WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 7, 2024
Smiles of a summer night: Since early last evening, we've been thinking about Maurice Chevalier—but also about various others, including the young Martin Lawrence, who started out right here (or hereabouts) in Washington's comedy venues.
Good lord, but Candidate Harris can smile! And the smile can be a very powerful weapon, in show business and in politics.
As we've mentioned before, she has a powerful smile! Of course, there's still no way to know what will happen with the rest of her campaign.
For example:
Last evening, Jesse Watters was saying "Commie Commie Commie Commie" with respect to Tim Walz's fairly obvious brainwashing by the Chinese Communists. The admittedly glamorous Morgan Ortagus was on hand to help Watters construct his profile of Walz.
Below, you see one of the most comical Q-and-A's in American journalistic history. The exchange occurred as Watters questioned the undeniably glamorous former Trump official:
WATTERS (8/6/24): Is Walz dim? Did he not realize he was being used by the Chinese Communist Party? Or does he just like to travel there?
ORTAGUS: He was certainly, either wittingly or unwittingly, co-opted, in my opinion, by the [Chinese] government early on.
You know, that sort of thing! For the record, when Watters asked if someone else was dim, he won a gold medal for unintentional irony in the realm of pseudo-journalism.
(Fuller disclosure: Watters may possibly be a bit dim, but his "silly boy" cable persona is artfully constructed.)
What were these eggheads talking about? In the Washington Post. Tan and Chiang offer a lengthy background report. We'll restrict ourselves to the basics, dual headline included:
Walz has a long history with China. But he’s not ‘pro-China.’
Vice President Harris’s running mate taught in China in 1989, sparking an enduring interest in the country but also leading him to criticize its human rights abuses.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), Vice President Kamala Harris’s newly announced running mate, has had an unusually long and involved relationship with China, one that Republicans have seized upon as a line of attack in the face of rising antipathy among voters toward China.
[...]
Republicans have tried to suggest that Walz, who moved to China in 1989 to teach for a year, would be soft on Beijing. Richard Grenell, who served as an ambassador in the Trump administration, on Tuesday called Walz “pro-China,” adding that “Communist China is very happy” with his candidacy.
But Walz, 60, has spent much of his political career critical of the Chinese government’s actions, particularly on human rights and democracy.
Walz first encountered China when he went on a Harvard-run teach abroad program in 1989 and spent a year teaching English and American history at Foshan No. 1 High School in the southeastern Chinese province of Guangdong. “China was coming, and that’s the reason that I went,” Walz told the Hill in 2007.
It was a very different time in China. “I was treated exceptionally well,” Walz told Nebraska’s Star-Herald upon his return in 1990. “There was no anti-American feeling whatsoever.”
[...]
[In 1994,] the Walzes set up a company, Educational Travel Adventures, that coordinated summer trips to China almost every year through 2003. As of 2016, according to Walz, he had visited China about 30 times.
Elected to the House of Representatives in 2006, Walz, who has a master’s degree in genocide studies, championed multiple bills that censured China’s human rights record and served on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, which focuses exclusively on human rights.
In 2009, he co-sponsored a resolution condemning the arrest of Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was arrested for subverting state power. And in 2016, he met Tibet’s exiled leader the Dalai Lama, who China considers a separatist. More recently, as governor, he has criticized China for “siding” with Russia on the Ukraine war.
There's a lot more detail in the lengthy Post report. Let's just say that Watters and Ortagus absent-mindedly forgot to mention anything about the way Walz "championed multiple bills that censured China’s human rights record." Or about the way he "has spent much of his political career critical of the Chinese government’s actions."
Absent-mindedly, the Fox News pair skipped past such facts. According to the Fox News pair, Walz has been co-opted!
The next ninety days are going to be extremely ugly. Yesterday, in the City of Brotherly Love, Candidate Harris was sensational at the podium and as she listened to Walz. There's major power in an air of confidence, and there's major power in the (human) smiles of a summer night.
Thank you for putting joy back in this, Walz said to her at one point.
For entertainment purposes: In this scene, performed with Hermione Gingold, Chevalier smiles his way past a faulty memory in the Oscar-winning film, Gigi.
Within the film, there's a backstory to this scene which adds to its affectionate portrait of the human condition as it's widely been lived. The sexual politics in this short scene run very deep, are vast.
"Absent-mindedly ...."
ReplyDeletePull the other one Bob.
Dude, sarcasm. Maybe you've heard of it?
DeleteWorking part-time, I make more than $13,000 every month. I was intrigued by the stories of online earnings, so I decided to explore it. It’s real and has completely changed my life. For more information, visit the website below.
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Somerby does not seem to understand that focusing on Harris' smiling or laughing is demeaning when she is running for President of the US. She has accomplishments, experience, policies and programs, a plan for governing, and all of these are more important than her appearance, her clothes and her smiling. Hillary was similar diminished when the press talked about her likability. A presidential nominee is not a geisha.
