Norma Rae...Or Norma Desmond?

Last night, Hillary Clinton suffered not one but two electoral indignities. First, she lost the North Carolina primary to Barack Obama by a whopping 14 points. Then, after midnight Eastern Time, came the bad news from Indiana: she had won, but barely. She kept Obama at bay by only 2 points.

Any way you slice it, it's not good news for the Junior Senator from New York.

Losing, of course, is a mere inconvenience for the Clintons. It was reported last week that Bill reminds her every day---lest she forget---that "we're not quitters."

There is nothing in the Clintonian psychology to suggest quitting. There is only defiance, and a disregard of reality. Those two inner motivations have produced astonishing success for them over the past 20 years. But all things come to an end, and the defiance and disregard of reality now look less like unbeatable ambition and more like psychopathology.

Hillary has spent her entire adult life as Norma Rae: the fighter who defies authority and the naysayers by muscling her way to the top and doing what she needed to do to stay there.

She has now become Norma Desmond: a sad facsimile of her former self, who has everyone around her so terrified that nobody is willing to tell her the truth---that the show is over, the career is over, and that she ought to go gently into that good night.

She won't, of course, because in her mind, she's still Norma Rae. But Norma Desmond is shadowing her, emerging now and again, telling anyone who will listen that she's ready for her close-up.

Comments

[FredK2929]

Her presidential campaign may be nearing its end (unfortunately for us Democrats, who, I believe, have a loser with Barack Obama), but Hillary Clinton's career is not at an end. She's still a U.S. Senator, and can probably keep that job for many, many years to come.

[J. Pierpont Finch]

No, More,

HANGERSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!

[FredK2929]

That's "Mommie Dearest".

[Truther]

Yes, I agree - trade is the answer, and it would've worked in Afghanistan. Perhaps it still will.

[Truther]

The detachment of colonial trade, due to uprisings, etc., did complicate the political situation leading up to WWI in Europe, though. Excess European population normally supported by foreign trade in Germany, England, and France were left unsupported. As I recall from my history, Shanghai was involved in starting this. So it is possible for trade in end in a war, not so?

Various colonial groups connected to the Roman Empire also rebelled, invading Rome several times. Many of these nouveau Roman citizens were responsible for its protection and demise. So colonial trade can be dangerous to the mother country, if not carried out correctly.

[Truther]

Wasn't the US civil war, also caused by trade?

[Truther]

Weren't the Indian wars started with a bead trade in Manhatten?

[Truther]

I believe the US has remained largely isolationist because of it resources, and self-reliance. We have been free of war, except that of our choosing.

[Truther]

I saw the Delft china warehouse where the boats were dragged through the canal there, and then china distributed by rail. It must have been lucrative while it lasted, and then it was followed by poetry and trench warfare. After the war, they changed the warehouse into a factory and called their pottery china, but it was far inferior, a vestige of an earlier era.

[SteveOk]

For Hillary her Norma Rae act is nothing more than a schtick. She really doesn't care anything about the little people she just supports every social program known to mankind as a way of getting the Democratic nomination.

A better example of Norma Desmond is Bill Clinton. He doesn't care about anything but keeping his mug in front of the camera and spewing out his 2 cents worth.

It was interesting that George McGovern staggered out today from the home and endorsed Obama and advised Hillary to get out of the race. I'm sure that will make her give up the race.

I hope she stays in the race all the way to the Convention because John McCain is loving this circus.

[Michael Avari]

Truther,

There have no doubt been wars over trade. One might argue that the modern series of Western wars in the Middle East are partly about protection of an oil supply. This is not inherently a criticism, except in the case when it is not acknowledged honestly. Similar examples are found in history, as I believe you are pointing out.

Von Mises, and the classical liberal school of economics (the conservative school today), believe that free trade and interdependence among nations is a deterrence to conflict. Which begs the question: why are some Conservatives, like Buchanan, advocating a return to isolationism? [I like Pat, but diagree with him on this point.] Trade cannot prevent or stop a war, but just makes it unlikely—theoretically—to the extent the putative belligerents depend on each other. It is unlikely, for example, that one would see another world war within the Euro zone. We are doing a lot of business with the Middle East as reported in The Wall Street Journal this week, which could make war with moderate Arab states more unlikely … I am speaking in probabilities not absolutes, I grant you. Before Gringoman and UG get on my case, this does not mean we should let up on pursuing and destroying the real enemy, Al Qaeda and terrorists in general. I believe free trade could be an end game solution to illegal immigration: ultimately would be illegals need a reason to stay in their own countries to enjoy political and economic freedom in a more familiar culture.

