May 26, 2013

What Bob Dole thinks of Barack Obama.

"He's a great... golfer. Very articulate, I think. As a president, he lacks communication skills with his own party, let alone the Republican Party.."

That was on "Fox News Sunday" today. I've repunctuated the quote to convey the humor that comes across in the audio.

71 comments:

Carol said...

It dismayed me to see Dole characterized as a humorless, paranoid curmudgeon when he ran for president by SNL and the like. Because anyone who had paid attention up til then knew he was a funny guy, if a bit ascerbic.

Bender said...

As a president, he lacks communication skills

Obama has great communication skills. He said "I won" very clearly. After that, he believes, nothing more needs to be said.

Obama doesn't need to justify himself or explain himself to you scum. He won. Period. Deal with it.

Issob Morocco said...

For all of his golfing I don't think he is that great.

J said...

Bender you're right.His fu artitude comes through pretty clearly in just avout everything he does.And in his writings.Read his book and nothing came through more than his snotty holier than thou attitude towards every authority figure in his life.

Hagar said...

But he is an articulate golfer!

Skeptical Voter said...

I dunno. I wouldn't let him play in my foursome--and I'm a truly lousy golfer. But we exclude metrosexuals and whiners from our group.

Hagar said...

and clean too!

edutcher said...

He can't relate to people because he doesn't want to.

That's what a real communicator can do, he can make you feel as if he understands what you're going through.

That was Reagan.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I first read that as "What Bob Dylan thinks of Barack Obama."

Now that would have been a coup... even if Dylan was to say Obama was his cup of tea, I would still find it a big deal... you know... on account of present company sun setting and rising with a Dylan pronouncement.

Petunia said...

Zero thinks he's superior to EVERYONE, from what I can see. Remember when he said he knows more about policies in any area, than any policy director would?

Sadly, almost everything he's achieved in his life, including the presidency, has been through affirmative action, whether formal or informal. But of course he and his sycophants won't see it that way.

sakredkow said...

Dole has always had a great, most often acerbic, sense of humor.

Drago said...

phx: "Dole has always had a great, most often acerbic, sense of humor.

This is quite true and well known within political circles.

Which is precisely why he was portrayed as the exact opposite by the SNL gang.

sakredkow said...

"It is demeaning to the nation that within the Clinton administration, a core of the elite who never grew up, never did anything real, never sacrificed, never suffered and never learned, should have the power to fund with your earnings their dubious and self-serving schemes."

Bob Dole's acceptance speech for nomination 1996.

MrCharlie2 said...

how old bob dole?

MrCharlie2 said...

how old bob dole?

Lydia said...

He'll be 90 in July.

edutcher said...

Petunia said...

Zero thinks he's superior to EVERYONE, from what I can see. Remember when he said he knows more about policies in any area, than any policy director would?

And he's always the most interesting person in the room.

How can people stand to be around such a slug?

Unknown said...

Old Bob Dole fine. How you?

Ann Althouse said...

Ha ha. I remember that.

Methadras said...

What is the point of trotting out Bob Dole to pontificate on Urkel's (un)likeability quotient?

jacksonjay said...


Great leaders don't crow about their greatness!

Saint Croix said...

Here is Britney and Bob.

jacksonjay said...


Great leaders don't crow about their greatness!

Saint Croix said...

Bob Dole on Britney Spears

(oops, that didn't come out right)

virgil xenophon said...

Once years ago a young divorcee I was dating looked up into my eyes in the midst of one of our tender moments and asked: "Are you really smart or are you just glib?" (Of course I instantly realized at that moment that I was going to have to drop her like a hot potato as she was FAR to analytical for my own good, lol)

Obama is not so much "articulate" as he is "glib." As for "smart?"

BUWAHAHAhahahah!!!!!!!!!!!!

OK, he's street-smart in a political way, I'll give him that and that's not nothing, but smart as in "profound?" I'd sooner consult my pet rock (for glass houses, you know) or the magic 8-Ball..

virgil xenophon said...

***"TOO" analytical-how does that happen?

Hagar said...

Chris Wallace, though a nice person and quite intelligent, is fundamentally a Manhattan penthouse Democrat.

And in Bob Dole's formative years, the Republicans were very much in the minority and looked to remain so forever. Gives you a different perspective as a Senator.

Today, "the Solid South" is long gone, but we are a 50-50 nation, and the Democrat left can't hardly bear it.

virgil xenophon said...

"...a Manhattan penthouse democrat..."

I LIKE that! So very on-the-mark..

ricpic said...

Bob Dole on the vice-presidency:

It's a good job, inside work with no heavy lifting.

Ann Althouse said...

"What is the point of trotting out Bob Dole to pontificate on Urkel's (un)likeability quotient?"

Something about Memorial Day, an old conflict called WWII, and a terrible injury to a 23-year-old man a long time ago. But don't fret. He's 90 now. He won't trouble you much longer. Carry on.

sakredkow said...

Bob Dole, since he retired from the senate, is one of those guys you just shup up and respect whenever he speaks, whether you agree with him or not. He commands the kind of respect that Clint Eastwood gets, except it's even more justified.

