This business is pretty cool. Somewhere between a dog whistle to the kids and a reverse Sister Souljah. Check out Obama at 2:20:
And now Jay-Z:
Good stuff, thought I guess rap scold Douthat wouldn't approve.
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Dirt off Your Shoulder
17 Apr 2008 05:24 pm
Comments (127)
here's one obama/jay-z mash from a month ago -- pretty good, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtWQWuDdkEY
here's one obama/jay-z quasi-mash from a month ago -- pretty good, too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtWQWuDdkEY
Hey, I'm old enough to have attended Run/DMC shows, and had fun, but man I'm really a fogey, or just haven't heard/seen enough new stuff. It seems to me that rap is about where rock music eventually arrived at; almost everything is terribly derivative and boring. It reminds me of hair bands and power ballads in the eighties.
I'm really thread jacking now, but has video harmed musical artistry?
On topic, if the Obama campaign think they are going to get important numbers of votes out of Jay-Z references, they are probably mistaken. Geezers and near geezers is still where things are won and lost.
Isn't this probably one of those things where Jay-Z started saying it because the saying was already on the street?
And approximately t minus 2 seconds before Obama is called upon to defend his association with that scary rap music, which is made by musicians who clearly don't love America and may not even wear flag lapel pins.
"I am rubber, you are glue. Whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you."?
They guy isn't just Teflon, he's made of Super Ball.
Are we electing a President or a cool older brother?
With true dogwhistles, though, there's no downside, so you might as well pick up every marginally additional voter available.
That is hilarious, however I don't think Jay-Z has the corner on "brush it off" by a long shot.
Now if Obama said he had 99 problems, THEN he would be in trouble :D
"Are we electing a President or a cool older brother?"
No, no, we're electing a "hip black friend." Didn't you get the Clinton campaign memo?
Got a point there, Phil.
Are we electing a President or a cool older brother?
Neither, we are electing somebody to run the nightime phone answering service.
Yeah, this works no matter what. For me, a middle aged, severely un-cool white woman, who was utterly clueless about the Jay-Z reference it worked great as simply "brushing the dirt off my shoulders" (and then did he bend down to mimic scraping dog poop off his shoes? or was he just brushing off his pants leg??)
I also love the huge (genuine not forced) smiles and interaction with this wonderfully feisty audience! This guy will make such a fantastic president, I can't wait.
Ballers have been doing that for years, way before Jay-Z popularized it.
And Obama is a baller.
Are we electing a President or a cool older brother?
When we look at Obama, we see who we want to be.
When we look at Clinton, we see who we are. And we're douchebags.
Obama smartly does the gesture in two parts. A more awkward/humorous right hand to right shoulder move followed by the more aggressive/dismissive right hand to left shoulder move.
He was way, way cooler than that. He mixed a Jay-Z dirt-off-the-shoulder reference with a Rolling Stones scrape-the-shit-right-off-your-shoes Sweet Virginia reference immediately afterward. Talk about a two-toned dog whistle!
Plus, if you're going to do a Stones reference, picking something off of Exile shows you know the good stuff.
When we look at Obama, we see who we want to be.
When we look at Clinton, we see who we are. And we're douchebags.
Best quote I've read in months. Beautiful, brother.
The double pop-cultural allusion. That's Obama--white & black. Cool & Cool.
This is a perfect example of why young people dig the dude. He just is just so comfortable in his own skin, and he just feels so much more "real" than any politician of the last decade. Oddly the only politico that comes close was the pre "get Hillary elected at all costs" Bill Clinton. BHO makes references to Jay-Z, McCain makes references to The Beach Boys (who are great, but just a TAD outdated), nuff said.
Not only is Senator Obama a closet Muslim, so is his pastor, Reverend Wright. Senator Obama is a Manchurian candidate.
New Republic: Reverend Wright was a Muslim turned Christian
By Israel Insider staff April 14, 2008
Chameleon presidential candidate Barack Obama appears to have something else in common with his mentor and spiritual inspiration, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. A recently uncovered article from a credible source indicates that Wright, like Obama, was a Muslim before he Christianized. A previously unnoticed 2007 report from a senior editor in the New Republic indicates that Wright was a "former Muslim." The report indicates that Wright's background was a factor in persuading Obama to join his church and thus improve his "street cred."
But that credibility may be wearing thin for a broader swatch of the American public as the evidence accumulates that Obama, like his mentor Wright, have been working overtime to suppress and deny their Muslim roots: in Obama's case hereditary, in Wright's an ideological adoption that reflected his rejection of mainstream, middle class values reflected by normative Christian belief in the United States.
Before he came across Wright, Obama had failed to succeed in his political organizing efforts, wrote Ryan Lizza, The New Republic senior editor. It turned out that part of the problem was that the son of the communist was not really much of a churchgoer:
"From Wright and others, Obama learned that part of his problem as an organizer was that he was trying to build a confederation of churches but wasn?t showing up in the pews on Sunday. When pastors asked him the inevitable questions about his own spiritual life, Obama would duck them uncomfortably. A Reverend Philips put the problem to him squarely when he learned that Obama didn?t attend services. "It might help your mission if you had a church home," he told Obama. "It doesn't matter where, really. What you're asking from pastors requires us to set aside some of our more priestly concerns in favor of prophesy. That requires a good deal of faith on our part. It makes us want to know just where you're getting yours from."
"After many lectures like this, Obama decided to take a second look at Wright's church. Older pastors warned him that Trinity was for 'Buppies'?black urban professionals -- and didn't have enough street cred. But Wright was a former Muslim and black nationalist who had studied at Howard and Chicago, and Trinity's guiding principles -- what the church calls the 'Black Value System' -- included a 'Disavowal of the Pursuit of Middleclassness.'
The crosscurrents appealed to Obama. He came to believe that the church could not only compensate for the limitations of Alinsky-style organizing but could help answer the nagging identity problem he had come to Chicago to solve. 'It was a powerful program, this cultural community,' he wrote, 'one more pliant than simple nationalism, more sustaining than my own brand of organizing.'"
It is not clear what the source of Lizza's knowledge about Wright's religious affiliation is. But if true, the revelation provides a valuable missing piece in our still sketchy knowledge of the motivations and calculations of Obama in choosing, of all people, a man like Wright to be his pastor and mentor. And why he refuses to disavow him, despite his vicious anti-American and anti-Israel comments.
For if both men were Muslims trying to realize their political ambitions, then Wright's Church provided a valuable shelter from prying questions about both men's religious and political loyalties. It would serve to whitewash their shared Muslim past, a secret both men have every reason to conceal, now more than ever.
i was at the "heart of the city tour" last night with mary j blige and jay z at the hollywood bowl. jay z set up a moving obama endorsement at the end of "minority report". the response from the crowd as you might imagine was huge...
Actually, I think Ross could get on board with the message of that song, about brushing off minor slights and claiming the moral high ground by rising above and refusing to retaliate with more insults or, worse, violence. And then there's the rejection of flashy rap materialism in "No chrome on the wheels / I'm a grownup for real."
Dirt Off Your Shoulder is actually a pretty Conservative song when you think about it.
SLC, do you have to post the bullshit you get from TNR and "Israel Insider staff" on every god damn thread? What the fuck does Obama channeling Jay-Z have any fucking thing to do with what religion he is? Are you an idiot?
have been working overtime to suppress and deny their Muslim roots: in Obama's case hereditary
When did they discover the Muslim gene? That is a serious case of retarded.
