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Comments

1. #115790
   On August 12th, 2007 at 11:04 pm, puhiawa said:

   Wait till you see her at the Witche’s forum. She will steal the show!

2. #115791
   On August 12th, 2007 at 11:05 pm, PBoilermaker said:

   Shameless, but is anyone here honestly surprised?

   I don’t want to think of a USA with her as CINC. Sickening.

3. #115792
   On August 12th, 2007 at 11:16 pm, Dersu said:

   Sunday funnies, nothing wrong with a good laugh.
   And she is that.
   Though from what I read, some demoncrats
   are scared to death of her at the top of the ticket.

   Clinton a drag? Dems fear her negatives

   Yahoo news

   By RON FOURNIER, Associated Press Writer Sun Aug 12, 1:32 PM ET

   WASHINGTON – Looking past the presidential nomination fight, Democratic leaders quietly fret that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton at the top of their 2008 ticket could hurt candidates at the bottom.
   They say the former first lady may be too polarizing for much of the country. She could jeopardize the party’s standing with independent voters and give Republicans who otherwise might stay home on Election Day a reason to vote, they worry.

   In more than 40 interviews, Democratic candidates, consultants and party chairs from every region pointed to internal polls that give Clinton strikingly high unfavorable ratings in places with key congressional and state races.

   “I’m not sure it would be fatal in Indiana, but she would be a drag” on many candidates, said Democratic state Rep. Dave Crooks of Washington, Ind.

4. #115793
   On August 12th, 2007 at 11:22 pm, almeehan said:

   We’ve been liftin up that rug in the Whitehouse ever since the Clintons left and they still can’t get all the smell of that cat poo out of there! Still finding remnants of Rose law firm records falling out of the shredder too!

5. #115797
   On August 13th, 2007 at 12:05 am, palani said:

   Perhaps we’ll soon see Hillarity in full blackface, ala Ted Danson.

6. #115801
   On August 13th, 2007 at 12:36 am, OldGuy53 said:

   Kinda disappointing when you think about it.
   As many years as she lived down here in Arkansas you would a thought she’d hung around enough “common” folk to pull off southern.

   Guess not.

7. #115805
   On August 13th, 2007 at 1:10 am, Regulus said:

   Listening to Hillary’s built-in scold/screech is like having my spinal cord run over repeatedly with a cheese grate. Aaaagh! Make it stop!

   But then again, if we want to get the Gitmo Boys to confess – to anything – then looped recordings of Hillary’s sharecropper accent would be a potent tool, indeed.

8. #115806
   On August 13th, 2007 at 1:11 am, bear1909 said:

   The intensity of the Islamic fascist assault on the West, America in particular, will be the undoing of the Democratic party.

   Clinton’s speeches and votes in the Senate give little indidcation she is any more credible dealing with IslamoFascism than her ridiculous husband.

   Kucinich is simply daft with his insistence GWB and Cheney should be impeached and removed from office. The interpretation of fact by this dangerous little twit and a score of Democrats borders on treason and derangement.

   John Edwards is a narcissistic loon who should get psychiatric help. He has no experience and depth less than my rain gutters.

   When will Joe Biden get a clue that he is *not* ever going to be numero uno.
   How long has he been running for President? What contribution has he made to the security of the United States in that time?

   Obama? A complete media creation. Why is it that every Presidential cycle the Democrats try to push a candidate that is supposed to embody JFK? What do they take us for?

   There is nothing in any of them remotely suggestive of resolve to keep fighting the Islamic fascist threat to Western Civilization.

   I smell weakness. When will conservative institutions, media, and political power centers go on the attack?

9. #115807
   On August 13th, 2007 at 1:11 am, Myra Langerhas said:

   As many years as she lived down here in Arkansas you would a thought she’d hung around enough “common” folk to pull off southern.

   Sorry Oldguy. It appears that you really dont know her. Hillary is a genuine full blooded New Yorker. I saw her, and for 11 seconds she wore a Yankee cap and said she was a Yankee fan. I am a Met fan, so I have some ambivalence, but I am sure soon, she WILL wear a Met hat. Only then will I vote for her because of her undying devotion to my borough.

   Hil? Hil? I have a cap for you!!!!

10. #115808
    On August 13th, 2007 at 1:16 am, DarkKnight said:

    Ms. Malkin, I agree with you on some topics on this blog. And I slightly disagree with you on other topics…

    But frankly, I think that this entry is totally off-base and not on the same level as some other more-relevant topics.

