MONDAY, JULY 20, 2026
George Harrison wrote a song: It occurred to us some time ago:
If a person spent his entire life as a songwriter, and he only came up with "Here Comes the Sun," that would have been a case of fifty years just extremely well spent.
("And if a person lived in obscurity / Making his friends in that obscurity / Then obscurity is not uninteresting?")
Stating the obvious, the late George Harrison (1943-2001) didn't live in obscurity. Also, he wrote many more songs than just "Here Comes the Sun."
That said, what out there, well-past-perfect simplicity! Our favorite rendition is here.
(We'll go with "Colours" as our purest substitute off the bench. It's hard to do something this simple.)
That said, do songs like those point the way toward a "politics of meaning?" Not toward that specific "politics of meaning," the "politics of meaning" Hillary Clinton described, perhaps unwisely, very early in her very first year as first lady.
Under the mandated rules of the day, Clinton was savaged for what she said in that speech, delivered at the University of Texas in April 1993. And we don't even mean that we need that general type of a politics of meaning. We're looking for a new politics which both major tribes could endorse.
"It seems like years since it's been clear?" In our view, Harrison wrote one of the world's most perfect songs.
In this country, we're badly in need of some modernized sort of "awakening." Barring the latest bizarre event, we'll advance our search tomorrow.
I do not remember that Hillary was savaged for the speech Bob alludes to. I do remember that Hillary was savaged for referring to half of Donald Trump's supporters as a "basket of deplorables," describing them as "racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic."
ReplyDeleteHillary's accusation was ignorant bigotry. Hillary doesn't know Trump's supporters. She has no basis for her accusation. IMO anti-Trumpism is a form of bigotry, comparable to racism or antisemitism.
You, me and Hillary all know exactly what kind of horrible person you are.
DeleteIf you don’t remember the speech, why comment?
DeleteMany of those supporters have abandoned the Grifter in Chief. The
DeleteMany of those supporters referred to by Clinton have abandoned the Grifter in Chief, The dead enders still hanging on have a percentage greater than 50 at this point.
DeleteYour opinion is worth less than the shit I just flushed down the toilet. But hey, it got you the attention you desperately crave, so I guess it's worth that.
Deletea "basket of deplorables,"
DeleteJust words, fuckface.
Clinton was calling for unity.
DeleteIn the old speech!
DeleteThe torch carrying Charlottesville Unite the Right rallyers were a patriotic group of free speech advocates. The January 6th rioters were an orderly group of tourists. Did they represent half of Trump supporters? Clinton later stated she regretted using that fraction. That is not to say the statement was inaccurate. In aggregate polling in 2018 only 18% of surveyed Republicans considered use of the n- word indicative that a person was racist and 42 percent found it non-objectionable. And this only refers to bias against blacks. The Venn diagram of those biased against Jews, Muslims, and Asians is undoubtedly a larger slice of the Republican party. So was the choice of one half inaccurate? Take a look at minority Republican representation in Congress. Black congressional Republican representation includes a whopping 1 senator and 4 representatives, all of the latter who are leaving after their terms are up. Jewish congressional representation is no better. There are 10 Jews in the Senate (9 Democrats and one independent), and 25 representatives (21 Democrats and 4 Republicans). Suffice it to say, Republican voters don't favor them Blacks and Jews. Does that make 50% of Republican voters racist, antisemitic or xenophobic? Add to that the fraction of Republicans who are election deniers identifying with the January 6th deniers. Yeah, I'd say 50% is a pretty accurate number.
Delete"...January 6th rioters..."
DeleteWhat did she say about the other half, David? Which half do you think included you?
DeleteMeant to put my comment at 3:02 under 2:23 AM. DiC has a feeling about things unsupported by any data and based upon his feeling would like to call H. Clinton, and others who recognize the rampant racism, antisemitism, xenophobia and misogyny in the Republican Party as bigots. Nice try. Or as your fellow Republicans would say, you cannot erase us.
DeleteThat is, replace us
DeleteBarron has had conversations with Andrew Tate, knowing it’s the closest male bonding experience he can have to replicated daddy’s with Jeffrey. The Tate bros would like to be tried and convicted in a country where for a small fee of a couple million bucks they could be pardoned.
DeleteAn op-ed today in the NY Times suggests there are 8 tribes. Somerby is not much of an analyst of such things.
ReplyDeleteBoth tribes are against the Iran war and hate Trump.
ReplyDeleteAs a start, I would suggest the republicans not run corrupt, mentally ill pathological liars for president, and adopt lying as a strategy.
ReplyDeleteIt’s all they’ve got.