How is this any different from Bush saying "Let's roll"?
Woo, we have some comments like Jake's - an almost poetic stripping down to the heart of what this candidacy means.
And then SLC steps in. Is this guy even human? Or is this just some huge mainframe buried in a western mountain humming softly in the darkness?
I'm a Ron Paul fan, but I think SLC deserves a painful death. If anything, Obama is probably an atheist at heart. And I'm definitely cool with that.
Re Powerade
Yes.
Re Estrein
I post this stuff because it's only a sample of what Senator Obama can expect from the Rethuglican smear machine if and when he gets the nomination.
"When we look at Obama, we see who we want to be.
When we look at Clinton, we see who we are. And we're douchebags."
As much as the primary back-and-forth is wearing me out, that is straight-up hilarious.
Clinton: The woman right wing dictators and leaders of death squads the world over see as the sister they never had.*
*The Family (Christian political organization)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family_(Christian_political_organization)
Money Quotes:
The organization has been criticized for its relationships with dictators, including Brazilian dictator Marshal Artur da Costa e Silva, General Suharto of Indonesia, Salvadoran general Carlos Eugenios Vides Casanova, Honduran general Gustavo Alvarez Martinez [4], Siad Barre in Somalia [2]. More recently, Congress members of the "Family" have voted texts in favor of the Duvallier in Haiti [2] or of Park Chung-hee in South Korea [2].
In the 1930s, Vereide also recruited the antisemitic Merwin K. Hart, labelled by the FBI as a supporter of the US fascist movement [2]. Following World War II, Vereide visited prisoners camps in Germany, and recruited several former Nazis, such as the Gestapo's head in America, Ulrich von Geinath [2], Dr. Otto Fricke [2], a radio propaganda specialist of Joseph Goebbels' service [2], or Hermann J. Abs, "Hitler's banker" [2].
EXPOSÉ: THE “CHRISTIAN” MAFIA
http://www.insider-magazine.com/ChristianMafia.htm
Money Quotes:
Jersey City was a major base of operations for Ramzi Yousef, who masterminded the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, and Mohammed Atta and Marwan al Shehhi, who piloted two passenger jet liners into the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. This would not be the only connection between right-wing Nazis and radical Islamists. The Fellowship and Doug Coe reached out to the most radical elements in the Islamic world, including members of the Saudi royal elite who bankrolled Osama Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda followers. According to the Los Angeles Times, as early as 1979, Coe had a special relationship with the Saudis when he arranged a meeting between a Pentagon official and the Saudi Minister of Commerce. In 1988, Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Saud, read passages from the Koran at the National Prayer Breakfast. This was at a time the Afghan mujaheddin was coming under the radical influences of Saudi Wahhabis through the “good offices” of Osama bin Laden and other radicals. Coe and his Cedars members also kept in close touch with such Muslim leaders as Presidents Suharto and Megawati Sukarnaputri of Indonesia, General Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan, Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, Mohammed Siad Barre of Somalia (who offered Coe that he would convert to Christianity from Islam if he could be assured of U.S. weapons sales to combat aggression from Soviet-armed Ethiopia), Kuwaiti officials, and even Saddam Hussein. At the same time, Coe heaped praise on the “covenants” Bin Laden, as well as Hitler, established with their respective followers.
Eventually, the Fellowship would count some of the military’s top leaders among its members. They include former Joint Chiefs Chairman General David Jones, current Joint Chiefs chairman General Richard Myers, former Marine Corps Commandant and current NATO commander General James L. Jones, Iran-contra figure Marine Lt. Col. Oliver North, and, perhaps even more controversial than North, Army Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin, the military head of Defense Secretary Rumsfeld’s intelligence branch.
Jeff Sharlet’s Harper’s article provides a unique insight into the Fellowship’s thinking about sex perverts. Sharlet recounted a discussion Douglas Coe’s son, David, was having with one recruit named Beau at the Ivanwald compound. Coe asked Beau, “Beau, let’s say I hear you raped three little girls. And now here you are at Ivanwald. What would I think of you, Beau?” Embarrassed, Beau replied, “Probably that I’m pretty bad!” Coe responded, “No, Beau, I wouldn’t. Because I’m not here to judge you. That’s not my job. I’m here for only one thing.” Beau’s answer was, “Jesus!”
One of the more interesting affiliates of the Fellowship is Senator and former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY). A former “Goldwater Girl” in the 1964 presidential campaign, Mrs. Clinton seemed to have partially recovered some of her earlier conservative underpinnings. According to her autobiography, Living History, after her husband became president, Clinton paid a visit to a women’s meeting at the Cedars on February 24, 1993. Present were Susan Baker (wife of the first Bush’s Secretary of State, James Baker III), Grace Nelson (wife of Florida’s Bill Nelson), Joanne Kemp (wife of former HUD Secretary Jack Kemp), Linda LeSourd Lader (wife of Clinton ambassador to Britain and founder of the Renaissance Weekend Phil Lader – the Renaissance Weekend in Charleston, South Carolina is billed by Lader as a “spiritual” event[3]), and Holly Leachman of the Falls Church Episcopal Church (one of the churches taken over by the Fellowship). Leachman and her husband Jerry had been involved in 1997 with a Cleveland, Ohio Fellowship adjunct called the Family Forum. The Leachmans were interviewed by ABC’s Nightline on February 25, 2004. They extolled the virtues of Mel Gibson’s controversial film, The Passion of the Christ, along with other evangelicals, including some Jewish converts to Christianity.
Senator Clinton admits to having a continuing close relationship with Susan Baker, through Baker’s visits to Capitol Hill and the letters she and other Fellowship wives wrote her during the impeachment proceedings against President Clinton. Even Bill Clinton seemed to have been taken in by the Fellowship. In his autobiography, My Life, Clinton brags that he never missed a National Prayer Breakfast. In his autobiography, Bill Clinton erroneously writes that it was not until 2000 that Coe invited the first Jew, Senator Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), to speak at the breakfast. However, New York Mayor Ed Koch spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast in 1981 Senator Jacob Javits in 1984, and Arthur Burns in 1986.
Ironically, it was Susan Baker’s husband who served as the political fix-it man for Clinton’s Vice President Al Gore in delivering Florida’s 25 electoral votes to George W. Bush in 2000, costing Gore the White House. In fact, Senator Clinton wrote that all of her relationships with the Fellowship began with the luncheon she attended in 1993. In her biography, Senator Clinton writes of Douglas Coe, “[he] is a genuinely loving spiritual mentor . . . Doug Coe became a source of strength and friendship.” Of course, Clinton is referring to the period of time when her husband was being harassed by conservative Republicans out for blood – the Whitewater investigation and impeachment hearings brought about by what she called the “vast right-wing conspiracy” against her husband. It is amazing that Mrs. Clinton would have established such a trusting relationship with people who were the “vast right-wing conspiracy” that she complained about so vociferously.
Nevertheless, Mrs. Clinton remained close to Coe, who she invited to accompany her as a member of the U.S. delegation that attended Mother Theresa’s state funeral in Calcutta in 1997. Mother Theresa had spoken at Coe’s National Prayer Breakfast meeting in Washington in 1994. From that platform, Mother Theresa launched a verbal broadside against President Clinton’s pro-abortion policy.
