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Nerdfighting in 2008, Pakistan, and Hillary Clinton

2008-01-04 · John · watch on YouTube · World affairs · news analysis

In a four-part letter John presents the new intro and the new Ning-based Nerdfighter site, laments Benazir Bhutto's assassination and Musharraf's delay of elections, and corrects his own 'Prime Minister Musharraf' error alongside Hillary Clinton's claim that Musharraf was on the ballot.

What is said

00:00:00 — New-year motto, the new intro, and the new Nerdfighter site on Ning

  • ★★ John proposes a motto for the Vlogbrothers in 2008: being less frequent doesn't mean the videos will be better. (playful) — 00:00:00 · Vlogbrothers
  • ★★ John presents the new intro, which Hank designed, and asks nerdfighters to say in the comments whether they like it. — 00:00:00 · Hank Green, Nerdfighteria
  • ★★★ John announces that nerdfighting will become more collaborative in 2008: a new site built on Ning where everyone can have a Nerdfighter profile, pictures, videos and blogs. — 00:00:00 · Nerdfighter Ning, Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ John asks everyone to find the new site in the video info, build a profile and become his friend, since Hank has more friends than he does. (playful) — 00:00:36 · Nerdfighter Ning, Hank Green

00:01:05 — Pakistan: Bhutto's assassination, Musharraf's delay of elections, mustachioed leaders

  • ★★★ John reports that former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was recently assassinated and that it is not yet clear who was responsible. — 00:01:05
  • ★★★ John says Pakistan is worse off since Bhutto's death: not a perfect leader (her government was corrupt), but a charismatic presence who believed in the democratic process. — 00:01:05
  • ★★★ John says Musharraf, the dictatorial president of Pakistan, has used Bhutto's death to delay the parliamentary elections that were due this month. — 00:01:34
  • ★★ John says the evidence is mounting that Musharraf might be 'an asshat', mocking his mustache. (playful) (hedged) — 00:01:34
  • ★ John jokes that mustaches on 20th-century world leaders are a bad sign (Stalin, Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Kaiser Wilhelm II; Genghis Khan), so by comparison Musharraf is 'kind of a winner'. (joke) — 00:02:04 · Adolf Hitler

00:02:33 — Correction: John's 'Prime Minister Musharraf' error and Hillary Clinton's claim that Musharraf was on the ballot

  • ★★★ John apologises for an earlier video in which, eating Peeps, he called President Musharraf 'Prime Minister' Musharraf; he calls it a significant error. — 00:02:33 · Peeps > «I accidentally referred to President Musharraf as Prime Minister Musharraf. That was a significant error, and I apologize for it.»
  • ★★★ John says Hillary Clinton claimed in two recent interviews that Musharraf was a candidate on the ballot in the delayed elections; he is not. — 00:02:33
  • ★★ John says Pakistanis have never been able to vote for Musharraf: he took power in a military coup and has been periodically, grudgingly re-upped by the National Assembly. (hedged) — 00:02:33
  • ★★★ John argues that by presenting Musharraf as a participant in Pakistan's democratic process Clinton lent legitimacy to his rule, the same mistake John made. — 00:03:02
  • ★★ John contrasts himself (in pajama pants at 3:10 pm) with Senator Clinton, who wants to be president, adding that the brothers are not endorsing anybody. (playful) — 00:03:02

00:03:31 — Question Tuesday next week: leave questions; sign-off

Humor (significant)

  • Proposing a motto for the Vlogbrothers in 2008, now that they post less often. — 00:00:00 > «Just because we're less frequent doesn't mean we'll be better.»
  • John riffs on how fun the word 'Ning' is to say, rhyming it with Bling and Sting. — 00:00:36 > «It's like Kling, only no one ever broke up with me for being too Ning-y.»
  • After calling Musharraf's mustache a bad sign and listing mustachioed dictators, John reassesses Musharraf. — 00:02:04 > «as anti-democratic as Pervez Musharraf might be in the context of other mustachioed 20th century leaders, he's kind of a winner»
  • John notes the small difference between himself and Hillary Clinton, who made the same mistake about Musharraf. — 00:03:02 > «It's 3.10 in the afternoon and I'm wearing my jammy pants, whereas Senator Clinton wants to be our president.»

Threads in this video

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