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View Full Version : Camille Paglia for Kerry


trumptman
10-30-2004, 10:58 AM
Camille speaks (http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2004/10/30/paglia/)

Obviously she is endorsing the person I am not for president. However I have always enjoyed what she says and how she says it even if I don't always agree with it. She's got lots of good and bad in here for both sides and I considered her a very worthy read. Sorry I don't have a link that doesn't require watching an ad, but them's the breaks.

Couple good quotes...

And for Kerry to glibly invoke Mary Cheney as the archetypal lesbian in a nature-vs.-nurture dispute when he had other ready examples on his political side -- Dick Gephardt's daughter or Barney Frank -- just makes the whole thing look obviously calculating. And then the idiocy of that as a tactic at the climactic third debate -- in the following days, instead of all the media attention being focused on Bush's failings, air space was sucked up by this dopey soap opera.

And as a lesbian, I strongly object to the Democrats' amoral use of sexual orientation as a wedge issue. The Democrats are supposed to be pro-gay, and yet they're using an assertion of gayness to unsettle the Evangelical followers of the Republicans. They're deliberately fomenting and reinforcing hostility to gays! What the hell's the matter with the Democratic consultants? I'd like to kick their asses up and down the Eastern seaboard for this Mickey Mouse episode.

Who does she credit for the energetic Republican base? Michael Moore..

But for Moore to turn a sitting president of the United States into a joke, and to use his position abroad to foment anti-Americanism, has had a huge backlash: the massive, indulgent publicity about the Moore film was when the Republican passion for Bush really began -- the passion to defend him, fed by a longstanding scorn for the liberal major media and for Hollywood. That's when everything seemed to gel for Bush, who had alienated conservatives with his big spending and slack immigration policy.

On talk-show call-ins, I started to hear real love for Bush, a protective desire to defend him against the smug liberal hyenas. It was a pivotal moment in the campaign. And the righteous fury of the Bush crusaders started to sway the undecideds. For months on Rush Limbaugh or Sean Hannity or other conservative radio shows, I really didn't hear such great enthusiasm for Bush. But then all of a sudden, there was a turning point. I remember sitting in my car in April listening to Hannity -- who has become a major force in American politics and whose talents as a broadcaster just keep getting better and better (though I'm always wishing he had more respect for other cultures and a broader understanding of our place in the world). He was talking slowly and thoughtfully after hanging up with a like-minded caller, and I got really alarmed. I said to myself, wow, here it is. It was a whole, comprehensive geopolitical picture: the only way we can win the war against terror is to take the fight to the terrorists abroad, America must be a beacon to the world. America has a divine mission to bring liberty to the world. It was a view of destiny that had a staggering clarity and simplicity.

Now if the Democratic consultants had any brains, they would have viewed all this as an important system of ideas that needed to be logically addressed, instead of just sneering at it. This is a war of ideas! But too many Democrats rely on a juvenile Al Franken level of discourse -- sneer, sneer, sneer at the benighted ones. We are all so superior in our little elite enclaves. So even if Kerry wins the election, the Democrats have lost this war of ideas.

Give it a read...

Nick

bunge
10-30-2004, 11:19 AM
1) I think the whole Cheney lesbian thing was brought up by the moderator of the VP debate. Actually, it was originally politicized by the Bush campaign many times prior to the debates and it was left alone by the Dems, but the VP debate made it an issue both sides could talk about. When it backfired, Kerry shut up about it. No big deal.

2) Bush fans have been pretty vocal for 4 years. I really don't think Moore's film had much of an effect on them. They already were pretty indignant. And while it may have bumped them up a notch, it bumped the Democratic base up even more. So I think the end result will be more democratic votes net.

The campaign machine and their talking points would have coincided with the April timeline she gives. Moore's film certainly wouldn't make the republican base more coherent.

pfflam
10-30-2004, 12:58 PM
Paglia Rocks!

remember what she said before the war . . . she made note of the Space Challenger explosion and said that it was an omen for the way that the war would proceed . . . . she may be a bit nuts, but she was right.

Aries 1B
10-30-2004, 03:25 PM
Originally posted by pfflam
Paglia Rocks!

remember what she said before the war . . . she made note of the Space Challenger explosion and said that it was an omen for the way that the war would proceed . . . . she may be a bit nuts, but she was right.

Challenger?

Yes, she's a genius, but she's also graced with the ability to see from 1986 to the very recent past too? I had no idea! Wow!

Aries 1B

pfflam
10-30-2004, 05:00 PM
Originally posted by Aries 1B
Challenger?

Yes, she's a genius, but she's also graced with the ability to see from 1986 to the very recent past too? I had no idea! Wow!

Aries 1B well . . . . you know what I meant

trumptman
10-30-2004, 05:21 PM
Originally posted by Aries 1B
Challenger?

Yes, she's a genius, but she's also graced with the ability to see from 1986 to the very recent past too? I had no idea! Wow!

Aries 1B

I think he meant Columbia.

Nick