Chiang Kai-Shek’s Nationalist Chinese government was also a supporter and remains one to this day. Every year, the Fellowship’s C Street Center receives a $10,000 check from the head of Taiwan’s mission in Washington. The Fellowship also established close links to Liberia’s autocratic President William Tubman. Today, Fellowship adherents are even found in the leftist government of Brazil’s President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva. Fijian dictator Sitiveni Rabuka is a Fellowship member. He also overthrew his nation’s democratically-elected government. In Canada, a Fellowship ally, the extreme conservative Stockwell Day of the Canadian Alliance, calls for the establishment of a Christian state. He wants to overturn the Canadian Supreme Court’s decision to legalize gay marriage, wants public funding of private religious schools, and outlaw abortion. Day hopes to one day become Canada’s Prime Minister. One Fellowship denomination in Toronto, the Toronto Airport Christian Fellowship, was expelled from its parent denomination, the Vineyard Churches of Anaheim, California. The parent body cited the Toronto church’s prayer and Scripture interpretation practices. Another one of those who the Fellowship counts as a friend is French far-right leader Jean Marie Le Pen. The French leader has created a firestorm of protests in France and elsewhere by claiming the Nazi occupiers of France were not so brutal and that the Nazis were not inhumane. It is the same rhetoric once espoused by Vereide, Buchman, and Gedat.
Uhm, your really really really really really r-e-a-c-h-i-n-g.
I think it's only a matter of time before SLC to tries to kill Obama just to show him what to expect from racist white radicals.
And Hack, that's just as lame as SLC's crap
perhaps he does this all the time, but check out right hand movement at 1:20.
perhaps it's not his words the crowd is cheering.
Geez, the "OH! ISN'T HE DREAMYYYY!!!" talk from the Obama groupies, and the predictable frenzied backlash from the anti-Obama nuts, is tiresome. Newsflash. He's a politician. He wants power and will lie to you to get it, and then use that power to force his opponents to submit to his will. He also appears to be an o.k. type, as far as that type goes. But he is that type, and is thus not to be trusted. But hate? C'mon, get a grip.
Re Richard Steven Hack
The author of the article that Mr. Hack posted is a man named Wayne Madsen, who, among other things is a 9/11 troofer. On his web site, he has, among other things accused former House Speaker Dennis Hastert of being gay. The bottom line is that Mr. Madsen is a total whackjob and is about as reliable a source of information as his counterparts on the right like Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly.
Oh, I so wish they could play "Dirt off Your Shoulder" at one of his events.
Ya well, I like it but I am wary of thinking this type of thing will benefit him beyond keeping the loyal base he already has donating and volunteering
When I was a teenybop all the cool guys with long hair in town could be found at the Gene McCarthy for president office, that didn't result in much success, even though the "youth vote" was quite motivated by a draft situation.
Bill Clinton went on Arsenio and played the sax with shades on, much more mainstream, with appeal to all age groups, and he could do that partly because Bush I had already made appearences at Atwater's blues band concerts, he just took that one step further and didn't go too far. Being an Elvis fan was both hickish in some ways and retro and acceptable by all. I think that did help some. (I think Huckabee's bass guitar performances helped him some the same way.)
I think it's dandy for the candidates to have awareness of pop culture but they have to be careful not to be too hip so as to be passing basically "secret messages" to one sub-culture segment of society. It has to be mass culture stuff to help. Excessive hipness is not a good idea in politics, mho. Hipness by its very nature is for a minority elite, when everyone accepts the theme, it's no longer hip. Hipsters don't elect presidents.
I believe he's the nominee and I'm behind him, but at the same time I see him scarily looking more and more like Adlai Stevenson allover again every day. Getting some kind of down home regular person bonafides (granted, maybe a new type of those bonafides) for the general race against McCain is what he's going to need and I don't think things like this are getting him there.
Artappraiser, I agree with you, especially once O'Reilly picks this up and tries to link Obama with Jay-Z's rap lyrics. I can see it now, O'Reilly reading the lyrics to Jigga on the air and then asking the obligatory, "Does Obama denounce these lyrics!?!?" faux outrage that runs for weeks on end.
I still think it was hilarious.
I'm 99% sure he wasn't thinking of Jay-Z when making these gestures.
"And Hack, that's just as lame as SLC's crap"
No, it isn't. Everybody knows Obama is not a "closet Muslim". It's a ridiculous accusation backed up by nothing but innuendo. The only "fact" involved is that Obama praised this pastor in his book and acknowledges the association. Everything else is speculation and innuendo and "guilt by association."
Whereas it is a FACT that Clinton IS a member of "The Family" and what they are up to is also a FACT. Go look it up.
We're talking the difference between some little Chicago church for blacks with a mouthy pastor and a Christian cult which has senior members of Congress in it, most of them heavily right wing, and numerous international and financial connections with some of the worst regimes in the world.
SLC of course doesn't like Wayne Madsen because Madsen doesn't like Israel's policies. Madsen does have a tendency to link things via a more "six degrees" methodology than I like, but he also does a fair job of backing up many of his statements with sources - sufficiently so that he gets called on to speak on news broadcasts and in articles in the MSM rather more than SLC does.
Wikipedia says this about Madsen:
Wayne Madsen is a Washington, D.C.-based investigative journalist, author, and syndicated columnist. His articles have appeared in The Village Voice and Wired.
Career
Madsen was a Senior Fellow of the Electronic Privacy Information Center.[1] He was a communications security analyst with the National Security Agency in the 1980s, and an intelligence officer in the US Navy. He has testified on numerous occasions before the US Congress.
He does indeed have a radio show on a network that also hosts various other "conspiracy theorists", but his background is considerably better than theirs (not to mention SLC's). He is properly suspicious of the official 9/11 story, as anyone is who has any knowledge of the facts.
And for SLC to call anyone else a "whackjob" is to laugh. That's not the pot calling the kettle black. It's a black hole saying another black hole "sucks".
perhaps he does this all the time, but check out right hand movement at 1:20.
perhaps it's not his words the crowd is cheering.
Nice catch. dalys wins the giant stuffed panda.
Shine:
Ballers have been doing that for years, way before Jay-Z popularized it.
And Obama is a baller.
I agree. That was hilarious. Before I was thinking Obama would just beat McCain, now it looks like it will be a blowout and realignment. Should be fun!
"Getting some kind of down home regular person bonafides (granted, maybe a new type of those bonafides) for the general race against McCain is what he's going to need."
Because when you've got a $5 million dollar condo in Phoenix and a $2 million dollar ranch in Sedona and a $100 million dollar wife, you're regular person bonafides are guaranteed.
(not knocking you artappraiser, just sighing at the insanity of it all)
By the way, I'm not knocking Obama's performance in this speech when I criticize him about Iran or whatever - I thought he was brilliant here in dismissing the ABC lunatics as well as Clinton.
One can easily see why he's an effective politician.
Comparing him to McCain is laughable - he's clearly got it on the ball compared to that lunatic. And compared to Clinton, well, let's just say she's old news.
Reminds me of when Bill played the sax on Arsenio Hall.
Not a great sax player, but still Bill was cool enough to pull it off. Likewise Obama.
Like other commenters, I'm not myself hip enough to know the rap reference, but I still understood the gesture.
