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
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I'd like to offer an illustration to go with this post. Check it out:
http://www.imgsync.com/view/img/3714467hillary_black_knight.jpg
Dude, that was brilliant! We've added it to the story above, so e-mail all your friends w/ the link!
Thanks,
Chip
Perfect analogy, except that she is soaking her donors now to pay all her friends...if she were a company producing a product, not only would she be backrupt, she would be facing a pretty large fraudulent transactions class-action....
Hillary wears blue contacts. This is sad. She should be herself. She's out there yelling, trying to emulate a masculine leadership model and doesn't realized that she has already been bested. It's funny to me that all her supporters somehow can't see the beauty of the spoken word from Obama but can denigrate bush for his oratory deficiency. Meanwhile Hill sounds shrill. You can say I'm a reactionary obamaton. I view myself as a patient black man living in america who, in an ironic twist, is more than willing to give someone more than enough rope with which to hang themselves.
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.
It's more that she would sacrifice her family to save herself. Hillary puts herself before her own party and would put her own needs before those of the country.
The MSM is repeating this meme and, in the process, showing how they're really just stenographers who get fed talking points from the various campaigns. This morning, the question asked by every talking head was "Why can't Obama close the deal with voters?" They ask this question like they were surprised that Obama lost in PA. Of course, these were the same people who've been saying for weeks that he would he lose. They like to frame the debate in new ways or else they'll be having the same discussions over and over and viewers will tune out. For weeks, the MSM was being criticized for saying that Hillary had no chance of winning the nomination. But secretly, they're happy this thing is continuing. They can hype Tuesday May 6th as another major event that could possibly end Hillary's candidacy. But behind closed doors, they want her to win Indiana but not North Carolina. That way, this thing can go all the way to the convention. A brokered convention is what the MSM really wants. They want the huge ratings that it would bring. And if the superdelegates did give the nomination to Hillary and their was a huge riot, the MSM would be celebrating.
Why can't Hillary Clinton close the deal with the voters? Why can't Hillary Clinton get the popular Vote? Why can't Hillary Clinton get more delegates than Obama? Why can't she close the deal with the states? Why can't she pay her campagne Bills? Why can't she run a possitive campag ne? Why couldn't clinton close the deal feb. 5th? Why are the clintons going to court april 25th in Los Angelos? Why does she associate herself with the occult group called "The Family".? Why couldn't Hillary keep her 26% lead in pennsylvania she had before obama started campagneing and taking away 17% of that lead away from her? It seems to me these are the questions that should be asked of Hillary! WHY? Because she ask similiar questions knowing full well she has lost this nomination and refuse's to stop putting out Terrorist attack ad's against Obama! It's time for it's to end now and it will take the guts of H. Dean, Polosi, Gore and the delegates to say no more of this, you have lost Hillary and 9% won in pennsylvania is a real bad lose and win for Obama considering how much % he stole from your lead in as little as six weeks.
For our own sake, I am glad that traditional TV, Newspapers and Radio are going the way of the dinosaurs. These are still the realms of the olden folk, but everyone else hopefully, knows how to dig around for unredacted information. Hopefully this will be the last election where corporate MSM gets to set the agenda.
I have a question that I wish would get answered by the media. Today all the cable pundits (including the Huff) keep asking, "Why can"t Obama close the deal?" That"s a great question but, what I don"t hear asked or answered is, "Why didn"t Clinton close the deal on Feb 5th?" After all Hillary had the money, the name recognition, the party elders backing, the media, the "assumed" nominee status, knew the "rules" of a Democratic primary, and faced no personal negative campaign issues before Feb 5th. She SHOULD have put the newcomer Obama away on Super Tuesday - but failed. Instead she continued to run, after the 5th, as if she WAS the "assumed" nominee. She spent her campaign into the red, and failed in the next 12 states. The newcomer Obama made no assumptions, ran grassroots campaign, raised sufficient money to campaign across the country, did not resort to negative campaigning, and "closed the deal" in those 12 states.
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)
Yeah, but King Arthur is mythical, as is Obama's Holy Grail (unfounded hope).
Hillary *does* kick ass, you must admit.
Hillary may kick ass indeed, but she's clearly kicking the wrong ass. The only reason why I would be interested in a Clinton Presidency is to see how quickly it becomes castrated, no pun intended, by a rabid Republican opposition.
Actually, her problem is that she can't kick ass at all - her losing the race and all. By "Kicking Ass" one would assume she was winning. Perhaps a better characterization would be "having her ass handed to her" - or, even better, her delusional logic "makes her look like an ass-hat".
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.
Yeah, honey but it works, dontcha know?
Sure, honey, I can lie with the best of them. Would you like to grab a drink? I'll whisper sweet lies in your ear, until I "win the nomination".
Now, not only is that ridiculous, but an accurate portrayal.
Do try to be intelligent while being condescending...its important, as not to look like a fool.
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Posted April 23, 2008 | 11:11 AM (EST)