dagblog - Comments for "Clinton: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow"

The point is, the Democrats

Ramona — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 15:49:02 +0000

In reply to You Hillary, the passionate

The point is, the Democrats put all that aside and included him in their victory. I'm proud of them for that.

You Hillary, the passionate

rmrd0000 — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 15:21:06 +0000

In reply to What shocks me is that I've

You had Hillary, the passionate speech by Warren, Obama's endorsement, and Biden's speech. Then there was Bernie, walking stooped beside the President, Bernie sitting silent next to Harry Reid when asked about Hillary's endorsement, and Bernie giving his same tired speech, totally ignoring Hillary's victory, to a crowd n D.C. Bernie sucking the joy out of each place he went.

What shocks me is that I've

Ramona — Fri, 10 Jun 2016 15:07:09 +0000

In reply to Clinton: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

What shocks me is that I've lived through so many presidential elections supporting males every time, giving only momentary thought to when it would be a woman's turn. Even when Geraldine Ferraro got in the race as the potential veep, that was as close as I thought it would get. Even I had been conditioned to buy into the myth that the presidency was a man's work. It could be that the female politicians didn't work toward that goal, preferring to stick to congress, or local and state posts, instead, but when Hillary ran against Obama it changed everything. She got THIS close! It could be done! And now there's a real possibility it will be done. It feels good.

"History, here she comes."

barefooted — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 17:23:10 +0000

In reply to Clinton: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow

"History, here she comes." Indeed. And it's only just and right that the first daughter of the first African American President will cast her first presidential vote for the first woman nominee on November 8, 2016.

Named after one, and awfully

PeraclesPlease — Thu, 09 Jun 2016 15:00:59 +0000

In reply to Groucho was a Socialist?

Named after one, and awfully social - married 3 times.

In his book The Groucho Phile, Marx says "I've been a liberal Democrat all my life", and "I frankly find Democrats a better, more sympathetic crowd.... I'll continue to believe that Democrats have a greater regard for the common man than Republicans do". So at least a wannabe.

FBI kept files on comedian Groucho Marx - October 13, 1998

NEW YORK (AP) - He did more than smoke cigars and leer at women. He defended free speech and U.S.-Soviet friendship. He had opinions on everything from the New Deal to the United Nations.

So when Groucho Marx wiggled those eyebrows and cracked wise about the Establishment, a few Establishment eyebrows went up as well.

Documents recently made public show the FBI kept detailed files on the comedian, ranging from his supportive quote about the Scottsboro Boys in the 1930s to jokes made on television in the '50s and '60s.

With the unintentional humor of a Marx brothers villain, the bureau is still withholding several pages "in the interest of national defense or foreign policy."

..."In 1953, the FBI was told by one of their confidential informants that Groucho was a member of the Communist Party and they decided to do a full review" ...

The son of Jewish immigrants, Marx grew up in turn-of-the-century Manhattan, in a world where socialism was about as subversive as the Sabbath. He would become a dependable member of Hollywood's liberal community, supporting the New Deal and other causes.

But what was standard left-wing thinking in the 1930s and '40s became suspicious thinking in the Cold War era. In 1953, the House Un-American Activities Committee pressured Groucho through Jerry Fielding, bandleader for the comedian's TV game show "You Bet Your Life."

Fielding, who had been tagged as a Communist sympathizer in Walter Winchell's syndicated column, would later say the committee wanted him to name Groucho as a fellow traveler. Fielding refused and the show's sponsor, DeSoto-Plymouth Dealers of America, persuaded Groucho to fire him.

"That I bowed to sponsors' demands is one of the greatest regrets of my life," Marx wrote later.

According to the FBI files, Groucho's alleged offenses date back to a 1934 article in the Communist Party newspaper the Daily Worker. The article claims he called Communist support for the Scottsboro Boys an inspiration for "Soviet America." He was also quoted as defending Tom Mooney, a labor leader then imprisoned, and later pardoned, for the bombing deaths of 10 people.

In the '40s, Groucho attended a benefit concert for Soviet war relief, helped sponsor a fund-raiser for the liberal magazine The Nation and opposed United Nations recognition for the fascist government of Spain. He was also a member of the Committee for the First Amendment, an anti-HUAC organization that included Frank Sinatra, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.

...There's no indication that Groucho's career was affected, but the FBI did take him seriously. One internal memo - noting Groucho's real name was Julius H. Marx - was initialed by six officials, and J. Edgar Hoover personally responded to at least one letter writer, enclosing the pamphlet "What You Can Do to Fight Communism and Preserve America."

Entries to Groucho's file ended in the early 1960s. He died in 1977.

"They concluded from their study he was not a member of the Communist Party," Wiener said. "The party was a very rigid organization; it's hard to imagine a wisecracking spirit like Groucho's in it."