The Big Dog and the Big Lie

Virtually unnoticed by the various subliterate pundits was the terrific resemblance Bill Clinton’s speech bore to Abraham Lincoln’s “Cooper Uni0n” speech, also known as “the speech that made Lincoln president.”

Contemporaneous snark on Lincoln

One would, of course, expect that, as the “legitimate” pundits vie, standing toe to toe with the hatey bloggers, to see who can come up with the greatest non-sequitur, the most tangential take, the most idiotic analysis. And, while no winner has yet been clearly determined, props must go to all for their working demonstration as to WHY the American educational system needs serious fixing.

Jennifer Rubin at the Wash(ed up)ingt0n Post belches great crocodile tears, because President Clinton made her sad, what with all those facts and all, in a magnum (as in cheap champagne) opus entitled: Bill Clinton’s long, long speech about the meanie Republicans.

Seriously, Madam, do you believe this petulant childishness befits ANY writing professional? Or are you just another “entitled” Republican operative whining about “entitlements”? Get a grip before you go to gripe.

While “fact checkers” whine:

Our Clinton Nightmare
Brooks Jackson / FactCheck.org:

—  CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Former President Bill Clinton’s stem-winding nomination speech was a fact-checker’s nightmare: lots of effort required to run down his many statistics and factual claims, producing little for us to write about.  —  Republicans will find plenty of Clinton’s scorching opinions objectionable.

Ooh, fact checking is a nightmare when presented with facts? More likely the author erred in their vocational choice. I’m sure there’s a good junior college nearby in which Mr/Ms Jackson could be retrained in something more befitting their talents, like bakery management, or interior design.

And, as they snivel and parse, surprise! Clinton got his facts right.

What has our media come to that fact checkers pule and whimper because a politician used verifiable facts? I guess they just got lazy. Still, it is a complaint so monstrous and infantile that whoever came up with the notion is, and of a right ought to be, the poster child for WHY abortions are ofttimes a good idea. No: there is no charity in my soul for this. When you set yourself up as the “fact check” organization of first resort in politics, whining that checking a lot of facts is a nightmare is an indication of just how unqualified you are to hold said position.

Various imbeciles, droolers and haters jump on the bandwagon, or complain how “long” it was, snark reflexively at a president they NEVER gave a chance or an even break to, and not an iota of it is worthy of a nanosecond of time from any sentient human being.

This ain’t “Dancing with the Stars,” ADD-afflicted. It’s our COUNTRY. Oh never mind.

AP even decided to make Monica Lewinsky the focal point of their “factual analysis.”

Well played, Satan’s minions.

It was the best single speech I’ve seen Bill Clinton make, and I’ve seen a lot of them. It reminded me of something, but it took a couple of hours to recall.

1858

Oh yes, the Cooper Union speech, which Abraham Lincoln gave in New York City in a hall still standing, still being used for speeches and similar events.

In that speech, Lincoln divides it neatly into two parts, WHY it is permissible for the Federal government and states to limit slavery to where it exists, based on the writings and the votes of the framers of the Constitution; and following with WHY the Southerners refuse cooperation, conciliation or compromise on the question of slavery.

It is eloquent, moving and exquisitely rational. It develops points, frames arguments, considers the evidence and makes a powerful case in simple — but not simplistic — terms.

Bill Clinton’s speech was very much a parallel. It’s really too bad that we don’t teach this kind of rhetoric anymore.

Because, even did we never individually aspire to it, certainly today’s blog and media traffic would look far more like something that befits a great republic and much less like something that would shame a kindergarten playground.

And it is shameful that so many morons would spew so much idiocy in such an idiotic and uneducated manner, all the while seemingly polishing their gilt-framed diplomas, lest anyone see just how fly-specked their sheepskins actually are.

The Founders would be ashamed of our “free press,” to have descended into such an assinine rabble.

The big lie? That any of them are actually talking about the reasoned case that President Clinton made last night. Instead of lawyerly debate, we have a nation of analysts whose highest aspirational model is, from the evidence, the shyster.

(Doctor is to quack as lawyer is to shyster.)

The big lie is that any of these buffoons are qualified to write, let alone be worthy of our attention in any serious manner. GIGO, as they say.

Here is Lincoln’s Cooper Union speech, courtesy of the National Park Service, AND your tax dollars at work.

They were well spent. Read it and you’ll agree. And note the clear parallels in construction and argument between Lincoln’s partisan speech and Clinton’s partisan speech. Not all that partisan when you think about it. (Here’s a complete transcript of Clinton’s speech, via CBS)

Or watch the speech, recreated in Cooper Union by Sam Waterston (whom you might have recently seen on HBO’s The Newsroom)

Video: Cooper Union reenactment

Or continue rolling those spitballs, blithely oblivious to the fact that if Clint0n’s speech was so “awful” and “long” and “brutish” then why are the Right Wing Stooges who manipulate and attempt to control all media discussion so universally up in arms? Or, as Mr. Clinton noted, “it takes some brass.”

Great speech. Stupid pundits. The Washington Press corpse has seldom looked this pallid.

Snarklolepsy rules within the Beltway

And analyzed with all the rigor of mortis.

Courage.

About these ads