As expected, the Obama Cult does not like to read any questioning of their Dear Leader. They demand we all STFU.
***What I can not understand is the ridiculous Cult of Obama who believes that not a negative or questioning word should be said about Obama ever. Oh sure, they’ll say “wait till he is President.” But then they’ll say “wait till he finishes his first year.” And after that, “wait for the mid terms.” And then “wait until after reelection.” In short, members of a cult can never have the leader of the cult criticized. That is how the Republicans have done it, and no one is as zealous as a convert.
Not to worry, they’ll be singing the “SYFP” song for the next 8 years and we’ll keep ignoring them. For some of us, it is the issues, not the pol.
GET OFF ON YOUR BAD SELF, YOU PARAGON OF PRINCIPLE, YOU!
With Democrats like this, who needs Red State? If there was anyone who was more tedious during this last election cycle than Armando, aka Big Tent Democrat, let me know. Besides turning one of my favorite sites, TalkLeft, into a pseudo-Puma cess-pool during the primaries (But he supports Obama, dont’cha know- speaking for him only!), BTD’s bigger sin was dispensing bad advice to the Obama campaign on an almost daily basis. If concern trolling was an art form, BTD would be Michelangelo and the 2008 Democratic primary his Sistine Chapel.
Because I am short on patience, and, at heart, a compassionate person, I am not going to go through the TalkLeft archives and dig up where BTD gravely intones that Obama can not win the white vote, can not win the Jewish vote, can not win the Hispanic vote, and on and on. I will not dig up all the stupid god damned advice he gave to the Obama campaign (which they, thank GOD, ignored). I will not look up the umpteen posts where the left’s own pompous village idiot warned that Obama could not win without Hillary on the ticket. I will not dig up the polling data that he consistently misread and always curiously interpreted as showing a need for Hillary on the ticket. I will let you do that for yourself, and you can enjoy your own historical retrospective into BTD’s idiocy. Yes, I voted for Bush twice, but I proudly state I am not as stupid as BTD. Period.
Instead, I will give you this:
It’s almost certain that the handoff of the White House from President George W. Bush to President-elect Barack Obama will pass more smoothly than the greeting that Bush’s new crew faced in 2001.
The Ws were removed from the keyboards in the Executive Office Building by departing Clinton administration staff members.
And it’s unquestionable that the transition from a Bush White House to an Obama White House will pass more quickly than the misstep-plagued passing of the baton from Herbert Hoover to Franklin D. Roosevelt. Four months of public disputes ensued in the midst of the Great Depression.
When Bush and Obama and their wives meet Monday afternoon at the White House, the departing president already will have set in motion a transition that he hopes to make part of his legacy for its orderliness. And the incoming leader already will have declared that the 43rd president will serve out his term without interference from the 44th, who will be sworn into office Jan. 20.
Any guesses why this is the case (and btw, the “w” keys incident is bullshit)? I am betting it is not because the Bush administration suddenly became competent, but because one side, the one that ran the smoothest, most drama free campaign in history, is making it this way. Up next, Al Giordano, who has credibility in places where BTD does not even have places:
Here are some additional points I gleaned from the question and answer session:
Obama won’t attend the G-20 Economic Summit: “We only have one president at a time,” said Podesta. “The president-elect will not be meeting with leaders who are coming to Washington. He will be in Chicago.” In some cases, top aides will meet with foreign leaders while they are in DC.
Don’t Expect Any Cabinet Nominations Until December: “No president other than George Herbert Walker Bush has named a cabinet member before December, going back to the Kennedy administration.” Obama himself will make those announcements, mostly from Chicago. Special early attention is being given to “the economic team and the national security team.” There is extensive vetting going on (no doubt Podesta remembers how President Clinton’s first and second nominations for Attorney General – Zoe Baird and Kimba Wood – crashed upon the discovery that each had hired undocumented workers, which also served to mire that administration in media turmoil at the precise moment when it had wanted to hit the ground running on policy). Obama will meet with each of his cabinet secretaries in person before approving them. Podesta made a joke about the press doing “stakeouts” to try and find out with whom he is meeting.
Expect more than one token Republican: President-elect Obama “wants to see people who are not just Democrats in office, to reach out and have Republicans and Independents not just on a token level,” and that will extend to sub-cabinet posts as well.
No Quid Pro Quo on Colombian Trade Deal: Podesta pushed back at press reports that President Bush had suggested exchanging his support for an economic recovery package for the US-Colombia trade agreement, which, Podesta iterated, “should be dealt with on its own merits.”
Economic Recovery-Stimulus Package Will Be First Order of Business: If the previous Congress hasn’t passed one already.
Every Executive Order by Bush is Under Review: Those that Obama promised during the campaign to rescind, will be eliminated immediately.
He Intends to Close the Facility at Guantanamo: In those words.
Withdrawing from Iraq: The policy “will be consistent with what he said in the campaign.”
In sum, the approach is extremely deliberative and organized to adhere exactly to promises made during the campaign. There won’t likely be any “Trojan Horse” attempts to spring unannounced initiatives in the early days of the administration. No real surprise there, to anyone that has been studying Obama carefully for clues as to how he will govern.
Next up, Valerie Jarrett, Obama’s long-term friend and advisor, who (and I know I am going out on a limb here, basing my judgment on fact, and not, as BigTentDemocrat would want, his GINORMOUS FUCKING EGO and inflated sense of self-importance) has the following to say:
Valerie Jarrett, transition co-chairman for President-elect Barack Obama, told an organization of black columnists today to be wary of published reports and speculation about Cabinet appointments.
“There isn’t a single name on that list that you’ve heard from President-elect Obama,” Jarrett told the Trotter Group in an hour-long interview session in Washington. “There’s not a single name on that list that you’ve heard from me, or from John Podesta or from Pete Rouse,” referring to the three co-chairs of Obama’s transition.
“Or, now from Rahm Emanuel. So the five people who actually do know the names on the list, you haven’t spoken to,” Jarratt said. “So what I think you see in the newspaper is what everybody speculates. … My guess is they’re speculating on the people who are most commonly thought of.”
In other words, there is a lot of bullshit floating around out there. No one knows what is going on, no decisions have been made. The press is in a vacuum, publishing rumor and innuendo, and you have no clue what Obama’s opinion on torture, Gitmo, or anything else is beyond what he has publicly stated repeatedly and campaigned upon, and for you, working from a profound position of ignorance (your normal state, I might add) to state that Obama all of a sudden supports torture but “merely wants greater oversight,” deserves nothing other than a firm round of South Park, the Musical ( link is totally NSFW, totally immature, and totally encapsulates my firm feelings about the biggest bloviating moron writing for a left-wing blog). I know you are still fondly dreaming of a Hillary 2012 challenge, but could you base the need for this on something other than speculation in the WSJ a mere week after the election (and two months before he is inaugurated)? Was the Corner busy? You couldn’t get any inside scoop from Michael Goldfarb at the Weekly Standard?
And before I close, let me finish with this. I left the right because they were such assholes I could not stand it anymore. You left good graces with the left because you were too much of an asshole, and they troll-rated you into oblivion. I may have been wrong about a lot of things in the past, and will be in the future, but I left the GOP because it was a cult. I was the one who was suspicious about Obama in the beginning. I think I have a solid eye for bullshit. And for the record, if you want to see what a “cult” looks like, you might want to check your own comment policy. We allow dissent here, and appreciate it. You are so dimwitted and thin-skinned you delete anything that deviates from your own bizarre dogma. Keep that in mind when I say this:
Yes, right now the “Cult of Obama” wants you to STFU. At least until he, you know, actually does something that deserves your derision. And if and when he does, we will join you. Until then, amuse yourself writing diaries for No Quarter, and while you are at it, do us a favor and ask Larry about the “Whitey” tape. Wanker.
Xanthippas
But remember, this was all because he supported Obama over Hillary. No, really. No…REALLY. Of course you would be surprised as I to learn that, since BTD never wrote anything in support of Obama except for the words "I supported Obama." What an insufferable jackass.
ed
As an Obama cultist, I say save criticism until Obama is on the 50 cent coin or on Mt. Rushmore.
kommrade jakevich
Without even clicking, I know what this goes to and I heartily agree.
But I’m not surprised. The world is filled with people who apparently will die if they stop whining for 2.5 seconds. However, I’d rather listen to those dipshits whine because Obama won than to hear what they’d have to say if he hadn’t won. I couldn’t deal with that and the rearing head of President Palin.
DP
I didn’t think anyone actually paid attention to Armando anymore.
I sure don’t
John O
Thank you, John.
This pre-game retardathon is already getting extremely old.
It’s like watching the sports pundocracy declaring the Giants (a team for which my hatred runs deep, but still rooted for) declaring, "no chance," in last year’s Super Bowl.
And I, too, used to visit TL often, and now can’t remember the last time I went to absorb his (speaking only for himself) wisdom.
Sad, really. Change comes slow, and it is hard for me to see how Obama won’t bring it about as fast as it can possibly come.
The Dems (welcome to the party) are really good at cannibalization, and even better at Balkinization.
Armando has already slipped into Malkinization. And what a fine ization it is.
David
It’s interesting that Armando early on talked about a campaign of differentiation, but still seems obsessed with tearing down the campaign that most effectively articulated the idea of differentiation from the current administration. Not to mention, being somehwat obsesseed with the Democratic campaign that most encapsulated insider politics – HRC.
Either way, it sounds like BTD needs a long vacation – but maybe so do you. You are worrying about the "big bloviator" too much. He is one voice in the wilderness, who has occasions of brilliance, but is too obnoxious for his own good. Be careful of what you unleash in arguing with an obnoxious person – it reminds me of a saying about those who argue with fools.
kay
They’re mad because they were wrong. This was a big win for Democrats. We don’t know yet if it was a big win for "liberals" but it was a big win for Democrats, despite what Republicans are saying, and anyone who’s been a Democrat longer than twenty minutes knows it. Look at that electoral map! That’s a nice-look’in….MAP!
People like Armando weren’t part of it, because they chose not to be. Lots of Hillary supporters WERE part of it, and they’re celebrating, and then settling down and getting serious and…. waiting for what comes next.
