We must cleanse the Republican Party of the moderates who stand in the way of party unity and purity.
With the election of 2008 already days behind us, it’s time to shift our focus to the election of 2012. The main order of business now is to rid the Republican Party of the few remaining moderates who stand in the way of party unity and party purity.…
Article comments
— go to most recent comments126 - Zedd
Chris,
No need to get ugly. Focus please.
You can't possibly agree or disagree with me for that matter, if you don't understand what I have said. You don't have to throw a jab to make your point more significant. No one is trying to win here. It's all about gaining understanding.
I am trying to understand what the spiritual is in your eyes if it has no purpose or goal. If you are simply a biological organism that happens to have an awareness of itself and can (or will eventually) analyse all that is, what purpose does it serve to be spiritual? I am not judging you, I am just trying to figure out what the point is. Basically, I am matter, there is matter everywhere, endlessly... so. Why would that invoke anything within? I really do want to understand.
I hope that you will develop spiritually to the point where you can accept that your perspective is finite and it serves one well to be respectful and humble about matters that one doesn't understand. Your being so dogmatic sounds just as ridiculous as people who claim healing from a prayer cloth. It just does. At least allow your curiosity to cause you to make inquiries instead of boldly deciding what the laws, even the limits of the universe are. Take a page from Dan's book. He's smart enough to qualify his stance. :o)
127 - Zedd
Chris,
Words describe. We use them to communicate. Your defiance against using the word which describes a person like you is silly. It's very early teen like.
Do you realise that there are words in various cultures that describe things that don't have a word in other cultures. There is a word in some language for the sound of satisfaction that a baby makes right after they suckle. Beautiful! Now a person in that culture could decide not to use that word because that word doesn't exist in other languages. However, that would be dumb. Its a word that describes something. Use it. Stop the drama or goofy protest. Okay you are an atheist. Big wup.
128 - Jet
S o c i a l i s t, okay now what?
129 - Dan
"S o c i a l i s t, okay now what?"
word association? oh goody. um, Hitler? Stalin? parasitic government? things that lead to impoverishment?
130 - Jet
I think on of my early heros said it best...
"Sfthufferin Sfthucatache"
131 - Zedd
Christopher,
I find it interesting that in Britain the most embarrassingly archaic or childish (high school) system exists among mankind. Your class structure is mind boggling when considered. You guys BELIEVE that the slight adjustments in ones speech inflections actually determine the tier that they are in (I suppose in terms of their universal significance). One's respectability is limited by whose vagina they came out of(????). Regardless as to how useless or stupid, immoral, mean or boring one is, because someone is born of people who were born of those people, they are better than most. Some are actually paid to be better and get parades where they wave at you as a favor. What?
I'd be more peeved about that goofiness than people's private experiences and assessment of the cosmos. Maybe it's just me.
132 - Ruvy
Chris,
I would respond to Ruvy's propaganda and self-serving waffle but the ship of reason and respect for others has long since left his mental harbour so there is no point.
You weren't addressed, Chris - no response is necessary.
133 - Dr Dreadful
Blimey, I've missed a lot of lively stuff...
zing2: I too have seen the hand of God. Three years ago we stayed on a beautiful island in Fiji. Alas, all good things come to an end, but when it was time to leave we petitioned the Deity to let us stay. This was his response.
Chris: what is your problem with agnosticism? I come from a long line of agnostics (or I may not: I don't know. My great-great-great-grandfather was an Anglican vicar, which tends to argue against that. But I digress.) It's not necessary to have a firm position on everything, even important issues. Do you, for instance, have an opinion on whether a presidential term in Russia should be four or six years? What the UK transportation budget for FY2009 should be? Puntland's right to self-govern independently of Somalia? I don't.
Zedd: where on Earth did your #131 come from? The class system in Britain is a relic of the time when the invading Normans needed, in order to retain power and legitimacy, to demonstrate to the conquered Saxons who was boss. It survived for astonishingly long, but is now pretty much an archaism. No-one (except possibly the aristocrats themselves) seriously believes any more that those 'to the manor born' have any innate superiority over the rest of us. Many aristocrats are dirt poor and have had to sell their ancestral piles just to put some food on the table. It's even OK to trash-talk about the royal family (although not if you're an outsider!).
In fact, Zedd, I suspect that the system of royalty and nobility has a lot more currency these days among your people than it does among mine. Thoughts?
134 - Ruvy
On the other hand, Chris, enjoy Zedd's comments. They are full of the foolishness and the intellectual laziness she herself admits to, but she is finally targetting things.
