Y’all know your political movies!
Archive for January 8, 2008
It’s like some kind of tic
Giuliani has moved beyond being the “Mayor of 9/11” and of playing the 9/11 card tastelessly and often. He now simply says it over and over. I think he has 9/11 topping on his breakfast cereal.
Mentioning it—virtually randomly—in response to Hillary’s “emotionalism” today, and last week in response to his Iowa caucus loss; I mean, what is that except some kind of mental deficit?
Jesus H. Christ.
Tuesday Trivia: Political Movies
Well, y’know, New Hampshire Primaries. We have a theme going.
1. A prop campaign button from this film is on display at the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History in Washington. It is on display with several authentic campaign buttons.
Solved by Tom Hilton (comment #1).
2. “Nice thing about you, Joe, is that you can sound like a liberal, but at heart you’re an American.”
Solved by Melville (comment #10) and Barbs (comment #11).
3. “There are two kinds of people in this world: Those that enter a room and turn the television set on, and those that enter a room and turn the television set off.”
Solved by Hazel (comment #7).
4. Because the Boy Scouts of America objected to the politics of this film, the fictitious “Boy Rangers” were used.
Solved by Tom Hilton (comment #1).
5. This film about the rise and fall of a South American political figure features a scene in which a group of soldiers shower with their underwear on.
Solved by Melville (comment #6).
6. “You’re right, I did lose a million dollars last year. I expect to lose a million dollars this year. I expect to lose a million dollars next year.”
Solved by Tom Hilton (comment #1).
7. John Wayne was offered the lead in this film, but refused it in a heated letter to his agent, saying it “smears the machinery of government for no purpose of humor or enlightenment.”
Solved by Melville (comment #8).
Thoughts on the primaries
It’s galling to me that in a Democratic field that has, for the first time, a woman and an African-American and a Latino, the candidate with whom I most align on the issues is a white Southern male. But there you are.
Hillary Clinton is not my candidate, but if she wins the election, I think she’ll be a good president. Not ideal, but good. I was moved by the passion and commitment evidenced in her “display of emotion,” and being a girly girl, I’m not afraid of emotion, nor do I think that it’s inconsistent with toughness or clarity of mind.
John Edwards is my candidate, but the sexism he displayed when asked to respond to Hillary’s “emotionalism” is appalling.
I enjoy watching Keith Olberman very much, but I’m stunned at how visciously he criticized Hillary last night for daring to compare herself positively to Obama. An election is a competition, in which one person wins and others lose, is she really expected not to think she’s the best candidate for the job? Is she expected to campaign for Obama or what?
One final thing: Obama is not my candidate. Nonetheless, the little dance he did on Oprah kinda turned me on. Mea culpa.
