Let me finish tonight with this.
"Bread and circuses." That's what politics has been all about from the days of the Romans. A good economy and a good show, good times and, yes, a spectacle, an irresistible event, Christians against the lions out there in the middle of the Coleseum.
The Big Arena with lots of lots of food waiting on the table back home.
Tonight, the Democrats put on the best show they've had in years: Bill Clinton walks onto the stage of the Democratic National Convention and does what he does better than anyone I've ever seen. He will speak to the moment. He will know the mood of the room even as he enters it. He will address that mood like the aroma that comes with the morning coffee. He will "be" there and the thousands of others there will "feel" him there - just for them.
Bill Clinton will go one-on-one with everyone watching and listening. He will resemble nothing so much as one of those old plastic Santa Claus masks that seem to follow you with their eyes, seem to be looking at you - YOU! - not anyone else.
I said up front tonight, he goes by many names. "Elvis." "Bubba." "The Big Dawg." And tonight he will be all of them. Most important of all, he will be there.
He will be out there for Barack Obama and that will make all the difference, all the difference in the world.
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This is only true if you can actually see and hear the convention, and not the bellowing bloviators of MSNBC.
C-SPAN!
I am not interested in a show or circus or which party can throw the most mud at the other party. I wish these so called modern Democrats and Republicans would actually care about the people they are suppose to serve and not just spin tales.
It is going to be real hard for me to decide which of these two presidential candidates will do the least amount of damage to this great country.
My only hope is that who ever gets elected, that either the House or Senate is controlled by the other party. That way maybe these two parties will be forced to work together, without one party pushing every one of their great ideas down our throats.
I guess the best way to say it, I do not want a one party system. I don't want a system that give free health care, but take away our freedom or a system that gives us total freedom but puts are lives at risk by deregulates everything.
What an ugly choice we have to make this year.
Is there a party that is handing out free health care? Which party is that and in what country? Obamacare is legally required private healthcare you pay for. If you choose medicare you pay for that as well. It's called OASDI tax. We have done this specifically because we have been providing free health care for those that haven't had it in the past and have been showing up to emergency rooms and being treated for free and charging back to us tax payers at huge costs. Now everyone has to pay their way.
You also realize that the Republicans in Congress have killed 19 jobs bills over the last two years, were against the auto bailout (and saving 1.1 million jobs), and fired 650,000 government employees. They've also refused to let the Bush tax cuts expire in 2010 even though they promised us they would do so on condition of originally passing them back during the Bush administration.
So sometimes it's not so great having two opposing parties in power when one refuses to cooperate with the other at all.
Some times it is not great or easy to have two opposing parties in power at the same time, but the cure you are suggesting may be worst than our current situation.
Just look at the historian and moralist Lord Acton's famous quote "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely". And, good people can easily be influenced by Absolute Power.
A few examples in history of one party systems include the USSR, China, most countries in the Mideast, and if you want to go back even a few years, World War II Germany.
It may not be greatest system in the world, but it seems to me to be far better than what history shows as the alternative.
I some times think what makes this country so great is our ability as a country to survive whomever we elect. One can only hope that continues.
Ha! Ha! Ha! Look at the Bush Administration and the Republican House and Republican Senate. That resulted in the destruction of our balanced budget and surplus, two wars that were unpaid for with no exit strategy, and the mortgage and baking crises, etc.
You don't have to look that far back in history!
The problem is the Republican Party isn't doing great as an opposition Party either!
That totally supports my point. One party controlling the office of the President, House and Senate is never a good thing. I didn't like the results then, I didn't like it during Obama's first two years, and I am sure I won't want it to be the result of this election.
Some where we have lost the art of working together be it either party. Saying you do, does not make it true be it a Republican or a Democrat saying it.
Maybe we should lock all of Congress and the President in one room and not let any of our great leaders (ha, ha) out until things can be resolved that actually helps the country.
In actuality, The Dems only had control for 4 months not two years. This was due the Senator Kennedys death, Al Franken not being sworn in until much later because the Republicans kept him tied up in court fro so long challenging his victory and Alan Spector switching parties. I know all you hear fro the Republicans is that they controlled the Senate and the Senate for two years but that is what the right wing does...lie.
Here is the actual timeline:
http://www.thepragmaticpundit.com/2011/12/obama-did-not-control-congress-for-two.html
You are correct that it was only 4 months. However, I said during Obama's first two years not that the Democrats controlled everything for two years.
And, I am not saying the Republicans don't lie. What I am saying is I don't believe most of what either party is trying to sell us.
My hope is that our leaders can actually figure out how to work together, how doubtful that sounds.
In my opinion, all politicians and I do mean the word all; know the phrase “A lie told often enough becomes truth”. Politicians probably don’t know it was one of Lenin’s most famous quotes; however they do understand the principle and use it quite effectively.
Unfortunately both parties seem to use half-trues or lies on a regular basis, with the only difference being that Democrats this year are better at sugar-coating what they say during their convention or pep rally.
I wish you the best.
Jon, your comments seem depressed and unrealistic How can we help you?
Thank you for your kind offer, but I am not depressed. The United States is the best country in the world with the best form of government.