I find it interesting that in Britain the most embarrassingly archaic or childish (high school) system exists among mankind. Your class structure is mind boggling when considered. You guys BELIEVE that the slight adjustments in ones speech inflections actually determine the tier that they are in (I suppose in terms of their universal significance). One's respectability is limited by whose vagina they came out of(????). Regardless as to how useless or stupid, immoral, mean or boring one is, because someone is born of people who were born of those people, they are better than most. Some are actually paid to be better and get parades where they wave at you as a favor. What?
The England I learned about as a child has certainly changed in the last several decades; perhaps you would like to educate the young lady. Doing so myself is "above my pay grade".
I'd leave off the god stuff if I were you. You're an atheist. Nothing to be ashamed of. You've made yourself crystal clear. We heard you the thousandth time, even if you won't admit to it yourself. You'll have a hard time trying to redraw society's paradigms to meet your own personal prejudices.
It's hard enough disoputing the lies and distortions in the mass media. Redrawing society's paradigms - trying to stick us believers in a "faithist" box of your own making, for example - is going to be very hard work. Marx ignored the fact that people tend to do what they damned well please, and you are ignoring that fact too.
Enjoy life - at least until the collapse of the big three auto makers starts to affect the world economy....
And shavúa tov - have a good week.
135 - Lee Richards
Look, it's a free country: believe or don't, pray often or never, worship or ignore it, go to the church of your choice or pass them all by.
Mind your own business, live and let live.
What bothers me is when the christian right (Palin's base)wants to use their party and politics to change our government into a reflection of their faith.
As Huckabee said, he wants the Constitution to be more like the Bible. They want followers, not free-thinkers in control.
The danger isn't in individaul belief or non-belief--that's our right--but in certain believers trying to abridge that right because it's "God's will."
136 - Jet
The folly of a theocracy was the changing of the constitution to ban all consumption of alcohol-never come between a man and his beer.
Then there was no business on Sunday (blue laws).
Here's a prime example...
Apparently it's okay to mix goverment with religion, as long as it's only one kind of religion and not others-a state religion.
137 - Zedd
Ruvy,
I know you need to be right really badly right now however, class still matters in Britain. While class doesn't have an economic benefit, like it used to, it still matters, else the monarchy would have no relevance. Yes there are some who want to abolish it and there are some who are practical and understand it's economic draw (who cares about England without the Buckingham Palace...). However, there are still those who revere the royals and many more who will not admit it but take the entire class thing to heart. The entire notion of poshness has it's roots in that ideal. That is a worship that is more than eye rolling.
As for admitting anything, I never spoke about not being able to process ideas. Small people look at distorting ideas as a beneficial thing. Ruvy you are much to old for that. While it's clear that you are a theatrical and rather dramatic sort, lying is beneath you. When you distort peoples statements, that is lying. Don't lie.
By the way, I forgive you. Now try to be nice.
138 - Zedd
Doc,
Come on, if there was no class system your political parties would be configured differently. The tabloids would not dedicate so much time watching the "blue bloods". There wouldn't be magazines dedicated to the lives of that class. Again, the word posh would be abolished. A person's accent wouldn't mean so much. Come on admit it.
139 - Dr Dreadful
Zedd,
The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats trace their roots back to the old Tory and Whig parties, both of which were formed of the landed gentry - the only people allowed to vote back in the day. Labour, the only modern political party to have gained any traction, started out as a workers' party. So yes, I suppose British politics would have looked different if there had been no class system.
But that's past. Labour is now, and has been for some decades - despite some embarrassing attempts in the seventies and eighties to convert it to a socia1ist workers' movement - a modern social democratic party. The other two parties also modernized long ago. All three now attract voters from every socioeconomic bracket.
The magazines Hello and OK, and others like them, are concerned with celebrity in general. It matters not a jot to them where you got your fame and money from, only that you have them. You might well read an article in one of them about the Duke of Bedford: however, turn a couple of pages and you are just as likely to see a piece about Victoria Beckham.
What you will not find is an article about young Lord Knumbknutts, whose family went bankrupt on the Stock Exchange three generations ago and who works as a tax accountant in Kidderminster.
140 - Ruvy
Zedd,
I know you need to be right really badly right now....
I don't need to be right - I am. I said nothing about England other than that is has changed in the decades since I learnt about it. I'll let knowledgable Englishmen attempt to educate away what misapprehensions you have about their society. They know and I don't.
