Oh Jesus bless us, he was born with teeth and so I was which plainly signified

'O, Jesus bless us, he is born with teeth!'
And so I was; which plainly signified
That I should snarl and bite and play the dog.  That's from Act V, Scene VI of Henry VI  It's one of the soliloquies of Richard, Duke of Gloucester, who will ultimately be Richard III  and a favorite of Defeatists world over. He wasn't anywhere near as bad as he was painted, and compared to his immediate successors, could be a RFK figure, cut down in his prime by treachery, greed, and the over-reaching ambitions of lesser men. Anyway, the reason I mention it is not because I watched the Doctor Who rerun concerning his visit with Martha to the Globe theater putting me in a Shakespearian mood, but because of the Chelsea Clinton "pimped out" imbroglio.

I find myself in an odd position; I'm about to defend the Clinton family and Billary. For some reason, the Conservative loonie fringe hears that name and goes absolutely batshit. II'm not sure why, except that Bubba did a lot of the things that they had wanted to do -- end welfare, minimize the social security safety net, balance the budget, pay down the national debt, fuck interns-- while pretending to be a liberal. Perhaps it's because he's decidely heterosexual, and the R's prefer their predators to be pedophiles? Hillary is not Jackie Kennedy, but she's at least as attractive as Laura Bush, and Chelsea is actually a very bright and accomplished young woman, especially compared to Bush I's boys and Bush II's girls. I recommend the Wikpedia article about her. Legacies doen't graduate with distinction from Stanford. Legacies don't go to work for McKinsey. She is also quite attractive, despite the harping on her appearance since her dad's inauguration by the beautiful people of the left -- Coulter and Limbaguh. (Guys, here's a test for -- who'd you rather wake up next to? Chelsea or Annie?)

But, oddly enough, the Clintons drive a lot of people on the left of center batshit as well. The last Democratic president before Bubba was Jimmy Carter who is personally far more admirable as a human being, but was something of a disaster as a president. So, the whole MSNBC thing really has to be seen in context. Chelsea has been a lot less obnoxious than the Bush twins at the Republican convention, and is not running a blog or badmouthing Obama. She's actually less obnoxious than by far than McCain's mother. She's standing on the stage, doing the Clinton Clap/Clap/Point/Point and really not getting in the way of anybody's outsized ambitions. She's supporting and helping her mother. Hardly being pimped out. What the fuck was David Schuster thinking with that line, and I think Bill could have made some points by following his instincts, going to MSN and slappiong the little weasel silly. Instead, they triangulate, which is sad. One of the most admirable things about the Clintons has been their desire to let her achieve everything she can and to protect her.

You know, I gotta say my fellow alumni Chris Matthews and Dulcinea Dowd and a whole host of other more or less left of center, Irish-Catholic types who went to places like Holy Cross, Georgetown, Catholic U and Notre Dame have real Clinton issues over the sex. Do we seriously believe that if Eleanor Roosevelt had thought it possible,  that she might not have run for President? FDR died in the lap of his goddamn mistress and I suspect that there was a fair amount of philandering going on in the White House over the centuries anyway. But Matthews claim that the only reason Hillary Clinton has a chance is because Bill had a midlife crisis is nonsense. We IRish are constitutionally unable to like the Clintons, so we annoint a complete nonentity as the second coming of JFK. If the Irish could ever get over their hangups about sex, we'd rule the world!!!

Thinking back to Richard, he was probably a normally handsome man and an accomplished warrior whose weapon of choice in battle was the...battle-AXE. He was unfairly villified by characters as sanctified as Thomas More -- who was a creature of politics, Wolsley and sexual repression -- and Shakespeare. Perhaps it's a reach to compare the Clintons to the Yorkist side of the Plantagents but I'm not sure. I think this is fairly straight forward -- David Schuster is a weasel and Chris Matthews a prude and MSNBC has decided to annoint Barack Obama.

Comments

[TGGP]

I thought the problem with us micks was the alcoholism and violence, with the sex hangups falling way behind. It is odd that other catholics don't seem to have nearly that mentality though.

[Crusader AXE]

Dude, the drinking and the violence are our ways of trying to attract girls. Or guys, now that I recall a couple of my more Irish girl friends. It all goes back to sex. Drinking and violence are actually a couple of our more endearing character traits, along with the poetry (drinking again) and the soda bread.

[mikee]

No, God created whiskey so the Irish wouldn't take over the world.

I was at ND in 92, and fondly remember Bill coming to speak. I'd say the crowd was 50/50 for and against. I was surprised how conservative we Catholics are, I guess I came from a decidely liberal parish - there were still some left in the early 90's but fast becoming a dinosaur in America.
But there is nothing like 4 years of ND to turn one off of Catholicism for good.
Slainte!

[Crusader AXE of the Lost Causes]

Well, except for the sex and the dancing and music and the costumes...oh, wait. There's only bad guitar music and minimalist costumes. Although the Pope does wear Prada...

[Jordan 4]

Morality may consist solely in the courage of making a choice. (Leon Nlum, French statesman)

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