DeleteI thought Sen. Tillis was as stupid as the rest of the cult. But now that Trump fucked him and he is out, I discover he has a perfectly fine working brain. What a bunch of schmucks.
DeleteMy God! That is some real hyper-Rachel Maddow level of incomprehensive gibberish on display there.
ReplyDeleteBob, like Spaceballs One has gone plaid.
They savaged Hillary whatever she said.
ReplyDeleteShe married into it. She wasn't a natural or even good politician. Which is obvious now. She lost to Trump for God's sake.
DeleteSo did every Republican who ran against him.
DeleteThis "not natural," "not good" politician never ran in a race without getting the most votes. Ever. Not in a primary, not in a general election. Every single time, she got the most votes. That's a pretty rare feat. Imagine what she would have done had she been a "natural," "good" politician.
She lost to Sanders 23 times. They had to resort to complete sleaze to get him out of the picture. This is what I mean. She's not a natural politician. She has to cheat to win. And she can't even win. That's why nobody likes her.
DeleteShe lost election after election against Barack Obama. People don't like her. Why should they? She married into it. She was only there because of her proximity to Bill Clinton. That's it.
DeleteIt's just sad that the Democrats can't field better candidates than Clinton, who married into it and nobody likes or Biden who had diminished mental capabilities and had trouble articulating simple thoughts. Can you feel me?
DeleteThe conspiracy theories come out. Sanders lost. He lost because HE is the poor, unnatural politician, who can't win big elections because he's too stubborn to do anything that might broaden his appeal. She got way more votes than Sanders, and more votes than Obama in that primary. In fact, had the system itself not been rigged with caucuses instead of primaries, Obama would have lost. As for the "nobody likes her" troll, she's been polled "most admired woman" 22 times, by far the most in history. Obviously SOMEBODY -- a LOT of somebodies -- likes her.
DeleteYOU can like her or not. She might, or might not, be a "natural politician," a term that is conveniently subjective. But she has quite a lot of accomplishments under the belt of her pantsuits, and plenty of them are electoral. More, I might add, than poor Bernie, his bitter Bernie Bros and their conspiracy theories notwithstanding.
Here is a classic example of the concentrated savaging that Hillary has received. Why would anyone go to the trouble of commenting anti-Hillary stuff, unless triggered in some way, either as a Republican or as a fearful insecure man who thinks only Hegseth has political appeal. I don't get the Hillary hate.
DeleteHillary was raised Republican and worked on Goldwater's campaign long before meeting Bill in law school. She worked on projects to help women and children, families, while in college. That is community work of the same type as Obama did after he graduated and moved to Chicago. She dated Robert Reich before Bill Clinton. So, she comes by her political cred honestly, not as a wife. In law school she continued her work on law projects helping women and children. Read her bio some time:
Deletehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillary_Clinton
Go down to the part where it says Early Life and Education for the details of her first elections and college activities, all of which took place before she ever met Bill Clinton.
All that could be true and she still could have married into it. Thousands and thousands and thousands of people have graduated from Yale law school and performed community projects, dated Robert Reich and worked on law projects helping women and children. Give me a goddamn break. That's supposed to automatically make you eligible to be president? She married into it. I'm not saying she didn't always want it or strive for it. That's the only reason she put up with her husband's non-stop poking of every esthetician that crossed his path.
DeleteShe put his goals first. How does that make her unqualified after being Senator and Sec of State on her own?
DeleteThe answer is in the question.
DeleteOf course people voted for Clinton. She was running against Trump fer chrissakes.
DeleteWithout the epidemic of child rape, the Republican Party is nothing but a shittier version of the KKK.
Delete"All that could be true and she still could have married into it."
DeleteWhether or not she "married into it" is irrelevant. She was smart, capable, and worked her ass off to be successful, which she was. The displayed ignorance here is not understanding EVERY politician has a set of strengths and weaknesses. Not only did she "marry into it," but she also benefitted from being a woman. Those were advantages she had. That she was married to Bill Clinton and that she was a woman, were also *disadvantages.* She was smart and capable enough to take advantage of the positives, while -- almost -- overcoming the drawbacks. In Obama's case, it was an advantage in the Democratic primaries that he was a Black man. He was smart and capable enough to take advantage of that, while minimizing its negative effects in both the general election and while he was in office, although it was always a drag on his administration. Just pointing to an advantage a politician has and using it to diminish or even wave away their accomplishments is narrow thinking. Bush benefitted from being born a Bush. The Kennedys benefitted from being born Kennedys. Trump benefitted from being born rich. All white male politicians benefit from being white males. When you get that far in politics, you generally have, or have benefitted from, some circumstantial advantage. It's up to you, your talent, and your drive what you do with it. Even coming from relatively non-advantageous circumstances can be made into an advantage, like Bill Clinton's "The man from Hope," story, or Vance using his "Hillbilly Elegy" to sucker the -- all too willing -- press into becoming his cheerleaders.