    I know you may not like Al Sharpton, Rev. Jackson, etc. and want to choose instances to attack people who associate with them.

    However, I must take exception that you are choosing to attack a candidate’s style of delivery when addressing an audience in a religious setting in the Southern United States.

    It is well known that you and many conservative commentators will be tracking Sen. Clinton and Sen. Obama’s every move and watching to find something to slam them about. That is, after all, the point of those who wish to find fault in the opposing party (see Sen. Allen’s racial slur gaffe). It is one thing to attack their ideas (Iraq), positions (immigration) or to make sure their facts are right (remember when Sen. Obama said 10,000 people died in tornados when only 12 did?).

    But I would think it would be a much better idea to back off the Democrats (or the Republicans for that matter) when they address different audiences, African Americans included.

    1) GOP Candidates are guilty of the same thing. If you really care that much that the candidates speak the same no matter what audience they address, then I hope to see a Giuliani or Romney speech at a “black church”, or at a Southern Baptist service, posted soon to see if their address style changes. I’d be willing to bet that there is a chance of the candidates trying to fire up the crowd with a dialect that may not have been present at a county fair in Iowa.

    2) It is a fact that there are instances in which case a speaker will adapt his/her choice of words or dialect in order to address a certain audience.

    For example, when a public official (or private for that matter) is addressing an elderly crowd, they may speak slower so that the audience can relate to him/her.

    When an official is speaking to children for example, they will more than likely adapt their speech choice to relate with the audience.

    When a preacher (T.D. Jakes is an excellent example) is giving a sermon, their speech will alter when they get fired up and will vary greatly from when they are having a quiet conversation or giving a television interview to CNN. Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. were brilliant public speakers because they were able to tailor their messages to different audiences.

    When the speaker, in this case Hillary, is in a “black church” in the deep South, then one should expect that there might be a dialect difference than if they were speaking to people in New York where they might display a New York accent, or in New Jersey, Boston where they might use a Boston (B-ahhh- ston) accent, or on a rural farm 50 miles outside of Omaha, Nebraska.

    While we are on that subject, I have noticed that you don’t post any videos on candidates (GOP or Dem) when they speak in public settings to people in rural areas. Do you think that perhaps candidates develop a “country” way of speaking when addressing an audience that speaks in such a manner?

    Will there be any entries on that methodology of speaking as well?

    Also for the record, Hillary was quoting a song and was using word for word. Having grown up in a black church, my experiences may be different from Eric (I have read his entries on this topic) and I have seen songs sung in church that would vary differently in presentation than they would on sheet music (Elvis’ version of “When the Saints Go Marching In” is quite different than the versions I have heard both in my church, or in places such as New Orleans).

    In closing, I feel that this blog is (and should be) a marketplace of ideas and free exchange of opinion. You, of course, are entitled to yours.

    But I think even you have to concede that public figures are going to tailor their messages (and sometimes behavior) appropriately. That is the sign of a good communicator.

    I’m sure you can’t forget when President Reagan showed up at Dorchester’s Eire Pub for a beer?

    “You had a Republican in a Democratic, blue-collar community who said ‘I’m one of you’ by hoisting a beer,” a pint of Ballantine Ale, to be exact.

    http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/06/06/at_dorchester_pub_a_president_made_the_rounds/

    I have noticed that Bill O’Reilly uses quite a different tone of voice when he addresses lawyers on this show (calling them “conselor” when phrasing questions) or Ph.D holders and policy analysts, then when he is fired up at media writers or judges who refuse to come up the program and he instead has to get answers from a conservative think tank spokesperson.

    Back to Hillary, the only reason why this became so big was because this was a nationally televised speech, on a historic day, in a historic church. Period. I am not holding my breath to see videos of Hillary or any other politician talking in a “black church” or any other place of worship when addressing audiences.

    Honestly, as I hope you would agree, there are much bigger things during this election to worry about and debate in the months leading to Election Day.

11. #115810
    On August 13th, 2007 at 1:20 am, DarkKnight said:

    With apologies to Eric, I was reading the entry on the topic in “La Shawn Barber’s Corner.”

12. #115812
    On August 13th, 2007 at 1:30 am, Myra Langerhas said:

    Let me tell you somethin folks. We will not win the next Presidential election and will probably take another hit in Congress. The nutroot folks are what the young Reaganites were in the early 80’s.

    Our most powerful issue was immigration.

    And our Repub Prez was on the wrong side. His obstinance tarnished the party. Iraq is a big loss for Repubs. Too many defectors destroyed party unity and fed into Dem fearmongering. A sagging economy always hurts the party in power. And the continual failure of mortgage repayment wont end soon.