ReplyDeleteSimone de Beauvoir wrote the best book on sexual politics (The Second Sex) in France in Chevalier's time period. Somerby's nostalgia is misplaced. Gigi correctly rejects the role of kept woman that Chevalier exalts in his cute song, saying that it is cruel for someone who loves her to contemplate such a life for her. It is still cruel and not at all charming. The film is a romanticized version of sex trafficking of a young teen to an older wealthy man. Ghislaine Maxwell went to jail for the same thing and it is a crime, even though Somerby muses fondly about it.
When Harris wins, it will not be because of her smile. It will be because of her ability.
Ah, yes. A candidate's 'ability', the driving force in today's politics.
DeleteI would bet on a candidate with charisma any day over one with ability. And a (human) smile is a big part of charisma.
And of course, it is not possible have both charisma and ability? Harris, like Obama, is able to relate to people and campaign well. That doesn't make her unqualified for the job. It makes her MORE qualified for it. Note that no one was talking about Harris having charisma back when she was on Biden's ticket and he was the nominee.
DeleteGeorge W. Bush is an example of what happens when you elect a candidate who has only charisma and no ability to do the job. Look what a disaster that was.
But this emphasis on charisma is Somerby's and the Republicans' way of discreding Harris, calling her a pretty face who is only getting ahead on her smile and vivacity, like Gigi. And when she wins, you and they will chalk it up to her looks and not her accomplishments. This is what sexism is.
Hector, you seem even more miserable than usual of late.
DeleteBut your comment lets me know there’s someone who cares.
DeleteI care. I’m Achilles.
DeleteSomerby talks about the right "absent-mindedly" forgetting to mention Walz's actual position on China. But then he includes the phrase:
ReplyDelete"There's major power in an air of confidence, and there's major power in the (human) smiles of a summer night.
Thank you for putting joy back in this, Walz said to her at one point."
Somerby refers to a Bergman film called "Smiles of a Summer Night" which is a comedy about adultery created by a director who was repeatedly unfaithful to his five wives with actresses in his films. The film otherwise has nothing to do with Walz, China or even with smiling. So why does Somerby drag this into his essay?
https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-smiles-of-a-summer-night-1955
Harris is female and one way to discredit a female candidate is to sexualize her, make her into an object of men's manipulations and not a human being with her own agency, goals, plans and competence. The Republicans tried to make her into a sex object when they called her a ho who slept "to the top" (whatever that means) with Willie Brown, even after she attained far greater stature among Democrats in public office than Brown has ever had. Now Somerby uses this reference to a sex movie to refer to her smile, entirely inappropriately and in a way that diminishes her stature as nominee for President of the United States. How can Harris aspire to such a serious position when guys like Somerby reduce her to a smiling, confident sexual being who might appear in a sex comedy playing a fake role, instead of doing great things as a powerful politician?
This is how sexual politics works. People should not vote for Kamala Harris because she has a pretty smile. They should vote for her because she knows how to make their lives better and is going to improve our country. Her VP is not a paramour, as Somerby suggests with his Gigi and Chevalier and Bergman references. He too is a serious politician with sound family values (not cheating with Harris or anyone else and certainly not raping anyone) and congruent goals for helping working class and middle class families. Walz has the kind of spotless career and family life that represent character. Somerby might be nostalgic for that, since it is Trump's major deficit (although Trump doesn't smile, he smirks).
This is a subtle insult aimed at Harris, but it is consistent with the Republican talking points about her being arm candy for powerful men. The ugliness of today's post should reveal Somerby for what he is, but I suspect the fanboys are clueless about sexual politics. It isn't about smiling but about compulsory smiling and most women will recognize what Somerby is trying to do to Harris in this essay. It might have seemed tenuous if not for his tip off with that movie reference. Shame on Somerby.
You lack any trace of gender.
Delete4:17 does a good job exposing Somerby’s notorious backhandedness.
Delete"The film otherwise has nothing to do with Walz, China or even with smiling. So why does Somerby drag this into his essay?"
DeleteMay I suggest that Somerby used the phrase without mentioning the film. It's you who are dragging it in to the discussion.
Here is the quote:
Delete"Yesterday, in the City of Brotherly Love, Candidate Harris was sensational at the podium and as she listened to Walz. There's major power in an air of confidence, and there's major power in the (human) smiles of a summer night."
Somerby often tosses references to films, songs and books into his statements, without attribution. There is no reason to refer to "of a summer night" except that it is a famous movie. It would be excessively literal to ignore the reference, which Somerby clearly intends given his other references to Gigi. Don't be obtuse.
Other Somerby oddities: (1) why refer to Philadelphia as the City of Brotherly Love?, (2) why toss in "(human)" and why put it in parens? (3) how does one be sensational while listening to someone else speak? This stuff is all gratuitous and I have no clue why Somerby made those choices. It does seem like he is trying to portray Harris as insincere in her nonverbal behavior (smiling, whatever conveys confidence), or trying to tell us that her smiling is the sum-total of her political ability (since he mentions nothing else about her that would generate enthusiasm than the ability to charm men).