I'll not argue with you over what you perceive to be my distortions of your words. It's not worth my time. You've mischaracterized me in a most vicious way, and while I have to strive not to hate you, I do not have to forgive you - or hold you in anything less than contempt.
You are ignorant - particularly about my people. You know nothing about us at all, for all that you think you know, and for all that I've written here, you know nothing about me. Don't bother to lecture me - your words are worthless.
And no, I don't forgive you; and I don't have to be nice to you. I need merely be civil.
I've said what I have to say - we're quits.
141 - slybone
Winston, you are perfectly on. Thanks so much!
142 - Zedd
Ruvy,
I really don't care. You don't have a people. It's just you and your mean spirit. All alone in that aging body of yours. Let it go already. Just be nice while doing whatever it is that you are doing over there. Can't be good to live like that. May peace be unto you. You know Davis Duke also thinks his venom is justified because of his love for HIS (none existant) PEOPLE.
Doc,
You have a queen that is the wealthiest woman on Earth for goodness sake. You had Princess Di. What-tha.. was that all about? Britney Spears without talent. I never said anything about things being as they were in the past. You still have a tier. One of the first things that Blair illuminated when addressing Congress here was the contrast of the limitations of class in your country and this country where it doesn't exist. Again, I'm not saying it is as pronounced as it used to be, but it's there.
143 - Dr Dreadful
You have a queen that is the wealthiest woman on Earth for goodness sake.
Not any more. She's not even in the top 10. And I didn't say that Britain no longer has a class structure: just that it's now very weak and pliable and money speaks LOUDER.
The royal family is a special case. It's really a whole other discussion because it doesn't really have much to do with the class system as it used to be. The Civil List - that part of the national budget which pays for their upkeep - has been trimmed to the bone in recent years: most of the royal family except for the Queen, Philip and possibly William and Harry live entirely off their own incomes. Nevertheless, the monarchy gives us a national sense of coherence, continuity and tradition; an identity that is uniquely British. Without it, we'd just be France without the good food.
And I'm sorry: comparing Princess Di unfavourably to Britney Spears is just ludicrous.
144 - Jet
We once had royals Doc. The Kennedys. When John was in the whitehouse, most of us looked up to that beautiful family like royalty.
They had looks, they had style, JFK had a Pulitzer prize, he had courage and their kids were a cute and cuddly as little playful puppies.
Then it got torn away from us.
I can understand how the Brits can look up to the royals, it's like no matter what scandals, no matter how tough it gets, you've always got them as a constant pride that never changes.
I hope we get that with the Obamas, they've got the talent, but will nigger-haters in the south and GOP rednecks let them have a chance to prove their worth?
I saddly doubt it.
145 - Clavos
Britney Spears without talent is....
Britney Spears!
146 - Jet
Dear God Clav, we agreed on something!
147 - Cannonshop
#144 I think I disagree, Jet. Y'see, the Kennedy, as in JOHN Kennedy was the sort of man you get once in five hundered years if you're very, very, lucky as a nation. Democrats (and to a certain extent, Republicans) have been desperately looking for a JFK ever since the REAL one was taken away.
Barack Obama is NOT John Kennedy-he's not even close, other than being relatively young, good-looking, and a "Democrat" (though not a JFK Democrat-check the guy's record, look at the books he wrote about himself. JFK wrote a book, and it was about people JFK admired. Barack Obama wrote two books about...Barack Obama. Even trying to match JFK's deeds in the civilian world, Obama falls short.)
The thing about AMERICANS is that we don't NEED "royals". We need LEADERS. JFK was a LEADER first, and the adoring throng made him "regal" enough that his drunken kid brother could use the family name to stay in the Senate essentially the rest of his working life.
Until he Proves otherwise Barack Obama is to John F. Kennedy what a Mirage is to an Oasis in the desert-cosmetically similar only from the most illusory distance, but up close nothing substantially similar.
Obama isn't a Millenium Man, he's not a Century man, he's at best a quadrennial man who might be given a second term if he doesn't completely fail in the office. If he manages to exceed mediocrity, he'll be doing rather well.
148 - Jet
Sometimes I wonder why I bother...
149 - Ruvy
I agree with Cannonshop in much that he says. I find him to be rather optimistic. But I have to agree with his basic premise - Americans have been looking for a second JFK since the original was murdered. There is no getting round that. Every president since Kennedy has had to live in the shadow of the hope of a new generation that John Kennedy inspired. Robert Kennedy came closest. But he too was murdered, executed by an Arab in front of our eyes. The possibility was seized away from us before it even had the possibilty of being realized. I feel that especially, having worked in his campaign. Ronald Reagan tried with the idea of "morning in America" but his false dawn was fuelled by overspending that sent the American coracle on the rocky river to the falls of disaster it now faces.
