ThinkVox

In the category of I Couldn’t Have Said It Better Myself But I’ll Try . . .

An excellent post by Susan Jacoby of the New York Times really crystallized for me what I detest about Hillary Clinton.

Quite frankly, she is insulting to mine or to even any  moderately educated citizen’s intelligence.  She is  constantly repurposing the same old lame brained “throwing red meat to the dogs” Roveian tactics and talking points of the right-wing neocons to promote her own agenda.  So distasteful have her unscrupulous attacks on Obama been that it’s obvious that she is little more than a Lieberman Democrat — one whose only reason for membership in the Democratic party is to stand out as opposed to blending into the same-sounding cacophony of power-hungry Republicans who mindlessly echo talking point after talking point like the good little soldiers they are.   I am by no means a loyalist of any political party,  in fact I’ve purposely never registered for any party as my allegiance is to America not to a party.  Hillary, however, should be.  A high ranking elected official of any party, particularly one that is running for the highest office in the Land should at a minimum comport themselves politically in a manner aligned with that party’s values. 

Like her red brethren, Hillary constantly ridicules her opponents as “elite” as if such a desirous trait is somehow un-American or bad for us.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  What makes American “great” is the status and position in the world community we have achieved with this wonderful democratic experiment.  Despite the United States’s relative historical youth, we have achieved supremacy and are the elite military, cultural, and (for now) economic power in the world.  Other nations or civilizations such as the Roman, Turkish or British Empires existed for many centuries before achieving supremacy.  It took us a mere 232 years to reach our zenith and, perhaps begin our decline.  Sure the advancement of technology played a role in speeding us up, but could the rapid rate of technological advancement even have been possible without the innovative benefits that our democratic capitalism brought to this world?  What allowed this democracy to achieve such heights was that it enabled ordinary unprivileged people to become intellectually and economically elite through the merits of hard work, ingenuity and perseverance, rather than the preordained benefits of class privilege.  

The definition of “elite” is: the best.  So yes, there is somewhere the “elite” West Virginia coal miner or Walmart check-out clerk and that is what every check-out clerk and coal miner should strive to be.  Or, they can strive to be even better and get a more elite job or move into a more elite industry.  How could bettering oneself to the point of being the best be bad?  

At a recent stump speech, John McCain gave us some straight talk:

“My friends, I will have an energy policy that we will be talking about, which will eliminate our dependence on oil from the Middle East, That will prevent us from having ever to send our young men and women into conflict again in the Middle East.”

Yes, you read that right — again– for oil–.   Hmmm, let’s think back . . . what were the reasons proffered to justify the invasion and ongoing war:

• Iraq’s aluminum tubes were intended to enrich uranium.
• Iraq tried to purchase uranium from Africa.
• Iraq possessed stockpiles of biological and chemical weapons.
• Saddam has mobile weapons labs.
• Iraq’s unmanned drones could attack enemies near and far
• Iraq would mount unprovoked attack on U.S.
• Iraq has trained Al Qaeda members in bomb-making and poisons and deadly gases.
• Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda.
• Saddam is a bad guy.
• Iraqi’s want freedom.
• The spread of democracy.
• Iraq is part of the Axis of Evil.
• Iraq was developing nuclear weapons.
• The smoking gun could be a mushroom cloud.
• Waging the War on Terror.
• We have to fight them over there so we don’t have to fight them here.
• To make America safer.
• Saddam was planning on providing WMD to terrorists.
• Saddam was capable of launching a chemical or biological attack in 45 minutes.
• We must stop Saddam from ever again jeopardizing the stability and security of his neighbors with weapons of mass destruction.
• Iraq was 6 months away from producing a nuclear weapon.
• Mohamed Atta met with Iraqi officials in Prague.
• Saddam was responsible for 9/11.
• To liberate the Iraqi people.

Interesting, Oil’s never mentioned.  I wonder why?  Perhaps because it’s the true reason, and one so horribly poor at justifying the war that the Bush Administration had to obscure it with their ever-shifting rationale.  Let’s not forget that the Bushes are oil-men from way back and also that Cheney was the architect of the administration’s energy policy.

The irony here is that McCain probably just forgot to keep the O-word on the down low and let it slip that the paramount reason for war was oil.

