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You are here: Home / z-Retired Categories / Previous Site Maintenance / Change: An Open Thread

Change: An Open Thread

by Michael D.|  January 7, 200810:37 pm| 23 Comments

This post is in: Previous Site Maintenance

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That seems to be the recurring theme coming from the Democrats. As good as change would be, given what we would be changing from, I can’t help but think of an episode of Cheers, when Woody was elected to office:

Woody: “I believe I was elected to the City Council as an agent of change. And I fully intend to live up to that pledge: I will make change.”
Dr. Crane: Change ‘change’ to ‘a change’.
Woody: A what?
Dr. Crane: You see, in here, you make ‘change’. There, you make ‘a change’. So, just make the change. Change ‘make change’ to ‘make *a* change’.
Dr. Crane: [frustrated and yells] Oh, just change it!
[Frasier storms off] Woody: [to Norm] Boy, I think I see why Dr. Crane never cures anybody.

Update: I have been watching CNN since about 9:45. It is now 11:15. I think I have seen the Hillary Clinton “almost crying” cut about 8-10 times now. Enough already. Christ.

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23Comments

  1. 1.

    wasabi gasp

    January 7, 2008 at 10:43 pm

    lulz

  2. 2.

    numbskull

    January 7, 2008 at 10:47 pm

    You’re still a Republican, right?

  3. 3.

    Zifnab

    January 7, 2008 at 10:50 pm

    Still dont know what I was waiting for
    And my time was running wild
    A million dead-end streets and
    Every time I thought Id got it made
    It seemed the taste was not so sweet
    So I turned myself to face me
    But Ive never caught a glimpse
    Of how the others must see the faker
    Im much too fast to take that test

    Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
    (turn and face the strain)
    Ch-ch-changes
    Dont want to be a richer man
    Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
    (turn and face the strain)
    Ch-ch-changes
    Just gonna have to be a different man
    Time may change me
    But I cant trace time

    I watch the ripples change their size
    But never leave the stream
    Of warm impermanence
    So the days float through my eyes
    But stil the days seem the same
    And these children that you spit on
    As they try to change their worlds
    Are immune to your consultations
    Theyre quite aware of what theyre going through

    Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
    (turn and face the strain)
    Ch-ch-changes
    Dont tell them to grow up and out of it
    Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
    (turn and face the strain)
    Ch-ch-changes
    Wheres your shame
    Youve left us up to our necks in it
    Time may change me
    But you cant trace time

    Strange fascination, fascinating me
    Ah changes are taking the pace Im going through

    Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
    (turn and face the strain)
    Ch-ch-changes
    Oh, look out you rock n rollers
    Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
    (turn and face the strain)
    Ch-ch-changes
    Pretty soon now youre gonna get a little older
    Time may change me
    But I cant trace time
    I said that time may change me
    But I cant trace time

    David Bowie For The Win!

  4. 4.

    Dennis - SGMM

    January 7, 2008 at 10:53 pm

    It obvious: change the President to Hillary and keep everything else; the war in Iraq, unchecked Presidential power, and a supine Congress. How easy was that?

  5. 5.

    CDB

    January 7, 2008 at 10:55 pm

    I am willing to make change for a change…

  6. 6.

    Rick Taylor

    January 7, 2008 at 11:39 pm

    Eight years ago, the press’s fascination with trivia helped Bush edge out Gore in an incredibly narrow victory, giving us perhaps the worst administration ever. In spite of everything, the press hasn’t changed a bit.

  7. 7.

    myiq2xu

    January 7, 2008 at 11:58 pm

    How many neocons does it take to change a lightbulb?

    None. Neocons aren’t afraid of the dark!

    /end snark

  8. 8.

    Zifnab

    January 8, 2008 at 12:36 am

    How many neocons does it take to change a lightbulb?

    None. Neocons aren’t afraid of the dark!

    /end snark

    But they are afraid of the darkies. Explain that.

  9. 9.

    Anne Laurie

    January 8, 2008 at 12:57 am

    The effin’ Media Village is determined to recycle every stinking political cliche from the last 50 years between now and November. Did they not use the word “Muskie” because they think the viewing audience won’t remember 1972, or because they’re afraid — not without reason — that an enraged Baby Boomer will take away the microphone of the first drone saying it & use it to beat said drone severely around its Talking Head?

  10. 10.

    Perry Como

    January 8, 2008 at 1:12 am

    Sibel Edmonds has named names. Anyone think the MSM will pick the story up?

  11. 11.

    Brachiator

    January 8, 2008 at 1:23 am

    Update: I have been watching CNN since about 9:45. It is now 11:15. I think I have seen the Hillary Clinton “almost crying” cut about 8-10 times now. Enough already. Christ.

