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You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2008 / The Speech Was A Failure

The Speech Was A Failure

by John Cole|  March 18, 20081:35 pm| 100 Comments

This post is in: Election 2008, Previous Site Maintenance, Blogospheric Navel-Gazing, I Read These Morons So You Don't Have To

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Obama’s speech on race was a failure because the Confederate Wanker lost his “gag reflect”:

11:32: Mercifully, it’s over. Once I finally regain control over my gag reflect, I’ll check around the blogosphere for other reaction to his speech.

When Hillaryis44 and Bob Owens both tell you the speech sucked, you know you are on to something! I think I will need to check with Red State and the Corner to make sure, though:

Blame whitey, and raise high the red flag of socialism. This is a serious candidate for the Presidency? Toast, toast.

While the others are havens for douchebaggery, I really, really do not get Derbyshire. It is almost like he is bi-polar. Some times he makes remarks that are completely and totally level-headed , sane, and rational (see here and here for examples), and other times, he seems to be going completely and totally insane. This is one of the insane moments.

At any rate, consider this an open thread.

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Reader Interactions

100Comments

  1. 1.

    demimondian

    March 18, 2008 at 1:39 pm

    Of course the speech was a failure. He’s given it, and HE’S STILL BLACK.

    Nothing less would have been a success.

    Of course, this is bad for the Democrat party.

  2. 2.

    crayz

    March 18, 2008 at 1:44 pm

    I want some of whatever brown acid those people have been dropping

  3. 3.

    Joe Bleau

    March 18, 2008 at 1:45 pm

    Oh, come now, demimondian. He’s allowed to be black. He and his fellow pigmentationally-challenged folks just need to review the rules about what they are and are not allowed to be pissed off about.

  4. 4.

    Ninerdave

    March 18, 2008 at 1:46 pm

    Let me summarize miq and p.luk:

    Hillary rulez, Obama drools.

    Ok there ya go you can skip their posts now.

  5. 5.

    quickdraw

    March 18, 2008 at 1:47 pm

    I’m surprised anyone over at Confederate Yankee still has a gag reflex.

  6. 6.

    LiberalTarian

    March 18, 2008 at 1:47 pm

    Heh. I love it when wingnut heads explode.

    They show such great discernment when it comes to reality (after all, there were WMDs in Iraq, didn’t they say??); we can now expect to see the MUP blossom movement like a purty flower.

    My gawd, it’ll be beautiful.

  7. 7.

    The Commander Guy

    March 18, 2008 at 1:48 pm

    Yep. The weekly standard, da korner and the Clintonistas are all reading off the same talking points. So you know the world is going to end soon.

  8. 8.

    lutton

    March 18, 2008 at 1:49 pm

    >>raise high the red flag of socialism

    If Obama has successfully put to rest the racism issue, they’ll just turn around and call him a ‘class warrior.’ (As if the notion that the rest of us getting screwed over by the super rich is somehow false.)

  9. 9.

    Davis X. Machina

    March 18, 2008 at 1:49 pm

    Ok there ya go you can skip their posts now.

    But I was looking forward to pie.

    But seriously, I’m alarmed by the insistent questions “What’s the sound-bite?”, “What’s the one-sentence takeaway?” that’s often become the issue in discussing the speech, even at places like Talkingpointsmemo.com

    It was a Lincoln-at-Cooper-Union speech not a Mr-Gorbachev-tear-down-this-wall speech, and that’s O.K.

    Bumper stickers are for bumpers.

  10. 10.

    protected static

    March 18, 2008 at 1:51 pm

    I’m surprised anyone over at Confederate Yankee still has a gag reflex.

    Yeah, they’ve been deep-throating W for so long, you’d think they’d have that pretty much under control…

  11. 11.

    zmulls

    March 18, 2008 at 1:52 pm

    I think this clinches it for me. I’ve been leaning Obama for a while, but I think he has my vote in the PA primary.

    It’s been a long time since I saw someone with so much to lose step *up* to a problem and not try to talk around it. He didn’t do the easy thing or the quick thing — he (and his staff) thought long and hard and changed the game by taking it on headfirst. And trying hard to persuade (rather than dissuade or avoid).

    Last week Obama took on the Rezko controversy by sitting down with two newspapers, separately, in a room full of reporters looking to score, and made himself a target. For 90 minutes, each, he told them to ask any damn thing they wanted. And they took their best shot.

    It shouldn’t be noteworthy but it is. I was for Edwards (and not for Obama) in the early stages because I thought Obama was pulling back from the tough moments. This is the kind of leadership I’ve been waiting for.

    I’m going to try very hard to not say terrible things about Clinton — I admire much about her. I think I will get back to admiring much about her when the campaign comes to an end and we can get back to the business of beating the zombie Republicans and fixing the country….

  12. 12.

    over_educated

    March 18, 2008 at 1:52 pm

    Damn him for trying to bring us all together! Damn him to hell!

