People in the comments are going pretty gaga over it, so here’s the video:
Let me know if this screws up the site the way the Daily Show videos do and I’ll try another format (the two choices were MSNBC and Politico, and the Politico ones seem to cause fewer problems from what I’ve seen).
Laura W
Current Black Presidents for $200 Alex!
Sorry. Just finally watching SNL. Jeopardy is hysterical, as always!
“Is that what the mustache is for, Alex?”
Omigod. This is the funniest Jeopardy yet, with Hanks in a dry cleaning bag, yet.
Sorry DougJ. Just hard to watch alone, it’s so damn funny.
asiangrrlMN
I just finished watching the speech. It was pretty damn impressive, but damn it, Prez Obama, you took my blog topic for the day! How the hell am I going to top Obama’s words on religion and civility?
Man, that was teh awesome.
Plus, full bonus points to Obama for talking about the abortion issue. WTG, Mr. President.
bago
Learn html, dammit!
Figure out how to host in the DOM.
Cat Lady
Open hearts and open minds. Works for me.
Wingnuts will have to go full clenched butt to mine outrage diamonds in this speech.
The Saff
Even with the state of the world being as horrible as it is, the President continues to inspire me and give me hope that we will get through these dark days and we will be better for it. I love this man (and my husband is OK with it!).
Beth in VA
We are all fishermen. Cool.
Ash Can
I knew he’d take the abortion issue head-on. He never backs down from a fight, and usually leaves the other side looking like a bunch of saps in the process.
No matter what happens over the next few years, and no matter what Obama does (and doesn’t do) to make us pull our hair out, the fact remains that we went from a Webster’s-definition feckless president to one who has intestinal fortitude to spare. And that is nothing but good.
asiangrrlMN
@Cat Lady: He said it’s a woman’s choice. It’s not a choice. It’s about life.
He brought up Brown v Board of Education, but wouldn’t touch Roe v Wade.
He didn’t acknowledge that he is half-white.
He didn’t call it the greatest school evah.
I’m trying to channel my inner wingnut, but it’s not easy.
Oh, and I think we should add open sphincters to the list of what needs to be opened.
dmsilev
@Cat Lady:
One of the “benefits” of the upcoming Wingularity is that outrage can be manufactured out of nothing. Even as we speak, there’s probably some wingnut writing a set of furious blog posts about the color of the stripes on Obama’s robe (“He was *too ashamed of his country* to have American Red White and Blue stripes on his robe”).
-dms
robertdsc
+1
dmsilev
@asiangrrlMN:
If nothing else, he mentioned “empathy” and “community organizing” in the same sentence. That’s got to be good to generate blog posts totaling at least 10 milliMalkins (the standard unit of frothing rage).
-dms
JenJen
@Laura W: Wait until you get to the performance of Billy Joel’s “Goodnight Saigon” at the end. I never thought that song could ever be funny, but boy, was I wrong! When it was over, I was still doubled over in laughter and couldn’t stop thinking, “I so wish I were a fly on the wall during that writers’ meeting, because that shit was brilliant!”
Notre Dame speech… As we were saying in the other thread, I still do not believe that this country elected that man as President. He’s just too smart, he’s just too leader-y, and he even challenges me to think about stuff differently, and I’m one of those people who always thinks I’m right. So, I don’t think it really happened, and I believe we are living in a simulation. The Russert Rainbow remains my only proof, but c’mon, people. No way did we elect Barack Obama. Stop pulling my leg.
Bret
I just love how he’s flanked by old, rich white men. I wish they could catch a break in this country.
dbrown
@asiangrrlMN: If it wasn’t a choice the Bible would say so but it is silent on the subject.
asiangrrlMN
@dmsilev: Ok, your inner wingnut is much wittier and smarter than mine. Not fair.
dbrown, yeah, well, um, shut up! Yeah,that’s it.
themann1086
Checked out my ND wingnut ex-roommate’s Twitter about the speeches, and there were 2 complaints: that it was a “policy speech” [really? REALLY??] and he took umbrage with Obama’s chiding of people who claim “definitive knowledge”. Verbatim: “This blogger does claim ‘definitive knowledge’.”
Hilarious.
Laura W
@JenJen: Thanks for the encouragement to press on! I paused it all to disabuse DougJ of the notion that I spin, weave, quilt, make my own candles and soap, and have bad teeth.
BTW, I tried my first whitening strips on the bottom today, and what is this bullshit about “Minty Vanilla Flavor”? And if you’re supposed to let them dissolve in your mouth, what are you supposed to do with all the spit that accumulates in your mouth from the disgusting taste and sensation?
See? THESE are issues an Appalachian Girl would never have to grapple with.
Cat Lady
@asiangrrlMN:
Open hearts, open minds, and open sphincters.
Closeted Republicans heads exlode, and the wingularity would be triggered.
Laura W
@Bret:
Obama is just very, very lucky to be black.
asiangrrlMN
@Cat Lady: Yeah. I wonder what else would trigger wingularity? Hmmmmm……
Nellcote
I laughed, I cried…YAY! the return of the MUP!
Bonus, he went to ND and mentioned non-believers. Now even more than the abortion thing, that was an admirable move.
asiangrrlMN
BTW, since the Open Thread is pretty dead, I’m gonna post something OT here.
Hey, Pratchett fans! I just finished Mort, which was a light, enjoyable read. However, I am not sure I want to read another. Which would you say is the darkest of Pratchett’s books?
@Nellcote: Yup. I caught that, too. I liked the way he slipped it right in. I also liked how he talked about using reason as much as one can when talking to us heathens.
