the rix mix

David Crosby wrote a number of song lyrics that were mostly cliches he strung together. Doesn't matter provided you enjoy David's melodies & singing. It's different with politicians, who don't know any better & couldn't do it any other way. We know better than to expect originality or spontaneity, yet few of them have educations or tastes that let them crib comfortably from the literary masterworks of western civilization - it's pretty easy to slide through college without getting much of education. Culturally & creatively, politicians are an undistinguished class of Americans from your local elective offices all the way up as high as they can go. The exceptions only prove the rule (I can use cliches, too). So I listened to many of the presidential wannabees officially debuting their basic stump messages at the DNC meeting. I probably don't have to pay any more attention to them for the remainder of 2007, because they'll just be fine tuning these same speeches - padded with cliches & meaningless slogans - through the Iowa caucuses. They'll highlight one or another part of The Speech for various targeted groups, & when asked difficult questions by journalists, The Speech will also serve as a leash - wander too far away from it, an aide gives the candidate a signal, maybe touching an eyebrow or tugging at an earlobe, to yank them back on the message, which is contained in The Speech.
A sampling, from The Hotline.

• We need to work together.
• We're working to push this agenda forward.
• We need to start standing up for the American worker again.
• Restore America’s greatness
• I’m tired of hearing the Democrats don’t stand for anything
• We know what we have to do, all we need is the courage to get it done.
• It is time for us to stand up for the real promise for America.
• Let's remember who we are as Americans.
• It is time for us to turn the page.
• Together, we can hope.

At least nobody said "putting the cart before the horse." Save that one for the debates.