  13. 13.

    Joe Bleau

    March 18, 2008 at 1:54 pm

    It was a Lincoln-at-Cooper-Union speech not a Mr-Gorbachev-tear-down-this-wall speech, and that’s O.K.

    Man, I totally agree. I despise the American tendency to focus on the superficia… Hey, Look! A shiny penny!

    So, who do ya’ll think is gonna get voted off of Biggest Loser tonight?

  14. 14.

    Jeff

    March 18, 2008 at 1:54 pm

    I love how the folks over at Hillaryis44 are going gaga over Pat Buchanan and what he is saying about Obama and the speech. I mean he really is such an icon in progressive politics.

  15. 15.

    Joe Max

    March 18, 2008 at 1:55 pm

    Ladies and gentlemen, what we’ve seen speaks for itself. The Democratic Party has been taken over — “conquered”, if you will — by a master race of Mexican Islamic Negroes. It’s difficult to tell from this vantage point whether they will consume all the rich white people or merely enslave them. One thing is for certain, there is no stopping them; the uppity Democrats will soon be here.

    And I, for one, welcome our new mexilamonegroliberalfascist overlords. I’d like to remind them that as a trusted member of the blogosphere, I can be helpful in rounding up others to toil in their underground falafel, tortilla, and pork rind factories.

  16. 16.

    hurf

    March 18, 2008 at 1:56 pm

    Derbyshire is a paleoconservative bigot who wrote a hilarious apologia for Ron Paul when the newsletters were released. He’s an erudite Steve Sailer.

  17. 17.

    The Other Steve

    March 18, 2008 at 1:58 pm

    I think you’ve set the bar too high. You’re saying… “If Obama didn’t convince Hillary and McCain to vote for him, he has failed.”

    When he only needs to convince John McCain.

  18. 18.

    wingnuts to iraq

    March 18, 2008 at 1:58 pm

    God forbid we try to be united, and realize we have more in common then our differences!

    I’d just like to reiterate over_educated’s response.

    The powers that be know that if ordinary American’s are actually united for their common goals, their days are numbered.

    Great speech. Obama takes things head on. He is what a real leader looks like.

  19. 19.

    orogeny

    March 18, 2008 at 1:58 pm

    Overall, the speech was decent (I haven’t heard it but I just read the text on TPM). I was amazed that he decided that it was an appropriate time to take a shot at Geraldine Ferraro, though.

    just as some have dismissed Geraldine Ferraro, in the aftermath of her recent statements, as harboring some deep-seated racial bias.

    Sure, he said “some have dismissed”, but since he never said anything to counter what “some” have said, it certainly gives the appearance that he is calling Ferraro a racist. It hardly seems appropriate to be throwing out charges of racism in a speech that is supposed to be about reconciliation. IMHO, his essay on HuffPo was much better.

  20. 20.

    4tehlulz

    March 18, 2008 at 1:59 pm

    >>Yeah, they’ve been deep-throating W for so long, you’d think they’d have that pretty much under control…

    POTMFD

  21. 21.

    Grumpy Code Monkey

    March 18, 2008 at 1:59 pm

    Obama’s mistake is to run as a rational, thoughtful adult. That shit will never fly with the dead-enders.

  22. 22.

    matt

    March 18, 2008 at 2:00 pm

    I think Obama’s sincerity about mending fences and moving forward is making it difficult for his opponents to attack him without coming off as unusually small.

    It’s really making some conservatives look like asses (I know, I know) but it’s actually magnifying it.

    MSNBC played a clip of Limbaugh commenting on the speech, and something about it seemed so…anachronistic when compared to the “new politics” theme Obama is pushing.

  23. 23.

    jnfr

    March 18, 2008 at 2:00 pm

    Why can’t I get the damn pie script to work for me? What am I missing? Greasemonkey shows it installed and enabled, but I have no pie!!

  24. 24.

    Jeff

    March 18, 2008 at 2:01 pm

    since he never said anything to counter what “some” have said, it certainly gives the appearance that he is calling Ferraro a racist.

    He has said she was not racist, just ridiculous.

  25. 25.

    rawshark

    March 18, 2008 at 2:01 pm

    What’s a gag reflect? Is CY retarded or trying to make some neocon insider joke?

  26. 26.

    Snail

    March 18, 2008 at 2:02 pm

    Sure, he said “some have dismissed”, but since he never said anything to counter what “some” have said, it certainly gives the appearance that he is calling Ferraro a racist.

    Wow, I didn’t get that message at all. I heard it as, “Let’s stop tarring peoples as racists based on isolated comments.”

  27. 27.

    wingnuts to iraq

    March 18, 2008 at 2:04 pm

    Don’t get in the way of orogeny and his agenda of the tired, divisive politics of the past.

  28. 28.

    LiberalTarian

    March 18, 2008 at 2:05 pm

    What’s a gag reflect? Is CY retarded or trying to make some neocon insider joke?

