If you didn’t know that Obama winning the Nobel prize was good news for Republicans, you haven’t been paying attention. Here’s Marc Ambinder:
At Slate, John Dickerson writes that the Nobel committee shouldn’t have awarded the prize to Obama, and Mickey Kaus urges Obama to turn it down. Kaus’s reasoning is politics: Obama’s narcissism problem — Kaus’s bolds — will be exacerbated.
This tracks with one argument I’m hearing and reading from Democrats and others who are skeptical of the prize: it will turn the volume and enthusiasm level all the way to the extreme end of the dial for conservatives — overmodulating at 110%; the resulting hyperpolarization will hurt Obama’s agenda. (Representative of this opinion: “I think it will feed not just conservative dislike but the growing concern of independents and elites, that he is a man of rhetoric, a work of imagination, but as of now an unaccomplished statesman. The smartest thing he could do is turn it down. It will backfire on him.'”)
His narcissism problem? Jesus fucking Christ, when did that become an official Villager meme?
Update. Yes, I know Kaus and Will have hitting the narcissism thing hard, but I didn’t know that it was an official Villager meme yet. Ambinder using the expression, without air quotes or anything like them, means that it’s now official.
Update. Great reader emails, like this one, are why I’m still a Sully addict, you haters be damned:
If I’m using Politico’s tortured logic, what the Nobel gang really did, basically, is give the prize to Polanski, right?
Darius
Repeat something often enough, and Villagers will believe it.
Sentient Puddle
And if he did turn it down, the meme would be that Obama admits that he isn’t all that great.
You’d think that one day, they’d realize that SOP for the wingnuts is dialing it up to 11, and trying to find a way to move it to 20…
Skippy
If only this were 100 years ago and these assholes were telling Teddy Fucking Roosevelt that he’d better not accept that Nobel Peace Prize because he’s already too much of a narcissist. The butthurt would be literal and extreme.
Joel
Kaus and Dickerson are standard-bearers for punchless contrarians everywhere.
joes527
Bah.
He needs to give an acceptance speech about how this is a recognition of what is best in America, and how the award is a challenge for his administration to work for peace, not a finish line.
This is right down his alley.
Punchy
Didn’t you hear? This is the worst thing that could have ever happen to Obama, and it will hurt him dearly.
Or so I’m told
I’ve seen concern trolling, and this is about as fuck-sticked redunkulous as it gets…
Polish the Guillotines
C’mon, DougJ… You know all celebrities are narcissists.
But seriously, we need a handy snark-tag for wingnut projection, cuz that’s wut it is.
LGRooney
His narcissism? Did he nominate himself for the prize? Did he vote for himself on the Nobel committee? I’m not too sure but does it logically follow that someone voting for a prize for an individual, with whom they are not connected, without any prompting from that individual, necessarily amplify the delusions of those who oppose said individual for any given reason without actual reason?
Is Obama a narcissist? Hell yes!! The very nature that someone thinks they may be smart, strong, capable, & qualified to run the strongest country on the planet shows someone to be a narcissist. Anyone who makes a serious run for the office is a narcissist.
Jesus X!
El Cid
Remember, George W. Bush Jr. was a truly humble, empathetic, aw shucks man who recognized his limitations and strove to work together with others.
Napoleon
Anyone who could say that or believe that is so disconnected from reality that they should not be linked to or read. It literally is as insane as that time Mark Halperin declared McCain the winner of a week in which McCain had been beaten senseless by Obama and events.
huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/18/mark-halperin-somehow-con_n_127512.html
Dreggas
there’s a recommended diary over on the GOS listing 30 reasons Obama deserved the prize. Pretty good list IMO.
Billy K
You know who else turned down a Nobel Peace Prize? Hitler.
I’m just saying…
ppcli
Well, to be fair to them, after eight years of humble public servants like The Decider and Cheney they had gotten accustomed to a hyper-natural level of modesty and other-regard in the executive branch.
SpotWeld
It has to do with those moments when wingers get confused between C-span and “Men in Black”
(ref: “I make this look good”)
Ash
Every goddamn thing Obama does is good news for Republicans. Did you hear he ate a hamburger yesterday? Good news for Republicans. He used a ball point pen instead of a sharpie for something. Good news for Republicans. He irons his shirts without using starch. Good news for Republicans.
