Death of a Salesman
Jun 29th, 2005 at 7:37 am by Susie
The man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want.
- Willie Loman, “Death of a Salesman”
Digby was right, and then some. It was the oddest sense of deja vu, because so many of the lines were stolen outright from Nixon’s famous “peace with honor” speech. (I’m too tired and hung over to look them all up. You’ll have to take my word for it.) UPDATE: Here’s the link. Read it yourself.
For the first time ever, I had a positive experience watching a Bush speech, because I was with the Liberal Drinkers at Tangier and every time Bubble Boy said a familiar line, I’d yell, “Nixon!” and everyone would drink.
When he talked about what a honorable career it was to serve in the military, we started chanting: “Send… the… twins! Send… the… twins!”
Since Digby was apparently sober through the whole sorry mess and watching the Democrats on CNN, I’ll just quote him:
Is anybody watching Joe Biden saying that the president has leveled with the American people tonight (as opposed to Cheney and Rummy) and he hopes that it has bought him some time? Nice. Paula Zahn has been very skeptical of the speech, particularly all the 9/11 talk, but Joe very helpfully told her that Bush really did a pretty good job and that hopefully he’ll now have the time to fix the problems in Iraq. He was actually more supportive than David Gergen who was personally “offended” by the evocation of 9/11 but made the political judgment that it would work.
Begala says he made progress on the question of credibility. But by the same token it was probably not so good to evoke 9/11 so much since it had nothing to do with Iraq. It’s a good thing for Democrats to support our commander in chief, though. But we do have a few questions.
Democrats are so helpful to the president. They’re still stinking traitors and all, but they are very nice people. They’ve managed to convince Blitzer and Zahn that their own reactions to the speech were too harsh.
It’s all about sales, and the Democrats are so fucking bad at it. (They consider it beneath them. “We have superior ideas, why should we have to resort to trickery?” Morons.)
Remember when I said it’s a rule of sales not to explain to your prospect why they don’t want to buy? I swear, every Democratic politician (except Howard Dean, who could teach the thing) should take sales training. They’re convinced having a good product is enough.
It isn’t.
The only saving grace is, George Bush is in the biggest sales slump of his career. People just don’t want to buy what he’s selling. The sheen of nervous sweat on the upper lip, the tic under his right eye…
I’ve had just about enough Joe Biden. When will Dems learn that the way to win ratings for your cable news network and the way to get elected to national office are in fact different ways. Being a right wing apologist may get you the viewership of drooling wingnuts and (amazingly) liberals looking for something to vent over, but this pansy-ass pandering to the right does nothing for your election chances. When are these guys going to realize that people don’t vote for weakness? Even when they agree with the weakness!!!
OK, Biden is a waste of oxygen. This man has no integrity. Yet he is the poster boy for the problem with Demos specifically, and government in general. He is a shameless opportunist who believes his own spin.
Here is a challenge for conservatives and liberals: What individual (party does not matter) do you think has the integrity, character, honesty, intelligence, and balls to lead this country?
Personally, I can’t think of anyone who I would give the keys to run the country. Both parties have no idea of what they believe and have obvious disdain for the their constituencies. Both pander to special interests to the detriment of the majority.
It’s getting more and more tedious to listen to the so-called ‘pundits’ on both sides; it makes your head hurt.
“George Bush is in the biggest sales slump of his career. People just don’t want to buy what he’s selling. The sheen of nervous sweat on the upper lip, the tic under his right eye…”
I told my husband when he got home after the speech that Bush seemed in the “throes” of an anxiety attack. He’s scared, all right — and did anyone notice at the very, very end that he appeared to have tears in his eyes, and his lip was trembling?
There is no product good enough. If there were, you wouldn’t be able to tell the prospect why not to buy without lying.
I still can’t believe how much we hammered on reversing tax cuts during the campaign. Yeah, those of us paying attention and doing the math understand the implications, but on face value, tax cuts are a good thing. As a tech writer, I’ve learned a rule that applies to everything but advanced art and literature: NEVER MAKE THEM THINK. Yes, if you think about it, a tax cut means a tax increase or a spending cut somewhere else. But if you don’t think about it too much, a tax cut means more money for somebody - maybe me.
“What individual (party does not matter) do you think has the integrity, character, honesty, intelligence, and balls to lead this country?”
I’m a big fan of Russ Feingold, but that may just be my Wisconsin chauvanism talking.
I remember a Tom Toles cartoon during the 04 election that was a campaign poster to Joe Lieberwimp. It said basically Joe Lieberwuss for President Bush. I think Bidens name would fit in there.
Biden for Presisdent? Of what? MBNA?
Perhaps someone could write a book about Senator Credit Card entitled, “What’s The Matter With Joe Biden”