August 31, 2012

"30 Best Quotes" from the GOP convention.

As seen by John Hawkins, with #1, #5, and #14 coming from Mike Huckabee. Was Huckabee that good? Here's the #1 quote:
“The Democrats say we ought to give Barack Obama credit for trying. That sounds like the nonsense of giving every kid a trophy for showing up. Friends, we’re talking about leading the country, not playing on a third-grade soccer team! I realize this is the man who got a Nobel Peace Prize for what he would potentially do, but in the real world, you get the prize for producing something, not just promising it.”
I don't think the Democrats are saying "we ought to give Barack Obama credit for trying," and the everybody-gets-a-trophy trope is hackneyed. It was a reasonably spiffy quote though, like something Rush Limbaugh would say ad libbing on his show in any given hour.

By the way, speaking of what Democrats say, I can easily picture Democrats calling that quote racist. Why? For comparing Obama to children. Why doesn't somebody review each speech with an eye toward eliminating things like that? The Democrats in my head — whom I can hear giving their spin on any and everything — are saying: Because they really do want to reach white people in that residual racist part of their brain.

100 comments:

Farmer said...

Because the people inclined to scream "racism" will do it with or without anything like ammunition, and because the overwhelming majority of the rest of us don't take them seriously anyway.

Lauderdale Vet said...

I am weary of being told that I'm a racist because I don't like a person's ideas. I kind of wish we could go through "anonymous" primaries and elections, where the person behind the ideas was only revealed at the end, when all was said and done.

Skyler said...

Screen their speeches for potential offense? No matter how careful you are, they will continue to find another way that you offend them. The goal is not to keep you from saying something offensive. It is, rather, to keep you from speaking.

pm317 said...

I don't think the Democrats are saying "we ought to give Barack Obama credit for trying,"

They are not using the word 'trying' per se but the sentiment often repeated is that we have to give him credit for (trying) because he inherited such a big mess. He wanted the job so badly that he and the DNC cheated to get where he is but he failed to deliver. So make my day!

Farmer said...

23) “The only just government is the government that serves its citizens, not itself.” — Cardinal Timothy Dolan

The Catholic Church is supposed to serve her members rather than herself, too. Shame we can't vote out the bishops.

Unknown said...

"The Democrats in my head..."

How awful!

Synova said...

I think it's more likely that if you tried to eliminate anything that could potentially be spun as racist you wouldn't have a speech because you wouldn't be able to use words.

We're talking about people who make it their full time job to find code words, who had no trouble deciding that the Tea Party wasn't the least bit interested in pushing back government, they only wanted to push back the black man.

Anonymous said...

paul ryans "faded poster" quote got my number 1

SGT Ted said...

Thats because the Democrats in your head are always playing the race card. Just like the Democrats on TV.

Unknown said...

If that is the number 1 quote, there must have been some god awful speeches.

Sorun said...

"For comparing Obama to children. Why doesn't somebody review each speech with an eye toward eliminating things like that?"

It doesn't stop at children or animals. It doesn't stop at "Chicago" or "Milwaukee" either.

If ever there was a good argument for not voting for a black person, you just made it: Speech suppression, particularly when it's criticism of the President.

Tank said...

Annie, bless your little heart, the Democratic spinsters find racism in every Republican/Conservative/Libertarian utterance.

Why don't we just tell the truth about the bad man, bad president we have now? Didn't Christie say that Americans want the truth (not that I think they do)?

The fact is that Zero is one standard deviation worse than all of the prior presidents (there, now that's a racist statement).

Rocketeer said...

Excuse me? If it implies racism, it implies racism on the part of Democrats, who - in Huckabee's formulation, at least - are the ones saying he should be given "credit for trying." Democrats are treating Obama as a child, and Huckabee is arguing that no, Obama, is an adult and should be held to the standard of one.

Tom Spaulding said...

The Democrat in your head is racist. Here's how to tell: if Obama was White, would anyone change their opinion of his policies and world-view? Do we like un-skilled people getting put into jobs they are not prepared to handle if they have less pigment in their skin?

MayBee said...

I don't think the Democrats are saying "we ought to give Barack Obama credit for trying,"

Many are.
The refrain I hear and read is that the President has tried and the dastardly republicans have blocked him at every turn.

