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Times Square With Hillary and Bill

By Jeralyn, Section Blog Related
Posted on Thu Jan 01, 2009 at 12:56:27 AM EST
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Hillary and Bill Clinton were the perfect choice to start the ball drop in Times Square tonight. They looked radiant and it was great to watch them dancing afterwards.

More photos below.

CNN was a big disappointment, mostly because of Kathi Griffin. What were they thinking in choosing her? Their chatter was awful. Also, CNN's internet live feed of the event was terrible, more like a webcam, unfocused and like watching from 100 miles away. No closeups of anything.

It's hard to believe a year ago I was in Iowa for New Years attending Hillary's and John Edwards' campaign events. What a difference a year makes.

Happy New Year everyone!

< As AG, Burris Ignored Evidence of Innocence | Bomb Threats Shut Down Aspen on New Year's Eve >

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    Times Square With Hillary and Bill | 20 comments (20 topical)

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    Kathy Griffin is usually a hoot (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by andgarden on Thu Jan 01, 2009 at 01:01:53 AM EST
    but I guess this wasn't her environment.

    Wonderful moment with Bill and Hillary at the end.

    Whew, that was Kathy Griffin (none / 0) (#3)
    by Cream City on Thu Jan 01, 2009 at 01:42:44 AM EST
    and not Kathi Grifford.  I'm sober, so I hoped I wasn't crazy, thinking I saw Griffin with Cooper.

    Then again, Grifford might have been better.  I switched back to Turner Classic Movies, but fast -- although I did switch back a bit later and caught Kathy Griffin getting so angry at hecklers that CNN didn't cut off her mic fast enough . . . before she yelled back to some guy that she didn't bother him at his job that she described as having something to do with putting genitalia in his mouth.  Yikes.

    [ Parent ]

    thanks, I changed it (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by Jeralyn on Thu Jan 01, 2009 at 01:49:53 AM EST
    to Griffin. I don't think I've ever seen her before. I take it she's a comedian, but she sure wasn't funny tonight.

    [ Parent ]
    oh no! (none / 0) (#5)
    by lilburro on Thu Jan 01, 2009 at 02:15:22 AM EST
    I love Kathy Griffin!  I am sorry you all did not take kindly to her.  :(  I think it helps to be familiar with her universe.

    I thought Kathy was great tonight.  And her hair looked marvelous.  As did Lady Sushi.  

    I'm a sucker for her and Anderson Cooper, what can I say...

    [ Parent ]

    I watched about 5 minutes before and after (none / 0) (#8)
    by andgarden on Thu Jan 01, 2009 at 02:35:37 AM EST
    midnight. The chemistry was. . .interesting.

    All I can say is: I wonder how much they paid her to keep her big mouth shut about the guy standing next to her--assuming she did?

    [ Parent ]

    Dunno. (none / 0) (#9)
    by lilburro on Thu Jan 01, 2009 at 02:53:08 AM EST
    I assume Kathy is perhaps hypocritically well-mannered enough to control herself re: Cooper...at least on camera.  She asked him to spoon her within the first 2 minutes.  The Emmys came out in the first 15.

    CNN gave a lot of love to the drag queen festivities in Key West this year and last (also with Kathy).  I dig it.

    vis-a-vis other shows, I dunno.  But I'm betting CNN has one of the most fun NYE shows on TV!  Jeez, at least on Cable News TV...

    [ Parent ]

    Kathy is naturally funny (none / 0) (#16)
    by brodie on Thu Jan 01, 2009 at 11:22:36 AM EST
    in a Rickles' kinda way, but I'm afraid 90% of her humor goes right past me since I'm an over-30 hetero who doesn't watch sitcoms or reality entertainment programming and who has trouble identifying more than the usual 5-6 celebrity names that we're all forced to know by dint of living in this country.

    Anderson Cooper was okay if you find constantly giggling at the co-host's half-heard barbs the sort of witty anchor banter which justifies his massive annual paycheck.ds

    Frankly, we found more entertainment over on TCM, with their "That's Entertainment" (I, II, and III) musicals tribute from MGM.  Plenty of Garland, Sinatra and Gene Kelly; maybe too much Sinatra.  

    But some funny rarely seen stuff in there, including Clark Gable in an unintentionally hilarious song-n-dance number from the 30s -- apparently the studio insisted that each major star learn to sing and dance ...

     

    [ Parent ]

    Toshiba ruined the ball! (5.00 / 3) (#2)
    by Teresa on Thu Jan 01, 2009 at 01:03:34 AM EST
    That's all I could focus on...five lines of TOSHIBA lit up under the ball. They may have needed a sponsor but they could have put a little distance from the ball.

    Also, did the sign say 2009 while the ball was still dropping instead of changing from 2008 at midnight, or do I need to get my glasses out of the car?

    Happy New Year Jeralyn!

    Yep. Appalling amount (none / 0) (#13)
    by brodie on Thu Jan 01, 2009 at 10:51:18 AM EST
    of visual corporate pollution allowed by NYC and Bloomberg.  The ball looked miniscule compared to the advertising signage.

    NYC put on a cheap sell-out corporatist New Year's celebration of Toshiba.

    And, yes, some moron had already put up the physical "2009" sign, so we also missed the traditional display of the rollover of the calendar year when the ball dropped.

    Sydney and London and most other major world cities put on major-league displays.  NY's was underwhelming and tacky.

    [ Parent ]

    A glass of port and a biscotti (5.00 / 5) (#6)
    by oldpro on Thu Jan 01, 2009 at 02:18:02 AM EST
    to dip in it.  Loverly.

    Thank gawd it's over.