Comrade Mary, Would-Be Minion Of Bad Horse
Hogfather, Small Gods, Lords and Ladies or Thud.
Tom
Any mention of the humanist tradition without bringing up their satan worship is just one more example of our new socialistic fascist government.
Dan
Can’t speak without a teleprompter. Heh. What a loser president.
Snark
Helpfulman
re:pratchet
What Comrade Mary said, also Feet of Clay, not super dark but comparatively deep.
Nellcote
Those teleprompters are bulletproof and Secret Service endorsed. Haven’t y’all ever heard of deflector shields?
dbrown
@asiangrrlMN: Sorry for using the Bible against a wingnut statement (always wanted to, since the Bible really supports liberals on most religious topics especially the new testament) … I’ll try to remain “shut up” for the remaining thread.
Cain
The world is jealous right now.. man, we are so lucky to show the world what a REAL leader is. I’m one proud American today.
cain
dmsilev
@asiangrrlMN:
Darkest? I’d go with _Night Watch_ for that. It may be a little bit hard to get into if you’re not familiar with the setting (the city of Ankh-Morpork) and the characters (Samuel Vimes and the other members of the A-M City Watch). I’d recommend reading through _Men at Arms_ or _Feet of Clay_ or one of the other early Watch books first.
-dms
Delia
Obama’s pretty much forcing them all straight into the Wingularity, isn’t he? No options left; they have to either back completely out and choose sweet reason or close their eyes and jump in.
AkaDad
Uniting the country is exactly what the anti-Christ would do.
Just sayin’
Martin
Riddle me this.
Why does the daughter of the VP claim to know enough about these top secret, national security matters that she can go out and argue in favor of them? She’s just a regular citizen, so why don’t we know what she knows, or who gave her clearance to know what she knows?
asiangrrlMN
@dbrown: You know I was just channeling my inner wingnut, right?
Yeah, as I have said before, I’m not so sure how well Jesus would be embraced by his most, um, ardent followers if he returned today.
Thanks, Pratchett fans for the suggestions. I’ll let you know what I decide.
Punchy
I simply cannot imagine these college seniors, who (obviously) gets to do this graduation thing only once, having blown at least $100K for four years (and endured shitty ass football teams with a fat asshole coach), had to brace themselves for such envangelly assfuckery that they HAD to know was coming.
Going to graduation, knowing there will be a disruption, but not knowing how, when, or what, would have sent me into a rage I cannot describe. I hope they beat the living shit out of the fuckers who opened their pie hole at Obama.
kay
@Martin:
She was a deputy in the state department, for near east affairs.
Her husband was lead counsel for homeland security.
The Bush White House basically did a Cheney family-room wide search for talent. That’s why it ran like a top.
dmsilev
@Martin:
She was a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State (see her Wikipedia bio), which presumably required a security clearance.
That of course simply pushes the question back a level, to “how did she get appointed to such a position?”. I can only assume that her real job was to be her father’s agent in hostile territory (i.e. the State Department).
-dms
Nellcote
#30 Martin
Not sure if this answers your Q. but Cheney placed Liz at the State Department as an deputy undersecratary mole towards the end.
KG
@30: she was a Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs in the Bush Administration and also the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs. Both of those positions likely come with security clearances.
kay
@Nellcote:
Not for long. The Democrats cut the funding for her mysterious Iran-related duties immediately after the 2006 elections. I figure they avoided an Iran attack with that single budget cut.
Her otherwise unemployable husband remained on the payroll, however.
Laura W
@AkaDad:
I’m surprised we are not hearing/reading/mocking more of this, frankly.
Of course, it’s still a bit early. But then again, maybe it’s Already Too Late!!
JenJen
@Laura W:
Indeed. Just like the Hurricane Katrina victims who ended up in Houston, this is all working out rather well for him!
asiangrrlMN
@Punchy: Well, they were pretty prepared for the dissenters and did their rhythmic clapping thing to drown out the hecklers. Obama himself did a good job remaining calm and in control.
I have to say, if W. gave a speech at my graduation, I am not sure I would have been able to sit through it quietly, either.
BC
Saw the speech live. One thing that Obama really relishes is having good arguments raised against his thinking. It drives us libs crazy, because it’s like he would rather listen to the rightist arguments rather than the leftist argument. But I think he can make our arguments better than we, he knows those well, and he listens to contrary arguments to make sure his liberal leanings are reality based. On abortion – I think this is the late 20th and early 21st century prohibition. In 20-30 years, this will be such a nonissue, sort of like temperance is nowadays. There will still be some religious opposition – there is to liquor now – but no serious challenge to make it illegal. That ship sailed with the Bush administration – I just don’t think there will be a time in history when the anti-abortion group will have as much political power as they did with GW Bush. Catholics will come to some sort of accommodation with it, simply because there is a lot of support for it within that community. I just don’t believe the highly touted Gallup poll showing pro-life support to be that much of a threat to abortion rights.
lamh31
I thought the speech was one of this best. And the way he and the graduates handled the heckler was very reasonable and direct.
I’ve read elsewhere that the some culture conservatives wanted to use this speech as a “jump off” to start another “culture war” around the divisive issue of abortion. But I think they may have over-estimated the public current sentiments about the pro-life/pro-choice movements. As the President said, no one is pro-abortion, some of us just want to make sure that the right to have an abortion is in the hands of the woman &/or her partner, not the gov’t, or their priest, or their neighbors, or anyone else.