I find it odd that a few threads down you said you'd been hoping Obama would be able to change the racism conversation in America, and now you think Democrats must be protected from hearing about participant ribbons because it sounds kinda racist to you. I mean, to the Democrats in your head.

lemondog said...

Didn't watch a lot of the convention.... just channel surfer. Stopped when I saw this young dyanmic guy and he is talking about his immigrant parents and about dreams and the promise of America.....

and I'm thinking "who is he?"

Name appears: Mario Rubio.

Impressive.

Patrick said...

Comparing the President to children = racist? I don't get it. In fact it is nonsense. The more stuff that is not remotely racist, the more difficult it is to convince people that racism is serious and still exists.

I don't know if you're writing this as a "some will say it's racist," or if you actually think it is, but in any case, it is not a serious argument.

MayBee said...

I'll be interested to hear about the Democratic Convention and what the Democrats *do* choose to give Obama credit for.

Free birth control and more teachers?

Shouting Thomas said...

Prove you're not a racist. Vote for Obama!

Apparently, this is the sum total of the Democratic Party agenda.

Well, there's also:

Prove you don't want to murder women. Vote for Obama!

Icepick said...

Ooooo, Eastwood bit also racist because Obama was Invisible Man!

Do I win a prize?

Balfegor said...

By the way, speaking of what Democrats say, I can easily picture Democrats calling that quote racist. Why? For comparing Obama to children. Why doesn't somebody review each speech with an eye toward eliminating things like that?

Because at this point, Democrats are calling literally everything racist. There's a point where Republicans just have to throw up their hands and assume voters are grown-ups who can recognise how silly that is.

Icepick said...

Aw damn, at least one other person already spotted the obvious, so no prize for me.

Icepick said...

There's a point where Republicans just have to throw up....

Should have stopped there.

Mr. D said...

We’ve all been put on notice that mentioning “Chicago” in even a mildly disparaging way is racist. Which means it’s axiomatic that everyone in the state of Wisconsin is racist. The Democrat in your head’s work was already done before you even thought about writing this post.

furious_a said...

the overwhelming majority of the rest of us don't take them seriously anyway.

It's racism to be skeptical of specious charges of racism. You racist.

Tank said...

Malkin has a column on this subject today.

MayBee said...

Althouse yesterday 3. I believed Obama had the potential to advance us in some new way on racial matters.

Althouse today:
I can easily picture Democrats calling that quote racist. Why? For comparing Obama to children. Why doesn't somebody review each speech with an eye toward eliminating things like that?

Your own solution is the kind of thing that keeps us from moving forward. Perhaps I just don't understand the "new way" you imagined Obama could lead us past this type of thinking, though.

furious_a said...

We're talking about people who make it their full time job to find code words

If they can hear the dog whistles, makes them the dogs, dunnit?

We need a list of codewords, so as to stay out of ChrissyTingle's minefield:

Chicago
Children
Golf
Huggy Bear
Invisible
Malt Liquor
Newports
PGA Tour
...

Big Mike said...

By the way, speaking of what Democrats say, I can easily picture Democrats calling that quote racist. Why? For comparing Obama to children. Why doesn't somebody review each speech with an eye toward eliminating things like that?

Because the trap is as follows. Sooner or later Democrats will be claiming that everything said by any Republican, no matter how innocuous, is racist. And at that point they're going to be totally tuned out.

We're almost there already.

Lucius said...

Huckabee *was* good. I'm glad I got to see it, actually, because otherwise I would've paid it no mind.

It was a neat little summation of conservative principle, nicely evoking Constitutional freedoms and restraints, delivered with intelligence.

It's not a Federalist paper, no. But though Huckabee has his own big-government heresies and his moralizing side, it was good enough to make me lament that he's a spent force in politics-- if he really is.

Icepick said...

Huggy Bear

Hey, they can take my Huggy Bear references when they pry my Starsky & Hutch lunch box from my cold, dead hand!

bandmeeting said...

and the everybody-gets-a-trophy trope is hackneyed

No it is not. It is a particularly splendid example of how the Democrat mind operates and has a wonderful corollary in the spread the wealth trope.

