Rundle08: Like a crumbling mock Tudor, Democrats await demolition
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Working off the fabulous Crikey expense account means you stay in a lot of cheap hotels, and they’re often as not old 60s or 70s joints, slated for the wrecking ball so long as no-one’s bothered to renovate them like forever. The Best Western Normandy, a weird place in a weird city, is just such an establishment — a cavernous mock-Tudor joint sprawling over a whole block, with a pinging two-person elevator, and a grill-bar of polished wood floor to ceiling. Muzak plays throughout, and the carpet is shades of light brown with a turquoise fleck. Soon it will go, to be replaced by another gleaming glass tower, connected to all the other gleaming glass towers by Minneapolis’s “skyline” system, a set of 60 or so interconnected walkways between buildings. You can get around a whole 40 block area of the city without ever touching ground. It’s like the future, if we were in 1960, and the future was 1965. Minneapolis is a city which combines the Scandinavian appetite for great design with the American appetite to knock everything down, and I don’t know if that’s good or bad but it’s a hell of a distinctive place. The whole Twin Cities thing is a freak out too. It’s like across the river/harbour at Williamstown/Manly, there was a whole other city, with its own skyscrapers, newspaper, police force, city hall, local identities — and yet you didn’t go there from six months to the next. Not really equal either. Minneapolis is gleaming, thrusting, new, St Paul is like the place where it stored all its old crap, Minnesota’s garage, and both places could have been laid out by David Lynch. I’m telling you all this because I don’t want to think about the election. The Democrats are screwing it up. Totally. Utterly. Everything they do is wrong. My inbox fills with press releases on whether Palin did/did not back the bridge to nowhere, what she knew, what she didn’t etc, etc. Obama says he won’t talk about her and then on film there he is talking about her. Hopeless. Obama’s whole style, the tentative thoughtful professor, pausing between phrases, pisses me off and stacks up badly against the Republicans’ attack dog mode. THREAD THREE: Bob Woodward on Larry King at the moment, spruiking his new book The War Within, the most explosive revelation being that Maliki was spied on by the US throughout — duh. Woodward says what’s been obvious for months: “this is a war that’s not over”. Obama should have been saying that on Iraq for six months — the surge is a furphy. As soon as there’s a draw-down of troops, insurgents will flood back into Iraq from the Pakistani badlands, and it’s all on again. The Sunnis will never accept a “democracy” that makes it numerically impossible for them to have a stake. The whole 30-year oil deal was the sort of oil theft that gave the Baath party such support in the first place. In five years time, whoever wins, we will be reading about casualties in Iraq … Simple proposition: the campaign slogan should be “Attention: Sarah Palin is a Republican”. Still, this utter failure to attack the Republicans as a part of the rich and privileged. Spend six hours watching the cable news networks and the overwhelming impression is that the people the Dems put up are hopeless. They want to talk reasonably about the issues, they want to be fair, they want to singlehandedly reform the soundbite culture of the American media. So the right slices em up like sashimi. Every time. Obama’s team are all ex-Kerry people. They should have been taken out behind the shed and shot in 05. That is only half figurative. These maggots attach themselves to a big party like the Democrats in college, and play parasite to its host. Winning or losing an actual election is secondary. The key thing for them is to prosper within the belly of the Democrat leviathan. Thirty years of losing campaigns, then you pass on to a high party position, then to an academic sinecure. Your object first, last and always is simply to maintain your position within the left-liberal shadow-state. Elections? A distant echo. The real fight is over who’s got a 3-2 vote in the credentials subcommittee of the rules committee of etc, etc Lot of strange old pubs in Minneapolis — pub diners, another Scandinavian thing, never drink without food. Jag alskar Sverige men det ar en land mycket svart att forsoka, I don’t want any emails about missing umlauts. Advice on syntax I will accept. Giant neon steaks above the door of each pub, glowing pink. Woodward on Larry King: “there is a secret scheme that was employed in the Iraq war that I cannot talk about …” Wow … tapes of Bush speaking to Woodward being played … “one of my failures has been to change the tone in Washington to harsh rhetoric” … Bush sounding like the intelligent thoughtful man which some said he was as Governor of Texas … amazing… McCain-Palin cleaning Obama et al’s clock — we’re mavericks, we’re the rebels, we’re promising change. They have taken every initiative from Obama and Obama let them because his deadsh-t advisors told him the same thing, don’t offend the middle ground, don’t talk about wealth, don’t talk about class, don’t attack. But, remember Marshal Foch: the best defence — attaquez, attaquez, attaquez! Out into the Minneapolis night, the pedestrian skyways gleaming diamond blue in the dark. There are at least two dozen American states that are separate countries, entire of themselves, with their own myths, histories, cultures. How much happier would the world have been in the last half century if Africa had been one country and the US 30? Anderson Cooper on now, a man created by gay scientists in underground gay laboratories … back on Palin’s “earmarks”. Wrong approach, wrong approach. She’s a Republican. Every policy they originate hates workers, the middle class, average voters. God oh God, the Democratic party … a crumbling mock Tudor motel, awaiting demolition. |
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29 Comments
Dr Harvey M Taruydas: Perhaps if you wrote your comments in English it might help your cause.