    We are in the ‘Perfect Storm’ of Republican minimalization.

13. #115815
    On August 13th, 2007 at 1:50 am, puhiawa said:

    Myra Langerhas
    You are right.

14. #115816
    On August 13th, 2007 at 1:58 am, bdfaith said:

    DarkNight, if you’re going to quote people to make a point, maybe you could at least make the effort to know who you’re quoting:

    Rich Bishkin, who wasn’t able to get into the pub that day but caught the excitement as he stood outside its doors, agreed that Reagan’s visit was the real deal.

    “You had a Republican in a Democratic, blue-collar community who said ‘I’m one of you’ by hoisting a beer,” a pint of Ballantine Ale, to be exact.

    The only one who spoke the words “I’m one of you” was Rich Bishkin.

    You won’t have to hold your breath. I’m only one of a few million little bloggers who’ll make sure that YouTube clip, and the one where she says “We’re going to take some things for you for the common good,” (short form: It takes a socialist.) never gets forgotten as long as there’s any danger of her ever moving back into the white house.

    Myra, I understand your concerns but fortunately W’s not running next year.

15. #115818
    On August 13th, 2007 at 3:02 am, DarkKnight said:

    I knew who I was quoting but I didn’t cut the article far enough apparently.

    The point was more along the lines of what President Reagan was trying to do. He was trying to connect with his “audience” (the American people) by exhibiting speech (and in this case behavior) patterns by some working Americans… he grabbed a beer with them.

    Mike Corbett, a 47-year-old construction worker from Braintree, sat at the bar yesterday with his back to the wall where framed pictures and newspaper clippings from that storied day hang still.

    What was otherwise a regular day turned “surreal,” he said, when the president walked in.

    “I was just sitting here having lunch,” he said. “The next thing I know I have the president of the United States looking over my shoulder. I was just trying to drink a pint, hoping the boss isn’t looking.”

    Though Corbett admitted he “wasn’t a political ally” of the Republican president, he said Reagan “seemed to have a grasp of the common person, the worker.”
    “I found him to be a very gracious person,” he said. “I think he had an intuition. You could see the focus in his mind.”

    Corbett said Reagan’s surprise drop-in didn’t seem forced. “He made an effort to reach out to people that day,” he said

    As I said, this is a tactic used by public figures all the time by members of both parties.

    As I said BDFaith, you’re more than welcome to be on Hillary Watch, etc. But to me, we need to raise the level of political discourse instead of worrying about what accent a presidential candidates want to use to connect to their audience.

    It’s not about the accent. It’s about the ideas.

16. #115820
    On August 13th, 2007 at 3:21 am, blacktygrrrr said:

    Whether it be guilty white liberals supporting Obama because they are only 5 generations removed from 1863, or Hillary Clinton being loved by black America for being married to a man who was considered trailer trash done made good, at some point they will have to get beyond condescension (Hillary) or meaningless platitudes (Obama).

    At least Edwards is doing his part to woo Sharpton and Jackson by having the courage to start a race war. Odious yes, but at least crystal clear.

    http://blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com/2007/04/14/why-democrats-chase-the-obama-dragon/

    http://blacktygrrrr.wordpress.com/2007/08/08/puppies-and-kittens-are-cryingblame-the-president/

    Respectfully,

    eric

17. #115821
    On August 13th, 2007 at 3:25 am, PBoilermaker said:

    DarkKnight:It’s not about the accent. It’s about the ideas.

    Hillary’s ideas are even more appalling than her shameless pandering and embarrassingly fake accents.

    I’m glad her attempts to manipulate an uninformed populace, no matter how trivial in your eyes, are being highlighted. This chameleon-like behavior, after all, has helped her and her husband dodge responsibility and skate through scrutiny surrounding all manner of crimes, inconsistencies and screw-ups. Focusing on this abhorrent woman’s modi operandi helps to remind us of who she really is.

    If you don’t like to read about it, don’t click the links on MM’s homepage.

18. #115825
    On August 13th, 2007 at 6:04 am, Rick Moran said:

    DarkK:

    PB is correct. And I would add your example of using Reagan is curious since Reagan grew up “working class” in every sense of the word and would therefore naturally relate to the “common man.”

    Also, by all reports we have of how Reagan acted while in Hollywood, he was probably the least pretentious star in history. Some people thought it an act. But those who knew him said it was just the way he was.