Here is what von Mises said on this matter:

"Only one thing can conquer war--the liberal attitude of mind which can see nothing in war but destruction and annihilation, and which can never wish to bring about a war, because it regards war as injurious even to the victors.” [quoted by Richard Ebeling, “Can Free Trade Really Prevent War?”, mises.org, 18 March 2002]

Regards,

[M/M]

In case you missed this...

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/05/feds-arrest-ill.html

[M/M]

This poster encourages forwarding the following 14 points on the cost of our existing illegal immigration policy. I am splitting it up because I can't post the entire 14 points.

Bren wrote: 5h 20m ago
US citizens/tax payers are paying OVER $300 billion a year for NUMEROUS expenses for illegals!!!!

I hope the following 14 reasons are forwarded over and over again until they are read so many times that the reader gets sick of reading them. I have included the URL's for verification of the following facts:

1. $11 Billion to $22 billion is spent on welfare to illegal aliens each year. http://tinyurl.com/zob77

2. $2.2 Billion dollars a year is spent on food assistance programs such as food stamps, WIC, and free school lunches for illegal aliens. http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

3. $2.5 Billion dollars a year is spent on Medicaid for illegal aliens. http://www.cis.org/articles/2004/fiscalexec.html

[M/M]

Continued from above:

4. $12 Billion dollars a year is spent on primary and secondary school education for children here illegally and they cannot speak a word of English! http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/l dt.0.html

5. $17 Billion dollars a year is spent for education for the American-born children of illegal aliens, known as anchor babies. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/l dt.01.html

6. $3 Million Dollars a DAY is spent to incarcerate illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/l dt.01.html

[M/M]

Continued from above:

7. 30% percent of all Federal Prison inmates are illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/l dt.01.html

8. $90 Billion Dollars a year is spent on illegal aliens for Welfare and Social Services by the American taxpayers. http://premium.cnn.com/TRANSCIPTS/0610/29/ldt.01 .html

9. $200 Billion Dollars a year in suppressed American wages are caused by the illegal aliens. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0604/01/l dt.01.html

[M/M]

Continued from above:

10. The illegal aliens in the United States have a crime rate that's two-and-a-half times that of white non-illegal aliens. In particular, their children, are going to make a huge additional crime problem in the US. http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/12/l dt.01.html

11. During the year of 2005 there were 4 to 10 MILLION illegal aliens that crossed our Southern Border also, as many as 19,500 illegal aliens from Terrorist Countries. Millions of pounds of drugs, cocaine, meth, heroin and marijuana, crossed into the U. S from the Southern border. Homeland Security Report. http://tinyurl.com/t9sht

[M/M]

Continued from above:

12. The National Policy Institute, "estimated that the total cost of mass deportation would be between $206 and $230 billion or an average cost of between $41 and $46 billion annually over a five year period." http://www.nationalpolicyinstitute.org/pdf/depor tation.pdf

13. In 2006 illegal aliens sent home $45 BILLION in remittances back to their countries of origin. http://www.rense.com/general75/niht.htm

14. "The Dark Side of Illegal Immigration: Nearly One Million Sex Crimes Committed by Illegal Immigrants In The United States". http://www.drdsk.com/articleshtml

Total cost is a whooping... $338.3 BILLION A YEAR!!!

http://www.rense.com/general79/seniors.htm

[FredK2929]

And now tell us how much the war in Iraq has cost.

[M/M]

Fred,

Don't blame me for the war in Iraq. Based on the news stories reported on FOX, I was opposed to the war in Iraq. In fact, unlike many members of Congress who voted for the war, I was actually protesting the war in hopes that our elected officials could see how many votes they would lose by voting for it. Where was everyone else? What did YOU do to opose the war?

I know people close to me who are in Iraq. There is a young woman who volunteered to serve. She and her husband, who is also serving in Iraq, had two children while serving our country. Her sister is also married to an active duty soldier and she started her own family far from home while her husband served in Iraq.

After hearing Reverend Wright spit on our troops and our veterans and after examining our current immigration policy, I say "BRING THEM HOME NOW".

[FredK2929]

M/M --

I don't know where you got the idea that I blamed you for the war. I blame Bush, and the people who gave him authorization to go to war when the evidence did not support the need to go.