John James: Thank heavens you flunked the Jesuit Priest Training Course. Even by Catholic standards you are one sicko. Psycho sicko. You should take a long course of cold showers, followed by energetic brushing yourself with steel wire. Or, don’t you lot enjoy scourging yourselves? Quite frankly, you make me feel unclean.
“Penis is a Russian word for expanding universal concepts of sensitive issues” says Dr Harvey M Tarvydas
A good line perhaps only to narcotic loving ladies-of-the-night……..
D-ck is another word…..
“Its not the ‘common man’ that we dispise(sic)” says Craig Chatfield….what a relief! I’ll spread the word…….
Hillary Clinton, for all her faults, was the Democrat Party’s best chance of winning back the White House. She was the only candidate capable of taking out the battleground states in November. With Bill by her side, she would have had a chance. Obama is starting to look like the inexperienced political nobody that he undoubtably is. The appointment of the rabid Palin could prove to be a masterstroke because it has silenced McCain’s main right-wing detractors in one swoop. The Republican Party will be united behind this ticket come November. I note that Rupert Murdoch has jumped on the McCain/Palin bandwagon. A ominous sign for the overhwelmingly white, US liberal elite who have trumpeted Obama from day one.
Bet the Dems are wishing they’d supported Hillary now. If they’d chosen Hillary at either opportunity none of this would have happened. Firstly, Palin’s name would probably never have come up. Palin the puppy against Hillary the pitbull in lipstick? Secondly, had the Republicans been silly enough to try it, Hillary would have had her for breakfast.
It certainly wouldn’t be any democratic election without the Left’s apologists venting their pro Saddam/ Al Quada/Islamist/Taliban inclination ( or any other ‘thug’ who shares their loathing for the ‘Land of the Free’.)
JamesK: I’m sure your crack was very funny, but I didn’t get the analogy. As the dreaded Pauline Hanson used to say.” Pluse expline”
Harvey Taruydas: 1) I hope your Russian is better than your English. 2) Penile can also mean; Elephant’s wang. 3)I suggest that in order to improve your English that you start with Shakespeare and work your way up to Oscar Wilde. That should keep you amused for a while. Finally re-read Guy Rundle’s comment. The only criticism I could think of was his use of the word like on two occasions. Not good, but no one is perfect.
“Penis is a Russian word for expanding universal concepts” says Dr Harvey M Tarvydas
A good line to any narcotic loving lady-of-the-night…..
D-ck is another word….
chris s - chris s is that you? - you need to do your homework a bit more. Throughout the early stage of the primaries rundle consistently suggested that hillary would be the nominee, and at several point suggested that this would be a preferable result. Rundle praised Obama’s oratory, his innovative methods, and damned hillarys increasingly desperate recourse to a barely disguised white populism. Like many Rundle thought that Obama had sealed the deal in the post-primary period, but in the weeks that followed he noted the degree to which mccains campaign - after a rocky start - was gaining ground. Rundle never urged a vote for Obama, and in any case, this is a site for non voters so how could one be part of anyone’s victory or defeat? Hillary lost her own campaign, and Obama is losing his, no-one else.
The debates may well prove to be the deciding factor. I can see them going either way.
I love it when the pro abortion ‘femocrats’ lament their champion Hilary’s demise. You’re right about one aspect of the analysis. The Republicans would not have needed to worry about their conservative base had Hilary been nominated. The Clinton name evokes so much sleaze and corruption the conservative base would have gone to the barricades.