Big Mike said...

WALLACE: Could people like Bob Dole, even Ronald Reagan, could you make it in today's Republican Party?

DOLE: I doubt it. And I -- Reagan wouldn't have made it
.

Bob Dole, perhaps not. Ronald Reagan, certainly yes.

ed said...

Bob Dole. A prophet in search of a preach.

rcocean said...

Bob Dole is such a self-serving, inside the beltway bozo.

According to him, "he and Reagan couldn't make it the Republican party today"

"He and Reagan". LOL. Dole, Bush, and Ford fought Reagan every step of the way. Later, as Republican Senate leader, he was always try to suck up to the Democrats and the MSM, who loved his "wit"; especially when he was making snarky remarks about Conservatives.

Dole never had an idea in his life, except to support big business.

sakredkow said...

Bob Dole and Bob Dylan.

sakredkow said...

It dismayed me to see Dole characterized as a humorless, paranoid curmudgeon when he ran for president by SNL and the like.
____________________________

Later, as Republican Senate leader, he was always try to suck up to the Democrats and the MSM, who loved his "wit";

Get your stories straight.

rcocean said...

Like Bush and Ford, he was pushing Colin Powell for President, and worried that Bush II was "too right-wing". He was lamest Republican candidate after Ford and before McCain. Absurdly, unable to utter coherent sentence during the debates, or give a speech without making the audience comatose - he's now 15 years later, some sort of wise elder statesman.

I mean "where's the outrage?"

rcocean said...

He is however beloved by the Republican boobs, and had everything they wanted in a president candidate, To whit:

A good resume, lots of experience, a complete lack of charisma, a terrible candidate, no ideas, no ability to speechify or inspire, not a conservative, 100% in favor of the status quo, and completely beholden to the DC Establishment and big business.

Drago said...

rcocean: "A good resume, lots of experience, a complete lack of charisma, a terrible candidate, no ideas, no ability to speechify or inspire, not a conservative, 100% in favor of the status quo, and completely beholden to the DC Establishment and big business."

LOL

Too true.

But what could we do?

Kemp refused to run and so did just about anyone else.

Drago said...

phx: "Get your stories straight."

Oh, I see the problem.

You think SNL is included in the MSM.

They're not.

They are part of the popular culture front, but if you mention MSM I don't think that SNL springs to anyones mind.



sakredkow said...

Oh, I see the problem.

My brother. If we waited for you to see the problem we would be waiting a long time indeed.

Chip Ahoy said...

Dole just got back from the Olive garden in North Dakota with Marilyn Hagarty.

Jim at said...

Obama a great golfer? You have got to be kidding. He sucks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9m3GyDh6M8

virgil xenophon said...

rcocean has Dole TOTALLY bracketed..

caseym54 said...

DOLE: I doubt it. And I -- Reagan wouldn't have made it.

Reagan completely changed the Republican Party to fit him, not the other way around. Bob Dole was one of those that had to change, which he did grudgingly.

If Reagan was running today, he'd drag the party along this time, too.

ErnieG said...

rcocean: "A good resume, lots of experience, a complete lack of charisma, a terrible candidate, no ideas, no ability to speechify or inspire, not a conservative, 100% in favor of the status quo, and completely beholden to the DC Establishment and big business."

That sounds like the MSM's idea of the ideal Republican candidate. During the primaries they find somebody like that and promote him all they can, because they think he'll lose the general election.

Drago said...

phx: "My brother. If we waited for you to see the problem we would be waiting a long time indeed."


I think the issue is how long it takes for us to recognize your problem and then disentangle it from all your other problems since you possess a regular gordion's knot of issues all tangled into one.

Not uncommon for someone of your intellectual limitations.

Drago said...

Of course phx, I can understand why you wouldn't want to dwell on what was probably an ill-thought out response to a couple of observations that you believed were in conflict but are clearly not.

Feel free to step back and simply admit that most people don't see comedy shows (other than the daily show perhaps) as part of the "MSM".

Go ahead.

Stepping down from incorrect assumptions/assertions is something you must be used to by now.

Or at least, should be.

Michael K said...

Dole has a great story of recovery from a terrible war wound.

As a Senator, especially the "Senator from Archer Daniels Midland", he was OK.

As the Senate majority leader when Reagan was elected, he delayed the Reagan tax cut until we had lost the Senate in 1982. He wouldn't know much about Reagan but he didn't know then.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Something about Memorial Day, an old conflict called WWII, and a terrible injury to a 23-year-old man a long time ago. But don't fret. He's 90 now. He won't trouble you much longer. Carry on.

Nice.

Bob Ellison said...

Bob Dole is a hero. We are lucky to have him.

Al Franken wrote a book, Why Not Me?, in which Franken's fictional candidate for POTUS encounters Dole in a group debate. Franken makes notes. About Dole, he writes, "Holds pen."

kentuckyliz said...