Anyway, I think this was another case where the media were looking for a more sensational story, and the culture warriors were looking for more exposure. Funny enough, neither got what they wanted this time.
John O
I am not a religious person, though I fully consider that I may be infected with Teh Stoopid because of it. There are more things we don’t know than things we do.
And I know love from not love. Understanding from not understanding. Compassion and empathy from not compassion and empathy.
I love this guy. He’s pissed me off any number of times, but he gets it. A free nation is by definition a shit-storm of trouble to govern. Imagine what it is like having 100 million people hate you no matter what you did, thought, or said.
It is truly unbelievable that I choked up during this speech. A freaking commencement address.
I don’t know squat, but I know the Wingularity (marvelous term, btw) will surely be upon us if Obama ever takes a casual stroll across the Potomac.
He’s a fine and decent and compassionate human being.
I sure hope he doesn’t get a blow job from anyone but Michelle.
TenguPhule
Nightwatch.
Hands down. But you need Guards Guards and Men at Arms first.
You could also try “the Truth” for some Gaiman parody.
West of the Cascades
@Martin: Liz Cheney was actually a fairly-high State Department official dealing with the Middle East (Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary State for Near Eastern Affairs) and headed up the Iran Syria Policy Operations Group at State during the second GWBush administration (2005-2007 or so) … so I would assume that she has some fairly high security clearance and secret information to base her views on.
Of course, notwithstanding that she has top secret knowledge and isn’t “just a regular citizen,” her views are still horsecrap.
demkat620
@BC:
That’s what I like about him, he is fearless on that.
sgwhiteinfla
From Liz Cheney’s wiki page (thanks dmsilev)
The Neo Con doesn’t fall far from the tree. She still shouldn’t be given a platform for propaganda and bigger than that why aren’t any journalists lighting into her ass when she comes with the weaksauce? Nora O’Donnell tried but she is so damn clueless that she couldn’t pull it off. I will say vanden Heuvel kinda went right at her today about the story that her dad was torturing for political cover though but George Snufalupakus didn’t really allow tear Liz a new one.
JenJen
@BC: That’s what I found so compelling about his speech, which I think is the best one he’s given as President yet. He’s challenging me, and he makes me think I’m up for it, you know?
John Cole
Well played wingnuts! The world sees the President receiving a rousing ovation by the students and faculty, then watch him give a respectful speech addressing the issue like an adult, then see another ovation, and then it flashes to a bunch of extremist, fat, white, lunatics get hauled off the grounds screaming murderer. The video further marginalizes these morons.
These idiots have no sense of optics.
lamh31
@PUnchy
I would be kinda disappointed too if my grad ceremony was co-opted by protesters.
But in this case, the subject matter was kinda taken out of the President’s hand. He did what he did during the ASU commencement. He tackled the pseudo-controversy head-on. I like that unlike some other speakers, he did not shy away from the issue, especially since he knew there were protesters.
Besides he knew that not only ND grad & their families would be watching it, but that it would at least be clipped and televised nationally. And this President above all others of late, knows how to use this bully pulpit.
He did tie it all together at the end nicely though.
Andrew Sullivan has a great post on the speech: The Audacity of Humility
John O
And just to revert to form, who the fuck are Catholics to tell me that God isn’t more worried about overpopulation than He/She/It is abortion?
Bad things happen to good people all the time. If there’s a God, He/She/It ain’t no micromanager; no, He/She/It is about the Big Picture, and there is no view of the Big Picture that suggests overpopulation is a lesser threat to His/Her/Its creatures than is abortion.
To paraphrase a great The Onion line: This abortion thing is getting out of hand. Don’t people realize we’re down to our last 6 billion people?
asiangrrlMN
@John O: You captured perfectly what I was thinking/feeling as I listened to Obama’s speech. Ditto the “I hope he only gets it at home” thought. I don’t doubt I will disagree with some things Obama does/doesn’t do, but I am relieved that he puts as much thought into each decision as he does. After eight years of “The Decider”, it’s a breath of fresh air.
@TenguPhule: Wait a minute–I have to read two books to get to the one you REALLY recommend?
As for a Gaiman parody, hm. That might be interesting. Can I read that one as a stand-alone?
TenguPhule
Feet of Clay is actually pretty dark too. It is a murder mystery after all.
“Witches Abroad” and some of the other Witches books also can be considered more “serious”, “Maskquerade” comes to mind.
But again, you need to read the comedic beginnings to really appreciate the darknesss that follows.
AkaDad
@Laura W:
I believe that Obama possibly being the anti-Christ is a winning campaign strategy for 2012.
Call me Sarah!
TenguPhule
Shouldn’t this be filed under “The Failed Obama admin, it only took two weeks”/Open Thread?
lamh31
oops this part of Obama’s speech shoulda been in block quotes
“In this world of competing claims about what is right and what is true, have confidence in the values with which you’ve been raised and educated. Be unafraid to speak your mind when those values are at stake. Hold firm to your faith and allow it to guide you on your journey. Stand as a lighthouse.
But remember too that the ultimate irony of faith is that it necessarily admits doubt. It is the belief in things not seen. It is beyond our capacity as human beings to know with certainty what God has planned for us or what He asks of us, and those of us who believe must trust that His wisdom is greater than our own.
This doubt should not push us away from our faith. But it should humble us. It should temper our passions, and cause us to be wary of self-righteousness. It should compel us to remain open, and curious, and eager to continue the moral and spiritual debate that began for so many of you within the walls of Notre Dame. And within our vast democracy, this doubt should remind us to persuade through reason, through an appeal whenever we can to universal rather than parochial principles, and most of all through an abiding example of good works, charity, kindness, and service that moves hearts and minds.