A lot of scolds pooh pooh this sort of stuff, but in the real world it really helps for a President to be likable. It is hard for Democrats to see, but McCain is a real charmer with a great personality. Hillary Clinton, bless her heart, doesn't have as good a personality. Sorry for being impolite, but it's true. You can say it shouldn't matter, but it does. A good big part of FDR and Reagan's success in power was due to their excellent personalities.
Why am I not surprised to see the same Masonic Marketing that sells Jayz is now openly selling Obama, and that our Harvard grad pundit is just eating this shit up.
The compass is not going to save your ass baby, sell it to the highest bidder maybe, but there is no salvation there. Of course as a Jayz affictionado you probably are already aware of such proclamations in his lyrics.
You want white people to turn out in numbers against Obama in the fall. Point them to this blog entry.
We can only hope saner older heads prevail in Denver. We are on the way to getting the old pagans out of office, do we really want the young pagans to replace them? Esepcially the ones now openly using masonic messaging to sell themselves?
Obama was great as usual. This is the primary reason Mccain does not scare me at all. As for Jay Z sublime and understated, quiet and smooth in a sense that make him that much more to borrow a really old school hip hop mantra; Fresh.
"perhaps he does this all the time, but check out right hand movement at 1:20.perhaps it's not his words the crowd is cheering."
Hmmm Freudian Flip or Canadian Turn Signal? Have to watch his youtubes more carefully from here on.
He[Masden] was a communications security analyst with the National Security Agency in the 1980s, and an intelligence officer in the US Navy
Re Masden:
Wayne Masden told us, immediately post-Katrina, that powerful jamming devices, on presumably USN vessels off the coast were disrupting emergency communications on amateur radio and other frequencies along the Gulf.
While I and hundreds of other hams were listening to, and in some cases using, emergency communications frequencies along the Gulf, including 14.265 MHz, a 'jammed' frequency. Other frequencies he listed are VHF/UHF, and basically line-of-sight. Hard to jam VHF over-the-horizon without PAVE-PAWS-sized hardware.
Given his resumé, you'd think he'd know better.
I think he'll print whatever he's heard that sounds cool.
Nigel
I hope you read this: thank you, thank you for posting that "99 Problems" vid. That made my freaking night.
On a geekier note, everyone should watch that vid, if only to notice the actually rather impressive research done to match the photos making up the video portion with the lyrics with equally rather impressive accuracy: anyone who can find a modern American presidential campaign snapshot that encapsulates so perfectly the line, "strong-arm a ho" deserves a second look.
Trevor and the others are right - this works whether or not you've even heard of Jay Z, and what's more, the Jay Z song is nothing he'd need to denounce anyway.
A month or two ago Hilbots were spreading a rumor that 99 problems was played at one Obama's events, and that it was sexist. It would have been sexist, but the rumor turned out to be false. The mashup is well edited though calling Hil a bitch is pretty weak.
O_o
that was awesome
I'm an older white woman who has only a passing understanding of youth music today (and that only when my grandkids come to visit), so I didn't quite get the musical aspect of the reference, but I certainly understand the notion of "brush the dirt off your shoulders".
It's been a turn of phrase in American English for generations now.
So the reference clearly works both for those who are more current in their knowledge of popular music, as well as those of us who aren't.
I'm not certain Matt how this would be usable as a dog whistle? Since both the popular understanding of the phrase _and_ the use that Mr. Carter makes of it in his song appear to carry the same meaning.
I didn't get the reference either but I did get the gesture. And I got the smile that went with it. At first I thought he acting a bit too cocky but then I thought "Jesus, he's NOT fucking afraid, is he?" He may not gain any support from a move like that, but he won't lose any support with a move like that. And yeah, I'm a kool-aid drinker, but after a brutal night, coming out and laughing it off like that was precisely the kind of "rally the trooops" moment that he needed.
Davis, I have no idea what that was about. Madsen does appear to grab things pretty quickly from his "sources", some of which may be less accurate than others. He may be wrong on details, but when he puts stuff together to make an overall picture, he does a pretty good job.
And he has a laser-like focus on stuff that the MSM ignores. That's why I like reading stuff from Larry Johnson, Philip Giraldi, Greg Palast, Seymour Hersh and Gareth Porter - they dig up stuff you've have a hard time finding in the MSM unless you already knew about it, and it usually shatters the MSM take on things.
Is it always correct? Probably not. But compared to the MSM, I'd say their batting average is considerably higher at telling what's really going on as opposed to the "official story".
Re Masden: Falsum in uno, falsum in omnibus.
I think Obama's gesture was totally appropriate and a small
example of how IN touch he is with Americans, especially the
younger voters who are coming out to vote this year.
I DO think it's a little bit of a spin by this site to NOT link the
gesture with the 'clean' version of the Jay-Z video and also
mention that it could also be interpreted as a Rolling Stone
reference.
Keep it fair, please.
Re Richard Steven Hack
So Mr. Hack, this blogs favorite bank robber, is also a troofer. Well, how about that. Obviously his nine years in the joint scrambled what few brains he had going in. I'm not sure I go along with Mr. Machinas' analysis that Madsen will write anything that sounds cool. I think he may really believe the crap that he writes, unlike Ann Coulter and Michael Savage whom I doubt believe 10% of what they say.
Man goes to debate.
Woman bests man at debate (actually, the first 45 minutes were his strongest. He doesn't really want a substantive debate because he'd look like a school kid next to her, but I digress)
Ok, woman beats the pants off of him. It's not the first time but, holy hemiola! he had 6 weeks to prepare. Inexcusable.
Man goes in front of friendly audience and disses her royally. Man acts like BMOC and he and his friends have a good laugh at her expense. BMOC makes insulting gestures indicating woman is like bird turds to him. He nd his friends laugh it up more while he decries how the level of discourse has sunk to a new low.
I;d like to see him do that to her face. I mean, assuming he isn't a coward or anything. He should just do that to her in person, wouldn't you agree? That's what a decent respectable person would do.
OK, let's see him do it. His supporters have an obligation to urge him to remove the label of coward from him. You'd be doing him a favor if you urged him to stand up to his tormentor instead of dissing her behind her back.
Right, Matt? By the way, how do you land a gig like this?
Man goes to debate.
Woman bests man at debate (actually, the first 45 minutes were his strongest. He doesn't really want a substantive debate because he'd look like a school kid next to her, but I digress)
Ok, woman beats the pants off of him. It's not the first time but, holy hemiola! he had 6 weeks to prepare. Inexcusable.
Man goes in front of friendly audience and disses her royally. Man acts like BMOC and he and his friends have a good laugh at her expense. BMOC makes insulting gestures indicating woman is like bird turds to him. He and his friends laugh it up more while he decries how the level of discourse has sunk to a new low.
I'd like to see him do that to her face. I mean, assuming he isn't a coward or anything. He should just do that to her in person, wouldn't you agree? That's what a decent respectable person would do.
OK, let's see him do it. His supporters have an obligation to urge him to remove the label of coward from him. You'd be doing him a favor if you urged him to stand up to his tormentor instead of dissing her behind her back.
Right, Matt? By the way, how do you land a gig like this?
I swear I posted the exact thing you did on my blog a couple of hours after you. I had no clue you'd done the same thing. I'm proud I saw things the same way you did, you're a great blogger.
