Joe Klein, unplugged:
Bush flunkies trying to argue that Obama is more polarizing than Bush was. Given the fact that Obama had to take dramatic action, at home and abroad, to start lifting the country from the mess Bush made almost everywhere–and also begin to turn the country aware from the myopia and greed of the Reagan era–it’s amazing that he hasn’t raised more dust or teabags. And, I should add the fact that the alleged polarization mostly results from the fact that Obama gets extremely low ratings from self-identified Republicans, who constitute an extremist shard of a party at this point, is a badge of honor.
In the long run, it’s a safe historical bet that Bush will prove more polarizing than Obama because he was such an abject failure in the job–I doubt we’ll ever see Obama submerge to approval ratings in the mid-20s, or launch wars peremptorily without cause or purpose. The constant sniping from Rove, Wehner and the others during Obama’s first 100 days is a deeply neurotic reaction to the enormity of their own cockups in office. It shows a profound lack of class or grace, but then, that’s no surprise with these guys, is it? They ran the country like thugs, and thugs they remain.
Yes. Yes. And one thousand times, yes.
Trinity
I need a cigarette.
Robin G.
Lovely, but where was this Joe Klein in, say, 2003 or 2004, when we really needed him?
RememberNovember
a thousand times that. It’s like people post Nixon running around saying G Gordon Liddy was framed……
have they been in the cave so long since Plato left they’re insane from eating too much guano?
Zifnab
Dude. Fuck it. This is Joke Line talking. He’ll be back to GOP cocksucking the moment the poll trends reverse. The dude’s an entertainer and not to be taken seriously.
If he’s cheering for our team, that’s fine. He still shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near column space after the last decade.
Just Some Fuckhead
I dunno.
"Thugs" makes them sound tough.
Ugh
How about cowardly bullies?
Napoleon
I love it, he used the word "cockups".
DougJ
Clinton was the most polarizing of all. And voters were extremely polarized about the subject of Al Gore’s fat.
So this proves nothing.
WereBear
How about the Yosemite Sam flavored "eeejits?"
cleek
they ran the country the way Ken Lay ran Enron.
and i like the way "polarizing" means "angers people who believe Obama is a secret Muslim Marxist Nazi".
it’s like saying the young men of Milwaukee were polarizing because they made Jeffery Dahmer angry.
AL
Interesting comments from Klein. I wonder if the GOP’s hold over the media is starting to wane, which would indicate that their corporate backing is eroding, fast. If the GOP can’t be counted on to be a profitable brand, they will get dropped. Today’s antics are probably going to accelerate that if it’s happening.
As Zifnab said, though, this is not some kind of honest opinion. This is either a signal to the GOP leadership to clamp down on some of the crazies a bit, or it’s a signal that the GOP are not as protected as they once were. If these gyrations fromt he GOP were effective in taking down Obama’s support, Klein would probably be praising the brilliance of the GOP’s insurgent strategy.
passerby
Joe Klein wrote this? Nah, c’mon, some ghost writer is sitting in for him here.
Svensker
@passerby:
Same guy who kidnapped Atajanaraut (sp?).
passerby
"It shows a profound lack of class or grace, but then, that’s no surprise with these guys, is it? They ran the country like thugs, and thugs they remain."
This excerpt is Exhibit 1 as proof that someone hacked into Joke Line’s computer and assuming his identity, wrote this post.
jibeaux
@Napoleon:
I have to say, in this post-4/15 Teabag era, I hope it becomes an Internet Tradition to refer to all things wingnuttery using double entendres, even subtle ones are o.k. We’d be nuts not to!
Tax Analyst
I don’t care if Klein is late to the party. What he wrote here is strictly "Win",
Dennis-SGMM
I heard Wan Williams on NPR this morning state that Obama was polarizing because Republicans disapproved of him. When is that fucking tool (Along with Cokie Roberts) going to be banished from NPR? Both of them cultivate an air of neutrality while spouting the worst sort of bullshit.
passerby
@Svensker:
Someone kidnapped Atajasshat? When did this happen? Aw man, no body tells me anything.
SGEW
I daresay that Mr. Klein has had an "aha" moment or two during the past election cycle; several of his columns and comments over the past year (if I recall correctly) were remarkably, um, right-on, and seemed to almost kinda apologize for his ridiculous and petulant behavior during the Clinton years. Almost wistful.
I doubt that he will ever fully own up to his past failures, but I get the feeling that he’s trying to make up for it now.
[edit: As to our Alaskan spoof troll runner, Atanajurat, I have no idea what has prompted the recent rational behavior. A double-backed spoof with a twist? It is far too meta for me.]
Snowwy
We knew back in 2006 that Klein was a political windsock. What we didn’t know was how bad he was at it. Generally, windsocks change to the prevailing current BEFORE the winds register on the Beaufort scale.
cleek
Klein’s passionate and feisty, and a pretty good writer, too. he just ends up using his talents on the wrong sides of arguments now and then.
Zifnab
@cleek: If by "passionate" and "feisty" you mean "ill-informed" and "proud of it", then yes. He’s very good at reading the writing on the wall back to us. Beyond that, complete waste of space.
