The man’s wank is unprecedented in recent memory
Joe Klein tries to make a point, but instead ends crapping his pants:
“We are the ones we’ve been waiting for,” Barack Obama said in yet another memorable election-night speech on Super-Confusing Tuesday. “We are the change that we seek.” […] The man’s use of pronouns (never I), of inspirational language and of poetic meter — “WE are the CHANGE that we SEEK” — is unprecedented in recent memory.*
Right, never I. Which is why Obama said none of the following in a February 13 speech:
…the responsibility I intend to meet as President of the United States … they won’t drown out the voices of working families when I am President … I realize that politicians come before you every election … And that is the kind of President I want to be … I didn’t spend my career in the halls of Washington, I began it in the shadow of a closed steel mill on the South Side of Chicago … Those are the voices I carried with me to the Illinois state Senate, where I brought Democrats and Republicans together … where I led the fight to provide $100 million in tax relief … They’re the voices I carried with me to Washington, where the first bill I introduced was to make college more affordable; where I fought against a bankruptcy bill that made it harder for families to climb out of debt; and where I passed the most sweeping lobbying reform in a generation … So when I talk about real change … cause of my presidency from the very first day I take office … I am certain that we can keep America’s promise … So today, I’m laying out a comprehensive agenda … A few weeks ago I offered an economic stimulus package … I proposed sending each working family … I am the only candidate in this race who’s proposed a genuine middle-class tax cut … And I won’t wait another ten years … Well I believe the reason people … and that’s what we’ll do when I am President … I know how expense [expensive?] this is. At the beginning of our marriage, Michelle and I were spending more … So I’ll create a new and fully refundable tax credit worth $4,000 … And I’ll also simplify the financial aid application process … I’ll expand the child care tax credit … and I’ll double spending on quality afterschool programs … I’ll expand the child care tax credit … I’ll institute a five-star rating system … When I first arrived in the Senate, I opposed … I know those kind of antics might make sense in Washington … When I’m President, we’ll reform our bankruptcy laws … I’ll close the loophole … And I’ll make sure … I’m proposing … I won’t stand here … But I also won’t stand here … who I’m talking to or the election I’m running in. I don’t know about a time-out, but I do know this – when I am President, I will not sign … I believe that … I know that General Motors … But I also know … And I believe … I want it to thrive right here … future I’ll fight for … And that is why I’ve paid for every element … why I’m standing here … I look forward to working and fighting to make it real[.]
Maybe Klein was thinking of this guy when it comes to abusing we and favoring inspiration over substance?
Together, we will renew America’s purpose. … we love you a lot. We’re proud of you … So tonight, we vow to our nation we will seize this moment of American promise. We will use these good times for great goals. … We will confront the hard issues … And we will extend the promise of prosperity to every forgotten corner … We have seen a steady erosion of American power … We will. … yet we do not share that gift with everyone … We will. … We have the public resources … We will. … show we have grown up before we grow old … We will. … We heard it during World War II … We heard it in the civil rights movement … we resolve to be the party … We will write not footnotes but chapters in the American story. We will add the work of our hands to the inheritance of our fathers and mothers and leave this nation greater than we found it. … We know the test of leadership. … We will strengthen … We will set it on firm financial ground … we will give you the option … We should end it. … we expect them to learn … so we will abolish the death tax … so we will reduce tax rates for everyone … we will lower the bottom rate … We will give our military … we improved our schools … We moved people from welfare to work. We strengthened our juvenile justice laws. … And we cut taxes, not only once, but twice. We accomplished a lot. … We will give low-income Americans tax credits to buy the private health insurance they need and deserve. … We will transform today’s housing rental program … we will support the heroic work of homeless shelters and hospices … We must give our children a spirit of moral courage … We must tell them … we must teach our children the values that defeat violence … we must usher in an era of responsibility.
The question is rhetorical really, but still: how dumb is Joe Klein?
* Unprecedented in memory –> I can’t bother to actually check when was the last time this happened. (But keep in mind I can’t even remember what I did last summer.)
Also he has no friggin’ clue that Obama is quoting Mahatma Gandhi.
“Be the change you seek…”
Pretty fucking dumb.
