Wouldn't a title just make it worse?
Yesterday on the New York Times web site:
Ugo Eze, 23, a student at Queens College, was headed to Manhattan and was about to walk right past the candidate until Mr. Liu pulled him aside to shake his hand.
"You know the handshake!" Mr. Eze exclaimed, surprised that Mr. Liu, a "man in a suit," knew the shake used by those in the "inner-city streets." Mr. Eze added: "John Liu knows the handshake that the people around my way know. That gives him some credibility."
Does this make John Liu the first openly-crip legislator?
Criiiiiiiiip.
by Jack, 4:28 PM | Link | Comments (0) | More from Election 2009 | More from The Damned Human Race
Monster in a Box
For Hillary Clinton, this Democratic primary season has dealt largely with existential issues, of the self contemplating the abyss.
As Beckett said, “I can’t go on. I’ll go on.”
Or, as in the words of Kafka, “There is hope, but not for us.”
by Jack, 8:21 PM | Link | Comments (3) | More from Election 2008
A simple test
If you think you’re on a critical diplomatic mission, there is a simple test. Look to the left, and to the right. If you see Sinbad, be assured: ya’not.
Continue reading "A simple test"
by Jack, 12:49 AM | Link
| Comments (0)
| More from Election 2008 | More from Foundational Issues
Eliot Spitzer is an idiot
He came in with a giant landslide, and a population eager for change, and he turned it into a year of failure. This failure came because he tried to steamroller the state legislature the way he might a defendant in one of his A.G. cases, but that isn’t something the legislature is excited about.
He squandered his first year. And now he has capped it by being discovered to use hookers.
Continue reading "Eliot Spitzer is an idiot"
by Jack, 12:16 AM | Link
| Comments (0)
| More from Election 2008 | More from The Damned Human Race | More from Women
Blogs don't put food on the table; it takes a president to get it done
It’s cool to want to be president. But the only way to become president is for other people to want you to be, too. Let’s discuss Hillary and Barack.
As far as I can tell, Hillary Clinton’s main campaign strategy was to hope the audacious hope that nobody would dare challenge her. But Barack Obama not only did that, he managed to win and keep winning. The Clintons did not expect this, even though it’s what happens in every election: someone runs against you. So now they’ve got no plan. But they still want to win.
Now, I admire underhandedness, ruthlessness, and Machiavellian dealings. If you can achieve your goals through trickery and deceit, I am in awe, because while I own House of Games on DVD I am not so good at the long con. I am entirely ready for Bill and Hillary Clinton, sophisticated veterans of our national sport, to pull out all the stops and cleverly manipulate their way to the pinnacle. That would be exciting.
But that is nothing at all like what they have done. Instead, they have acted like frustrated children who are not getting their way.
That’s not really the way you want your president to deal with adversity.
Continue reading "Blogs don't put food on the table; it takes a president to get it done"
by Jack, 11:11 PM | Link
| Comments (0)
| More from Election 2008
Overheard in Chicago, 1968
— Mayor Daley supports Humphrey.
— He has a funny way of showing it.
by Jack, 1:45 PM | Link | Comments (0) | More from Election 1968 | More from The Damned Human Race
The Missouri Compromise of 2008
Now, I know Trouble Sells readers are not necessarily consumers of political narrative, but I feel that my blog should follow national trends and take a wide stance. If you are in love with humanity (but not people, as Edna Millay noted), then you surely can be lovers of political theater. And there’s plenty going on in that area with the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries.
Super Tuesday does not contain many real swing states in it, so it’s hard to extrapolate to the general election. Time and again, it also fails to achieve its purpose: anointing a frontrunner. The first Super Tuesday, in 1988, consisted of a bloc of Southern states that Al Gore (the old, centrist Al) was to sweep. Except Jesse Jackson won just as many, and neither was the nominee in the end. Although Jesse could then say, “I AM Somebody…who kicked Gore’s ass in Georgia.”
But let’s look at 2008, and check out last night’s map. (Yes, I drew a map in here!)
Continue reading "The Missouri Compromise of 2008"
by Jack, 11:54 PM | Link
| Comments (0)
| More from Election 2008 | More from The Damned Human Race
This page only shows recent entries. Choose a thematic or chronological category, at top left, to read even more.