I am also glad you noticed how pop culture friendly Obama's response was. After last night's troubling performance, I'm glad to see a bit of the rock star quality is still there.
There's more to it here--this was genius. Here's why:
This a "Yes We Can"-styled Obama meme designed to be emulated by his supporters as a sign of solidarity. When the smears come in the general, we've now been given a quick, non-verbal way to dismiss any bullshit accusations while also showing solidarity with other Obama-backers.
Since I've been accused of being a "9/11 Truther", let me clarify my position on that.
I have no truck with the theories of disappearing airplanes, disappearing passengers, and missiles loaded underneath the planes that hit the Towers, or any of that. And it's not clear to me why Tower 7 went down, which is probably the strongest case the 9/11 crowd can put together about the buildings themselves.
However, there is very little doubt that somebody in the US administration knew that something was going down and allowed it to happen. Not just incompetence at ignoring the evidence, but actually KNEW that something - if not necessarily precisely when and where - was going to happen and interfered with the counterintelligence efforts to allow it to happen.
The Mossad is known to have been following some of the 9/11 hijackers. The Mossad is known to have issued a warning barely a few weeks before the event, clearly to cover their ass should it be discovered that they knew about it in advance - which they did - without warning the US. They knew the warning would be ignored.
You don't need a huge conspiracy to pull off that sort of operation. All you need is a couple people in the right place to mark some report from the counterintelligence people as "dubious".
The same assholes who later marked the Iraqi intelligence reports from Chalabi and his scum as highly reliable. The same assholes who cherry picked the Niger story as reliable. The same assholes who produced the PNAC documents which explicitly wanted a "terrorist Pearl Harbor" to enable them to carry out their agenda.
And the big suspect is one Dick Cheney.
Anybody who knows about the "Northwoods Documents" from the 1960's can clearly understand that the US government is quite capable of pulling off a stunt like 9/11. "Northwoods" was killed by Kennedy and the Secretary of Defense after the Joint Chiefs were apparently willing to do such an operation. And the similarity between one of the Northwoods plans and 9/11 is almost eerie.
But anything that was done by some people in the US government was most likely in the area of "allowing it to happen", not in actively planning or executing 9/11. Most of the 9/11 Truth "evidence" lies in precisely those kinds of "coincedences" that resulted in the "perfect storm" of "inability" to react quickly enough on that day to deal with the event effectively. And that is where the best evidence for someone's complicity in 9/11 lies.
So saying 9/11 was totally and completely an Al Qaeda operation doesn't conflict with the possibility that it was used as a "Reichstag Fire" incident by the neocons - which a lot of people have little trouble believing - as well as the possibility that it was allowed to happen for precisely that reason - which apparently a lot of people have trouble believing. That's not logical.
If you want to take that as "conspiracy theory", feel free. You probably also believe that we're in Iraq to "bring democracy to the people".
I don't have much to say to that level of naivety and stupidity.
What riverdaughter fails to realize that if Obama had brought up Travelgate, Whitewatergate, cattle trading, Vince Foster, Monica Lewinsky, Juanita Broadrick (I believe that's how it's spelled, the woman who accused Bill of raping her), Gennifer Flowers, or any of the other 10,000 skeletons in Hillary's closet, this contest would have been over immediately. But unlike Senator Inevitable, he's tried hard not to play that game. While he goes out of his way to defend her on her Tuzla lie (which she blatantly admitted was a lie last night), she constantly brings up Sean Hannity's pet project in an attempt to score points. Obama was correct: that is her element. She's good with policy, but she thrives when attacking.
But riverdaughter also fails to grasp that Hillary has already lost this nomination, and had any other candidate been pummeled in 11 straight elections, he or she would have been Huckabeed out of the race, so I don't know why I expected more.
On what actual issue did Hillary Clinton clearly win last night? I concede that she won the petty bickering game. Perhaps you refer to her redefining our Middle East policy to be far more hawkish and Empire-esque than it already is?
Good thing that wasn't arrogant at all. Or dismissive of the over ten million Democrats who have voted for Obama's opponent.
500+ word blog comments suck.
I didn't mean to insult all Clinton voters; I realize it came off that way and I apologize.
I did, however, mean to insult those who cover their ears and refuse to believe that some candidates actually try to take the high road, and that if Hillary hadn't done things like repeat Sean Hannity's talking points or align herself with John McCain in an effort to hurt him or offer Obama the Vice Presidency when she's behind or imply Al Gore and John Kerry were elitists in an attempt to cast Obama the same way, he wouldn't have to call her out. I can't believe that in an election this heated, nobody has "accidentally" mentioned a stained blue dress or Marc Rich. That speaks volumes to me. As Clinton likes to say, "Do you think the GOP isn't going to bring that up?"
Sean Hannity conducted the interview with Juanita Broadrick where she says Bill raped her and Hillary threatened her if she talked. If Obama, like Clinton, took his cues from Sean Hannity, he would bring this up. Of course I think the allegations are ridiculous and ugly lies, but so are the allegations that Obama hates America because he served on a board with Bill Ayers. My point is: no Democrat should be pressing these issues against another Democrat. They have nothing to do with our progressive agenda and in no way help us get the White House back.
Finally, if you think I was insulting Clinton voters, go to riverdaughter's blog and see what she thinks of Obama voters. You can smell the condescension over the internet. I was being downright objective compared to her "analysis."
What is ironic is that the beat was done by Timbaland and he endorsed Hillary
"I think it's dandy for the candidates to have awareness of pop culture but they have to be careful not to be too hip so as to be passing basically "secret messages" to one sub-culture segment of society. It has to be mass culture stuff to help. Excessive hipness is not a good idea in politics, mho. Hipness by its very nature is for a minority elite, when everyone accepts the theme, it's no longer hip. Hipsters don't elect presidents."
Dog whistles work when only some people understand them. That's the whole point of a dog whistle. That's what was behind Bush's declaration in the 2004 debates when he said he would only appoint judges who were against Dred Scott. He was using it as a dogwhistle for Roe v. Wade. Last time I checked, that dog whistle didn't hurt him at the polls.
Also, if Obama wanted to dog whistle with hipster rappers, he would have referenced someone like Madvillian, Mr. Lif, El-P or Aesop Rock. Jay-Z is the mainstream of American music these days. Plenty of people, including a whole lot of white people, around the age of 35 or so listen to him. Jay-Z wouldn't be as rich as he is if it was only black people and under-30 white hipsters listening to him.
Matthew,
you liked Obama at 2:20 in this clip, how about him at 1:18, flipping a bird at Clinton. Classy, huh? If this is not his macaca moment, I guess he's really charmed
Macaca moment? You've got to be kidding anatol. If you watch the video he touches his face several times. I joked about a Freudian flip but get real. Then I guess it's just the kind of thing the village idiots could run with for days on end. I can see Matthews now .... "Did Obama give Hillary the finger? Will this end his White House run? Why does he hate America? We'll be joined by Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh to find out right after the break." My guess is the media will be too ashamed to roll out such nonsense after the Charlie Brown/ Snuffleupagus fiasco.
you liked Obama at 2:20 in this clip, how about him at 1:18, flipping a bird at Clinton. Classy, huh? If this is not his macaca moment, I guess he's really charmed
The suggestion that Obama was "flipping a bird" here is a pretty unconvincing one. It is in the "Obama was insulting Annie Oakley" or "he was subtly referring to her period" territory which really doesn't help Clinton out at all. It really just makes it seem that Clinton supporters are desperate and "around the bend," willing, on pretty bad faith, to imagine grave insults that plainly do not exist. You, of course, have no reason to take my advice but I will offer it anyway: Don't go down that road. It doesn't lead where you think it will.