My ability to eve respon has become exhausted by the bullshit EVERY FREAKING DAY.
taylormattd
God, what a bunch of douchebags. I mean really. And this is why the focus of the left wing should be on dismantling the republican dominated media, not on continuing to elect or pressure democrats. Ugh.
JGabriel
How long before some fundy winger says the Nobel just confirms that Obama is the anti-Christ and must be stopped?
.
Death Panel Truck
Why does Time hate America?
No, seriously?
Brick Oven Bill
We need to consider that, due to childhood issues, Obama wants to be loved. As such, he will not see this Nobel Peace Prize for what it is, manipulation by an international body, but will instead see it as an affirmation of his self-worth.
He will see this because he wants to see it, in the same manner that he did not acknowledge the Tea Parties because he did not want to acknowledge personal criticism (Denial, Id).
So this prize will indeed feed the ego problem, and harm his agenda.
:)
Sasha
Don’t you remember the pre-election essays tagging him as “arrogant”?
Brandon
Better to have a narcissism problem than Ambinder’s obesity problem. He truly is a fat f*&$.
Walker
We have talked about this on the blog several times. This is the new uppity dog whistle.
PeakVT
If a right-winger repeats
Repeatsomething often enough, and Villagers will believe it.They never, ever believe what the DFHs say.
JGabriel
Sentient Puddle:
Or that Obama thinks he’s too good for the Nobel. Or, in the alternative, the critics will say that Obama is so narcissistic that he thinks the Nobel committee will give him the prize again, after he achieves even greater things.
.
slag
In 2000, when Al Gore was running for President. Anyone who knows anything about anything is an arrogant, uppity narcissist. Not to mention boringly professorial. Where’ve you been?
rock
Turning it down is not option politically, and anyone that acts like it is a real option is being deliberately obtuse on a Kaussian level. Admitting that he “has not accomplished anything” is a republican ad dream come true.
Also, the “narcissism problem” is typical made Villager crap. It comes from the ability for someone to do a word count of “me” and “I” in Microsoft Word on Obama’s speeches. If they had to do it by hand, this wouldn’t be happening because that would be too much work.
I look forward to the Nate Silver column comparing Obama’s self reference count to Reagan’s (guess what, pretty much the same!). And again, anyone pretending Obama references himself an extraordinary number of times is being disingenuous in order to further a story they wish to write. It’s Gore-ing again (serial liar!).
El Cid
Obama is a narcissist, but David Brooks and Thomas Friedman are humble, quiet, pensive thinkers.
Sentient Puddle
@JGabriel: Or maybe he’s turning it down because he realizes that the most deserving recipient for it is Rush Limbaugh!
I admit, I kind of like this game. Or at least until, y’know, it actually comes to pass. Then I’ma go jump off a bridge.
Polish the Guillotines
@rock:
FTW.
Gus
“his narcissism problem”=”that boy is uppity.”
Ash
@El Cid: What does that make Peggy Nooners?
slag
@Brick Oven Bill: If you’re going to continue with this nonsense, at least read his goddamn books so you’ll have at least a modicum of information. You sound like a complete freakin’ moron spouting this crap. Not that that’s ever bothered you before.
rock
What Obama should do to keep the Villagers happy
The only way out is to have a speech in which he essentially accepts the prize for George W. Bush. He can say he believes it is being given to America to recognize Bush’s efforts to combat AIDS in Africa and further democracy around the world. And that he recognizes that he is charged with continuing that work.
The key is to specifically single out Bush by name and laud him for some list of things he did. The Village would gobble that junk up.
LD50
Bullshit, that happened last January.
Will
I know someone already posted this link in the comments of another post, but SWEET JEEBUS this is good! :
dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/9/791245/-Grayson-EXPLODES-on-GOP:-America-doesnt-CARE-about-your-fee…!
me
Yeah, constructive criticism like “he’s too uppity”.
geg6
Fat fuck Marc Ambinder says this is bad for Obama because Dickerson and Kaus say so?
Well, then. Since Ambinder, Dickerson, and Kaus are almost always spectacularly wrong, this must be the best thing that has ever happened.
JenJen
I was probably as surprised as the President upon hearing he’d won the Nobel Peace Prize this morning, but that doesn’t stop me from being absolutely sickened by the juvenile reaction to the news from just about all corners. For the most juvenile reactions, one can never do better than consulting “Morning Joe,” so, I offer, almost verbatim, the wisdom of Chuck Todd from earlier today:
“This could complicate his domestic agenda, and contribute to the perception that he’s big on promises, light on results.”
