Sometimes, all you have to do is hand a person a shovel, and they'll happily dig a hole even deeper for themselves.
I thought that my piece yesterday about Rudolph Giuliani (R-NY) claiming that President Barack Obama didn't love America would be my last word on the subject, at least until it became a political issue during the next election. But by gum, there the former NYC mayor was, dig, dig, digging away, in an interview with the New York Times. "Some people thought it was racist," Mr. Giuliani told the paper, scoffing at such a thing, " I thought that was a joke, since he was brought up by a white mother, a white grandfather, went to white schools, and most of this he learned from white people," Yes, you read that right. According to Rudolph Giuliani, Barack Obama is actually white! Just think -- all that hatred that has built up in the far right of the Republican Party for the past six years, all those racist jokes, the racist cartoons...they were all for naught!!! The racists and the Tea Party corporations have nothing to worry about, they can sleep easy tonight -- according to Rudolph Giuliani, we don't have a black president after all. Unfortunately, there's that whole pesky concept of realty that has to kick in, which makes this problematic for the former mayor. We can break down his statement into two parts, the direct and in-direct. Let's look at the latter first. That's where Mr. Giuliani points out that Mr. Obama was brought up by a white grandfather, went to white schools, and most of this he learned from white people. For starters, if this is what makes a person white, then there are a whole lot of adopted black kids today who just got removed from the rolls of the protected classes. And will now have an easier time getting a job. And a taxi. But more problematic for Rudolph Giuliani is...well, his own words. If you'll recall, one of his slams against Mr. Obama as proof for the President not loving America was when Mr. Giuliani told that roomful of potential rich right-wing investors -- "He wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up through love of this country." Well, sorry, if Mr. Giuliani wants to defend himself as not having made a racist statement because Barack Obama was brought up by a white grandfather, went to white schools and learned everything from white people (and let's even add back in, "brought up by a white mother")...then he was EXACTLY brought up the exact same way every one of those white people in the room were. And had the same noble, wonderful, patriotic "I heart America" values as them all. Unless, of course, it turns out that Mr. Giuliani was actually addressing a roomful of black people -- and he himself is black. In which case, no wonder Republicans didn't vote for him when he ran for president. But I think we can safely presume that none of that is the case. Which means that Republicans didn't vote for Rudolph Giuliani for President in such crushing numbers that he dropped out of the race almost immediately after his first primary simply because they thought he wouldn't do a good job. So now, let's go to the other part of his "defense." That direct parental evidence. That Barack Obama was "brought up by a white mother." Fair enough. He was. Not only brought up by, but born to. However, as much as I know that so many Republicans today don't like to believe in science, I have to trust in my heart that even they grasp the concept that it takes two people to make a baby. And since the mother is accounted for, that leaves -- well, y'know, the Kenyan. It's shocking that Rudolph Giuliani would leave that part out, the father, since Republicans have been so aggressively shouting it from the rafters for the past seven years. The only other alternative, of course, is that what he meant to suggest is the President's mother had a virgin birth. Which would make Barack Obama not the devil at all, but rather...yipes!!! Okay, I think we can safely say that no one believes a word of what Rudolph Giuliani said in his own defense, including Rudolph Giuliani, and that includes dyed-in-the-wool racists, because believing it, that Barack Obama was white, would take away their meaning for living over the past seven years. The only good thing that came from Mr. Giuliani's bizarrely pathetic defense is that it explained why he was a prosecuting attorney, and not a defense lawyer. By the way, the odd thing about all this is that it's pretty much secondary whether or not his now-infamous comments about President Obama are racist or not. That was never my first thought when I first heard them. It was that they were pathetic, shameless, pandering, demeaning and idiotic. Racist is almost an afterthought. If only Rudolph Giuliani had learned the lesson from the Father of the Republican Party. As Abraham Lincoln said, "Better to be thought a fool and remain silent, than to speak and remove all doubt."