MayBee said...

We're almost there already.

We are past there.

Remember the made up accusation the tea partiers had yelled n***** at the CBC. 15 times!!
Even if you don't say something, you've said something racist.

Sorun said...

You have a choice between racial equality and free speech. Which do you choose?

What if liberal women had to choose between racial equality and abortion rights? Which would they choose?

(The new "racial equality" is defined as no black person is ever offended)

Larry J said...

Prove you're not a racist. Vote for Obama!

If you voted for Obama in 2008 to prove you're not a racist, will you vote for Romney in 2012 to prove you're not a moron?

rhhardin said...

It's not free speech you want so much as decent jokes.

Carnifex said...

I'ma' gonna' dive into the racist pool. If I'm gonna get wet I might as well have fun

Zero is a nigger of the highest order, and needs to be either put on a plantation, picking cotton and singin' spirituals, along with all the other darkies.

And Lyndsey... you poor poor misguide hag. Was the last guy that wanted your pussy your Daddy, cause you sure do have some issues

let the hating commence
gotta go ciao

Rocketeer said...

That was ugly, Carnifex. The whole damned thing.

Rocketeer said...

Here's an idea:

Let the Democrats, generally speaking, be over-the-top stupid and hateful without being over-the-top stupid and hateful back.

As for Lyndsey, she's being stupid elsewhere, but not on this thread. Why did you throw you ugliness at her here?

furious_a said...

Althouse: the everybody-gets-a-trophy trope is hackneyed.

It may not be fresh, but it's apt.

Jim Hu said...

My #1 didn't even make his list, I think... it was Susana Martinez: ``I'll be damned. we're
Republicans.''

furious_a said...

#1 (Rubio): "En este pais, ustedes van a poder lograr todas las cosas que nosotros no pudimos"

Translated: "Hells yeah you built that, hijo".

Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...

A.A. says "...I can easily picture Democrats calling that quote racist. Why? For comparing Obama to children."

Ann, Ann, Ann. (!!)

There is nothing racist about it. BHO's world view is unrealistic, self centered, idealistic. It is child-like.

You ask: "Why doesn't somebody review each speech with an eye toward eliminating things like that?"

So nothing should be said except what could not be construed by the most twisted logic (Chris Mathews) as having racist undertone?

Yes, Ann, you do have hidden racist angst ("The Democrats in [your] head") if you find racism there.

Huckabee - who does have some strange views on many subjects - is correct here, and there is nothing racist about how he says it.

Rick67 said...

Why doesn't somebody review each speech with an eye toward eliminating things like that?

I half agree. On my own blog (which I have mostly shut down) I have sometimes pointed out that "conservatives" basically have to be perfect, they cannot make *any* mistakes, cannot give the opposition any ammunition, real or imagined. Is it fair? No. But that's the situation we face.

So yes we should be aware of words, phrases, metaphors that make it *easy* for the left. Perhaps language that even conservatives would think "oh shoot he didn't just say that did he?" a la Akin.

And yet we recognize that at some point, it doesn't matter, the left will somehow find a way to twist, distort, misrepresent, and exploit even non-mistakes. Perhaps at some point we need to push back and say "listen, curs, there's nothing racist about comparing Obama to a child, except in your fevered imagination, we're going to redeem perfectly legitimate speech from you self-appointed Sprachpolizei".

ricpic said...

Racist has become the new Wolf, as in the boy who cried wolf.

Balfegor said...

Re: Carnifex

Yep, that's racist. You should be ashamed of yourself.

bagoh20 said...

A better suggestion is let's just hire someone we can critique at will. That would be a better dynamic for this relationship.

Imagine hiring a employee who you couldn't criticize. This is one of many ways that affirmative action hurts minorities.

Obama is every bit as much a white man as a black one, but nobody worries about his white half. Let's just criticize the white one.

MayBee said...

A better suggestion is let's just hire someone we can critique at will. That would be a better dynamic for this relationship.

Imagine hiring a employee who you couldn't criticize.


genius, bagoh.

kentuckyliz said...

I think we need to start constantly referring to each other, individually and together as the Althouse commentariat, as racists; that way, it loses its shock and sting and becomes normal and offhand and a matter of routine. Let's habituate the r word like young women now affectionately call each other bitches.

