House of Eratosthenes

“It was also nice to meet Obama and find him very different from the media makeout,” Haggard told the magazine. “It’s really almost criminal what they do with our president. There seems to be no shame or anything. They call him all kinds of names all day long, saying he’s doing certain things that he’s not. It’s just a big old political game that I don’t want to be part of. There are people spending their lives putting him down. I’m sure some of it’s true and some of it’s not. I was very surprised to find the man very humble and he had a nice handshake. His wife was very cordial to the guests and especially me. They made a special effort to make me feel welcome. It was not at all the way the media described him to be.”

But the most interesting comment appeared to be a back-handed compliment. When asked about Obama’s biggest misconception, Haggard, 73, said, “He’s not conceited. He’s very humble about being the president of the United States, especially in comparison to some presidents we’ve had who come across like they don’t need anybody’s help. I think he knows he’s in over his head. Anybody with any sense who takes that job and thinks they can handle it must be an idiot.”

Well yes, Barack Obama is nothing if not humble. That’s what He said, isn’t it?

“This was the moment when the rise of the oceans began to slow and our planet began to heal.” What a difference two years makes! Now, when the time comes to find some compliments to toss in Chairman Zero’s direction, it’s something like He has a nice handshake and He must know He’s in over His head.

I guess we’re still waiting for the moment when those oceans are going to start receding. Blub blub.

Love him or hate him, if you want to see humility in a president look no further than Bush 43.

Some people don’t recognize it when they see it, that’s all. To them, humility means to take and act on the advice they like. Anything else is, of course by definition “arrogance”.

Bush came to serve in it. Obama came to use it to “fundamentally transform” the nation. Sea-rise slowing and planet healing and all.
- philmon | 12/30/2010 @ 08:28
Didn’t know much about the Dixie Chicks before they publicly spewed their crap in Europe, then I just resolved to never pay any more attention to the matter, but I did notice a lot of fans trashing CDs and getting refunded on concert tickets.

I have to wonder if the same thing is going to happen with Merle Haggard now. I suppose all that hangin’ with Willie and heavy drinking and marijuana smoking just took its toll.

Entertainers. If that’s all you understand, please just shut up and stick to entertaining. That is all.
- Moshe Ben-David | 12/30/2010 @ 14:45
I’m not a big country music fan, but I did actually kind of like the Chixie Dicks up to the point where they trashed the president in a foreign country. And they’d just put out what I’d’ve called their best album to that point. I haven’t listened to any of their stuff since that day.

And I totally missed that it was Merle Haggard we were talking about here.

I’ll say this: there are lots of people who have a nice handshake and I’d have a beer with whom I strongly disagree with politically.

But we’d probably stay away from politics 🙂
- philmon | 12/30/2010 @ 18:27
But we’d probably stay away from politics 🙂

Heh. But you wouldn’t have ANYTHING to talk about with some folks, would ya? 🙂

Seriously, tho… my lib friends and I avoid politics. We both know where the other stands and we’re not gonna change each others’ minds. There have been times, however, when I’m among a gaggle of them and they feel a need to gang up on me. That’s when the ol’ tried and true “Time OUT!” comes into play and they regain their senses (I use that term loosely, of course).
- bpenni | 12/31/2010 @ 13:18
…and they feel a need to gang up on me.

You know, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to move past that. I know too much by now. The liberalism is inextricably connected to the immaturity, the regression back to middle-school-level ideas of “friendship”…the “isn’t it wonderful the four of us are exactly the same, and this right-wing nutjob over here is different?” I’ve seen them take it all the way, and then some, and naturally when it was all over I had to pay a steep price for it, the others had to pay a price too although it wasn’t as high…and it wasn’t anybody’s fault. Oh, maybe mine. For not pulling your “change of subject, we all have work to do” thing…but I can pretty well guarantee I would have been on the outs if I tried that.

The lesson I got from it was Thing I Know #324. If they keep coming back to pick on the same guy every time, like a dog licking its balls, I’m sorry I don’t see that as good-natured anymore. Like I said, I know better.

Liberals cannot handle the world they are trying to build. It all comes down to that. Mutual respect…equal footing…feh. They wouldn’t be able to hack it. Too many suns set since the last time they established how wonderful and glorious they are compared to somebody else, and they get all edgy.

You and I just have to agree to disagree here, m’friend. Liberalism versus conservatism is a matter of maturity, a matter of figuring out what works with what. It is NOT a matter of rooting for Lakers versus Chargers, or latex versus oil-based, or wine-or-beer or beef-or-fish. It’s functioning in a world of grown-ups versus functioning in seventh grade…and if anybody wants to sell me on the “we’re just teasing you because we’re such good friends,” it’s going to be a tough enough sell that it won’t be worth it. If they’re really my friends they do not want me looking at ’em the same way I look at the last guy who pulled that shit.
- mkfreeberg | 12/31/2010 @ 16:56
What “media” exactly is Haggard referring to? “There seems to be no shame or anything. They call him all kinds of names all day long, saying he’s doing certain things that he’s not. It’s just a big old political game that I don’t want to be part of. There are people spending their lives putting him down.” What planet has this guy been living on? Has he never listened to Chris “Tingle” Matthews? Is he one of these mind-numbed nitwits over on the Far Left who rails against the “corporate media?” Some of them actually think the MSM has a conservative bias!

Haggard does have ONE thing right: “It’s really almost criminal what they do with our president.” I have never seen a media with its lips THIS firmly planted on his ass. THAT is “almost criminal.” It keeps them from reporting objectively on the president’s doings, appointments, proposals, or laws he’s helped pass.

Shaking my head in utter disgust and disbelief over here. Just…astounding comments. From someone who really ought to know better.
- cylarz | 01/03/2011 @ 01:48

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“Nice Handshake”Thursday, December 30th, 2010

“Nice Handshake”
Thursday, December 30th, 2010