Hear! Hear!
DeleteLet's throw into that basket the Tate brothers' followers. You know, Andrew and Tristan, who have received backing from the Trump administration including JD Vance, Donald Jr., allies including Elon Musk, and others (Tate reports conversing with Barron). Add that sordid cast of admirers for a self described pimp and sex trafficker. What a lovely pair of Trump supporters, 20 counts of rape accusations etc. Yeah, adding in the admirers of the soon to be extradited Tate brothers, i think we've exceeded 50%. Racists, antisemites, xenophobes and rapist/pimp admiring misogynists. That about covers it. 50% is a low bar.
DeleteActually that doesn’t about cover it. Add in to the basket of deplorables the election deniers. Finally if only 18% of aggregated polled Democrats responded that the use of the word kike was indicative of antisemitism we would be hearing about it from none other than the deplorable troll on this site.
DeleteTrump, Vance, Kennedy won elections. Hillary Clinton lost them. Her marriage substantially accelerated her political career. She never would have had the opportunity to run ror president without it. This is obvious. Shes not the first woman in the world to marry for ambition and status and let the husband treat her like total shit in public all in order to advance herself. Women spread their legs to get what they want. She's not the first and she certainly won't be the last.
DeleteHow many other first ladies achieved what Hillary Clinton did? Even came CLOSE? None. She achieved what she achieved because she was massively talented and ambitious. Bill Clinton married her because she was massively talented and ambitious, just as he was. Blathering about "spreading legs" is just prime stupidity and an attempt to degrade someone you clearly hate. Melania "achieved" whatever it is she achieved by doing that; if she ran for any office, including dog catcher, would she win? You're some dickhead with SEVERE Clinton Derangement Syndrome, intent on sliming her in any way you can. You're so deep into it you can't see it. Let the hatred and envy go, dickhead. Just let it go.
DeleteAlmost left out ... would Bill Clinton have become president without her? I seriously doubt it. They were a team, as a successful marriage ought to be -- unless you're a dickhead consumed by your own dickheadedness.
DeleteYeah. She helped him a lot. Everybody loved her.
DeleteThe Right hates her, but not because she believes black people should have political representation. In other words, they hate her because they are economically anxious.
DeleteHillary Clinton's net favorability was high throughout 1992, and shot up in 1993. So yeah, people liked her. It wasn't until the press went to war on her (I believe Somerby has talked about this) with a bunch of nonsensical scandals that she became "unlikeable." She was a big asset to him, and he marketed her as such: "Two for the price of one."
DeleteReally, quit being a bitter piece of shit. You might actually end up enjoying life more.
Successful? Yes. President? Not a chance in hell. That only came from her marriage. She married into it.
DeleteThe only thing that shot up were the unctuous fluids her husband shot into every mouth and hole he could find. That's the only reason she put up with his prodigious humiliations. To get to run for president. What a team.
DeleteTurns out it was Hillary's consensual sexual relations that made the Republican Party (i.e. child rapists) hate her.
DeleteWho knew?
Don't confuse the things said about Bill Clinton by the right wing with the things he actually did and didn't do.
Delete"President - not a chance in hell." Except for the FACT she got 3M more votes than Don Von Shitzhizpantz.
Delete10:18 yeah they forget that, conveniently.
DeleteRemember idiot Trump had idiot Pompeo lead a group to find the 3M votes that were illegally cast by illegals? Pompeo was the idiot that negotiated the surrender to the Taliban.
DeleteShe had a like-ability issue. Republicans vote for someone they picture themselves having a beer with and tossing around the n-word.
ReplyDeletenonsense, no one wants to drink with Ted Cruz
DeleteNo, they don't. The "have a beer with" stuff is a media creation -- who the fuck would want to have a beer with Trump (who doesn't drink, even though he usually talks like a drunk) and listen to him brag and talk about himself the whole time, when he wasn't scoping the table for some sucker for one of his scams? They vote for people who channel their discontent, their anger, their bigotry, and most of all, their fear of a changing world that is leaving them behind.
DeleteThe world left me behind long ago.
DeleteThe old joke Al Franken told about Ted Cruz - nobody in the Senate likes Ted Cruz more than me, and I hate Ted Cruz.
DeleteThe Tate brothers are in our thoughts and prayers.
ReplyDeleteHas anyone investigated why it is the Republican Party is so amped-up to rape children?
ReplyDeleteTake away the fascism and racism of the Republican Party, and all that remains is an epidemic of child rape.
ReplyDelete