I almost fell off the couch. The show started with uber-douche Mark Halperin yukking it up with Scarborough over the ridiculousness of President Obama receiving the Prize, and later on, they brought on Chuckie T, who yukked it up a little before adding his sober analysis about domestic agendas and perceptions of being a do-nothing.
WTF, you know? Chuck Todd fell full into the Village Meme Pit.
ETA: Whenever I think of John Dickerson these days, I think of a moment early in the summer while the health care reform debate was beginning to rage, and he mentioned on Twitter that he and his wife were experiencing “pre-existing conditions” issues with their health insurance company, and how frustrating it it. Atrios re-tweeted Dickerson’s complaint, and added “Maybe you should write an article about that for some publication of some sort.” Dickerson never responded, and never mentioned the insurance company issues again. To me, that’s Dickerson, in a nutshell.
Dreggas
@JGabriel:
the freepers already are.
Brick Oven Bill
A 46-year old man with two autobiographies, in the absence of professional accomplishment, is not exactly someone who I would define as humble and reflective slag.
He will believe what he is being told, because he wants to believe it.
Shell
And of course, according to some over at FreeperLand, this is just one more validation that Obama is the Anti-Christ.
I guess I don’t know my Book of Revelations very well, but if the Beast has already risen to a place of power, shouldn’t the Rapture already have happened?
Can’t happen fast enough for some of these loons.
El Cid
Remember back when Obama’s speech in Germany during the primaries would doom him because it showed how much of a “celebrity” he was and how Mike Huckabee could then yell at him for being worshiped by all the Yurpeens for his ding-danged for’n ideers?
Janus Daniels
ref. 32 slag:
B O B wrote facetiously, as indicated by the trailing smiley.
B O B almost always writes facetiously.
jenniebee
Jeebus, people, villagers, here’s the deal:
You can snub the Oscars. Anne Bancroft did it and even managed to look humble doing it because her reasoning for not showing up was that she never imagined she’d win. You can do that.
You can snub the Grammys. Really, who would notice?
You can snub the Daytime Emmys, but only if you’re not Susan Lucci. If Susan Lucci does it, it looks petty and resentful. Everybody else, it’s pretty much ok.
You can snub the Rotary Club’s Local Humanitarian of the Year award. In fact, the only reason not to tell the Rotary Club to take a flying leap is if you work in sales.
You can snub the Sierra Club – this one’s really easy, just tell them that you’d prefer that no paper/wood/whatever would be used to make your plaque or certificate or whatnot.
But there are two awards you. do. not. snub. You don’t snub anything done by the PTA because they can and will make your life a living hell until all your kids graduate or you retire or move, and sometimes all three.
And you do not snub the Nobel committee. Because snubbing the Nobel committee, or even thinking that snubbing them might, under any circumstances be a good idea, makes you an arrogant asshole. When the Nobel committee announces that they want to honor your contributions toward world peace, you do not respond by telling the committee that you really don’t care about world peace or that you don’t recognize them as actors toward world peace or that you don’t think that they would know peaceful actions if a peaceful action pre-emptively struck the Hague and brought its peaceful shock-and-awesomeness to their front door and yelled “BOOYAH!”
Of course, that’s just what wingnuts do think. They don’t like the concept of a peace prize on any level, so it’s natural that they’d use any opportunity to attempt to de-legitimize it.
If anybody needs further clarification, btw, when you are awarded either the Peace Prize or anything from the PTA, you also do not ask yourself “What Would Carrie Prejean Do?” Do not, under any circumstances, email the committee in all caps with requests that they buy you bigger tits.
BC
For my part, I want Obama to wear the Nobel Peace Prize medal and ribbon around his neck everytime he addresses Congress. If that doesn’t get enough exposure, I want him to wear it at the Kennedy Center honors. I don’t think he should wear it to the girls’ soccer games as that may be a tad much. But I want to rub this award into every anti-Obama’s nose. They may want to denigrate the award, but it is still the only international award that is recognized globally.
joes527
@Dreggas: freerepublic is having a meltdown over this.
That alone justifies the award.