He wasn’t, and he’s a "liberal activist". He chose NOT to act. In fact, he chose to hand-wring and fret and complain, and hope for a loss. He opted out.
What does a liberal activist do having made that choice? He missed the Big Event.
scarshapedstar
Hooooleeeee shit.
This did not happen.
There is literally no bullshit right-wing meme — absolutely none — that is too stupid for the Librul Media to parrot it again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again.
Incertus
So the Trib is still pushing that bullshit "pried the w’s off the keyboards story" huh? Interesting.
And Armando is, as my daddy likes to say, a legend in his own mind. And he’s so often wrong that if he told me grass was green, I would immediately commission a study to prove that it was not, in fact, plaid.
Krista
I swear, John, if I weren’t married…
Comrade Twisted Martini
Wow, Kimbo Slice got off easier. Nice job John.
handy
BTD doesn’t know the fine distinction between speculation and fact. Like in this diary entry, he absolutely insists Palin’s use of "Uncle Barney" is a clear riff off the Birchies referring to Stalin as "Uncle Joe."
The connection is a stretch, even if possible, and yet scroll through the comments and watch how BTD just loses it when people point out how tenuous his argument is.
The guy has some serious issues that go way beyond his politics.
Comrade Fwiffo
John, will you gaymarry me?
I say we wait until he puts 50 Cent on Mt. Rushmore.
John O
For the record, I’m no Obama cultist. Yes, the man gives me hope, but our government and well being isn’t dependent on hope.
I’m an IOZ kind of guy.
It’s just that Barack is geometrically better than our alternatives.
HRC would already be dealing with the VRWC. Like, for real.
Armando needs to be part of the solution, or part of the problem. His choice. Dissent is welcome, even mandatory from my POV, but for FSM’s sake how about we wait until the man is inaugurated?
What. A. Wanker.
South of I-10
I still read Talk Left, cause I enjoy Jeralyn’s posts on legal matters. I saw the post you referenced, and it was enough to make me remove the site from my feed. I have read bits here and there about BTD being excommunicated from the GOS, but what happened? Just being nosy now.
Anne
Thank you, John. I really enjoyed that.
raft
fucking epic, Cole.
this quote is now tattooed on the inside of my head.
The best analogy to BTD is a little kid who’s throwing a hissy fit because Barack Obama didn’t buy him a chocolate fountain. the hissy fit has been going on for four years now. of course things would be different if, say, BTD had been hired by the campaign. then he’d been churning out one propaganda hit piece after another, the Michael Goldfarb of the left. why is it that the concern trolls always make the best propagandists?
debbie
Another one that bugs me is Jerome Armstrong at mydd who was oh so certain that Obama could not beat McCain and was oh so certain that only Clinton could. Through the nomination fight, he cherrypicked polls like crazy and kept some pre-PUMAs going by banning folks who dared to criticize their nonsense claims, even the quasi-racist ones who went on to brilliant careers at Larry Johnson’s crazy place.
Comrade Kevin
@John O:
You are absolutely right, of course. Armando’s comments about an Obama cult are particularly funny in light of how ruthlessly he deletes the comments of and bans users he doesn’t like.
blueintheface
I find it interesting that the self-professed "Big Tent Democrat" is demonizing Obama’s choice simply because Brennan doesn’t pass his litmus test. So much for the "Team of Rivals" approach to governance.
But good to see that the dregs of the infamous Dailykos Strike have found a place to filter reality through their anti-Obama bias. It would have been a shame if their only choices were the Free Republic or Pumapac.org.
John O
Yeah, there’s nothing more pathetic than a blogger who deletes dissenting comments, particularly when they’re not grossly obscene or personal.
The last refuge of the pussified ideologues.
It’s just embarrassing. I HATE being embarrassed for people, John Hindrocket.
Incertus
@South of I-10: He did what most people thought was impossible–he got too crazy even for Kos to deal with. And he’s been wandering ever since.
Delia
Well, I would go ask Larry Johnson for the whitey tape, but the last time I tried to post there I couldn’t. I think it’s because I tried to talk some sense into those lunatics a couple of times.
Oh, yes, much handwringing. Very amusing. Meanwhile over on the financial predator side of the GOP, Mittens kindly and disinterestedly offers some advice to Obama on how to run his Presidency.
Incertus
@blueintheface: Don’t forget No Quarter. And I haven’t been to MyDD lately, but that was a hotbed for a while too.
dmsilev
Well said.
And, on a minor note, has anyone ever figured out what
is supposed to mean? A legal disclaimer of some sort? Back in my Usenet days, I used to see lots of people posting from company accounts that had "I don’t speak for IBM" or whatever at the bottom of their messages, but I can’t see that pertaining in Armando’s case. I’m not bored enough to go back through his posts at dKos to see if they all carry the same disclaimer, so maybe it was just a TalkLeft thing. Anyone know?
-dms
John Cole
@Comrade Kevin: A salient point. I edited the post.
@dmsilev: Maybe a brief moment of awareness, in which he realizes he is saying something so god damned stupid he does not want Jeralyn to get tarred with it.
Keith
An argument I had in comments with Armando, and utter disgust with his domination of the front page, was what drove me away from Daily Kos, and I’d been there from the pre-Scoop days. The guy’s a blowhard idiot. I can handle one of those two things, but not two of them together.
Jennifer
Nothin’ can top the crazy at Secret Agent Flowbee’s place.
I hate to admit it, but I go over there from time to time and troll them. I know, this makes me a bad person – it’s like poking a cornered animal with a stick and enjoying it. Though in my defense, I try to stick to just pointing out to them that they are irrational, and refrain from referring to them as the full-on morons that they are. So maybe it’s not trolling after all, since I don’t lie or go out of my way to insult. But still….sheesh. The irony of folks turning into the very types of people who hounded the Clintons all through the 90s – and claiming that they’re doing it in defense of Hillary Clinton….it makes the mind wobble.
Comrade Stuck
I propose we create a new weekly award for self important concern trolls like Armando. We could call it the Lefty Golden Titty Baby Award, or something thereabouts.
The next few years are going to be a potpourri of curious trollery, way beyond the normal wingnut kind. They will seem like the normal ones, compared with BTD silliness and those of his ilk. Developing a healthy sense of humor will be requisite and we are prepared at the Funhouse for all comers.
wwinfrey
I, too, checked out TalkLeft today after having stopped reading it during the primaries (the exact moment I stopped coming back was when I wrote a comment mildly critical of TL’s comment deletion policy, and saw it immediately deleted). Sad to see BTD is still a wingnut blogger. I’m surprised to hear that Jeralyn is still worth reading, though. Didn’t she also lose her mind during the primaries too? I mean, she didn’t go off the deep end like BTD did, but she definitely got in and splashed around in the crazy pool.
Nothing eats credibility like being utterly and completely wrong. BTW, David what do you mean when you say "who has occasions of brilliance" ? I am completely mystified by this. As far as I can tell, 100% of what BTD has written has been fucking stupid. I have never seen a glimpse, much less an occassion, of brilliance. BTD is so fucking stupid (how stupid is he?), he makes Glenn Reynolds look like James Wolcott.
shera
Fantastic post and very well said, John, but this especially made me cackle:
BTD’s writing reminds me of every legal document I’ve read that contains no actual facts or well-reasoned arguments, just sneering and mockery of the other side’s position. He should know better, but he just can’t seem to help himself.
demimondian
John…isn’t it time to take the "Democratic Stupidity" tag back out of mothballs?
South of I-10
@incertus. Thanks. Pretty much what I figured. I really don’t know anything about the guy, other than that I find him unreadable. His "support" of Obama during the election was just annoying.
dmsilev
re: Armando’s "speaking for myself only": @John Cole:
Sad to say, that ship has long since sailed.
-dms
Delia
@Jennifer:
I’d troll NoIQ if I could. I used to post there regularly back in the day when Larry and Susan were sane and wrote on national security issues. Then the primary season started and it gradually went downhill, and all the intelligent people got driven away by the crazy. I’d go back occasionally to try to argue, but after a while it was too much. And I’m apparently banned. So I just mock them here.
dewberry
(Speaking for me only) I guess that Armando needs to distinguish himself and his super-important views from Jeralyn. Now, Jeralyn was all-in with Clinton, but she, like most Hillary supporters, decided that the issues she cares most about would be better addressed by President Obama than President McCain. I can respect that viewpoint.
But her site got seriously screwed up when it became a love-nest for a weird subset of anti-O forces. Armando gets lots of love from all the Puma-lites who seem to reside in the comment section. Everytime he’d publishes on one of his concern troll masterpieces, I picture him just waiting for all the cries of "you’re the only one speaking the truth" and the other massive ego strokes he desperately needs.
Genine
When I see that headline I think "We’re a cult and you’re a… dolt."
Hehe.
But, c’mon, this is BTD… it goes with the territory.
Tsulagi
Good rant. Uncle Fucker was a nice touch.
Comrade Kevin
@Incertus:
MyDD seems to have gotten over all of that; the people that temporarily ruined it are spouting their crap over at NoIQ or Sewerdaughter’s site. Say, wasn’t she kicked off GOS for making racist statements?
Mazacote Yorquest
WHY’D HE say Obama couldn’t get white votes?
WHY’D HE say Obama couldn’t win without Hillary on the ticket?
WHY’D HE say the DNC was worse than the GOP in 2000?
speaking for me on– nah, fuck it, I’m also speaking for Lady Rothschild’s OB-GYN, a homeless man under a bridge in Cleveland, and Girl Scout pack #543 in San Dimas, Ca.
And does anyone else look at Larry Johnson’s picture at No Quarter and think "Nuh, nuh, nuh, nuh, nuh, nuh, nuh, nuh, LEADER!!!"?
wondering for myself only
John O
OT, a little bit, but Jennifer, are you also a frequent commenter at S,N!?
It doesn’t really matter in the end, I suppose, but I do loves me some brilliance wherever I find it.
inugai_kenzo
beautiful.
anne
Oh snap! This could be pointed at a lot of people whining daily and accusing Obama of letting them down. You know, you are right especially on one part – the "advice" given to Obama by most liberal bloggers was WRONG. Okay. Totally wrong. They were never right. Ever. That means they are probably wrong now. I think people just want to have something to complain about.
