This is embarrassing
This is embarrassing, but since I don’t think Obama or Kerry are the least bit embarrassed, we’ll be embarrassed for them:
To make up for America skipping last week’s Paris Unity march, Secretary of State John Kerry had James Taylor sing his 1971 hit “You’ve Got a Friend,” to the French…
…He laid wreaths at the sites of the attacks and, as promised, shared “a big hug” with Hollande.
A hug from Kerry would not be my idea of a good thing, but perhaps Hollande has a different opinion.
As for the James Taylor performance, it seems absurd to me—the song expressing in lyrics the sentiment that the Obama administration does not act out in the real world. Then again, the French are reported to like Jerry Lewis, so perhaps…
[ADDENDUM: I can’t find a way to embed this video, so you’ll have to play it here, but Doug Mataconis of Outside the Beltway points out that the Simpsons did it first.
Life imitates art.]
With friends like us who needs ……… well you know.
Always loved JT’s music. But since I’ve abandoned the starry eyed liberalism I dallied with in my youth I can only listen to him with nostalgia. I don’t go to his concerts anymore as I can’t stand the sanctimonious preaching that seems to be so prevalent with liberal entertainers nowadays.
I almost walked out of a David Crosby solo performance a few years ago when he started blathering on about gun violence and how we all just needed to love each other. Funny, but a week later he was caught with a gun in his luggage in NYC. You can’t make this stuff up.
I can’t imagine that anyone with at least a functioning brain stem can think this was a good idea.
This is what passes for leadership in the Democrat Party?
In the fifties and sixties you could call a local radio station and have a DJ dedicate a favorite song to a significant other. Perhaps Kerry never advanced beyond that stage.
Embarrassing. But also weird. Did no one on Kerry’s staff, or in James Taylor’s entourage for that matter, find it just a teensy-weensy bit dumb, inappropriate, etc.? Defies belief, really.
Almost worse, though, is what Kerry said to French President Hollande:
Wishy-washy much? And that “great elegance and grace” — good to know Kerry hasn’t lost sight of the priorities here!
Smart Diplomacyâ„¢!!!
The entire world is either groaning at this, or laughing at it.
I am embarrassed that Kerry the clown is our Secretary of State. UGH….2 more years of this circus.
is anyone else old enough to remember 70’s SNL satire of Carol King writing the song while her boyfriend ( Steve Martin) get stabbed by a mugger and pleads with her to open the door.
Foreshadowing?
You just cannot parody this administration.
This is absurd and embarrassing.
Is this an Onion article? Seriously?!?
You know what is almost as embarrassing (on a picayune level) is the way Kerry tries to “act hip,” by “getting into” the music with clumsy gestures.
We are so screwed. By the way, though, this would be a great thing to send to your libbie Facebook pals, with a straight face. Those who have any shame left will squirm.
I remember in 2004 when they talked about Kerry the F ed “War Hero” compared to Bush’s AWOL record that Dan Rather made up on the spot.
Why don’t they remember? Too many feminist rape a thons and drugs?
Neo, since when have you started quoting “The Onion” for news?
Releasing Yemeni terrorists to nearby Oman was a shoot the bird gesture to the entire West. Kerry and JT in Paris is merely sophomoric in comparison. We are a nation with evil and alternately silly 8th graders at the helm. And we have a gop with leaders who appear to lack any alligence to the principles that were bequeathed America by the founders. This will not end well.
BTW, Jerry Lewis was very popular in France. We asked our French friends about this many years ago and those who said they enjoyed him all praised his absurd characters. We explained to them that many Americans did not enjoy Lewis and they were astounded. There is accounting for taste.
I never liked James Taylor much.
Too whiny and self-pitying.
That was driven home a couple of years ago when after his performance at Obama’s second inaugural he said,
I imagine the James Taylor stunt was because they couldn’t find the ridiculous “RESET” button.
The Obama administration is really an overloaded clown car going over a cliff.
Have always loved JT but tone-deaf does not even begin to describe this “gift.”
Makes me cringe.
I saw this on television and my first instinct was to avert my eyes and look down at my shoes, embarrassed and ashamed that I was seeing and hearing these things from a fellow human being. Then came the revulsion — this was a fellow AMERICAN! One of our nation’s leaders. Truly, one of the great cringeworthy moments. And in front of the French! I wonder, did anyone — anyone — in the bowels of the State Department shake their head?
Kerry’s ineptitude at empty platitudes may only be matched by Obama’s. They are of a singular pair. Both charlatans, both pretenders to a throne.
We should all marvel at dear leader’s restraint. After all, he did not send kerry to give Hollande an ipod loaded with his 2012 campaign speeches.
Regarding Kerry and the man who hired him; I don’t know who originally said this, but it seems to apply to the whole administration from the top down:
‘When you’re dead, you don’t know you’re dead, it is only difficult for others. It’s the same when you’re STUPID. ‘
As Lizzy said, you can’t even parody them. Village idiots, from top to bottom.