For if there is one law that we can be most certain of, it is the law that binds people of all faiths and no faith together. It is no coincidence that it exists in Christianity and Judaism; in Islam and Hinduism; in Buddhism and humanism. It is, of course, the Golden Rule – the call to treat one another as we wish to be treated. The call to love. To serve. To do what we can to make a difference in the lives of those with whom we share the same brief moment on this Earth”
Just Some Fuckhead
@AkaDad:
Prolly work too since we’ll be past the three and a half good years of the tribulation and well on our way to Armageddon. The only question is will the other guy be Crist?
TenguPhule
Actually for best results you’d need 4.
Guards Guards, Men at Arms, Feet of Clay and the Fifth Elephant.
Two is the minimum you need to understand just how emotionally twisting Nightwatch is. I consider it one of Prachett’s finest works If it doesn’t bring a tear to your eye by the end, you have Dick Cheney’s heart.
Yes, “The Truth” can be read stand alone, you just may not understand some of the little in-jokes until you read the Watch novels. The main story itself though requires no prior books to get it.
asiangrrlMN
@John O: My previous post was in response to your first post, but your second one is righteous, too.
@TenguPhule: (In my best whiny voice): But, I don’t like comedy! Do I hafta????? Oh, all right. I’ll think of it like my veggies and the darkness like dessert.
JL
The MSM will no longer feel the necessity to discuss the speech. Rather that admit that they hyped a non story, Obama’s great speech will just fade away.
I do think that if King gave his “I Have A Dream” speech today, the MSM would have the whackos on saying they need to get a job rather than spending time dreaming.
Dreamin’s just a sign of laziness says the head of the RNC.
TenguPhule
Think of it as dark comedy. :P
Though if you hit Men at Arms, Feet of Clay and Fifth Elephant, there’s more then enough dark spots in them to balance the comedy.
But trust me, without that information from Guards Guards and Men at Arms, which was presented so funny in the beginning, Nightwatch wouldn’t be nearly as good.
Napoleon
@JL:
I believe at the time of the “I have a dream” speech it was barely reported contemptuously in the MSM.
TenguPhule
Speaking of Discworld, I find myself wondering: Greatest Complete Monster Ever, Teatime or Carcer?
RobRob
Don’t think we have to worry. They actually look like they still have sex on the regular.
sgwhiteinfla
Off topic
When the Swine Flu thing came up I was wondering just how long it would take for somebody to show the movie “Outbreak” with Dustin Hoffman and Cuba Gooding Jr which is another one of those movies like John Cole referred to last night that I always end up watching if it comes on.
And now AMC is airing it. I don’t really think its a coincidence either. I bet they hate they couldn’t get it on sooner.
John O
Thanks, asiangrrlMN.
I’m no wordsmith, but goddamn. He is trying to be the President of us all, and that can’t be all bad.
:-)
Robert Sneddon
I second the recommendation of “Night Watch” as probably the darkest of the Diskworld books. As others have said it really requires an understanding of how the protagonist, Commander Sir Samuel Vimes, Duke of Ankh-Morpork started off as Lance- Constable Sam Vimes of the Ankh-Morkpork Night Watch and that needs you to read at least a few of the earlier Watch books. Guards! Guards! was the first and is a good introduction to the main characters in that “series”.
If you want a standalone dark book, try “Small Gods”. It underscored the banality of torture to me a decade before the current circus of hells got underway in Washington.
As for the Pratchett/Gaiman collaboration, that’s “Good Omens”. Think of it as their Dan Brown novel; I’d love to see it made into a film.
Cain
@Punchy:
Yeah, after all that sweet talking by Obama bout respecting the other side, eh? :) I rather they just listen to the guy and do right in the world. Beating up some poor fool for opening up his fool mouth is probably not the first step in righting the world.
cain
Kirk Spencer
@asiangrrlMN: re Nightwatch, actually you can read it without reading the others and it works fairly well. The darkness is still there, no problems. Tengu is right that you “get” more out of it if you’re read the rest, but the book doesn’t turn into nothing if you haven’t. To put it in context, reading it without reading the others he recommends does not resemble reading Return of the King without reading the rest of the trilogy first.
And no, the Pratchett/Gaiman book is a standalone – no need to read anything else to ‘get’ it.
Martin
Ok, that makes sense that Liz would have some standing here. I agree that her arguments are crap, but even with her background it seems rather desperate to drag your daughter out to fight on your behalf.
gwangung
Personally, I’da gone up to one of them and said, in my sweetest voice, “Thank you very much, for your selfishness. You just ruined what should have been the peak moment in my life with your actions. Thank you again, for showing me EXACTLY what you stand for. I won’t forget”
John O
cain, gwangung,
My thought was pretty close (also in a kind and sweet tone): “Thanks for showing the class and Jesus-like love and understanding our President did to you.”
But I couldn’t do it. I would have laughed derisively as punctuation.
Cain
I would have preferred smoking a joint offer one to the guy and say “I Love you man”. Heh.
cain
asiangrrlMN
@Robert Sneddon: Actually, the Pratchett/Gaiman collaboration is what got me started on my Gaiman obsession. Small Gods, eh?
@TenguPhule: So, I should start with Guards Guards!, like you told John? OK. Will do.
Juuuust bought Guards Guards!. Will keep you updated.
As for finding common ground, it’s difficult, but doable. I think. At least, it’s an admirable goal.