El Cid
@BC: Wear the prize on a big gold necklace over a track suit. With sunglasses on.
Brachiator
Putting it all into perspective. According to AskMen, a fictional white man is more influential than an actual black man.
tv.yahoo.com/news/article/tv.accesshollywood.com/don-draper-worlds-most-influential-man-20091007
This should keep Obama humble.
Also, too, can Sarah Palin see Obama’s Nobel Prize from her front porch?
dmsilev
Shorter Bill Kristol: “This *should* have been excellent news for John McCain!”. His titling the piece “Not a parody” really pushes his effort over the top in the heated competition for today’s “Most asinine piece of writing” award.
-dms
Surly Duff
Narcissism = saying I in a sentence.
Obama says “I” a lot, especially when he is answering questions about what he does or has done.
JGabriel
joes527:
Which Obama has already done. Almost exactly on that theme.
.
danimal
I’m disappointed. The narcissism crap is somewhat amusing, but I was hoping for the wingularity to be reached. I’m watching Fox News just to see some wingnut reaction and they’re showing a slow speed car chase. I guess we’ll have to wait for Peak Wingnut.
Dreggas
@joes527:
i know, was reading the roundup on GOS. As soon as I saw the news I said to my fiance “I think my fathers head is gonna asplode”.
The Other Andrew
…I’m imagining a parallel universe where Obama didn’t win, and the right is using it to prove that his global popularity is a myth.
I’ll be contrary-contrarian and say that this will actually be good: America desperately needs a feel-good moment, and he could use this to create one.
Lola
Ambers was also quoting Mark Halperin on his page. Mark said Obama should say no. Ha! The idea that this will somehow inflame Republicans (how can they get any more partisan?) is just plain nonsense.
Winning the Nobel is wonderful news for President Obama. Go USA!
Comrade Mary
Help me, Americans! Ezra made this cryptic post:
— but the punchline is a Hulu video I can’t see in Canada. Can you explain?
Svensker
@Punchy:
Um, yeah. Thanks for that one, Nancy.
asdf
Over at Free Republic the subject of narcissism & Obama is old news.
Do conservatives still live in the days of Stepin Fechit? How about Do they think black men should only be smiling Pullman Porters, doing their dirty work with a smile? Maybe so. I can’t think of any other reason for accusing a confident black man of narcissism, can you?
The world has changed but for many Americans it has not. Years ago one of the young ladies in my family in Texas married a black man (the horror!) Several family members, none of which are related to me by blood, thank God, dropped her like a hot rock and never knew her children. Those kids are in Jr. High now and they are delightful. I’m crazy about them.
How do those Texas racists vote? Is there any question? They vote Republican.
Those who accuse Obama of narcissism are just using another N word. They don’t know black people personally and their only interactions with black people involve professional courtesy, sales staff etc. Racism runs deep in this country.
In a barber shop in the 1960’s in my home town there was a shoeshine stand above which was posted a large sign that read, “Blacks shine, a tradition to maintain.” That mindset has not entirely left us.
Will
@Brick Oven Bill:
And yet, what is he being told today? For the most part, that he didn’t deserve this. So what’s your point again?
dmsilev
@BC: He and Steven Chu should form a posse.
-dms
bartkid
Personally, I think 90% of the credit for Mr. Obama’s NPP should go to the Chill out, I got this! photo.
That is something the world really needed to hear in September 2008.
Ash
@Comrade Mary: It’s a bit from Conan about his feud with the mayor of Newark.
Tim F.
@BC: If Obama wears the Nobel around on the out side of his shirt, he needs to match it with a high top fade. Run will understand.
GregB
See, in B.O.B.’s world people like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are humble servants of the people and Barack Obama is a narcissist bent on self-aggrandizement.
That’s all you need to know.
-G
Thadeus Horne
@Brick Oven Bill: We need to consider that, due to childhood trauma,BoB wants to get some attention. As such, he will not see his drivel for what it is, manipulation by his fried brain, but will instead see it as an affirmation of his hallucinations.
He will see this because he wants to see it, in the same manner that he did not acknowledge the election, because he did not want to acknowledge personal issues. (Insanity, ego)
So this prize will indeed harm his ego, but feed his agenda.
C Nelson Reilly
I bet he donates the prize money to ACORN
Redshirt
As a former member of the Chuck Todd fan club, I would simply like to say, “Fuck Chuck Todd”. That is all.