    Yes.

  29. 29.

    Bubblegum Tate

    March 18, 2008 at 2:07 pm

    I feel like the wingnut reaction is going to be pretty much like that last skit on De La Soul Is Dead:

    “What happened? What happened to the pimps? What happened to the guns? What happened to the curse words? That’s what hip-hop Barack Hussein Farrakhan Zarqawi Obama and his super-duper mega no-backsies racist minister are all about, right?”

  30. 30.

    orogeny

    March 18, 2008 at 2:08 pm

    We’ll see how it plays…I haven’t read anything that mentions it yet. But, I think a line to the effect that “just as Ms Ferraro is not a racist, neither is Pastor Wright” would have been appropriate.

  31. 31.

    The Other Steve

    March 18, 2008 at 2:08 pm

    Until Barack Obama condemns the rantings of Snoopy the Beagle, I cannot vote for him!

  32. 32.

    Tsulagi

    March 18, 2008 at 2:11 pm

    11:32: Mercifully, it’s over. Once I finally regain control over my gag reflect, I’ll check around the blogosphere for other reaction to his speech.

    What a drama queen. As if he ever demonstrated even the potential existence of a gag reflex while serving in the Fluffers for Bush brigades.

  33. 33.

    orogeny

    March 18, 2008 at 2:13 pm

    wingnuts to iraq,

    It it not possible for you to talk politics without insulting anyone who disagrees with you? When my son was about 6 (many years ago), that was his preferred method of argument.

  34. 34.

    LiberalTarian

    March 18, 2008 at 2:14 pm

    Open thread diversion:

    God has a sense of humor–Bedbugs at Fox News.

    Almost makes ya wanna gag, don’t it?

  35. 35.

    Z

    March 18, 2008 at 2:14 pm

    Condemning isn’t enough, Other Steve! He has to reject and denounce Snoopy! And, just as a side note, if he is going to throw Snoopy the Beagle under the bus, it had better be a bus and not a military vehicle (because that is impossible) and he had better not toss Snoopy off a cliff.

  36. 36.

    libarbarian

    March 18, 2008 at 2:16 pm

    I’m surprised anyone over at Confederate Yankee still has a gag reflex

    I know, but there is an explanation for how they have been able to apparently deep-throat Bush for so long without destroying it: Bush’s prick is so small it doesn’t reach past the back of their palettes.

  37. 37.

    cleek

    March 18, 2008 at 2:17 pm

    Why can’t I get the damn pie script to work for me? What am I missing? Greasemonkey shows it installed and enabled, but I have no pie!!

    which pie script ?

  38. 38.

    The Populist

    March 18, 2008 at 2:18 pm

    He proved to me he’s a leader. Let’s hope America can look past Rev. Wright and take Obama for his word.

    As Sullivan keeps pointing out, take the time to LOOK at his voting record as well as the legislation he’s been involved with and it shows a man who is working for everybody.

    I am not an Obamabot, but he gives me hope which is saying a lot since I am the first to roll my eyes at politicians and their nonsense.

  39. 39.

    Ned Raggett

    March 18, 2008 at 2:19 pm

    It’s interesting, but there was an ‘Obama’s Lies’ post from Derbyshire up on the Corner for a bit which seems to have been removed, though reloading can sometimes cause delays and backsteps. If anyone still has it, screen cap that sucker, because there were, shall we say, some unusual sentiments expressed.

  40. 40.

    Len

    March 18, 2008 at 2:20 pm

    Did you really have to read the wingers to find out their reaction to the speech? Shoot. I could have told you their reaction last night. Obama could have stood up there and recited The Lord’s Prayer and their reaction would have been the same. The righties are nothing if not predictable.

  41. 41.

    SamFromUtah

    March 18, 2008 at 2:21 pm

    If you think that speech messed with the trogloRight’s “gag reflect”, just wait until the MUP unveils his new campaign theme song.

  42. 42.

    Sinister eyebrow

    March 18, 2008 at 2:22 pm

    This is what these wingnuts have to say after listening to W for 8 years, who delivers a speech like he’s just woken up after a 3 day bender with a head injury? I think the problem with these folks is that they are just intolerably stupid. There’s no other explanation.

    As for the speech, I almost wept with joy for the simple fact that a politician actually spoke to me as if I were an adult instead of a 10-year-old with ADD. Plus, it was one hell of an amazing speech. Hands down better than any speech by an American politician since JFK and RFK. Honest, clear, unflinching, eloquent, forward looking … the oratory of a real leader.

  43. 43.

    slippy hussein toad

    March 18, 2008 at 2:23 pm

    MSNBC played a clip of Limbaugh commenting on the speech, and something about it seemed so…anachronistic when compared to the “new politics” theme Obama is pushing.

    I don’t think Limbaugh is evolved enough to even qualify to comment on anything Obama says. I’d like to think that after the Big O is elected, Limbaugh just . . . . goes the fuck away. There’s no place for a worm like him in the modern world.