Comrade Scrutinizer
You know, Armando’s FP articles were one of the reasons I started hanging out at the GOS, and I have one of those 4-digit UIDs. He could write some of the best articles—and then he’d go batshit psycho in the comments section. He would turn the comments thread into the GOS version of a pre-AOL USENET flamewar if you questioned him, and if you were so impertinent as to disagree, he turned that into a full thermonuclear conflagration. Good riddance.
What a prick. It’s sad, in a way; the guy had a first class mind, but he’s so convinced of his own righteousness that he’s turned into the left’s version of Hannity. The crap he spews now doesn’t even make sense.
I’ll never understand why Jerilyn gave him a soapbox and let him trash TalkLeft. He would have been a better fit at myleftwing, but I’m sure the clash of egos between hime and MSOC would have been titanic.
Jennifer
John O – yep, one and the same ;)
FOM
I left Talk Left a LONG LONG time ago. During the primaries, No Quarter and Talk Left went spinning out into crazy land and never came back. There are so many good liberal blogs to read, I don’t have time for whackaloons.
Roundhouse
So BTD is actually Armando from DKos, lo these many years ago! Was it strong drink, or natural degeneration? Ah, what’s the use, he’s a nutcase either way. And by the way, if it floats your boat, go troll NQ all you want! I abuse those idiots on a regular basis and have never been banned.
Comrade Scrutinizer
No doubt, but Armando wasn’t part of The Great Wankers Strike at the GOS. Kos booted him a year or two ago for being a compleat asshat.
Singularity
Most defnitely not yoga.
But very satisfying, nonetheless. :)
John O
Jennifer, we REALLY need to meet some day.
Are you going to Pittsburgh next year? I personally expect a small turnout…you know, all the work is done now, and we can leave the rest up to The One.
Love your work/play.
Krista
That should be made into some sort of Blogger’s Creed that those aforementioned bloggers should have to recite to themselves prior to posting pretty much anything.
And Armando should have it tattooed on the inside of his lower colon. He’d have plenty of opportunity to memorize it, considering how often his head is firmly lodged up his own arsehole.
Michael D.
I don’t mean to crush dissent. But seriously, shut the fuck up till Obama makes an actual decision that is, you know, enforceable.
If he says something before inauguration that doesn’t meet your standards of excellence, criticize it.
But really, if Obama says, “I’m going to look at the executive orders of President Bush and recind the ones I don’t agree with” instead of “I’m going to look at the executive orders of President Bush and recind every goddamned one of them because they were implenented by Bushie, you fucking right-tards.” …he’ll be a terriblble occupant of the White House.
I know that’s what some of you want – an Obama who will toe your line. Unfortunately, that’s not what you voted for. And if you thought that’s what Obama was, you weren’t listening.
I sometimes think you people don’t realize what you voted for. You didn’t vote for some left-wing idealogue. If you thought that, I am sorry. Obama is a left of center politician who will work with the right when necessary – no matter how much you bitch. I honestly believe he has the country’s best interests at heart.
Abortion
Gays
Religion
Health care
Etc.
If you thought he was left wing on all of these, you’re mistaken.
He’s not Bush, but he’s not Kucinich, either. Not by a long shot.
John O
Michael D.,
But can’t you see he’s black?
Sheesh, some people just don’t get it. :-)
donovong
Bravo, Mr. Cole! Hear, hear!
I took a shit this morning that had more credibilty and intelligence than BTD, and I flushed anyway.
Life is too short to waste any of it perusing that site.
Chuck Butcher
I am a fan of the idea that an observed government is better for it. It seems there is a difference between watching and prognostication, or in the case of WSJ, WAG (wild ass guessing).
This isn’t even BTD guessing off his analysis, it’s BTD guessing off Murdoch’s WSJ’s guessing, based on who knows what and calling someone a snake for being what the namecaller’s guess they are. I sincerely expect Barack Obama to be a politician. And???
Jennifer
John O – what’s going on in Pittsburgh next year? I’ve been needing to make a trip up to see a friend at Niagara, and it’s on the way…so what and when?
John Cole
Sadly, Shera, I stole that shamelessly, from a place most of you probably would never guess. Years ago, I was a fan of World’s Strongest Man competitions. I was a lot younger, lifted weights at the time, and was a huge fan of ESPN (back in the Olberman/Patrick days when ESPN was good) when they started to show the WSM competition. At any rate, one night, an announcer was talking about the legendary Bill Kazmaier, who was just obscene, and stated that “Bill Kazmaier has muscles in places where most people don’t have places,” and I thought it was the most wonderful phrase ever.
I had forgotten about it until tonight, and it just came up. It just seemed to fit.
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
Wow, it is a real change from a couple weeks ago, isn’t it? A whole new shitmoat.
One thing I’m really going to not miss from before the election is all the fretting about "only a terrorist attack can save McCain now!" as if that would have helped.
Comrade Scrutinizer
Michael D-
Who’s this "you" you’re writing to? ‘Cause I don’t see many people here that think that the MUP is some left-wing idealogue who is going to usher in the Socialist Utopia. We just voted for him because we want to see candies and rainbows shoot out his ass as he flies over on Inauguration Day.
Gwen
Fuck. I knew I should have voted for Kucinich in the primary. What was I thinking?
One of the things that drew me to Obama in the beginning was his ability to piss off all the right people, from the right and the left. No unity ponies for me. I judge a man’s character by who he pisses off, confounds, and stupifies.
Xanthippas
She didn’t do herself any favors either during the primary. I used to read TalkLeft as well for their legal analysis, but anyone who is that willing to jettison their credibility to support their candidate isn’t anyone whose opinion on any issue of significance is one I can trust.
Brian J
Actually, I think the best example of cult-like behavior comes from the reactions some on the right had when people like William F. Buckley, Jr. endorsed Obama. As he said, they couldn’t decided whether he should be boiled in oil or simply put up against the wall and shot.
John O
A guess, and a personal evaluation:
Obama is preternaturally cautious as a person, but is smart enough to understand the uniquely weird and dangerous territory we’re in as a country. I used to think there would be no smarter political creature in my lifetime than B. Clinton, but now doubt it.
I say he goes big. And I think he should.
I want my country to lead the world in alternate energy goods, I want my country to insure and protect its poor and unlucky, I want the socialism that has been foisted upon us by incompetence to create some benefits for all of us, since we’re at it already, at least for the rich and The Man.
We’ll see.
kommrade jakevich
@dmsilev: It’s a shortened version of "Speaking for myself only, but if you disagree with me I’ll flip out so hard I bounce off the International Space Station, crawl up your ass and throw a tantrum that breaks the needles on every seismograph in Hawai’i!Eleventy."
Comrade Scrutinizer
I don’t usually complain about this, but I’m trying to figure out what trips the moderation filter, and I honestly have no fucking clue.
r€nato
this is the shit that drives me nuts about certain blogs. I’ve never hung around GOS much but I’ve seen Jane Hamsher do this repeatedly to commenters at FDL. The topic of Joe Lieberman is particularly likely to send her around the bend. It’s as if Joe raped her puppy, disemboweled it and then strangled it with its own intestines in front of her or something.
That shit should be left to the rat-wingers. On the left we’re supposed to be more tolerant of open, frank, reasonable discussion.
John O
Only the next Netroots Nation conference, Jennifer!
Read some blogs, why dontcha! :-)
handy
Heh. Welcome to the Internet. Normal rules don’t apply.
Sean
Great post, excellent comments. I especially like ‘A whole new shitmoat.’
demimondian
@John O: Worse than that, I hear that both of his kids are black, aren’t they? (And, damned but aren’t they the…well…fourth and fifth cutest kids on Earth. But I digress.)
Leo
What’s really, really, dumb about all this, is BTD could have written almost exactly the same post without making a huge ass of himself, and it would have been much more effective at provoking the kind of discussion he claims to want. All he would have had to do is couch his argument in some conditional language and acknowledge that he’s reading tea leaves, and the post would make a decent point that isn’t too different from points that have been made by various non-morons about other possible Obama appointees.
Instead, he papers over massive gaps in his reasoning to draw sweeping conclusions, and then spends the evening telling his commenters they are stupid for questioning his argument. And self-righteously pointing out that the only reason they care about things like facts and reasoning is that they’ve been brainwashed by Obama.
John O
Comrade (Central?) Scrutinizer,
Imagine my surprise when the last post I put up, with no profanity, not a single ad hom, nothing even remotely controversial is "awaiting moderation."
I wondered the same thing: Huh?
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
@Sean: Heh. I wish I could take credit for the term "shitmoat", but here’s the first source.
tripletee
Now that was a fucking rant. I feel like I need a cigarette.
@Krista:
Pure, 100% gold-plated win.
Despite my disgust with her campaign and advisors, I’ll be eternally grateful to Hillary for exposing all of these closeted loons in the Democratic Party. Riverdaughter’s site is so off-the-rails crazy it might as well be Free Republic. And No Quarter is . . . I don’t know if there’s a phrase in the English language for it.
If anyone’s having withdrawal from making donations to the MUP, maybe we could start up a fund to purchase a small country for the 23%ers, PUMA nutjobs and Flowbee disciples. It’d make Lord of the Flies look like Leave It to Beaver.
Comrade Scrutinizer
Well, yeah, if it’s open, frank, reasonable discussion that goes along in every detail with what we say. Otherwise, not so much. I’m not seeing much difference anymore between GOS and RS, except that one’s "progressive" and one isn’t. Otherwise, it’s pretty much the same kind of echo chamber.
Xanthippas
Indeed, but the combination of inflated ego/thin skin doesn’t belong solely to the right.
John O
Yeah, demondian, the Obama girls make me laugh and smile and hope every time I see them. The only interview they did, where they spent a lot of time ripping on Dad, really gave me some insight into the Obama family dynamic.
I don’t consider him terribly insulated by "yes people."
Those girls are infinitely adorable.
handy
That’s just not how he rolls.
Comrade Scrutinizer
OT, it was funny watching Maddow tonight show solidarity with the bloggers by coming on camera in her PJ bottoms.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@John O:
You’ll love it. It’s a way of life.
kommrade jakevich
The pigs, won’t somebody please think of the pigs?