JamesK: Are you saying the Republicans don’t seek to win by throwing mud and misrepresenting their opponents as unpatriotic, socialistic and out of touch with the common man? Even if the Republican candidate has 9 houses and thinks of tax cuts as something that only happens to people who earn over $250,000 a year? (And then have the audacity to say their plan will help working people more!)
Its not the ‘common man’ that we dispise, its the dumbing down of one of the most important races on earth to sound bites and spin. Misrepresentation of the facts, not the debate for the future that we all deserve. LIke something from the the Karl Rove political playbook. Misdirection and heavy ad buys.
I still think BO’s the favourite too. I just want to see the candidates engage on the economy, climate change, energy and foriegn affairs. Just not try and win the ad blitz and out-spin each other.
It’s almost too depressing to consider… Four more years of tax cuts for the wealthy, over spending whilst lambasting the Democrats for fiscally irresponsibility and leading the country towards greater division and self loathing. All the right seem good for is the hating of the left. Pity the left can’t win by emulating their tactics.
Pity they need to. Thanks Guy. You really picked me up…
Explanatory note for Venise:
English is in the mind of the beholder but its real beauty is only available to those with a profound understanding of human pain, suffering and pleasure. Penis is a Russian word for expanding universal concepts of sensitive issues far more complex than perceived by just gazing at it. Appreciation can only be gained from a hands on approach and then one will be able to distinguish between cause and comment.
Yes, Guy, utterly superb writing. I would go down on my knees to write like that. But aren’t you using an awful lot of words to point out the obvious? Barack Obama, a fine decent man whom I would have loved to win the election. Has become, suddenly, as boring as bat s*it. A couple of days ago he was on television and all the fire seemed to have been drained out of him. Whether he is doing as his minders tell him, or because he has lost heart, he appears to be snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory.
I have to agree with Christopher. I was merely going to say you are acting like a weather-vane. An infinitely greater tragedy is the fact that McCain/Palin will win the election. They represent the rednecked peckerwoods people who simplistically believe that Bush (almost certainly close to being a cretin) is a straight shooter. Bible bashing, gun loving lower middle class voters who, unfortunately seem to breed faster than the well-educated. Possibly because their various churches advise them to. Or perhaps they are the ones who get to the polling booths, whereas the intellectuals are merely good at debating.
I’m sure Guy’s beautiful spate of words was motivated by despair. The despair all people should feel about the American political system.
Ah, it wouldn’t be a US election article without John James once again raising his pro-life (ie anti-abortion) views while ignoring the Republican’s pro-military-intervention-at-all-costs policies and their effects on the lives of Iraqis, Afghans, presumably Iranians and Israelis in the next few years.
Guy, you are a great writer, but I am afraid you utterly horrify me. You sang the praises of Obama through out the primaries. You ferociously attacked Hillary Clinton at almost every turn. And now reality has arrived. Politics is brutal and direct, yet you bought into the middle class of fantasy of Obama that continues to float in elitist ga ga land. I am part of that elite. I like the idea of Obama. But the fact is that in politics you have to be tough, and you naively participated in the assault on that truth. Now the Democrats are stuffed. And you are part of the cause. I would like to see some soul searching rather than more of your well written but ultimately foolish finger pointing. Shame on you
Not that I disagree with the sentiment, but how exactly will “insurgents… flood back into Iraq from the Pakistani badlands” when there’s a country or two in the way?
I’m sorry I didn’t read the ealry Rundle postings, all I caught was the final phase, so I am happy to be corrected. I still think the point broadly stands. Of couse I am not suggesting that Rundle shaped the vote. I am suggesting that his position echoes that of a significant element of the US media who made a lot out of demonising the Clintons. Read Maureen Dowd in the New York Times to get it. Of course I don’t approve of all the tactics that the Clintons took, but they were part of how US politics is fought. We have seen a string of noble weak Democrats who were kneecapped one after another. Sadly the kind of stances that appeal to people like me don’t go down well with a signifcant part of the American electorate. Further to which I am uncomfortable with Obama as saint. I would suggest anyone read “How Obama Lost The Election” in the Asia Times http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/JI03Aa02.html
Re your question am I Chris S well of course I am as it is my name, but who do you think Chris S is
?