DeleteIt hasn't been that long ago that Somerby called Harris a mediocre candidate and a liar about the gender pay gap (which economist Claudia Goldin recently won a Nobel Prize for studying). But now she apparently has an abundance of charisma!
But you're wrong. There is a reason a writer uses a phrase like 'of a summer night.' It adds a lyric quality to his writing.
DeleteYou shouldn't ignore the reference, you should enjoy it, as Bob intended.
It is a lyric quality stolen from another artist. These references are not random. If Somerby is like a magpie, collecting things for no reason simply because they are shiny, then he has nothing to say himself and is using language in ways that suggest he is mentally ill. I am ready to believe that, but I do not think it is likely.
DeleteAnd where did you get the idea of comparing Somerby to a magpie? From whom did you steal it?
DeleteIf I had stolen it from a song, book or film title or poem, you would recognize it, just as I recognize what Somerby steals BECAUSE IT IS ALL FAMOUS. Your lack of education is not my problem. You think these are all Somerby's brain farts but they are not, they are theft of intellectual property from other people because Somerby is insufficiently creative to speak using his own words.
DeleteThere are magpies in our backyard. They are my favorite bird because they are both smart and attractive. But they are attracted to shiny things for no reason. So I can see the connection to Somerby's fascination with pitying immigrants who remind him of Trump.
DeleteAnd yet you read him.
DeleteSomerby mentioned the City of Brotherly Love but neither the Keystone State nor the Quaker State. Why? Because he wants the Democrat candidates to lose Pennsylvania.
DeleteSeriously, why does he say these odd things? No one else does that. Others write coherent blog posts.
Delete10:35 nailed it. They have the ultimate insight into Somerby's linguistic trickery.
DeleteFirst it was her cackle. Now you are captivated by the moron's smile?
ReplyDeleteHow do I want to throw up? Let me count the ways.
I suspect that the purpose of today's essay has nothing to do with Walz and China or correcting Watters for calling Walz brainwashed. It is his chance to portray Harris as a smiling, giggling, teenager like Gigi, in thrall to a much older man who gave her presents while reliving his youth. That seemed charming in the film, which is really about women being people with their own needs, who should be taken seriously and not as playthings. Somerby seems to have missed that message, since he doesn't recognize how wrong it is to relate this to Harris' own life (dishonestly skipping mention of Willie Brown while he makes his obvious and clumsy comparison).
ReplyDeleteWhy is Harris not a concubine at age 29? Well, her age is one sign. Brown had been separated from his wife for 8 years when he dated Harris and Harris was single and they were both consenting adults. She was not kept by Brown in a separate residence (as Gigi would be) and she was not being paid off with gifts for sex. She worked for a living. Brown supported and encouraged Harris in her political career while he was State Assembly Chair. She was working as a prosecuting attorney, running for DA of San Francisco. Brown appointed Harris to a commission when he left his Assembly position. Brown did the same for other political figures who he did not have a sexual relationship with, including Nancy Pelosi, Maxine Waters and Gavin Newsom. It is ridiculous to argue he did that because he was having sex with them, and not because he saw political talent in them, as he did with Harris. In contrast, no one expected anything more of Gigi than to smile and look pretty while flattering her lover. Harris was elected CA State Attorney General and then Senator, on her own merits.
That a male mentor will result in accusations that a woman was promoted because of sex, or that she had no innate ability but was only being advanced because of her attractiveness, is not only an insult to both individuals, but it prevents women with aspirations from being mentored by men in the same way as younger men are mentored by older ones in order to help them in their careers. Women should be able to benefit from male help without being called hos who slept their way to the top.
Today Somerby is doing his bit to undermine Harris by slyly alluding to Gigi and Smiles of a Summer Night while complimenting Harris on her smile and talking about how powerful women's looks can be. Hint hint. And this is why Somerby is a sexist asshole.
Harris has done very poorly explaining why she deserves to be president. Can you say why?
DeleteReason #1: She is NOT Trump!!!!!!!
DeleteIs that it?
Delete5:00 in America, you don’t “deserve” to be president, you appeal to the electorate and earn their votes.
DeleteReasons #2-infinity: Look at her record as VP, DA and Senator. Look at her plans for her presidency. Look at the platform of the Democratic Party. Look at how she handled herself as a senator during hearings. Look at how she is handling herself during this campaign, and how she supported Biden until he stepped aside voluntarily. Look at what she says in her speeches at rallies and elsewhere. Think about what she is proposing as the campaign goes forward.
DeleteYour phrase "deserves to be president" is a bit odd if you conceptualize the presidency as a chance to serve the people and not as a reward to the highest bidder. She has the capacity to do the job and the wisdom and experience to know what to do to best serve the people and meet our nation's crises and make people's lives better.
