My personal book of saints does not include presidential candidates. Really. Do you vote for a guy because he looks so damned good? Definitely not! I would never do that. Here is our candidate with his lovely daughter on a foreign beach in Hawaii, when he should have vacationed in Florida like a normal American. Ah well. No one's perfect.
Picture via Athenae at First Draft.
That is a sweet, sweet photograph.
ReplyDeleteAin't nuthin foreign about Hawaii. A Texan would feel right at home there. As soon as you get off the plane in Maui, there's a big WalMart and a big mega-church complete with a pastor in an expensive suit waiting to greet you. Strabucks and Mickey Ds are everywhere, and there's a big Border's Books on Kauai.
ReplyDeleteYou may be out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean on the most remote archipelago on Earth, but you're never too far from the long arm of good ol' American consumerism.
I've been there once about 3 years ago. There were 2 big surprises for me about the Hawaiian Islands. First was how mountainous they are. Imagine Colorado in the middle of the Pacific. When I was there, Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea, both over 13000 feet, were covered in snow, even when it was 90 degrees on the beach. Second is how rural the islands are. Except for Oahu, Hawaii is mostly agricultural complete with 4H clubs and county fairs.
Obama didn't miss anything getting himself born in Hawaii. Bette Midler is also a Hawaii native.
Counterlight, Cokie Roberts, the all-wise DC pundit, does not approve of his vacation destination.
ReplyDeleteI don't approve of Cokie Roberts.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like Washington punditry is like British royalty, you have to be born into it. She certainly didn't get that job by being smart. But then, the current occupant of the White House didn't get there on brains and accomplishments either.
Excuse me... Since when did the beaches of Hawaii become Foreign Soil?
ReplyDeleteHawaii is a state having joined the Union in 1960.
Gerry, 1959, actually. It's the political Gospel according to Cokie Roberts. I know it's pathetic to link to one's own blog, but the story is here.
ReplyDeleteShe'll look great in the mitre.
ReplyDeleteHi Mimi,
ReplyDeleteIn the midst of what you know I'm dealing with I got an email from a person I had worked with (she's in another building now) and it's about breast cancer - a new form of it- but if it remains clustered with the other videos I saw it was completely attacking Oprah Winfry as trying to start her own religion with her more liberal religion/programs/thoughts and of course her endorsement of Obama is known.. it's awful and I think it's what we're going to see.. the average person who doesn't know too much is going to be frightened by the campaign the republicans seem ready to mount.. I hope this link makes you see what i saw.. here it is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s9_UrVtc6c
Fran, I saw that there are several videos about Oprah's "church". Look, I'm no great fan of Oprah, but not because of her "church". It's simply that I watch very little TV. They are fighting Oprah! They should give it up. Millions adore her show.
ReplyDeleteAs for what you saw about Obama, you will see much, much worse before this campaign is over. The Republicans will come at him with everything they have, whether it's true or not. They will send coded racist messages. It will be ugly. It will be dirty.
But using Oprah to get at Obama? That's ridiculous. Anyway, the fundamentalists will not vote for him anyway. It's not as though those videos will cause him to lose votes.
I got this as a chained email- the women who get this email chain are probably not against either candidate but are probably for whoever seems right and the fact that this little (very interesting clip to many women because Oprah has so many fans) was inserted there will make them watch. But maybe you're right - it might be just a coincidence
ReplyDeleteI got the email chain that made Obama out as muslim and related to possible insurgents
/corrupted politically and one of the people who I work with who got it was totally scared by it- but maybe I'm just too reactive to anything lately.
I just think this might be an ugly trend- I did think Cokie was ridiculous with her comments .
Fran, I didn't mean to imply that putting Obama in the video was a coincidence. It was quite deliberate. It was meant as a smear to suggest that because Oprah is not a Christian and she endorses Obama, then the implication is that he is not a Christian, either. Almost subliminal, but a little more obvious than subliminal. The object is deception. I don't think this video will be very effective, but of course, I could be wrong.
ReplyDeleteYikes I didn't punctuate. After coincidence. New paragraph! I was just saying how some of the women I work with exchange email forward chains and actually are conservative.. the one who was not liking Obama after that horrible email chain probably will not vote for him (conservative) probably has already heard what she will hear.
ReplyDeleteSorry - you were responding as I was..actually Obama wasn't in the video - and that's why I might be completely off base- just that it was Oprah who many people love being put in a bad light in an email that most women will send each other.. I have to admit I'm probably over-reactive to things. I just thought it could be a part of a pattern.
ReplyDeleteFran, if we are talking about the same video, Obama is in it near the end, in just a flash. Here's the one I watched.
ReplyDeleteI see it's in the total video which I guess I didn't see- I already felt uncomfortable with the email once I clicked onto that- but all those women they're passing that kind of warning to about a certain form of breast cancer women need to know about.. but I guess you're right if they're already there about fear and they're belief it's too late.. I'm really worried about the whole thing.. how the election will go.
ReplyDeleteYou know what, Mimi? If you think he's hot, then by God, the man is hot and Cokie Roberts is just not aging as gracefully as you.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth, then he's hot.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to see that I could enlarge the picture! At first glance I thought he was leading her around by the ear like my mother used to do. Yes he is hot! And I am glad he went to Hawai'i.
ReplyDeleteOh, Elizabeth! Cokie isn't aging... she hasn't aged in 20 years. She's either had plastic surgery or she has a portrait in the attic that is melting away!
ReplyDeleteSusan, I'll never forget what James Wolcott said some time ago about the aging pundits who appeared on the round table on Meet the Press. He said that they resembled a "poker game for mummies". I believe he got it right.
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