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And to paraphrase Jackie Mason, did you ever hear of a kid playing politician -- even if he wanted to be one?

Jackie, an ex-rabbi, also said this: "By these things examine thyself. By whose rules am I acting; in whose name; in whose strength; in whose glory? What faith, humility, self-denial, and love of God and to man have there been in all my actions?"

When bill clinton offered up his "ethnic joke" non sequitur, unsolicited, to the New York Daily News in an attempt to save his ethnic-slurring wife's candidacy, he doubtless never imagined that it would be an ethnic joke by the wife (and to the press and about Gandhi, no less) that would expose clinton racism to anyone who would listen.
If the purpose of the call to the New York Daily News was single-minded -- to save the wife from certain defeat -- (missus clinton's "f---ing Jew bastard" ethnic slur was not going over well with the crucial Jewish vote) -- the purpose of the non sequitur was twofold -- (1) to recast the wife's vicious anti-Semitic slur as a (relatively) common, (relatively) benign "ethnic joke" and (2) to argue implicitly (if fallaciously) that if the wife is viscerally unable to tell an ethnic joke, the wife is viscerally unable to utter a vicious anti-Semitic slur. Casuistry in the service of clinton revisionism....
To those who say that the only thing this Gandhi "joke" confirms is that the wife is a poor comedian, that everybody ought to lighten up, I say, "wrong," (although it does confirm that the wife is no Jackie Mason, whose timing and judgment are impeccable, who manages to use ethnic humor with a certain benign benevolence and intelligence, Ed Sullivan notwithstanding).
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Never the Twain Shall Meet
Does hillary clinton do ethnic jokes and slurs or doesn't she?
by Mia T, 1.06.04

"She might have called him a bastard. I wouldn't rule that out. She's never claimed that she was pure on profanity. But I've never heard her tell a joke with an ethnic connotation. She's so fanatic about it. She can't tell an ethnic joke. It's not in her."
Bill Clinton, in a call to the New York Daily News 17 July 2000

THE VOUCHER RANT OF MISS HILLARY:
WHY THE WHIFF OF RACISM EXCEEDS THE WORDS

HILLARY CLINTON, DANGEROUS DEMAGOGUE
WHAT IS HER VOUCHER RANT REALLY ABOUT ANYWAY?
AFTERWORD
by 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten, Mia T, 03.02.06

omething had been bothering me ever since I first heard miss hillary's voucher rant. The whiff of racism was undeniable, but it seemed to exceed the actual words.
Well, FReeper 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten has nailed it.
Miss-hillary-of-the-plantation delivered her rant in the form and cadence of an ethnic joke. (And we all know that hillary clinton has had considerable practice doing ethnic jokes.... And slurs.)

What's going on here is somewhat clear to me.

First of all I have a liberal aunt/uncle pair who have been in education as well as other liberal causes their entire lives. I can vividly recall being in their house about 3 years ago or so, and they made this exact argument to me i.e. we can't have vouchers because they might be used to send someone to a KKK school or whatever. So this "argument" has clearly been floating around in education circles for a reasonably long period of time and is probably routinely pulled out and dusted off when need be. Missus clinton probably heard this argument and decided to use it making it sound like she had thought it up.

What is more curious to me is her delivery. It is told in the exact same format as you might tell an ethnic joke. If you go back an listen, some of the internal cadences resemble an ethnic joke. She's making a policy argument but the rhythm, the cadences, the sonata form is as if she were saying "Catholic, Jew, White Supremacist and Jihadist walk into a bar".

Usally these jokes are told with 3 examples, the first two for the setup, and the last one for the punchline. In her case she has 2 setup and 2 punchline. Which has its own disconcerting effect as we're not used to 2 punchlines!

[NOTE: Two punchlines because missus clinton has two target demographic groups--blacks and white women.-- Mia T]

But again, this is yet another demonstration of her political tone deafness--this is not the cadence of political speech-- this is the cadence of someone telling a bad ethnic joke and one in which the audience just wishes they were somewhere else.

One gets the feeling that she tells a lot of these jokes, tells them poorly, but woe be unto Those Who Will Not Laugh.

You vill hear ze joke and you vill like it, jah?

posted on 02/26/2006 11:48:27 PM EST by 2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten

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