Two things I admire about her work: (1) she participated in negotiations to get the Russian hostages back and was successful at getting them to release their own Russian prisioners to help the US gets its people back. She dealt with two nations to do that. (2) She worked with the Central American nations sending immigrants to our border to reduce the number of people fleeing those countries resulting in a reduction from 50+% of the asylum seekers to 18%, and reducing the number of people seeking to cross the border under Biden. I also admire the way she formulated questions during Senate Judiciary Committee hearings and kept witnesses from stalling or evading them. I like the way she quietly supported Biden's agenda while also giving press conferences and speaking, and I am very glad she will continue to spearhead the effort to restore abortion rights to women nationwide.
These are some of the reasons why I will happily vote for her in November.
Where did she articulate her plans or what she believes?
DeleteWhat’s an example of her wisdom?
Are we to think that making the country great again counts as a good explanation for why someone should be President?
DeleteHere is an example of her wisdom:
Delete"Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) on Wednesday called for a moratorium on judicial nominees during President Trump’s impeachment trial in the Senate, citing a similar pause during former President Clinton’s trial in 1999.
“The president is charged with high crimes and misdemeanors, and the Senate must take seriously its constitutional role in this process,” Harris said in a statement. “During the time when articles of impeachment are before the Senate, it would be wholly inappropriate to advance the president’s nominees to the federal judiciary.”
Harris’s statement notes that between the delivery of the Clinton articles of impeachment to the Senate and the Senate’s verdict on Feb. 12, 1999, the Senate Judiciary Committee did not convene any nomination hearings or advance any nominations to confirmation votes. While Senate committees cannot hold votes during impeachment trials, they are free to hold hearings.
Harris echoed her call for a moratorium in a tweet Wednesday afternoon.
The Senate is receiving the articles of impeachment against President Trump today. We should not advance any more judicial nominees while we take on this solemn responsibility of the president’s trial for high crimes and misdemeanors."
"California Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris used pointed questions during high-profile Senate hearings and events in the past two years to raise her political profile, in moments that led presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden to pick her as a running mate and President Donald Trump to call her a “mad woman” and “angry.”
DeleteBiden, in an event to introduce the former California state attorney general as his pick to be vice president last week, noted how Harris has been “asking tough questions that needed to be asked and not stopping until she got an answer. And when none was forthcoming, it was obvious what the answer was.”
That alluded to a series of exchanges with Trump officials that became made-for-social-media videos, which featured judicial nominees, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, current Attorney General William Barr and Trump’s appointment of Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh.
Trump told Fox Business last week that Harris is “sort of a mad woman, I call her, because she was so angry and so — such hatred with Justice Kavanaugh.”
That shows how well Harris, an attorney with plenty of litigation experience, leveraged her time in the Senate just as Biden used the Senate Judiciary Committee as a steppingstone for larger political ambition.
From Roll Call
From the ACLU:
Delete"The Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade set off a wave of new attacks on abortion, causing a catastrophic public health crisis and rapidly eroding our civil liberties and reproductive freedom. So far, 14 states have banned abortion completely, and others have severely limited access to abortion by criminalizing it after the earliest weeks of pregnancy.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic party’s nominee, has already indicated her support for abortion access and other forms of reproductive health care. At one of her first campaign events, she stated that if Congress “passes a law to restore reproductive freedom, as president of the United States I will sign it into law.”
https://www.eenews.net/articles/harris-offered-a-blueprint-for-environmental-justice-can-she-grow-it/
Delete"Environmental justice through a prosecutor’s lens
After serving as San Francisco district attorney, Harris was elected as California attorney general in 2010, where she kept a focus on environmental justice.
Jane Williams, executive director of California Communities Against Toxics, said she thought Harris was “a progressive prosecutor.”
“She looked for opportunities to prosecute cases that were having a disproportionate impact on people of color, whether it was for civil rights violations or for environmental crimes,” Williams said.
Harris, as state attorney general, took on high-profile cases against big polluters and launched an investigation of Exxon Mobil for being allegedly misleading about the dangers of climate change.
“That was pretty bold back then,” Williams said.
“Vice President Harris knows the environmental justice issues facing California,” said Susana De Anda, co-founder and executive director of the Community Water Center, pointing to Harris bringing national attention to the drinking water crisis for Latino farmworkers. “She understands the importance of community involvement to create solutions together to solve our most pressing issues.”
Harris ran for Senate in 2016 and won. She sponsored legislation centered on environmental justice during her time there, including signing onto the Green New Deal.
But Harris offered her own bills, too, such as the “Clean School Bus Act,” which would have replaced school buses with electric models; the “Water Justice Act,” designed to reduce lead and other drinking water contaminants; the “Environmental Justice For All Act,” which would have stood up a variety of programs to address disproportionate impacts on communities of color and low income; and the “Climate Equity Act,” calling on budget offices in Congress and the White House to consider environmental justice for legislation and regulations, respectively.
