Letters to the Editor
Mike LeP
Published Letters: 402 Editor's Choice: 6
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I'll admit it Pounce
[Read the article: Democrats, put down your swords]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Had Clinton won the nomination fair-and-square, I'd have considered voting for her in the fall but my vote would not be a lock. At some point in the primary it became clear that Clinton could only win by gaming the system and I decided I couldn't vote for her under any circumstances. Had she taken the MI/FL fight to the credentials committee and somehow managed to wrest the nomination away from Obama, I'd have voted 3rd party.
I'll tell you one thing though: Had Hillary won, I wouldn't be here at Salon day after day "threatening" to leave the party if she didn't smooch my ass.
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Thanks for the review
[Read the article: "Mother of Tears: The Third Mother"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Reviews have been mixed, but I'll be seeing Mother of Tears this weekend anyway, mainly out of nostalgia for Argento's earlier pictures.
I read an interesting quote about Argento that I think is particularly true: The things that make his films bad are usually the same things that make them entertaining. ALL of his films, even the legitimately good ones, feature wooden acting, eye-rolling dialogue and plots that don't make a lick of sense. At his best (Phenomena is my personal favorite) his films are incredibly stylish and achieve a sort of dream logic that defies conventional criticism. At their worst (most everything since the 80s) they're pointless exercises in violent misogyny, indistinguishable from any direct-to-DVD horror movie. You either get it or you don't.
BTW, most of his later movies are shite but I really liked The Stendhal Syndrome (1996), also starring Asia Argento - it's worth checking out for fans of his other work.
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Thoughts on dealing with unhinged supporters
[Read the article: Democrats, put down your swords]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The overwhelming majority of these people are committed Democrats who are going to take a clear-eyed look at the alternative in this race and vote for Obama in the fall, even if they need to hold their noses to do so. This is the same in every election and the only difference this time is the closeness of the primary and the fact that gender and race (and to a lesser extent, age) has come to the foreground.
Some Hillary Clinton supporters can be wooed. Come the fall, I'm going to be knocking on doors around my neighborhood, trying to get folks registered and to hopefuly vote for Obama. I'm hoping that will be a productive endeavor. Quibbling with people online will not. Right now it is really on Obama to be exceptionally gracious, show his opponent and her supporters the utmost respect, and focus on those issues important to Clinton's key demographics. Obama has started the process but it's going to take a while - three days is not a lot of time to pivot. Give it a few weeks and I expect things around here will be a lot less heated.
There is a subset of Clinton supporters on Salon, a very vocal but equally small minority, who swear up and down there's no way they're going to vote for Obama. These folks will pretend there's something he can do to win them over. Like Joan, they'll concoct ridiculous concessions he could make to prove himself to them. For example, sitting down for lunch with an unhinged bigot like Ferraro.
Don't believe the hype. The vast majority of these people - the ones who are not Republicans - are beyond reason. They will pretend to be on the fence. Some will create flaming rings Obama could jump through to woo them over. But deep down, there's just nothing he could do to satisfy these folks and I'd caution against trying.
When it comes to dealing with the unhinged Clinton supporters, I suggest following Hillary's advice: Do not engage in negotiations with unreasonable people who want to use you for propaganda purposes.
Peace
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Hillary did everything she needed to do
[Read the article: Clinton endorses Obama]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Hillary Clinton acknowledged the historic nature of her run, commented on the issues that drove her candidacy and threw her support behind the candidate most likely to champion those values, Barrack Obama.
My only issue with the way Clinton concluded her candidacy was her speech on Tuesday night. I'm sorry Joan: When your primary opponent has cleared the number of delegates necessary to win, it's in bad form to hold a rally where your campaign manager introduces you as "The next President of the United States." She failed to acknowledge Obama's win on Tuesday and it came across as tawdry.
Still, I have no issues with Clinton's speech from yesterday. Clinton had a lot of strengths as a candidate and had she stuck to the populist policy wonk persona from the beginning there's a good chance she'd be the candidate. That didn't happen, but she's still an important party figure and we're all lucky for her support.
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I hate these kind of carefully parsed non-"apologies"
[Read the article: Quote of the day]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The type that put all the responsibility on those who interpret a comment in the way it was clearly intended, or at least the way any reasonable person would receive it. Hill knew exactly what she was doing and her half-baked "apology" is far more offensive than the original comments. But I've got to laugh at FOX News for firing Hill - all she did was distribute the same propaganda as every other "journalist" on that station in a slightly more hamfisted and unintentionally funnier way.
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Bush's problem
[Read the article: Bush says he regrets tone on Iraq]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I honestly don't think Bush is an evil man. Although I believe the effort to deceive the public was deliberate, I also think Bush believed Saddam had WMDs (even if we had no hard evidence to that effect) and that he'd be vindicated in the end. Bush's big problems are his sense of infallability - such a bedrock believe in his own goodness that he can't acknowledge his own mistakes. That, and the fact that he's just a very ordinary guy of few real talents who somehow found himself in this leadership role during extraordinary times. The guy just wasn't up to it, and for many years now I've felt like this country is a rudderless ship.