  44. 44.

    lethargytartare

    March 18, 2008 at 2:23 pm

    orogeny Says:

    We’ll see how it plays…I haven’t read anything that mentions it yet. But, I think a line to the effect that “just as Ms Ferraro is not a racist, neither is Pastor Wright” would have been appropriate.

    of course, that is PRECISELY what the portion you quoted DOES say.

    “How it plays” is only relevant if someone wants to twist his words away from his actual point – that whites and blacks alike harbor fears and resentments that should be confronted and addressed instead of dismissed as racist rantings.

    of course, that is central to your point, isn’t it?

  45. 45.

    drunken hausfrau

    March 18, 2008 at 2:25 pm

    It is a magnificent speech — and I fully expect the wingnuts to trash it, much like slugs thrash about when sprinkled with salt, or vampires writhe in agony when exposed to sunlight.

  46. 46.

    The Other Steve

    March 18, 2008 at 2:30 pm

    Yet we are still left with the big question.

    Did Obama convince John McCain to vote for him?

  47. 47.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    March 18, 2008 at 2:45 pm

    You can argue about if it was a good speech or a great speech, but anyone who says is was a bad speech is either painfully ignorant of what a minefield the subject of race relations in America has become, and now difficult it is to speak on this subject in a way that addresses the whole country (not just a subgroup), or is simply a cultist. Denial – river – Egypt, etc.

  48. 48.

    ThymeZone

    March 18, 2008 at 2:45 pm

    Well, Obama’s speech was a success.

    I say this because it accomplished its purpose, which was to shift the story away from “Loud nigger preacher spits on America” to “Obama shifts focus to race in America in the campaign, and requires us to address it on his terms, and shows us that he is way ahead of us on the subject, that he’s a leader, and not a panderer, or a demagogue, or a race baiter.”

    In other words, he takes the high inside 102 mph fastball and belts it out of the park. He takes the entire subject matter area and puts himself on the high ground WRT to that subject matter area, and basically asks you to join him on that high ground. I think that’s what he wanted to do, and what he did.

    Great job, a winner of a speech by a winner of a candidate.

    Let the hyenas howl, fuck them. People like that aren’t going to vote for Obama anyway.

  49. 49.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    March 18, 2008 at 2:49 pm

    substitute “how difficult” for “now difficult”.

    I blame the fierce urgency of now for my typos.

  50. 50.

    Jake

    March 18, 2008 at 2:49 pm

    What’s a gag reflect?

    Ask Confederate Wanker’s mirror.

  51. 51.

    Wilfred

    March 18, 2008 at 2:50 pm

    I think Obama is finished, too. Not for anything he’s said or done but rather for the coming together of right wing democrats and republicans desperate for Clinton to win. No one will be held to the same standards as Obama has this past week.
    They’ll use this to engineer a coup with the super delegates. However, I think the Democratic party will end up getting destroyed in this election. The message was to bury Wright completely, but Obama’s refusal to do so will earn major props in the black constituency at the same time it drives that constituency further away from Clinton. She will have to win without the black vote, even though she’ll trot out all the preachers who love her and Bill.
    We may get an historic realignment nobody could have foreseen, even if the price is 4 years of McCain.

  52. 52.

    cleek

    March 18, 2008 at 2:57 pm

    Wilfred… WTF?

  53. 53.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    March 18, 2008 at 2:57 pm

    It’s been a long time since I saw someone with so much to lose step up to a problem and not try to talk around it. He didn’t do the easy thing or the quick thing—he (and his staff) thought long and hard and changed the game by taking it on headfirst. And trying hard to persuade (rather than dissuade or avoid).

    Last week Obama took on the Rezko controversy by sitting down with two newspapers, separately, in a room full of reporters looking to score, and made himself a target. For 90 minutes, each, he told them to ask any damn thing they wanted. And they took their best shot.

    It shouldn’t be noteworthy but it is. I was for Edwards (and not for Obama) in the early stages because I thought Obama was pulling back from the tough moments. This is the kind of leadership I’ve been waiting for.

    Before this speech I belonged to the church of consubstantial MUPites. I didn’t believe that the MUP could actually transubstantiate lies and bullshit into candy and flowers, rather that the candy and flowers were made symbolically present in the outward form of the lies and BS.
    Now I repent. I’m ready to join the transcendentalist church of MUPites. He really does turn BS into candy. Ummm, yumm. Tasty. Good.

  54. 54.

    Ed Drone

    March 18, 2008 at 2:57 pm

    Ok there ya go you can skip their posts now.

    But I was looking forward to pie.

    Okay, Okay! Here you go:

    3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592e

    That ought to hold you!

    Ed

  55. 55.

    ThymeZone

    March 18, 2008 at 3:01 pm

    With one post, Wilfred joins the ranks of the fringe here at BJ.