None of those bills passed, but similar programs have popped up in the Biden administration.
Under the infrastructure law, EPA has $15 billion to replace lead pipes to improve drinking water as well as $5 billion to provide electric school buses. In addition, the administration has set up the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council and issued executive orders requiring agencies to consider environmental justice.
Activists appreciated that Harris has been the public face of many of those efforts.
“When you look at the Inflation Reduction Act, which put money on the table for partnerships that would implement many of the things that were in that [“Environmental Justice for All”] legislation, I think she really gave us a foundation and a blueprint to work from,” said Robin Morris Collin, who served as the environmental justice senior adviser to the EPA administrator during the Biden administration.
Collin added, “And to the extent we hit the ground running, it was because of a lot of the work she had already brought in.”
I come from Colorado and we care a whole lot about the environment. This is one of the most important issues for me and Trump would be a disaster for the environment. So I am all-in on Harris this year.
In addition, Harris, as vice president, cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate to pass the climate law, which provided $369 billion in clean energy and environmental justice funding."
Grandstanding at Senate hearing is wisdom? Interesting. Not so convincing that she deserves the job. Anyone can grandstand and take a pro-abortion stance.
DeleteBut thank you for confirming my suspicions.
So, you are not really interested in knowing the answers to your questions.
DeleteKamala Harris is average at best is the answer.
DeleteIf she becomes an average president, she will be much better than Trump, who was the worst president ever, according to historians. Not that I consider her average. I consider her smart, well-prepared and with values, policies and plans that I approve of. None of that is true about Trump.
DeleteHarris is totally average becoming a lawyer, San Fran AG, the most populated state's AG, and the Senator from the state with the biggest economy. Unlike the convicted felon who inherited $400 million and proceeded to bankrupt seven companies (four casinos), an adjudicated rapist, weirdly lusting after his daughter, fucking a porn star and Playboy Bunny while his third wife had baby robber Barron at home, bragged about sexually assaulting woman, started in politics lying about a birth certificate, and surrounded by Russian spooks, never repealed the ACA, no plan to replace it, no infrastructure bill, only passed tax bills helping the very rich and corporations, tore up a bunch of treaties like the weirdos on Fox told him, let Leonard Leo pick all his judges, attempted an autogolpe, etc.; but he did somehow manage to read a teleprompter during a reality TV show. I can see where you find the felon (awaiting sentencing and out on bail in three jurisdictions) way above average with all the great accomplishments he has.
DeleteWhat are the values that she has that excites you the most?
DeleteNo, I get it. Her primary quality is that she is not Trump. Exactly the same as Biden. The Democratic Party is giving me a choice of someone who is not Trump. Thrilling.
DeleteToo bad the Republican Party can’t give us a choice of someone who is not Trump.
DeleteThen you’ll have someone to vote for PP.
DeleteThe Republican elite would give us Jeb Bush. The Democratic elite appoints without any kind of primary or democratic process a mediocre Senator who failed spectacularly when she ran for president previously. And we’re supposed to feel like they are doing the people’s work?
DeleteYep.
DeleteSo I hope you can see why voters are not excited about her.
DeleteExcept polling and donations say voters are excited about her.
DeleteWhat values does she have that should inspire people to vote for her?
DeleteOne salient observation is as a Democratic voter, I have no say whatsoever in the nomination process and living in a non-swing state, my vote doesn’t matter. The Democratic Party has very little to do with democracy.
Delete9:55,
DeleteYou fight fascism with the party you have, not the party you wish you had.
9:13,
DeleteHave you ever voted in a Presidential election?
If so, which perfect candidate, whose viewpoints you agreed with 100%, did you vote for?
Asking, so I can make you defend each and every statement your perfect candidate has made.
Our wars and killings are good. The entrenched, unnamed council of Democratic Party leaders that provide us with malleable puppets to play president while doing their oligarchical bidding know what’s best for us, plain to see. I thank them.
Delete8:26 let’s not simplify each other’s arguments in order to make them easier refute. Let’s deal directly with the substance. What values does Harris possess that would excite someone to vote for her? Or maybe you are saying she has none. Why should any Democrat be comfortable with a candidate that was installed by party insiders without any kind of vote?
Delete"Why should any Democrat be comfortable with a candidate that was installed by party insiders without any kind of vote?"
DeleteWhat should have happened instead? Should Democrats have stood by while Biden doddered and dithered and argued with Trump about who could hit a golf ball farther? And bragged that he had defeated Medicare?
As a democracy, new candidates should’ve been nominated and been required to make a case for themselves and then a special election should’ve been held or at least a vote of delegates. Instead, a candidate was installed by fiat by an unnamed group of party elders and this candidate never had to make a case for themselves and never received one single vote. That is not democratic.
DeleteThe voters seem quite happy with how things went. Does that matter?