    Happy New Year, everyone.  Let's start over.

    tired (5.00 / 1) (#10)
    by lentinel on Thu Jan 01, 2009 at 07:53:02 AM EST
    I, like just about everyone, am glad that 2008 is behind us.
    But it is hard to feel a sense of celebration because I am aware in some level of my consciousness that as I am writing this children and other innocent souls are being killed.

    I would like just one New Year's celebration to be peaceful worldwide. Until then, when I see folks with the funny glasses on yelling, I just can't identify with them.

    And as for Hillary and Bill - why they did this escapes me. What do they need this for? It was a disastrous year for her.

    But what do I know?

    Not a disastrous year at all (5.00 / 9) (#11)
    by Democratic Cat on Thu Jan 01, 2009 at 08:56:44 AM EST
    Come on now. She came within spitting distance of the highest office in the land, and ends up being vested with the responsibility of being SOS in a complex and dangerous world. He saw her husband brought to tears of pride when she gave her speech at the Convention. She saw her daughter come into her own in the public limelight and reflect the intelligence and generosity of spirit that she and Bill imbued in her. I wish my year had been as good as hers!

    [ Parent ]
    We differ (5.00 / 6) (#12)
    by lentinel on Thu Jan 01, 2009 at 10:40:02 AM EST
    I wouldn't wish her year on anyone.

    Spitting distance? What imagery.

    She saw her daughter reviled. She and her husband were accused of "pimping" her out to campaign for her mother.

    She saw her cleavage and her dress as front page topics on such rags as the New York Times.

    If she read any of the left-wing blogs such as HuffPo or Kos or Crooks and Liars, she would read herself being continuously referred to as a "bitch" by people leaving their comments.

    She saw her husband called a racist for saying the obvious - that Obama's reputation as an anti-Iraq war person was a fairy tale.

    She experienced good old Edwards saying he didn't like her jacket - in a national debate, yet.

    She experienced being dumped on and set up by the unlamented Russert during an orgy of a display of pitiful testosterone spewed out by a gaggle of semi-impotent males.

    In the meanwhile, she watched as Obama got anointed. His every pandering move, hedging on the war in Iraq, getting palsy-walsy with homophobes and warmongers like his buddies Donnie and Ricky - all rationalized and excused by the media and sycophants as his being inclusive - or just doing what he has to do to be elected. All the while she was reviled for her unsuccessful attempts to get us a health care policy for all Americans.

    And now she sees Obama appointing all these guys from the Clinton era - and her big prize is to be the new shill for Obama's unformed and slightly weird foreign policy.

    Throwing up distance is a better analogy.

    However, you did not respond to the most important part of my post - the first part:
    As we write these tomes, children are being killed. Some of them by our own soldiers in meaningless wars. Some of them by the Israelis and the Palestinians. And by others as well.

    So I don't identify with the funny 2009 glasses, and getting loaded, and watching the Clintons drop the ball.

    [ Parent ]

    I can't get past the election either. (5.00 / 4) (#15)
    by mogal on Thu Jan 01, 2009 at 11:18:16 AM EST


    [ Parent ]
    We definitely differ! (5.00 / 4) (#18)
    by Democratic Cat on Thu Jan 01, 2009 at 11:53:20 AM EST
    But I don't get the funny glasses and overindulgence so many indulge in either.

    Hillary put herself out there, took a chance, and she and her family had a lot of sh** thrown at them. But I think they triumphed, in a way. Winning doesn't always involve literally winning, you know? I have a non-trivial amount of bitterness about the primary season. I'm amazed at the grace and dignity with which she conducted herself through it all. After all that you list, she is still effing standing, and she is still the most admired woman in America. I'm looking forward to what she can contribute as SOS.

    [ Parent ]

    Last try (none / 0) (#20)
    by lentinel on Fri Jan 02, 2009 at 06:37:34 AM EST
    Children are being killed.
    Many because of American military action, foreign policy and arms sales.
    I picture myself in the midst of this destruction and murder watching people, numb to the horrors they have caused, reveling and drinking.

    [ Parent ]
    Well, bah humbug, then (none / 0) (#14)
    by Spamlet on Thu Jan 01, 2009 at 11:12:45 AM EST


    [ Parent ]
    Agree, there was a silver lining (5.00 / 1) (#17)
    by brodie on Thu Jan 01, 2009 at 11:29:09 AM EST
    to the dark cloud for the Clintons this past year.

    Politics is a rough business, and she got in her shots at Obama as well.  But in the end, it was her own decision to hire and elevate to major responsibility some dubious/divisive types like Mark Penn and Patti Solis Doyle.

    I think she'll enjoy being a hugely important player in the new admin, and being able to directly influence US FP, something she wouldn't have been able to do as one of 100 in the senate.  No more daily fundraising either ...

    Chelsea looks to be someone with huge potential -- articulate, well versed in the issues, and rather cool under fire.  Maybe a run for a House seat in Congress in the next few years?  

    [ Parent ]

    It was her campaign's decision to (5.00 / 1) (#19)
    by hairspray on Thu Jan 01, 2009 at 09:48:13 PM EST
    soft pedal the caucuses. But after winning as many voters as Obama and especially those in Blue states, whose decision was it to award the delegates to Obama? No silver lining there!

    [ Parent ]
    Tonight was bittersweet (none / 0) (#7)
    by lilburro on Thu Jan 01, 2009 at 02:19:27 AM EST
    2009 means a lot to me, mostly because of politics.  Being this close to Bush being out is delightful but also a drag.  When will the day come???

    If your reaction to it all is as campy as mine, I offer to you the Pet Shop Boys with Dusty Springfield - What Have I Done to Deserve This?

    Happy New Years!  Gonna get through!

    Times Square With Hillary and Bill | 20 comments (20 topical)

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