Lookin' Good. Real Good.
Peter Robinson ·
Aug 31, 2010 at 3:38pm
Over on NRO today, the second segment of the Uncommon Knowledge with the governor of Mississippi, Ricochet's own Haley Barbour. The Governor's subject? Politics. Gov. Barbour was chairman of the Republican National Committee back in 1994, the historic year when Republicans captured a majority in the House of Representatives for the first time in four decades. The political climate today? Astounding enough, the governor contends, it's even better for Republicans.
Take a gander. Then come back to Ricochet to let us know what you thought.
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Comments :
Jul '10
Re: Lookin' Good. Real Good.
It needs English translation sub-titles.
May '10
Re: Lookin' Good. Real Good.
Uncalled for Kenneth.
Jul '10
Re: Lookin' Good. Real Good.
You're tromping around your hotel room wearing an organic white sheet, shouting "Islamic Wackjobs!" and my gentle jest about Barbour's Foghorn Leghorn accent is "uncalled for"?
I suppose a white man in your country is beyond reproach.
Re: Lookin' Good. Real Good.
Haley sure has an accent. But you know what? That's part of what I've always liked about him. Like a lot of the most impressive politicians--like of lot of the most impressive Americans, full stop, for that matter--Haley is a man from someplace. He's lived his entire life in Yazoo City, pop. 14,500. He seems to know half the people in his state by their first names. He likes. He likes Mississippi. The people, the folkways, the food. (A couple of months ago, you'll recalll, he put up a post from Central Park in New York, where he was personally overseeing a fish fry to promote investment back home.) Listen to Haley for 30 seconds and you know he's a man of the American South. Contrast Haley in this regard--in regard to a sense of place--with Barack Obama. Obama's from Chicago, but would you know it? His accent, his stance, his pleasures--nothing places Obama. He's the man from nowhere.
May '10
Re: Lookin' Good. Real Good.
Kenneth -
Yeah, I don't hit on someone who is an inactive participant in the discussion, which you've done more than once today (see Palin, Piper). You want to kid me, Claire, or anyone who's likely to defend themselves, go for it. But there's kidding and then there's mocking, which you did against the Governor.
Instead you take me to task for insulting 19 men who committed mass murder/suicide. There's nobody here who won't say, "Hell, yes, they were all whackjobs!"
Jul '10
Re: Lookin' Good. Real Good.
I happen to like and respect Haley Barbour. And I happen to have seen enough of him to know that he has - like Ronald Reagan - a robust self-deprecating humor. Pardon my puckishness, but I meant no harm - and I'm sure that Governor Barbour would recognize that.
May '10
Re: Lookin' Good. Real Good.
November people. November.
Back to Barbour...That accent grows on one rather quickly. "The political clah-mate back in two thousand nahn..." He's totally likeable, and an alpha male, bigtime.
Jul '10
Re: Lookin' Good. Real Good.
EJHill: Kenneth -
Yeah, I don't hit on someone who is an inactive participant in the discussion, which you've done more than once today (see Palin, Piper). You want to kid me, Claire, or anyone who's likely to defend themselves, go for it. But there's kidding and then there's mocking, which you did against the Governor.
Instead you take me to task for insulting 19 men who committed mass murder/suicide. There's nobody here who won't say, "Hell, yes, they were all whackjobs!" · Aug 31 at 5:54pm
I apologize if my humor escapes you. My comment about "Islamic Wackjobs" was a jest I thought was in keeping with your own post.
Let us not engage in a flame-war, Brother, as nothing is more tedious - or destructive to the spirit of a site like Ricochet.
I will refrain from making any comments upon your contributions. And may I suggest that if my attempts at humor irritate you, you are free not to read them.
Now let's hug it out.
Jul '10
Re: Lookin' Good. Real Good.
Scott Reusser: November people. November.
Back to Barbour...That accent grows on one rather quickly. "The political clah-mate back in two thousand nahn..." He's totally likeable, and an alpha male, bigtime. · Aug 31 at 6:36pm
Absolutely.
May '10
Re: Lookin' Good. Real Good.
I loved listening to him speak :) If all of America could hear Gov. Barbour on healthcare, no amount of "reeducation" by HHS's secretary Sebelius could sway them!
May '10
Re: Lookin' Good. Real Good.
It's not about the humor. You must understand, Kenneth, too many people take unwarranted potshots at folks like Governor Barbour and the Palins. We don't need to do that to our own.
May '10
Re: Lookin' Good. Real Good.
Kenneth, I think you and I might share the same problem: In the non-cyber world, 99% of our humor is deadpan, which is very hard to convey in print at times. It's gotten me into trouble 1, 2, or 10 times as well.
Or maybe you're just a jerk.
(Now, to be safe, I probably should've put one of those smiley emoticons after "jerk," but I'm gonna take my chances.)
Jul '10
Re: Lookin' Good. Real Good.
Scott Reusser: Kenneth, I think you and I might share the same problem: In the non-cyber world, 99% of our humor is deadpan, which is very hard to convey in print at times. It's gotten me into trouble 1, 2, or 10 times as well.
Or maybe you're just a jerk.
(Now, to be safe, I probably should've put one of those smiley emoticons after "jerk," but I'm gonna take my chances.) · Aug 31 at 7:08pm
Thanks, Scott.
I just asked an impartial observer - holding out a tasty treat, I inquired, of my bull terrier, "Fluffy, am I a jerk?"
She wagged her tail, which I take to mean, "No, you're not a jerk, just sometimes your humor goes over people's heads."
Good dog.
May '10
Re: Lookin' Good. Real Good.
I'm really enjoying the Haley Barbour interview. He is delightful. Love the accent. Some of the most fun in American politics is to get to know figures that are from someplace, as you said Peter. I'm trying to learn about the South's transition from Democrat to Republican, also.
Edited on Aug 31, 2010 at 7:59pmMay '10
Re: Lookin' Good. Real Good.
Just as I thought, Kenneth.
And EJ, I share your impulse to leap to the defense of Palin, but I don't have that same impulse with Gov. Barbour. That speaks well for him, I think. It's that alpha dog thing, you know? He just exudes confidence, competence, and strength, which makes it impossible for the "country bumpkin" attacks to get traction. No worries, with him. Ahhhh.
Jun '10
Re: Lookin' Good. Real Good.
I, too, love, positively love the accent. The problem, of course, is that politics has become so white-bread, so focus-group-tested that a clearly savvvy politician such as Mr. Barbour, is forced into an uphill battle when seeking national office for no other reason than he speaks with an accent. The world has overcome skin colour as a political impediment and glory be we're now onto accents. Maybe we can just get a bunch of clean speaking Canadians to run America, they might all be idiots, but at least they'd sound good on television. Which reminds me of a Canadian politician whose thick French-Canadian accent all but disappeared when he was on the golf course or meeting one on one with les Anglais. This is one of those times when I just hate the stupidity we call politics!
May '10
Re: Lookin' Good. Real Good.
What really comes out in today's part of this interview (Chapter 3) is how much easier it is for a leader like Obama to harm the nation than it is for a leader like Reagan to help. A nation can get into debt quicker and easier than it can strengthen its economy with sound actions. A nation can damage its alliances more quickly than it can establish or repair them.
Frankly, it's a reflection of the basic truth for individual human beings that the right path is usually the more difficult one. If that's the case on the national scale, then conservatism cannot win control over America's direction if we merely alternate between conservatives and progressives in equal power. Conservative politics must dominate, in both force and duration, or else all we will do is slow America's slide into the ditch.