Obama is a narcissist. If he is indeed seated as president, his administration will be still-born - strangled not by his lack of ability to deal with a cataclysm, but by the cataclysm itself.
But even if there were no economic/finacial/geo-political cataclysm facing the United States, Obama would at best be a small man, accomplishing little. Narcissists are interested in themselves alone, and after a time, Americans, who may still be in the thrall of an expert manipulator now, would see the man plain. Obama is smart enough to consult those "older and wiser" than he is - but it appears that those he seeks to consult all walk in the shadow of failure themselves. They will bring disaster upon you, and upon us in turn.
But this is not a bash-Obama comment. Not really. After WWII American industry, both labor and business, could have retooled for success in the long run. Instead, it re-tooled for greed, for planned obsolescence, for a false prosperity that eventually had to disappear. And now that it has, the awful bill is coming due. Sixty years of mismanagement at the corporate level, along with irresponsible practices of labor unions, are now strangling you Americans, and may well strangle those of us overseas who have thrown out lot in with you.
In this, Obama is a mere footnote, if that. And Americans did not choose wrong. They had no choice to begin with.
Do note: Sarah Palin, the supposed target of this article, was not chosen by the voters at all, but by a near senile fool who should have been put out to pasture years ago.
150 - Glenn Contrarian
Ruvy -
One wonders where this perception of "Obama's a narcissist" came from.
Has this been diagnosed? Have you ever worked for years with a narcissist? I have - it's no fun.
What you're dealing with, Ruvy, is the same old accusations thrown out by the right wing. So far, we've heard that Obama's an Arab, an elitist, a terrorist, a 'pal' of terrorists, a power-hungry Chicago politician, NOT an American citizen (though his birth certificate looks EXACTLY like my son's (who was born in Hawaii))...and now he's a 'narcissist'.
Sheesh.
Ruvy, you're not dumb by any stretch of the word - and that's not patronization. That's a simple fact. I am confident that someday you'll see through the American right-wing rhetoric and see it for what it is...a group of men for whom patriotism is only a tool to keep power. Every country has some of the same.
It's hard for me to think of any group of people more deserving of sheer contempt than the Nazis...but as with the most evil of despots in history, there are things we can learn from them, too - as in this quote from Hermann Goering:
“Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”
Consider what Goering said...and then look at what the American right wing has been accusing Obama (and every other non-neo-con) of for decades. And you can also see the same sort of rhetorical attacks in Israel, too.
I know you see the connection. You can't help but see the connection.
151 - Zedd
Doc,
Fair enough.
"And I'm sorry: comparing Princess Di unfavourably to Britney Spears is just ludicrous."
Yes. Britney has a job.
152 - Clavos
Ruvy has a point about Obama's narcissism. Perhaps it's not narcissism as defined in the DSM-IV, and perhaps no psychiatrist would diagnose him as such, but he is certainly egocentric. How many people have written not one, but two autobiographies?
Would that Obama would emulate JFK as much as possible. At least I would love for Obama to emulate Kennedy's tax policy. People tend to forget that Kennedy instituted a huge tax cute, especially for the rich, which resulted in a prolonged period of significant prosperity (as tax cuts always do).
I think people tend to over idolize Kennedy because he was assassinated, which naturally produces feelings of sadness in most people. His assassination cut short his presidency; had he lived and had two full terms, our opinion of him as a president might be more sanguine and less rooted in fantasy.
But to his credit, he was a major tax cutter, and as a result, his legacy was prosperity.
153 - Clavos
Britney has a job.
Bimbo is a job???
154 - Dr Dreadful
Well, Zedd, when la Spears actually accomplishes something of real lasting value to the world, like enhancing AIDS awareness or getting an anti-landmine treaty signed, get back to me.
155 - Ruvy
Glenn,
Has this been diagnosed? Have you ever worked for years with a narcissist? I have - it's no fun.
I'm not interested in what the American right wing has to say, by and large, Glenn. They do not mean anything to me. I live here, and my priorities are here. I'm interested in what my bunch of folk have to say. We're forced, by the level of American interference in the internal affairs in Israel, to pay an inordinate amount of attention to you, attention you do not really rate, and part of my posting articles here is part of that attention. I like a lot of people here, but there is a motive beyond mere liking people that causes me to write here.