DeleteNo. Not in the long run. There are many many complications that could arise within the party if they begin to under perform or not do well , This may call into question the decision to forgo the democratic process upon which our country was founded. I’m glad to see you’re enjoying your sugar high though.
DeleteSo we have a bunch of people who claim they are advocates of the democratic process, who are all happy that the process was thrown aside, and a candidate was installed by an unnamed group of people somewhere in some room. And the candidate they installed, to this day, has not even given one interview or press conference. I think a lot of Democratic Party advocates are too close to the situation to see how completely strange and crazy it is.
DeleteLet's try to remember what happpened a month ago. Biden dropped out of the race. No one held a gun to his held or kidnapped his children for ransom. He was certainly pressured to do so, but it was his decision. The pressure came because it was so glaringly obvious he was going to lose.
DeleteOnce that happened, it wasn't possible to redo the primaries, was it? Not if the party wanted to have a chance at winning the election.
So the process was only 'thrown aside' or 'foregone' if you ignore the reality of the situation.
I'll enjoy my sugar high and you two dwell on the joys of your imaginary process.
Only you could think that complimenting someone's smile is a sexualizing insult to womanhood.
ReplyDeleteApparently you didn't read a word I said.
DeleteAnd I don’t intend to.
DeleteThen your comments aren't worth shit.
DeletePP does not like context.
DeleteAh, "context" -- When you criticize Somerby for what you imagine he meant rather than for what he actually said!
DeleteThere is such a thing as reading between the lines. Somerby never says anything directly. If he weren't so dishonest, we could deal with what he actually said.
DeleteSure. One reading: Somerby sees Harris's great smile, which reminds him of two other guys with great smiles. Another reading: Somerby denigrates Harris by praising her smile, which if we dissect some movies means that Somerby must have been secretly signaling that we as a society should subjugate all women.
Delete"Context" lets you believe either one, right?
Why then didn't Somerby notice her great smile when he was slagging her? It makes more sense that he is still slagging her than to think he has suddenly changed his mind. Somerby chose the movies, not me. And no, the signal is not that we as a society should subjugate all women. (F for reading comprehension.) It is a repetition of the right wing talking point that Harris slept her way to the top and is a mindless ho with no ability beyond her looks (that wondrous smile that has overwhelmed Somerby now that Harris is a candidate instead of a VP).
DeleteIf you are going to criticize other commenters, you need to learn how to summarize their arguments accurately. Otherwise you are just making noise.
So, Harris has a powerful smile = Harris slept her way to the top. And you consider this to be "summarizing arguments accurately."
DeleteI've been quoting Somerby, but if you don't read what I've written you won't know that.
DeleteAll Somerby said is that Harris has a powerful smile. You read this as "Harris is being maligned and portrayed as just a pretty face." Do you consider this to be "summarizing arguments accurately"?
DeleteYou say: "It is [Somerby's] chance to portray Harris as a smiling, giggling, teenager like Gigi." But all Somerby said was that Harris has a "powerful" smile. What grade would you give yourself for reading comprehension when you summarize Somerby in this fashion?
DeleteSomerby brought up Gigi, not me. These references are not random.
DeleteHe didn't say or imply that Harris was a "smiling, giggling, teenager like Gigi." He mentioned Chevalier because of his great smile, and at the end -- a postscript, unrelated to his argument -- he posted a scene from Gigi that did not include the character of "Gigi" at all.
DeleteAnd no one has ever smiled in a movie before so that Chevaliar was the best and only choice for an example of someone with a smile? Never mind that it is about a much older wealthy man who is with a much younger woman who is exuberant and cute and has a great smile?
DeleteSomerby brought up Gigi. These references are not random. Would someone without an ulterior motive think that the best example of a great smile is an elderly man and not a woman similar to Harris herself, if all that is intended is a comparison to another smile? Chevalier is not the first person who pops into my head as resembling Harris, with or without a great smile. But you think this is likely and that Somerby should be taken at face value.
You are so gullible. Somerby can say anything and you will swallow it.
Maybe, but Somerby can not say something and you'll definitely swallow it.
DeleteSomerby can say anything and you will contrive some ludicrous, sexist interpretation.
DeleteDuh, that’s because he’s sexist.
DeleteWhy would Somerby think it is appropriate to compare a presidential nominee to two entertainers, one who is more like Trump with his memory difficulties and the other who is a black comedian? Yes, they all smile, but shouldn't there be more similarity than that, for him to make such a comparison?
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, here is what Trump said on Truth Social:
"What are the chances that Crooked Joe Biden, the WORST President in the history of the U.S., whose Presidency was Unconstitutionally STOLEN from him by Kamabla, Barrack HUSSEIN Obama, Crazy Nancy Pelosi, Shifty Adam Schiff, Cryin’ Chuck Schumer, and others on the Lunatic Left, CRASHES the Democrat National Convention and tries to take back the Nomination, beginning with challenging me to another DEBATE. He feels that he made a historically tragic mistake by handing over the U.S. Presidency, a COUP, to the people in the World he most hates, and he wants it back, NOW!!!"
