So let me get this straight. A candidate has received a bunch of funds from a guy named Abdullah funneled through Jordan and the media is ignoring it? That just doesn’t make any damned sense. How is Obama getting away with this?
Oh. Never mind.
Seriously, not only would there be a media firestorm were this Obama and not McCain, we would then be subjected to six weeks of stories about why Obama has a problem with Jewish voters and related idiocy, all while right-wing bloggers, the RNC, and the Rove hacks at the McCain campaign would be disseminating Jordanian flags with Obama ’08 emblazoned.
And this is completely OT, but I see that James Joyner hates America, and this has truly rocked my faith in the country’s chances for survival. I agree with almost every word he says, but that is besides the point. Et tu, James?
Incertus
Obama is still going to win this thing, but I think the bigger victory may be the death of the myth of the liberal media, assuming we can deliver the killing blow.
jake
The media knows that The One tricked McCain into taking that money. The One hid it in doughnuts. With sprinkles. So there was no way McMaverprick could resist.
Therefore the Liberal MSM is covering for The One. Again!
bago
Hey now, don’t you go usin them funny furriner words. I mahyut have to ree-port yew to tha eff bee ai.
Robert Johnston
re: the James Joyner piece:
I hate the nonsense with playing the national anthem at sporting events. It’s a ritual that’s part and parcel of trivializing patriotism into a completely undesirable mindless adherence to country rather than a thoughtful adherence to the country’s ideals. I’m a Yankees fan and I’ve stopped going to games since 9/11 after they added in “God Bless America” during the seventh inning stretch–I believe the Yankees are the only team still doing that. I find the song particularly offensive. While ritualized trivialization of patriotism is bad enough, combining it with with the notion that the United States is a chosen nation of god is far too much. And since there’s nothing that angers random fans at a game like the refusal to take part in the mindless religious trivialization of patriotism, I find it best to stay away and just watch the games on television.
Brachiator
Let’s see. It’s the weekend. The political news cycle is obsessed with balls – Olympic basketball, Brett Favre’s football career, and most of all, John Edwards’ adulterous balls.
Besides, Republicans can take money from anyone, anytime, anywhere, because they are tough enough to shake off any lobbyist influence and put the country first. This goes double for Tough Guy McCain.
How can you say this? Didn’t the presidential primary debates clearly demonstrate that flag lapel pins represent the essence of patriotism?
bootlegger
I took some German friends to a college football game and they flipped their wigs over 60,000 Murkans singing their war song before the game. When I asked them what was wrong with mass displays of nationalism like this they said “been there, done that.”
ploeg
Also re: the James Joyner piece:
It was noted in the comments that the “under God” part was retrofitted into the PoA by the Republicans in the mid 50s. The rationale was that they felt that the PoA, with a few strategic changes, could also be recited by Soviet schoolchildren, and they wanted something to make it really stand out.
I always wondered about the placement of the “under God” part. Before the retrofit, it was “one nation indivisible”, and adding the God stuff really messed up the obvious logic of that phrase. Very strange.
Bill H
Not to mention that is almost always done badly, or worse. Singers mangle the words a significant part of the time and the tune virtually all of the time. Either they are unable to achieve the notes required to sing it properly because they lack the range, or they inject warbles and ups and downs, or simply alter the tune altogether, to give it their own “signature.” If it cannot be done properly and with dignity it should not be done at all.
ploeg
That does it. That’s it. I’ve had it with you and your petty niggling. Well, our new national anthem is Jungle Love by the Steve Miller Band. And you’re going to like it!
UberMitch
I agree with almost every word he says
Please assure me that the words that are disagreed with include “it’s an obvious poke in the eye of Southern secession which I continue to believe was perfectly legal if ill advised.” Really?
KC
Well, if Obama started hitting back hard, the way he’d be hit if the shoe were on the other foot, maybe the media would take notice. I think part of the problem is that the Obama campaign is infected with Kerryism–the need to seem above it all, knowing your is going below it all at every chance he gets.
tBone
I suppose you have no problem with Obama removing the American flag from his jet and replacing it with his own graven image either?
Enjoy the new American caliphate, comrade.
Davis X. Machina
I believe the Yankees are the only team still doing that.
