Tuesday, August 26

Politics is not therapy.



Dear PUMAs: "The mind of a woman in love is operating at the lowest level of the intellect."

"Aw bullshit, Alfred Hitchcock, you misogynist prick!"

Alright! Alright! This is a good reminder for all of us, actually:

Politics is not therapy. It's not something that is conducted so people who live essentially comfortable lives can feel good about themselves and happy about outcomes...

It's about what kinds of lawyers are appointed to important positions in the Justice Department to defend the constitution and people's civil liberties. It's about what kinds of people will be working in Labor Department, either helping or hindering the creation of more unions. It's about who is at the Environmental Protection Agency, and whether the laws that protect poor communities from illegal toxic dumping will be enforced or ignored. It's about what the State Department and other agencies do to foster the development of democracy and human rights, or what they turn a blind eye to. And of course it's about the Supreme Court. And it's about a hundred other things just like these things.


Most Democrats, regardless of who they supported in the primaries, totally get this.

Hillary Clinton gets this.

Last night's Ted Kennedy moment really took me back, especially the signs that evoked 1980 so clearly. That was back in the day, brothers and sisters! Although I was still too young to vote, I made phone calls for the Kennedy campaign as a teenager.

1980 was quite a convention. Emboldened by late in the season primary victories, Kennedy and his supporters actually fought for an open convention, where delegates pledged to Jimmy Carter could switch to Kennedy, even on the first ballot. His amazing speech the second night of the convention left some of us liberals still feeling sour about Carter, which wasn't hard.

There were a lot of Democrats who didn't want to play nice in 1980. They voted for John Anderson, or stayed home.

Ronald Reagan was elected President that year.

If we win this year, I pray we'll have Hillary's speech tonight to thank for some of that. I hope won't sugarcoat it: "Support Obama or you are NOT supporting me and what I stand for." I hope she can become the conscience of the Senate that Ted Kennedy has been. And please God, make her drop the Zionist/AIPAC bullshit.

PS. Caroline Kennedy wins an award from me. Wolf Blitzer wants her to "walk us through" the vetting process that yielded Biden?

"No, I am not going to walk you through it. It was a confidential process."

Way to say fuck off to that annoying blowfish.

Ooh I found the vid, and the issue of 1980 is also deflected by her, heh:

10 comments:

  1. Loves that clip of Caroline! Wolf is an ass.

    AND, I read where Hillary wouldn't go through the process not that they didn't want to vet her. She didn't want to provide the papers so fuck off. I'm not thrilled with Biden but will go forward with Obama's choice. He's done pretty good so far. I'm glad it wasn't bayh or strickland or hillary.

    The PUMA's are Republicans. I'm sure of it now.

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  2. Anonymous6:24 PM

    Caroline rocks.

    PUMAs are definitely GOP hirelings.

    And I'm not so sure Clinton gets this. I still think she thinks it's about her, not about fixing a broken country.

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  3. We'll see tonight if Hillary can act the part. That will go a long way towards rehabilitating her image if she chooses to run again at any future point.

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  4. Anonymous8:25 PM

    Go Caroline! As for the PUMAs, I think they're about 15% GOP operatives and 85% borderline personality types. I don't think there are enough of them to fill a high school gym either. Pffft to them.

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  5. Anonymous8:57 PM

    I"m listening to Mike Malloy. He's convinced that the PUMA bullshit is a Rove tactic. I have to agree. I'm not going to listen, but I bet Hillary will fake enthusiasm tonight to save her ass.

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  6. Hillary Clinton has done all she can to get her supporters to back Obama. We all know there are fanatics out there on both sides, and had the tables been turned I'm certain there would be Obama supporters at the convention saying they would never support Hillary Clinton.

    She has come out more quickly for her opponent than any other candidate ending a very tight race. And she absolutely does not want to see John McCain elected.

    I think it's time for everyone to stop believing the media hype, and believe what the Senator is saying.

    I'm still convinced that Hillary would have been the strongest candidate against McCain, but that's not going to happen. It's time for the media, and some blogers, to stop the Clinton bashing and move on to taking back the White House and strengthening Democratic control of Congress.


    BAC

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  7. I donno... I still like Vertigo better than Spellbound... 50s San Francisco. Jimmy Stewart, Kim Novak ... and it was in color too.

    Convention?
    Where's Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin, David Dellinger, Tom Hayden, Rennie Davis, John Froines, Lee Weiner and Bobby Seale when you really need them?

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  8. Hitchcock was a misogynist for sure, but it's nice to see the wonderful Ingrid Bergman and the great Michael Chekhov!

    Caroline Kennedy is awesome in that clip.

    I liked Clinton's speech a lot. Kuncinich gave an awesome, fiery one and Ledbetter was great, too.

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  9. 'annoying blowfish'?

    Cue the theme.

    ;>)

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  10. Anonymous8:01 PM

    Blitzer is like Data; he has no emotion chip, so you can't hurt his feelings, 'cause he ain't got any. But he sure did STFU.

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