Also, I would like for us all to start using a deck of playing cards that have amusing stereotypical race images on the non-playing card side. That way we can habituate playing the race card until it's normalized into boring routine.

Dog whistles for everyone to blow when the other party says something dogwhistleworthy. Supposed racist code words by righties, and the lefties can blow; supposed commie pinko stuff by Obama and the righties can blow.

Shouting Thomas said...

A better suggestion is let's just hire someone we can critique at will.

Yes.

Few people grasp this reality. What will business do if the State tries to impose itself as the arbiter of who is hired?

Business will refuse to hire altogether.

kentuckyliz said...

Obama is half white. Every time someone refers to him as not being white, or being black, it denies half his racial identity and 99% of his cultural experience and source of privilege. To deny Obama his whiteness is to make him half invisible...which makes me totally invisible...and denies the intrinsic connection of our whitenesses. It's racist.

kentuckyliz said...

Best RNC quote: old geezer Clint Eastwood yelling, "Get off my lawn!"

AF said...

"By the way, speaking of what Democrats say, I can easily picture Democrats calling that quote racist. Why? For comparing Obama to children. Why doesn't somebody review each speech with an eye toward eliminating things like that? The Democrats in my head — whom I can hear giving their spin on any and everything — are saying: Because they really do want to reach white people in that residual racist part of their brain."

This is a strikingly clear demonstration that your anti-anti-racism is based on psychological projection.

ricpic said...

En este pais nosotros hablamos ENGLISH gawdammit!

Is it racist to demand that espanolitos espeaka d'Ingles?

No, but to run around like a chicken screaming the sky is falling! the sky is falling! every time someone shows the slightist lack of SENSITIVITY to a minority is reverse racism in spades. Oops, spades. RACIST!

kentuckyliz said...

More teachers on birth control that will put out for anybody. Because they don't fire for moral turpitude anymore--there is no such thing anymore--only individualistic solipsistic mystery of the universe self-created meaning and values. (Yes I worked in a SCOTUS reference there...after all, this is a blawg.). If teachers are whores for the Democrats, why don't we just make it official.

traditionalguy said...

Clint's genius work of performance art was entirely over the head of the commentators. Either that or they picked him as the scapegoat out of their jealousy for his out acting the envious talking head brigades.

So Stupid is the acceptable level of discourse.

The traditionalists got Clint's message loud and clear. A beautiful man doing a beautiful job.

Bender said...

29. “Tonight that American flag is still there on the moon. And I don’t doubt for a second that Neil Armstrong’s spirit is still with us" - Romney

Does no one check these speeches to ensure that they make sense?

Yeah, the Apollo 11 flag is still there -- lying in tatters and faded after being knocked down the moment that the Eagle LM blasted off of the Moon.

That is supposed to be Romney's image of an America standing tall and firm?

Mark O said...

"Why doesn't somebody review each speech with an eye toward eliminating things like that?"

You have spent too much time with speech codes. It seems normal to you. Such a process would reward the Democrat false racist claims.

I would perfer more mocking of the president, including his big ears, that he throws like a girl, and everything that would have been said were he a white man.

You? Justify speech restrictions?

edutcher said...

Best quote?

25) “And on a personal note – a little girl grows up in Jim Crow Birmingham – the most segregated big city in America – her parents can’t take her to a movie theater or a restaurant – but they make her believe that even though she can’t have a hamburger at the Woolworth’s lunch counter – she can be President of the United States and she becomes the Secretary of State.


Hell, that's the greatness of this country. If Barry Soetero had lived that life instead of being raised by a pack of rich Communists in Lotus Land, he might have amounted to something.

The Farmer said...

23) “The only just government is the government that serves its citizens, not itself.” — Cardinal Timothy Dolan

The Catholic Church is supposed to serve her members rather than herself, too. Shame we can't vote out the bishops.


Shame the Farmer can't keep his mouth shut about things of which he's not a part.

He's about as Catholic as shiloh.

Although, I don't doubt most Lefties would love to pack the Church off to Dachau-on-the-Brazos with all the people from the death panels. They're so in the way of the New Order.

kentuckyliz said...

