Conan O’Brien on Success and Failure
By Atticus Finch · Leave a Comment
“I’ve had a lot of success. I’ve had a lot of failure. I’ve looked good. I’ve looked bad. I’ve been praised. And I’ve been criticized. But my mistakes have been necessary. I’ve dwelled on my failures today because, as graduates of Harvard, your biggest liability is your need to succeed, your need to always find yourself on the sweet side of the bell curve. Success is a lot like a bright white tuxedo. You feel terrific when you get it, but then you’re desperately afraid of getting it dirty, of spoiling it.”
–Conan O’Brien
Matt Damon on Sarah Palin
By Patrick Henry · Leave a Comment
Here’s a clip of Matt Damon excoriating Sarah Palin:
pH Reading — Wednesday, September 10, 2008
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Is Trig at the Heart of Media’s Reaction to Palin?
RealClearPolitics · Mona Charen
There were basically two things known about Sarah Palin when her name was announced on Aug. 29 and the mediasphere began to shudder and pulsate: She was a recently elected governor and the mother of five children including a handicapped infant. The scorn from the mainstream press and the left-leaning blog world was both intense and instantaneous. Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic immediately began circulating rumors that Trig was not the governor’s baby — that she had engaged in a huge charade to cover up her teen daughter’s illegitimate child. The New York Times reported on the front page that Palin had been a member of the Alaska Independence Party. Eleanor Clift of Newsweek described the reaction of most newsrooms to Palin’s elevation as “literally laughter.” US Weekly rushed out a cover story picturing Palin holding her baby son with the headline “Babies, Lies, & Scandal.”…
General Douglas MacArthur on Duty, Honor, and Country
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“I do not know the dignity of their birth, but I do know the glory of their death. They died unquestioning, uncomplaining, with faith in their hearts, and on their lips the hope that we would go on to victory. Always for them: Duty, Honor, Country. Always their blood, and sweat, and tears, as they saw the way and the light.”
–General Douglas MacArthur
Obama: “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.”
By Patrick Henry · Leave a Comment
Barack Obama took a not-so-subtle jab today at Sarah Palin, saying: “You can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig.” Obama’s statement was undoubtedly a reference to Palin’s speech at last week’s Republican Convention, when she said: “What’s the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull? Lipstick.”
Here’s the video:
Ouch! This comment is not going to sit well with any woman who isn’t already in the tank for Obama.
pH Reading — Tuesday, September 9, 2008
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Palin floats like a butterfly, stings like a bee
San Francisco Chronicle · Willie Brown
The Democrats are in trouble. Sarah Palin has totally changed the dynamics of this campaign. Period…
Obama wrong to spurn Hillary, pick Biden
CNN · Ed Rollins
If Obama had done the smart thing, he would have picked Sen. Hillary Clinton for vice president. If he had, he would have united his party for sure and energized his base. He just couldn’t do it and maybe thought he didn’t need to do it. He was wrong. That choice would have meant that McCain probably wouldn’t have picked Palin. And if McCain had picked anybody else from his shortlist, the Republican convention would have been boring, and the party’s base would not have been motivated…
Elbert Hubbard on Life
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“Don’t take life too seriously; you’ll never get out of it alive.”
–Elbert Hubbard
New York Times’ Hypocrisy Regarding Palin’s Experience
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The Wall Street Journal located this remarkable New York Times‘ editorial from July 3, 1984:
Where is it written that only senators are qualified to become President? . . . Or where is it written that mere representatives aren’t qualified, like Geraldine Ferraro of Queens? . . . Where is it written that governors and mayors, like Dianne Feinstein of San Francisco, are too local, too provincial? . . . Presidential candidates have always chosen their running mates for reasons of practical demography, not idealized democracy. . . . What a splendid system, we say to ourselves, that takes little-known men, tests them in high office and permits them to grow into statesmen. . . . Why shouldn’t a little-known woman have the same opportunity to grow?
