Poor Hillary Clinton. I'm shocked at myself for even writing that, believe me.
YouTube video: here.
The Secretary of State snaps at a translator who miscombobulated a question from an African student, and lets loose with a tirade about her husband, that Rock-of-Matrimonial-Gibraltar, and all-around swell guy. The explosion was all about Hillary: I'm the Secretary of State! My Husband is nobody! Who cares what he thinks?
Her "spokespeople" said she was just jet-lagged. Tired and shagged out after a prolonged squawk, as it were. I think the cracks are showing. Her husband's new-found respectability and gravitas for having "rescued" two journalists from Kim Il-Jong, notwithstanding. Hillary has finally discovered what those of us who could walk and chew gum at the same time already knew when she was nominated for this job:
She was only offered it so that she'd be out of the Senate. Obama couldn't keep her there, with the ability to affect, or even speak against, his policies. Better to make her a Cabinet Member, with no legislative pull, no policy juice, and no real power...but who can then be fired (it will be dressed up as "The President asked for her Resignation) when convenient. Whenever anything really important on the diplomatic front needs to be accomplished, President Obama will probably work through other democratic party foreign-policy bigwigs...like Bill Clinton, or god help us, Jimmy Carter...and Hillary will be kept out of the loop. The precedent has been set.
I don't blame her for being pissed. But when you're stupid and greedy enough to give up a Senate Seat to be in the cabinet of a political parvenu, you have to live with your decisions. Did you really think that you were going to lend gravitas and an adult appearance to the Obama Circus by your presence in the Cabinet? Were you really naive enough to believe that "Secretary of State" to a President whose foreign policy seems to consist of begging every tin-pot shithead dictator's forgiveness for the sin of being American, and then offering his asshole for their carnal pleasure would be a great launching point for another Presidential Run?
More fool you. You got played, Baby. I almost pity you...except that your own ambition helped lead you here.
Poor Hillary will have to console herself with this set of facts: she'll get to go to all the quaint little diplomatic photo ops, and Potemkin displays, she'll get all the perks of her office, but she'll never, ever get to accomplish anything of note. If she ever appears to be on the cusp of accomplishing anything, she will be fired. The entire thing is engineered to ensure that come 2012, she will still have an empty resume.
And that was the plan all along
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Dodd and Conrad Cleared by Ethics Committee...
Two Senators at the heart of mortgage scandals wherein they've received preferential treatment from providers while the industry they were supposed to watch began the process of implosion, have been cleared of any wrongdoing by the Senate Ethics Committee (three lies for the price of one).
Chris Dodd has promised, for over a year, to release the documents pertinent to this investigation, and has not. I'm not certain what Conrad has done, if anything, to even defend himself against the allegations. I don't know if either man is actually guilty as charged, and frankly, don't give a shit; that's a matter for a criminal court, but there's a more important principle at stake here -- how can we trust Congress when it can't, obviously, police itself? How could we have expected any other outcome from the Senate Ethics Committee?
Neither of these men should be re-elected. Both should be prosecuted, if there's evidence of a crime.
Chris Dodd has promised, for over a year, to release the documents pertinent to this investigation, and has not. I'm not certain what Conrad has done, if anything, to even defend himself against the allegations. I don't know if either man is actually guilty as charged, and frankly, don't give a shit; that's a matter for a criminal court, but there's a more important principle at stake here -- how can we trust Congress when it can't, obviously, police itself? How could we have expected any other outcome from the Senate Ethics Committee?
Neither of these men should be re-elected. Both should be prosecuted, if there's evidence of a crime.
Just Say NO!
Re: the Obama Band-Aids-and-Eyedrops-for-Everyone "plan". I use the convention "The Plan", because according to whom you speak to, there is one (any one of seventeen or so Congressional proposals), or there isn't (none of these Congressional proposals has been debated or voted upon...yet), or, "The Plan" is not truly the President's, but rather belongs to Congress (ownership of "The Plan" changes between the Executive and Legislative branches, depending upon how beneficial/toxic/utilitarian claim of ownership is at any given instant).