If Senator Clinton doesn’t realize that now it’s finally, over the she truly delusional.  Her only hope was to win Indiana convincingly and pull out a squeaker in NC.   Since she got pummeled in NC and won Indiana by a very slim margin, it would be downright ridiculous or her to continue.   I hope she throws the towel in come later this morning, because she would just be an embarrassment if she let this go on much longer.   Look for there to be a slew of previously uncommitted super delegates siding with Obama immediately, in the hopes that they can end it now and start preparing for McCain.   Although we’ll probably never know, I’d be very curios to see how many of Hillary’s voters we actually Republicans following the Almighty Pumpkinhead’s Operation Chaos marching orders?

Barack just can’t seem to shake this Reverend Wright.  He’s quickly becoming the more than proverbial unwelcome houseguest.  Before I launch into Pastor Wright for his selfish and egotisical behavior, let me just clarify that it absolutely pains me that we even have to address this issue.  I’m the first to believe that no one, be they Lefty, Righty or Centrist should be guilty by association.   The first time the “Rev” issue surfaced the mainstream media beat the story to death just so they could endlessly loop the “angry militant black man” video clips we’ve all seen too much of, simply to pander to people’s basest emotions.  It was dispicable.  Ironicly, Fox News and their right wing kin weren’t the only ones to blame.  All of the news media including the normally respectable MSNBC switched to the All-Wright All-The-Time Network for those long few days.  No sooner did this furor die down than the good Reverand decided it was a good time to go on a media tour.  For someone who purportedly as Obama’s pastor should have his congregant’s best interests at heart, Wright sure has a funny way of showing it.  Does he realize how damaging he is being by continuing to pontificate in the public spotlight about his fringe political views.  I know that as a prominent pastor he’s used to a little showboating and loves a crowd.  But is the man so selfish that he can’t just keep quiet and step aside to allow one of his own community’s young stars shine and rise to historic heights?  It seems that Rev. Wright is so consumed with jealousy that he can’t bear to let the camera focus on a new face.  Why else would he needlessly inject himself once again into public scrutiny other than to garner more attention.  Frankly, he should be ashamed.  His petty yearning for the limelight during a time as critical as this election season may have caused lasting damage to Obama’s candidacy. If Wright really cared to help out, he should have just stayed silent and enjoy his retirement.  Quietly!  Barack did an admirable job of distancing himself as much as he could from the garrulous pastor by strongly denouncing his inane ramblings and permanently severing all ties with him.   But has he acted too late?  Will Jeremiah be the endure as Obama’s albatross in November?  Probably not,  The silver cloud in al this is that as our news media has become more and more sensationalist it has also shortened its attention span.  While, it’s true that some narratives really stick (swift boat, anyone) in the end we can only hope that common sense prevails and the electorate sees this whole hullabaloo for what it really is: a media frenzy fomented by the cable news pundits by exploiting Wright’s narcisstic vanity.  Hopefully this will be the good Rev’s last curtain call.

So should we be surprised?  Given this administration’s out-and-out assault on our free press, not at all.  What’s surprising is that it took this long to figure it out.  The New York Times exposes the ugly truth that Pentagon has for years been spinning out pure pro-war propaganda under the guise of news analysis and commentary by “military analysts.”  Add this to another in the long list of Orwellian tactics we’ve been subjected to over the last 8 years.

I wish I could lay all of the blame on this on DoD or the Bushies, but sadly, the mainstream media bears a large burden of blame in this as well.  Maybe you can excuse them for falling prey to this ruse in the early pre-invasion and early Iraq war years of 2002 to 2003.  We were all still a bit stunned from 9/11 and perhaps the true extent to which this administration would mendaciously mislead us into war was perhaps unknown and unforeseen.  In the feverish rush to war many news bureaus simply took the easy way out and simply followed along.  As inexcusable as this may have been, given the context and times, it may have at least been understandable. 

But this has continued non-stop for years now, and still goes on today.  Did the TV news networks just drop the ball, or were they just lazy in not conducting sufficient investigations into all of the former military brass “experts” it had hired over the years to appear on their broadcasts?   Actually, they treated these analysts differently, not holding them to the same ethical standards as other news employees.  As such, they failed the public dreadfully and should be ashamed for the role they’ve played in the commencement and promotion of this tragic fiasco we call the War in Iraq.