Comrade Stuck
@Leo:
Yes, but then he wouldn’t have a full thread at BJ and other places dedicated to him and him alone. Which I suspect is the thrust of his twisted ambition.
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
@Comrade Scrutinizer: …coming on camera in her PJ bottoms.
Oh my.
Xanthippas
And he probably would do that, were he not a knee-jerk contrarian more interesting in offending others than actually offering a comment of substance.
I’m not one to psychoanalyze others based on what they write pseudo-anonymously online, but the combination of out-sized ego, hypersensitivity to criticism, and the desire to provoke others into criticizing in the first place, is not a trait that’s found in most balanced people, right?
Malron
John, you done snapped off, son.
I had to leave TalkLeft alone back when Jeralyn was banning anybody who diaried at Daily Kos. They have been at the forefront of every bit of negativity from the so-called progressive side. I think the only time they backed off was when they realized their attempts to incite a mutiny at the Dem convention were a failure.
This rampant speculation about Obama’s cabinet is identical to the hysteria that broke out when Obama was about to announce his running mate. Its kinda refreshing watching these asshats expose themselves for the idiots they are.
blueintheface
@Comrade Scrutinizer: Sorry, Comrade S, I should have been more clear. I was referring to the echo chamber, aka comment section of that piece. Reading some of those names, I was having pie-fight flashbacks.
Interestingly, one of those commenters in that thread was a self-professed troll who only started writing on DKos to bust chops for Joe Biden. I guess his hatred of all things Obama was more important to him than Hillary’s full-throated endorsement of Barack or the Biden VP pick.
Comrade The Other Steve
Can’t we just ignore BTD? He hasn’t had anything worth saying for quite some time.
John Cole
You know, the funniest thing about this website is that the more popular it gets and the more traffic we get, the looser the comment rules become. This really has become a self-policing place. I do not know if it is because we are in deep groupthink, if we have an odd vulcan mindmeld going since most of us are at heart prgamatists and not really wed to any hard-core ideology, or because people know they can say whatever, so they figure saying something outrageous is just going to get them turned into a fool by other commenters or ignored.
I can not figure it out. I have not had to ban anyone for several years, and the last person I banned was only temporary, and is now one of our regulars.
I think this is the model most people should have. Let people say what they want, and it reflects on them, not the other commenters or the bloghost. I honestly can not imagine it any other way. It would be too much damned work.
Comrade Scrutinizer
Well, in fairness, he is, after all, a lawyer.
AB
I’d like to state for the record that Droopy Dog actually did try and do that to my puppy. Then he got bored and went to check John McCain’s bearings.
RoonieRoo
This post is a thing of beauty. I love it when you let the ‘Rant Monster’ out to play.
kommrade jakevich
The random comment moderation gremlin keeps everyone guessing.
Xanthippas
So am I, but I derive no great pleasure from repeatedly making an ass of myself.
By the way, half of the people who leave comments here are or would be better bloggers than BTD. Is he just riding out some massive pile of credibility he amassed years ago, or is the world really so arbitrary and cruel that he is permitted to become a noteworthy blogger?
Jim
John, I think the reason you don’t get comments that are out of bounds is that you, Tim and Michael express your opinions, but at the same time don’t act like you’re God’s gift to the world. If you don’t take yourself too seriously you don’t attract people who also take themselves too seriously and thus feel the need to be assholes in putting other people down. Self absorption is a huge problem of BTD, and Kos as well.
gnomedad (fmr. Nixon Hailfire Palin)
@Comrade Scrutinizer:
It’s obviously not "fuck".
Jill Howell
Thank you, John! I used to like TalkLeft when it was primarily Jeralyn posting. I went there a while ago and got into a tiff with BTD (who I thought was a woman) over troopergate.
When it was revealed that a judge had previously warned Palin about disparaging Wooten, BTD and her/his loyal readers went berserk. Without having any facts they were adamant that the judge went beyond his jurisdiction in issuing this directive and that by not allowing Palin to lodge her concerns he was putting her and her family in harms way. The judge was vilified, along with all those other judges who so easily dismiss women who voice concern or fear for their safety. They all wanted the judged disbarred, immediately
BTD believed Palin was well within her rights to do whatever it took to protect her family against Wooten and that if the story and investigation continued to play out Palin would win the sympathy and support of every voter. And anyone believing Palin was in the wrong and that this was about a serious and troubling ethics violation, was a moron and keeping it alive was only proving progressives to be morally bankrupt and causing the progressive movement great harm.
Out of curiosity I’ve gone back to TalkLeft on occasion and each time I found a post by BTD that was equally warped and sanctimonious. I refuse to go there anymore.
John Cole
Speaking of, the Weblog awards are holding nominations, and while we are sitting it out this year, I am thinking we should have an all out push for Incertus, who is a frequent commenter here and who runs a pretty tidy blog and could use the exposure.
Would you all support that? We just need to find out which category then flood the nominations. I think we can run his category.
handy
@Jim:
Kos still has some quality FPers, despite the pearlclutching that often goes on there. It’s pretty ironic to me Armando’s nome de plume is "Big Tent Democrat," considering he doesn’t seem to embody any of the traits of someone who works to widen the tents of any movement, political or otherwise. It’s like an excuse for him to fire missives at other libs in the name of bucking convention or narrow Dem think or other such nonesense.
Comrade Stuck
Although I’ll have to run it by the self policing pragmatics at the Funhouse, it’s a thumbs up from me.
Incertus
@Comrade Scrutinizer: Dammit, now I’m even more impatient for the podcast!
taylormattd
@handy:
Things never change apparently.
Xanthippas
I don’t know why, but that’s hilarious to me.
Incertus
@John Cole: Fuck, man. Thanks. Although you should know that I just got an approving link from Robert Stacy McCain, so that might negate some of the kind things you’ve said about me.
Jennifer
@Jim: You left out Lord Atrios, who once upon a time ran a fairly interesting blog with thoughtful commenters, until he decided that promoting sycophants was the way to go.
John Cole
@Jennifer: I used to think Atrios was a dick (and I still do, but so am I), but now I love him.
And this is the greatest post in the history of blogging (simple answers to simple questions). Period.
Conservatively Liberal
Excellent rant John! Painfully on target, and I bet the big ego of Bloviating Tiresome Dipshit will be made aware of it and explode because he is unable to delete it.
That is why this is my favorite blog, hands down the best of the best. I quit Kos because of the ‘disappearing’ of posts by others and that I was supposed to be thankful that the deciderers in the moderation community (the TU’s) spared me from reading. Fuck dat. If you have to hide comments then you squash discussion, instead framing it the way you want and making it look like there is no dissent on it.
Free, frank and open discussion or chickenshit asshattery, those are the choices. If a blog deletes (or hides) posts, I won’t even waste my time registering.
I read over there for the pure enjoyment of watching those kinds of freaks and mutants in their natural environment, an echo chamber of racism and hatred. In doing so, I quickly figured out that
myiq2xuGoatBoy is a Republican ratfucker (of the goatfucking persuasion), down to his referring to the Netroots as the "Nutroots". Most of the Dems who are there are of the southern variety, and quite proud of it. I read at Kos thatRiverSewerDaughter was banned because of something racist that she said, and that it was not her first offense in crossing that line.Somebody needs to gently break it to them that the Civil War is over and the south lost. Ok, skip the gently and use a large mallet if necessary.
Either way, righteous rant John. On time and on target.
taylormattd
@South of I-10: So difficult to explain. Some light reading here.
Elise
As someone who has been insulted by BTD for my "Obama love" (as he called it), I’d just like to say, thank you!
I stopped reading BTD ages ago. At this point, I just feel bad for him because he’s so completely out of touch. He needs a very long vacation – to start.
TheHatOnMyCat
Upside-down periods.
handy
I like Atrios. I know it’s a pretty parochial place, but the peeps who comment there are generally good-natured and humored. My only real criticism is his tendency to over-promote certain silver spooned buffoons at the Atlantic Monthly.
Ecks
Y’know, on an intertubes that is mostly full of pint sized wannabe poo-flingers, this was a solid slab of grade A sirloin substance-filled smack down. Nicely done sir!
Conservatively Liberal
Nor "skull fucking kittens".
John, fix your blockquote!
Roger Moore
That probably works better if the bloghost sets a good example. It’s obvious that the host tends to attract ideological sympathizers, but the host also tends to attract stylistic sympathizers. A crazy host attracts a crazy audience, an intellectual host attracts an intellectual audience, a witty host attracts a witty audience, and a rude host attracts a rude audience.
greg p
Marry me.
Seriously: Armando/BTD (pfft) has been an object of ridicule ever since that long, drawn-out divorce from DKos, easily the most bathetic final scene since Little Nell horked up a lung in The Old Curiosity Shop.
Jennifer
@John Cole: Hey, it’s a personal thing. You are a regular in good standing for five fricken’ years, you toss into the tip jar when blegged, and then one day, you disagree with one of his cool kids, and the next thing you know, you’re banned for using a word that everyone else on the site uses – guillotine – and not in a threat towards any particular person or persons. So your first impression was the correct one – he IS a dick. But YMMV; personally, I’ll never give him a page hit again so while that might be the best post in the history of the internets, I’ll never see it due to my personal policy of not providing support to giant douches.
RD
It would seem that, in the absence of information, humans tend to draw upon inferences and rumor to create their own stories. I won’t fully quote Rummy, but the Obama folks have attempted to identify the "known-knowns and the unknown knowns…." I suggest that we maintain our focus on the issues and JUDGE OBOMA ON HIS BEHAVIOR AS IT RELATES TO HIS NEW JOB. His own team readily admits that they are yet to fill in all of the boxes regarding policy and structure. How can they be judged on conclusions and positions they may or may not take?
ninerdave
Really, does anyone really care what Armando has to say? He was an idiot at DKos, and since then his posts about Obama are indistinguishable from Red State diaries.
taylormattd
@Comrade Scrutinizer:
He was at My Left Wing for a while. But he demanded MSOC make sure the other looney fucks who were banned from DKos not torment him. Of course they did, and so he quit there too.
