Just as with some infectious diseases, there are three sub-types of Clinton talking points. Type One is the regular, clearly partisan snottiness that constantly spews out of the mouths of people like Howard Wolfson and is spread by a host of surrogates with feverish eyes and fixed smiles. Type Two, self-contained, is whatever Bill Clinton happens to spout. He and his talking points are an outbreak unto themselves, and are quarantined in a weird corner of this campaign that in coming semesters will spawn a hundred poli-sci PhD theses.
Type Three is a strain of memes that infect the news media, sometimes proceeding obviously from Type One above, but other times seeming to erupt spontaneously all over the MSM and the blogosphere, like chicken pox at a day care center. No one knows who Patient Zero is, but they're all scratching the same rash.
The latest example of a Type Three infection is this notion that Barack Obama "can't close the deal." Instead of admitting that Hillary is losing the Democratic nomination, her supporters are trying to go viral with the idea that (1) because Obama hasn't yet officially won, he can't win and doesn't deserve to win and (2) because Hillary refuses to admit she's lost, only she can win and deserves to do so.
Has that got you feeling a little woozy? Is your mouth dry, your head spinning and your forehead warm? You'd better sit down; you may be catching a meme. But don't worry, I've got the cure.
Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
In this seminal retelling of the King Arthur legend, the Black Knight is a mysterious, larger-than-life figure who is undefeated in combat, and will allow no one to cross his little bridge. Kind of like Hillary, circa August '07. Which, of course, makes Barack Obama King Arthur. (Tonight, the part of Squire Patsy, Arthur's loyal coconut clopper, will be played by... ME!)
After the Iowa caucus lopped off Hillary's left arm, Obama said, "Now stand aside, worthy adversary." "'Tis but a scratch," scoffed Hillary.
After some back and forth clanging, Obama proceeded to dominate Hillary throughout the month of February, effortlessly parrying her hackery, then slicing off her sword arm. But as Obama knelt to claim victory, Hillary kicked him in the saddle-side and refused to stand down. "Have at you!"
When told that she had no arms, she claimed she did. When the hacked up remains of her campaign were pointed out to her, she responded with that classic bon mot of lunatic élan "Just a flesh wound."
As time has marched on, the steady move of superdelegates to Obama and the expensive but ineffectual victories in states like Ohio and now Pennsylvania became the pledged delegate equivalent of having her legs hacked out from underneath her, one at a time. All the while, Clinton trilling, "I'm invincible! The Black Knight always triumphs. Have at you then!"
And as Obama clops off after having clinched the delegate count last night, she squats on the field of battle, hemorrhaging cash from four stumps with no fresh infusion in sight, insisting that the fight to this point is a draw.
Insisting that King Arthur is unable to "close the deal."
Image: HuffPo Commenter Sunwolf78
http://www.imgsync.com/view/img/3714467hillary_black_knight.jpg
Thanks,
Chip
I believe that the Clinton's have every right to play their hand and say something stupid.
They've forgotten the principle that in order to be admired you have to consistently behave admirably.
The way I see it, the nomination was Clinton’s to lose and by not ‘closing the deal’ up front – she has lost. I sure wish just one of you in the media would ask and answer that question instead of spending every minute looking for failure in Obama.
(Remember the movie The Bad News Bears and the word ASSUME? ass/U/me)
Hillary *does* kick ass, you must admit.
With grammar, the devil is in the details, as it is with Hillary's "victory". To hear her speak, she "can not only win" but "is winning" by whatever the metric of the day is. Problem is, this isn't supported with fact.