Good for Dowd! Thanks for the short read, lol! I know someone here must have the Times "premium content," so post this, if you would, and thanks in advance! Man, I hate that the Times did that. I'm registered, and can't read some of my favorite columnists, but I'm damned if I'm going to pay what they want for it. Maybe for Salon, but not for this. (grrrr!) You watch... she's hopping on the Obama bandwagon, but she won't be the last, she'll just be one of the first. Barack has an excellent shot. He just needs to decide to run. Come on, dude! edit: rhester, what the heck was that?? I just couldn't finish reading it. Are they calling Hillary a commie?? (geez!) Keep D&D Civil.
What's Better? His Empty Suit or Her Baggage? By MAUREEN DOWD Published: March 15, 2006 There's only one reason I continue to brave Washington's dreary formal press dinners, which are so calcified they're a bad cross between a zombie movie and those little Mexican Day of the Dead sculptures. I find it highly instructive to hear politicians make humor speeches. It's difficult, and few pols do it well. It took Bill Clinton almost two terms to make a funny speech. He kept letting a petulant tone creep in. Even though W. would probably rather spend the night in Baghdad than go to a banquet, way past his bedtime, where he's getting lampooned by reporters still able to drink, he was a master right from the start. Lynne Cheney is a practiced speaker, but a bit tone-deaf on humor. At the Gridiron dinner here on Saturday, she said of her husband: "He has a great sense of humor. Just the other day I asked him, 'Do you know how many terrorists it takes to paint a wall?' And he answered right back, 'It depends on how hard you throw them.' " People laughed, but it felt creepy, the kind of humor that makes more terrorists. Everyone was curious to hear Barack Obama, the Democratic speaker. He arrived last year as a star, then lapsed into a cipher, even getting punk'd by John McCain last month. In the capital's version of "Dancing With the Stars," Senator Obama won, turning in a smooth, funny performance that lifted him from his tyro track. He tweaked fellow Democrats, telling the white-tie crowd: "Men in tails. Women in gowns. An orchestra playing, as folks reminisce about the good old days. Kind of like dinner at the Kerrys." He mocked the president's unauthorized snooping, saying he'd "asked my staff to conduct all phone conversations in the Kenyan dialect of Luo." He advised W. to "spy on the Weather Channel, and find out when big storms are coming." After saying he'd enjoyed the Olympic biathlon of shooting and skiing, he, deadpan, turned to Dick Cheney: "Probably not your sport, Mr. Vice President." It may be true that Americans, as one Democrat told me, "will never elect a guy as president who has a name like a Middle East terrorist." And it may be true that Democrats are racing like lemmings toward a race where, as one moaned, "John McCain will dribble Hillary Clinton's head down the court like a basketball." But the clever, elegant performance by Mr. Obama — who is intent on keeping his head down in the Senate until he, too, can be a tedious insider — underscored the Democratic vacuum. Not only do the Democrats "stand for anything," as Mr. Obama semijoked, but they have no champion at a time when people are hungry for an exciting leader, when the party should be roaring and soaring against the Bushies' power-mad stumbles. They should groom an '08 star who can run on the pledge of doing what's right instead of only what's far right. The Republicans won with Ronald Reagan and W. by taking guys with more likeability and sizzle than experience. They figure they'll win in a McCain-Hillary duel by running a conservative beloved by the media and many Democrats against a polarizing Northerner who can't win any red states despite pandering to conservatives. The weak and pathetic Democrats seem to move inexorably toward candidates who turn a lot of people off. They should find someone captivating with an intensely American success story — someone like Senator Obama, Tom Brokaw or some innovative business mogul who's less crazy than Ross Perot — and shape the campaign around that leader. Barack Obama is 44. J.F.K., who had a reputation as a callow playboy and lawmaker who barely knew his way around the Hill, was 43 when he became president. With seniority comes dullness. And unless you can draw on it in desperate times, promise is merely a curse. Democrats think Senator Potential's experience does not match Senator Pothole's. Much of hers is as a first lady who bollixed up chunks of domestic policy. They also suspect she may be more macho than he is. They fret that the freshman Illinois senator would wilt against the Arizona senator's foreign policy experience — and he probably would. But Mr. McCain, a big hawk on Iraq, has talked of sending more troops, and his mentor was Henry Kissinger. These are not recommendations. W. had the foreign policy "dream team," and it shattered our foreign policy, ideals and self-image. Despite hundreds of years of combined experience, the Bushies rammed through cronies and schemes that were so destructive, it will take hundreds of years to straighten out the mistakes. The Democrats should not dismiss a politically less experienced but personally more charismatic prospect as "an empty vessel." Maybe an empty vessel can fill the room. http://select.nytimes.com/2006/03/15/opinion/15dowd.html
The Democrats have a perferct opportunity to steal Republican votes. Bush's approval rating show's that -- but if the run the same old stuff out (Kerry, Clinton etc...) it won't work. Which ever party is commited to giving the people something different with a different vision will win. I'm a registerd Republican but my vote is up for grabs.