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The other day, I mentioned the lyricist Carolyn Leigh and had a video of her appearance on What's My Line? I noted some of her famous Broadway shows and pop hits, and one song called "Pass Me By." Though it's not remotely as well-known today as her best-known standards, it actually had some pop success and was a hit by Peggy Lee. It came from the 1965 movie, Father Goose, that starred Cary Grant and Leslie Caron. It's sort of an odd little song to have become a hit, and especially to have been recorded by Peggy Lee. The tune is very simple, by Cy Coleman, and Carolyn Leigh's lyrics are brief and tend to get repeated. But it's very infectious, and a song I always loved as a kid. (For that matter, Frank Sinatra recorded the song, as well.) I thought it would be fun to post two versions here. Peggy Lee's recording, as I said, is the one that's best known, but here it is from the movie, in the opening title sequence. The movie takes place during WWII, and it's being played over the tinny radio, so the style is set to fit that era. The singer is Digby Wolfe. By the way, you'll note in the credits that the movie is directed by Ralph Nelson. Father Goose was reasonably successful, but he directed an even more gem of a movie the year before -- Lilies of the Field, for which famously Sidney Poitier became the first black man to win Best Actor. And one other note: the film of Father Goose was written by Peter Stone and Frank Tarloff -- both had long careers, but Stone is particular has been well-represented on these pages as the writer of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical (and its film adaptation), 1776, But this is about Carolyn Leigh, so let's not let her pass us by... And then, just so's you can hear the song in its richer, and far-better arranged version, here's the pop hit recording by Peggy Lee. "I do not believe, and I know this is a horrible thing to say, but I do not believe that the president loves America,"
-- Rudy Giuliani (R-NY), speaking about President Barack Obama While Mr. Giuliani shocked most of America with his statement -- though, to be clear, the shock was to discover that remarkably he could utter a sentence without using the phrase, "9/11" -- what may be most interesting is that the White House agreed with him. When asked for a comment, Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz replied that, yes, "It was a horrible thing to say." Although Mr. Giuliani's single sentence has gotten the most attention from a private dinner (read, "fundraiser") in New York for Gov. Scott Walker (R-WI), the former New York City mayor continued with additional thoughts. "He doesn't love you. And he doesn't love me. He wasn't brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up through love of this country." Surprisingly, to be fair, much of these latter comments might actually be true. Since Barack Obama, who is black, if you hadn't heard, was raised by a single white mother and white grandparents, it's most probable that the love with which he was brought up isn't remotely the same as any of the wealthy white Republicans in that room. Further, given how off-the-wall desperate Mr. Giuliani has been ever since his own presidential hopes collapsed seven years ago faster than an Olympic sprinter, and the once-thoughtful Republican has seemingly lost all thoughts except pit-bull attacks against the president, it's quite possible that President Obama does not love him. And given how much the far-right in general has attacked the President as a Kenyan Nazi terrorist socialist, it's not unreasonable to think that, since they well might have made up the bulk of that room, Mr. Obama might not particularly love them much either. Other than that, though, it was all just pretty sad. But despite all the attention and widespread criticism Mr. Giuliani's comments got, they really don't amount to much on their own. After all, what the former New York City mayor thinks doesn't amount to much in today's world. These days, what Rudy Giuliani says are largely empty words in a near-empty space, desperate for attention along the lines of a Kardashian. He has long-since established his bona fides as becoming a sad figure on the public stage. As such, his words weren't even remotely the most-sad thing about the affair. It's that the guest of honor Gov. Walker himself was asked about what Rudolph Giuliani had said, and this man who wants to be leader of the free world and Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Armed Forces was too cowardly to offer a comment. (We now have a pattern. Apparently, Scott Walker's default answer to all questions he doesn't like is to "punt" on them.) And Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) -- who also wants to come President of the entire United States -- was later asked his thoughts, as well, and he chimed in that the "gist" of what former Mayor Giuliani said "was true." Still, at least he answered. Alas, no one bothered to ask him what part of the "gist" he was referring