Bottom line: this is not a health care "Plan". It will not provide "insurance" (as we understand the term today) to anyone, since for the majority of people it will claim to cover it will be "free" (i.e. paid for by other people, the so-called "Rich). Those who receive this "insurance" will then have to just deal with the destruction of their personal liberties as the government which now keeps them alive exercises it's "right" to then interfere with every personal decision they make, from whether or not to have that extra doughnut, to whether or not they go hang-gliding.
Once you give the government the responsibility for your health, you have given them the means by which they will direct your life.
As for these Town hall Meetings on the subject, there are two things which are painfully obvious:
a) Our elected class is clueless. They have lost touch with the very people they're supposed to be representing. The sense of entitlement and the arrogance they all seem to display is thick enough to cut with a chainsaw. I predict at least half of these mediocrities will be shown the door in 2010 (the other half were elected by people too stupid to know any better).
b) People are pissed off. And this time, it has very little to do with politics, per se: the people are beginning to wise up to point a. It's not about democrat and republican, it's about finally becoming aware of what these assholes are doing while we aren't watching. The recent fertilization of both speed and massive price tags exhibited by this combination of Congress and President is simply frightening.
Update: Now The Administration is now in full-scale-sale mode. Before, they were selling health care as a 'right' that a decent society owed to all of it's citizens. Since that was laughable on it's face (most of the people who would be covered under Obamacare were either illegal immigrants or people who could afford their own insurance, but are too cheap to pony up), they have resorted to the tried-and-true class warfare mantra: now the "Public Option" is necessary in order to artificially lower the price of actual insurance to create competition, so that The Disadvantaged can play on a level field with The Rich.
I would laugh if it weren't so stupid.
Update-Update: From the Chicago Tribune:
"In his news conference, Obama was asked if Americans would "have to give up anything in order for this [reform] to happen?" His answer: Basically, not much: "They’re going to have to give up paying for things that don’t make them healthier."
Huh?
From Bloomberg (April 29), via Mickey Kaus:
"April 29 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama said his grandmother’s hip-replacement surgery during the final weeks of her life made him wonder whether expensive procedures for the terminally ill reflect a "sustainable model" for health care."
And they say they'll be no Death Squads?
Bottom line: this is not a health care "Plan". It will not provide "insurance" (as we understand the term today) to anyone, since for the majority of people it will claim to cover it will be "free" (i.e. paid for by other people, the so-called "Rich). Those who receive this "insurance" will then have to just deal with the destruction of their personal liberties as the government which now keeps them alive exercises it's "right" to then interfere with every personal decision they make, from whether or not to have that extra doughnut, to whether or not they go hang-gliding.
Once you give the government the responsibility for your health, you have given them the means by which they will direct your life.
As for these Town hall Meetings on the subject, there are two things which are painfully obvious:
a) Our elected class is clueless. They have lost touch with the very people they're supposed to be representing. The sense of entitlement and the arrogance they all seem to display is thick enough to cut with a chainsaw. I predict at least half of these mediocrities will be shown the door in 2010 (the other half were elected by people too stupid to know any better).
b) People are pissed off. And this time, it has very little to do with politics, per se: the people are beginning to wise up to point a. It's not about democrat and republican, it's about finally becoming aware of what these assholes are doing while we aren't watching. The recent fertilization of both speed and massive price tags exhibited by this combination of Congress and President is simply frightening.
Update: Now The Administration is now in full-scale-sale mode. Before, they were selling health care as a 'right' that a decent society owed to all of it's citizens. Since that was laughable on it's face (most of the people who would be covered under Obamacare were either illegal immigrants or people who could afford their own insurance, but are too cheap to pony up), they have resorted to the tried-and-true class warfare mantra: now the "Public Option" is necessary in order to artificially lower the price of actual insurance to create competition, so that The Disadvantaged can play on a level field with The Rich.
I would laugh if it weren't so stupid.
Update-Update: From the Chicago Tribune:
"In his news conference, Obama was asked if Americans would "have to give up anything in order for this [reform] to happen?" His answer: Basically, not much: "They’re going to have to give up paying for things that don’t make them healthier."
Huh?
From Bloomberg (April 29), via Mickey Kaus:
"April 29 (Bloomberg) — President Barack Obama said his grandmother’s hip-replacement surgery during the final weeks of her life made him wonder whether expensive procedures for the terminally ill reflect a "sustainable model" for health care."
And they say they'll be no Death Squads?
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