This article came to me without a URL. I used this as my referent point. You read it and decide for yourself. Admittedly, the "psychoanalyzing" of someone from a distance is a dangerous thing to attempt, but the evidence is there. As for dealing with narcissists, I damned near shacked up with one thirty five years ago and am grateful I did not. I couldn't belive how much of that girl-fiend I saw in this article.
Understanding Obama: The Making of a Fuehrer
By Ali Sina
I must confess I was not impressed by Sen. Barack Obama from the first time I saw him. At first I was excited to see a black candidate. He looked youthful, spoke well, appeared to be confident " a wholesome presidential package. I was put off soon, not just because of his shallowness but also because there was an air of haughtiness in his demeanor that was unsettling. His posture and his body language were louder than his empty words. Obama's speeches are unlike any political speech we have heard in American history. Never a politician in this land had such a quasi 'religious' impact on so many people. The fact that Obama is a total incognito with zero accomplishment, makes this inexplicable infatuation alarming. Obama is not an ordinary man. He is not a genius. In fact he is quite ignorant on most important subjects. Barack Obama is a narcissist. Dr. Sam Vaknin, the author of the Malignant Self Love, also believes, 'Barack Obama appears to be a narcissist.'
Vaknin is a world authority on narcissism. He understands narcissism and describes the inner mind of a narcissist like no other person. When he talks about narcissism everyone listens. Vaknin says that Obama's language, posture and demeanor, and the testimonies of his closest, dearest and nearest suggest that the Senator is either a narcissist or he may have narcissistic personality disorder (NPD).
Narcissists project a grandiose but false image of themselves. Jim Jones, the charismatic leader of People's Temple, the man who led over 900 of his followers to cheerfully commit mass suicide and even murder their own children was also a narcissist. David Koresh, Charles Manson, Joseph Koni, Shoko Asahara, Stalin, Saddam, Mao, Kim Jong Ill and Adolph Hitler are a few examples of narcissists of our time. All these men had a tremendous influence over their fanciers. They created a personality cult around themselves and with their blazing speeches elevated their admirers' souls, filled their hearts with enthusiasm and instilled in their minds a new zest for life. They gave them hope! They promised them the moon, but alas, invariably they brought them to their doom. When you are a victim of a cult of personality, you don't know it until it is too late.
One determining factor in the development of NPD is childhood abuse. 'Obama's early life was decidedly chaotic and replete with traumatic and mentally bruising dislocations,' says Vaknin. 'Mixed-race marriages were even less common then. His parents went through a divorce when he was an infant (two years old). Obama saw his father only once again, before he died in a car accident. Then, his mother re-married and Obama had to relocate to Indonesia: a foreign land with a radically foreign culture, to be raised by a step-father. At the age of ten, he was whisked off to live with his maternal (white) grandparents. He saw his mother only intermittently in the following few years and then she vanished from his life in 1979. She died of cancer in 1995.'
One must never underestimate the manipulative genius of pathological narcissists. They project such an imposing personality that it overwhelms those around them. Charmed by the charisma of the narcissist, people become like clay in his hands. They cheerfully do his bidding and delight to be at his service. The narcissist shapes the world around himself and reduces others in his own inverted image. He creates a cult of personality. His admirers become his co-dependents.
Narcissists have no interest in things that do not help them to reach their personal objective. They are focused on one thing alone and that is power. All other issues are meaningless to them and they do not want to waste their precious time on trivialities. Anything that does not help them is beneath them and do not deserve their attention. If an issue raised in the Senate does not help Obama in one way or another, he has no interest in it. The 'present' vote is a safe vote. No one can criticize him if things go wrong. Why should he implicate himself in issues that may become controversial when they don't help him personally? Those issues are unworthy by their very nature because they are not about him.
Obama's election as the first black president of the Harvard Law Review led to a contract and advance to write a book about race relations. The University of Chicago Law School provided him with a fellowship and an office to work on his book. The book took him a lot longer than expected and at the end it devolved into…, guess what? His own autobiography! Instead of writing a scholarly paper focusing on race relations, for which, he had been paid, Obama could not resist writing about his most sublime self. He entitled the book Dreams from My Father .
Not surprisingly, Adolph Hitler also wrote his own autobiography when he was still nobody. So did Stalin. For a narcissist no subject is as important as his own self. Why would he waste his precious time and genius writing about insignificant things when he can write about such an august being as himself?