Objective Scrutator
If liberals can’t even rally around their own President, what makes you think that they would rally around the troops?
Semi OT: Anyone who claims Obama is going to be a ‘DINO’ or a ‘DLCer’ is off their rocker. Howard Dean controls the DNC, and he is the only non-DLCer to do so since the late 80s or early 90s, so the mainstream party will be moving further to the Left. As for the DLC, Harold Ford is now the chairman, and he’s significantly further to the right on social issues than the DLC is (in fact, he’s a Blue Dog Democrat). That’s quite odd, since Harold Ford radically hates partial abortions and the assault weapon ban like good Americans do, yet the DLC was vigilant supporters of those issues.
So, I don’t think that the DLC is going to play a big part in Democrat politics, which is sad. Hillary Clinton, a prominent DLCer, will probably shift her positions in such a way that she can keep the maximum amount of power, while Joe Liebermann, the other DLCer, is going to start becoming a Communist if he wants to be reelected. He’ll probably ditch the Republicans entirely, since they are now utterly irrelevant nationally.
Yet nitwits like ‘Big Tent Democrat’ (ironic name) see right wing boogeymen everywhere in the Democrat Party, and sadly, this comprises a major portion of their base, particularly George Soros’ Hippie acolytes.
taylormattd
@Comrade Kevin:
Pretty much. She was goldberry at DKos. You should look up some of the shithole diaries she posted.
Eric U.
but the simple answers to the Loretta Doan question wasn’t a simple answer. I’m going to guess that nobody at Time even understood the answer. And if they did, maybe they could explain why they never had an article on her. If you are watching the press covering Obama, you would realize that the criminal activity that Doan oversaw would have gotten wall to wall coverage under Clinton or Obama. For seemingly inexplicable reasons, it got no coverage at all under Bush.
I recall thinking Armando was a pretty good writer at dKos. Then BTD shows up, and I didn’t think so much of him. Maybe "swords crossed" screwed with his brain.
Jennifer
@Objective Scrutator: um…sorry to disagree, but I for one am glad to see the back of the DLC. While I don’t think Obama is very far, if any, to the left of them, the DLC led the Democrats to defeat far more often than they led them to victory, for the simple reason that if you’re going to vote for a party that’s entirely a corporate subsidy, you might as well vote for the one that’s the original corporate subsidy. The Republicans are just now starting to learn that "he’s a BAD GUY!" is not a substitute for actual ideas; similarly, the DLC spent 20 years learning that "me, too!" wasn’t much of an incentive for supporting them. Just as I suspect the Christianist wing of the GOP is soon going to find that they are no longer being represented by any party, the unions and low-income workers went through a long period of having no representation, in spite of being a far bigger voting bloc than Christian evangelicals. Good riddance to the DLC, say I.
tjproudamerican
Thanks John. You are among my five must reads and you help me keep sane.
Armando is such a putz. If he had his way Hillary would have been Obama’s VP, and even if Obama had still won, we would be reading about The Big Dog and all that other stuff many of us who voted for The Clinton’s are so sick of after finally (in my case after 16 years) deciding to stop making excuses for them.
If your readers want a laugh, look up the "Big Tent" posts before and after Biden was chosen. The comments BTD drew were indistinguishable from El Fatso’s ravings in their hatred of Obama, but they had the additional non-charm of being cravenly pro-Hillary, something I hope even El Fatso would say is just asking too much of one to utter.
I have ONE complaint about your post, John, and that is that I went back to Talk Left for a visit because of your link. Let’s hope Talk Left returns to Jeralyn and her great legal postings and Big Phony Democrat joins No Quarter.
All one needs to know about Armando the phony is that he calls Obama "Great Leader". As someone who hates when people call W "Hitler", I condemn Armando just for that (besides being the only non-interesting writer on TalkLeft).
Conservatively Liberal
And I hope the door hits them on the ass on the way out. Buh-bye.
TheDeadlyShoe
Comparing DailyKos to RedState is a bit silly… DailyKos has a lot of top notch stuff; RedState still can’t decide whether the API tape was a hoax or not.
I stopped posting back in 2004, mainly because a certain segment of the commentariat jumped on me for saying that we lost the popular vote so we shouldn’t treat Ohio as Florida II. I stopped reading for a while too, but in the last year or so I’ve taken to looking at frontpage posts and some of the prominent diaries. There’s a lot of really interesting stuff there and the churn often throws up interesting stories that would be buried in comments in most blogs.
That same churn gets you arguing with people you hugely disagree with, though. And that’s what leads to disillusionment with the site. *shrugs*
It is curious that there are so few trolls here of any variety. Even sites like Crooked Timber get them from time to time… Maybe you’re not on the target list? Heh.
Brian J
I think there’s an often incorrect assumption that something big or vast as far as policy goes is always bad, because it often implies sloppiness, carelessness, unpreparedness, and impulsiveness. Obama’s probably smart enough to ignore this, and while he might be too timid by nature, he also appears to be intellectually secure enough to listen to those around him after he seeks their advice. Thus, if people are telling him to think big and respond accordingly in legislation, then perhaps he will do that.
Tim
John "I voted twice for George Bush" Cole says he has a good eye for bullshit.
Jennifer
@Tim: "Fool me…fool me twice…you can’t get fooled again."
jonas
Look, there’s going to be a dissatisfaction and backstabbing among liberals to a certain extent. The important thing is to listen to the constructive stuff and ignore the idiots.
Church Lady
Oooh, a blogger war. Will it be keyboards at fifty paces? I think I’ll go get my popcorn and settle in for the show.
srv
Look, I voted against GW four times.
Could we at least keep the posts and discourse to pre-Al Maviva tomes?
David
@wwinfrey: When I look through Armando’s diary, I see things that are reasonable, and relevant. I guess he let the power (?) go to his head or something, after he got outed. I dunno. Either way, he had a set of diaries about Lincoln’s campaigns (can’t find them at the moment) that I remember being particularly impressed by.
It also occurs to me that Armando probably functions better as someone opposed to things than someone for something. He seems to focus on the arguments more than the resolutions. That is fine for a trial lawyer, but maybe not so much in the Obama world of politics – and maybe that is why he doesn’t like the post election order of things.
David
@Roundhouse: He was outed, and it apparently caused him some problems with his workplace. Thus, BTD showed up later…
cain
@John Cole:
I used to observe on this blog that when trolls start mouthing off here it becomes a group sport. I’ve never seen so many pile on en masse. One of the reasons why this blog is best enjoyed with alcohol. If it gets real crazy, it’ll be whiskey shots nights, and man, those are the BEST!
cain
pattonbt
Ahh, the primary wars. Will we ever see you again? I get all tingly like Chris Matthews just thinking about all the irrational and emotional train wrecks. It was teh awesome. What will we do with ourselves now? The 2012 Republican primary seems so far off and with such tantalizing, hilarity potential I just cant wait.
As for the Dem primary wars and people like BTD, reality must be a bitter pill to swallow. The wars were great for their business, but now their places are lghost towns. They thought they were first class pundits instead of the tabloid purveyors of the daily dramas they actually were. They failed to realize people werent listening to them per-se, they were just looking for the latest nugget or bombshell to hang their hat and hopes on and a place to commune with fellow whingers. BTD and Co were only conduits of gossip (not that there is anything wrong with that – except when you start to believe you are more than that).
However, for most of us once the drama was over we moved on and dealt with whatever the outcome was. But how that abondonment must have hurt people like BTD. How it must have hurt to be yelling louder and more fiercely into a smaller, crazier echo chamber. And how sad it is to watch that, rather than admit they temporarily lost their mind (forgivable) and come back to sanity , they keep howling at the moon just to hold on to the last few gullible lemmings who need the constant reassurance of conspiracy.
Great times those were. Too bad I got the candidate I wanted who appears to be the level headed, drama free, pragmatic, slow but steady leader I believed him to be. Dullsville man.
Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to hang around here and watch the R and D funhouse circular firing squads. I’ll gladly take that consolation prize.
But I still want my unicorn.
Jeff
I’m late, but this post was a thing of beauty.
TenguPhule
Even for a spoof, that’s not funny.
tavella
He’s not exactly the only source of crazy. I fled DailyKos early in the primary season as every single thread turned to Hillary bashing, and you guys were pretty nuts yourself. All the foaming about how she was going to cut a deal with McCain or refuse to campaign for Obama if he won and so on. And dear god, the way you thought a fairly mild primary campaign was the most AWFULLEST THING THAT HAS EVER BEEN.
Doctor Cleveland
You are wrong, John Cole! Wrong!
It is not too early to criticize the Obama Administration. It is too late! All of the other bloggers got there first.
It’s time to hold accountable for his actions in the 2012 elections. Why should he expect to be nominated simply because he’s the incumbent? He’s clearly against free speech and the people’s right to exercise a democratic choice or he would not try defeat his fellow Democrats!
Also, I find Obama’s plans for his life after the White House extremely troubling. Your so-called "transformative" President is going to have a completely standard post-presidency, with the expected library and foundation and the speaking tours and board memberships. And let’s face it, the obscene amount of money Obama’s making on his reworked book deal. You can use the excuse that Obama needs to money to pay Malia’s college tuition, but hey … there’s always an excuse, right? We expected more from you, Barack. You let us down.
Conservatively Liberal
The difference being that here the primary reason for existence was NOT Hillary bashing. Plus there were some good conversations with the more rational Hillary supporters, which were far too few of. During the general, people like myself were somewhat thankful of Hillary forging the core of Obama in the fires of the primary, though she did go too far at times. In the end, her and Bill redeemed themselves in the assistance they gave to Obama, so I guess everyone survived.
Hope your tender sensibilities were not hurt too badly. ;)
SnarkyShark
Yep. Like sharks in a feeding frenzy it was. I almost felt sorry for some of the trolls.
Almost
We here are firm believers in fair play. Anybody who came here in good faith would get a spirited and respectful back and forth.
Any dipshits who came in here claiming it was alright to sign an oath not to campaign in Fl or Mich and then do it anyway got what they deserved.
The fact that those types of people are still making fools of themselves speaks for itself.