Of course, the Times was supporting Geraldine Ferraro’s nomination for Vice President in 1984. Now, with a Republican woman on the ticket, the Times has repeatedly questioned Sarah Palin’s credentials — or, as the Times called her, the “mayor of a tiny Anchorage suburb” (momentarily overlooking Palin is also a sitting governor). Obviously, the Times‘ opinion is solely dependent on whether a person has a D or R behind their name — and not the merits.
Aristotle on Flattery
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“A flatterer is a friend who is your inferior, or pretends to be so.”
–Aristotle
pH Reading — Monday, September 8, 2008
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When Barack’s berserkers lost the plot
The Guardian · Nick Cohen
My colleagues in the American liberal press had little to fear at the start of the week. Their charismatic candidate was ahead in virtually every poll. George W Bush was so unpopular that conservatives were scrambling around for reasons not to invite the Republican President to the Republican convention. Democrats had only to maintain their composure and the White House would be theirs. During the 1997 British general election, the late Lord Jenkins said that Tony Blair was like a man walking down a shiny corridor carrying a precious vase. He was the favourite and held his fate in his hands. If he could just reach the end of the hall without a slip, a Labour victory was assured. The same could have been said of the American Democrats last week. But instead of protecting their precious advantage, they succumbed to a spasm of hatred and threw the vase, the crockery, the cutlery and the kitchen sink at an obscure politician from Alaska…
pH Reading — Sunday, September 7, 2008
By Patrick Henry · Leave a Comment
Thanks, Guys: The media’s attacks on Sarah Palin backfire
The Weekly Standard · William Kristol
The editors of The Weekly Standard believe in giving credit where credit is due. The presidential race looks a whole lot better today than it did two weeks ago. For this, thanks are owed to two men–Barack Obama and John McCain–and to that herd of independent minds, the liberal media…
Winston Churchill on Fanatics
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“A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.”
–Winston Churchill
pH Reading — Saturday, September 6, 2008
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A Convention That Sparked the GOP
Time · David Von Drehle
There was a moment on Tuesday night when the Republican Convention looked like it just might slide right off the rails. The President had been banished from his own party. The running mate was caught in a media frenzy. And a Democrat was extolling the Republican nominee for a series of accomplishments that most delegates inside the Xcel Energy Arena deeply despise and resent. Campaign-finance restrictions, the Gang of 12 senatorial compromise on new judges, immigration reform, the acknowledgement of global warming — as Senator Joseph Lieberman ticked through the record of John McCain, it was so quiet you could almost hear the hum of the air-conditioning…
Albert Einstein on Wisdom
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“Before God we are all equally wise — and equally foolish.”
–Albert Einstein
Heart on Sarah Palin
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“Sarah Palin’s views and values in NO WAY represent us as American women. We ask that our song ‘Barracuda’ no longer be used to promote her image. The song ‘Barracuda’ was written in the late 70s as a scathing rant against the soulless, corporate nature of the music business, particularly for women. (The ‘barracuda’ represented the business.) While Heart did not and would not authorize the use of their song at the RNC, there’s irony in Republican strategists’ choice to make use of it there.”
–Nancy Wilson of Heart
CNN’s Campbell Brown Suggests Sexist Reid Attack on Palin
By Patrick Henry · Leave a Comment
How often do CNN personalities defend Republicans?
In this video, CNN anchor Campbell Brown questions Senator Harry Reid’s use of the word “shrill” to describe Sarah Palin’s convention speech. Brown observes shrill is most frequently used to describe women, and questions whether Reid’s use of the word suggests sexism.
pH Reading — Friday, September 5, 2008
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Sarah Palin gets the spiteful Margaret Thatcher treatment
The Telegraph · Janet Daley
There are few sights more bloodcurdling than the liberal pack in full cry. The viciousness of the attacks on Sarah Palin is a testimony to the degree of panic her appointment has generated in Leftist circles…
Nathan Hale on Patriotism
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“I only regret that I have but one life to give my country.”
–Nathan Hale
Sarah Palin’s Address to the Republican National Convention
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