Also.
Midnight Marauder
@joes527:
Exactly. It’s deja vu all over again. How many times have we seen this situation with Obama and Republican/Village overreaction/overamplification? The award was given as a recognition of his agenda and lofty ambitions. This was done to further polish his international bonafides and give him, his admirers, and his skeptics a highly recognizable and effective tool to hold him and his administration accountable over the coming years.
Then, right on schedule, the train from Crazy Town rolls in packed with knee-jerk, “I hate Obama more than I care about America” Republicans and the typically inane, couldn’t find the point if they were the point Villagers, yelling about everything from him turning it down to how the Nobel Peace Prize doesn’t mean anything (to which I posit, if it doesn’t mean anything, why is the right so absoultely incensed by this?).
And now, after setting it up with his pitch perfect response this morning, he will go into Oslo, deliver another phenomenal speech about international cooperation and turning the page after a rough start to the new century; the Nobel committee will be able to say “That is exactly why we awarded him the prize”; the Village will still not understand what is going on; and Republicans will once again embarass themselves on the international stage for all to see.
Sometimes, it really is just too easy
Tim F.
@Tim F.: Correction – Flavor flav.
slag
@Brick Oven Bill: Go start your books, then. Or whatever you consider a professional accomplishment to be. Otherwise, we’ll all know your resentment stems from deep-seated feelings of inferiority. Feel free to do whatever fantasizing you need to do about how you came from nowhere with nothing and pulled yourself up all alone by your very own bootstraps, and make the hurt go away. Shoo!
@Janus Daniels: Yes, BOB may be a spoof. I don’t care. If you’re going to be a spoof, you should at least be funny about it.
Ash
@Redshirt: How high were you when you joined this fan club?
Jason Bylinowski
You know, when I first heard the news about the Nobel this morning, my stomach pretty much dropped a few inches. I was immediately nervous for whatever comes next, because that’s where my country is at.
Now though? I’m fucking thrilled that it happened. Not only because he somewhat deserves it (UN rapprochement, nuclear disarmament), but because my initial reaction has FINALLY let me see what I’ve needed to see about this all along: namely, that Obama can literally do no right, a least as far as the loyalty, the opposition, and the media are concerned (and that should cover just about everybody in the US). I had kept hope alive that at some point, things would simmer down, but the fact that our leader, a tried and true American and one of OUR OWN, can win a prize like this and be EXCORIATED for it, even by pundits largely on his side, just cements in my mind how amazingly tough Obama has it. And you know what? It may just be the reactionary in me, but whatever he decides to do, accept it or turn it down or pawn it in for a pony, I’m fucking behind the guy. In fact, even though I disagree with his delay of DADT, and the decided lack of transparency in his administration, he can consider me as a full-fucking-fledged member of the Obama fan club. The guy literally cannot win. So I’m going to back him. Full stop.
freelancer
@DougJ:
He just wrote, with respect to Althouse mind you, that:
I immediately fired off an email naming BJ as “another blog”, since Pat and Chris continually lurk here and mine this site’s Greatest Hits from time to time.
Dave L
Just wait until he wins re-election in 2012; it’s hard to imagine a bigger gift to the Republicans, or a worse disaster for the Dems and Obama himself.
The hot light of public scrutiny will remain squarely focused on him, and his Republican critics–free of the burdens of office and responsibility–will have all the time they need to gin up ever wilder accusations and stoke ever more bitter resentments.
Any lingering hopes he might have nourished for reconciliation with disgruntled, middle-aged white fundamentalist gun-owners and other dwindling demographics will have to be shelved. It’ll be a lonely spot to be in, just Obama and the 50%-plus who voted for him.
dms
So, you like Sully because of a contribution by one of his readers? The positive version of “guilt by association”?
Were we discussing tortured logic?
JGabriel
rock:
I’d rather our president didn’t further enable Villager addictions, thankyewverymuch.
.
Brick Oven Bill
In GregB’s world, a man with millions in book sales, who has not sent any aid to his impoverished blood brother or family back in Kenya, truly cares about GregB.
This is a world not founded in the Liberal Art of Logic.
Legalize
More winger tantrums:
HyperIon
His narcissism problem? Jesus fucking Christ, when did that become an official Villager meme?
i started hearing it a couple of weeks ago.
but it’s getting rather hard to keep up.
however, i must say, giving Obama this award is VERY stupid.
