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The Big Hillary Gaffe

CFLarsen said:
Perhaps you should get the actual quote, before you open threads like these?
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Why do you say that Claus? I was at work when I posted. Luke quickly found the sound bite in question _and_ the followup commentary which puts it in context.
 
corplinx said:
Like I said, I know what she was trying to say. Do you think if Ross Perot had said this to the NAACP it wouldn't be a big deal?
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I don't think I agree that the two comments are comparable. I heard Ross Perot make his "you people" comment, and it was just awkward and painful to watch. When I listened to HC’s plantation comment, she understood she was talking to a black audience and it seems as though she chose the analogy on purpose, it didn’t seem awkward or racist at all.

Edited to add:

I voted for Perot too, despite that "you people" comment,and that other thing he said about Jews that I can't quite remember.
 
TragicMonkey said:
I misread this thread title as "The Big Hillary Giraffe" and was enchanted by the notion that she's attempting to expand her influence by adopting a giraffe, which she will ride down the streets at a gallop, waving a giant American flag. Then she could have it defecate enormously over Tom DeLay's limo, and say "this stinks less than your dealings, Tom!" and then they'd get into a ninja fight with nunchucks and lots of Crouching Tiger perching on treetops. The giraffe would probably wander off, and get itself a White House press badge because apparently anybody can, these days.
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Geez, she just wants to streatch her neck out by a few feet so she can see over crowds, and you want to make up all this goofy stuff.
 
Luke T. said:
nig·gard·ly (nĭg'ərd-lē)
adj.
Grudging and petty in giving or spending.
Meanly small; scanty or meager: left the waiter a niggardly tip.
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Yes, or "stingy" as I summarized. I knew what you meant, but the pun doesn't work because there was nothing stingy about the attack on Hillary.

Perhaps you remember this story from a few years ago.
D.C. Mayor Anthony A. Williams said yesterday that he will rehire a former top aide who resigned last month because some city employees were offended that the aide used the word "niggardly" in describing how he would have to manage a fund's tight budget.
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I saw it last noght and it seemed as bit self concious but was actually quite apt. Only problem is she makes my skin crawl.
 
Mycroft said:
I don't think I agree that the two comments are comparable. I heard Ross Perot make his "you people" comment, and it was just awkward and painful to watch. When I listened to HC’s plantation comment, she understood she was talking to a black audience and it seems as though she chose the analogy on purpose, it didn’t seem awkward or racist at all.
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I agree. There is a consequence to intentionally misinterpreting the speech of public figures to create controversy, either to promote stories or to denigrate the speaker. Public speakers are driven to be as bland as possible so as to not have sound bites from their speech taken out of context used to ridicule them.
 
corplinx said:
You have probably seen it by now, Hillary pandering in a black church on MLK day and giving a political stump speech. She says something to the extent of "the house is run like a plantation right now, and i think you know what im talking about" and then her eyes bug out as she realizes what she said. Or maybe thats just how her eyes are, its hard to tell with Hillary.

The point is, this was obviously a gaffe to me. She used the term plantation in a speech to a different audience. Using it to this audience with the qualifier she did though was one of the most awkward moments I've seen on video in a long time.

The thing is, unlike Ross Perot who made a fairly innoccuous "you people" comment once, Hillary will be summarily forgiven. Its not even a big hubbub in the press. There isn't even a manufactured feeding frenzy over this.

Mind you, I wouldn't like a manufactured feeding frenzy. It wouldn't be right. However, it would be fair. Is the US media ever going to get tough on Hillary or will she just be fodder for right wing media like Rush Limbaugh?
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Well to me it just looks like politics as usual. Hillary was giving a "preaching to the choir" kind of speech. A speech crafted with the audience in mind. In short: Pandering.

Perot actually goofed...so the two aren't really comparable. Hillary knows about how far she can go before she drifts out of the middle ground she's been staking out for the last 6 months. She can play to the Dem's traditional strength with the afro-american crowd by saying "plantation"...but you see she recently appeared at the same venue with nut-case Harry Belafonte and took care not to get too close to him.

It's one thing to pander to your base....but it's counter-productive when your pandering becomes outlandish enough to be used as political ammo against you. Hill knows the tight-rope she's walking and I must say her sense of balance is great because I haven't seen her slip badly just yet.

-z
 
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