Yossarian
And he’s one of the few "big-time" journalists out there who actually cares deeply about public policy, and makes it the focus of his reporting. He gets points from me for that, as annoying as he has occasionally been at times.
someguy
@ Zifnab
That’s a pretty funny way of calling him principled, and some wouldn’t want to call that kind of very predictable boot licking a "principle," but among journalist it’s what passes for principles, and I’m in good cheer after watching the impotent Greedbag protests this afternoon and in a mood to be charitable.
Garrigus Carraig
I’m still unwilling to reconcile myself to public mediocrity & stupidity. I’m not gonna jump up & down when the blind squirrel finds a goddamned nut. I still want to live in a world where tools like Klein & Dowd & Friedman & Kristol lose their sweet gigs or never get them in the first place, where maybe Fred Hiatt gets lost on a golf course somewhere & never finds his way back.
But I’m sure it won’t take too many more years for me to give up on such lofty ideas.
SLKRR
@Svensker:
I think he just mixed up his spoofing account with his regular commenting account. Happens to the best of us sometimes.
Joey Maloney
@jibeaux:
Would it be irresponsible to use a speculum? It would be irresponsible not to!
kwAwk
I think it goes beyond that to something a little darker. If Obama ever does decide to go after the Bushies to prosecute them for the crimes they committed, the only real option these guys have is to convince enough people that the prosecutions are political payback.
If these guys can pre-emptively draw the Obama administration into a political pissing contest it will only help their cause in making this defense if this ever comes to pass.
Ofcourse alot of these polices were considered to be state secrets, so there could already be investigations happening that we don’t know about, which may explain why the cock roaches are so visible this early in Obama’s administration.
jrg
Obama is clearly the most polarizing figure in politics today. That’s why the Latte drinking America haters on the coasts like him so much… Because they hate our troops and want to be ruled by a stealth Islamic caliphate.
If it were not for Obama (the liberal messiah),
semi-literate redneck secessionists"Real Americans" and ACLU lawyers would be dancing across the country, hand-in-hand, protesting unchristian religious freedoms and imposing God’s will on the gays.Corner Stone
@Yossarian
This is the same deeply caring Joe Klein who let Pete Hoekstra lead him round by the nose. Never, ever forget that.
I award him no points, and may the FSM have mercy on his soul.
Cat Lady
I think Joe Klein’s come to Jeebus moment was when he pissed off the Commentary crowd. He was subjected to a level of vitriol that he never got from the DFH’s when he was wanking away about FISA and Pete Hoekstra. Ever since then, he seems to have picked a side.
NonyNony
@Zifnab:
I don’t know. Klein has been shifting a bit ever since he started blogging – I think it’s keeping him on his toes having an instant chorus of fact-checkers and naysayers right there in his comment section and it’s been rousing him from his Village of the Damned mindset a bit. The Villagers really are in a big echo chamber, and I think it jars some of them when they find out that what they thought was a consensus is actually a fringe belief that’s been blown out of proportion. (Only some of them – some of them know they’re espousing fringe beliefs and just don’t care, knowing that if they lie about it they can convince the lemmings in the Village to go along with it. THOSE are the folks who get my ire full force with no chance of redemption.)
I’m watching to see if it keeps up – I’m of the opinion that people can be taught and that minds can be changed for real. So if what’s been going on with Klein is real growth, I can accept that. Even if I’ll never be able to completely trust him after his contributions to the inanity of our discourse.
PaminBB
kwAwk is right. They are trying a preemptive strike in an effort to cover their asses.
TruthBtold
@Trinity: Ha! good one.
Mary
Cat Lady is right. Joe Klein is really to be commended for his groundbreaking work in breaking the neocon omerta. He figuratively set himself on fire to do this and he paved the way for the fabulous Roger Cohen of the New York Times, etc. These guys are doing important work.
Hyperion
@Robin G.:
EXACTLY.
Klein is the epitome of a fair weather friend.
he was too chicken to talk about "Bush flunkies" during the bush administration.
the guy is a jerk.
he’s just our jerk now.
i find no joy in that.
Rick Taylor
How’s this for unintentional irony, the article quoting one of the protesters:
Uhhhhhh. . .
bago
As I’ve said before, The teabaggers who got rained out today need to have a fair-weather march, called the American Taxpayers March.
Then we can go from TeaBagging to ATM in one smooth motion.
Cain
Melva Fried? I suppose she’s related to the Toasts? Maybe Melba Toast is her cousin? Lameness.
cain
Comrade Baron Elmo
I like Klein’s sassy new direction, but he is and will always remain a sad sack of a writer… for example, what in the name of Holy Jebus is up with this sentence? It reads like the incoherent spewings of a left-wing Sarah Palin:
Shockingly poor work, Mr. Klein. See me after class.
W. Kiernan
Waitadamnsecond, it wasn’t "polarizing" for that worthless moron Bush to run his approval rating percentage down into the twenties, it was unifying. All America came together, our hearts fulla patriotism, and with one voice we said "Suck it you asshole!" O it was such a glorious time.
SFAW
"Thugs" makes them sound tough.
Not if you know its etymology and some history.