    The irony is that Hillary’s faux tears at this NH campaign stop are about 3 steps away from inciting a “change” that just might split the Democratic Party. The photo in the NT Times showing her just before her teary-eyed performance shows her being lovingly surrounded by white women — no men, no nonwhites. This may have been unintentional, or simply the result of the camera angle, but it is still telling.

    And then in the middle of her passive-aggressive performance, she throws this out anti-Obama slam:

    “Some of us put ourselves out there and do this against some pretty difficult odds. And we do it, each one of us, because we care about our country. But some of us are right and some of us are wrong,” she continued, firming up a bit – and sounding, some people said, either angry or resentful about Senator Barack Obama. “Some of us are ready and some of us are not. Some of us know what we’ll do on day one and some of us really haven’t thought that through enough.”

    The background to this is an odd statement by Bill Clinton that his wife is as tough as Nelson Mandela, perhaps implying that 30 plus years of marriage to Bill was like being in prison. But the final blow were Hillary’s remarks, obviously directed at Obama’s “dreamy” and “poetic words,” that “Dr. King’s dream began to be realized when President Johnson passed the Civil Rights Act…. It took a president to get it done.”

    In other words, she foolishly conflates a Civil Rights movement in which people of all races and religions often put their lives on the line in order to effect change, into a simplistic opposition between ethereal dreamers and an action-figure Great White Father president who “got ‘er done” for the sake of those helpless, but dreamy black folk. And the headline from an African American website indicates that some are taking Hillary’s oversimplification as an insult: “Hillary: You Negroes Better Thank the White Man For Your Rights.”

    The sad thing is that I’m not sure that either Hillary nor her advisers really understand, or even care, how obnoxious some of this stuff sounds. But it doesn’t just make her look desperate; it makes her look like a fool.

    Maybe, like Myth Romney, Hillary not only marched with Dr. King, but “she put herself out there” and got hosed and attacked by Bull Connor’s dogs along with the other Civil Rights workers.

  12. 12.

    scoutt

    January 8, 2008 at 3:42 am

    Brachman,
    You see what you want to see. Sounds like some clever twistin to justify some HIllary hatin’ in all that analysis. The sad thing is I’m not sure either you or your subconscious really understand or care how utterly terrified you are of a strong woman. Shrill. Calculating. Ambitious. Entitled (oooh, gettin’ uppity that Hillary is) Bitch, hysterical, cold, blah blah more double standard misogynistic bullcrap.

  13. 13.

    Warren Terra

    January 8, 2008 at 5:07 am

    While it’s obviously smart for the candidates to seize the mantle of change (even Hillary, usually seen as emblematic of the past), someone working on slogans in the Clinton campaign has a seriously tin ear. In the debate and in her appearances since Iowa, Hillary has been repeatedly bragging about her ability to make change. Similarly, I heard Wes Clark representing her campaign on the BBC world service tonight, also bragging about Hillary’s record of making change.

    People want a candidate that can deliver change. Achieve change. Bring change.
    But the person who makes change is a cashier.

  14. 14.

    Jay

    January 8, 2008 at 7:30 am

    I have been watching CNN since about 9:45. It is now 11:15.

    Did they have video of you crying? If I watched that crap for that long I would be inconsolable.

  15. 15.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    January 8, 2008 at 7:53 am

    Sam: What are you up to, Norm?
    Norm: My ideal weight… if I were 11 feet tall.

  16. 16.

    RC

    January 8, 2008 at 8:04 am

    I’m sorry to say this but Obama reminds me more of a door to door vacuum cleaner salesaman than a presidential candidate. I know his supporters are very excited about something, but I can’t seem to pin them down on what that is. It reminds me of someone who just bought a new vacuum cleaner and is so excited and happy, until they finally calm down and realise all those features aren’t useful to them.
    Obama is good at motivating people, getting them stirred up, to be optimistic, to have hope, etc but in what exactly? Someone can always work a crowd and get them to act like a mob, but there is not much a mob can really do in a modern society except elect the one who stirred them up.
    Obama is very emotional and talks about people being emotional, I am sure he would be very good in a court room swaying a jury with emotion. In fact he seems to regard the primaries as juries to be swayed like Alan Shaw on Boston Legal. I would love someone to explain what Obama intends to do as president, without using any emotional terms whatsoever in their answer. Hillary is easy to understand because she is such a wonk, and suffers from a vague negative emotional cloud beause she is not trying to stir up people’s emotions. So we are left with how people felt after listening to Al Gore.
    Edwards is kind of in the middle, a little emotionally inspiring, probably trying to channel Jack Kennedy, and has more and more ideas on what to do, which is ok. But with Obama I have no idea what he wants to do other than the standard boilerplate policies crafted by his campaign and some wild excitement about change, hope, dreams coming true, and so on.
    I think Dubya was a lot like Obama in that both seem to rely on other people to craft their policies, and the assumption was that both would hire clever people to run everything. So Dubya could concentrate on showing how boring and wonkish Gore was, sidestep any serious policy questions or bait his opponents into negative campaigning, and project an emotional attitude of competence, friendliness, oh shucks, have a beer with me, everything will be wonderful, joking, laughing, and so on.
    And that is all I see Obama doing. As it turned out Dubya had no idea what he was doing, and only SNL seemed to pick up on that early. Is Obama different to that and why exactly?