The Red Sox did it five days ago.
And I hate it too.
Frank Jacobs
I’m unclear on the controversy here. I understand that this is the kind of thing the hysterical right-wing blogosphere would make a HUGE deal out of if it were Obama. And, yeah, it’s kind of telling that now the hysterical left-wing blogosphere is going nuts with it since it’s McCain.
What it is telling of is that both sides of the aisle are ready to engage in Arab-bashing, straw-man type bullpucky.
grandpajohn
Jesus, why twist and contort when simplicity will do. The media is in mcsames’s pocket and will ignore,lie or what ever is needed to cover his ass
lane
The PoA change was a 1942 response to Hitler’s salute.
Oh, but we did it then, too.
http://rexcurry.net/commentary/pledge.html
Just Some Fuckhead
lolz
Just Some Fuckhead
I went to a Charlie Daniels concert last weekend and somewhere near the middle, unannounced, Charlie begins playing our war song on his fiddle, solo. It takes a few bars before everyone realizes it’s the Star Spangled Banner and then everyone is up on their feet like puppets on a string, hands over hearts, mouthing or murmuring the words.
There is something disturbing about this sort of mindless ritualistic behavior. And let’s be honest, the song sucks. I say bring back “Hail, Columbia”.
bootlegger
“Craven images” AND “comrades”, sounds like an awesome fucking party to me. Is the “American caliphate” a new bourbon highball?
capelza
I love the song…it’s difficult to sing and most people don’t know all the words..but I still love it.
I agree about mindless ritual behaviour, though. It’s ridiculous.
That said, the best rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” I ever heard was in the service the Queen of England and a church full of people did very shortly after 9/11. A bunch of British people, including said Queen standing up and singing it ( I think it was the first time a British monarch had ever sand a national anthem). And they did it loudly and well! It wasn’t trivial and it was heartfelt.
capelza
I forgot to add that our country has lost that moment when nations everywhere sang our national anthem in sympathy and companionship. I am so pissed at the last 7 years, I can’t even really talk about it. But signs of “patriotism” are really hard to swallow any more.
Just Some Fuckhead
Thats sort of the way I feel. Charlie Daniels gives his fans what they go for: lots of God and Country with some contempt for “other” slathered on. (He has a whole schtick about lawlessness and criminals and such, even wrote a few songs about ’em.) His fans, most of ’em sloppy fat and entitled, pat themselves on the back for being such patriotic America-lovin’ GOOD PEOPLE, while stomping and falling all over me and my family because they’re too exceptional to get there early enough to procure good lawn seating and instead take up residence in the less than one-foot-deep walkways we’ve courteous left for our fellow man to go and come from the facilities.
(Charlie loves every one of these fans in his “heart of hearts”. For those of you unfamiliar with a “heart of hearts”, that’s your deep down heart that contains the fuel of American Goodness that powers all your other hearts.)
Contrast that with the Crosby Stills & Nash concert two days earlier. Pleasant, refined, relaxing. I’ll take the antiwar hippies any fucking day of the week over the prowar rednecks.
Oddly, both concerts seemed to abound with long-haired bald people.
bootlegger
Sweet jesus!!! How is this possible?! Must be some kind of genetic mutation experienced by that generation.
Emma Anne
Sadly, no. (heh) The Rockies do it too. It doesn’t stop me from going to games, but I sure wish they wouldn’t. Why am I asked to stand and sing a religious song? I stand but I don’t sing. Maybe I’ll quit standing too. I probably wouldn’t actually get beat up in Denver. It’s a pretty liberal town.
On the other hand, I like the National Anthem. For one thing, it is traditional. And for another, I like it. No “God” stuff. Just a celebration of our country.
Kevin
Behold the skullet
The Moar You Know
What’s he doin’ playing a faggy, Franch, commie intellecshul instrooment lakh the vi-o-lin?
Hell, you wanna know who plays the vi-o-lin? Louis Farrakhan is a vi-o-linist, and he’s not only black and Muslim, he really hates America.
What gives, Charlie? Why do you hate America?
Just Some Fuckhead
Here’s a more descriptive skullet site. Pervy Skullet, Death Row Skullet and any of the fucking obese skullets were on wide display at the Charle Daniels concert.