    Obama is finished? He is going to be the nominee of the party in all liklihood, and probably your next president.

    I’ve seen a bad read or two in my life, but really, this one has to be ranked a complete gaffe.

    I’d give you a do-over on the post, if I thought you’d have sense enough to take it.

  56. 56.

    jagorev

    March 18, 2008 at 3:01 pm

    Did anyone catch this non-sequitur from Derb today, in the middle of a discussion about the race speech:

    I have enjoyed much harmless merriment from contemplating the names of African politicians. There’s been a bit of a lull recently, since the passing of such as the Rev. Canaan Banana and Oginga Odinga (father of the loser in December’s contested Kenyan election).

    Now a new generation of can’t-help-but-smile African onomastic pioneers has taken the stage. Let’s give a hearty welcome to Tokyo Sexwale, Enoch Godongwana, and Playfair Morule.

    I think he’s come utterly deranged.

  57. 57.

    cleek

    March 18, 2008 at 3:06 pm

    Derb sounds like Obama’s grandmother

  58. 58.

    tom.a

    March 18, 2008 at 3:07 pm

    Wilfred, how exactly do you expect the Clintons to engineer a coup with the super delegates when; 1) super delegates have been abandoning them in droves since Feb 5th (something like +48 to Obama and -7 to Clinton) and 2) she’s been unable to engineer a lead (or even a tie) in the race despite having the deep roots of the Clinton political machine?

  59. 59.

    orogeny

    March 18, 2008 at 3:12 pm

    Wilfred,

    It’s amazing…I disagree with you no matter which side of the issue you’re on! Obama finished!?!? He’s still the front-runner in the primary and in all likelihood will be the nominee. I still believe that Hillary has a chance, but at this point, I think the odds are getting a bit long.

    We’ve got, what, eight states, Guam and Puerto Rico left? Unless the Wright issue plays out a lot stronger that I think it will, it’s gonna be tough for Clinton to go into the convention with a lot of momentum, which is what she needs to pull the super delegates to her side.

    I do think, though, that if Obama is the nominee, the Wright issue is going to get a WHOLE lot more play–I think the Repubs are rubbing their thighs (as Bob Somerby would say) in anticipation of using it then–and I think it will hurt him much more then than it has in the primaries.

  60. 60.

    jnfr

    March 18, 2008 at 3:15 pm

    It’s a script called “I Like Pie”, and I think it is yours, cleek.

  61. 61.

    zzyzx

    March 18, 2008 at 3:18 pm

    I do think, though, that if Obama is the nominee, the Wright issue is going to get a WHOLE lot more play—I think the Repubs are rubbing their thighs (as Bob Somerby would say) in anticipation of using it then—and I think it will hurt him much more then than it has in the primaries.

    For a while. Then it will start to backfire, especially if it’s the same 4 clips over and over again. McCain will be asked about it and he’ll either have to defuse it or deal with Hagee questions.

    It won’t help things, but everyone has some scandal at least this bad and Obama has been incredible at defusing this sort of thing.

  62. 62.

    Jake

    March 18, 2008 at 3:19 pm

    I think he’s come utterly deranged.

    Nope. He’s hoping someone humorless twit will call him a racist so he can scream about angry African Americans.

    Just think of the little jackass who used to follow you around the playground calling you a doody head until you pushed him in a mud puddle. He grew up and became Teh Derb.

  63. 63.

    Tsulagi

    March 18, 2008 at 3:24 pm

    With one post, Wilfred joins the ranks of the fringe here at BJ.

    See what happens with that MUP dust shit? They start hallucinating.

    That one was pretty good, but I think Wilfred needs to put on a respirator real quick.

  64. 64.

    Wilfred

    March 18, 2008 at 3:25 pm

    With one post, Wilfred joins the ranks of the fringe here at BJ.

    You misunderstand, TZ. Of course I don’t want to this to be true but suspect that the recent, most recent, attacks on Obama are table setters for what will ultimately be a coup with the super delegates. The argument will be that Obama cannot now get enough votes from white to carry a state like Pennsylvania. I believe that a great deal of this race-baiting has to do with the Alabama contingent in that state. If Clinton pulls off a double digit win it will be held as proof positive that Obama can’t carry a must win state in the general.

    Why the fuck is Clinton still in the race? The only reason is to convince the super delegates that Obama can’t win the general. Beating him over the head with Wright’s words – I still can’t believe the legs of this fucking story – has touched the racialist nerve center of the electorate. Cui bono? If not, why is she still hanging around?

  65. 65.

    Librarian

    March 18, 2008 at 3:25 pm

    Perfect timing for Derbyshire to attack “socialism”- at the exact moment when the government is bailing out Wall St. Absolutely brilliant, Einstein.

  66. 66.

