Things that are false

Hawaii 4-11

6 Comments

Here's a point about narrative.  Yesterday on ABC's "This Week" Cokie Roberts said:

ROBERTS: Yeah, that he has certainly come nowhere near closing the deal. As we've talked about before, in this year that should be such a Democratic year given all the other indices, he is tied in the polls and stage-sided in the polls and going off this week to a vacation in Hawaii —

VICTORIA CLARKE (former Pentagon spokeswoman): Right.

ROBERTS: — does not make any sense whatsoever. I know his grandmother lives in Hawaii and I know Hawaii is a state, but it has the look of him going off to some sort of foreign, exotic place. He should be in Myrtle Beach, and, you know, if he's going to take a vacation at this time.

CLARKE: Well, and —

ROBERTS: And I just think that, you know, this is not the time to do that.

Last I checked, Hawaii is a state in the Union (with a governor, a couple of senators, etc).  It also happens to be the state where Obama was born, which fact makes him eligible to run for President of the United States.

6 thoughts on “Hawaii 4-11”

  1. “[N]o where near closing the deal” is a poor description for a candidate who has consistently led his opponent by 5 points.

  2. According to Cokie Roberts’ logic, we’re lucky he chose Hawaii instead of Robert’s home state of Louisiana because people speak French down there and it would have been like Obama was visiting Europe all over again.

  3. His grandmother also happens to live there, and I believe his sister. Roberts deserves all the criticism she’s gotten on this, and more. Apparently, she repeated the same basic line on NPR the next morning.

    Meanwhile, I believe McCain’s yet to crack 44% (maybe 45%) in the polls.

  5. Well.  There was a TV show called “Hawaii Five-O” (which had a famous intro–search for it on youtube in case you’re not familiar).  “The 4-11” typically means “the information on” (as in dial 411 for information).  Give me the 4-11 on it–means give me the basic info on it, like you know, what’s up with Hawaii, etc.

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