Robert Sneddon
Complete Monsters in Diskworld? The Queen of Faerie is a contender (Lords and Ladies, The Wee Free Men) and still a threat at the end of the stories, just defeated for the nonce. There are also the Auditors (the central threat in Thief of Time but mentioned in other stories).
sgwhiteinfla
Rick Perry’s slip is showing
.
http://www.statesman.com/opinion/content/editorial/stories/insight/05/17/0517perry_edit.html
.
Do these fools still not realize that there is such a thing as “teh google” and YouTube? Who that fuck does he think he is fooling?
Tom
@Laura W: The anti-christ stuff I remember being addressed a couple months ago by the left behind guys, after lots of crazy evangelicals were going to him talking about the end of days. As I recall, they pointed out that obama (as awful and islamosocialifascist as he is) couldn’t be the antichrist, because the antichrist was one of those (dirty) jews.
Surprisingly haven’t heard much talk of it since.
TenguPhule
They’re just villains.
I’m talking complete monsters that even Evil doesn’t want to associate with because it has standards.
TenguPhule
Good Choice.
Now we just need a report from John Cole on his reading progress.
Gaffa
@66:
Is there any doubt?
“Something began when the Guild of Assassins enrolled Mister Teatime, who saw things differently from other people, and one of the ways he saw things differently from other people was in seeing other people as things.”
JL
60 Minutes had Katie Couric’s interview with Sec’y of Defense Gates. There is no comparison between Gates and Rumsfeld except for the title. The GQ article sickened me and please take the time to read it in its entirety.
Jay C
I read through the text of President Obama’s Notre Dame speech, and I was pretty impressed with its eloquence. Especially as Barack supposedly writes all his own material – what a contrast with the last incumbent, who could barely speak
a coherent sentence, much less compose one.
It’s really an impressive gift – it can’t just be an accident – that Obama manages to somehow always come across as the “big” man (and his critics/opponents as small and petty) with him being considered and respectful all the while. And just by being himself.
No wonder he drives the wingers into incoherent frenzies.
asiangrrlMN
@sgwhiteinfla: Oh, good grief. I swear, one of these days, I’m gonna pop a blood vessel from screaming, “I can SEE you threatening secession. Look! Look! It’s called YouTube, and that’s you talking about secession. STFU!”
But it’s par the course for a pol, any pol, to displace blame when trying to walk back the crazy-talk.
NNM
When the protesters broke in, the crowd started cheering. Can anyone tell what they were saying? I couldn’t make it out.
sgwhiteinfla
MoDo plagarized Josh Marshall
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/thejoshuablog/2009/05/ny-times-maureen-dowd-plagiari.php
Now MoDo has tried to clean it up.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/17/opinion/17dowd.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
But if it was just a mistake of attribution why were there words changed in the earlier version?
tavella
Ignore all the people who tell you you have to read a bunch of books before you read “the dark ones”.
Read Small Gods. There’s a fury at the heart of it that Pratchett only rarely equals. And it’s stand alone. I think it’s the finest of his Discworld books (though Hogfather may come close.)
asiangrrlMN
@Kirk Spencer: I was talking about The Truth. I’ve read the Good Omens already and then became obsessed with Neil Gaiman. (I missed your comment earlier). Oh, and I bought Guards Guards!, so I’ll start with that.
tavella, argh! Now my mind is a’sploded!
I don’t have a problem with people protesting outside the speech or skipping it all-together. I would have done the same if W. spoke at my graduation. However, if I chose to attend said graduation, I would not have interrupted his speech.
Nellcote
The crowd said STFU and they weren’t cheering.
Bad Horse's Filly
I’ve been out of touch for a few weeks, but I come here to get the Cliff Notes’ version of political events.
The GOP meltdown continues I see. Makes me wonder if they sold their soul to Satan on 2000 & 2004 and now he’s calling in his marker.
And as for President Obama – what is it about this man, he can totally arouse me and bring me to tears with a single speech. He’s ruined me for all other men. I guess it’s true what they say, “Once you Barack, you never go back.”
asiangrrlMN
@Bad Horse’s Filly: Ha! You win. Sigh. He is a lyrical master, that’s for sure. I’ve got it so bad, my mom said, “Maybe you can find your own Barack.”
KG
@ 79: my favorite line in that (so far): Thomas Jefferson, an architect of our Constitution.
Um, no. Jefferson was safely tucked away in Paris as ambassador to France while the adults (Madison, Washington, Franklin, Hamilton, and Jay) were writing the constitution. In fact, Jefferson was opposed to the constitution. And quite hostile to the idea of judicial review.
geg6
Ha! I see I’m not the only one coming here to gloat about MoDo getting caught red handed in plagiarism. And her explanation is worse than the lamest of excuses my students give me. OMG, the Pulitzer Prize winning MoDo, copying and pasting off the Intertoobz. What will the Village think?
JL
@NNM: Some news outlets are saying the graduates were chanting “We are ND”,
while others are saying they said “Yes we can” The students were prepared. Americablog has a clip of the protest. Fox News was able to get a closeup of the protesters but their sound track sounds odd to me. It’s as though they had their mikes and cameras set up in the right place.
Bad Horse's Filly
@JL: When I watched it here, I heard “We are ND”, too.
Cain
@JL:
I think they did say :”We are ND”, but I beileve there was one part of the speech towards the end where I heard a faint “Yes we can” by a small portion of the crowd.
