What a day, what a day. I laughed, I cried, and then I laughed some more. As most of you know, Becky is staying with me this week, and try as I might to avoid it, I'm pretty sure it's going to be an emotional week. I think I've done pretty well so far. Becky has been my best friend for probably about four years now and this morning during the church send off was the first time I cried, but now that I let it happen, I'm pretty sure it's going to be happening on and off all week. But the week will be an opportunity for us to fully enjoy (and annoy :P) each other. So far this is what we've done:
*Becky had her garage sale and I bought some of her stuff (we really do have similar taste)
*We went to Cafe de Thai for lunch yesterday with Mary (and ate the leftovers today)
*We made a very tasty dinner at my house last night after which
*We went to the Chocolate Bar
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*We went to church where I cried, and Becky laughed at me for crying (not in a mean way, just the awwwww look, Jeni's crying again sort of way...)
*We went to the Hillary Clinton event at Hug High (it was really weird being there again...) more on that at the end of the post. I feel somewhat obligated to blog about it for reasons I will tell ya'll about later if you ask me about it in person...
*We watched Click
*We went to Winco for groceries
*We came back, made another tasty dinner, and watched The Amazing Race and Desperate Housewives. (I know, it's awful)
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And this is the part where I'm supposed to be going to bed because I work at 7:30 am, but I don't usually go to bed until 11pm anyway, so I still have about 30 min.
And now for my three main thoughts on the Hillary Clinton event:
1. People are really dumb. I know this is a cruel generalization, but it is an unfortunate truth. A couple examples of why people are so dumb:
*They will do the most nonsensical things to get themselves noticed and/or on television. The first person who spoke after the floor was opened up for questions told a long and drawn out story that didn't really result in a question at all. It was a sob story in which he complained about his 60,000 dollars in student loans because he couldn't find a job as a music teacher. I understand that student loans suck, but seriously, if you're going to ask a question, just ask it. And don't blame the "rising cost of education" for your 60,000 dollar student loan. You could have gotten an equally useless degree in music education in state for MUCH less money. (I'm such a jerk, aren't I?)
*When they hear a "promise" being made by a politician they scream and jump for joy as though this promise is already beginning to come true. Perhaps I'm a bit cynical, but I think that jumping for joy over a mere suggestion is a bit ridiculous.
*They will loudly voice their opinions even though those opinions are completely misdirected. When the war in Iraq came up, there were several people who started yelling, "where are the weapons?" I understand that not everyone supports the war, but yelling "where are the weapons" at Hillary Clinton will solve absolutely nothing unless of course it turns out that she does indeed know where the weapons are.
*One woman asked if she could have Hillary's word that if she was elected that she would never lie to the public. How dense do you have to be to think that is possibly? Once again, this may be my cynicism again, but I tend to believe the popular House-ism "Everybody Lies". Not one person can say that they will NEVER lie.
2. I am very amused by the fact that all of the political paraphanalia associated with Hillary's campaign says just "Hillary". Becky suggested that this may be to make her seem more personable. I can see that side of it, but I also think they're trying to keep her from being too strongly associated to the name "Clinton" because of Bill's lies. Not that his are any worse than anyone else's, but some people will never forgive or overlook that. I think they want people to forget that she's married to him--that perhaps she has less of a chance if people are constantly reminded of that fact by having that name "Clinton" all over the place as constant reminders of her husband's indiscretions.
3. I think she made a VERY big mistake when the sugject of immigration came up. A kid in the audience asked what was going to happen with immigration. She basically said we need to keep better track of the illegals, we need to protect the border, we need to hold business accountable for hiring undocumented workers. Blah blah blah the usual. And then the mistake begins. We need to send our neighbors to the south a clear message that they need to start creating their own jobs. They need to learn English when they are here. CRASH The cheers toward that one were severely muted compared to many of the other things she spoke about. I understand the purpose of the statement in terms of trying to gather middle class Nevada votes, but it was completely inappropriate given the audience. If you're holding an open forum at the GSR, sure go ahead and say that. When you're speaking at Hug High School, where a large part of the student body is Hispanic, don't go bashing "our neighbors to the south". It's not a matter of whether what she said is right or wrong--it's a matter of considering one's audience and I really don't think she did when she gave that answer. It doesn't really do any good to win over the middle class white folks of Nevada if you alienate the Hispanic population because they are a growing part of the Nevada voting population.
I know. I bet ya'll are shocked. You never thought I would post anything about politics. (I probably wouldn't have gone if Becky hadn't been going, but I'm glad I did. I got some good laughs out of the experience and heard some good and bad arguments.) How controversial. Okay, but seriously. Hopefully this will spark some conversation. Please no downright unsupported bashing. Supported arguments and discussions would be great, though. Have fun and enjoy.
6 comments:
i would dispute the statement that hispanics are a growing part of nevada's voting population. illegal immigrants cannot vote, and the rate at which legal hispanics are entering the state is negligible. add to that the fact that most who go throught the naturalization process look down on the illegal immigrants worse than your average white american, and those statements aren't very dangerous at all - unless you count all the liberal voters she alienated with such ridiculous ideas as immigrants learning english.
as far as getting a politician to promise not to lie to the public - that person is a moron. you never hear of the politicians who don't lie to public. why? because they never get elected.
my last thought at the moment: i agree with your take on her campaign. i remember when janet jackson released the album titled "janet." (to be read janet period) she said it was just to establish that she was more than just a jackson, but it was just as much an attempt to distance herself from her freaky alleged pedophile brother for good measure. my take is that hillary is doing the same thing. politicians almost always use last name on signs, not doing so raises some kind of alert.
Good call, diga. I warned you that it was my bedtime when I wrote this. I really considered the "they'll have to learn English" part the more inappropriate for the audience.
P.S. I knew you would be the first to comment on this post! :)
jeni- i feel your pain saying goodbye to a great friend is never , ever, easy but the great thing about a great freind is that you never really have to fully say goodbye cause there are so many modes of communication these days.
about the hillary event, LUCKY!! I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall at that one. well, maybe not a fly(they eat poop) but a butterfly:) anyhew- i really don't care for her not just because of the obvious reasons but more for this vibe that i have always got when listening to her that she is just not who she appears to be. i really liked bill more than i liked her. i so enjoyed your blog on this though and have to agree with you that people can be idiots but on my sunny side of life i would say that those idiots sure were brave to speak up even if what they said was stupid :)
I agree with Noel . . . saying goodbye to Hillary had to be very difficult . . .
Thanks for being so supportive, plucky... (Jerk...) He he he...
ha that was a good post. That was a fun week...isn't it great that we can have fun and annoy each other?
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