Best RNC quote: old geezer Clint Eastwood yelling, "Get off my lawn!"

You do love that line, don't you?

dreams said...

The word Chicago has become a racial code word used by the Republicans so says Chris Matthews who I've read lives in an exclusive Chevy Chase, Maryland neighborhood.

Sorun said...

"Yeah, the Apollo 11 flag is still there -- lying in tatters and faded after being knocked down the moment that the Eagle LM blasted off of the Moon."

The Apollo 17 flag is still standing.

I see we've now gotten into the meaningful analyses of Romney's speech.

Bender said...

Do I need point out that Neil Armstrong didn't go on Apollo 17?

And in any event, NASA has determined that while the various flags (except 11) are still standing, they are all faded to white due to the sun.

Bender said...

22. "Under my administration, our friends will see more loyalty, and Mr. Putin will see a little less flexibility and more backbone.” — Mitt Romney

More backbone? I would hope so.

But I couldn't bear to watch more than a few moments of the speech. In pledging to have more backbone, did Romney say that in the same soft-spoken monotone that, by comparison, makes Tom Daschle sound like a raving Ted Nugent?

Sorun said...

The Apollo 11 flag is still there and the Apollo 17 flag is still standing. So what's the problem, exactly?

Cedarford said...

Larry J said...

If you voted for Obama in 2008 to prove you're not a racist, will you vote for Romney in 2012 to prove you're not a moron?

That's quite a good line, Larry J. Hopefully it gets passed on to conservative college students. It would make quite the good website banner, or poster.

Cedarford said...

Bender said...
29. “Tonight that American flag is still there on the moon. And I don’t doubt for a second that Neil Armstrong’s spirit is still with us" - Romney

Does no one check these speeches to ensure that they make sense?

Yeah, the Apollo 11 flag is still there -- lying in tatters and faded after being knocked down the moment that the Eagle LM blasted off of the Moon.

=======================
Bender, you have a bad case of not being able to see the forest past the tree you focus on.

For 99.9% of Americans who it made perfect sense to, that flag Armstrong and Aldrin planted is still there, in their minds and hearts.
That it isn't tangibly there, anymore than a US flag still flies above Mt Suribachi on Iwo Jima...is entirely besides the point.

Bender said...

The Apollo 11 flag is still there and the Apollo 17 flag is still standing. So what's the problem, exactly?

With maroons like this -- not getting it even when it is spelled out for them, with all the dots already connected, and a nice little picture drawn for them to boot -- this is how the combox gets jacked up to 650 comments, with 600 of them totally inane.

I'll repeat, more slowly this time:
Yeah, the Apollo 11 flag is still there -- lying in tatters and faded after being knocked down.
And the Apollo 17 flag is still standing, all faded to white.

And Romney thinks that this is a sly image to use for America, something that has been knocked down, in tatters, and all of its previous glory completely faded away, with absolutely zero possibility of anybody ever being able to fix those problems.

Again, do the people who write these things for Romney never actually think through what they have written, or do they think that they are just so clever to make a political pawn of Neil Armstrong (who in his humble nature would be not at all pleased to be used in this way)?

Cedarford said...

I should have said - tangibly there as TV viewers and the pictures captured it being taken and planted in the lunar surface in full red white and blue colors...

On the ground, no longer flying, colors faded?
It doesn't matter!

Bender said...

That it isn't tangibly there, anymore than a US flag still flies above Mt Suribachi on Iwo Jima...is entirely besides the point

So the point is that Romney offers us a bunch of feel-good spin and imagery?

And this after Christie promised to never stop speaking truth?

Come on, it really isn't all that hard to write a speech that is inspiring and makes sense, both trees and forest combined.

Bender said...

The flag metaphor makes as much sense as Vice President Bite-me speaking about how some veteran named Joe is still standing tall for his country . . . and the guy is in a wheelchair.

It is buffoonery speechmaking.

Sorun said...

“Tonight that American flag is still there on the moon. And I don’t doubt for a second that Neil Armstrong’s spirit is still with us: that unique blend of optimism, humility and the utter confidence that when the world needs someone to do the really big stuff, you need an American.”