I am, unfortunately, powerless, but I did vote against Bush twice.

I don't mean to attack you. You are one of the conservatives on this blog who actually seem reasonable, along with Michael. You are beter than the Ummah Gummah (Allah Schmallah)/Finch/Gringoman/Ree group.

I merely suggest that if you are going to give us a list of how our money is being wasted on one issue, let's see how it's being wasted on others. The war in Iraq offends me more than anything because we are spending money and lives based on lies, we destroyed a country, and we did what Bush said he was totally against: "nation-building".

[Ree]

The Imus Radiothon going on today MAY 8th & 9th

http://imustimes.wordpress.com/2008/05/07/radiothon-update-imus-keeps-his-job/

[Ummah Gummah]

hey Fred FYI.. I, too am against nation-building and I, too want our troops out of there.

This war is being milked by these phony "CONtractors" at the expense of Americna lives - I'll be honest I really don't care about terrorist lives - and taxpayers' sweat and toil.

Moslems do not want democracy. When you give them the vote they vote for islam and then even more islam.

It's been this way ever since. Only militaries cna keep them from going islamic all the way.

Who does Bush think he's kidding that they will turn into good citizens of the world all of a sudden?!

I say it's good if Shyte fight against Sunnies.

Better for us to stand aside and sell arms to both sides.. but just enough so they can keep killing each other.

Maybe one day they will wake up on their own and want an end to their violence.

We cannot instill this wish in them.

[M/M]

Fred,

The liberals are driving me insane. I'm so tired of the "hate Americans" spitting on us. Reverend Wright and Michelle Obama were given so many opportunities, yet they don't feel the same sense of gratitude that many of us feel just by being American citizens. They prefer to play "the eternal victim card".

On Monica's radio show last Saturday, she spoke of a cab driver she met from Chad who told her how he escaped "persecution and slaughter" by moving here. Unlike Reverend Wright, he looked at this country positively, with an "eternal sense of gratitude" that many many of us share.

One of the problems many of us have with our current immigration policy is that we are expanding our welfare state with people who are not even loyal to this country. We want an immigration policy where we are bringing in people who will make contributions to this country, not add to our tax burden. The point of the list that I posted is to show the BILLIONS of dollars we are spending on this "broken policy" while loyal Americans suffer. Why, for example, can't we use that money to help the soldiers who return from Iraq and Afghanistan with brain injuries or other problems? What about our infrastructure? Remember the Minneapolis bridge collapse? How many other bridges in this country need repair and how much does it cost to repair them?

I'm not certain that we should pull out of Iraq just yet. Michael Savage was interviewing several guests about the situation in Iraq yesterday, and it does seem to be improving. One guest, Michael Yon, a reporter who was embedded with the troops for several years, discussed his book MOMENT OF TRUTH IN IRAQ, and how the American soldier is winning the war by "winning the hearts and minds" of Iraqis.

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Moment-of-Truth-in-Iraq/Michael-Yon/e/9780980076325/?itm=1

[FredK2929]

The American soldier winning the hearts and minds of Iraqis? Give me a break.

[M/M]

Fred,

As I was leaving work today, I overhead some younger guys saying THEY COULD NOT IMAGINE going overseas in 200 degree heat, doing what our soliers do. Here is what one mother says the book "Moment of Truth":

"Moment of Truth in Iraq Book
35 Monday, 05 May 2008 11:40
JC
I purchased two (2) of these books, one for my son who is Navy Spec Ops and one for myself. Michaels honest assessment of what is happening has been relayed to me over and over again by my son and my nephew (FAST Co. Marine) and it is refreshing to read more positive news about our military (and political) progress in this effort. The people on the ground do believe in this mission and their accomplishments...thanks for your effort and your support of those people who are there to do what is right.

Awesome book and great writing... THIS is what we should be reading about our military, versus the garbage that we see/hear from politicians and pundits."

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=765:test&catid=65:moment-of-truth&Itemid=118

[M/M]

OUR TROOPS DESERVE NOTHING LESS THAN OUR RESPECT AND SUPPORT! THEY CERTAINLY INSPIRE ME!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezu7QzY1f80

Sgt Merlin German certainly inspired many as he struggled to recover from the burns that covered 97% of his body.

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jxy5vxmpYOxiVBG3yuMlW_Se924gD90DGNIO0

This is the charity he started for child burn victims.
http://www.merlinsmiracles.com/