Crosby, Stills & Nash seemed to feature mostly Silver Bullet Skullets.
Genine
I’m in Denver, too. **waves**
Nah, they’ll probably beat you up if you don’t care about the Rockies at all, though- like me. lol I don’t care about any sports teams, so its nothing personal.
But people are serious about their sports here.
jbarntt
Is it possible for you to put something in your post that is coherent without going off to other websites ?
I have no idea what this post is about. Abdullah, Obama, some unrelated guy named Joyner.
What is your post about ? I see muslims,i.e., Abdullah and Obama, and then a reference to a Joyner, which you say is unrelated.
WTF ?
Just Some Fuckhead
Jbarntt,
Following the links is an exercise left to the reader. It sounds like you may not be ready for the really heavy lifting on the internet that goes on outside of Myspace.
The Moar You Know
Jesus H. Christ, follow the posted links and learn to read.
Just Some Fuckhead
And John, just as an FYI, the rightwing has a whole operations arm that agitates these sorts of ZOMFG-A-Muslim-Somewhere-Did-Something-For-Which-A-Democrat-Is-Responsible stories and eventually gets them planted in the mainstream media and beaten to death by the cable asshats.
There is no left-wing corollary. We just don’t generally traffic in reflexive bullshit.
Conservatively Liberal
Archaeologists Discover John McCain’s Crypt!
numbskull
Frank, the point is that the Mainstream Media would would pick up the ball and run with it, reporting on it 24/7, if a Democrat was the candidate taking the money from an Arab. Republican, not so much. It’s a double-standard.
Have you seen this reported on ABC/CBS/NBC? It may be out there, but I haven’t seen it, and I watch network news in the morning and evening (because, wait for it,… I’m a NUMBSKULL!), but I may have missed it due to work/Olympics/etc.
jbarntt
Just Some Fuckhead Says:
Jbarntt,
Following the links is an exercise left to the reader. It sounds like you may not be ready for the really heavy lifting on the internet that goes on outside of Myspace.
Hi Fuckhead, (good name for you by the way),
John Cole posted some gibberish with a few links. A good post would present or summarize an argument or position, with links to support it. Cole did no such thing. His post was unintelligible.
Myspace ? You’ll have to tell me about it, it’s nothing I’m familiar with. I guess it must be important since you reference it Fuckhead.
jbarntt
The Moar You Know Says:
jbarntt Says:
plz hlp, I am not aware of any intertube tradishunz and am hopelessly fucktarded.
I did not say that. You are a liar. I would gather from your post that you are unable to respond intelligently. If I am wrong retract your lie and post something that is critical of me and truthful.
Just Some Fuckhead
I’m not sure “good”, especially as defined and/or decided by you is what John is shooting for on Balloon-Juice. At any rate, any blog that features Michael D. as a regular contributor can’t be too concerned with the nebulous concept of “good”.
Thanks. Half-literate Jackass appears to be available if yer interested in participating in the Appropriate Screen Name craze.
Conservatively Liberal
Hmm, I had no problem following John. Maybe John made the mistake of assuming that the people coming here to read about politics are also informed about said politics? That and maybe they aren’t allergic to links and self-research?
Shorter John: McCain received some funny money from an American bundler who received it via a guy named Abdullah, who funneled it through Jordan. The press is silent about this, but if it was Obama who was in this position then the press and Keyboard Kommandoes would be endlessly crowing and bloviating about Obama getting support from turrists.
Makes sense to me, and John didn’t have to add anything to make it so. Maybe you should pay attention to something other than TV for your news? That and show some initiative on your part and use the links and do some of teh Google if you have questions.
Then again, I can understand how some people in this country want to be spoon fed their “news”. These are the kind of people who prefer being told what they should think.
The low information voter.
jbarntt
Fuckhead said:
Thanks. Half-literate Jackass appears to be available if yer interested in participating in the Appropriate Screen Name craze.
I could go with Jackass, but I will need to claim full literacy. ;)
bago
jbarntt is not aware of all internet traditions.
jbarntt
Conservatively Liberal Says:
Hmm, I had no problem following John.
And then you go on to explain what he meant, or what you think he meant. Why was he unable to say what he meant ?