This is truly crazy and not any kind of glitch or memory problem. More than that, this is where relying on charisma gets you. Charisma without substance permits a cult leader to drive his MAGA followers off a cliff like lemmings. How can anyone seriously contemplate having a guy who says this stuff as its party's leader, much less vote for him?
Somerby should re-watch The Ruling Class because the Peter O'Toole character is like Trump, deluded and unable to function while others humor him. This might be OK for nobility in England (who are useless beyond their wealth), but the President has an actual job to do. Harris is being maligned and portrayed as just a pretty face while Trump is being permitted to pretend to campaign while blithering like an idiot and out of touch with reality.
It is irresponsible for Somerby to continue to promote Trump in the condition he is in, because of the potential damage that Trump could do to our country. Meaning his insults to Harris are not cute, clever, or disguised. Somerby needs to confront his hostility toward women and stop attacking Harris. She is our best chance of surviving Trump's destruction (not to be as overdramatic as Trump himself, but he can do a lot of harm if allowed back into the White House).
Harris "has a powerful smile" is an insult to Harris. Who knew?
DeletePP wants there to be no doubt, PP does not like to consider context.
DeleteOk, PP, we read you loud and clear.
Meaning = Meanwhile (typo, sorry)
DeleteHarris/Walz have an upbeat and happy vibe about them, whereas Trump/Vance are mired in misery, anger, and hate, which is the same vibe you get from Somerby and his defenders.
ReplyDeleteThis past week Trump sounds so dejected, and looks terrible, like he’s at death’s door.
" ... like he's at death's door."
DeleteHe's OLD, way too old to run this country. Four years? He can't even count to four now. He rolls out of his golf cart like a park drunk. He's shot, spent, ... he's OLD!
Remember how the right wing noise machine piled on with the Clinton is lying about her dying after she stumbled getting in a car while suffering from the flu? Last I checked she is still alive. The constant stream of bullshit fed to the MAGATs by Fox et. al. white grievance machines. The fascist party who note in Project 2025 they they will take the social safety net away from them, take their schools from them, take their vote away from them, etc. Suckers all.
DeleteTrump has been morose, ever since Ivanka ratted him out to the FBI for stealing classified documents and hiding them at Mar a Lago.
DeleteI think it's finally sunk in that she isn't ever going to let him fuck her, and he's been in a deep, deep depression since he has come to that realization.
Here is an example of how low the right will stoop, how much they will lie, especially Trump and Vance. This comes from VoteVets:
ReplyDelete"VoteVets.org is a progressive political action committee and 501 nonprofit organization in the United States. The organization prioritizes American defense, national security, and veterans advocacy."
Here is what they say about the attacks on the service of Walz, compared to Vance and Trump's military experiences:
"Trump and Vance must be pretty scared of Tim Walz. In less than 24 hours, they are already degrading his 24 years of service in the National Guard.
Now, we don’t expect much out of Trump... “Bone spur deferment” Trump.
“My sex life was ‘my personal Vietnam’” Trump.
“I like people who weren’t captured” Trump. “Suckers” and “Losers” Trump.
But a guy like JD Vance, a Veteran himself, should know better than to attack another Veteran’s service, and it’s infuriating to see him stoop this low. We commend JD for his service in the Marines, even if it didn’t impart the respect for democracy, the Constitution, and his fellow Veterans that we would hope for.
But if they’re attacking Tim Walz after serving honorably for more than two decades, they’re attacking every Veteran’s service. And if they’re going to stoop that low, we’re going to push back. You can be damn sure it won’t go unanswered.
JD Vance is LYING, by saying Tim Walz retired to avoid a deployment to Iraq. The TRUTH is that Tim submitted his retirement request to the Guard months prior to the notification of their deployment. His request was approved. He retired as his battalion’s highest ranking enlisted man after 24 years of service, and his unit deployed fully staffed.
JD Vance is also lying by saying Tim is guilty of Stolen Valor over the last rank he attained — a serious charge. The TRUTH is that the Minnesota National Guard has formally emphasized in public statements that Tim Walz can be referred to as having been a Command Sergeant Major. That is the rank under which he served.
This kind of low-down, drag-out politics is par for the course for Trump and Vance. But the truth is, this isn’t something most organizations understand well enough to fight back against. Trump and Vance think they can lie about Tim’s service and get away with it. It’s up to VoteVets and our supporters to correct the record early and often, to make sure this BS from the MAGA-right doesn’t stick."
These lies are easily disproven but anyone planning to vote in November should carefully consider whether they should or can vote for people who lie about military service this way. We owe our vets more than allowing this kind of lie against them when they return home and perform other kinds of service in their communities, as Walz did.
