Here is the video:
Michele looks lovely. Wade through the music, his speech starts at about .57
If there is any problem with this video, here is the C-SPAN link.
His dry humor just never gets old for me.
by TaMara| 16 Comments
This post is in: Missing Obama Already
Here is the video:
Michele looks lovely. Wade through the music, his speech starts at about .57
If there is any problem with this video, here is the C-SPAN link.
His dry humor just never gets old for me.
This post is in: Excellent Links, Open Threads, Post-racial America, Readership Capture, Woman in the Whitehouse 2016, Daydream Believers
Since some of you may have missed Michelle Obama’s speech yesterday, here’s something inspirational to start the day. Per CNN:
First Lady Michelle Obama denounced the caustic campaign style of Donald Trump on Friday, demonstrating a new willingness to wade into this year’s messy political battle while arguing for a Hillary Clinton presidency.
While she didn’t mention Trump by name, the first lady aimed squarely at the Republican candidate’s most pronounced positions and tactics, including his persistent challenges to her husband’s eligibility for office.
“There were those who questioned and continue to question for the past eight years, up through this very day, whether my husband was even born in this country,” Obama said in Fairfax, Virginia, during her first solo campaign appearance for Clinton. “Well, during his time in office, I think Barack has answered those questions with the example he set by going high when they go low.”…
In her half-hour-long remarks, she argued Trump’s brand of politics should be kept far from the Oval Office, predicting his bombastic style of campaigning wouldn’t mellow if he wins…
… “If a candidate is erratic and threatening; if a candidate traffics in prejudice, fears and lies on the trail; if a candidate has no clear plans to implement their goals; if they disrespect their fellow citizens, including folks who made extraordinary sacrifices for our country; let me tell you, that is who they are. That is the kind of president they will be, trust me.”…
At her campaign rally, Obama worked to convince her and her husband’s supporters that Clinton is also worthy of their votes. The rally on the campus of George Mason University was timed ahead of the commonwealth’s October 17 voter registration deadline.
“When I hear folks saying they’re not inspired this this election, I disagree. I am inspired,” she said, urging the crowd to register to vote and actually cast ballots for Clinton…
And that reminded me, what with one thing and another, I never got around to sharing Variety‘s recent interview with the First Lady:
… Obama, 52, calls herself “a product of pop culture.” She is convinced of its influence on the public consciousness — in her case to build awareness of her signature policy initiatives, specifically ones tied to healthy eating and exercise, girls’ education, support for military families, and college advancement…
“What I have never been afraid of is to be a little silly, and you can engage people that way,” Obama says in an interview with Variety in her upstairs White House office, decorated in an eclectic mix of abstract art and framed mementos from her tenure. “My view is, first you get them to laugh, then you get them to listen. So I’m always game for a good joke, and I’m not so formal in this role. There’s very little that we can’t do that people wouldn’t appreciate.”
Has it worked?
The first lady is convinced that it has.
A case in point: The Carpool Karaoke segment highlighted one of Obama’s key initiatives, Let Girls Learn, a worldwide plan of action to promote girls’ access to education. She and Corden also sang “This Is for My Girls,” which songwriter Diane Warren wrote several years ago but was recorded as an anthem for the initiative, with Elliott, Kelly Clarkson, Janelle Monae, and others participating, and AOL Makers producing….
Obama explains that as she launched the initiatives, she knew it would take “reaching people where they lived on a day-to-day basis, and the next step was, ‘How do you do that? Where are the people?’ Well, they’re not reading the op-ed pieces in the major newspapers. They’re not watching Sunday morning news talk shows. They’re doing what most people are doing: They are watching TV.”
She adds: “A lot of our audiences are kids and teens, and they want to be in on the joke. And they’ll listen again. We’re just a little looser with this stuff than most traditional first ladies.”…
What’s on the agenda for this fine fall day?
This post is in: David Brooks Giving A Seminar At The Aspen Institute
Time for some tragi-comic relief. The man whose serial fabulism in his breakthrough book should have sunk his career is back, with some advice for African American high school athletes inspired — tempted! — by Colin Kaepernick’s protest during the national anthem.
The whole thing is as grotesque as you’d expect, David Brooks’ paean to the soaring spiritual ambition of the pilgrim fathers, and a curious omission of the role involuntary servitude played in keeping that ambition comfortable. I was going to fisk the fishwrap, but I just couldn’t bring myself to take our David seriously enough to expend that much effort. And anyway, after you read this closing line…
We have a crisis of solidarity. That makes it hard to solve every other problem we have. When you stand and sing the national anthem, you are building a little solidarity, and you’re singing a radical song about a radical place.
…and then recall this passage in that “radical song”:
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
What else is there to do but point and laugh?…
Then weep.
This post is in: Election 2016, Hillary Clinton 2016, Open Threads, Women's Rights Are Human Rights
Many thanks for the link to respected commentor Omnes Omnibus, especially since the video includes two of my favorite actors (AT & MT).
Also from Omnes:
I found this at Sam Wang’s joint. It is an app that will show competitive house races within up to 100 miles of your address. Check it out. Places to work on getting out the vote.
As your mom didn’t quite say, If you’ve got enough spare time/energy to panic, you’ve got enough to do some Get-Out-The-Vote gruntwork.
***********
Apart from girding up for the last battle, what’s on the agenda as we wrap up the week?
