On the Red Phone
To hear Larry read his post, click the play button below
Here's an idea for an Obama ad: a montage of Clinton's Sybillish personalities that have surfaced during the campaign with a solemn voiceover at the end saying, "Does anyone want this nut answering the phone?"
How is it that she became the one who's perceived as more equipped to answer that 3 a.m. call than the unflappable Obama? He, with the ice in his veins, who doesn't panic when he's losing or get too giddy when he's winning, who's as comfortable in his own skin as she's uncomfortable in hers. There have been times in this campaign when she seemed so unhinged that I worried she'd actually kill herself if she lost. Every day, she reminds me more and more of Adele H., who also had an obsession that drove her insane.
A few weeks ago, I started to feel sorry for her. Oh Christ, let her win already...Who cares...It's not worth it. There's not that much difference between them. She can have it. Anything to avoid watching her descend into madness. So I switched. I started rooting for her. It wasn't that hard. Compromise comes easy to me. I was on board.
And then I saw the ad.
I watched, transfixed, as she took the 3 a.m. call...and I was afraid...very afraid. Suddenly, I realized the last thing this country needs is that woman anywhere near a phone. I don't care if it's 3 a.m. or 10 p.m. or any other time. I don't want her talking to Putin, I don't want her talking to Kim Jong Il, I don't want her talking to my nephew. She needs a long rest. She needs to put on a sarong and some sun block and get away from things for a while, a nice beach somewhere -- somewhere far away, where there are...no phones.
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Is this a PG&E commercial?
Actress in commercial was an unwilling participant.
Casey Knowles is an OBAMA supporter, and eager to do a counter-ad FOR Obama!
http://www
Ha! The irony...
JonathanLatroy, thanks for the heads-up on the story of Casey Knowles, the Obama supporter and Washington Caucus precinct captain who played the part of the first girl in the red phone video.
The Seattle TV Station's website you linked to has a follow up story on the huge reaction, as well. The Obama Camp has made a statement on Casey's support, and if the counter-ad ends of being made, this story's got legs. There's the obvious irony, as well as showing how the Clinton Camp didn't see the danger in using stock footage.
Great Blog Larry:
Larry should produce a commercial! Someone has to point out the OBVIOUS!
Put it on You tube like Will I am.
Obama is so professorial and analytical. Obama is level headed and I want a clear thinking, level headed when it comes to answering a red phone. Not someone who is appearing to be bi polar!
Produce a Commercial!!!!!!!
Good. Past experience??
How about past PRINCIPLES?
What does the recent and distant past say about HRC's beliefs and principles?
I believe in redemption, but not while practicing politics as president of these United States.
As far as answering the Red Phone, that is a gross innuendo to stir subjective creepy thoughts, not sound thinking. God forbid anyone have to meet that challenge. For today, I would pick Obama.
Thank God for Larry David. I hope Mississippi pays attention. I hope Larry David continues making comments on the 2008 election. Like I have said many times, a woman as President yes, Hillary Clinton as president, no. Wrong woman, period. When we see the right woman we will know.
yes she'll be all girl--wink
Mr. David is entitled to his opinion, or even his opinions, and even his two directly opposite opinions, and if he has opinions within his opinions he is entitled to them as well.
Bu the fact that he has all these opinions, and that the opinion he has today is anti Hillary does not move me.
If tomorrow he has a different opinion, which evidently is a strong possibility, and supports Hillary I will gladly agree with him-for as long as he hold that most recent opinion.
Opinions are like assholes - everyone's got one and they all stink.
"your" opinion is as nauseating, contrived and fallacious as hillary's many personalities. it is, hence, no quaint surprise you support her.
Did Hillery write this using a pen name? This sounds a lot like we have been seeing in recent weeks.
I agree. After Hillary or her campaign compared Barack to Ken Starr and extolled John McCain's life time of experience on top of the red phone fear and NAFTA smear, I have had it. I will neither vote for, contribute to, nor work for her election. If she is the nominee, I'll concentrate my resources on Congressional candidates.
Hilary' entire "experience" claim is also very suspect- She was NEVER given top security clearance as the presidents wife, and NEVER even sat in the room with the proverbial red phone.
What experience is she talking about????
Her lies, her changing of her position, her being on the board of Wal-mart, her lobbyist ties and her recent shameful fear tacts make her the least likely candidate to win the presidency.
Republicans have rallied around her because they know their troops/ their party/ thier voters will be galvinized by her being the nominee. She will grant the Republicans a record turnout. She has a MUCH greater chance of losing to McCain than Obama does.
I wonder if she was really in this for the country she would already have woken up to this fact,
she is neither realistic, nor intelligent enough to grasp this concept that for the good of her party and of the American people too, she must step down.