It's hilarious watching the Clintonite bitter enders go compeletly unhinged, pretending that they think Obama was giving Clinton the finger. Man, those folks are BITTER.
What Powerade fails to realize is that the voters of PA are perfectly aware of Whitewater, Travelgate, Vince Foster, etc and like all of the other big and swing states that voted for her *decisively*, they finally understand that those stories were a whole lot of sound and fury signifying nothing. She goes into a debate and opens her mouth and the sound of competence, preparation and intelligence comes out of it without the excessive use of 'ah' or 'um', which convey a sense of hesitation to the listener. Pick any subject where they discussed policy. She beat him- soundly.
Is that what this is all about? Are you still living in the 90s while the rest of the country has moved on? Well, don't be too shocked if he loses his pants next Tuesday. Those small town hicks in PA, my family included, know what they're doing and this little inside joke he's sharing with his friends is going to go over like a lead balloon with them.
The joke is over.
Interesting video, Nigel. Subtle! Torrentprime, thanks for pointing out that the line "'strong-arm a ho' deserves a second look."
I've posted more of the lyrics (Jay-Z's "99 Problems") you're having fun with so we can all join in. This is for those of you less hip to Jay-Z and his "Brush Off" video Obama was emulating, to the delight of his fans here. Let's all hear these posters' dog-whistle together now. Get it? Cool, huh? Thanks, Matt and The Atlantic.
---
If your havin' girl problems I feel bad for you son,
I got 99 problems but a b*tch ain't one.
I got the rap patrol on the gat patrol,
Foes that wanna make sure my casket's closed.
Rap critics that say he's "Money Cash Hoes,"
I'm from the hood stupid what type of facts are those.
If you grew up with holes in your zapitos,
You'd celebrate the minute you was havin' dough.
I'm like f**k critics you can kiss my whole a**h**,
If you don't like my lyrics you can press fast forward.
...
[Chorus] (2x)
Now once upon a time not too long ago,
A n**** like myself had to strong arm a ho.
This is not a ho in the sense of havin' a p***y,
But a p****y havin' no God Damn sense, try and push me.
...
Got beef with radio if I don't play they show,
They don't play my hits well I don't give a sh*t SO.
Rap mags try and use my black ass,
So advertisers can give 'em more cash for ads...f**kers.
I'm from rags to riches ni*** I ain't dumb,
I got 99 problems but a b*tch ain't one.
Hit me.
[Chorus]
99 Problems but a b*tch ain't one.
If you having girl problems I feel bad for you son,
I got 99 problems but a b*tch ain't one.
Hit me.
...
But ain't nothin' sweet 'bout how I hold my gun,
I got 99 problems but this b*tch ain't one.
Hit me.
Pretty cool?
This is goateed hipster irony, right?
So let me get this straight. The dirt is Hillary Clinton? And how's that supposed to help him with Clinton supporters, should he get the nomination?
Rich,
Interesting question.
And don't forget the sh*t Obama metaphorically wipes off from the bottom of his shoe. Very hip. Very unifying.
So let me get this straight. The dirt is Hillary Clinton? And how's that supposed to help him with Clinton supporters, should he get the nomination?
The dirt is not Hillary Clinton or her supporters. The dirt is all the irrelevant political distractions (now put on notice per last night's Colbert Report), the attacks on him (Ayers, flag pin, etc.) that have nothing to do with how we're going to solve the problems that face us as a society. Stop being so obtuse.
Dave, I'm afraid the Obama supporters reveling in this today didn't get your memo on what the dirt represented. If you're correct, perhaps the candidate owes a clarification to his supporters, who seem to have misunderstood.
So let me get this straight. The dirt is Hillary Clinton? And how's that supposed to help him with Clinton supporters, should he get the nomination?
So let me get this straight. Obama spoke quite explicitly about what he was brushing off. He talks about the political gamemanship of Washington politics, especially as it was applied to Clinton by Republicans in the 90's. He then visually makes the point that you just have to brush that sort of crap/dirt off your shoulder. Your interpretation of that is that the "dirt is Hillary."
Now it seems to me that there are only two ways that one could arrive at this conclusion:
1. one would have to be either being deliberately obtuse
or
2. just inclined to interpret anything Obama says or does in the least generous way possible.
In either case, there is little that Obama or any Obama supporter is going to be able to do about that. So the answer to your question is that it doesn't help him with those people but its becoming fairly clear that there is not much that could. If, for instance, someone looks at that video and really believes that Obama is "flipping a bird" at Clinton, then they are likely to interpret any word or gesture he uses as some sort of direct attack on her character. There is really no persuading that person and that will just have to be how it is.
I am deeply offended that Barack Obama said that we flag-pin wearing bitter Americans are nothing but dirt he would brush off his shoulders so that he could carry out his plan to force all our children to join the radical Black Nationalist hate-America Indonesian madrassa jihadi Weather Underground.
Dave, I'm afraid the Obama supporters reveling in this today didn't get your memo on what the dirt represented.
I see no evidence that anyone has interpreted it any differently than dave suggests although I haven't gone through every post with a fine tooth comb to determine if the commenter really thinks of Hillary as dirt. Perhaps you could provide an example of your assumed interpretation?
Put down the kool aid Matt, Obama is close to George Allen territory. Not cool. Seriously not cool.
Put down the kool aid Matt, Obama is close to George Allen territory. Not cool. Seriously not cool.
Obama already crossed into macaca territory.
Don't forget, the crowd George Allen was talking to laughed at his jokes too.
How did that work out for him?
Pretty cool?
This is goateed hipster irony, right?
No, it's a reference to a rap song. You've heard of rap music, right? That music popularized by black folks? I guess it's tough for the Hillbot demographic to comprehend. It can be hard to hear what the young black kids are listening to when you're frantically crossing the street to avoid them. Just close your eyes and hum Candle In the Wind and everything will be better.
I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, that someone was going to try to hold Obama responsible for "99 Problems" after this. Thanks for not disappointing me, Bo.
I heard his words. Other than saying she was "in her element", his comments were not about Hillary, as such, but how the game is played. And THAT is the dog shit he wiped off his shoe and the dust he brushed off his shoulder. I mnean, geez, Hill-bots, what do you want the man to do because he lost a debate . . . not the nomination, not a single superdelegate, but a debate. Like Allen Iverson once said "You talkin' 'bout practice. Not the game, but practice." How many debates did John Kerry beat G Dubb? How much did that help him?
The reality is, as any athlete knows, you can't wallow in a defeat because you have another game next week or in two days. You learn from it and move on. Obam got CRUSHED in this last seven days . . . indeed, this last month. But guess what . . . the general public STILL LIKES HIM MORE THAN HILLARY!
Obama already crossed into macaca territory.
Don't forget, the crowd George Allen was talking to laughed at his jokes too.
How did that work out for him?
What sad bitter lives Internet trolls must lead. I bet all the troll comments in this thread are by one bitter dude. None of them are very good as far as trollery go. Please try harder. Please!
