Hard News by Russell Brown

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Hard News: Awesome

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  • Craig Ranapia,

    Can we all repeat this mantra over and over:

    I know Hillary Clinton has a vagina, and a pretty doggy husband (who used to be President).

    I know Barak Obama has lots of melanin in his skin, and a way hawt wife.

    I know John McCain used to be a POW, and currently has a very rich (and way hawt) wife, seven houses and something of a temper.

    I know all this, and am OVER IT.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Blake Monkley,

    Can we all repeat this mantra over and over:

    I know Hillary Clinton has a vagina, and a pretty doggy husband (who used to be President).

    I know Barak Obama has lots of melanin in his skin, and a way hawt wife.

    I know John McCain used to be a POW, and currently has a very rich (and way hawt) wife, seven houses and something of a temper.

    I know all this, and am OVER IT.

    Nah,four more years.:)

    Auckland • Since Jul 2008 • 215 posts Report Reply

  • giovanni tiso,

    and a pretty doggy husband

    doggy?

    seven houses

    I believe the latest count is ten houses on eight properties.
    I bet that if he traded them in for two hotels he'd get a lot less grief.

    Wellington • Since Jun 2007 • 7473 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    I believe the latest count is ten houses on eight properties.

    I bet that if he traded them in for two hotels he'd get a lot less grief.

    Gold.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Ron Wilson,

    For those that haven't seen Michelle's speech you can see them all on silverlight.net and also get a look at Clinton's speech today on same site. I am really glad that Clinton did not get the nomination and viewing her speech reinforces that view

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 16 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    Here's the Hillary speech:

    TPM has a digest of the Obama endorsements in it.

    Meanwhile, in the bizarro world of Fox News, William Kristol declares it a "shockingly minimal" endorsement of Obama:

    I'm not sure that these people actually believe what they're saying. I presume they're hoping their audience does.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Russell Brown,

    For those that haven't seen Michelle's speech you can see them all on silverlight.net and also get a look at Clinton's speech today on same site.

    Well, there's a Fail right off the bat: the "View Now" button is broken in Safari.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 22850 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    Ted Kennedy's speech was pretty good too:

    God love him. That speech brought me to tears. Call me mawkish, but there's just something a bit spesh about the Kennedys.

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • mark taslov,

    s'true, the kennedy's kick ass!

    Te Ika-a-Māui • Since Mar 2008 • 2281 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Harris,

    She looks less manic in the YouTube vid - in context, it was a good speech

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report Reply

  • Bruce Morley,

    Jeez Russell, harden up, man.

    Auckland • Since May 2008 • 3 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Harris,

    Kennedy's speech was a lot better than the 'tribute' clip. I found it a little hard to take. Not that he hasn't done a great deal for the USA but I just kept hearing that unsaid word: Chappaquidick

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report Reply

  • Alex Coleman,

    On the POW bidness, McCain clearly deserves respect for his service. Using that claim on our respect as a political shield however is simply disgusting.

    Anyone else remember all those purple band aids at the last GOP convention?

    If McCain was a Democrat using his POW status as a campaign prop, the GOP would be shooting back hard. There'd be Gary Glitter 'jokes' on talkback and FOX. And the Candidate would distance himself from them, respectful of McCains service.

    I'm glad the Dem's don't play that nasty, and I hope they win.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 247 posts Report Reply

  • Jackie Clark,

    I tend to think, Mark, that the Kennedy family has suffered more loss than most families ever have to - they've had their fair share of scandal, but they haven't exactly got away with it, now, have they?

    Mt Eden, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 3136 posts Report Reply

  • Kyle Matthews,

    Clinton's speaking style reminds me of a not particularly inspiring kindergarten teacher. "No way, no how, no McCain." It's not exactly JFK, MLK is it.

    Since Nov 2006 • 6243 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    I bet that if he traded them in for two hotels he'd get a lot less grief.

    Or a rather squalid grand-daughter whose whole life is a punchline.

    Clinton's speaking style reminds me of a not particularly inspiring kindergarten teacher. "No way, no how, no McCain." It's not exactly JFK, MLK is it.

    Not at all, Kyle, but very few people are. She's not her husband -- Bill Clinton was a creep, but you've got to admit he knew how to work a room and charm the pants off of everyone in it.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Deborah,

    Yes, Hilary Clinton's supporters can rightly think that it's not the same as having a woman running for the White House in her own right, but they might console themselves that there has never been a prospective First Lady like this one.

    Actually, no, it doesn't console me. It's no consolation that we get a fantastic person in the White House in virtue of her being married to the President.

    It's also fucking annoying when we get comments about Hillary being on P (FFS!) when she has the grace and style to go out there and deliver a whole hearted endorsement of the person who has the position she wanted to have herself, a position that she came very, very close to occupying herself.

    If there's one thing worse than a sore loser, then it's a nasty winner.

    Having said all that, and as I said months and months ago, even though my preference was for Hillary Clinton, if she didn't get the nomination, then damned straight, I would like to see Obama take the White House. And yes, I think Michelle Obama will be a force to reckon with.

    And absolutely, won't it be fantastic to see a black family living in a place that until now, has been reserved for whites.