Sleeper
In fairness to Jeralyn, she did come out and firmly support Obama once the dust was settled, and changed the definition of "chatterer" from "Obama supporter" to "McCain supporter." The selection of Sarah Palin seems to have been the bucket of ice-cold water that woke her up.
It was greatly amusing to see BTD’s constant fretting over the awful, awful sexism directed at Palin, which was rampant and everywhere to see if only you squinted hard enough. He and Jeralyn were pretty bitchy with one another in the comment threads. Since he had sagely pronounced that the economy was the one and only reason for McCain’s problems, any mention of polls that indicated across-the-board dissatisfaction with Palin, or any reference to the latest prominent conservative to break ranks and support Obama because of her, was reason enough for him to have a shit fit and ban people from his threads left and right. I have this mental picture of him getting up early each morning, prowling through months-old posts with a stack of spiral-bound notebooks containing the ever-expanding Dead To Me list, pruning the deficiently deferential from his otherwise flawless punditry.
Sleeper
I don’t know you, John, but I would venture to guess that you do not consider yourself a mighty force in the American political arena. This blog strikes me as a hobby that grew into a community, sort of a happy accident on par with finding a ten dollar bill stuck under the couch cushions.
Blogs like TalkLeft (or rather, the TalkLeft of 2008, as distinguished from the legal blog it was before) see themselves as powerhouses and political actors in their own right, actually influencing the outcome of events on the national stage. That’s why they can’t possibly tolerate dissent or allow "trolls" (those who disagree, or merely agree with insufficient vigor) to be heard, because the masses would be confused, and the Democrats just might lose the election. Years from now, historians would look back and compose amusing counterfactual essays on how an Obama presidency could have become a reality, if only a few more commenters had been banned. These grim-jawed partisans will not. Let. That. Happen. Remember the Maine! Or the Michigan and Florida, perhaps.
kommrade jakevich
[snerk] I know we shouldn’t judge people by their handles but a name from Tolkien makes me assume the person is too young to be on the Internets without adult supervision. Two names makes me think they’re just bloody lame.
Comrade Jake
Heh. Big Tent Democrat is even being described as an idiot by our nutjob friends at Calvinists for Conservatism. Good times.
Comrade Scrutinizer
@taylormattd:
This comment from kos in that thread says a lot:
bellatrys
FYI, Armando is a Corporate Lawyer who has represented Wal*Mart. That’s what the "speak for myself" thing refers to, or used to. He kept this under wraps, btw, when he was defending Wal*Mart and other giant corporations’ lobbying efforts against the citizenry – someone had to whistleblow him and he blew a gasket about it (blew several.)
Yes, he was strongly against torture. (Have a cookie, Armando!) This is a very low bar, however & should not be taken as indicated more of a leftward bent to his soul than, say, being against killing kittens. (ie not at all, anti-kitten-killing views being non-partisan.) His corporatist bent is much more strong: his worship of the almighty dollar and the people who hold the bulk of them dominates pretty much every social justice concern, except the prison camps/torture thing.
Also, iirc, he’s pretty damn sexist – it’s been a long time, but one of the things that ticked a lot of us off at him at dKos was his fierce defense of Larry Summers against all the quotes demonstrating not only the man’s gender-essentialism but also various hoary ethno-religious bigotries: such as Summers’ arguing that some groups are just better suited for some professions, as Jews make the best bankers, blacks the best basketball players, etc.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Armando were the one responsible for starting the "Larry Summers to be Treasury" rumor in the first place. It would fit with his wishful thinking and attitude of know-it-all insiderness.
T.Scheisskopf
Well, John, for what it is worth, Armando has been caught with the meat in his mouth a few too many times. Thus, his separation from DKos. It just seems he is pretty well dedicated to snot-slingin’ drama that would impress the most hysterical of Divas. I guess he thinks that such breathless drama will raise his stock on the Blog index and make people consider him a "must read". I think that some of this stems from his grieving for his salad days as a Bologostanian mover and shaker at the biggest and most influential one around.
But alas, he fucked that dog but good.
And that one commenter, Larry? "What do you want we should do to that punk Cole, Boss?"
Is that a bad gangster movie over there? lol.
Comrade Jake
I think every blogger who strongly believed Obama could not win without HRC on the ticket should post a giant mea-culpa before anyone reads another damn thing they write. Emasculate yourself there, BTD, otherwise you have zero credibility. Zero.
Mazacote Yorquest
Shorter TalkLeft until 2010:
PUMA CULTIST PUMA CULTIST PUMA CULTIST ahem ahem i have a theory about death penalty, criminal rights, PUMA CULTIST PUMA CULTIST PUMA
/CULTIST BANNED
Sasha
Thankyouthankyouthankyou. You speak for me beautifully. I long ago sadly removed TalkLeft from my blogroll because of this moron. And then I stopped dropping by, again sadly, because it was just too difficult to ignore. I kept hoping that after the election it would pass but it hasn’t. And I am too angry to speak about it.
Again thank you.
Gray
"Any dipshits who came in here claiming it was alright to sign an oath not to campaign in Fl or Mich and then do it anyway got what they deserved."
Still fighting the primary fights? You know very well Clinton didn’t campaign in FL or Mi until Obama and Dean started their unfair drive to disenfranchise the delegates from the convention. In the end, after Obama secured a majority, those delegates were seated again. Imho this is sufficient proof that this wasn’t about any matter of principle, but just a political maneuver to make Obama look more ahead than he really was. And you still bring this up in a righteous tone as if all those who argued against this manipulation deserved to be banned? Lame.
Rick Taylor
You shouldn’t read Armando, John. He just raises your blood pressure. You’re right about him, especially about being the Michelangelo of concern trolls, but since the primaries I don’t think Talk Left has had that much impact on the debate. Don’t you torture yourself enough reading reading Red State?
Jennifer
@Gray: It never ceases to amaze me how people can continue to argue that someone was robbed, robbed I say, for not being given delegates from states they had agreed would not count towards the final tally before the primaries started and it became apparent that said states could make a difference. All parties agreed to the rules up front. Not changing those rules after the fact to help the candidate who was behind was not a nefarious plot – it was following the rules, full stop. This thing about an "unfair drive to disenfranchise the delegates from the convention" is just so much hogwash – that decision had been made before the primaries ever began. And you can’t "disenfranchise" anyone in a primary vote anyway – primaries are run by parties, who are private entities and have the right to set their own rules and decide who may and may not participate and under what guidelines.
Most of us understand that you can’t change the rules of a game midway through and have a fair contest, which is what one side was pushing. Interestingly, the argument at the time for why this should have been done is that the ultimate winner of the primary battle supposedly "could not win the general election." Only the person who couldn’t win the primaries was alleged to be up to the task of beating the Republicans. And the guy who did win the primaries? He not only won (big in one case) the two states where the "disenfranchisement" of delegates would supposedly so depress the general election turnout of Democratic voters that a Democratic victory would be impossible, he also won a bunch of states that hadn’t voted Democratic in 30 years or more. I’ll go out on a limb here and suggest that the other potential nominee wouldn’t have been able to manage that, since it was clear from her primary strategy that there never would have been an attempt to compete in those states in the first place – which is reason number one she didn’t win enough delegates to secure the nomination, not some nefarious plot to deprive her of delegates from two states who were never supposed to be counted as part of the mix from the get-go.
Xanthippas
I also happen to think it has a lot to do with the people who come over here to comment. At even the most noteworthy liberal blogs I can hardly stand to read the comments since half of them are by assholes who don’t know what they’re talking about, have nothing to say, or just want to jack the thread. Not here though…I almost always read the comments here because many of the comments are as enlightening as what John, Tim or Michael writes. I happen to think John’s highly amusing irascibility, independent-mindedness and low tolerance for bullshit attracts the kind of people whose thoughts are worth reading.
AHG
Praise the FSM, I’ve been waiting for this post since election night…. He was retarded during the primaries (arguing that Obama was DOOMED and the dems were throwing everything away for an inadequate black male). You’d think a website on criminal defense would be over that kind of base racism, but I guess not….
Then the wrongness just piled up during the general. The best was his "don’t talk about Palin’s experience" post, where he called any and all mentions of it sexist and warned that it was SO DANGEROUS to Obama. Sadly, no – the economy/wink ad may have been the best one produced in this election cycle.
Anyway, I really wish TalkLeft would get rid of Armando since I practice criminal law value the others’ viewpoints.
charlotte
Not to inflame old wounds but it must to tough on the PUMA forever crowd to note that Camp McCain took up Camp Clinton’s dog whistle tactics in their attempt to defeat Obama. Didn’t work either time. Bill and Hillary really really disgraced themselves at some fundamental level. Adultery is one thing — I certainly don’t care. But what they were up to with their "as far as I know" BS and "hardworking white Americans" theme was something else altogether. So it’s not just that she lost — it’s that she went down in a stupid and ugly way that many of us will not soon forget.
On another note, some of this reminds me of the contest between JD Fortune and Marty Casey on RockStar INXS. Loved Marty and miss that show.
SpaceCat
Delicious. I’m loving it!
Jack H.
If BTD were lucid he would give a mea culpa about his countless mistakes concerning Obama. Instead he’ll be laying the groundwork for impeachment calls (Bets on when he’ll first call for it?). Then, even when he was heinously wrong, he would’ve actually been right.
Ed Marshall
I remember watching a bloggingheads with Glenn Lowry (who was also an Obama skeptic and Hillraiser) where he was *positive* Palin was some sort of super, incredibly, good pick and she was a poison pawn and if you attack her it leads to instant defeat.
He came out after the election and said that was wrong and stupid. Why can’t fat-ass Armando do that?
Doug H. (Comrade Fausto no more)
Obama isn’t even inagurated and the bloated ego of Pup Tent Democrat is already starting the 2012 crusade? Surprise, surprise, surprise.
QFT. Same argument can be made for Correntewire and other like-minded sites.
Svensker
From Calvinists for Conservatism:
Win on so many levels!
(Since when did Calvinists go from being dour sober-sides to becoming hysterics?)
mike in dc
Of course, now Armando is calling you out at TL, John, saying that because you didn’t specifically cite instances from his 3000 diaries post-Obama-announcement, that you must be full of it.
