Posted on 05/29/2008 3:44:55 PM PDT by governsleastgovernsbest
"I'm not fit to be a Senator. I'm not fit to live. Expel me! Expel me! Not him. Every word that boy said is the truth! Every word about Taylor and me and graft and the rotten political corruption of our state. Every word of it is true. I'm not fit for office! I'm not fit for any place of honor or trust. Expel me!"—Claude Rains as the corrupt Sen. Joseph Paine in "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"
Chris Matthews has broken out a Jimmy Stewart/Mr. Smith Goes to Washington analogy to praise Scott McClellan's book and assess its impact. Here's how the Hardball host put it on this afternoon's show:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: When you read the book, it reads like Claude Rains in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. You know: "everything the guy says is true." I mean, he [McClellan] is admitting that the other guy, the good guy's, right—I mean, if that's your perspective.
View video here.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsbusters.org ...
Bush is too loyal. McClellan was an old friend from Texas and that’s why he had the job and why Bush kept him on even when it was clear he couldn’t handle it.
Bush has not been served well by his employees. Nearly all of his former staff have written books critical of his governing style and how he handled the the War on Terrorism and the Iraq war.
It is kind of tragic that Bush is so loyal to his followers and is met with nothing but criticism and treachery in return.
***It is kind of tragic that Bush is so loyal to his followers and is met with nothing but criticism and treachery in return.***
I tried to make the same point on an earlier thread and was confronted with the departures of Rummy, Ashcroft & Colin Powell.
Pres.Bush had the misfortune of hiring megalomaniacs who were intellectually superior to him or useless morons who thought they were.
Excuse me, but that's a subplot. It's a Wonderful life is about how important it is to do the right things in life, although at times that's the last thing you want to do. It's about loyalty and it's about friendship. It has very, very little to do with BIG BUSINESS. That's just a device. Sorry that's how you see it. IAWL is my favorite movie of all time. It's a very spiritual movie.
It may be time to conclude, that Bush’s heart may be in the right place - but that he may have been as dumb as some folks said he was..
Fortunately - he had the right instincts to go after militant Islamists with our military.
Unfortunately he didn’t go for the jugular....
He seemed satisfied to simply kick them in the shins.....
At the very least, he should have kicked them somewhat higher, in their goat abusing genitals.
In other words, they lie.
My point was that nearly all Capra’s movies have a bias in favor of socialism. Lionel Barrymore is the evil big businessman banker (private enterprise), while Jimmy Stewart heads the socialistic cooperative savings and loan.
The story revolves around Barrymore’s evil deed in stealing the deposit. That is what precipitates Stewart’s suicide attempt. When he sees what the town would be like without him, the town is named Potterville (after Barrymore’s character) and full of sleaze, prostitution, etc.
I am not saying it’s not a good movie or that it is wrong to enjoy it. What I am saying is that you should not miss the socialistic propaganda contained in the film, as it is in most of Frank Capra’s films.
Its called having everyone sign a confidentiality clause until he left office . Other Presidents have done it. Harriet Miers strikes again.
i got a kick out of scott’s complaint that bush used “propaganda”!
what’s scott think that stuff he watches on the tv is?
Maybe we need an Official Secrets Act like they have in Britain.
How does this stack up against Matthews’s and the MSM’s take on Gary Aldrich’s book? Trashed and done with in basically one day.
I swear, Miz Scarlett, this Chrissie better be checked out for Restless Leg Syndrome right soon!
Leni
As I said on another thread, the film that comes to mind when I look at
45 percent body fat McClellan is the scene in Stand by Me were Fat Ass gets his revenge.
He is a Total Barf a Rama http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4DZDNI-f3s
It is true that the main theme is a positive and poignant one — that our lives have transcendent meaning.
But, the message of the subplot that the little guy must battle against evil big business which is trying to wreck out lives is the one that slips into the subconscious of the audience unexamined.
I think that unstated messages that are not obvious but highly emotive often have the most persuasive power. The communist did this in their propaganda films all of the time.
So, it was a great movie, but we have to over look the Marxist subliminal-isms.
SIGH.....
SIGH.....
Scott McClellan worked in Texas as a chief of staff for a state Senator. Now, that might not sound like much of a job, but the Senator, Senator Haywood, had Parkinson’s and needed LOTS of help. Scott and the rest of the staff did most of the work, including writing bills, running the district office and attending meetings and functions, including tea at the govenor’s mansion with Bush. The senator died and I think that Scott just worked for the Bush campaign after that, maybe he worked for Bush while he was govenor. They go back aways, though. People that knew him thought that he was a nice guy, a little nerdy, but nice. They thought that he loved what he did but were surprised when Bush made him the press secretary. He definitely was beyond his Peter Principle.
“Nice guys” have their place....
They do NOT belong as spokeperson for the President in time of war.
Serious men or women are required when the task requires a serious QUALIFIED, PROVEN and DEVOTED individual...
You reward “nice guys” with nice guy jobs - like valet, bag carrier, appointment secretary, food taster, etc, etc.....
Bush displayed his contempt for his responsibilities by pushing forward SEVERAL morons he appointed or attempted to have appointed.
These missteps by Bush and his staff have hurt him the party and the country...
I’m close to concluding that President Bush may be as stupid as some claim him to be....
You have made several good points.
May I just add the possibility that Pres.Bush judged others by his own sense of honor, his military peers and those of his father. If he ever wised up to the numbskulls that flocked to his Governorship & Presidency and failed to act -then that is not the kick-*ss quality we need in a POTUS.
I think McCain has it....now that’s a kick-*sser!
The problem with McCain -- he has a propensity to champion the wrong causes and kicking the wrong ass...
Can you name a SINGLE Leftist ass he has kicked?
Having problems with that task?
So did I...
But I remember DISTINCTLY his championing of that phony traitor John Kerry and McCain ATTACKED the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth -- for simply TELLING THE TRUTH...
McCain also attacked my 1st Amendment rights..
McCain also attacked the value of my citizenship, by pushing HARD for total amnesty for illegal aliens and an open border..
McCain may have some values - but picking friends, picking issues and kicking the proper ass is NOT among them.
I suspect his ancestral DNA coding within his being -- accounts more for his "promise" to pursue the war against militant Islamists has more to do with his position that any heartfelt commitment.
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