Quote of the day #2

Peggy Noonan, on why the "unity ticket" is a bad idea:  "[Clinton] undercuts the cleanness of Obama's message. She doesn't turn the page, she is the page." Heh.

More after the jump.

Noonan writes that "America dodged a bullet" because the Democrats nominated Obama. She opines:

Mrs. Clinton would have been a disaster as president. Mr. Obama may prove a disaster, and John McCain may, but she would be. Mr. Obama may lie, and Mr. McCain may lie, but she would lie. And she would have brought the whole rattling caravan of Clintonism with her—the scandal-making that is compulsive, the drama that is unending, the sheer, daily madness that is her, and him.

We have been spared this. Those who did it deserve to be thanked. May I rise in a toast to the Democratic Party.

They had a great and roaring fight, a state-by-state struggle unprecedented in the history of presidential primaries. They created the truly national primary. They brought 36 million people to the polls, including the young, minorities and first-time voters. They brought a kind of dogged brio to the year.

All of this is impressive, but more than that, they threw off Clintonism. They threw off the idea that corruption is part of the game, an acceptable fact. They threw off the idea that dynasticism was an unstoppable dynamic in modern politics, that Bush-Clinton-Bush-Clinton could, would, go on forever. They said: "No, that is not the way we do it."

They threw off the idea of inevitability. Mrs. Clinton didn't lose because she had no money or organization, she didn't lose because she had no fame or name, she didn't lose because her policies were unusual or dramatically unpopular within her party. She lost because enough Democrats looked at her and thought: I don't like that, I don't like the way she does it, I'm not going there. Most candidates lose over things, not over their essential nature. But that is what happened here. For all her accomplishments and success, it was her sketchy character that in the end did her in.

But the voters had to make the decision. So, to the Democrats: A nod. A bow. Well done.

Noonan adds that if Obama picks Clinton as his veep, people "would assume she and her people did their voodoo—I have 18 million voters!—and he fell for it. She doesn't have 18 million voters, she got 18 million votes. It is telling the way she thinks of them, as if they are working-class automatons awaiting her command."

Also, relatedly: "you can see how Mrs. Clinton views her supposed working-class heroes by what she is doing with them now: using them as a bargaining chip to get whatever she wants."

Comments

[Sandy Underpants]

I don't want to seem like I'm beating up on poor innocent victim, George W. Bush, but really why do we spend 2 years speculating and worrying about the presidential candidates when the current president has been demolishing the country with his corrupt agenda throughout this entire time?

What has George W. Bush done during his 8 year presidency that benefitted Americans?

[Alasdair]

Start with - he has kept Hillary out of the White House as much as he can !

[Bush-hating lunatic]

"What has George W. Bush done during his 8 year presidency that benefitted Americans?"

Absolutely nothing, and anyone who says otherwise is just a Bush-loving apologist.

[Sandy Underpants]

Well you can't say I didn't try to get an intelligent response from the Bush side, although I should've known in advance that was an impossible expectation.

Hey dickhead, when you have to "sincerely" ask the question about whether a president (ANY president) has done one single thing to benefit Americans in two terms in office, you clearly are not interested in "intelligent" responses.

[Sandy Underpants]

Yes I am. It's interesting that no one can name one thing that Bush has done to benefit Americans. I was actually looking for a list though, but I'll just take one thing at this point.

You are confusing the unwillingness to respond with the inability to.

[Sandy Underpants]

As I said, I would prefer a list to compare against other terrible presidents, since most people regard GWB the worst ever. It's pretty pathetic that I have to pare my request down to naming just ONE thing that he's done to benefit Americans.

Go for it.