Saturday, January 26, 2008

I, Pundit

I don't follow the fine texture of the news closely enough to evaluate the degree to which the Clintons injected race into the run-up to the South Carolina primary. Are the pundits misrepresenting or merely exaggerating?

But let's assume the Clintons did it. The only practical reason that I can see for doing it -- if their intent is not only to get the nomination but to make sure the nomination remains worth having, and antagonizing black Democrats would not serve that purpose -- would be as a way to discount Obama's victory in South Carolina, where there are so many black Democrats.

If the Clintons did it, now they have to stop doing it. If they did it, it's "one off." It won't work for Florida, either as a way to win or as an explanation for a loss.

Anyway, Clinton leads in Florida. On Super Tuesday it won't matter. It can't matter if Hillary hopes to win in November.

And if you ask where we come down in all this, we support Edwards but may vote for Obama. Hillary is fine with us, however. Seven years of Bush is like strong poison, drop by drop. Hell, dig up Scoop Jackson and dust him off.


There was a king reigned in the East:
There, when kings will sit to feast,
They get their fill before they think
With poisoned meat and poisoned drink.
He gathered all that sprang to birth
From the many-venomed earth;
First a little, thence to more,
He sampled all her killing store;
And easy, smiling, seasoned sound,
Sate the king when healths went round.
They put arsenic in his meat
And stared aghast to watch him eat;
They poured strychnine in his cup
And shook to see him drink it up:
They shook, they stared as white's their shirt:
Them it was their poison hurt.
--I tell the tale that I heard told.
Mithridates, he died old.




3 comments:

Tommayo said...

Why, in your opinion, did George Bush get elected twice?

....J.Michael Robertson said...

He debated clumsily and pick a bad VP. The MSM, on the whole, liked George Bush and let him off the hook on his booze and (probably) cocaine. The MSM, on the whole, said things about Gore that were exaggerations or misrepresentationss. The U.S. is, on the whole, a right of center country that likes macho swagger coated in religiosity. Gore foolishly failed to employ Clinton, who would have helped more than hurt. And Gore actually did win Florida, as most methods of vote counting made clear. But he made a big mistake there. The morning after the election hee should have insisted that the whole state be recounted. Still, 't was the Supreme Court that made Bush president. So that's my opinion, gleaned from other opionaters.

....J.Michael Robertson said...

Oh, second time: Kerry ran a bad campaign,putting too much emphasis on his Vietnam service and he waited much too long to fight the Swift Boaters. Too many Americans were still dreaming the Iraq dream.