Brushing the dirt off your shoulder is the same as "brushing it off" or saying "sticks and stones will break my bones..." How does that relate to Macaca?
After all the shit the Hillary campaign has thrown at Obama, he just brushes it off. That's a leader.
McCain is going to have his share of Macaca moments I predict.
Considering Obama's age, and thinking back to the time that the shoulder-brush-off thing started, I'd say it's more likely that he was referencing...Salt N' Pepa. That probably disappoints both his supporters and his detractors.
General Public likes him? What general public? You mean the youth cult --- half of the Dem primary voters? A fraction of voters answering weighted polls?
The most laughable thing is that you all think your messiah had a "brutal" night at that debate. Brutal??? Ha. If he wilts that easily he's going to need to man up with some sort of mental viagra. How hard could it be to be prepared to answer some pretty damned predictable questions? Instead, all he could do was twist his lips in grimaces, purse them, frown...how is he going to make it in the general election, let alone as a president?
And yet, when safely on script, in his own "church" he was grinning from ear to ear when his fans booed his first mention of Hillary. He learned well from his spiritual advisor Wright to stoke hatred and make lewd gestures while doing so.
He can hide out playing BMOC (perfect description, riverdaughter) to uncritical fans and chicken out of the NC debate, which he reneged on, but he's going to have to face the press again some time and there are many more issues he's going to have to answer to. And yes, his judgement, his attitude and his associations are an important issue.
Can he man up or not?
riverdaughter - your posts are a JOKE. Idiotic arguments that are nonsensical posts have no place here. Perhaps you should post on your candidates website.
The "dirt" he is brushing off is all the BS and crap that was hurled at him at the debate.
riverdaughter - your posts are a JOKE. Idiotic arguments that are nonsensical have no place here. Perhaps you should post on your candidates website.
The "dirt" he is brushing off is all the BS and crap that was hurled at him at the debate.
riverdaughter - your posts are a JOKE. Idiotic arguments that are nonsensical have no place here. Perhaps you should post on your candidates website.
The "dirt" he is brushing off is all the BS and crap that was hurled at him at the debate.
You know, as I watched the "debate" last night (which was nothing more than a coordinated ambush), I started to cry. My tears were not from an emotion of anger nor were they from feeling sorry for Barack, as he had to defend himself against bogus, trivial, and already answered queries questioning every facet of his character. Rather, they were tears of realization. The way he rose above such filth in a calm and determined manner, appearing like a phoenix rising from the ashes - ashes that represented the sewage of the moderators and hillary. Never before in my lifetime had I seen a "politician" refute attack after personal attack and still when the opportunity presented itself - not demean himself by targeting his opponent in the same manner. It only reinforced my feeling that he is a once in a lifetime - nay - once in many lifetimes type leader - someone who could radically change the face of not only this nation but this world. Most amazingly - I don't think he even fully realizes his potential impact. So my tears were for our ridiculous luck in having such a man that wants to show us a better way - we, a people who are wholly ungrateful and truly ignorant of this moment. We, most certainly, do not deserve such a leader.
"Man up"? What would that involve doing, exactly? One of the more fascinating things about his candidacy is observing the racial dynamics us rank-and-file black people have to go through every day get played out on a huge scale. Imus calls him a "pussy"; Bill Clinton says he shouldn't put on the uniform if he doesn't want to play the contact sport. But if/when he "mans up", as you put it, he'll suddenly be characterized as the horrible, scary, angry black man by the very same people who are now calling him a pussy. We've all been through it.
Rev. Wright was never a Muslim - but he was a Marine. Back when Bill Clinton was dodging draft letters over in Europe, GWB was clowning in the National Guard and Dick Cheney was inventing new rationales for each deferment request - Jeremiah Wright was volunteering to become a Marine and even re-enlisting into the Navy.
Rev. Wright's father was a Baptist minister and when Jeremiah came out of the Navy he decided to follow in his father's footsteps by going to divinity school and becoming a preacher.
100% Christian; 100% American hero.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_Wright
Now, I have been a Baptist for 25-years and I have to admit that I have no knowledge of this "normative Christian belief in the United States". My copy of the New Testament tells me that my Lord and Savior died on the cross nigh on 2000 years before the United States was even conceived as a nation and as such it contains not one single word of how the Good News requires a belief in the United States of America.
Are we now holding against people - with respect to presidential campaigns - that they did not attend church before they accepted Christ Jesus as their savior? That makes the whole idea of missionary work into a nonsensical farce.
riverdaughter: grip up. This was the 21st debate; if you have seen them all, then you have seen Obama talk about the old-style of politics many, many times - in front of all the candidates and in front of the world too. So, if it just the gestures that have gotten under your skin, then I am sure you were equally upset all of the times HRC says, "yes, yes yes" he can win during a debate along with "of course, my opponent is an honorable man" and then turns around before television cameras the next day to shout, "shame on you!"
Goose, gander.
Yo Will Allen: If you were really down with Run DMC back in the day and you are interested in some of the best of where rap is today, then you need to check out some Saul Williams:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?i=158080045&id=158079927&s=143441
Rev. Wright was never a Muslim - but he was a Marine. Back when Bill Clinton was dodging draft letters over in Europe, GWB was clowning in the National Guard and Dick Cheney was inventing new rationales for each deferment request - Jeremiah Wright was volunteering to become a Marine and even re-enlisting into the Navy.
Rev. Wright's father was a Baptist minister and when Jeremiah came out of the Navy he decided to follow in his father's footsteps by going to divinity school and becoming a preacher.
100% Christian; 100% American hero.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_Wright
Now, I have been a Baptist for 25-years and I have to admit that I have no knowledge of this "normative Christian belief in the United States". My copy of the New Testament tells me that my Lord and Savior died on the cross nigh on 2000 years before the United States was even conceived as a nation and as such it contains not one single word of how the Good News requires a belief in the United States of America.
Are we now holding against people - with respect to presidential campaigns - that they did not attend church before they accepted Christ Jesus as their savior? That makes the whole idea of missionary work into a nonsensical farce.
riverdaughter: grip up. This was the 21st debate; if you have seen them all, then you have seen Obama talk about the old-style of politics many, many times - in front of all the candidates and in front of the world too. So, if it just the gestures that have gotten under your skin, then I am sure you were equally upset all of the times HRC says, "yes, yes yes" he can win during a debate along with "of course, my opponent is an honorable man" and then turns around before television cameras the next day to shout, "shame on you!"
Goose, gander.
Yo Will Allen: If you were really down with Run DMC back in the day and you are interested in some of the best of where rap is today, then you need to check out some Saul Williams:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?i=158080045&id=158079927&s=143441
Rev. Wright was never a Muslim - but he was a Marine. Back when Bill Clinton was dodging draft letters over in Europe, GWB was clowning in the National Guard and Dick Cheney was inventing new rationales for each deferment request - Jeremiah Wright was volunteering to become a Marine and even re-enlisting into the Navy.
Rev. Wright's father was a Baptist minister and when Jeremiah came out of the Navy he decided to follow in his father's footsteps by going to divinity school and becoming a preacher.
100% Christian; 100% American hero.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_Wright
Now, I have been a Baptist for 25-years and I have to admit that I have no knowledge of this "normative Christian belief in the United States". My copy of the New Testament tells me that my Lord and Savior died on the cross nigh on 2000 years before the United States was even conceived as a nation and as such it contains not one single word of how the Good News requires a belief in the United States of America.
