or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
•
"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
February 11, 2008
Change We Can Believe In
Yurgh, more empty Obamamania:
The adoring women and men who flock to his speeches talk less about what he has accomplished than what they are convinced he is capable of doing...''I think he has the potential, I really do,'' said Jennifer Ballard, a graduate student. ''Given the opportunity, he would make many changes. He hasn't really been given the opportunity yet. I don't think he's had the ability to do what he'd like to do, and that young people like me would like to see him do.''
Except that's actually a slightly reworked passage from a 1999 New York Times article about Hillary Clinton:
The adoring women -- and men -- who flock to her speeches talk less about what she has accomplished than what they are convinced she is capable of doing.''I think she has the potential, I really do,'' said Jennifer Ballard, a graduate student. ''Given the opportunity, she would make many changes. She hasn't really been given the opportunity yet. I don't think she's had the ability to do what she'd like to do, and that young women like me would like to see her do.''
(via)
—Jonathan Schwarz
Posted at February 11, 2008 02:50 PMI don't understand why you put Obama down? Do you really think he's empty like every other politician, and that that's all he is? Are you suggesting it is foolish for anyone to believe in anything?
Posted by: Grandpa Ken at February 11, 2008 03:53 PMWhat is the point? That if you search back through ten years of writing you can find a four-sentence passage which might seem like something someone might write about Obama this week?
Soooooooooooo???????????????
If you believe in some politician because of what you think he or she might do -- not because of anything he or she has actually said or done but just because you believe, don't be surprised if he or she ends up doing nothing much good.
Posted by: cemmcs at February 11, 2008 04:55 PMsorry, what's going on with those two quotes?
Posted by: petey at February 11, 2008 05:13 PMI wonder who the real Jennifer Ballard is voting for this year (and did she ever get out of grad school?).
Maybe she's torn, because they both have such, um, potential.
Posted by: SteveB at February 11, 2008 05:43 PMIf you search back through ten years of writing you can find a four-sentence passage about Hillary's campaign that sounds like it's about the Obama campaign, which is because not long ago Hillary was more or less running the same campaign as Obama is now. A moderate uniter, reaching across the isle, who just needs the opportunity to bring us all together on the love boat of hopeful alteration, as though political life needs nothing more than a few optimistic leaders whose consultants market them as the transfiguration enzyme of a brighter and more nebulous future.
Totally unlike last time, helpless dreamers are right to believe that this time helpless dreamers will see the kind of changes helpless dreamers would like to see, because, well, um, er, Jon is a big cynical jerk!
So it goes.
Why...so...gullible?
Posted by: En Ming Hee at February 11, 2008 08:17 PMthese donks ( borrowing IOZ phrase ) will hands down run ostriches out of town .
what total utter ignorance of history / reason / logic . as american as apple pie
The links are the same.
Posted by: James Cape at February 11, 2008 09:07 PMThanks for including the Management Training bit in your YouTube link - hilarious. I find it completely infuriating when John Cleese does that "Good night, ding ding ding ding ding!" bit, for some reason.
Posted by: saurabh at February 11, 2008 09:32 PM"Soooooooooooo???????????????"
So, why such a fuss over who's gonna get elected ? Hillary, Barack, John, it'll be the same anyway.
Posted by: littlehorn at February 11, 2008 11:59 PMwell, yes, thankfully Obama is a grown-up who understands something about econ and policy. sorry, the US is not about to elect a fruitcake, as ardently as you folks might wish.
But one part of his resume I find very unconvincing. True, he was president of the HLR,, supposedly a big accomplishment. But note, if you're a black male with a 90th percentile LSAT, getting into HLS is a slam-dunk. And the HLR has spots set aside on a non-competitive basis for black people. And the president is elected by popularity, not academic or editing prowess. So I am very unimpressed with the guy, at least insofar as his legal career goes
Posted by: xyz at February 12, 2008 04:33 AMHope is the thing with feathers
"How wrong Emily Dickinson was! Hope is not “the thing with feathers”. The thing with feathers has turned to be my nephew. I must take him to a specialist in Zurich."
Posted by: Jonathan Schwarz at February 12, 2008 09:16 AMdespair is the thing without a supportive political organization
Posted by: hapa at February 12, 2008 02:18 PMPUT A DEMOCRATIC WOMAN IN THE WHITEHOUSE, call Nancy Pelosi @1-202-225-0100 and DEMAND IMPEACHMENT. DC business hours only, call often, and spread it around. wHEN ONE looks out upon the vast ocean of candidates running for office, TO ME, Nan is looking better and better all the time. AS ALWAYS I'm voting for Michael Meyer.
Posted by: Mike Meyer at February 12, 2008 02:38 PMBut note, if you're a black male with a 90th percentile LSAT, getting into HLS is a slam-dunk.
This is a complete and absolute lie. Race and LSAT alone won't get you in. It's Harvard. They have far more nits to pick than those.
Posted by: No One of Consequence at February 12, 2008 03:25 PMWait, Nancy Pelosi, who has consistently failed to do anything about the war, who hasn't pushed a single progressive piece of legislation through Congress, who hasn't done ANYTHING to reverse any of the travesties committed by the Bush Administration, is "looking better and better all the time"? Does your yardstick somehow measure in negative units?
Posted by: saurabh at February 12, 2008 03:59 PM*cough* Is thing on? *tap* *crackle*
You'll LOVE Nancy's administration AFTER we IMPEACH, call the FUTURE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES @1-202-225-0100 and tell her to WIGGLE her BUTT out of the HOUSE and into IMPEACHMENT PROCEEDINGS.
Posted by: buermann at February 12, 2008 05:36 PMSay, what happened to your New Year's Resolution?
Just the question I wanted to ask. If I can get off of coffee (42 days and counting!) is it too much to ask for a little positive news about the American resistance movement?
And here's another question: suppose you could wave a magic wand and remove all of the illusions held by Obama's supporters. Would anything change? Would they all switch over to voting for the Green Party, or something?
Look, it's a shitty system that doesn't offer any good options. So people pick what they perceive is the least bad option, and then maybe they imagine (wrongly) that it's not so bad after all. If we can't change the system, could we at least stop beating up on the people trapped inside it?
I've pointed this out before, but "I know more than you, and because I know more than you, I'm also much more depressed than you. Why don't you join me, and learn all I know, so you can be just as depressed as me?" is a lousy approach that doesn't find many takers.
But don't mind me, just keep shooting those Obamafish-in-a-barrel if that's what amuses you.
Posted by: SteveB at February 12, 2008 07:32 PM
saurabh: PELOSI looks to make a better president than McCain.
Posted by: Mike Meyer at February 12, 2008 10:31 PMI recall in 2000 how people repeatedly "pointed out" how the Republicans and the Democrats were pretty much the same. How did that work out?
Actually, I think this says more about the lazy blather of journalists than either candidate. I think you're right that there's less difference between the candidates than some think, claim and imply. But there's also more difference than others do.
And there's one critical difference: the perception of the differences in their actions in facilitating the invasion of Iraq. Opinion polls influence politicians' decisions, of course, but it's the outcomes of elections, the way power ends up being distributed and why, that really gets their attention.
Have a look at this, on the recent cliche of calling the movement around Obama a cult.
http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2008/02/cult-of-obama.html
Might this notion be influencing your thinking?