If it was so obvious, why did you feel the need to explain it ? And please don’t give me the “low information voter” thing. Name calling really doesn’t win arguments.
The bottom line is that John Cole made an incoherent post.
jbarntt
bago Says:
jbarntt is not aware of all internet traditions.
Perhaps so, but I challenge bago to show that he is more aware than I am of these “traditions”. And what are these “traditions”, lets get specific here, OK bago ?
Soylent Green
Thank you, jbarntt, for your thoughtful observations about the blog. Now fuck off.
joe in oklahoma
ok, i have seen this thing by armbinder on three of the blogs i read every day, and not one explanation of what the story is, not even a link, just links to other blogs referencing the armbinder quote and quoting each other.
i found out by googling, but is it so much work for a blogger to clue peeps in?
cain
Dude, Iranians held a candlelight vigil in Tehran after 911. Knowing how much we could have harnessed that feeling.. we could have done so much good out of one bad event. My rage over lost opportunities knows no bounds.
cain
The Moar You Know
Exhibit A and B: Evidence of the complete and total failure of both the American educational and child-rearing systems – although frankly, I believe parents are largely to blame when you’re dealing with stupidity that’s the result of utter sloth, as we see here.
Please, don’t tell me that with such abject ignorance and willful laziness as you two have expressed here that either one of you two fucking idiots is in posession of a high school diploma that has your actual name on it.
Conservatively Liberal
Because we got some sun here today? I was able to take a nice motorcycle ride up the coast and enjoy that sun? My guitar is refinished? Because there is oxygen in the atmosphere? I am breathing? I am in a good mood? Maybe I am sitting here laughing my ass off at what a dweeb you are? Because you are acting like you are too stupid to see the obvious information and links in John’s post and I am enjoying stringing you along in my spare time?
I am sure there is an answer for you in the above, maybe even more than one!
bootlegger
Or, why not explain, what, specifically is incoherent about the original post. Several here seemed to have no trouble getting the point. Please explain to us all what we knew, that you didn’t.
jbarntt
Exhibit A and B: Evidence of the complete and total failure of both the American educational and child-rearing systems – although frankly, I believe parents are largely to blame when you’re dealing with stupidity that’s the result of utter sloth, as we see here.
Please, don’t tell me that with such abject ignorance and willful laziness as you two have expressed here that either one of you two fucking idiots is in posession of a high school diploma that has your actual name on it.
I have a High School diploma and a B.A., sorry to disappoint you. As to my parents it’s none of your business. Both are fine people. My Mother died many years ago, my Father is an old man but doing quite well.
As to why some people are ignorant, I’d place the blame more on our government schools rather than the parents. By far most children receive their education from the government, not via home schooling or private schools.
My own “education” was from the government, and it was pretty poor, except in the areas of science and mathematics. My real education in literature and history was from reading, something my parents encouraged me to do and helped me with as a boy.
As to your “fucking idiot” comment, it’s just the usual liberal boiler plate when dealing with someone disagreed with. In ordinary society the resort to such insults is simply seen as an admission of having lost the argument.
Jesus Warrior7
It is a sad day to think about 300+million people in this country and the best we come up with is a guy twelve years late and an inexperienced fund raiser. Mccain is an american hero but to old and tempermental. Obama is this country’s best fund raiser, who is giving to his campaign does not seem to bother him until he is exposed for claiming only the people are donating to his campaign. Sad year in American history these are the only men to choose for president. I am aware of Barr and Mc Kinney running on outside parties as well as Nader as an Independent.
jbarntt
Conservatively Liberal Says:
Because we got some sun here today? I was able to take a nice motorcycle ride up the coast and enjoy that sun? My guitar is refinished? Because there is oxygen in the atmosphere? I am breathing? I am in a good mood? Maybe I am sitting here laughing my ass off at what a dweeb you are? Because you are acting like you are too stupid to see the obvious information and links in John’s post and I am enjoying stringing you along in my spare time?
Care to translate that into ordinary English ?
About all I can get from your frothing is that you consider me a dweeb. Aside from my injured feelings, I can make nothing sensible of your blather.
Phoenix Woman
I smell a disingenous troll in here. John, did you forget to spray the Troll-B-Gon?