Someone get her on the phone and rtell her the truth
Why would she "step dowm?" If she gets the nomination she will be the next president.
If Obama gets the nomination, looks like it's going to be McCain for the next 4 years.
Of course the reublicans rally around Hillery...
I can't believe so many democrats fall for "he would have a better chance againt McCain '
WAKE UP!
The republicans would LOVE to see Obama get the nomination. They will wipe the floor with him.
PLEASE--VOTE FOR NADER!! IT DID SO MUCH GOOD THE LAST TIME.
Oh hell, if she displays the same managerial skills in the White House as she has in her campaign we won't have to worry about her answering the phone: either the budget will have been expended on doughnuts, pizzas, snow shovels and Las Vegas hotel rooms and the phone will have been disconnected for nonpayment; or she won't even be able to find it.
It was NOT an OPEN ENDED question. An open ended question has several answers (that is why it is called open). A closed end question has only one answer, like in this case.
what the hell are you talking about?
Actually, yes I would want her to answer that call. I watch the debates and I see a very capable person who thinks fast on her feet and immediately zeros in on the problem at hand and the solutions required. I don't think any less of Senator Obama, in the same situation. The commercial merely posed a question to voters....
LMAO,
She would hand the phone to Bill because she wouldn't know what to do. Actually, Bill didn't know what to do when he became president because he had zero foreign policy experience.
Obama is cool, calm, collected, and thinks things through before he opens his mouth.
That's the person I want answering the phone.
Actually, LMAO, I wonder if she'd eve be able to find him ...
Chances are he probably wouldn't be in bed with her ...
She'd have to go searching all over the various wings and rooms to find him. And when she eventually does find him in a janitor's closet somewhere, Lord knows what sort of innapropriate situation he'd be in and with which young female intern.
Sorry, JW
I don't know abut you, but I'm not looking to elect the captain of the debate team as president. Please, PLEASE provide us with DETAILS of HRC's "experience" and "qualifica
How can you possibly compare rehearsed responses to a televised debate with how one would handle a national security emergency? Can you POSSIBLE describe HRC as CALM and LEVELHEADED with a straight face?
And TV ads are just that COMMERCIAL ADVERTISEMENTS for candidates. How anyone can take them seriously is beyond me.
just look into her bio more deeply instead of just repeating everything you hear on huffpo.
Well, I've wondered myself, and so far this is what I've seen in the way of anyone else speaking to any qualifications they feel she has in these areas:
Foreign affairs experience:
http://tin
Nat'l security qualifications
http://tin
Not to mention, we actually DO have EXAMPLES of Hillary's "calm and level headed ACTIONS" -
#1. she VOTED FOR THE IRAQ WAR AUTHORIZATION _without bothering to read the NIE_!!
#2. She compounded that grave error by voting for the Kyle-Lieberman bill (aka "bomb Iran now! Or at the earliest possible opportunit
#3. Her criminalize flag-burning bill illustrates her propensity to placate the "moral values" "restore honor and dignity" crowd (who will despise her regardless) - nothing less than probably THE worst bill ever to come from a Democrat..
#4. Despite sitting on the Senate MILITARY AFFAIRS Committee, she could never find time to hop in a cab, to make a visit of Walter Reed Army hospital, all of a 15 min. ride from the Capital? Exactly like Bush & Cheney, she is big on playing her "SUPPORT THE TROOPS!" card, but in case of ACTUALLY STANDING UP for the troops (vs. Republican corruption, Washington inertia, and media neglect) - "WHERE, Hillary, IS THE BEEF?"
You know, when Larry David tells you that you might need to calm down...tha
Audaciously, my rhetoric (and that is what I secretly believed it had to be) held that Hillary couldn’t succeed, as president because this country is far too misogynist and the Republicans will be unified in making sure she does not become president.
The unquestionably clever but apparently misogynist Mr. David blatantly confirms what has been the prerogative of the right: putting Hillary in her place for being a woman.
Yes, the 3am telephone ad was stupid and yes Mrs. Clinton and her advisers must have counted on humungous fallout. But who could have predicted the rush to spew misogynist drivel all over Huff Post?
How is questioning someone's judgement misogynist? I wouldn't trust McCain to answer the phone either...d
If the choice is Obama vs Clinton or McCain then my gut is to choose Obama,,,,judgement has nothing to do with gender anymore than it has to do with race...
Well how about disinformation and misinformation. See Hillary for who she is. I want a woman for president but Hillary cant be trusted. Not her...
http://www
Its 3 am
The phone rings in the white house.
"Bill, Bill, Honey do you want to get that ?
"Naaah ,Baby don't worry...Le
in the words of Matthews,
Haa!