Narcissists are often callous and even ruthless. As the norm, they lack conscience. This is evident from Obama's lack of interest in his own brother who lives on only one dollar per month. A man who lives in luxury, who takes a private jet to vacation in Hawaii, and who has raised nearly half a billion dollars for his campaign (something unprecedented in history) has no interest in the plight of his own brother. Why? Because, his brother cannot be used for his ascent to power. A narcissist cares for no one but himself.
This election is like no other in the history of America . The issues are insignificant compared to what is at stake. What can be more dangerous than having a man bereft of conscience, a serial liar, and one who cannot distinguish his fantasies from reality as the leader of the free world?
I hate to sound alarmist, but one must be a fool if one is not alarmed. Many politicians are narcissists. They pose no threat to others.. They are simply self serving and selfish. Obama evinces symptoms of pathological narcissism, which is different from the run-of-the-mill narcissism of a Richard Nixon or a Bill Clinton, for example. To him reality and fantasy are intertwined. This is a mental health issue, not just a character flaw. Pathological narcissists are dangerous because they look normal and even intelligent. It is this disguise that makes them treacherous.
Today the Democrats have placed all their hopes in Obama. But this man could put an end to their party. The great majority of blacks have also decided to vote for Obama. Only a fool does not know that their support for him is racially driven.
Let us call a spade a spade. This is racism, pure and simple. The truth is that while everyone carries a misconceived collective guilt towards the blacks for wrongs done centuries ago by a bygone people to a bygone people, the blacks carry a collective rancor, enmity or vendetta towards non-blacks and to this day want to 'stand up' to the white man.. They seem to be stuck in 19th century.
The downside of this is that if Obama turns out to be the disaster I predict, he will cause widespread resentment among the whites. The blacks are unlikely to give up their support of their man. Cultic mentality is pernicious and unrelenting. They will dig their heads deeper in the sand and blame Obama's detractors of racism. This will cause a backlash among the whites. The white supremacists will take advantage of the discontent and they will receive widespread support. I predict that in less than four years, racial tensions will increase to levels never seen since the turbulent 1960s. Obama will set the clock back decades… America is the bastion of freedom. The peace of the world depends on the strength of America , and its weakness translates into the triumph of terrorism and victory of rogue nations. It is no wonder that Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chavez, the Castrists, the Hezbollah, the Hamas, the lawyers of the Guantanamo terrorists and virtually all sworn enemies of America are so thrilled by the prospect of their man in the White House. America is on the verge of destruction. There is no insanity greater than electing a pathological narcissist as president.
156 - Zedd
Clavos,
You get a lot of things and often don't articulate what it is that you get but make a joke to suggest that. It's cool. As a person from outside the US I get it and think its awesome (not that you care).
This time you missed it.
Obama was deflecting. Don't forget, he was going up against the Republican spin machine that shredded the Clintons and kept them occupied quite a bit of time, swatting the infestations from the time they hit the scene. Those autobiographies were designed to end the questions about his nontraditional lineage, his misdeeds as a youth, to clarify any questions possible impropriaty. Had Palin had bios, perhaps her gaffs may have been overlooked or put into some context because we would have a detailed explanation of what makes up a Sara Palin. We ended up making broad stroked conclusions, beauty pageant contestant, news anchor, small town major, governor of isolated small sparse state... not ready for prime time.
157 - Zedd
Doc,
If you had access to all of the leaders of the world, had no job, could do whatever, had footmen, would it be such a feat to hug a sick child or talk a walk in a desolate area while making a statement. It's not feeding the multitudes after walking through the desert on foot for years now is it. Plus she got good PR and got to rub her good deeds and adoration in the face of the Queen (is the q capitalized?).
Anyway, looks like you are indeed a Believer. I won't knock it. Everyone gets to choose their heroes and beliefs.
Not a Britney fan in any respect but that kid has been working since she was 9 yrs old, every day. SHE pays her entourage. I'm guessing she pays for her own drugs. Without being too disrespectful, I have to ask, did the drugs come from the system of socialized medicine or were they street drugs or what?
Okay enough of the silliness. It was fun though. Thanks for indulging me.
Clav,
Pipe up you.
158 - Dr Dreadful
It's what you do with your place in life, Zedd, whether earned, inherited or married into.
If you want to argue that Britney Spears being a mere pop star doesn't give her access to those in positions of influence, fine. Let me just put it this way:
There's Diana,
there's Britney Spears,
and then there's Bono.