    New Lynn • Since Nov 2006 • 1447 posts Report Reply

  • Islander,

    Re: ultimate sentence from Deborah- TOTALLY!

    Big O, Mahitahi, Te Wahi … • Since Feb 2007 • 5643 posts Report Reply

  • Matthew Poole,

    honestly, what is so heroic about being shot down and captured?

    It's not the capture, it's the behaviour while in captivity. Wikipedia has a pretty balanced section on it, but the short version was that the Viet Cong treated him like shit on capture, until they discovered that he was the son of an Admiral. Then they tried to use him as a propaganda tool, and trade him back, but he wouldn't have it unless all the other PoWs went with him. The VC said no dice, so so did he.

    Whatever his faults, he displayed amazing strength of character and real courage. He could've taken the easy way out, and given the way the VC treated their prisoners I doubt anyone would've given him all that much grief for it. But he didn't. Criticise his voting record, his age, whatever, but don't try and say that he's not a war hero.

    Auckland • Since Mar 2007 • 4097 posts Report Reply

  • Rex Widerstrom,

    McCain, whom I had some hope for based on campaign finance reform but for whom I have lost all respect since "the hug" (barf), the cosying up to the religious right and the drift from principle to populism.

    Obama, America's answer to (pre-mid90s) Winston Peters - attractive, heavy on inspiring rhetoric, promising a 'change' which is carefully ill-defined to mean whatever the listener wants it to mean, attractive to people who want to see a minority leader, but lacking much in the way of substance and everything in terms of necessary experience.

    And their VP nominees, for a description of which I can't better dc_red's, so I'll repeat it:

    [Biden]... With his unnaturally carrot-toned tan, and radioactively glowing teeth, he looks like a cross between a sleazy used car salesman, and something out of Miami Vice.

    And yet he's still less creepy than Romney.

    300 million people to choose from and these are the people who rise to the pinnacle of US politics?

    Any chance they can just draft Josiah Bartlet?

    Perth, Western Australia • Since Nov 2006 • 157 posts Report Reply

  • Mark Harris,

    @Jackie
    Losing John and Robert Kennedy, and the older brother in the war - sure, these are tragedies, but not unlike many other families that went through that period of history. Some lost all their sons to war, regardless of which one. There's nothing sacred about the Kennedys. Their high profile made them targets for someone, as has been the case with John Lennon, Ronald Reagan and many others. That does not give Ted Kennedy a free pass to abandon a girl in his car in the water in 1969. For those who don't know, see the Wikipedia entry. His service to his country since then has been huge, yes, and he deserves credit for it, but it doesn't excuse his actions that night and subsequently.

    And re the P comment, having viewed the entire speech, I can see that she worked herself up to that point, and that it was a good speech on the whole. Initially, I only caught the last few minutes, which in isolation showed someone who was in the grip of something with mechanical gestures and - I don't know what - just that it put me on edge.

    And I can hardly think of myself as a nasty winner - I wasn't even part of the race. Are you sure you haven't got a bit of your own invested there?

    Waikanae • Since Jul 2008 • 1343 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    Yes, Hilary Clinton's supporters can rightly think that it's not the same as having a woman running for the White House in her own right, but they might console themselves that there has never been a prospective First Lady like this one.

    OK, I was very impressed by Michelle Obama's speech but can I call bullshit on the First Lady hype. I sure didn't think being married to a former-President is any kind of qualification to become President yourself (sorry, Hillary supporters), and it was just farcical watching very smart people pretend that it is.

    I'll also point out some simple facts: 'First Lady' is not an elected position, has no defined duties or constitutional position.

    and everything in terms of necessary experience.

    Rex: And once more, I'm going to ask exactly what you call 'necessary experience'. As I've said before, Lincoln's sole experience of federal government before becoming President was two remarkably undistinguished years in Congress. Dick Cheney, on the other hand, has served in every Republican administration for the last four decades - and spent a decade as a Congressman.

    I think I'd choose judgement over experience in this match up, if you don't mind.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

  • Tony Judd,

    It's going to be a thing of Lyndon Johnsonesque proportions. You mark my words.

    I'll grant you that's possible. I'll go so far as so say that a recent, small swing in some polls (most of which Obama still leads) is hardly the end of the world.

    But can we trust the polls? I fear The Bradley Effect.

    Perth • Since Nov 2006 • 63 posts Report Reply

  • WH,

    There was an interesting feature piece on Obama's economic perspective in the NY Times. Obama will have the Democratic policy establishment at his disposal, which will help to mitigate some of the valid concerns about his experience.

    I'm looking forward to hearing Al Gore and Bill Clinton speak. It took me a while, but I really came to like those guys.

    Since Nov 2006 • 797 posts Report Reply

  • Craig Ranapia,

    But can we trust the polls? I fear The Bradley Effect.

    Well, it's highly debatable (and perhaps ultimately unprovable) whether the Bradley hypothesis holds -- and there's plenty of data out there that suggests it doesn't. Looking at the 2006 midterms and polls around the primaries of both parties (especially highly unreliable exit polls that are illegal here, thank God), I think there's plenty of reasons to take polls with a grain of salt and a whole case of Tequila. But I'm far from convinced that distortion by guilty white liberals who don't want pollsters to think they're Klansmen is a factor.

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 12370 posts Report Reply

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