    ThymeZone

    March 18, 2008 at 3:26 pm

    No the issue won’t hurt him in the general election, for the same reason we can see clearly today: He will have the last word on the topic, and his word will be the one that sticks. For a very simple reason, he’s right, and he says so convincingly. He says so without dividing people againast each other, without fanning flames, without equivocating, or triangulating. He speaks the simple truth and people know it when they hear it.

    The people who will try to destroy him with Wright or other identity attacks will fail. This guy is not John Kerry.

  67. 67.

    ThymeZone

    March 18, 2008 at 3:28 pm

    Sorry Wilfred, I see your rationale, but I just don’t agree with you. I think more people will take Obama’s view on this than the other view. I think he has the winning hand and the makes the winning play here.

    We’ll see how it turns out. I welcome the general election challenge. If the idiots in the GOP really think they can win with this kind of crap, I say, watch them crater.

  68. 68.

    cleek

    March 18, 2008 at 3:30 pm

    It’s a script called “I Like Pie”, and I think it is yours, cleek.

    mine’s called the “Balloon Juice Disemvoweller“.

  69. 69.

    jnfr

    March 18, 2008 at 3:32 pm

    That’ll do. Thanks, cleek.

  70. 70.

    SpotWeld

    March 18, 2008 at 3:34 pm

    Watching entrenched right-wingers comment about a possible President Obama is like watching a dog try to work an adjustable wrench.

    They just lack the necessary capabilities to deal with it in a useful manner. That and they get drool all over everything.

  71. 71.

    Tom in Texas

    March 18, 2008 at 3:37 pm

    The speech did leave one unlikely pundit impressed. Via the Corner, courtesy of Charles Murray (of the Bell Curve fame):

    Have I missed the competition? [Charles Murray]

    I read the various posts here on “The Corner,” mostly pretty ho-hum or critical about Obama’s speech. Then I figured I’d better read the text (I tried to find a video of it, but couldn’t). I’ve just finished. Has any other major American politician ever made a speech on race that comes even close to this one? As far as I’m concerned, it is just plain flat out brilliant—rhetorically, but also in capturing a lot of nuance about race in America. It is so far above the standard we’re used to from our pols…. But you know me. Starry-eyed Obama groupie.

  72. 72.

    Prospero

    March 18, 2008 at 3:38 pm

    Once I finally regain control over my gag reflect

    That can be a problem in his line of work.

  73. 73.

    Pug

    March 18, 2008 at 3:39 pm

    Derbyshire is a paleoconservative bigot who wrote a hilarious apologia for Ron Paul when the newsletters were released. He’s an erudite Steve Sailer.

    Why has Derbyshire never been called to account for his years long effort to free raping murderer Wayne Dumond? John Derbyshire has the blood of two women on his hands.

    Every time this fool writes anything it should be answered with only two simple words: Wayne Dumond.

  74. 74.

    Blue Shark

    March 18, 2008 at 3:39 pm

    …Of course it is a failure. It had to be for the scare to continue.

    …It is the scariest speech anybody in America has heard in a generation.

    …It was the truth, in even, measured tones.

    …It was the bomb…baby!

  75. 75.

    numbskull

    March 18, 2008 at 3:44 pm

    Why has Derbyshire never been called to account for his years long effort to free raping murderer Wayne Dumond? John Derbyshire has the blood of two women on his hands.

    Every time this fool writes anything it should be answered with only two simple words: Wayne Dumond.

    Actually, it should be answered with the names of the two women.

  76. 76.

    Punchy

    March 18, 2008 at 3:46 pm

    God has a sense of humor—Bedbugs at Fox News.

    Almost makes ya wanna gag, don’t it?

    Ellen, play nice.

  77. 77.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    March 18, 2008 at 3:46 pm

    Thinking of what a minefield the subject of race is, most of the political figures I’ve seen over the last couple of decades would have been pissing in their pants with fear at the thought of giving a speech on this subject, under these circumstances, with a strong opponent looking for vulnerabilities to exploit and a vulture press circling and watching.

    This speech today reinforces an impression I’ve developed of Obama which is part of what makes him different from the other major politicians I’ve seen come and go over the years.

    He is not afraid of us.

    Not in a naive way, rather that he trusts that when the scales have been weighed that there is enough decency and intelligence left in America that nuance can win. Winston Churchill once said that: “Americans can always be counted on to do the right thing…after they have exhausted all other possibilities.” Obama seems to get that. That is why his speeches tap into something deeply patriotic in those of us who are willing to listen to him.

  78. 78.

    Wilfred

    March 18, 2008 at 3:47 pm

    Sorry Wilfred, I see your rationale, but I just don’t agree with you. I think more people will take Obama’s view on this than the other view. I think he has the winning hand and the makes the winning play here.

    It’s your boundless optimism, and winning smile, that keeps me hanging around here, TZ. Let’s hope you’re right but my advice is to pay attention to the “Because of Wright, Obama can’t win” meme; it will surface shortly and needs to be shot down as soon as it does.

  79. 79.