'Nuff said.
159 - Jet
Read this all the way through if you dare, you might learn something, but I doubt it.
Look what we've done to ourselves!!! YOU-YES YOU LOOK AT US AND WHAT WE'RE DOING!!!
LOOK WHAT WE DID TO THE FIRST PRESIDENT BUSH!
We all rallyed behind him during the first gulf war, Hell-half of us wanted to erect a statue to the man in front of the capital (myself included) but half of us wanted badly to see him fail in revenge for how the ultra right-wing "christian conservatives" kidnapped the republican party and held it for ransom!!!
It was during this period that I switched from a liberal Republican to a conservative democrat.
We never gave President Bush I a chance in 1988. But stop and look at the work he's done since leaving office for world disaster relief etc, and wonder what he could've done as president-had we only given him a chance!
LOOK WHAT WE DID TO BILL CLINTION The moment he took office the right-wing tried to find any way you could to bring him down whether he deserved it or not.
Bitch and CLAIM all you want, but in the end it comes down to you refusing to cooperate and rally around him to make this country great, much less get behind a man who like it or not brought down our deficit and presided over one of the most peaceful and prosperous times in American History!!! Remember we're not talking deficit-were talking SURPLUS!
AND FOR WHAT???
Despite dragging him into impeachment, the only trumped up charge you could make stick was lying to his wife and the American people about getting a fucking blow job-a god damned BLOW JOB-something any husband would lie about in the same circumstances.
You can beat your partisan chests till your blue in the face and CLAIM he was guilty of anything you want, BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT YOU WANT TO BELIEVE, but in the end a REPUBLICAN congress did not have enough on him to bring him down and he remained in office... despite what "facts" you sore losers will regurgitate up
And look what we did to George W. Bush. Hell after 9/11 we were all ready to put the man on Mt. Rushmore!!! I was so pumped up with patriotic lust, I flew a giant flag from my penthouse balcony for months afterward.
But when the chips started to go south, rather than rally around the man-OUR president-OUR country, we all got together and nearly shoved him over a political cliff-and for what?
Partisan bickering and posturing.
George Bush may go down in history as one of the most ineffective, reviled and embarrassing presidents of the United States, because half the country prayed for him to fail the moment he took office in revenge for what the Republicans did to Bill Clinton!
And look at us now.
JUST LOOK AT US! is it any wonder the United States has lost nearly all respect we've ever had worldwide?
Have any of you pompous asses ever met, much less gotten to know Barack Obama? No-well I haven't either, and yet you have the arogance and nerve to judge the man, based on only your own sources of information (selected to confirm anything you want to say about the man), which may or may not (emphasis on not) be reliable.
Considering the enormous job the man is facing, you'd think you'd at least give him the benefit of the doubt; but no.
You WANT him to fail-EVEN IF IT MEANS WATCHING OUR COUNTRY GO BACKRUPT it'd be worth it to see Obama fail?... because you know that's the only way your opposition parties will win the next elections.
Hell, I'm ashamed to say that there are parts of our country that want to see him assinated because they don't want some nigger in the whitehouse... now that something to fill you with national pride isn't it?
It's time for us to pull ourselves up by our goddamned jockstraps and turn this country around-not later-now!!!!
Worry about the damned elections in four years, not January 21st 2009 and help Obama pull this country back together before it's too late.
I don't really know why I bothered to post this, I lost the people this was aimed at, after the third paragraph, becouse this country is filled with sore losers too fucked in the head to admit that they're wrong, even if it means the downfall our our country so you can puff your chest up and spout your foregone conclusions.
160 - Jet
I'd have posted the above as an article, but the language needed to stand if it was to be effective, but somehow I think I just wasted a lot of time...
161 - Jet
I posted it as an editorial, what the hell, it's not going to get posted any way!
162 - Zedd
Doc,
You could end a lot of arguments by saying "and then there's Bono. 'Nuff said."
It it would all be over.
Touche' Doc.
163 - Heloise
Oh boy, narcissism now--the pathology du jour. What about the Bush family...a bunch of Peter Pans all. Peter Pan syndrome is related to severe narcissism. But one thing that analogy above leaves out is that Peter Pans and extreme narcissists tend to come from white middle class homes.
Obama's growing up and family situation is as my daughter put it "just like us." I hate all these window shoppers who don't know WTF they are talking about. You ain't black, have not lived in the midwest and sure ain't biracial. While I am not biracial my kids have often been mistaken for same and you have the same experiences as one who is biracial...a little ID confusion. Big deal no.