It’s good to see our young awake with eyes wide open. Although I feel kinda left out with Obama talking about their generation doin all the work. I ain’t old yet ya know! :) I’m only in my post 30s for a week and he’s already written me off! :D
cain
DougJ
Interesting story, huh?
geg6
DougJ: And they wonder why newspapers are dying. A Villager of her prominence, plagiarizing? A DFH blogger? Say it ain’t so, MoDo! /hysterical laughter.
Montysano
@Jay C:
Because the only possible defense is to be big yourself, and they don’t haz it…. yet. Who knows how 4-8 years of civility might change the country.
Lovely speech, esp. at the end where he tied the Civil Rights Commission into Notre Dame.
Bad Horse's Filly
@asiangrrlMN: He does give one hope! And btw, that was supposed to be:
Once you go Barack, you never go back! (I couldn’t get into the edit feature).
Sasha
@Ash Can:
Obama is one who believes in never wasting a teachable moment (see ASU speech on embracing “have not accomplished enough” and making it call to the graduates to acheive).
steve s
“These idiots have no sense of optics.”
Well, most people don’t have a sense of ‘optics’, since they weren’t physics majors in college. I think you meant they don’t have a sense of appearances, or how things look.
from answers.com:
Optics: The branch of physics that deals with light and vision, chiefly the generation, propagation, and detection of electromagnetic radiation having wavelengths greater than x-rays and shorter than microwaves.
Appearence:
# The act or an instance of coming into sight.
# The act or an instance of coming into public view: The author made a rare personal appearance.
# Outward aspect: an untidy appearance.
# Something that appears; a phenomenon.
# A superficial aspect; a semblance: keeping up an appearance of wealth.
Sasha
@JenJen:
Of course we didn’t elect him, he descended down from Heaven to lead us.
:)
Careful with comments like that though: Some wingnut will just use it as evidence/a confession that Barack Hussein Obama somehow stole the election.
MikeJ
JMM obviously needs an antitrust exemption so he can stop giving away his content for free to the denizens of Sulzberger High.
Litlebritdifrnt
Best line of the speech was a direct kick in the junk to the repub party “lets provide help and support to those women who choose to carry their children to term”. Because as I have said before the republicans care about fetuses until the second they are expelled from the womb, from that moment on they could not give a shit if they are fed, clothed, housed, educated or employed, fuck em.
MikeJ
Color me surprised that you seem to be unaware that words often take on meanings other than their primary literal meanings. “Optics” meaning political appearances dates back to at least 1998’s “Seeing Like a State”.
I don’t mean to start a witch hunt, but you’re nit picking.
Derek
Dark Pratchett books? Lords and Ladies
Jennifer
This is why I smile every time I remember that Obama is our president now.
Sure, he’s already done things I really don’t like, and he’ll do a lot more of them. But the one thing I know about him is that he really is well-intentioned. Say what you will about the road to hell being paved with good intentions, but after having lived through the past 8 years under people whose intentions were anything but good and seeing where that road took us, it’s a helluva good place to start.
Betsy
@gwangung:
The trouble is, they’d just tell you that in fact YOU were the selfish one, for not caring about the precious embryos and fetuses.
HyperIon
@steve s:
and what do they say at spelling.com?
redbeardjim
@tavella: Read Small Gods. There’s a fury at the heart of it that Pratchett only rarely equals. And it’s stand alone. I think it’s the finest of his Discworld books (though Hogfather may come close.)
I have to agree with this. A representative quote:
And TenguPhule, I’d add Deacon Vorbis to the “serious monster” list.
Xecklothxayyquou Gilchrist
@TenguPhule: Greatest Complete Monster Ever, Teatime or Carcer?
I’m late to this party, but I can’t resist a Discworld question – of the two, I think Carcer is slightly scarier. Teatime doesn’t kill purely for giggles, just waaaay too easily. Plus Carcer has that total Donald Rumsfeld “I didn’t do what you just saw me do two seconds ago” kind of vibe.
Little Dreamer
Five minutes into this video, my impression is Obama is a humble man who seems to have gotten over the “I’m president” big head about two minutes after he was bestowed with the position. Comparing that to our most recent previous president, I don’t think Bush ever got over it.
HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker
@Little Dreamer:
I watched the thing live, stunned the whole time at how good it was, and how lucky we are.
I still can’t get over it.
I knew he was good last year, but I didn’t know he would be this good.
TenguPhule
Truth.
Although he wasn’t as hands on as the other two, his gift was to twist other people to be just like him.
Little Dreamer
@HitlerWorshippingPuppyKicker:
Yes, we are lucky.
Max
I was just catching up over at Sully’s Place and I swear he needs a script for Xanex. For the last couple of weeks, he has opined about how disappointed he is in Obama during the week and then come week’s end, he has obviously taken a deep breathe and looked at the bigger picture / long game. I do appreciate that he always acknowledges the hysterics in his walk backs.
I think all of us have PTSD from Bush / Cheney and its really taking time for us to adjust to the new paradox. Our President isn’t fu$king evil and is smarter than all of us.
It’s only been 4 months. Wow! It’s only been 4 months.
Comrade Jake
“What really prompted him to talk about abortion at a college commencement, though? It seems grossly out of place for the event.”
From the informed commentariat over at TalkLeft. I kid you not.
Little Dreamer
@Max:
I know I do. That was the thought that I had racing through my mind as a watched that speech, how awful it was for eight years and how different this is in comparison.
Max
@Comrade Jake:
Talk Left really schieves me out. The only thing that will make them happy is if Obama unlocks all the prisons and lets the inmates loose. I can’t decide if they are disgruntled Hillary or Kuchinich people. I didn’t see the site until after the primary.
