Hillary Clinton can’t seem to get fiction straight. Trying to rally Philadelphia voters to her banner, Hillary adopted Rocky theme of the underdog fighting against enormous odds. She forgot one thing about the movie …. its ending:
In a speech in Philadelphia today, Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-NY, will compare herself to Philly icon Rocky Balboa.
“Well, could you imagine if Rocky Balboa had gotten half way up those Art Museum steps and said, ‘Well, I guess that’s about far enough?'” Clinton will ask, according to her prepared remarks released to the press.
“Let me tell you something, when it comes to finishing the fight, Rocky and I have a lot in common,” she will tell the Pennsylvania A.F.L.-C.I.O. audience. “I never quit. I never give up. And neither do the American people.”
Um….Senator?
Rocky lost.
Wow. How many misreads does this analogy contain? Let’s walk through a few:
- As Jake Tapper notes, Rocky lost.
- The point of the movie was the dedication and belief that Rocky had to develop in himself to gain respect from others. He had to quit thinking of himself as a loser. Does anyone think that’s Hillary’s big hurdle in 2008?
- Not to put too fine a point on this, but the villain of the movie was a black man who had an ego problem. Nuance?
- Before (and after) the fight, Rocky worked as a collector for the mob. Hillary works for the …. well, hell, maybe that one does work.
- Rocky’s spouse was a painfully shy but virtuous woman whose love lifted Rocky up when he needed it the most. Bill … not so much.
- Howard Wolfson is not Mick. James Carville, maybe.
Maybe Hillary meant to invoke Rocky 5, where a brain-damaged Rocky had to beat down a punk upstart in a street fight. Barack Obama as Tommy “Machine” Gunn … Hillary can only dream.
Update: HA reader Roberto reminds us that the real Rocky (so to speak) endorsed McCain:
