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Not much to talk about this week. It's going to take some effort to get back into the swing of writing something on a regular basis.
I've finished putting in my CD's on the regular, full-length albums, but sort of got bogged down doing the various artist collections. I've found that I don't have as much passion for '70s classic rock as I did 20 or even 10 years ago. I still have my radio tuned to one of the two classic rock radio stations in my car, but I've found that I will usually put the iPod in or play a CD before too much time goes by. But we can talk about that some other day.
Right now, it's fisking time! As usual, all links will pop to a new window, my remarks are in black, Lonnie's are in blue, and Gene's - our fiskee - ramblings are in italicized blue.
Man, it's getting to be that I can't even get past the title without fisking it. And if you think I'm not going to swing at a nice, juicy softball like that, you are sadly mistaken.
It’s not tough to be stupid
That explains Gene's success.
As God is my witness, I do not pick these headlines, nor do I tamper with them in any way. Everything that you read here is exactly the way that the newspaper runs them. This is the exact headline that Gene's column ran as printed.
Gene Lyons
Posted on Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Given the wholesale failure of the Bush presidency and the bankruptcy of Republican ideology, Sen. John McCain’s only shot at the White House is to caricature Sen. Barack Obama as an elitist girly-man who can’t keep America safe.
Yeah, there's a difficult target.
Unfortunately, Obama has given GOP propagandists a fair amount to work with. Although the national press ignored it during the great anti-Clinton crusade, his Chicago past is replete with potential embarrassments.
One example: Remember when everybody got huffy at ABC’s George Stephanopoulos for asking Obama about William Ayers, the Weather Underground radical who bombed the Pentagon in 1972? Obama described him as an “English professor” and slight acquaintance who happened to live in his neighborhood. That was disingenuous at best. Ayers is a professor of education and a prominent figure in Chicago school circles, sufficiently well-known that Mayor Richard M. Daley publicly defended him from Stephanopoulos’ insinuations.
Moreover, one of Obama’s earliest Chicago jobs was as the director of a controversial school reform organization in which Ayers was a major player. (Ayers’ father once ran Commonwealth Edison, the city’s electric utility.) Obama’s earliest political fund-raiser in 1995 was held at Ayers’ home. They appeared together in forums at the University of Chicago for whom the school’s public relations contact was, yes, Michelle Obama.
I’m prepared to believe that Ayers has matured. Nor is Obama responsible for acts Ayers committed when Obama was 8. So why does it matter? Partly because a publicity photo for Ayers’ 1993 book, “Fugitive Days: A Memoir,” telling the story of his anti-Vietnam radicalism shows the bespectacled professor wiping his feet on an American flag.
You can see this picture here at NewsBusters.com If you are offended easily by people wiping their feet on the American flag, you might want to skip this link.
He’s also boasted about never going to prison despite his terrorist acts. Obama favorably reviewed the book in the Chicago Tribune. Puts a new spin on his mockery of Baby Boomer “psychodrama,” no?
Partly, too, because while the Clinton campaign was too dainty to use such inflammatory imagery, Republican operatives won’t be.
Yeah, those dirty Republicans.
As with Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s bizarre ramblings,
Brought up by those dirty Republicans. Err, uh, no.
it strikes me as evidence of (A) political immaturity, (B) arrogance or (C) both for Obama not to have given Ayers his “Sister Souljah” moment years ago.
A little explanation here.
Also as with Wright, his first instinct was to dissemble.
"Dissemble" is a fancy word for "lying". So, he's a good Democrat.
Did even Obama’s most enthusiastic supporters ever believe that “God damn America” was news to him?
Republican TV ads depicting Hillary Clinton calling Obama “naïve” are merely the opening gambit. Things are sure to get very rough before it’s over.
Let's hope so.
The national media will join in.
Yeah, I'm not holding my breath waiting for that to happen. Exactly how many gaffes has the Obamessiah made so far, with the resulting press coverage?
Just yesterday, somebody sent me a cbsnews.com article headlined, “Obama’s Radical-Left Ties Broad and Deep.”
You can find it here.
It’s filled with information that the press neglected during the anti-Hillary bitch hunt.
That's sorta similar to the anti-Bush witch hunt. You just gotta admire Gene. Once he's been bought, he stays bought. Metaphorically speaking.
Maybe I’ve lived too long in the South,
That's not possible.
ground zero in the GOP’s “Southern Strategy.” And maybe Obama can transcend it all with feel-good rhetoric about “change,” possibly not the most original political slogan, but something everybody wants.
I’d also bet a lot that the only way he offers Clinton the vice-presidential nomination is as political theater after she’s privately agreed to turn it down.
Only if he's already hired a professional food tester and has no plans to go walking around Fort Marcy Park at night.
Why would she choose VP over Senate majority leader, a more powerful job definitely within her reach? Were I Obama, I’d take a long look at Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel: a strong conservative, an Iraq war skeptic from the get-go, a Vietnam combat veteran and a serious man.
And a grade A numbskull.
Obama’s initial outing at last week’s AIPAC convention—American Israel Public Affairs Committee—didn’t do much to foster confidence. Seeking to win over Jewish voters leery of the Wright / Farrakhan ties, he came off as a bigger Likudnik (Israeli neo-conservative)
A neo-conservative? He's a witch! Burn him! Burn him!
than Clinton, and that’s going some. Obama drew applause by declaring that the city of Jerusalem “must remain undivided” under Israeli rule. After Palestinian leaders objected, he backtracked within 24 hours, retreating to the Bush administration’s more sensible view that Jerusalem’s status be negotiated during peace talks.
So how does Obama get around the “naïve” business?
Uh, by not being naive?
*Note to Obama: taking advice from Gene is best taken in reverse. In other words, do the exact opposite from what Gene advises. Trust me, you can't go wrong with that approach.*
Not by dissembling, but fighting back. Consider Jerusalem, for example. You wouldn’t call the hardline Likudnik position naïve. Words like “delusional,” and “tribal,” however, do come to mind. Sacred to all three monotheistic religions—Christianity, Judaism and Islam—Jerusalem was a divided city from 1948 to 1967, when the Israelis conquered it by force.
That's some mighty nice historical revisionism, there, Gene. The Israelis had absolutely no motivation for "conquering" Jerusalem, eh, Gene? Apparently, Gene fell asleep for six days straight in 1967.
Its hundreds of thousands of Palestinian residents, whose ancestors have lived there since biblical times, are not considered Israeli citizens and cannot vote.
Gee, what a concept. Not extending the vote to people who aren't citizens of your country. I wish certain countries would follow the lead on this. *Ahem*
Meanwhile, Israelis keep taking Palestinian land for illegal settlements as the Arab slums fester and decay.
Horse apples!
So long as these things are true,
And they aren't.
there can never be peace or justice. The great majority of Israeli citizens understand that. So do most American Jews. So does Obama. Instead of mimicking McCain’s cartoonish neo-conservatism,
Neo-conservatism? He's a witch! Burn him! Burn him!!!!
he owes it to the American people to explain that ignoring reality isn’t evidence of strength, but stupidity.
And if anybody can speak from experience about ignoring reality, that would be Gene.
Criminy, the worst thing about Gene's columns is that he actually believes this tripe.
Well, thanks for struggling along through this hip-high level of horse apples. As the old joke goes, this much horse manure means that there has got to be a horse in there somewhere. We haven't found one yet, but maybe next time...?
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Posted by Kaptain_Krude on 2008-06-15 18:15:22 | Rating: | Views: 38
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