to. Perhaps Mr. Jindal believes what's true is that Rudy Giuliani does not believe the President loves America. (Worse, Bobby Jindal followed-up later and went even further, which one would have thought impossible. He said, "I hate to say this, but we have a president right now who is not qualified to be our Commander-in-Chief.” Note to Bobby Jindal: Barack Obama has in fact been Commander-in-Chief for six years, so his qualifications for the job are pretty well established. If one doesn't like the job he's doing, that's personal choice. But qualified for it at this point? That train has long-since left the station. But at least I can understand why Mr. Jindal would hate to say it, For all the national criticism, one would think that all the other Republican candidates for the high post of President of the United States would have been absolutely thrilled to jump on their opponents for such thoughtless, obvious gaffes. But all we got was silence. Nothing from Rand Paul (R-KY, nothing from Ted Cruz (R-TX), nothing from Chris Christie (R-NJ), nothing from Jeb Bush (R-FL), nothing from...well, okay, who cares what Ben Carson (R-who knows?) has to say, but he was still silent, too. In fact, there has been only one GOP contender, Marco Rubio (R-FL), who contradicted Mr. Giuliani, saying that there was "no doubt" Barack Obama loved America. Well, gee, ya think? That's the sad thing about all this. And it's not what Rudolph Giuliani yammers. It's that the state of the Republican Party today is such that candidates for President of the United States (!!!) are virtually required to not dare refute it. And are too frightened to. The sad thing is that today's far-right GOP, so accustomed to living in the past, where blacks knew their place, and no black person could become President, still think it makes sense to attack Barack Obama for being "different," just like they did seven years ago when he was "that one," running for the office and largely unknown to the public. They haven't grasped that that ship has long since sailed -- the American public not only knows who Barack Obama is, they've figured out that they twice elected him President of the United States. And still, the far right base thinks they can rile the base by claiming he doesn't love America, like they did when they jumped on Barack and Michelle Obama seven years ago for giving a supposed "terrorist fist bump." The far right base so hates that this black man is in office that they're willing to be blind that his approval ratings has been going up, above 50%, because the American public sees that unemployment has dropped all the way to 5.8% -- the lowest unemployment has been in nearly seven years since the economy collapsed under George W. Bush. And because jobs have increased for 53 consecutive months. And the budget deficit has plummeted a billion dollars, now at $486 billion, down from $1.4 trillion the year President Obama took office. And because polls show that the vast majority of the public is very satisfied with their health care under Mr. Obama's Affordable Care Act. But still, the far-right GOP thinks they can gain support by claiming that the President of the United States doesn't love America. And GOP candidates for President think they'll lose the nomination if they simply disagree and say instead that, no, they believe Mr. Obama loves America. That's what comes from spending seven years trying to convince their base that Barack Obama is the agent of the devil. You dig a deep hole, you have to lie in it. (By the way, consider this about how bad it is in today's GOP: these silent Presidential candidates don't even believe they could get away in their party saying something as "thoughtful" as -- Barack Obama has done a horrible, divisive, disastrous, pathetic job that has so crushingly hurt the country, and while, no, he loves America, he just doesn't have a clue how to govern and is totally, deeply incompetent. Apparently, saying that would be deemed too positive and lose support of The Base.) Hey, they don't call it "base" for nothing... And by the way, lost in all this is the reality that...Barack Obama isn't running for President! Saying he didn't love America was a horrific argument when he was running and unknown, but now?? Seriously, what's the point? To rile that base against him?? Guys, if the GOP far-right base doesn't think the worst of Barack Obama by now, you haven't been doing your job. And in the end, that's why -- pathetic as the GOP response has been to Mr. Giuliani's silly, silly, sad statement -- I think the statement and silence (and support of it) is the best thing for the Democratic Party. And destructive for the Republican Party. Because the question will get raised in the general election about why the candidate had been silent before, and wondering if that showed a lack of leadership? And the 92% of Americans who know the President obviously loves America and don't have to give it a second thought -- and all those who are okay with the direction the country is going -- are going to be appalled at