Legalize
Blockquote fail.
slag
@Brick Oven Bill: Read the books or STFU.
Zifnab
@HyperIon: I think this is default “We have nothing to currently complain about” media mode.
Thankfully, with the Nobel, the right wing now has plenty to complain about.
What I’m really, really, really looking forward to is a host of conservative sponsored counter-awards distributed to brave anti-Obama wingnut antagonizes.
I mean, the conservatives already do this, but somehow Rush Limbaugh magically sweeps the awards, like, every single year. Still, it’ll be fun to see John Boehner or Mitch McConnell win the “Defending America First” award or some other right wing nonsense, and have it plugged endlessly on FOX News.
DougJ
So, you like Sully because of a contribution by one of his readers?
He has to choose which ones to post, you know.
LT
Obama is a narcissist?
George Bush thought the God spoke to him. Literally.
Surly Duff
@C Nelson Reilly:
I think he will bypass ACORN and give the money straight to pimps. Pimpin ain’t easy, you know.
Bob L
You got to love how a bunch of people who put Atlas Shrugs on the bookshelf next to their Bible are complaining about someone being a “narcissist”. The conservative movement has become the best comedy routine in the country.
Jason Bylinowski
@Legalize: Quelle surprise. Nice to know that there are still some safe D districts out there though; I just looked it up on wikipedia and she would pretty much have to publicly shit on her desk mid-session in order to lose her re-election.
Given my jinx record on these things though, she’s probably dropping trou as we speak.
GregB
It’s rather funny that that the only black people conservatives like B.O.B. seem to care about are President Obama’s distant relatives in Africa.
Telling isn’t it?
-G
Brick Oven Bill
I’ve read enough already slag. From the Audacity of Hope:
Sometimes he sounds downright juvenile. Consider this missive, which opens chapter five: “One thing about being a U.S. Senator — you fly a lot.” Brilliant! It gets worse: “Most of the time I fly in coach, hoping for an aisle or window seat” (But not always.) “there are times when I fly on a private jet.” Then, “the flying experience is a good deal different.” Wow. Obama then describes the experience: “lounges that feature big soft couches and big screen TVs.” Hog heaven. “Restrooms are generally empty and spotless, and have those mechanical shoe-shine machines and mouthwash and mints in a bowl.” The planes? “Well, they’re nice.” The purpose of the trip was “fund raising” but the senator was thrilled when his staff “explained to him” that he could travel on “someone else’s jet” and only have to pay the comparatively minor cost of first class airfare.
Jason Bylinowski
@GregB: I generally have little idea what BOB is talking about, because he speaks in what I can only assume are cryptic koan-like riddles.
I’ll be glad when we finally find out who has been playing the part of BOB all this time. It certainly isn’t me!
/coy expression
Notorious P.A.T.
Which I’m sure you have read. But hey, why should someone whose father came over from Africa and who grew up in Indonesia and had to struggle with his racial identity before growing up to work for the rights of poor people before finally tracing his roots across an ocean and finding his place in the world think he has an interesting story?
kay
Come on.
This is a good problem to have, considering all the horrible things that could happen to a person, on any given day.
Especially this person.
I want this “problem”. I’ll be really gracious, I promise.
Redshirt
@Ash:
I was high on Super Tuesday. Oh, remember the days of the Primaries….
slag
@Brick Oven Bill: Read the books. Or STFU.
Llelldorin
Isn’t “narcissist” just “uppity” passed through a style guide?
I’d love to see them called on it.
Notorious P.A.T.
That bit you posted doesn’t even come close to giving the flavor of that book. You are criticizing something with which you have no familiarity, which is the act of a fool.
edsaid
But given Sarah Palin’s vast accomplishments, I am sure you will be the first to run out and get a copy. Or will the purchase just be for masturbation purposes? Putz.
Brick Oven Bill
You shut up.
edsaid
#96 is for BoB
Notorious P.A.T.
Hahaha! BoB’s quote came from Dick Morris. Yes, Dick Morris.
gospelaccordingtoluke.com/gl/more.php?id=A1290_0_1_0_M
wasabi gasp
OT: Sarah Palin is ebaying skinny dips in her reflecting pool.
slag
@Brick Oven Bill: But I’ve read the books.