Romney's quote, which Bender may not have actually read before the dorky complaint that the first flag got knocked over.

Bender's new critique: "Romney believes in ghosts!"

shiloh said...

"over-the-top stupid and hateful"

That's how Althouse cons roll.

But to be fair, political blogging in general as it gives conservatives a chance to release their pent-up frustrations anonymously.

And as Martha would say, that's a good thing! :-P

but I am a robot said...

"If that is the number 1 quote, there must have been some god awful speeches."

I'm getting the sense you resent the quote because it's just so damn true.

As a member of this "trophy" generation, Huckabee's words really resonated with me. People taught me that I would be rewarded as long as I tried my best. Then reality struck.

Now I get the feeling my generation's only "trophy" is joblessness and the gargantuan federal debt. What a huge slap in the face.

Obama and his supporters need a slap in the face. They need to accept reality, just as Huckabee said.

edutcher said...

The little animal comes out from hiding.

Last night was a really bad night for him.

Bender said...

Again, repeated slowly, again --

So, for Romney, actual factual truth doesn't matter, what matters is spin and exploitation of people who made clear that they did not wish to be used as political props when they were alive?

If Obama or Biden were to say this, people would rightly point out the discrepancies, but we are supposed to simply look the other way and explain it away with Romney?

And DON'T get me started on Romney saying: "I wish President Obama had succeeded because I want America to succeed."

Hey, Nominee Dumb-ass, Obama DID succeed in what he set out to do. Rush was right to hope that Obama fails.

Carnifex said...

Before I even read the comments I'd just like to say I was being deliberately provacative. Even to Lyndsay. Won't apologize for it, I did do in intentionally.

JimB said...

Well...I really don't care if I am called a racist. I know that is a damn lie. But we have built an edifice of racist laws that cement racism in all contexts. Vide: ID cards are violative of federal law because...tada!!...most blacks and hispanics are too poor to afford to get one. Never mind that the Democrats have plenty of money to support ACORN-like programs to get voter cards. Use some of it to get IDs as well!!

Bender said...

More mystifying head-shaking directed toward Romney's speechwriters --

That is why every president since the Great Depression who came before the American people asking for a second term could look back at the last four years and say with satisfaction: “you are better off today than you were four years ago.”
Except Jimmy Carter. And except this president.


OK, I see the point he is trying to make -- that we are worse off today and that Obama is another Carter. I get that.

But to drag in every other president seeking re-election is to implicitly PRAISE Bill Clinton, the same Bill Clinton who, in his re-election year of 1996, was rewarded with throwing the Democrats out of power in Congress.

Why? Why can't they think these things through? Are we not supposed to notice the details and ramifications of what he says? Are we supposed to simply say, "never mind, nothing to see here"?

To hell with that. I'm sick of doing that. Sure, America does deserve better than Obama. America also deserves better than someone who half-asses things like this.

Carnifex said...

Okay read the comments...now,
1) I got plenty of reason to dislike Obama, his skin color isn't one of them. I have blacks in my family by marriage, and relatives who are descended from them. I love them all dearly. I would be mortified if I used that word in front of them. This was a case of rubbing a puppies nose in the mess it made. If the lib's are going to continue to accuse everything and everyone as being racist, then all the racists Will be happy to oblige them. We don't need that here anymore.

2) I'm glad to see so few of even the liberals took the bait. Maybe there is hope for us.

3) I dodn't stick around for the comments because I had to take my dad to the hospital. We're going again later this afternoon, and then we get to go to a funereal. Yeah, us.

Bender said...

Is he trying to piss me off?

"we will give our fellow citizens the skills they need"

WE WILL GIVE people the skills they need.

Huh? This sounds like some Democrat plan, to provide continual job training. Meanwhile, people are actually trained and educated out the wahoo, even if it were nanny government's business to give us skills.

But it goes well with the subsequent pledge to REPLACE ObamaCare. Not getting government the hell out of the healthcare industry, but to implement the national version of RomneyCare (or perhaps ObamaCare 2.0).

Cedarford said...

I'll repeat, more slowly this time:
Yeah, the Apollo 11 flag is still there -- lying in tatters and faded after being knocked down.
And the Apollo 17 flag is still standing, all faded to white.