Are we now holding against people - with respect to presidential campaigns - that they did not attend church before they accepted Christ Jesus as their savior? That makes the whole idea of missionary work into a nonsensical farce.
riverdaughter: grip up. This was the 21st debate; if you have seen them all, then you have seen Obama talk about the old-style of politics many, many times - in front of all the candidates and in front of the world too. So, if it just the gestures that have gotten under your skin, then I am sure you were equally upset all of the times HRC says, "yes, yes yes" he can win during a debate along with "of course, my opponent is an honorable man" and then turns around before television cameras the next day to shout, "shame on you!"
Goose, gander.
Yo Will Allen: If you were really down with Run DMC back in the day and you are interested in some of the best of where rap is today, then you need to check out some Saul Williams:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?i=158080045&id=158079927&s=143441
Rev. Wright was never a Muslim - but he was a Marine. Back when Bill Clinton was dodging draft letters over in Europe, GWB was clowning in the National Guard and Dick Cheney was inventing new rationales for each deferment request - Jeremiah Wright was volunteering to become a Marine and even re-enlisting into the Navy.
Rev. Wright's father was a Baptist minister and when Jeremiah came out of the Navy he decided to follow in his father's footsteps by going to divinity school and becoming a preacher.
100% Christian; 100% American hero.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_Wright
Now, I have been a Baptist for 25-years and I have to admit that I have no knowledge of this "normative Christian belief in the United States". My copy of the New Testament tells me that my Lord and Savior died on the cross nigh on 2000 years before the United States was even conceived as a nation and as such it contains not one single word of how the Good News requires a belief in the United States of America.
Are we now holding against people - with respect to presidential campaigns - that they did not attend church before they accepted Christ Jesus as their savior? That makes the whole idea of missionary work into a nonsensical farce.
riverdaughter: grip up. This was the 21st debate; if you have seen them all, then you have seen Obama talk about the old-style of politics many, many times - in front of all the candidates and in front of the world too. So, if it just the gestures that have gotten under your skin, then I am sure you were equally upset all of the times HRC says, "yes, yes yes" he can win during a debate along with "of course, my opponent is an honorable man" and then turns around before television cameras the next day to shout, "shame on you!"
Goose, gander.
Yo Will Allen: If you were really down with Run DMC back in the day and you are interested in some of the best of where rap is today, then you need to check out some Saul Williams:
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?i=158080045&id=158079927&s=143441
While Obama is brushing the dirt off his shoulders, Clinton supporters in this thread seem to be walking around with chips on theirs.
My ruling:
This thing has legs with regard to played-up gangsta associations, and could possibly macaca.
Wow. What a great thread.
I agree with you Connor. Henceforth all of Hillary's distractions and utterances of the media perpetuating her distractions shall be met with a 'dirt off my shoulder' move.
Hopefully it will become as ubiquitous to the Obama campaign as that big O with the flag strips in the bottom of it rising over hills like a huge sun signifying a new day has come and America is turning a page...we are reclaiming america...
Thanks everyone for the JayZ 'dirt off my shoulder' reference.
I especially enjoyed the 99 problems and did not conflate 99 problems with dirt of my shoulders as some of the less astute have.
And ZEE...your 'man up' and BMOC quip sounds like you are channeling Hillary channeling Tracey Flick.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rleUPHX8yfM
rotflmao...Zee ...Hill just can't compete
Why does riverdaughter keep making references to Obama's pants coming off?
No, it's a reference to a rap song. You've heard of rap music, right? That music popularized by black folks? I guess it's tough for the Hillbot demographic to comprehend.
oh good lord. Hillbot speaking here. that was a rude gesture but not a reference to any particular song. every mid 20s white hipster dude has a copy of Da Drought 3 these days, I don't know what Matt Y is showing off that he knows about Jay-Z for
Why do blog comment areas always bring out the absolute fringe of the debate. There are some real loons. That quote about seeing who we are in Clinton though is hilarious.
I am SO glad you posted both of those videos. I had seen this in a couple other places and had no clue what the reference was supposed to be...and I'm even the right demographic, I just completely ignore popular music. I almost had to call my sister to make her watch it to figure out what everyone thought was so awesome. :-)
"dust the dirt off your shoulders" does not originate with Jay-Zee--nor is it goateed hipster irony..... It's an old folktale (so much for the culutural literacy of the blogerati!)
The idea dates back to an story about a donkey who is being buried alive in a well by a mean farmer..... Eventually the donkey realizes that if he just shakes "the dirt off his shoulders" he can keep stepping on the dirt and eventually he will be lifted out of the well. TRANSLATION: If a mean farmer (Hillary) is dropping dirt (negative campaign bullshit) on you--just shake it off and use the dirt as a platform to lift you up.
Props to http://blog.szczawinski.com/2008/04/obamas-response-to-philly-debate.html for noticing this... see also
http://shadym.blogspot.com/2007/06/get-that-dirt-off-your-shoulder.html
http://www.hollyspringsfarm.com/donkeys.html
Not everything is about the kids!
I saw this as a church reference. This is something they do in church all of the time (at least in mine) to get the "evil" off of you. If you saw one of Tyler Perry's plays, that are very steep in church themes, you will see that same thing. Especially when it comes to getting it off of your legs (pants). Folks who are big in the church probably saw it as that more than the Jay Z angle. Any other church goers who have the same thing in their churches?
"dust the dirt off your shoulders" does not originate with Jay-Z--nor is it goateed hipster irony..... It's an old folktale (so much for the culutural literacy of the blogerati!)
The idea dates back to an story about a donkey who is being buried alive in a well by a mean farmer..... Eventually the donkey realizes that if he just shakes "the dirt off his shoulders" he can keep stepping on the dirt and eventually he will be lifted out of the well. TRANSLATION: If a mean farmer (Hillary) is dropping dirt (negative campaign bullshit) on you--just shake it off and use the dirt as a platform to lift you up.
Props to http://blog.szczawinski.com/2008/04/obamas-response-to-philly-debate.html for noticing this... see also
http://shadym.blogspot.com/2007/06/get-that-dirt-off-your-shoulder.html
http://www.hollyspringsfarm.com/donkeys.html
Not everything is about the kids!
So scratching your face is the same thing as calling a young Indian guy the French colonial equivalent of the n-word? As an Indian-American, go fuck all of you who don't see the difference.
cathyk,
Yep, that's what I said to myself, Self, Obama's supporters are so "culutural litera[te]" that they know, just know, Obama is referencing a donkey folktale and not Jay-z lyrics... lol!
Mariah Carey had a #2 song a few years ago that was HUGE. The song was called "Shake It off". This song was larger than the Jay-Z song. This also started the "Shake it Off" dance.
She made the same gestures as Obama. Why don't you post that video. I've saved you some time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eLy9p14ntc. Start watching around 3.00, you'll see it.
This Jay-Z comparison is far reaching and embarrassing. Please post something that matters!
PS White people buy more rap records than black people. Please do your research.
Comments closed May 01, 2008.
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Heads in the Sand
Let the Obama/Jay-Z mashups commence!! I can't wait.
Posted by How Insane Is John McCain? | April 17, 2008 5:38 PM