such craven, racist attacks and cowardly response. Just like Bill Clinton's approval ratings soared when the GOP impeached him, and the fate of the Democrats rose with him in the next election. In the words of another great Republican, "Bring it on." The other day I had a video of Robert Goulet singing in a tribute to Lerner & Loewe along with Julie Andrews and Joel Grey. I thought it would be nice to follow-up with this. It's a rare treat in several ways. This first is that it comes from a black&white episode of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, in 1965. So many of those recordings are lost. In fact, this is from the days when Skitch Henderson was the band leader. (You hear him referred to.) Also, Robert Goulet sings a song from a show by Alan Jay Lerner that hasn't opened yet, On a Clear Day You Can See Forever. (Not written with Frederick Loewe, who had retired by that point, but with composer Burton Lane, who had written Finian's Rainbow.) In some ways, the performance looks impromptu, since he says on the couch and sips water ahead of time to wet his throat. He's prompted by this then-wife Carol Lawrence, who was the original Maria in West Side Story. But since the band plays a lead-in and arranged version, I suspect there was a rehearsal, though it may have been left uncertain whether he would sing. But the biggest rarity may be that Goulet gets Johnny Carson to sing a duet with him. Carson rarely sang, and then only a few bars, but this is a full number. It doesn't appear prepared for several reason, including that it takes him a long while to join in, and he seems awkward -- though he does a perfectly nice job. Interest to note too that although the clip includes Goulet's first wife, it was posted here by his later (and last) wife, Vera. Hat's off to her. (I got to meet Vera Goulet when I was the unit publicist on Naked Gun 2-1/2, and Robert Goulet co-starred as the bad guy. He seemed a nice enough guy, a little bit into himself, but personable enough, with a good sense of humor about himself. I think I've told a few stories about that previously. A good result of all that is that I was able to get him to sign a couple of cast albums to me -- one for Camelot, and the other for a moderate show by Kander & Ebb, The Happy Time, for which he won the Tony Award as best actor. I remember when he saw the album, his eyes popped and he said, "Good Lord, I haven't seen this album in ages.") I saw this on Mark Evanier's website, and it's just too clever and far too appropriate this morning not to post here, as well. If you haven't seen the Oscar-winning Best Picture Birdman, this won't mean nearly as much as for those who have seen the film. But it will still has its funny moments. This is Carroll Spinney with his alter ego of 45 years, Big Bird -- in BigBirdman. Here's another of our Mystery Guest segments from What's My Line? -- and it's a particularly appropriate one and well-timed. Earlier, I posted my annual article about Edward G. Robinson, and in this video below...he's the Mystery Guest! This is the entire show, so if you just want to see the good fellow, jump to the 17:10 mark. But... You might want to watch more than just the Mystery Guest here. That's because the first guest is a woman named Carolyn Cunningham. Although she's not the Mystery Guest, she almost could be. She's not famous enough, but her work is. (Actually, she's famous enough that one of the panelists thinks he knows who she is and disqualifies himself. And he's right.) Carolyn Cunningham turns out to be her married name. She worked under her maiden name, Carolyn Leigh. That still probably doesn't mean anything to most people, though to some they've just sat up and said, "Yipes!" Carolyn Leigh is one of the great lyricists in Broadway history -- and probably the second greatest female lyricist after Dorothy Fields (at least up to that time), but arguably still), in such a male dominated field. She's also one of the least-known of the great lyricists. Among her many works, she wrote many of the songs to Peter Pan (like, "I Won't Grow Up" and "I Gotta Crow"), the score to Little Me (for which I just played two songs on Valentine's Day, including "Real Live Girl"), Lucille Ball's Broadway debut in Wildcat (with the still-popular, "Hey, Look Me Over), and "How Now, Dow Jones" that had the breakout song, "Step to the Rear," which I've posted here. She also wrote quite a few hugely popular standalone pop songs -- like, "Young at Heart," "The Best is Yet to Come," and "Witchcraft." And her song "Pass Me By" from the Cary Grant-Leslie Caron movie Father Goose, written with composer Cy Coleman (her most-frequent collaborator) was a hit for Peggy Lee. Unfortunately, one of the reasons she's not as well-known as she should be is that she passed away at the age of only 57. But that only makes her credentials all the more impressive. So, here then is both Edward G. Robinson and Carolyn Leigh Cunningham.. |
AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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