Did Walz lie about his military service? Did he mislead? Was he completely open?
DeleteThis conservative article says he lied. https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/08/watch-2007-video-tim-walz-surfaces-i-spent/
But, is this article accurate? It does quote CNN
“Walz did make a comment, he’s done it a couple times, where he has used language that suggested that he carried weapons in a fighting situation. There is no evidence that any time that he was in the position of being shot at and some of his language could easily be seen to suggest that he was,” CNN said.
BTW don't forget Democrats falsely accused GW Bush of lying about his military service, based on a forged document.
Deleteyou're getting fucking desperate, Dickhead. Go back to the old "swift-boat" ratfucking playbook, huh? I can see your fascist flop sweat from my desk. GW did go AWOL.
DeleteI prefer Vice Presidential nominees that don't have sex with furniture.
DeleteAs a conservative, JD doesn’t want the government telling him who he can or can’t love. He loves couches.
DeleteDonald Trump praised Tim Walz’s leadership during the George Floyd riots:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.lawyersgunsmoneyblog.com/2024/08/trump-praised-walz-extravagantly-for-how-he-handled-the-george-floyd-protests
Here is an alternative to Somerby's view of Harris's smile:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.alternet.org/gop-mockery-of-laughing-kamala-is-nothing-new-to-black-women/
"With Vice President Kamala Harris’ ascent to the top of the Democratic ticket, Republicans are rebuilding a campaign strategy that for months focused on running against President Joe Biden. One emerging theme asserts that Harris laughs too much at inappropriate moments – part of a broader argument that Harris is “weird.”
“I call her ‘laughing Kamala,’” former President Donald Trump said at a rally in Michigan on July 24. “Have you ever watched her laugh? She is crazy. You can tell a lot by a laugh. … She is nuts.”
As a professor of American studies with a focus on race and politics, I know that Black women in the U.S. have a history of struggle against violence and oppression. And too often when we experience joy, and show it, ridicule follows. We are said to be too loud, too emotional – well, too “Black women.”
History shows that this is a familiar dog whistle. Black women have been called out as sexually provocative Jezebels, emasculating Sapphires or servile, nurturing Mammys in popular culture. Those labels clearly don’t fit Harris, so Trump has created a new epithet: “crazy laughing.”
Invisibility has long haunted Black girls and women. In response, their choices, from dress to spirituality to activist groups, often center on making themselves visible. They do this to highlight injustice and to offer a vision of justice based on their experiences.
As I see it, Black women deserve for some of that visibility to be joyful. In this realm, Harris is paving the way."
Or it could just be that the Harris-Walz campaign has decided that Trump's gloom and doom can be contrasted with hope, possibility and joy as a positive campaign theme. I cannot understand why anyone would vote for a candidate that threatens their supporters with apocalypse to coerce a vote. Or maybe fire and brimstone preaching is a Southern or Fundamentalist religious thing that red voters respond to. In any case, I will vote for a hopeful vision any time.
Somerby is trying to ridicule Harris by over-praising her smile but we like it fine and hope she doesn't change. Why shouldn't women smile for some reason other than to please men? But it does seem to make Somerby nervous when Harris does it.
A very comely smile and infectious laugh. What's not to like?
Delete"Somerby is trying to ridicule Harris by over-praising her smile"
DeleteYou're an idiot.
Give Somerby a break. He's trying his best to praise Harris, but it's awkward because he has so little experience praising a woman.
DeleteI give him an A for effort, but a gentleman's C for comprehension.
Anonymouse 8:39am, you’re a slanderer by profession and also an idiot, but that seems to be the norm in your line of work.
DeleteCecelia, there’s nothing wrong with you that a little re-education wouldn’t fix. Come on, I’ll frogmarch you to camp.
DeleteAnonymouse 9:54am, I’m sure you would. That’s an extra buck an hour.
DeleteNo, I’ll be paid a lump sum for each successful frogmarch. You’ll be my first client. I can make it worth your while.
DeleteYou’re ridiculing yourself by overpraising your maliciousness.
DeleteAnonymouse 3:54pm, yeah, you’re willing to throw around Soros money like a drunken Antifa, but I doubt your proclivities were in the contact.
DeleteDon’t worry, my proclivities are in the contact.
DeleteLaura Ingraham says, "If you know Minnesota, and I know it well, especially Milwaukee, it's changed. It has never recovered from 2020, and it's not the same place."
ReplyDeleteShe doesn't know American cities and states. Is she a Russian troll?
https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/laura-ingraham-if-you-know-minnesota-and-i-know-it-well-especially-milwaukee-its-changed
If Walz is ro China, why is Trump consatantly praising the President of China XI?
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete"Good lord, but Candidate Harris can smile! And the smile can be a very powerful weapon, in show business and in politics."
Ha-ha, funny. This is -- literally -- an illustration for the famous Chomsky piece: "The elections are run by the same guys who sell toothpaste."
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