And Romney thinks that this is a sly image to use for America, something that has been knocked down, in tatters, and all of its previous glory completely faded away, with absolutely zero possibility of anybody ever being able to fix those problems.

==================
God, Bender, you are dense!

Besides not seeing the forest for the tree, completely misunderstanding the Romney quote...you come up with the notion that any US flag not in pristine condition somehow dishonors us.

The US Flag has never meant more than when it served in glory, even tattered and covered with mud and blood, even fallen to the ground and trampled as the banner holder was shot or the enemy overran the position...on some of our past battlefields.

The WTC Flag, somewhat worse for the wear thanks to some Muslim enemy, meant a lot when it was displayed in less than pristine shape at the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.

Go to some museums someday to see tattered and faded flags and other patriotic accoutrements displayed with honor.
In one such museum, there is an ordinary schoolyard flag, rent with tears, scorched, dirty from being scuffed, and faded with mold damage.
It was the flag that cost a Filipino school teacher his life, when he refused orders of the Japanese troops to lower it and raise the Japanese Flag. He was bayoneted. Then the flag was bayoneted, stomped on, shot in one corner by one round. Tossed aside as garbage.
A student of the slain teacher gathered it up and hid it in the damp jungle...awaiting the day when the Americans returned. It is in the Philippines, where it is a flag of great honor. One look tells you a great deal of the history behind it, and the Japanese Occupation, and the spirit of the Philippines and America.

To follow your logic, NASA and Nixon should have never allowed putting an American flag on the moon - lest the cloth be damaged as the LEM took off - or time and exposure took their toll on it.

By fixating on the physical condition of the flag in question as the be all and end all - you misunderstand the very defining moments in American history when the presence of a flag meant a great deal to the Americans involved or those well removed from the event that made the Flag in question notable , who learned of it.

Bender said...

I will begin my presidency with a jobs tour. President Obama began with an apology tour.

A jobs tour. A gimmick? While making a proper slam of Obama for his apology tour, you promise your own gimmick instead?

Bruce Hayden said...

Bender's point is that "that" American flag, apparently meaning the one from Armstrong's trip, is not still standing. If Romney had merely said "an" instead of "that", he would have been correct.

But, is it a lie when a politician uses soaring speech and the like to excite people? After all, "a" flag is still standing, and while Armstrong's literal spirit may not still be with us, what he did by going to the moon, still is, and that was what Romney was talking about - the idea of Armstrong and our going to the moon and how he lived his life, and that is still with us.

But, if we are going to talk about this sort of speech, let me see if you can guess who said these things:
- this was the moment when we began to provide care for the sick and good jobs to the jobless; this was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal; this was the moment when we ended a war and secured our nation and restored our image as the last, best hope on earth.
- if you've got a business, you didn't build that; somebody else made that happen.
- My administration has a job to do as well. That job is to get this economy back on its feet. That's my job, and it's a job I gladly accept. I love these folks who helped get us in this mess and then suddenly say, "Well this is -----'s economy." That's fine. GIVE IT TO ME. My job is to solve problems, not to stand on the sidelines and carp and gripe. So, I welcome the job. I want the responsibility.
- Over the last fifteen months we've traveled to every corner of the United States. I've now been in fifty...seven states... I think one left to go. One left to go — Alaska and Hawaii I was not allowed to go to, even though I really wanted to visit — but my staff would not justify it.

And, then there was Slo Joe...

shiloh said...

Death, taxes, and Althouse's pathetic sycophant, edutcher, following me everywhere.

Creepy and reassuring at the same time! :-P

furious_a said...

Bender: But to drag in every other president seeking re-election is to implicitly PRAISE Bill Clinton...

So, what's the harm in that? Romney's running against BO, not BC. Alot of people WERE better off in 1996 than in 1992 (yay Internet), to argue otherwise is silly. And Clinton did Romney a solid by praising his sterling business career.

the same Bill Clinton who, in his re-election year of 1996, was rewarded with throwing the Democrats out of power in Congress.

The Democrats lost their House and Senate majorities in 1994, not 1996. The Republicans lost seats in the House (but still held the majority) and gained in the Senate in 1996.