@AlGiordano How much does media bias influence election result? Its the only thing causing me real concern.
— Todd Bruns (@tabruns) September 16, 2016
Great question! Media has 1/10th of the influence of field organizing. Knock on ten doors, beat 100 media reporters! https://t.co/0YKo2k3E85
— Al Giordano (@AlGiordano) September 16, 2016
@AlGiordano why do you think the MSM is so petrified of asking Trump any substantial question?
— Crooked Butters 2.0 (@ButtersV2) September 16, 2016
I suspect he has more closet allies in the media than they admit. Destroy them by signing up for canvassing. https://t.co/sCYKiQphur
— Al Giordano (@AlGiordano) September 16, 2016
@AlGiordano How much will Trump underperform polling due to total lack of ground game?
— Shannon (@TheStagmania) September 16, 2016
That's up to you and whether you are really part of this "ground game." https://t.co/D95b6YneJ6
— Al Giordano (@AlGiordano) September 16, 2016
@AlGiordano which state(s) should we pick to phonebank in your opinion?
— Ashanka Iddya (@aiddya) September 16, 2016
FL, OH, PA, NV and especially close to my heart, NH. https://t.co/k2VJNtNfip
— Al Giordano (@AlGiordano) September 16, 2016
Friday Morning Open Thread: “Knock on ten doors, beat 100 media reporters”Post + Comments (158)
This post is in: Election 2016, Hail to the Hairpiece, Hillary Clinton 2016, Open Threads, Republican Venality, Assholes, Ever Get The Feeling You've Been Cheated?, Our Failed Media Experiment
Orwellian BS: NPR editor says calling a politician a liar—based on clear facts—is angry/editorializing/an opinion. pic.twitter.com/0iwoPMezTg
— Reed F. Richardson (@reedfrich) September 15, 2016
There are good reporters, doing real reporting even as we speak. But the suits who control the megaphones — and the airwaves — have decided that it pays better to strap on their monogrammed kneepads and pretend it’s all another reality show…
1) Clinton publishes 100K+ words of policies.
2) Trump: "She's running a policy free campaign!"
3) Media: Campaigns trade barbs on policy.— David M. Perry (@Lollardfish) September 15, 2016
Conway: Clinton has 0 policies
Mitchell: Wrong-hers have 12X more words than Trump's
C: lol who has time to read pic.twitter.com/W4VWyfyDnO
— Adam Khan (@Khanoisseur) September 13, 2016
Donald Trump made at least 12 false statements today. pic.twitter.com/wrmVE3tcyq
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) September 16, 2016
America facing important election
Americans: We have questions about candidates
TV execs: This should help
[ENTER: MATT LAUER AND DR OZ]— Dan Diamond (@ddiamond) September 15, 2016
4 every minute spent by reporters talking bout dr oz con job, another student shuld drop out of journalism school. This profession is dying.
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) September 15, 2016
Open Thread: Our Failed Big-Media Establishment, Part 2,487Post + Comments (82)
This post is in: Election 2016, Hail to the Hairpiece, Hillary Clinton 2016, Open Threads, Proud to Be A Democrat, I Smell a Pulitzer!
In light of @kurteichenwald's report on the Trump Organization's dangerous ties, here are 20 questions that Trump needs to answer—now.
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 14, 2016
Yep, that’s the Eichenwald article Tom Levenson highlighted earlier today. Click on any of the tweets here to read the whole list. Add your own in the comments, if you like!
1. Will you sever ties with your company linked to foreign leaders, questionable organizations, and criminals if you become president?
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 14, 2016
2. How will you handle non-cancelable contractual obligations with parties whose interests conflict with those of the United States?
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 14, 2016
3. While refusing to release your tax returns, how will you confirm that you do not have dangerous financial ties to bad actors abroad?
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 14, 2016
8. Will you disclose the nature of your personal and business relationships with all of the Russian oligarchs you are “close” to?
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 14, 2016
14. We know you engaged extensively in pay-to-play here at home. Have you bribed foreign officials or other parties abroad?
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) September 14, 2016
This post is in: C.R.E.A.M., Election 2016, Open Threads, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality, Ryan Lyin' Weasel
A lot of really good news in the new Census numbers. Middle class incomes significantly up, poverty levels down: https://t.co/9jkhoAJ7kL
— Ned Resnikoff (@resnikoff) September 13, 2016
Today's Census income report is really stunning. It says, in one year, 2/3 of the drop in median household income since 1999 has been erased
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) September 13, 2016
Real median household income rose by 5.2 percent in 2015, the fastest growth on record. pic.twitter.com/5PxMZ7DjX0
— Jason Furman (@CEAChair) September 13, 2016
The Washington Post also notes that food insecurity is also, finally, below 14% according to the latest USDA data.
— Ned Resnikoff (@resnikoff) September 13, 2016
And Obama never even promised we'd be tired of winning. https://t.co/kqDh3QfOWF
— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) September 13, 2016
And on the very same day, GOP Leader Ryan once again steps on his own… tongue:
The president's legacy will be showing the country that progressivism in practice just doesn't work. https://t.co/iLmMSSdxyV #ObamaLegacy
— Paul Ryan (@SpeakerRyan) September 13, 2016
What's the magic economic indicator that will force the press to admit giving racism a pass on economic anxiety grounds is horseshit?
— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) September 13, 2016
Wednesday Morning Open Thread: Thanks, Obama!Post + Comments (127)