Larry, why are you so concerned about who answers the phone at 3am, when all of these top three candidates are inept sitting Senators? When you consider the History of Senators who went on to become Presidents, (unless they had other prior Governmental Experience), were abject FAILURES! And now you are worried about which one of these future Catastrophes answers the Red Phone? The Truth is that NONE of these candidates should be even running for President, much less dealing with an International Crisis in the Middle of the Night.
Being the President of the United States of America is an Administrators position, and is not the realm of bloviating partisan Legislators, who have never run anything other than a Local Campaign, much less a Large Governmental Organization such as State Governors do on a Daily basis. Every time we have elected one of these Senatorial Messiahs, we have regretted it ever since. That is why we haven’t elected a Democratic Senator since 1960., when we were tricked into electing John F Kennedy.
History PROVES, Senators make the WORST PRESIDENTS!!!
http://www
Senators Who Became President
To date, fifteen senators have gone onto serve in the nation's highest elected office, the presidency. Two senators, Warren G. Harding and John F. Kennedy, moved directly from the U.S. Senate to the White House. ( Both of whom died in Office.)
James Monroe
Senator, 1790-1794
President, 1817-1825
http://en.
John Quincy Adams
Senator, 1803-1808
President, 1825-1829
http://en.
Andrew Jackson
Senator, 1797-1798; 1823-1825
President, 1829-1837
http://en.
Martin Van Buren
Senator, 1821-1828
President, 1837-1841
http://en.
William Henry Harrison
Senator, 1825-1828
President, 1841
http://en.
John Tyler
Senator, 1827-1836
President, 1841-1845
http://en.
Franklin Pierce
Senator, 1837-1842
President, 1853-1857
http://en.
James Buchanan
Senator, 1834-1845
President, 1857-1861
http://en.
Andrew Johnson
Senator, 1857-1862; 1875
President, 1865-1869
http://en.
Benjamin Harrison
Senator, 1881-1887
President, 1889-1893
http://en.
Warren G. Harding
Senator, 1915-1921
President, 1921-1923
http://en.
Harry S. Truman
Senator, 1935-1945
President, 1945-1953
http://en.
John F. Kennedy
Senator, 1953-1960
President, 1961-1963
http://en.
Lyndon B. Johnson
Senator, 1949-1961
President, 1963-1969
http://en.
Richard M. Nixon
Senator, 1950-1953
President, 1969-1974
http://en.
Our news media is letting us down again.
Good leaders stay on top of critical situations and don't get urgent surprise phone calls in the middle of the night. If there is a situation in which some event might break the staff has already been prepared how to handle it. Maybe Bush can be surprised because he doesn't pay attention, but not a competent president. The last thing we need now is another president who is unprepared and out of the loop.
Its 3 a.m. at the White House and the (red) phone rings. Hillary answers ... and tries to find her voice ... she's only 60, it takes awhile. When she finally does, she tries several different messages ... turns to Bill and asks for help. Finally she finds one that sticks. Its one of fear ... it worked for Bush, why not for me? Somewhere a bomb drops and innocent people die. Meanwhile back at the White House Hillary drifts back to sleep having FINALLY found her voice with a message that experience tells her will stick.... Its 3 a.m. at the White House and the (red) phone rings. Another genocide is taking place somewhere in the world. Bills mumbles, 'let it ring'.... and it rings, and rings and rings.
Monica is on the other line.
I'm an embarrassed Republican and a woman, so I tried very, very hard to like Hillary. However, one huge character flaw keeps rearing its ugly head for me. She has no self respect. How can I vote for someone to be my president and commander-in-chief who has no respect for herself? Her husband, our former commander-in-chief, engaged in risky business instead of the business at hand, and she stayed with him. In fact, she stood by him, defended him even. Now forgiveness is a noble character trait, but he humiliated her so publicly that it had to have taken its toll. I speak from experience. My professional husband humiliated me publicly with a subordinate, and I kicked him to the curb. It wasn't easy, and I was heartbroken, but I had no choice. It's called self esteem. If Hillary doesn't feel worthy of trust and commitment from the most important person in her life, I can't vote for her.
This is what we called educated thinking. Thanks.
Look into a dictator and you may find experience and capability, but what you won't find is virtue.
"Knowledge becomes evil if the aim be not virtuous."
"All virtue is summed up in dealing justly."
"There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands."
"To lead people, walk beside them...
As for the best leaders, the people do not notice their existence.
The next best, the people honor and praise.
The next, the people fear;
and the next, the people hate..."
A dictator is he who people fear; Hillary is she who people "hate".
"Smart people instinctively understand the dangers of entrusting our future to self-serving leaders who use our institutions, whether in the corporate or social sectors, to advance their own interests.
Great point.
What amazes me is that the women who vilified Hillary in the press for staying with Bill after yet another woman came forward, are the same women who support her now!
I'm stunned. And now those same women say we should vote for Hillary just because she's a woman!
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