    On the other hand, Hillary’s accent is not “natural” in that she didn’t grow up black, or poor, or oppressed. She used the accent to pander. It’s wrong and the fact that she gets a free ride from the press for it stinks.

19. #115828
    On August 13th, 2007 at 6:15 am, Dandapani said:

    The second black president…

20. #115833
    On August 13th, 2007 at 6:35 am, Uplander said:

    Pandering is pandering and doesn’t look good when anyone does it. It’s insulting to anyone listening, and like it or not, everyone ‘listens’ to candidates.

21. #115834
    On August 13th, 2007 at 7:24 am, RobM1981 said:

    I wonder what she’ll say if someone asks her “Are you man enough to be president…?”

22. #115835
    On August 13th, 2007 at 7:31 am, sausage said:

    DarkKnight: Nice points.

    I do think it’s amusing how people expect politicians to be anything BUT experts at pandering to the crowd they are speaking to.

23. #115859
    On August 13th, 2007 at 8:57 am, terrig said:

    Hillary grew up in Park Ridge, IL. It’s certainly no slum she sprung from.
    As for DK & Sausage, I don’t like the pandering no matter who from what party does it. I would much rather hear what they have to say and not pander to the teamsters, the evangelicals, the you name it group. The point of it is from my perspective her ideas are nothing more than socialist drivel and I don’t care in what accent she uses. If you enjoy her ideas, well good for you, have at it, knock yourself out campaigning for her. Please understand that the majority of people on this site don’t like her. Of course, you are welcome here and you berate us but we are not welcome on the democrap sites, we are blocked, have our posts removed, none of which has been done to you. Perhaps you’re still mad because Michelle is hosting on Friday nights instead of Kristin Powers. Perhaps one day she will, send old Bill an email suggesting that. In the meantime, have a nice day.

24. #115861
    On August 13th, 2007 at 9:03 am, PBoilermaker said:

    On August 13th, 2007 at 7:31 am, sausage said:
    DarkKnight: Nice points.

    I do think it’s amusing how people expect politicians to be anything BUT experts at pandering to the crowd they are speaking to

    I think it’s amusing you ventured out from under the bridge.

    Good call Aguado.

25. #115862
    On August 13th, 2007 at 9:09 am, zyzzyg said:

    “Clinton will be surrounding herself with wealthy black celebrities in a few weeks …”

    Why couldn’t they just be ‘celebrities’? Was the race, ethnicity, or religion of the hosts mentioned when the candidates went to Geffen’s home?

26. #115868
    On August 13th, 2007 at 9:14 am, PBoilermaker said:

    Why couldn’t they just be ‘celebrities’? Was the race, ethnicity, or religion of the hosts mentioned when the candidates went to Geffen’s home?

    Wow, YGBSM.

27. #115879
    On August 13th, 2007 at 9:41 am, DarkKnight said:

    On August 13th, 2007 at 8:57 am, terrig said:
    Of course, you are welcome here and you berate us…

    Terrig, nice to hear from you again. I responded to your post in the “House white flag” thread of July 12th, 2007… and never back from you after you made broad assumtions and about my comments on this site.

    I hope you get the chance to read it.

    I have not berated you or anyone else here. In fact, I have had pleasent conversation with many people on this site since my joining. I disagree with bear1909, jrlingreenbay and some others but have found a pleasent tone in which to have our conversations. I would appreciate the same with you.

    Now to the issues:

    I agree with you when you say this:

    I would much rather hear what they have to say and not pander to the teamsters, the evangelicals, the you name it group.

    It’s sad, but true, some members of the general public feel that the President should be a person that they relate to. So in order to play to that effect, the public official will sometimes find ways to connect to the audience.

    I referenced President Reagan in an attempt to show one public official who took the “Office of the President” and wanted to show that he was (still) one of them.

    I find it interesting that my comments about the request of a video from presidential candidates campaigning in rural America have been hardly noticed or responded to.

    Anyway, in my above post, I said nothing about her ideas. If you (or anyone) don’t like her ideas, fine. If you (or anyone) like her ideas, great. But let’s stick to just that… her ideas.

    Let’s let get caught up in issues so much (like what kind of clothes she wears for example) that start to take away from the issues at hand.

    That was my point.