Presumably, if anyone actually bothers to cite, Armando will counter with something like "well, obviously you don’t understand what I was saying…"
He is pretty insufferable.
Comrade Jake
If you want some insight into the cocoon that was TalkLeft during the primaries, check out this snippet of blogginheads between Jeralyn and Mark Kleiman.
A couple of things are striking. First, just how prescient and level-headed Kleiman was. Second, just how dense and irrational Jeralyn was being.
Northern Observer
What makes this all more interesting now is that looking back, Hillary might have been the ultimate republican rope a dope. Would Hillary have expanded the map the way Obama did? Would Hillary have done as well with men and independents as Obama did? Would Hillary have done as well with Hispanics and AAs? Could Hillary do better with women than Obama did? This article will be written at some point with lots of graphs, stats and nifty maps, but from where I stand having read the info at 538 and other sites, the answer seems to be no, no, no and no.
Once you see that then you see that Hillary could have been contained to the Kerry states and possibly lost if a good negative vibe stuck to her (think Dukakis in the tank).
I really wonder how much great oppo material the RNC had for a McCain Hillary contest… oh if only we could interrogate Roger Stone.
So one has to ask, is Armando/BTD a super double secret republican sleeper agent?
neil
In late 2006, Kos wrote a very prescient post: If Obama runs, he wins. It was a short post but it provoked a pretty fascinating discussion. A lot of people wrote comments which they would later have to eat; Big Tent Democrat was of course one of them.
No, BTD, Obama did know how to fight back. And you denigrated him for it.
I don’t think Obama should be above being questioned, but I do think that BTD should S his FPH already.
Stellaa
You voted for Bush twice? Now that is a moron.
bayville
Future Fox Panel Talking about the wayward ways of the future Obama Presidency:
Amanda Carpenter, Pat Cadell, Kelly Ann Conway and Armando
dan robinson
BTD comes across as a narcissistic idiot. A loudmouthed narcissistic idiot. Okay, maybe just a loudmouthed narcissist.
Basically, you take anything that is happening in politics, multiply it by what ever BTD says and you have zero.
A * (BTDs mouthings) = 0
therefore BTDs mouthings = 0
tavella
Some of us weren’t so slow that we required a general to realize that a strong primary makes a strong candidate. There was much shouting, especially later on, about how everyone should just bow down and get out of the way. Having had quite enough in 2000 and 2004 of Democrats feeling they must be all genteel and not look too pushy and thus making nice speeches and giving up, I was of the opinion it wasn’t Clinton’s job to cede Obama the nomination, it was his job to win it. Which he did, and I was cool with that, if not enthusiastic (Obama’s choice of gays as his Sister Souljah pretty much ensured that.)
Katherine
You know, I don’t think the WSJ article is especially likely to accurately represent Obama’s views on torture. Among other things: the main named source has been quoted elsewhere about the need for Obama to "have the CIA"s back" about "honest mistakes"–and the other article sure makes it sound like he is NOT on the transition team. But, the WSJ article probably DOES represent a serious attempt by the intelligence community to pressure Obama not to change Bush’s interrogation policies too much. And Brennan IS an Obama advisor, with a fairly crappy record on these things–he’s defended rendition in the past–and previously convinced Obama to break a primary campaign promise on FISA. It is actually useful & necessary for the left to be prepared to hold Obama to his campaign promises on torture, because you can bet that there will be plenty of pressure in the opposite direction. And, his campaign has actually said very little on these issues–he said to close Guantanamo and end torture a lot during the primaries, but it wasn’t discussed much during the general election, and "close GTMO, end torture" was also McCain’s stated position. For that matter, Bush claimed to want to close GTMO and that the U.S. didn’t torture. I find Obama 100 times as credible as McCain and a million times as credible as Bush, but he has NOT been at all specific–there are so, so many unanswered questions.
I see why you don’t like Armando in general, but on this issue? He’s putting useful–if hopefully unnecessary–pressure on Obama on a crucial issue. You’re rehashing pissing contests from the primary. As a human rights lawyer: fuck you.
empty
BTD says that no such posts exist. So John, were you lying?
Tom Hilton
I nominate the moronic douchebag known as Lambert.
myiq2xu
What a crock of shit!
This place turned into CDS central by mid-January, and conservative goat-fucker was a metastisized tumor full of Hillary-hate.
Comrade Jake
I wonder if we’ll also hear from p.luk?
John Cole
I am not wasting another minute on the talkleft turdblossom. Ever.
TenguPhule
Fixed.
tavella
What Katherine said.
Xanthippas
Spare us. CDS does not mean "some people said mean things about Hillary and others were harshly critical." THIS is what "Hillary hate" looks like; there was nothing approaching the blatant sexism that afflicted right-wing blogs and pundits in the media. John Cole and others here were inclined to highly uncharitable interpretations of Hillary’s campaign and sometimes I think they overdid it, but that ain’t CDS; that’s the heat of a primary. And there was nothing directed at Hillary here that approached the racism and "Obama is a secret Muslim/Marxist/Black natonalist" nonsense that you could find on both right-wing blogs and the comments at TalkLeft.
empty
So that answers that then.
John Cole
So those are the rules? You get to just make shit up, or rely completely on WSJ reports about idle speculation, and then decide someone is wrong and flame them, and when called on it you just say you are “applying pressure?” I can just say whatever, because my heart is in the right place? Remember what started this:
“You see the proposal is to have greater oversight over the torture. Change we can believe in!”
I would consider accusing someone of wanting to torture based on no evidence whatsoever to be a pretty nasty smear. And fuck ya’ right back.
Trinity
My God John…I think I love you.
Bravo!
Josh Hueco
@myiq2xu:
Ah, Hilltards. They remember everything and learn nothing.
Comrade Jake
@empty:
This really isn’t that tough. Here’s BTD in late May:
"Must-pick" is pretty definitive, no?
Xanthippas
John won’t waste another minute on BTD, but I happily will. If BTD means that he never wrote all of that in one post and John Cole is "lying" for implying he did, he’s a moron. He’s certainly written plenty of stupid nonsense about how Obama can’t win whites and can’t win Hispanics and can’t win without Hillary on the ticket, as anyone who has glanced at TalkLeft even one time during the campaigns would be able to tell you. Also, there’s the fact that he was wrong about EVERYTHING about the elections, so anyone who was even only half right about everything has considerably more credibility.
Comrade Ed Drone
Aha! The "Whitey" tapes surface!
Ed
Comrade Stuck
Don’t much like being called this. And the Funhouser’s are beside themselves with outrage. BTD is the dregs.
Al Swearengen
Basically, the dumb fuck Clinton dead-enders are going to continue doing the dumb fuck dead-ender things to which they’re now addicted.
I guess it’s because they have anywhere to go. They haven’t just burned their bridges, they’ve used Republican ratfuck fueled bunker-busters to blow the fucking foundations. I’m sure API has a "tape" of it.
No Quarter and Talkleft are just two sides of the same piece of shit-stained toilet paper. Flush them from your blogrolls, your favorites list, your memory.
Too bad Larry and Jeralyn, no one forced you to essentially hand your sites over to unhinged crypto-racists for the last two years. A couple of years ago you were both daily reading for me, but now I only rarely visit to tweak the thin-skinned assholes infesting your formerly-useful sites.
liberal
@Xanthippas:
Agreed.
E.g., at Eschaton, the signal to noise ratio in the comment section is pretty close to zero.
CIRCVS MAXIMVS MMVIII
I’ll come back when we start talking about important stuff again.
I’ve ignored Armando since before he left Kos. I really have no desire to remind myself he still lives now.
Geek, Esq.
Ack! The formatting got screwed up on that post somehow. Correct version:
Behold the great Armando, in his stint as George Wallace-style race-baiter:
Is Obama Trying To Depress White Turnout In PA?
Armando decries the "Obama News Network" for daring to point out that Obama won more delegates on Super Tuesday than his beloved St. Hillary:
When Did The Pledged Delegate Count Become The Holy Grail? How The Obama Camp and NBC Made It So
Of course, the Political Genius that is Armando was the only sentient being to call Super Tuesday what it really was–a crushing defeat for the Obamabots!
He summed up his idiocy in one concise post the next day:
Comrade Jake
Yeah, BTD stupidity is all over TalkLeft. I guess he’s too stupid to remember his own stupidity.
smintheus
What is more cult-like than George W. Bush’s following for most of his presidency? Just compare the 14 commonly accepted characteristics of a cult to the behavior of Bush’s accolytes and Republican partisans generally:
It’s rather harder to see the full cult-like activity with regard to Obama’s followers, at least once you get beyond characteristics 1 and 2.
JB
Interesting post. The funny thing is that many of us left (or got banned) from TL because it was JERALYN that went batshit crazy. BTD’s always been arrogant (and an Obama suppporter, BTW – those here who think he was a Hillary supporter are nuts), but until the Queen went out of her mind with PDS, TL wasn’t ad. Jeralyn came back from the convention bought and paid for by the Obama campaign, and as typical of the candidate and the campaign (and supporters), no dissent is ever allowed of Dear Leader. Jeralyn drank the Kool-Aid.
lambert strether
Hilariously, we need to add an additional characteristic beyond #1 and #2. That would be #11, "justification for warrantless surveillance."
Since, when voting for FISA [cough] reform, which granted retroactive immunity to the telcos for their warrantless surveillance, that is exactly what Obama did.
But maybe the extenuating circumstance would be that Republicans support warrantless surveillance out of "induced guilt feelings," but Obama has no guilt at all? Could that be it?
Reassuringly, however, #8 ("The group has a polarized us- versus-them mentality, which causes conflict with the wider society") is just s-o-o-o-o-o not true. I mean, just read this thread!
ChrisB
Great post, great thread, brings back memories of old times.
For some reason, the phrase "11 in a row" comes to mind.
John Cole
Lambert, you are speaking in tongues.
Regardless, criticizing Obama for his FISA vote is fine with me, because you are actually attacking something he has done, rather than attacking him for something he might do because you read someone talking about it in a WSJ piece.
Really not hard to figure out, is it?