If you want to see wingnuts of the left, have you checked out Open Left? Holy shit.
drillfork
Um, Obama’s spent his entire administration helping banksters to billions and covering up for Cheney’s atrocities.
Deeds, not words…
Comrade Jake
@drillfork:
I suppose releasing the memos was all part of the coverup?
MikeJ
Damn that Cheney atrocity S-CHIP! Damn those banksters and their Ledbetter bill!
El Cid
I read Open Left all the time. I don’t read a lot of the quick hits on the side, so maybe I’ve missed a lot, but the main articles are usually quite serious. Of course, they are actually view themselves as being on the left, as I do (given our historical context), and it will be more left than many liberals currently are.
Paul Rosenburg, for one example, is a serious writer and serious analyst. And though sometimes David Sirota gets a bit intemperate, I’m really glad that somebody out there simply refuses to forget to bring up basic commentary and points about supposedly settled or forgotten issues as our ‘trade’ policies (mainly investor protection agreements) or industrial policies (mostly to favor exporting it as much as possible).
Opinions will vary, but if you’re thinking that Open Left would be the left analog of the batshit crazy wingnuts of the right, no. There are still hard-line Maoists out there, for example. To be as crazy on the left as you find crazy on the right, you won’t likely be looking to such widely read sites as Open Left.
tc125231
@Ash Can:
Max
@El Cid: Different strokes, etc.
robertdsc
Gotta disagree. He’s one of the worst writers I’ve ever seen. His anti-Obama diatribes are nutty to the nth degree.
El Cid
@robertdsc: We’ll agree to disagree. Paul Rosenberg is actually quite a good writer, and is very careful for a blogger in putting his arguments together. But I do admit to being an insane fringe lefty who remained so even during periods when everyone else in mainstream liberalism was telling me I was wrong.
People have different views though — countless times people forward me some trivial dreck from one or another major, widely admired thinker and I make sure and try and be respectful of their own admiration if I can.
Steeplejack
@steve s:
Dude, you can dial back the pedantry from 11, okay?
We all get the technical definition of optics, but, whether you personally approve or not, the word has taken on a metaphorical meaning in the blogosphere and political discourse in general. Try Googling “politics optics” and check out one of the 2 million or so links.
themann1086
Re: Open Left
I’ve long liked Bowers and Stoller, and followed them there from myDD, and the main articles are usually pretty good, even when I disagree with them. A good portion (or at least a vocal portion) of the commenters and quick hits posters? Definitely the “wingnuts of the left”.
Shawn in ShowMe
I love how OpenLeft front pagers faithfully apply the 1,000 word rule. Every weekday, you are guaranteed to read 1,000 words criticizing the Obama administration even if they have to write three variations of the same criticism or copy and paste a Glenn Greenwald paragraph to accomplish that goal.
Comrade Baron Elmo
Since wingnut sphincters tend to be as pinned as a meth-head’s eyeballs, they can compress virtually anything into hard, compact chunks of outrage. Funny, though — the end result sure doesn’t smell like diamonds.
Ole Perfesser Glenn Reynolds drops his britches to demonstrate:
Barack Obama owes his presidency in no small part to the power of rhetoric. It’s too bad he doesn’t appreciate the damage that loose talk can do to America’s tax system, even as exploding federal deficits make revenues more important than ever.
At his Arizona State University commencement speech last Wednesday, Mr. Obama noted that ASU had refused to grant him an honorary degree, citing his lack of experience, and the controversy this had caused. He then demonstrated ASU’s point by remarking, “I really thought this was much ado about nothing, but I do think we all learned an important lesson. I learned never again to pick another team over the Sun Devils in my NCAA brackets. . . . President [Michael] Crowe and the Board of Regents will soon learn all about being audited by the IRS.”
Just a joke about the power of the presidency. Made by Jay Leno it might have been funny. But as told by Mr. Obama, the actual president of the United States, it’s hard to see the humor. Surely he’s aware that other presidents, most notably Richard Nixon, have abused the power of the Internal Revenue Service to harass their political opponents. But that abuse generated a powerful backlash and with good reason. Should the IRS come to be seen as just a bunch of enforcers for whoever is in political power, the result would be an enormous loss of legitimacy for the tax system.
Thank you, Mr. Ole Perfesser. Please pick up your dirt before you go…
Nick
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124260113149028331.html
For those wondering what wingnuts would hate: Obama making jokes about the IRS. Rule of law etc.
Phoenician in a time of Romans
Hey, Pratchett fans! I just finished Mort, which was a light, enjoyable read. However, I am not sure I want to read another. Which would you say is the darkest of Pratchett’s books?
“Nation”, although it is not in the Discworld sequence.
Little Dreamer
@Comrade Baron Elmo:
You gotta be fucking joking.
Holy shit, you’re not!
Phoenician in a time of Romans
BTW, asiangrrlMN, if you like Pratchett, give this book a go. More meaty, funnier in places, and it explains clearly why ninjas don’t like Tupperwear.
Ash Can
@tc125231: Many thanks.
TR
His entire administration? It’s over already?
Go re-read about how FDR approached the New Deal. His early moves — especially in helping “banksters” — were pretty conservative too.
IM
Regarding Pratchett: My favorite book is still small gods dan it is wuite dark. Vorbis is one of the greatest Pratchett villains. Hog-Father is quite serious too. Nation, while non discsworld is quite dark too.