Sour grapes make bitter wine.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

In '96 I was talking to my boss, a working-class Bronx Puerto Rican who was boot-strapping his way into the upper middle-class, partly by aping the opinions and seminar-speak of our liberal administrators. Though personally a very conservative person, he said he wasn't voting for Dole because Dole was too "extreme"! LMFAO!

J said...

Dole may have been a bad candidate and a not very good Majority leader bur I'd still prefer the ADM senator over BHO and Dingy Harry.

Saint Croix said...

Something about Memorial Day, an old conflict called WWII, and a terrible injury to a 23-year-old man a long time ago. But don't fret. He's 90 now. He won't trouble you much longer. Carry on.

One day I will get a snark shot like that and I will just keel over and die.

I mean, how do you respond to that?

Here is the Aliens guy saying Game over! after Althouse just nuked his world.

Achilles said...

Dole was a decent human being. He does well until he includes himself with Reagan. He was a go along along Repub Pol.

Reagan stood up, told the truth, and took shots from the haters. Reagan called communism evil. Reagan called government the problem, not the solution. Between him and Newt real small government conservatism had a voice.

Dole never did any of that. Ford, Bush 1 and 2, and McCain are all government centered "compassionate" Republicans. Dole belongs with that group, not with Reagan.

rcocean said...

I like Dole as a person. His books about his WWII service is very honest. He didn't want to go into the Army he wanted to be a Doctor. Rather than be drafted he volunteered for the medical service. After Basic, he made a big mistake. Instead of staying in the medical corps as an Enlisted man, he joined something called the ASTP. This lead to the Infantry, then OCS, then Italy and combat and his wound.

His book includes his letters, which make it quite clear that while he was willing to fight, he preferred someone else do it.

In summary, he wasn't a gung-ho patriot like George Bush, JFK, McGovern, or even Reagan. He answered the call to duty, but he had to be called.

Its hard not respect and like that kind of honesty.

J said...

And so far is saying the GOP is out of ideas maybe his Establishment is out of ideas.I don't think he listens to too many tea-partiers and libertarians.I met him during the 96 campaign and even then the man didn't show any fire in the belly.One reason he lost.

J said...

And so far is saying the GOP is out of ideas maybe his Establishment is out of ideas.I don't think he listens to too many tea-partiers and libertarians.I met him during the 96 campaign and even then the man didn't show any fire in the belly.One reason he lost.

Nomennovum said...

Dole called O'Bama "articulate"???

He may as well have called him a jiggaboo. Only Democrats like Joe Biden can do stuff like that.

Roux said...

Bob Dole the author of one of the worst laws ever conceived....The American's with Disabilities Act..

Deb said...

"Something about Memorial Day, an old conflict called WWII, and a terrible injury to a 23-year-old man a long time ago. But don't fret. He's 90 now. He won't trouble you much longer. Carry on."

In 1996 I was working with a bunch of people who perfectly fit the description in PHX's quote at 4:34. They found Dole to be a source of great amusement, especially his paralyzed right arm, the result of horrific injuries during WWII. These were people with master's degrees who thought Norway was in Africa (I am not joking). I endured these people for 13 years for reasons beyond my control and I walked away from that job as soon as it was possible to do so without my family winding up on the street.

Cody Jarrett said...

Saint Croix said...

Something about Memorial Day, an old conflict called WWII, and a terrible injury to a 23-year-old man a long time ago. But don't fret. He's 90 now. He won't trouble you much longer. Carry on.

One day I will get a snark shot like that and I will just keel over and die.

I mean, how do you respond to that?

Here is the Aliens guy saying Game over! after Althouse just nuked his world."


Yeah but notice how the question wasn't actually addressed--which was why is Dole being trotted out to talk about Barry.

Dole has been out of office a long time now.

And I really like Dole.

But she didn't answer the question. Just delivered some snark. It's what she does. She doesn't debate. She insults and impugns.

Paco Wové said...

"She insults and impugns."

As do most of the commenters around here. At least Althouse has a modicum of wit going.

Saint Croix said...

But she didn't answer the question. Just delivered some snark.

Definition of "snark"...

verbal ingenuineness that is brief, subtle, yet quite stabbing.

She's indirect and sneaky smart. She fights like a girl.

And the question was answered, most definitively.

Saint Croix said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Saint Croix said...

I should say, "the snark was answered, most definitively."

Althouse is at her snarkiest when she encounters stupidity, or a fraud, or (in this case) a mean spirit. The question was not put in a respectful way, and she responded to that.

As to whether Memorial Day explains why Dole was on your television, sure, why not? Makes sense to me.

What makes the Althouse snark a thing of beauty is that it is never pure insult, but insult combined with instruction.

cubanbob said...

"It is demeaning to the nation that within the Clinton administration, a core of the elite who never grew up, never did anything real, never sacrificed, never suffered and never learned, should have the power to fund with your earnings their dubious and self-serving schemes."

True then. True now.

cubanbob said...

What makes the Althouse snark a thing of beauty is that it is never pure insult, but insult combined with instruction."

Well said and its the reason most of us read her blog and comment on it.

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Unknown said...

Bob Dole is right about a lot.