Since the moment Obama bypassed Hils I predicted disaster for him because the reason had to highlight a serious problem. It will be bypasses for Obama before Presidency. To brush aside a huge historic double banger that could never be matched again exposed a personal ineptitude involving any number of those personal foibles’ we have (the great man is bigger than all that pissy psychology about the resident power of the human imagination turned on by that super history making ticket) because we are human especially latent egos waiting to thrill to the stretch like an erecting penis. Penis, because when that’s up and about great men become stupid and a Palin (woman with hidden penis but huge balls) is found. Any tuned in human couldn’t brush past ‘that ticket’ without feeling shivers down their spine but Obama didn’t need that sh-t. Read and throw basket balls, someone else will lead. Hils castrated Barack. Too sad. On the ticket she would have let him keep his balls, even reminded him where they were.
Don’t underestimate Rupert’s reason for backing Obama against Hils which had more to do with helping McCain. He’s not a linear man and can do more than one thing at a time.
It ain’t over until the Fat Lady sings-or in this case the skinny dame from Alaska and I reckon when she really gets put on the mat by a few good journalists McCain’s wheels will come off.
They Repugs talked themselves down, didn’t do awfully, and now - with expectations so low - the prospect of McCain and Palin running the country seems plausable. Yet again, the real elitists have been made to look like underdogs.
How do you respond to that? The Obama mob certainly don’t seem to know how.
As Jon Stewart would say “We’re fucked. Double fucked”.
Det är svårt att hitta fakta om sverige.
They say people get the government they deserve, if theU.S. voters vote the republicans back in , then they will get what they deserve, instead of pouring billions into large corporations, why not start paying decent wages to ordinary workers so they can pay their mortgages, the republicans policy are a recepe for economic disaster, and they will drag the rest of us down with them, just like1929 all over again, and we will get what we don`t deserve.
John James: Thank heavens you flunked Jesuits Priests College, because even by Catholic standards, you are a very real sicko. Psycho? I would recommend cold showers and constant scrubbing with steel wool and the wearing of the unusual steel underwear that you lot enjoy castigating and flagellating yourselves with. Ah, I forget the whips. Quite frankly, you are unclean.
I would say that BO is still firm favourite to win the presidency.
Pathetic comments such as those from Craig Chatfield which are by no means unique but are indicative of the lack of nous and lack of genuine respect for one’s fellow man in particular the less well off in society who are of course the very people that the Left are supposed to stand up for.
Instead they are derided when they ‘fail’ to see the truth so evident to ‘we the enlightened Left’.
If Obama and the Dems lose it is not because of fear mongering from the Reps or some such puerile excuse it is because of beliefs disingenuously expressed by many of the left of which Craig Chatfield is but one example
I’m sorry I didn’t read the ealry Rundle postings, all I caught was the final phase, so I am happy to be corrected. I still think the point broadly stands. Of couse I am not suggesting that Rundle shaped the vote. I am suggesting that his position echoes that of a significant element of the US media who made a lot out of demonising the Clintons. Read Maureen Dowd in the New York Times to get it. Of course I don’t approve of all the tactics that the Clintons took, but they were part of how US politics is fought. We have seen a string of noble weak Democrats who were kneecapped one after another. Sadly the kind of stances that appeal to people like me don’t go down well with a signifcant part of the American electorate. Further to which I am uncomfortable with Obama as saint. I would suggest anyone read “How Obama Lost The Election” in the Asia Times http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Front_Page/JI03Aa02.html
Re your question am I Chris S well of course I am as it is my name, but who do you think Chris S is
?
“It certainly wouldn’t be any democratic election without the Left’s apologists venting their pro Saddam/ Al Quada/Islamist/Taliban inclination ( or any other ‘thug’ who shares their loathing for the ‘Land of the Free’.)”
Yes. We hate you (us) because of your (our) freedom.
The kids are googling me. Google castration. Castration, psychological, is not well understood by most men. Barack has been done twice in notime. Inadvertently by Hils (his own mischief) and then aggressively by the Palin. Venise, above, described the castrated Barack perfectly. This is a theme that would win them the election “ .. our Palin castrated Barack” as there is little sympathy for the castrated from either sex of any colour. Does anybody know their No.
“I would recommend cold showers and constant scrubbing with steel wool and the wearing of the unusual steel underwear that you lot enjoy castigating and flagellating yourselves with”
John James: Any old iron, any old iron, any, any, any, old iron?