  17. 17.

    gregg

    January 8, 2008 at 8:54 am

    “Update: I have been watching CNN since about 9:45. It is now 11:15. I think I have seen the Hillary Clinton “almost crying” cut about 8-10 times now. Enough already. Christ.”

    If she loses they’ll put her on a reality show with Chris “Leave Britney Alone” Crocker.

  18. 18.

    LITBMueller

    January 8, 2008 at 9:04 am

    That seems to be the recurring theme coming from the Democrats.

    Oh, don’t worry: the Republicans have gotten on the Big Change Bandwagon, too!

    “There is a tide of change sweeping New Hampshire and America.” – Willard Romney

    Mr. Romney’s advisers said his campaign might have erred in not talking about change earlier as a way of contrasting his candidacy with Mr. McCain’s, and said they viewed this theme as a way to press his candidacy forward should he lose Tuesday. “Why is there so much enthusiasm about Barack?” Mr. Romney said at one rally. “It’s in part because he’s not one of the insiders.”

    But, its hard to “contrast” with McCaine…whe he’s on the change bandwagon, too:

    “I’ve made the greatest change,” he told the press corps gathered at the Frank Jones Center. “I’ve changed our strategy in Iraq, I headed the Abramoff investigation and I’ve saved the taxpayers millions of dollars.

  19. 19.

    Incertus (Brian)

    January 8, 2008 at 9:07 am

    Update: I have been watching CNN since about 9:45. It is now 11:15. I think I have seen the Hillary Clinton “almost crying” cut about 8-10 times now. Enough already. Christ.

    I don’t watch the news on tv, precisely because of that kind of crap, but maybe someone can tell me if, interspersed with that breathtaking coverage, they’re talking about the douchebag screaming “Iron my shirt” a la Rush Limbaugh.

  20. 20.

    myiq2xu

    January 8, 2008 at 9:27 am

    “Hey Norm! How’s life treating you?”

    “Like a baby treats a diaper.”

  21. 21.

    Dreggas

    January 8, 2008 at 11:58 am

    Gee obama talks of change and suddenly that’s the new buzz word. So lemme ask this: Who is leading and who is following?

  22. 22.

    Brachiator

    January 8, 2008 at 1:37 pm

    You see what you want to see. Sounds like some clever twistin to justify some HIllary hatin’ in all that analysis. The sad thing is I’m not sure either you or your subconscious really understand or care how utterly terrified you are of a strong woman. Shrill. Calculating. Ambitious. Entitled (oooh, gettin’ uppity that Hillary is) Bitch, hysterical, cold, blah blah more double standard misogynistic bullcrap.

    You just don’t get it. And you obviously know nothing about either me or my subconscious.

    Hillary Clinton only guarantees her defeat if she or her advisers attempt to transform her campaign into a referendum on feminism. Nobody cares. Nobody will change their vote just because she asserts that a woman should be president. The question is why this particular woman. And she cannot cloak herself with the mantle of a strong but put-upon woman while her campaign engages in slash-and-burn tactics against the other Democratic candidates or the voters. The latest is Bill Richardson’s response on an episode of Hannity and Colmes to a typical ugly Clinton smear:

    Gov. Bill Richardson blasts the Clintonistas for spreading the rumor that he told Iowans to vote for Obama: “You know and it’s a lot of the Clinton people that are putting this out and I really resent it. It’s wrong. I believe very strongly that this was a big vote for Obama because he brought a lot of new people in. That’s why he won and those people should stop trying to get scapegoats.”

    So let’s see what happens in New Hampshire and South Carolina. If voters continue to defect from Clinton, are you going to accuse all of them of being terrified of a strong woman? If black (and now possibly Latino) voters express resentment at being slighted and taken for granted, are you really going to dismiss them as just being subconsciously misogynistic?

  23. 23.

    Digital Amish

    January 8, 2008 at 5:29 pm

    My favorite Normism.

    Woody: How’s it going Mr. Peterson?”
    Norm: It’s a dog eat dog world, Woody and I’m wearing Milk Bone underwear.

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