Toad Trend said...

"Why doesn't somebody review each speech with an eye toward eliminating things like that? "

It doesn't matter!!!

The left routinely 'reads' minds (projects) and finds 'things' where 'things' don't really exist. Think in terms of doing whatever it takes to promote a fairy tale.

Besides, this country, being in the dire straits it is fiscally and culturally, needs more plain talk. Allowing the left their speech codes and mind reading habits must be met.

If you aren't willing to stand up to it, you're just gonna end up taking it.

chickelit said...

Bender quotes his nemesis:
I will begin my presidency with a jobs tour. President Obama began with an apology tour.

Then he says:

A jobs tour. A gimmick? While making a proper slam of Obama for his apology tour, you promise your own gimmick instead?

Emphasis on jobs and putting people back to work is not unprecended, if memory serves, and is bipartisan.

That shameful apology tour served no one except imaginary BFF in POTUS's head.

Farmer said...

Shame the Farmer can't keep his mouth shut about things of which he's not a part.

He's about as Catholic as shiloh.

Although, I don't doubt most Lefties would love to pack the Church off to Dachau-on-the-Brazos with all the people from the death panels. They're so in the way of the New Order.


I might not be Catholic enough for you but I am indeed a practicing Catholic. And, again, I'm not a liberal.

Farmer said...

Don't Tread 2012 said...
The left routinely 'reads' minds (projects) and finds 'things' where 'things' don't really exist. Think in terms of doing whatever it takes to promote a fairy tale.


Yeah, that sort of thing is exclusive to the left. Oh. Wait. Your fellow commenter edutcher just did that to me.

Is he a liberal?

shiloh said...

Jesus was a liberal as again, He who honors me, I will honor.

And Catholics er true believers are just fine. It's the hypocritical, totally discombobulated church hierarchy many "followers" have a problem with.

btw, were there many biblical quotes at the GOP convention? Rhetorical.

leslyn said...

"Best Quotes." How about this one from Mark and Irene Harris, Pennsylvania delegates?

"Prior to National Republican Convention we visited Disney for three days. During our time at Epcot we visited the different countries. It was neat seeing each country and the employees were from that individual country. Then we visited America . . . one would think you would find American employees. We were offended to find a person from Mexico working in America. Mark spoke up and told them he was highly offended after visiting the other countries and seeing employees from that country and then come to America and find a Mexican. He was very civil but his point was well made."

leslyn said...

BTW, Mark & Irene call themselves "Rock Star GOP." Hubris for dessert, anyone?

Toad Trend said...

"Your fellow commenter edutcher..."

If you meant

Your fellow, commenter edutcher...

r: I know edutcher as a regular commenter here. That's it.

-OR-

Your fellow commenter, edutcher...

r: Meh, comments are comments...some good, some bad. I have no problem with your comment.

I was raised Catholic and chose to go non-denominational Christian, so what do I know???

Chuck said...

I never liked Mike Huckabee.

I say that, right before I say, "He gave one of the best 3 or 4 speeches of the Convention."

My RNC All-Stars:

#5 Condoleezza Rice
#4 Mike Huckabee
#3 Scott Walker
#2 Marco Rubio
#1 The filmmakers who put together the Thursday evening bio-film on Mitt Romney and his family.


Toad Trend said...

Can't believe I missed this!

"Is he a liberal?"

I would say 'no'.

shiloh said...

Let the record show mittens speech is not in Chuck's top 5, hopefully it made the top 20 lol.

Farmer said...

Don't Tread 2012 said...
Can't believe I missed this!

"Is he a liberal?"

I would say 'no'.


Maybe he's the exception that proves the rule!

Toad Trend said...

"Maybe he's the exception that proves the rule!"

Which rule?

Bender said...

2) “President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet. MY promise is to help you and your family.” — Mitt Romney

Ronald Reagan: "There seems to be an increasing awareness of something we Americans have known for some time: that the 10 most dangerous words in the English language are, 'Hi, I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help.'"

Delayna said...

Perhaps we'll stop hearing commentators point out the "dog whistles" and "code words" when the general public realizes this:
Only the racists know what the code words are.
If you can hear the whistle, you're the dog.