But trying to profile a black man in America from those who can't say same: I don't think so.
Heloise
164 - Jet
Heloise, is that directed at me regarding #159 or am I just being paranoid?
165 - Heloise
No not really Jet. It was directed to the don't-know-it all groovy Ruvy. I just didn't feel like addressing him. And his comments seem to be written for an effect along the lines of an boxer or a person who waits in the alley, nay a voyeur.
How he thinks he knows what like is like here for black men and people in general is beyond me. Even if he lived here before, which I doubt, what hubris, what nerve.
Just watched Obama interview on 60 minutes and what does this man miss now: taking a walk in his beautiful neighborhood, which I know VERY WELL and also walk in when I'm there...which I will be for Christmas
Yes he walks...just like I do every day. He also walks alone. Never been known to have an affair or cheat on his wife. Now does that sound like an ego maniac or an extreme narcissist. My God his car and clothes were in taters for years!!!
Talk about narcissist you should be talking about John Edwards!!!
Heloise
166 - Jet
I still say he's filling in for Arch while he's on his "forced" vacation. Wouldn't that be funny if we moved the whole website to a different e-address just for one day so Arch couldn't find us?
167 - Dr Dreadful
Zedd, Zedd, Zedd...
I can honestly say that I have never before had occasion to - nor have I ever heard anyone else - end an argument by saying, "And then there's Bono. 'Nuff said."
Do you even have the slightest idea why I brought Bono into the discussion? Why don't you look him up on Wikipedia?
168 - Heloise
Dr. Dread LOL. I think she just wanted to say "nuff said." Funny. Bono the musician cum california congressman/politician who died skiing I think? Yeah why did you bring him up...I didn't read all the threads.
Heloise
169 - Clavos
I dunno, Doc, but I think she understood your point perfectly*...
*(Holy shit! Im siding with Zedd!?)
170 - Dr Dreadful
Heloise...
D'OH!!!!!
171 - Jet
Doc, you never know, she may have thought you meant Sonny Bono.
172 - Zedd
Doc,
Is there something in my comments over the years that would make you think that your statement was too deep for me to comprehend? Get ahold of yourself.
I got what you were saying. Hence the touche'. It was a simple point. There was no need to make a bigger issue of it. Perhaps you were proud of it and thought it was deep and wanted more discussion. Not sure. Okay, doc here goes.... Britney Spears could be a Bono but she is not because she just sings and does drugs. Di did (much like Bono) use her position for the good (even though she also did drugs). None of the other royals used their position for good. Its like bono doing good and Brit Brit not doing good. The bells go off, confetti flies and the band plays. Where is Confucius have I got a rival for him. Plato? Whatev. Its all about the Doctor!! Whistle whistle yeeehaw, yeah baybeeeee, chest bumb and all that.
I moved on to give props to Bono. I think he is amazing so in my mind, saying Bono is simply enough.
Now can we end this.
Heloise, don't know if Kennedy ran interference there but what are you on about?
173 - Glenn Contrarian
Clavos and Ruvy -
Clavos says "How many people have written not one, but two autobiographies?"
And Ruvy says that Hitler wrote one when he was a nobody, too!
OOOOOOOhhhhh! Such CRYSTAL clear logic. As in crystal METH logic. I guess every politician who wrote an autobiography must be a Hitler-in-waiting.
FYI, Ruvy, Obama was not a nobody, for IIRC he wrote his first one after he became SOMEbody, after his speech before the DNC.
But nothing I say here will be of any use, for both of you are just looking for something to hate, an excuse to hate the liberal du jour, Obama. It doesn't matter that every single one of your accusations that I've seen so far have been proven false or at least greatly overblown - for the hard-and-fast FACTS don't matter to you, as long as you get to make your accusations.
174 - Dr Dreadful
Is there something in my comments over the years that would make you think that your statement was too deep for me to comprehend?
Frankly, yes.
None of the other royals used their position for good.
Again, a ridiculous assertion. It is, for instance (by his own admission), Prince Charles's entire raison d'être.
That is all.
175 - Clavos
So, Glenn,
How many people HAVE written more than one autobiography?
I'm sure there are a few, but I'm equally sure that it's a sign of egocentricity and hubris; writing even one autobiography presupposes one considers one's life is of interest to others, in itself hubristic.
And just FYI. I don't hate Obama, I don't even dislike him; I've never met him.
I know that he's the president-elect, and that he's a left of center democrat. That's all I know about him.