Not mentioned yet was Jingo!. If Small Gods is Pratchetts work on religion, Jingo is his book on war. It features Klatch on the brink of war with Ankh-Morpork. You should know that Klatch is a stand in the novels for the middle east. War is of course avoided in the usual light fashion, but some passages are pretty harrowing none the less.
Ryan
I blogged on a few similarities between Obama’s Notre Dame commencement speech and the one done back in 1984 by Mario Cuomo. Both men ask for a civil dialogue on abortion and present alternatives to vehement protesting. It is best to read both speeches in their entirety.
Click here to read the blog post.
sparky
@El Cid: I concur. Open Left is from time to time “shrill” but that doesn’t mean that they are wrong.
let’s see what happened recently (this past week):
–Obama reverses keeps torture photos secret
–Obama appoints the lawyer for GE(!) to be EPA enforcement head.
–Obama signals that he wants military tribunals again
–Obama gives a good speech
–Obama comes out for a credit card bill of rights but does not support capping credit card interest rates and bill capping them is defeated.
now, i’m sorry, but i think it’s about time people started looking at deeds rather than words.
sparky
@TR: true, he forgot to write “so far” as a qualifier. but that doesn’t mean he’s wrong.
and to suggest that Morgenthau is somehow like the current crop of looters is far-fetched.
For FSM’s sake, people, the NYT Is giving Obama a harder time than what you see here. wake up from your sweet sleep of rhetoric!
Shawn in ShowMe
Surely Obama is covering up for past administration crimes. Has the poutrage lobby finished reading the 250,000 torture documents yet?
Cynthia Giles supervised a environmental practice from 1978-1985, enforced environmental laws from 1985-1990 as an assistant U.S. attorney in Philly, worked for EPA from 1991-1997, was chairperson of the Sierra Club’s Rhode Island chapter from 1998-1999, taught environmental law for a year and worked for the Department of Environmental Protection in Massachusetts until 2005, followed by a stint at the Conservation Law Foundation until she was nominated.
She’s no more “the lawyer for GE” than Obama is a “secret Muslim who pals around with terrorists”.
with legal protections to select their lawyers, block the use of evidence obtained through coercion and limit the use of hearsay evidence.
that further marginalizes the anti-abortion hardliners.
Which is still the most progressive thing that any President has ever done with respect to the credit card industry. But you wouldn’t know that from reading Open Left.
And of course we’ll conveniently ignore Obama killing the nuclear weapons program
DaddyJ
@asiangrrlMN: Re: Pratchett and darkness, I think Moving Pictures nicely demolishes the pop culture bromide “Just follow your dream” by asking, “And what if your dream is a nightmare?”
Lesley
Oh the wingnuts…
http://www.stopobamanotredame.com/
Hob
@Steeplejack: I’m with Steve, kind of. I don’t care whether “optics” is technically incorrect; it bugs me because it’s not a useful coinage, it’s just trendy insider-speak. “Optics” in this context doesn’t convey anything that “appearances” doesn’t already convey. People are writing it on blogs because they’ve been reading it on blogs.
Paula
I think my main problem w/ Open Left (the one caveat being that I tended to read during the election) is that that they continually project the attitude of being advocates to their causes, without, you know, actually advocating among anyone other than 1) the people who already agree with them i.e. their readers and 2) arguing with other progressive blogger elites who happen to disagree on strategy if not the overall goal.
As for Paul R.’s analysis, most of that needs to be subject to peer review if he wants to be serious about it. I, for one, was pretty skeptical of his heavy reliance on polling data. But then again, I’m no history expert, so …
Catsy
Sweet bouncing cherry-flavored gummi christs.
Let it be true.
Also, there’s something to be said for the inverse relationship between the level of involvement Alan Keyes has with anything, and the ability to take that thing seriously.
wrb
I missed the Pratchett discussion. I concur with the recommendations for dark works.
I also love anything with Death, Susan, Granny or Vimes in it.
The weakest books all feature Rincewind imo. He was just a simple parody of fantasy heros, and you can’t do much with a character whose defining feature is a complete lack of courage.
Granny on the other hand…
The following is a kick, and not a bad way to get a taste of Pratchett. Great quotes, arranged by book.
http://www.lspace.org/books/pqf/index.html
Rob
dbrown. Did you just suggest the Bible is SILENT on abortion? Have you ever opened a Bible? This statement is so far from reality I’m almost embarrassed to respond, but the optimist in me hopes someone will see Truth in this issue.
Nalano
@Betsy:
Reminds me of a George Carlin skit:
“Boy, these conservatives are really something, aren’t they? They’re all in favor of the unborn. They will do anything for the unborn. But once you’re born, you’re on your own. Pro-life conservatives are obsessed with the fetus from conception to nine months. After that, they don’t want to know about you. They don’t want to hear from you. No nothing. No neonatal care, no day care, no head start, no school lunch, no food stamps, no welfare, no nothing. If you’re preborn, you’re fine; if you’re preschool, you’re fucked.”
wrb
I’ve just been reading the Catholic commentators at NRO, and they are turning me anti immigrant, if the immigrants are Catholic.
They seem all aiming for the triumph of Catholicism over us all, and for the end of life in favor of a more rapid short-term metastasizing of human life.
My ancestors came here in 16th & 17th centuries to get away from their hot tongs. Dunno, reading this crap I wonder if maybe we’ve become too liberal or forgetful.
Comrade Darkness
@Rob, In my readings I’ve never found anything particularly clear cut. But there certainly are no shortage of good reasons to kill people in the Bible.