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/10/11/klein_fisa/index.html?source=search&aim=/opinion/greenwald
I dunno. His stump speeches, for me, echo Howard Dean in that “you have the power” kind of way. Hillary, who seems to think the election is about her her her, is turning people off by it.
IOW, Barack’s campaign posture is “what’s in it for us?” Hillary’s, “what’s in it for me, Hillary?” McCain’s seems to be “Who am I today?”
Screw pronouns.
“Is our children learning?”.
Parse that, bitch.
My girlfriend in high school was our valedictorian (I was salutatorian, big ups to me, etc.). And she, at the ripe old age of 17, even knew enough about the quote to use it.
Joe Klein = Fail.
Sadly, No!’s resident English teacher-cum-troll stopping by to note that “I” actually is a pronoun.
Of course, I wouldn’t expect this group of illiterati to know that.
We are not amused.
Really fukin’ dumb.
And a professional, too!
My blog has some good Klein bashing:
http://margalis.blogspot.com/search?q=klein
The first post is good for the picture if nothing else.
People, he has neither the time nor the legal background to figure out who’s right.
So just back off.
Damn interwebs.
The question should be: can we really know if Joe Klein is as dumb as we believe him to be?
In recent memory. What’s underhanded about acknowledging the fact that Obama’s knows how to say what he wants to say?
Klein on FISA is as coherent as my drunk uncle, but there’s really nothing to see here…
Sadly, No!’s resident English teacher-cum-troll stopping by to note that “I” actually is a pronoun.
Of course, I wouldn’t expect this group of illiterati to know that.
*sigh* You do realize, don’t you, Derek, that it’s Joe Klein who apparently doesn’t recognize pronouns when he sees them? Hence the link and the quote box?
Must.blogwhore.this:
1967 Star Trek Episode Holds the Key to What Hillary Must Do To Win in 2008.
The question is rhetorical really, but still: how dumb is Joe Klein?
Dumber than a sack full of hammers made of rock. The hammers, not the sack.
I like the postscript, too:
“Because of an editing error, the original version of this story distorted Joe Klein’s characterization of Howard Dean’s 2004 primary effort. A sentence in the third paragraph has been changed accordingly.”
Welp, I reread the paragraph in question, and then I poked around the archives to see what Klein had to say about Dean during the 2004 primaries, and the corrected version jibes pretty well with what he was saying way back when.
Time: We’re so crappy that Joe Klein can’t trust us to do his column justice.
You must remember that a qualification for a position like Klein’s is that your memory only reaches back a week. At most. Unless you’re talking about Al Gore in which case you can remember anything as long as it isn’t true..
At Yearly Kos last summer, I attended the Time Magazine/Swampland party with TRex. They had this big board featuring the four “bloggers” mounted (the board, not the bloggers, thank God) at the back of the restaurant, and they entreated guests to grab a pen and “tell it to our faces”. I tore a Joe Klein article out of one of the many spare Times lying around, and fashioned the page it into an origami DoDo bird, which I affixed to the board. (If you’re curious, I posted a photo here; scroll down to the end of the post.)
Anyway, that gives you a soupçon of an inkling of a notion as to what I think of Joke Line.
What kills me isn’t that Time has a hack working for them. What amazes me is that for the money they are undoubtedly paying jokeline, they couldn’t find one that can hide its ignorance and craveness better than joe. That’s a pretty sad statement if you think about it, which I would prefer not to.
I love this blog. When I’m deeply depressed and somewhat suicidal, it never fails to make me laugh. I’m pausing in knotting my noose to let you know that, and to tell you that you all possess wit I can only aspire to.
Ooops, the chair slipped.
But can’t you, despite everything he says being the opposite of true, by which I mean false, can’t you see that this is central to his point, etc.
Apologies if someone already made that point.
Um… Joe? A style note, here: if you’re emphasizing the number of times “we” is being used, that’s probably what you should capitalize. If you’re going to mix emphasized and non-emphasized words, keep it consistent; otherwise you could simply end up looking like an illiterate idiot who doesn’t read what he writes.
See that example? By simply using a different form of emphasis, the original formatting could be kept and your point would still be clear.
Just tryin’ to help!
My fondest hope is that when Joke Line finally breathes his last, he dies in a way that is both ridiculous and humiliating. Because really, bringing shame to his descendents and a smile to the face of every orphan are the only things he’s got left.