Unfortunately due to a lot of economic variables we can't seem to control, we are having a great recession. However, on a positive note, like the great depression this too will end sometime in the future.
As for your other point, it might be true that I have an unrealistic view on what politicians say and do and should realize public speaking is their primary skill.
I guess I am just tired of the blame game. This did not start because of Obama or Bush and I believe both men thought they had the solution.
My hope and I think it is possible, we as Americans will learn that compromise between social and economic issues can be solved, but only when people and politicians quite attacking people from the other party as liars.
My mother once said to me, “You get more with honey then vinegar”. Clinton seems to know it, but unfortunately he is no longer part of our country's leadership.
May we all work together and thank you for your thoughts.
Clinton delivers perhaps his best speech to date. True high water mark in modern political speaking. This is exactly the way to take advantage of the stump to tell the truth and expose the political process and parties for what they are. Hopefully the Republicans will change their selfish ways for the amelioration of the nation. In any event President Obama and the Democrats deserve to get a straight ticket vote in 2012.
The Democrats are too cool. The Republicans are total fools.
We are all Bill Clinton tonight! People are calling me from far away about that speech. I loved the speech! Bill, always brings light!!
Lots for the Press to chew on, until Bill speaks again: Let Me Speak!
More Democratic LIES….FactCheck.org
Day 2: More Convention Canards
Posted on September 5, 2012
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — On
the second night of their convention, Democrats misled viewers with claims
about Republican economic and social policies. Among the convention canards:
would "take away a woman's right to choose even if she is a rape victim." The
GOP platform strongly opposes abortion, but is silent on exceptions — leaving
that up to the states.
committed to ending insurance coverage for birth control." That's not true.
Both men have spoken against the government requiring employers to cover birth
control at no cost to employees.
toward his goal of doubling exports by 2015. Government figures show the
exports have increased by 29 percent since Obama announced his goal.
domestic spending 20 percent across the board, crippling (fill in your favorite
federally funded program). The Ryan plan doesn't say what programs would be
cut. And Romney has said he would not apply cuts evenly.
Note to Readers
Our managing editor,Lori Robertson, is on the scene in Charlotte at the convention center. This story was written with the help of the entire staff, based in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. We are vetting the major speeches at this convention for factual accuracy, holding Democrats to the same standards we applied in last week's coverage of the Republican convention.
Ah... "Moe's Toe" you are such a loser...
Abortion: Everyone has reported it. You are the only ones who are still trying to defend the indefensible. thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/08/21/g-o-p-approves-strict-anti-a...
Exports: global.chinafeedonline.com/global/info/news/show_news_detail.jsp?i...
Romney and Ryan plan: Please check any of several reliable economic sources all of whom have said there is no way even if you cut all loopholes and tax cuts the plan could ever balance.
You guys should crack a book, get a life, have some sex, smoke a joint, join the military, (scratch the military). Seriously if you continue to be so gullible you will get yourselves in serious trouble.
The RNC platform specifically states NO EXCEPTIONS...Romney has not stated that but the RNC has...your an idiot
.
Obama 2008: "Yes, we can!"
Clinton 2012: "No one could..."
Not with an obstructionist Republican party whose sole stated goal was to say "No" to everything.
Vote straight Democrat ticket.
Why can't anyone call Mitt Romney what he actually is a CORPORATE RAIDER. People in the '70's and '80's knew what that was. Call a duck a duck.
Leo...way to fault a guy for delivering a message of hope during the worst recession ever.
You can't argue that Bill was wrong, so you simply offer cynical criticism that prove and solve nothing... You should be a republican senator. No new ideas but plenty of filibusters and criticism.
I have new ideas. Read articles at my profile. But there is no worthy Dems to discuss anything. Are you?
Wow! I read your articles Leo. Talk about going down the Orwellian rabbit hole. I now have a more complete vision of your warped, bigoted, socialistic, world view.
Who would have thought your hatred of President Obama stemmed from your blaming him for your multiple parking tickets and your blind jealousy over his being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize?
Are you seeing a psychiatrist?
Hey CONS, let's do some ARITHMETIC...
Name the Obama policies that added trillions to the debt and the amounts.
Then deduct that amount from the current $16 TRILLION.
The rest is GOP spending.
Spending to fix the GOP F'ups is still GOP spending and NOT Obama's fault so do not count those.
All progressives should start asking that question and doing that ARITHMETIC.
The CONS will NEVER have those numbers because they DO NOT exist.
I bet all you will get is NOTHING but insults and ridicule.
Having grown up around the world, experienced different cultures, you can imagine my heartbreak when
I realised the apple of my eye was infested with !diot citizenry. This was further aggravated by Mum calling me up (i think this was shortly before Dad passed or after) to ecstatically proclaim - "They elected my boy". Huh? George Bush?
Reduced to a 'who am i really' status; to say i despised GDub would be an understatement. Not hate but DESPISED.
Obiwan's wife's speech left me hopeful
Then it was "My boy's" turn (Yes i'm that proud of Bubba) That he could recover from Lewinsky and go on to bigger and better things gives me A LOT of hope that perhaps indeed, work hard and the world can make it happen for me too.
I wouldn't say this is the best show. Instead, i'd title it;
In the nick of time. The decline and near collapse of the American empire.