Posts by Craig Ranapia
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Kyle:
That's vile. Please leave your c.v. and full contact details at reception on your way out. :)
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I'm impressed with Michelle Obama, too. How can a family handle that much rhetorical flair?
When their daughters hit those tetchy teenage years, I don't fancy their chances of winning an argument over the dinner table. Ever. :) I saw some footage of her at that California rally with Oprah and Mrs. Governator, and she didn't strike me as a woman you'd want to get in bitch-off with at the PTA, because she'd politely but firmly serve your your arse in six different ways.
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Lydon:
Thanks -- the PC's been a real Hillary all day. :)
Re: Bill Clinton's ongoing sleeze. Good point! Why in god's name does he need to do mineral deals with dictators?
Building a library seems to the ex-presidential equivalent of the mid-life crisis Lamborghini -- all good judgment, especially fiscal, goes down the crapper at warp 10. Otherwise, I decided long ago that the mind of William Jefferson Clinton, like the peace of God, surpasseth human understanding. I just think he's been a mixed blessing for his wife on the campaign trail, and its only going to get worse if she wins the nomination. OTOH, I find it very hard to feel sympathy if Clinton faces a problem entirely of her own making.
Seriously, I don't think it's mere talking points to say the rabid right want Clinton. It suits them to run a retro-campaign where its ultimately about Bill's cock for both sides, all over again. Obama and McCain win - perhaps we might just see a campaign fought between grown-ups, where the rabid right and the loony left either take a maturity pill, STFU or their heads explode Cronenberg-style. Any or all of the above work for me.
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Actually, I find it absa-fricking-loutely hilarious hearing grown-ups -- whether Hell's Grannies in Tauranga or Obama-maniacs and Clinton-tickler in California (yes, she's on the bandwagon too) -- chanting a catch-phrase from a British stop-motion kiddies show.
The Muse of PopCult is generous with her blessings.
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And another outburst of the Waitangi Day day luv (or is it Bob Marley's Birthday working its spell:
Taito Philip Field pleads guilty... lto offences under the Building Act
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It leaves heaps for the Democrats. Item one, cut ridiculous military costs by ending enormous pointless military engagement in Iraq.
Let me play the devil's advocate for a moment: In the gut where retail politics lives -- and the curtained booth where ballots will be cast --, I don't think people give a shit about Iraq, unless it directly affects someone close or they perceive their economic self-interest is at stake.
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And Clinton, whatever else you might say about her, has probably had everything remotely resembling a bone plucked from hers long before now.
Oh, I wouldn't be too sure about that. I rather doubt Michelle Obama is going to be the occasion for stories like this:
Over the last decade, former President Bill Clinton has raised more than $500 million for his foundation, allowing him to build a glass-and-steel presidential library in Little Rock, Ark., and burnish his image as an impresario of global philanthropy. The foundation has closely guarded the identities of its donors — including one who gave $31.3 million last year.
Now, the secrecy surrounding the William J. Clinton Foundation has become a campaign issue as Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton seeks the Democratic presidential nomination with her husband as a prime source of strategy and star power. Some of her rivals argue that donors could use presidential foundations to circumvent campaign finance laws intended to limit political influence.
And this:
The monster deal stunned the mining industry, turning an unknown shell company into one of the world’s largest uranium producers in a transaction ultimately worth tens of millions of dollars to Mr. Giustra, analysts said.
Just months after the Kazakh pact was finalized, Mr. Clinton’s charitable foundation received its own windfall: a $31.3 million donation from Mr. Giustra that had remained a secret until he acknowledged it last month. The gift, combined with Mr. Giustra’s more recent and public pledge to give the William J. Clinton Foundation an additional $100 million, secured Mr. Giustra a place in Mr. Clinton’s inner circle, an exclusive club of wealthy entrepreneurs in which friendship with the former president has its privileges.
Mr. Giustra was invited to accompany the former president to Almaty just as the financier was trying to seal a deal he had been negotiating for months.
And this is the pro-Clinton New York Times, remember. What the hell do you think is going to fall out when the Republicans decide to start asking questions?
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And just to be the anti-curmudgeon, I'll always HEART Waitangi Day as long as Shane Jones keeps on marking the occasion with sanctimonious, irony-deficient brown-neckery.
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If Hilary wins the nomination and takes on McCain (the Republican candidate who is -- by miles -- least offensive to me) there is decent polling evidence that she will be undone by her negatives; that she can't win.
I'm not so sure on that. She can win against McCain -- by getting into a very nasty. downlow marriage of convenience with the worse of the rabid right (seriously, they hate McCain more than her on the theory that a heretic trumps and infidel) and the loony left.
I wonder if this time next year we're going to be looking back on two spectacularly ugly election capaigns, or occasions when people really touched the better angels of their natures.
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Pretty good hire, I reckon.
Indeed. Matthews hasn't been bad, but Guy Somerset could make The Listener's book and arts coverage accessible without being lightweight, if that makes any sense.
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