Based on my own personal conversations with Republicans I know, most of whom became Republicans because of Ronald Reagan, you are not alone, by a long shot. I think there are millions of Republicans just like you, wanting the Democrats to nominate someone they can get behind, so they can put the nightmare years of George W. Bush in the rear-view mirror. I agree that "the same old stuff" won't work, if people like you are going to vote Democratic, instead of staying at home on election day out of frustration, which I see as a real possibility for a lot of folks in your party. I don't think Barack Obama represents the "same old stuff" from the Democratic Party. Neither does Russ Feingold. Whether either one can get the nomination is something we'll have to wait and see. It could be that another candidate will show themselves that is also appealing, one who hasn't popped up on anyone's radar screen yet. Just don't let the nominee be Hillary Clinton, Kerry, or Edwards. Please. Keep D&D Civil.
What a revelation, rhester! Hillary is a commie! In light of the recent and much publicized outcry from Hillary over the sexual content of the video game "Grand Auto Theft: San Andreas," the following parts from your post are worth reposting: Hey, at least in the eyes of Chairman Mao, these fun activities were at the core of "bourgeois lifestyles" he vied to wipe off in China.
LOL, I love it when wing-nut social uber-conservatives like to describe "disgusting" p*rn in the most lurid terms possible to "excite" their followers - you can almost hear the guilty FWAP FWAP FWAPPPING going on in the background.
Hey! This is D&D- part of the fun is to sling.... I actually like Devvy Kidd- not because I agree with her but because she is so un-mainstream. A good Roman Catholic lady who hates lies and hypocrisy and is skeptical of politicians (I love that). And I don't know if she knows anything except that she researches far more than me. I am not interested much in discussing Hillary- her ideology and platform politically is out there for all who care. I am interested in groups like the IPS. My post was slung with little forethought with the sole purpose of offering the Institute for Policy Studies into the fray. It is the agenda of neo-political groups like IPS that have left me so jaded over politics.(Think-tanks are code words for Political Action Groups that tell politicians what to do and say) IPS- stinks, and I wouldn't vote for any politician from George Bush to Hillary Clinton that was intertwined with those type policies. FBI documentation- "IPS is described as a Washington-based 'Think Factory' which helped train extremists who incite violence in the United States ... and whose educational research serves as a cover for intrigue and political agitation. [See FBI File 175-398, June 9, 1976 message traffic, page 8. See FBI documents in bibliography for information on how to obtain all FBI documents cited in SECRET.] Individuals who have been identified as CP [Communist Party] members ... have participated in IPS functions. IPS representatives have also affiliated with known communists. [FBI File 100-447935, Vol. 1. March 14, l969, page 1] Karl Hess is publicly described as a researcher for IPS ... Hess has stated that he sees no alternative but to use violent tactics to destroy the United States government. [FBI File 100-447935, Vol. 2, Secret Internal Security Report WFO 100-46784, of October 16, 1970, page 12] " Whatever happened to apple pie, baseball, and the United States of America? BTW- as a pastor about all the time I have to think about politics is spare time- of which I have little- I use the internet and read books to try to understand why things are the way they are and why people do and say the things they do. My interest in Hillary Clinton would be far more concern for her relationship to Jesus Christ than her political ambition. Posting in D&D is a way for me to relax, enjoy and express.
Rhester, I assume your completely nutty old fashioned mindless commie behind every bush stuff is satire?
you may be kidding bit i'm not. i would love to have hillary and maureen dowd at the same time. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm yeah.
Correct. I am 52 yr. old, hold down two jobs, raising 3 children at home and 1 just out of college and 1 just out of vocational school. I love the Rockets. I spend most of my time involved in people's spiritual growth and my family. I prefer the nuttiest stuff on politics (because I personally don't like politics)- I enjoy reading conspiracy theory stuff, and watching liberal Democracy Now type programming (channel 9415 on Dish). I thought Farenheit 9-11 was fun to watch. (I like the crazie stuff, it's like reading a mystery novel and I like to think wouldn't that be neat if it was true?- I loved the movie the Matrix) But all of that is just fun for me. Kind of mental relaxation on the playground away from the real life problem stuff. I would be labelled a strong conservative probably on most key political issues. But I love diversity of views on these very issues. I respect most every minister involved in the religious right but I don't know why in the world they are so politically involved- except for voting. I am not a religious right person in my own mind. I personally vote republican and I do not have one single good reason for doing that. Republicans and Democrats don't move me. I believe in helping, loving and caring about people. (that is the pastor side) When you spend enough time talking to families going through divorce, people dealing with drug addictions, neglected older citizens, teens in juvenile court, single mothers struggling to survive etc, etc, etc - you appreciate a place to relax your emotions and mind- It is nice to discuss issues from a distance. Discussion is something I enjoy. So I really like D&D- even if it is far away from real life for me. Is there a commie behind every bush? No and don't care, but I do like apple pie, baseball and the good ole' US of A.
Ahhh yeah, the dowdster, the rhyming seductress of the gray lady. You know what they say - red on top, fire down below.
Oh great, now I am going to have a hard time getting this image out of my mind today. I guess it is too late to turn on Maury and fill my head with mindless garbage about "whose the daddy".