28. #115914
    On August 13th, 2007 at 10:31 am, terrig said:

    Well DK, I don’t have a lot of time to be on here but regardless I will answer your suggestions/questions and at some point look in the vault for you response of the 12th. I believe you have berated people here including me but I don’t have time to do the research but if you don’t feel that way, that is fine. I tried to be pleasant with you but one time I got a nasty toned response and decided that all bets were off. I don’t want a constant echo chamber but you must have figured out by now those of us who post here, for the most part aren’t people who are great fans of the dems. That’s something that isn’t allowed on sites that are run by the left. You have a voice here and aren’t silenced. That being said, you must realize that most of us aren’t going to be fans of the girl wonder and aren’t going to find much positive to say about her.
    What about the candidates in rural America, do you just want to see Republicans, are dims included? I think most people are smart enough to figure out when they’re being pandered too. I have never said anything about her clothes or her hair or anyone’s clothes or hair or attractiveness or non-attractiveness. I just stated she didn’t grow up in a place known (at that time I haven’t been to that area in almost 20 years) for it’s poorer population. I didn’t reference anything about her stupid, phony accent, just her ideas and her pandering. I also think Romney’s stupid response about his military age sons not joining was stupid too and said so. At the same time, having been in from 88-95, I don’t want anyone there who doesn’t want to be there. I just find it interesting that only Republican children must enlist. I guess I should have wondered where Chelsea was when I was in or when her father sent my husband to Kosovo two weeks after our wedding but unlike the mindnumbed, I knew that I didn’t want anyone there who wasn’t going to do their job and make it harder for those who do/did.

29. #115989
    On August 13th, 2007 at 12:40 pm, palani said:

    Re: DarkKnight #10

    However, I must take exception that you are choosing to attack a candidate’s style of delivery when addressing an audience in a religious setting in the Southern United States.

    When an official is speaking to children for example, they will more than likely adapt their speech choice to relate with the audience.

    There’s a difference between expected political pandering and condescension. (s)H(r)illary is an elitist in populist’s clothing. She does not affect her phony dialect merely because she is speaking to a black congregation in a southern church; she does so for any and all black audiences, in true liberal racist fashion.

30. #116131
    On August 13th, 2007 at 5:30 pm, billhedrick said:

    Some folks, I am one of them, will unconsciously pick up the accent of people they are talking to. Bill Clinton was like this, his southern accent faded when up north but strengthened when down south. What Hillary did was not that, she tried to quote an old song “in accent” and failed comically.

31. #116237
    On August 14th, 2007 at 1:31 am, Mr_Conservative_Cat said:

    “I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”

    ~Martin Luther King

    Memo to the Democrats: You would be better served by treating the fact of skin color as irrelevent to any meaningful discussion except that of racism. As long as you grandstand on their genetic heritage as a way to aggrandize yourself by being in the midst of large numbers of minorities to be seen in their presence, as gross an act as collecting lawn jockeys and claiming you have diversity in your front yard, you only succeed in proving yourself to be manifestly racist by nature and clueless as to the fact that minorities are complete and total human beings regardless of their color. To lump their black and brown faces and stick yourself in their midst demonstrates that you not only do not respect them, but in all probabilty cannot even understand them.

32. #116275
    On August 14th, 2007 at 8:34 am, BOB said:

    With regard to any politician, it’s not only about the ideas, it’s also about the phoniness, and Hillary epitomizes phoniness. It exudes from her in such an obvious matter that
    only the truly gullible could be believers.

33. #116633
    On August 14th, 2007 at 10:02 pm, clark smith said:

    Michelle,

    Your LA Times Blog link was mistakenly a repeat of the Newsday link.

    Here’s the proper LA Times Blog link:

    http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washington/2007/08/hillary-tops-op.html

34. #116811
    On August 15th, 2007 at 1:23 pm, i b squidly said:

    Dark Knight:

    Affecting accents and idioms not your own does not enable communication it’s pretentious at best. After all, knowing the words does not convey understanding. Spanish differentiates saber and conocer. The Japanese laugh at the presumption of gaijin to know what they’re talking about. In the case of Hillary it’s simple pandering.

    JFK had his sibilance. LBJ had his drawl. Neither trawled black churches but both travelled where their intonations verged on incomprehensible. They didn’t affect anything else and LBJ’s standard reference for blacks is too close to the unprintable. I’m trying to imagine FDR or Eleanor speaking ebonics and can’t. Hillary has the nasal grate of her DuPage County upbringing. Plainly she’s trying to obscure her plain white bread background.

    As for Ronnie with a beer? I’ld expect nothing less of an Irishman. Famously he bent elbows with Tip Oneill. Plainly Tip was more uncomfortable with the program. Sometimes these efforts at connecting with the common folk work and sometimes they don’t: Dukakis in a tank or Coolidge in head-dress, or Hillary at Yankees Stadium.