Sunday, January 30, 2011

Logic

Hillary Clinton on Meet the Press earlier:
I want the Egyptian people to have the chance to chart a new future. It needs to be an orderly, peaceful transition to real democracy, not faux democracy like the elections we saw in Iran two years ago, where you have one election 30 years ago and then the people just keep staying in power and become less and less responsive to their people. We want to see a real democracy that reflects the vibrancy of Egyptian society. And we believe that President Mubarak, his government, civil society, political activists, need to be part of a national dialogue to bring that about.
Via John Caruso at Distant Ocean.

It would be funny even if Mubarak weren't currently in exactly his thirtieth year in charge of Egypt, but man, that really pushes it over the top, right?

(Note please: a member of one of two families was president of the US for 20 consecutive years, and a member of one of those families is still currently in one of the most powerful positions in the government. I forget her name.)

I wanted to pair this with one of the many scenes from Caligula where Malcolm McDowell is very impressed with his own logic, but couldn't find any on youtube and didn't have the patience to put one up myself. Fortunately, this does almost as nicely.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

It really is hard to despise the shithead who might have done a lot of bad things more than the shithead who is actually doing bad things, but Hillary Clinton almost does it for me. I was at the gym yesterday morning and she was on the toob talking. Ordinarily I would avoid her to preserve my health, but to lift, I had to listen. I heard her say something to the effect that the US had been asking Mubarak for a vice-president for 30 years and only got one last week. Progress in the Arab world is slow, until it isn't, eh Hil?

drip

bonobo said...

It's funny that this post coincides with one over at IOZ's place about whether these people believe their own bullshit. In his post, IOZ hints that Hillary may be among those who don't and I think I agree.

However, it's hard to imagine that a person as vain as Hillary would say anything this audaciously clueless and hypocritical with any kind of self-awareness at all.

Nice slice of British ham there from McDowell. If only our sociopaths were so colorful.

David said...

WHat I find most telling about Hillary's (and most others) statements is that they're always imploring protesters to do things "The Right Way!", which is defined as working within the system that has marginalized them.

The idea of the peasants collectively telling Mubarak " Get the fuck out. We're not asking." must terrify them.

bonobo said...

they're always imploring protesters to do things "The Right Way!", which is defined as working within the system that has marginalized them.

Well, how else will they get to a place that assures supplication to Israel and the United States? Hillary is only concerned with those outcomes. She doesn't give a fuck about the method.

Ethan said...

drip, I first want to congratulate you on the excellence of this sentence: Ordinarily I would avoid her to preserve my health, but to lift, I had to listen.

Also, hilarious to suggest that a) any significant number of people anywhere care if their country has, specifically, a vice-president, b) appointing Suleiman of all people to that position is doing what the people want, and c) that taking 30 years to do something as simple as making an appointment represents some kind of functioning system.

bonobo, I didn't see IOZ's post until after you commented, though I did see JR's post that it's responding to. I admit to a fascination with the psychology of these monsters, but as IOZ and JR both point out, in effect what they believe doesn't particularly matter in any concrete way. To engage in a bit of sports spectatorship, though, I think I'm with you on Clinton. She strikes me as genuinely brilliant in her way (unlike Obama, who always just comes off as such a doofus), and to continue using this specific case to discuss the matter, I find it next to impossible to believe that she could be unaware of the parallel.

Hell, knowing as she must the obsequiousness of the media, she may have been taking advantage of her sure knowledge that she wouldn't be questioned on the matter to engage in what she thought of as an inside joke of sorts.

For the record, I absolutely love Caligula. About 90% unironically.

David, hah, you just reminded me of Pelosi being outraged by the presence of antiwar protesters near her house a few years back. And, yeah, good point--that and all the talk of the "legitimate" claims of the protesters are pretty telling. Sure, you can protest what your government is doing--but your government and that of the US get to decide both how you do it and what elements of your protest are legitimate.

Dog's New Clothes said...

If only all of Rome had just one neck.

I also love Caligula. There's a great (possibly apocryphal) story about John Gielgud seeing the uncut version for the first time in the theater. He sat behind two old ladies who had clearly just come to see a nice historical epic with John Gielgud and Peter O'Toole. When the film ended, Gielgud followed the ladies out of the theater and overheard one of them remark, "Well that was $7 worth."

Peter Ward said...

...where you have one election 30 years ago and then the people just keep staying in power and become less and less responsive to their people...
As if the frequency of elections is proportional to the degree to which a state does what its people wants rather than what its ruling establishment wants. I.e., the degree to which the "mob" really runs society.

It's also amusing the Mubarak is first and the activists last among those that ought to be part of the "dialogue"..."civil society" thrown in the middle for good measures--you known, those who quietly collaborate in their own exploitation.

Ethan said...

DNC, hah! I kind of have a feeling that didn't actually happen (too good to be true, among other things), but man, what a great story.

Peter, didn't you know? Deciding who's in charge of the machine is the only thing the masses care about. Duh. Hence the clamoring for a VP that drip mentioned.

Hah, the implicit contrasting of "civil society" with "political activists" had actually passed me by until you pointed it out.