Monthly Archives: June 2014

Hillary the Inevitable

In the 2008 primary season we were treated to a barrage of opinion pieces that proclaimed the inevitability of Hillary Clinton in her quest for the Democratic Nomination. Of course we have the advantageous position of historical high ground to see just how wrong all those predictions turned out to be.

Here it is 2014 and without the mid-term election yet resolved the opinion are flying fast and furious about 2016. Those opinions are as rooted in serious thought as the Fast and Furious films were dedicated to realistic physics. Naturally one of the most persistent memes is that Hillary is once again the inevitable Democratic Nominee for PotUS.

‘Inevitable’, you keep using that word; I do not think it means what you think it means. Hillary is no more ‘inevitable’ in her aspirations than any particular character is inevitably going to survive their encounter with George R.R. Martin’s bloody word processor.

It is certainly true that Hillary (It is no disrespect to refer her by her given name to prevent confusion with her equally famous spouse.) possesses tremendous advantages going into the fight; her name recognition, fund raising ability, a deep well of contact and connected supporters, all play an important part in a candidates odds of success, but other factors matter as well.

Hillary is a spectacularly poor campaigner. Like Mitt on the Republican side, she has actually won only a single electoral contest. She has displayed a gross inability to connect with voters, has a notoriously thin skin criticism, holds grudges with a tenacity unseen since Nixon, and has approached the nomination process, both in 2008 and 2016, as though it were a coronation.

None of this means she will not be the nominee. Just as Mitt was able to achieve victory in the Republican Primary field of 2012 she could pull it off, but I think it would take a similar dynamic.

Mitt faced a Party that did not trust him and was further to the right than what seemed his natural position. (Personally, I am not convinced we know what is Mitt’s true position. He was always the salesman and in a predominantly liberal state he played up the moderate and in a conservative primary he switched colors faster camera-equipped traffic light.) Hillary faces a party that is becoming more populist and more liberal while she herself has a difficult time selling that message. Mitt survived because there were plenty of not-Mitt candidates to split the vote, allowing the distrusted Romney to claim the Republican Iron Throne. Clinton would be best served by a pack of not-Hillary candidates who could split the more liberal voter of her party, allowing her a similar path to victory.

The rise of popular and decided liberal politicians such as Elizabeth Warren is a major threat to Hillary and only time will tell if she can survive and once again fail while being declared inevitable .

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The things one remembers

I can clearly remember a disappointment of my young life. I was 11 or 12 when this occurred. As is quite normal for a boy of that age I adored monster movies. For me big rubber monsters smashing cities were the height of cinema. Usually I could only watch such fare on TV during the Creature Feature that played late night on Saturdays.

Ahh, that was a show that consumed many many of my hours. It literally was called ‘Creature Feature’ and, in my mind, I can still see the opening logo. So many classic and far far from classic films played during that late night and early morning hours.

However this particular summer I am remembering was not about an old black-and-white film playing on a local television station, but rather about a new release I desperately wanted to see,

Based on release dates this had to be 1972 or 1973 and Godzilla vs The Smog Monster had come to the local drive-in I burned to this movie. I had never seen a Godzilla movie in any other format than televised and the idea of seeing one on the huge screen at the drive filled me with an unquenchable desire.

I laid out hints to all the adults on the household, but to no avail. The weekends came and went and there was no surprise announcement that we were going to the drive-in, nothing but bitter disappointment

Now, I am not faulting my older brothers and sisters for their film choices. This was pretty much a kiddie Godzilla and it would have held little to no attraction to anyone with a discriminating taste. So the film played and moved on, leaving me behind, my desires unfulfilled.

Over the years I have seen many Godzilla movies, bastardized and cut-up American versions, subtitled original versions, movies that were Godzilla in name only, and even the most recent American adaptation, but somehow in all those years, and with that early bitter miss, I never watched Godzilla vs The Smog Monster.

Until recently.

HULU Plus has quite a library of films and I discovered, quite by accident, that via the Anime Network their collection included Godzilla vs The Smog Monster. Suddenly I remembered being that young boy and that movie I had so desperately wanted to see. Naturally I treated myself to the long long delayed satisfaction.

So two weeks ago over several night I watched the film in bit and bites as I relaxed after a long day working and writing. I can say that the younger me probably would have loved the monster fights, but many aspect of this, the most trippy of Godzilla movies, wouldn’t have played well to me.

You know how Pink Floyd’s ‘The Wall’ has those animated sequences? Well so does Godzilla vs The Smog Monster. It also has musical/dance numbers and Japanese hippies.

I’m glad I got to see it, and pay off that younger me who wanted it so badly, but man it was to date the strangest Godzilla film I’ve watched.

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