Nikki
Damn. How did this post make it on to memeorandum?
taylormattd
@empty:
First of all, Armando should read John’s post carefully. It is beyond obvious John was listing examples of the genre of non-stop bashing in which Armando engaged. Moreover, of course they exist. Armando wrote non-stop about how Obama "must" do this or that, else he lose "constituency X". Over, and Over, and Over.
Here’s one that alleges Obama needs Hillary to help with with both women and Hispanics.
taylormattd
@Open Thread * Pop The Dumbo’s Balloon : NO QUARTER:
Holy shit, a trackback from the dumbshit flowbee’s cesspool of racism.
Magic Dog
Nice job, Juan. BTD is a joke.
Anne
I got lots of comments deleted from TL, comments whose only crime were to be pro-Obama. After Obama got the nomination and her readers were saying that he was a misogynist and only McCain cared about women, I wrote her and suggested she use some facts to dispute that and she wrote back this huffy e-mail that she would never censor her commenters. Pretty hilarious.
Xanthippas
@Anne: I wrote Jeralyn to about a particularly infuriating response, and when I explained why I won’t register to comment on their blog because I’d just end up deleted, she had this to say:
What. A. Joke. Read ANY thread over there during the campaign and you’ll see references to comments that were deleted merely for having the gall to call out some other TalkLeft commentators for being overt racists and right-wingers. And yet "all points of view are welcome."
Anne
Yes. It turned out that telling someone something that is contradictory to their stated opinion is "hurling insults and attacks." Who knew? My husband–also a long time TL reader–began posting comments just to enjoy the hypocrisy when they were deleted.
DG
You voted for Bush TWICE???!!!!
TWICE?!!!
Also, what you call "concern trolling" aka critiquing leaders of your own party is what I consider.. healthy for democracy. That’s fine if you bailed out on the right because they were assholes, but I’m on the left because of issues.
You’re going to find assholes on both sides (IMHO BTD is not one of them). So, you might have to turn right around and go back to the GOP, since apparently you agree with them on the issues more, especially if you voted for Bush twice. TWICE? Who does that?! Maybe a blogger whose approach to politics is to pick a sports team based on which one is nicer to you?
po
Wow, and I thought I might have been the only one who thought such things about BTD. Thanks for taking the time to write this vent. Very appropriate for the most part.
As someone whose posts were frequently removed for some perceived slight at someone or something (typically a statement that Hillary might have baggage and downsides that they weren’t considering), I eventually just stopped reading what TL had to say. Too bad, as an attorney I thought their legal coverage, which got me going there in the first place, was pretty good. Hillary 4evah, however, did me in. Wal*Mart?!?! I didn’t know that part, but THAT is pretty hilarious.
DG
@Al Swearingen
Too bad Larry and Jeralyn, no one forced you to essentially hand your sites over to unhinged crypto-racists for the last two years. A couple of years ago you were both daily reading for me, but now I only rarely visit to tweak the thin-skinned assholes infesting your formerly-useful sites.
Larry and Jeralyn have no association whatsoever and I have never seen Jeralyn even mention, much less defend, some of the out-there stuff on No Quarter. This is not fair to Jeralyn, and I write this as one who is not a fan of her since some of the tabloid posts she made about Palin. (I abhor Palin’s politics – IMHO the case against her on issues was undermined by the tabloid garbage).
Based on the tone of your post, what you should do is, try harder to sound like a fascist thug.
myiq2xu
IOW – BTD is telling the truth and JC won’t admit it.
Blue Girl
Armando is pretty fucking intolerable, but Geralyn is not much better. What an insufferable douchenozzle she is!
taylormattd
@myiq2xu:
You are perhaps the stupidest person to comment at goldberry’s cesspool. You realize that multiple people have already thrown Armando’s words back in his face, right?
Also, check the front page of this blog. Jesus, the stupidity.
Steve S.
Wow. I never read this Big Tent Democrat guy, but he must be really, really important for you to go off on him like this. Must be an important opinionmaker, or perhaps a powerful politician with access to enormous weapons systems. I know, why don’t we form a circular firing squad and execute him.
Shinobi
Since when did the NYTimes start mediating blog wars?
Xanthippas
@myiq2xu: try again.
Sleeper
BTD was not an Obama supporter. He was someone who claimed, usually consistently but with lots of notably histrionic exceptions, that Obama was probably going to win. Those are two entirely separate things. I don’t recall him ever voicing the opinion that Obama should win or that he deserved to win, only that he was the media darling and probably would win, but wasn’t it a shame that Hillary Clinton was being piled on by evil NBC because she was clearly the best possible candidate and if Obama doesn’t pick her as running mate he’s throwing away a sure thing, blah blah etc.
Pretty fucking weak tea, that.
Al Swearengen
@DG
[snip]
Larry and Jeralyn have no association whatsoever and I have never seen Jeralyn even mention, much less defend, some of the out-there stuff on No Quarter. This is not fair to Jeralyn, and I write this as one who is not a fan of her since some of the tabloid posts she made about Palin. (I abhor Palin’s politics – IMHO the case against her on issues was undermined by the tabloid garbage).
Based on the tone of your post, what you should do is, try harder to sound like a fascist thug.
A fascist thug? How about sick-of-suffering-dumb-fucks liberal? We’ve got a fucked-up world to deal with and we’re not required to feel some compassion for a bunch of obsessed dipshits who just can’t let go of the Democratic primaries 6 months after the fact.
Also, I suppose Larry and Jeralyn have no association beyond their complete willingness to allow crypto-racist, sore-loser assholes claiming to be "Democrats" completely take over their sites.
Talkleft was once known as the site to get reasoned discussion of crime issues from a liberal viewpoint. No Quarter was a go-to site on issues surrounding The Plame Affair. What are they known for now, other than an unhinged, never-ending shitstream of hate towards Obama?
Jeralyn’s commentary? Sorry, she made the decision to let those loons lose on there, she’s on permanent mute to many. She gets to reap her whirlwind by having their only audience be the precious sore-loser assholes. The rest of us are only there to point and laugh at the stupid.
TenguPhule
Fixed.
Phoebe
Sometimes John will bring a flame thrower to a pillow fight. Those are the happiest times.
handy
@Katherine:
You’re a human rights lawyer! Awesome. I’m the fargin’ Tooth Fairy. We should hang out.
Dan
The removal of "W"s from keyboards during the last presidential transition was a lie perpetrated by the newly occupying Bushies. An early sign of things to come, and a hangover of the days of Lee Atwater.
Christine
Armando is getting ready to have his next big blog meltdown.
He’s following the same exact pattern he had on Daily Kos. His posts are getting more bizarre. More angry. More insulting and more irrationally deranged by the day.
He picks fights with everyone – insults broads swaths of people, is back to the Obama hate that festered inside of him months (yeah yeah he supported Obama *COUGH*)…but most of all?
He sounds drunk off his ass when he posts.
Yup.
Any day now, or within a few weeks, he’ll throw one of his infamous temper tantrums filled with such rage he’ll either be banned or leave is a sick huff.
The guys scares me. He’s not well.
Justin
I think perhaps you all are being a bit hard on Jeralyn; she really wanted Hillary to win but she was just as enthusiastic for Obama’s candidacy during the general election. Taylor Marsh was also much maligned here at one point but she also made the obvious choice once the primary was over and became one of Obama’s biggest boosters and PUMA’s biggest critic. I was a strong Hillary supporter but Obama earned my respect and admiration. The PUMA’s that are left (i.e. the ones still mired in anger at Obama for having the audacity to win) are such fickle creatures; as soon as you stop telling them what they want to hear–that Obama is some grand illusion and either too good to be true or a dangerous and corrupt black man–they stop listening to you.
What I would say to the ones who actually did the unthinkable as informed citizens in this election–whether it was not voting, voting a write-in for President, voting McCain, voting 3rd party–is yes, to shut up and start listening for a change. You were proven absolutely dead wrong about this election, about Barack Obama the man and the candidate, about America and about yourself.
Some of the comments here are a little over the top. Some way over the top and ridiculous. But it’s nothing compared to the pure bile being spewed by those PUMA sites, and what’s creepy is the number of supposed liberals or progressives who have gotten into bed with that simply because they were mad about the outcome of the primaries. At sites like Corrente and TalkLeft, it often sounds like they read No Quarter, Confluence, etc.
I’m sure it disgusts Hillary Clinton that these people use her name to promote hatred and ignorance. The ultimate irony was that a small portion of these people who claimed to be her strongest supporters ended up saying "go to hell" to Hillary when she passionately asked them to support Barack Obama. Every last one of them, especially someone like myiq2xu, should be ashamed of themselves. You drank the kool-aid this year bigtime–odd because that’s exactly what you accuse Obama supporters of doing–you acted as de facto GOP operatives in perhaps the most important election of our lifetime, digging up and passing on absolute racist garbage about a good man and his family. And while your heroes Bill and Hillary were out campaigning their asses off for Barack, you were looking at pictures of fucking wild cats and hoping the whitey tape would surface! I mean god, how selfish and immature must you be to have so completely taken your eye off the ball and Confluenced with racists and right-wing ratfuckers? If things had gone the way you spoke and voted in favor of, we’d be pretty screwed right now. So yeah, you can shut up now and, most importantly, get over it.
People who are glad Obama won & are giving him a chance in no small part due to the respect and credibility he has earned are not a cult, and the mere suggestion is pretty outrageous.
Mostly
Nice post. It’s not that Armando is wrong, or even that he’s right. He’s just… being Armando.
You’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere in the librul blogosphere where he doesn’t -both hands down- have the reputation as the dumbest blogger of all time, anywhere. It’s so widespread that this entire year on just about every blog other than Talk Left, there’s a recurring bit of conversation that you could call "The Armando Conversation":
…people talking about internet personalities, someone mentions Armando…
Newbie: Who’s Armando?
OG: He’s this guy who used to be on Daily Kos and got kicked off. Now he blogs at Talk Left under the name "Big Tent Democrat"
Newbie: Oh, that guy? Jesus Christ that guy is dumb.
Shredder
It was sad to see Talk Left marginalize itself into complete irrelevance but that’s what they did, and now they are flailing.
Talk Left is done. Over. Sad and quite pathetic. Let them go.
P.S. There must be something in the water when it comes to the Hillary supporters. And they call Obama supporters a cult. Project much?