will. Look at your ballot, and face the truth — the mirror doesn’t lie. Ironically, last night I had a wonderful dinner at my friends’ house, they didn’t serve squirrel, and I didn’t even know that they were white trash until we discussed politics.
From Andrew Sullivan:
As her speech staggers on, after the gas tax holiday gambit, and a plea for Burma, she eventually turns to Florida and Michigan. You almost want to look away. But it’s fascinating in a way. She cannot concede; she cannot give an inch; she cannot acknowledge reality. Observing sociopaths in close detail as their world collapses around them and they cannot absorb the truth is always fascinating. And yet some sliver of humanity is discernible: her tone is altered. Even she cannot fake enthusiasm or confidence any more. And Bill seems grim. Chelsea seemed close to breaking into tears.
If you want another president whose own grip on reality has little relationship to the outside world, then you know who to vote for.
The Bill Moyers Journal and Sebastian Mallaby have recently done very good jobs at exposing the good old American double standard.
According to Bill Moyers, Continue reading
Yesterday on This Week when confronted with why not a single economist or newspaper of any merit considered her (and McCain’s) gas tax plan as anything other than senseless and counterproductive pandering, Hillary blanketly called all economists elitists.
Normally, Hillary is so much more prepared when defending her proposals. I almost felt vicarious embarrassment while witnessing her absurd defense to an absurd plan. What’s she going to argue next: the world is flat, creative design, or that all knowledge is elitist? Give us break!
By the way, the rich have gotten richer — you made $110 Million over these past seven years you’re complaining about.
I find it absolutely laughable that Americans, the press, or any Republican or Democratic politician could somehow question Barack Obama’s patriotism or ability to act as president because he was a member of Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s church. Why are there people in the U.S. who are trying to turn Senator Obama into some kind of politican radical? What is going on here? For the time being let’s just call it laughable — to avoid calling it disturbing.
Hillary has more than her share of questionable cronies from back in the Arkansas days — even during the Clinton Administration. Nobody’s is taking another look there. Where is the outrage — other than Iran’s official protest before the U.N. — for her “obliteration” threat? When Chelsea was last asked about Monica Lewinsky, she moved away from the “that’s none of your business” response to the “my father’s behavior shouldn’t influence how you vote for my mother”. But if the press and pundits are asking why Obama chose Wright as his preacher for 20 years, shouldn’t they also ask Hillary why she decided to stay married for the past 10 years with her lying and cheating husband? You think it was to help her get elected? Seriously! Why is it that Hillary talking about her religion and her relationship to God is not too personal to share with the American people, but talking about Bill and her sham marriage is none of our business?
How about John McCain? The U.S. military has a horrendous record of segregation, discrimination, homophobia — not to mention invading foreign countries and murdering civilians, and yet no one is asking John McCain to justify his lifelong committment to the U.S. military. Why is no one outraged that McCain is “glad to have” Hagee’s endorsement?
I don’t think it is such a hard stretch for any American, white or black, to understand Wright’s frustrations with and anger towards a system that has abused a large percentage of American citizens. Should all presidential candidates distance themselves from African Americans who are angry about the past? How much more radical is what Wright has said than his white counterparts John Hagee or Pat Robertson?
New York Times op-ed columnist Frank Rich has written an excellent piece today entitled “The All-White Elephant in the Room” about this double standard. Continue reading
With the increase in demand from China for things like meat, milk and rice, we are seeing food prices skyrocket and even food shortages. It’s funny to think that there can be food shortages when governments in Europe and the U.S. heavily subsidize agriculture. In the past twelve months in Spain, for example, the price of milk has increased 30%. Something like 40% of the total EU budget goes to agriculture — that means that consumers are paying twice (first through taxes and second at the cash register).
Nevertheless, there may be some light at the end of the tunnel. If the wealthy nations don’t react quickly and change their agricultural policies, China may just be the opportunity that developing nations in Africa and Latin America have been waiting for to finally be able to compete in a global market.
Filed under Essays
I think I need to take a short break from the campaign trail. Something is happening, and I am not quite sure exactly why, but it doesn’t sit well in my stomach. It has to do with the turn that the election spin is taking. I am not saying that Hillary is now in the lead or has a real chance of winning. She still has the same chance that she had two months ago — she can only destroy Obama for the general election and that’s about it. But it’s the destruction that seems so unhealthy and astounding — even coming from the Clintons. It also feels hurtful to the nation, and the press is just loving it.
Grave Error 