Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Hillary miscellaneous

I didn't see the original "60 Minutes" piece, but I finally saw a clip of Hillary Clinton saying "as far as I know" in response to a weird question about whether Barack Obama was a Muslim. It looked worse in print. In conversation it seemed more like an offhand, almost unconscious throw-in, after saying repeatedly that she had no reason to think he was Muslim. Seems like an innocent comment to me rather than some kind of sneaky calculation to keep the issue alive.

But Gloria Steinem really should be checked for operating brain cells. It wasn't just the implicit attack on McCain's POW experience (and in fact, though it was said more snarkily than you might like, it's true that being a POW is hardly a qualification for being president). But what kind of thinking is behind the suggestion that if it had been "Joan McCain" she would have been questioned and denigrated rather than being lauded? What universe does she live in?

One more thing. Andrew Sullivan pointed it out before I did, but I noticed too. In Jack Nicholson's ad for Hillary Clinton, every character shown in the clips from his old movies is a psychopath. I know that's the kind of character he plays best, but did he think about the subliminal message that might be sent?

2 comments:

Fran / Blue Gal said...

Just a quick note to say congrats on the Crooks and Liars link and I like this post. Keep up the good work.

Anonymous said...

If we elect John McCain, we will have more war, less jobs, and more of this:

There is a story about John St. McCain’s treatment of the Navajo people in Arizona. The UN Commission on Human Rights actually investigated this mess and said he (John McCain) was primarily responsible for the human rights abuses against the Navajo people.

I wish some of the big bloggers would pay attention to this story - seems McCain and cronies have a blackout in the MSM on this. Everyone in the world knows about it except us here in the US. McCain is running for President. And this is how he treats people when they are in the way of his “friends” the big coal company Peabody Coal?

http://www.cain2008.org/

Go see for yourself. The site contains video of conditions - including children with birth defects from having to live in a radioactive toxic waste dump where McCain and his cronies put them - at taxpayer expense. There are also links to the UN reports on this site too.

Forced relocation, use of scarce water resources to “float” coal in a flume 200 miles away. Half a billion of taxpayer funds to take away land without due process. Confiscation of the Navajo sheep herds. Poisoning of the water both animals and people now have to drink since the wells are dry. Living in a radioactive dump/spill site. People’s houses are falling down from the mine blasting - yet they are forbidden to build new ones. Beaten, mysterious accidental deaths, threats. Birth defects at double the rate of the rest of the population. Sacred sites and burial grounds destroyed. Peabody has no EPA permits for the coal flume. No environmental impact reports for the mining operation. Forged signatures on documents giving away the peoples civil rights. And their land. It’s all there. My brain is not creative enough to make all this crap up.

If you care at all, go to http://blackmesais.org/ and help out any way you can.