If this doesn’t get you to stop watching the infotainment swill that passes for TV news these days I don’t know what will.   The corporate media is the last place you should look to for news.   It was bad enough when the main critique of TV news was just that they were lightweights when it came to journalism, seldom covering stories in meaningful detail or providing anything resembling in depth objective analysis.  Now, we see that the TV press has so abandoned their moral obligations of veracity and  of speaking truth to power, that they’re basically useless. 

So here we are, May is is almost upon us and we’re still no closer to settling this increasingly contentious slugfest.  I just wish we could all take a step back and really look at this situation realistically.  The truth is that Hillary has less than even a remote chance of being able to rack up any rational measurement to justify her claim for the nomination.  It is at this point a statistical impossibility of her ever catching up to him in the pledged delegate count, and barring a catastrophic collapse worse than even the ‘07 Mets, he will also carry the popular vote all the way through Puerto Rico.

So what is she hinging her hopes on? As demonstrated by her carpet-bombing fury of attacks of Obama’s ability to beat McCain, it seems she is riding on the hope that she can sway the remaining uncommitted super-delegates that if Barack can’t put me away, how can he defeat the mighty Big Red Republican Machine.  But do these arguments hold water? 

She argues that because she carried New York, California, Ohio and Pennslyvania she has demonstrated that she is best suited to keep the traditionally blue bi-coastal titans in the dem column as well as picking up crucial previously red swing states.  But this argument is totally illogical.  You can’t compare a primary campaign against fellow democrats with a general election against the other party.  The general election is another war with other fighters on a different battleground.  If either Hillary or Barack lose to McCain with all of the baggage McCain carries, from the Keating five to his admitted intent to continue Bush’s disastrous policies both domestically and abroad, then the Democratic party should just accept permanent inferiority.  A vast majority of the nation both independent and conservative alike are so dissilussioned with the Republican foreign and economic policies that this race is all but impossible to lose.

She argues that she is tougher than Barack and has the battle scars to prove she can succeed against the “vast right wing conspiracy,” to borrow her phrase.  The truth is she’s just meaner than Barack.  It’s now clear that there are no limits to how low Clinton will sink to drag her opponent through the muck serving only her own personal agenda and lust for power.  For all the pontificating about the higher principals and morals of the party of Jefferson, her Rovian tactics have so sullied this once dignified and congenial contest, that I for have sworn that I will never vote for her again. Should she somehow miraculously bully her way into the nomination,  I have vowed to vote only down-ticket and leave the Presidential choice blank.  Furthermore, when the only sane outcome occurs and Obama is in the White House, I will without question vote against Hillary should she seek relection to the Senate.

She argues that only she can win the states that matter in November, and that the remaining super-delagates should choose her to ensure victory.  This argument is so illogical that I can’t believe she can say it with a straight face.  There is absolutely nothing dispostive about the current nomination slugfests that can in any way predict how the nation will vote in the general election.  If she was truly so much more electable than Obama, she would have run away with the the nomination by Super Tuesday.  The only thing more laughable is her claim that she deserves the nomination because she’s ahead in the popular vote when you count Florida and Michigan.  She should be saying when “she” counts Florida and Michigan, because only she, not the Democratic Party is counting them.

My hope is that the reason the remaining superdelegates are refraining from committing right now, is that they are just letting her spend every last dollar or continue through every last contest until she can only start stumping in Saskatchewan looking for more voters to inflate her fictitious “popular” vote count.  The ugly truth is that they are probably just too spineless and aprehensive of potential reprisals from this mad woman if they coalesce against her.   They would rather just sit on their hands, biding their time in the hope that she’ll eventually fold, relieving them of the burden of making the only fair choice.  Should we be surprised with this bunch of cowards.  Even when in the majority they don’t have the gumption to put up a fight against the lame duck monkey boy.  Maybe they’re right and the only thing left to do is to let this senseless bloodshed continue until this pathetic spectacle ends with Hill and Bill finally slinking  off to Chappaqua to chase intern tail, dodge sniper fire, or fabricate more lies for their next ridiculous power grab.