    Pete

    March 18, 2008 at 3:54 pm

    If you want to be depressed, go and read the comments on the speech on ABC or DIGG or Youtube or somewhere relatively ‘neutral’. It’s really scary how many people seem to have had most of this speech go straight over their heads.

    I’m not sure Wilfred is that far off the mark.

  80. 80.

    Nikki

    March 18, 2008 at 4:03 pm

    “Because of Wright, Obama can’t win” meme; it will surface shortly and needs to be shot down as soon as it does.

    Why? Those spouting it will never vote for him.

  81. 81.

    orogeny

    March 18, 2008 at 4:14 pm

    The “because of Wright, Obama can’t win” is going to be important during the convention, in terms of how the super delegates vote. They are going to be looking closely at how the meme is playing back home…not among primary voters, but among the more centrist, general election voters. Their reaction to this is going to be the real key to how the convention goes.

  82. 82.

    Billy K

    March 18, 2008 at 4:19 pm

    The more they fling this kind (Wright) of mud at him, the more opportunity it gives The MUP to get in front of a large group of people and show them he is strong, eloquent, intelligent and wise. He has character. He’s a leader. People will notice.

    I invite them to keep flinging until Nov. 4.

  83. 83.

    Pb

    March 18, 2008 at 4:26 pm

    Did Obama convince John McCain to vote for him?

    Maybe; it looks like he won over Michael Smerconish today, and, indeed, everyone else in the first half-hour of Hardball, so that’s pretty impressive.

  84. 84.

    Svensker

    March 18, 2008 at 4:36 pm

    Jake Says:

    What’s a gag reflect?

    Ask Confederate Wanker’s mirror.

    Dare I say it? LOL.

  85. 85.

    eric

    March 18, 2008 at 4:58 pm

    John McCain gave a surprising defense of Obama earlier today (or maybe yesterday) to Hannity of all people, saying that politicians shouldn’t be held responsible for all that their endorsers say, and saying that Obama clearly doesn’t believe all the things that Wright does. Obviously part of this has to do with Hagee, but even so, I was shocked.

  86. 86.

    Grand Moff Texan

    March 18, 2008 at 5:11 pm

    Another green teef cracker who won’t be voting for Obama.

    Big fucking news.
    .

  87. 87.

    The Populist

    March 18, 2008 at 5:11 pm

    I do think, though, that if Obama is the nominee, the Wright issue is going to get a WHOLE lot more play—I think the Repubs are rubbing their thighs (as Bob Somerby would say) in anticipation of using it then—and I think it will hurt him much more then than it has in the primaries.

    I doubt that. McCain has preacher problems too. IF Barack gets the nom, the focus will now shift to foreign policy and who’s more patriotic, et al.

    The right will play the Hillary card, challenge the Junior Senator from Illinois’ experience and challenge his call for change as empty rhetoric.

    If anything the far righties, Hannity, Limbaugh, et al, will play the race card with the hope that it will sway right leaning indies and moderate GOP back to McCain.

  88. 88.

    The Populist

    March 18, 2008 at 5:13 pm

    John McCain gave a surprising defense of Obama earlier today (or maybe yesterday) to Hannity of all people, saying that politicians shouldn’t be held responsible for all that their endorsers say, and saying that Obama clearly doesn’t believe all the things that Wright does. Obviously part of this has to do with Hagee, but even so, I was shocked.

    But that’s the one thing McCain does well. He sells himself as a guy who only wants to talk issues. He’s definitely no saint and knows it.

    In the end, he will do what he does…take the high road while chipping away at Obama’s experience, foreign policy expertise and what is viewed by many on the right as Obama’s platitudes.

  89. 89.

    The Populist

    March 18, 2008 at 5:16 pm

    One positive for Obama will be for him to sharpen his policy points in contrast to the Republicans. Once he gets the nom, he can start to define who he is and what his message of change will do for the average American.

    Those who are negative on him now will most likely give him a pass IF Wright keeps quiet from this point on and there aren’t any big scandals pending.

  90. 90.

    The Populist

    March 18, 2008 at 5:17 pm

    LOL, will this new flap finally kill the “Obama is a sleeper cell terrorist sympathizer” b.s.?

  91. 91.

    Sasha

    March 18, 2008 at 5:48 pm

    LOL, will this new flap finally kill the “Obama is a sleeper cell terrorist sympathizer” b.s.?

    I wish. Observe the wit of one NYT commenter:

    The media says this was a good speech on race by Obama. One thing is still unclear to me. Farrakan is a radical musslim and Rev Wright is a radical musslim. Obama says he cannot denounce or turn his back on them any more than he could his own grandmother. Yet after 911, I am not ready to vote for somebody with strong ties to radical musslims who come out against Hebrews and Christians. This is not as much about race as it is these srious ties with radical musslims. Do we really want radical musslims in the White House after 911.

    But I suspect this one’s of the unreclaimable 27% crazyfication factor I keep hearing about.

