comment #1

Jeff says ...

Best Hillary Clinton impression yet?? Beat that Amy Pohler

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Hg1LEsSeYJw

comment #2

Mr. Muckle says ...

Notwithstanding that Hitchens is generally a specious twit, he makes an interesting point. Still, how are we to verify the truth of what HE says? There's a lot of "inside baseball" there.

And when he leads with a statement like this -- "There are two kinds of deliberate and premeditated deceit, commonly known as suggestio falsi and suppressio veri." -- one has to ask, in what circles is that terminology common? Anyway, f**k Latin.

Crouch speaks of charisma, and that's an interesting quality. Obama is said to have it, and from what I've seen that's true. Charisma is sometimes considered a gift from the gods (or goddess). One of the things it does is expose faults, like when you pour water in a bucket, if there are holes it will leak. Certainly the charismatic Bill leaks all over the place, and right through Hillary, too.

Otherwise, if the structure is sound (and we can still hope it is with Obama) there is certainly the possibility that a kind of divine energy (as the ancients knew it) is functioning to our benefit.

comment #3

Jay T. says ...

Don't be so sure... Obama bowled a fucking 37 the other night. I mean, how the hell do you bowl a 37? I'm pretty sure my dog could do that or possibly a semi-athletic person in a coma. Call it stupid, but to a lot of Americans that's so pathetic it could affect their vote. People want their leader to be "manly" and that's a score my wife and her friends would even be ashamed of.

comment #4

Terry McCarty says ...

Jay T wrote:
People want their leader to be "manly" and that's a score my wife and her friends would even be ashamed of.

But at least Obama isn't trying to be "manly" like Dukakis and ride around in a tank wearing a too-large helmet or like Kerry and take up hunting because Kerry consultants thought parasailing wasn't "tough" enough.

comment #5

Aladdin Sane says ...

Hitchens book War is A Force that Gives Us Meaning was very good...I think that if anyone was qualified to criticize HRC on her Bosnian tale, it's Hitchens.

comment #6

TL says ...

Aladdin -- Chris Hedges wrote "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning," not Hitchens. Hitchens is kind of an asshat, except when he's on your side of an issue.

comment #7

bents75 says ...

"Obama bowled a fucking 37 the other night. I mean, how the hell do you bowl a 37?"

I'm not an avid bowler, but quite frankly, I think that was the first time I've ever seen a black person bowling.

It's not the score that bothered me, it was the fact that he even bothered. It was awkward. He probably would have looked more at ease while he was there if he just drank some beer and played a game of Ms. Pacman instead.

Plus, correct me if i'm wrong, but didn't he quit after getting a spare in the 7th frame? So that 37 isn't really a fair critique on his ability to be play one of the whitest sports known to man.

comment #8

Aladdin Sane says ...

Whoops. Shit. I feel like an asshat. I was not paying close enough attention. Wells, give us an edit will you?

I apologize to Hedges.

comment #9

D.Z. says ...

I'm not really one to defend Hillary, but Hitchens seemed to have no problem with Bush invading Iraq at the expense of Darfur, so is he really one to judge?

comment #10

Jay T. says ...

"But at least Obama isn't trying to be "manly" like Dukakis and ride around in a tank wearing a too-large helmet or like Kerry and take up hunting because Kerry consultants thought parasailing wasn't "tough" enough."

Oh, I agree. I just think it would have been wise of Obama to avoid bowling at all if he wasn't at least respectable.

I didn't realize the 37 wasn't based on a full 10 frames -- the news clip I saw did a shitty job of actually mentioning that part. I don't get it, why even mention the score at all then? Damn media...

comment #11

bents75 says ...

Yeah, I thought maybe I heard that wrong, but according to this, he only did 7. Not that it makes him any better, but with 3 more frames he was at least on pace to crack the 50 mark.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200803310007

According to reports by MSNBC's First Read and Salon.com, Obama played seven frames and left with a score of 37. Additionally, on Morning Joe, Obama campaign spokesman David Axelrod noted that Obama did not play all 10 frames. Nevertheless, on the March 31 edition of MSNBC Live, Tamron Hall claimed: "Mr. Obama scored a 37 when he hit the lanes this weekend. And yes, he bowled all 10 frames. That's impossible."

comment #12

Mr. Muckle says ...

Where's Walter Sobchak on this? He ought to have something to say about rolling. I say let's go with an Obama/Lebowski ticket. Sobchak for SecDef.

comment #13

christian says ...

When a candidate gets critiqued for his bowling, the problems with marketing image become manifest. It's fucking bowling.

comment #14

bb says ...

"Plus, correct me if i'm wrong, but didn't he quit after getting a spare in the 7th frame?"

Nobody likes a quitter.

comment #15

Nate West says ...

It's in the annals of social pyschology. When an individual of "high status" makes a mistakes or performs poorly at bowling, it's seen as endearing. When a "low status" person does the same thing, he's mocked and rejected.

So this was a clever move on Obama's part; plus, as the polls indicate, he's drinking Hillary's milkshake.

comment #16

DarthCorleone says ...

7 frames or 10 frames - 37 still is not good at all. But who cares? Obama is not completely unathletic; he's suposedly a decent basketball player.

comment #17

PoisonSkin says ...

I bet he sucks at golf too!

keep your snakeoil