"All you have to do is follow three simple rules."
I don’t particularly like to publicize this, but I love watching Road House, the 1989 "classic" in which Patrick Swayze plays Dalton, a special breed of bouncer known as a "cooler."
I’ll be the first to admit that Road House is a perfectly atrocious film with few if any redeeming qualities. Were you to call it execrable, I’d hardly be in a position to argue with you. But, you know, sometimes the heart wants what it wants. And sometimes my heart wants Dalton’s entirely stupid but strangely lyrical brand of wisdom to wash over me, even if it means I’ll need to take a shower afterwards.
With Patrick Swayze’s pancreatic cancer in the news, I found myself thinking of Dalton’s "three simple rules" for maintaining order in tawdry establishments. This is an admittedly ridiculous exercise, but I’m wondering if there might be a lesson or two for us primary addicts lurking deep within the Double Deuce.
Road House Rule: "One, never underestimate your opponent. Expect the unexpected."
Okay, this one’s pretty obvious.
There was this...
It may take weeks, or perhaps even a few months, but the odds are John McCain will drop out of the presidential race for the Republican nomination before the first vote is cast in Iowa in January.
And this...
"I come tonight with a very, very full heart, and I want especially to thank New Hampshire," Mrs. Clinton, who is seeking to become the first woman to be elected president, told supporters in Manchester. "Over the last week, I listened to you, and in the process I found my own voice."
"I felt like we all spoke from our hearts, and I am so gratified you responded," Mrs. Clinton said. Then, echoing her husband’s "Comeback Kid" speech after his surprise second-place finish in the primary here in 1992, she added, "Now together, let’s give America the kind of comeback that New Hampshire has just given me."
And of course this...
"I believe it will be over on the evening of Feb. 5," McAuliffe said during a Wednesday conference call. "Alabama is obviously very important to us."
Road House Rule: "Two, take it outside. Never start anything inside the bar unless it's absolutely necessary."
Attacks can clearly work, but going negative carries with it certain risks. That’s why the Good Lord invented surrogates, after all. Every once in a while, however, candidates take it to each other live and from New York, er...live and in person."
Sometimes that works. Sometimes it doesn’t. In this campaign, it usually hasn’t.
Change you can Xerox? Painful to watch.
Reject and denounce? Painful to watch.
Although I’m an Obama supporter, in the interest of fairness I do think Hillary scored points on the failure of Obama to convene his subcommittee. Although I don’t personally feel it’s a big deal, Clinton’s attack did produce a somewhat lame excuse from Obama (and one tailor-made for attack ads). And thus painful to watch.
Let us not forget, however, that (according to Dalton) "pain don’t hurt."
Road House Rule: "And three, be nice...I want you to be nice until it's time to not be nice."
I think we all know what time it is.
Obama camp: What's Clinton hiding?
(CNN) – Barack Obama's campaign took fresh aim at Hillary Clinton Wednesday for refusing to release her tax returns, asking in a memo circulated to reporters, "What does Clinton have to hide?"
Clinton aide compares Obama to Ken Starr
Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson, taking the campaign a bit meta on a conference call today, attacked Obama for attacking Clinton, and compared him to a notorious Clinton foe.
"When Sen. Obama was confronted with questions over whether he was ready to be commander in chief and steward of the economy, he chose not to address those questions, but to attack Sen. Clinton," Wolfson said. "I for one do not believe that imitating Ken Starr is the way to win a Democratic primary election for president."
Finally, in closing, if you didn’t enjoy this diary, then "you’re too stupid to have a good time."
Get well soon, Mr. Swayze.