tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23938076.post8882406938040502902..comments2023-10-15T10:48:01.870-04:00Comments on Roxie's World: Just Us GuysRoxie Smith Lindemannhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06455529922082930949noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23938076.post-83100243844294792802008-03-30T10:05:00.000-04:002008-03-30T10:05:00.000-04:00Couldn't have said it better myself, Dog-Eared Boo...Couldn't have said it better myself, Dog-Eared Book.<BR/><BR/>Now. . .Great post, Rox. You really do have a way of cutting through the B.S., and with aplomb and great wit – yeah, why DID take you so long, Bob, if Obama really is someone you believe in as you’ve never believed in anyone else. How stupid do you think the electorate is anyway? Which leads me to another question, Rox: So do you think either of those two guys, the new BFFs, have any idea how many words appear on the side of EVERY Rolling Rock bottle (from longnecks to little ponies; and would they even know to look for those words by gazing through the bottles and reading what’s printed on the backs of the labels) and cans? No matter how the description of Rolling Rock you’ll find there is worded, there is ALWAYS the same number of words. I bet even Casey can’t tell us how many. But I bet you that everyone who’s really a regular in Sharky’s can. Yeah, those two are definitely just regular guys, stopping by the corner bar for a quick one after a long day in the factory – HA!<BR/><BR/>So yes, great post, but I do have one not-so-little quibble. When you say that the Democratic Party is “mostly Barack-besotted” I find myself wondering what the meaning of “mostly” is. About half of the party, yeah. And they are rather noisy so it seems like more than half. But Moose and I and our something-of-a-baroness friend went to see HRC herself Wednesday evening and her campaign had no problem packing Constitution Hall, and with voters of all stripes. Especially wonderful was the Dunbar High School band, from a primarily African American public school in Shaw in DC. We were sitting right behind them, and those young people were not forced to be there: they were wild with enthusiasm for the junior Senator from NY and for her presidential candidacy. Perhaps their parents are like the woman who was sitting beside me, an African American special education teacher who first met HRC when as First Lady she came to visit Jennifer’s school, and spent the better part of the afternoon talking to the children and to the teachers, learning their needs. Jennifer volunteered for Clinton early on and told me that at first she was given a hard time for having a Hillary sign up in her condo window but that now more and more of her African American friends are coming out for Hillary. Interesting, huh?<BR/><BR/>And the funny thing is, Moose and I have noticed that when you come out as an HRC supporter in the land of academe you find that a good number of your colleagues agree with you. They may whisper in the halls about it, but I’m finding that more and more and more of our colleagues are quietly identifying themselves as supporters for her candidacy. When we had a party on Friday evening for a distinguished visiting speaker, several attendees leapt for joy when they saw the Hillary sign in our front yard. They praised us for being so public about our support, and one or two commented on not liking to be talked down to by other colleagues – you know, the kind of bullying tactics that have become all too common in this primary race. One of my graduate students was called racist for supporting Hillary. Now how does that work? Are Democrats and progressives really so weak-minded that we cannot hold principled differences of opinion on the matter? What’s with the bullying anyway? My family in Texas reports that in yesterday’s county conventions there was “chaos and the hostility from all the delegates” and that the “Obama people in Dallas were trying to railroad the delegates to the state convention.” Why are so many who support Obama relying on bullying? Are they that insecure about their candidate? It does seem that they realize that going through the primaries all the way to Puerto Rico, Clinton is likely to end up ahead in the popular vote (and that doesn’t even include Michigan and Florida – see this story in US News & World Report: http://www.usnews.com/blogs/barone/2008/3/28/projection-clinton-wins-popular-vote-obama-wins-delegate-count.html). Obama’s afraid to let Florida and Michigan vote again. Why? I thought he wanted every voice, no matter how small, to be heard. Mmm. . .looking at that picture you put up, and contemplating his refusal to let those millions of voters in two states be heard and the efforts to try to bully her out of the race, maybe I should examine that rhetoric of his more carefully. Does he really want every voter, no matter how small, to be heard? <BR/><BR/>As I’ve been saying for months, Senators Clinton and Obama should get in a room by themselves without any of their advisers present and see if they can come to an agreement about what will be best for this country. And then they should tell us what they’ve decided and what we’re going to do. I could get on board with whatever decision they make. No one would have to be bullied, and every vote in this primary season could be counted. (Mario Cuomo agrees with me, by the way; check this out: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/03/29/how_to_avoid_a_democratic_disaster/.) Amazing that in the United States of America that seems to be an impossible dream: that every vote in the Democratic primaries will be counted. And I ask Democrats to ask themselves, why would a candidate be afraid of that and what does it mean that he is afraid of that?<BR/><BR/>And on that other all important subject, BASKETBALL. . .Hooray Mighty Terp Women! And may Rutgers triumph this afternoon! <BR/><BR/>In Peace and for the dwindling Possibility of democracy in the Democratic primaries,<BR/>GooseMartha Nell Smithhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10066686045532002283noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23938076.post-1135427616470863622008-03-30T08:14:00.000-04:002008-03-30T08:14:00.000-04:00Go Terps! Kristi Toliver and the gang are playing...Go Terps! Kristi Toliver and the gang are playing excellent basketball. What fun, eh, to turn on the tv and to have a good chance of catching team sports played by women? This time of year, and occasionally during the Olympics, it's as if we've been translated into some bizarro world in which the invisibility cloak surrounding women's sports has suddenly been lifted. Soon enough, alas, we'll be back to the Ordinary World in which sports reporters are far more likely to cover Senior Men's NASCAR than the hundreds of women's soccer, field hockey, ice hockey, softball, or volleyball games, played at both professional and collegiate levels. But hey, I'll enjoy the Madness while it's here. Go Scarlet Knights!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com