  92. 92.

    yet another jeff

    March 18, 2008 at 6:16 pm

    Hmmm, is the 27% filled with registered and/or likely voters? There has to be a subset of the crazy folk that don’t register to vote, because that’s how the govt. gets you.

    Hmmm, y’all think that it might be race that makes that guy thing Obama has srious (srsly, hai!) ties with radical musslims?

  93. 93.

    joe

    March 18, 2008 at 6:37 pm

    John Derbyshire wrote a really good comment during the Schiavo mess. He relates how his mother and her friends were nurses, and would talk shop. Sometimes, they would talk about a patient who was obviously gone, but whose family demanded that they keep her on life support. He quotes them saying, Let the poor thing go. Real, down-home, common sense.

    But racial minorities, they just make him go batty.

  94. 94.

    LiberalTarian

    March 18, 2008 at 7:14 pm

    Well, Punchy, I was re-watching BSG last night, and the man said, “How can you rape a machine?” How can a person “play nice” with Fox News? I laughed myself silly that they have bed bugs. What a scourge, and really difficult to eradicate. Lol. Pestilence upon them. Makes my heart glad. :D Couldn’t happen to a nicer bunch of folks.

    Listen Wilfred–Obama should win this election. I really think that informed discussion on his strengths can keep him at the front of this race (rather than vicious, bleating anti-hillbot screeds that tickle the back of the throat and cause certain nerves to project the stomach contents in a upward, technicolor arc).

    Don’t forget, he is helping draw in voters at a Democrat-to-Republican ratio of 2:1.

    He isn’t even my first choice, but should I ever have the chance to have the conversation (and gawd help me, my brother is helping me move, so yes, I will) I will proudly and loudly say, “See, that is the difference between Democrats and Republicans/Republican-lites. They do not pander to religious zeal. They have respect, but they govern with their brain, not the dictates of hysterical preachers. Obama will support rationality–in science, civil liberties and economics. We won’t crusade against nations on the other side of the world to satisfy some lunatic’s religious fantasies (and the wet-dreams of war profiteers while our own nation goes down the toilet).”

    Ok, I could go on and on, but Wilfred, shun the Democratic habit of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory. Be eloquent, be insistent. Never let them forget that irrational voting brought us 8 years of GOP disaster, and that sliming Obama on the basis of an emotional preacher is just like the thinking that has caused us to elect an international pariah. In other words, force people to think with their frontal lobes, not their lizard brains.

    And for the folks at Redstate? Fuck ’em if they cannot not vote for a joke.

  95. 95.

    Fulcanelli

    March 18, 2008 at 9:17 pm

    Obama’s speech was a stunner… Like a breath of clean air after breathing in an old Mississippi outhouse in July after almost eight years of Bush/Cheney, rush, hannity, et al.

    The man’s got ice water in his veins. So composed and in the here and now, on a subject only a black or mixed race person could touch. Grace under pressure. Authentic. Solid polished brass.

    Sadly, there was no way a black man was ever going to get as far as he has in the American election process and have race not enter into it somehow. WTF is he doing in here? Your entrance is in the back, son.

    His candidacy and especially his speech is like some national racial Rorschach test. The reactions are all over the map and say more about the bloggers/pundits/talking heads than they do about Obama.

    Never seen so many fact-obsessed wingnuts since this Rev. Wright thing oozed out Roger Ailes’s asshole over at Fox. All this from the same sociopathic turds who had their tongues pierced 7 years ago to give W that little bit of extra pleasure during their daily blogging/radio show worship.
    There’s so much low hanging extremist religious fruit to lob at the Goopers where this rev. wright BS is concerned, but after watching his speech, I doubt that he’d do it. But he may have to.

    Seems strange to watch a politician stick to the high road. But I could get used to it…

  96. 96.

    TenguPhule

    March 18, 2008 at 11:32 pm

    Obama’s speech on race was a failure because the Confederate Wanker lost his “gag reflect”:

    I hear the trick is to allow the pony to come in thrust.

  97. 97.

    David

    March 19, 2008 at 2:06 am

    Arlen Specter wrote a book.

    It’s called “Never Give In.”

    The mind fucking boggles.

  98. 98.

    Nancy Irving

    March 19, 2008 at 2:32 am

    You should look up “bipolar,” John. It’s not what you think.

  99. 99.

    Sasha

    March 19, 2008 at 12:11 pm

    John McCain gave a surprising defense of Obama earlier today (or maybe yesterday) to Hannity of all people, saying that politicians shouldn’t be held responsible for all that their endorsers say, and saying that Obama clearly doesn’t believe all the things that Wright does. Obviously part of this has to do with Hagee, but even so, I was shocked.

    So McCain is publicly putting himself above the fray and keeping his hands clean? Good for him.
    I’d be more impressed if I weren’t sure he’d only give a nod and wink to the surrogates who’ll inevitably wallow in the mud for him.

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