Erik Vanderhoff
B.O.B., take it from a licensed clinical psychologist. SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT.
Comrade Dread
No one would say that to Teddy Roosevelt after they witnessed him rip off bear’s arms and beat it to death with them before he shoved Harry Reid’s head up it’s ass just because it amused him.
gyma
Obama is losing the poll over at CNN 55/45. IIRC he wasn’t doing all that well at a HuffPo poll earlier. If we didn’t live in such an insular news world, maybe we’d understand why the world breathed a collective sigh of relief when Obama was elected. That alone was worth the NPP, IMO. And he does have accomplishments re: easing world tensions, but our stoopid press is too busy talking about Jon & Kate bullshit so how would we ever know?
Awesom0
McMegan just posted something about Obama’s prize. Can somebody please read it, so I don’t have to?
Midnight Marauder
@Brick Oven Bill:
Wow. Someone must be extra cranky today. Only one sentence? And just three words? No hat references?
I wish Obama could get a Nobel prize every day if it would keep BOB so erudite in his responses.
El Cid
OMG who kud ever see that Nobel people tryin’ ta make u favor peace? O NOEZ
Notorious P.A.T.
@Awesom0:
Sorry but I just ate.
geg6
Don’t know if anyone has read the latest in congratulations to our President from none other than Mark Steyn:
corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OTUxNjNlZTIyYmRkNzZjYTFkNmNlMDU4ZmVhZDgxZTY=
Cuz, you know, child rape is always comedy gold!
longtucky panwallah
Of course, were Obama to refuse the prize with a statement
to the effect that he could only hope to be someday worthy
of the award, George Will would inform us with consummate
gravitas that: “Obama’s refusal is not unexpected; false humility is one of the classic symptoms of narcissistic personality disorder. Kaus would proclaim: “I was right about John Edwards!! Therefore this refusal does absolutely nothing to solve the Narcissism Problem! Oh, and Elizabeth Edwards is a conniving bitch!!”
Tsulagi
@Will:
I like that guy. He seems to be the one Democrat in the three branches who gets it and refuses R-training to be led around by the nose.
slag
@Comrade Mary: Hillary brokered a peace deal between Conan OBrien and some New Jersey mayor.
gyma
So Obama was nominated two weeks into his presidency. BFD. The nutters are claiming the decision to award was based on what he did in his first two weeks on the job. Huh? The decision was made the same day as the nomination? [bangs head]
freelancer (itouch)
Sarah Palin Wins Nobel Prize for Literature: World Stunned
Submitted by rocker419 on Fri, 10/09/2009 – 14:23.
The world was stunned today at the announcement that Sarah Palin won the Nobel Prize for Literature, even though her first book “Going Rogue” has yet to hit news stands.
“I was shocked,” said Palin. “I didn’t even know the Nobel committee knew how to read!”
The world reaction was mixed. Some suggest it was “too soon” and that Palin had yet to build any significant “body of work,” but others took it as a “call to action.”
“I guess they want me to write more books,” Palin was quoted as saying.
Most world leaders had mixed reaction to the news. The Japanese Prime Minister was quoted as saying “Sarah who?”
Russian leader Putin had a different reaction. “You know, on a clear day, I can see her house from my country.”
David Letterman could not be reached for comment as he was busy getting the foot surgically removed from his mouth.
-jacksonville.com
georgia pig
This has really hit a sweet spot, when you can rile up the wingnuts and the village at the same time. The cynicism, envy and resentment is palpable. I think it’s sunk in that “a fucking black guy named Barack Hussein Obama has been elected to the most powerful office on the planet by offering a message of hope and change and I’m not black or named Barack. What’s the fucking world coming to? Peace, love and understanding? It used to be that Europeans were jaded and cynical.
Flugelhorn
@asdf: There we go! The card was played! Reset the board and roll again! Game over. Can’t criticize Obama without being a racist!
You win.
p.a.
Who knew those stolid Scandinavians had such a great sense of humor? They knew- knew this award would be seen by the American right as a big thumb-in-the-eye for their eight years (actually a generation at least) of chest-thumping buffoonery.
El Cid
The Nobel Peace Prize clearly should have gone to Chuck Norris and Glenn Beck.
Comrade Darkness
Not licking the ass of the Village == narcissist. Duh.
slag
@Flugelhorn:
Yes. Because no one here has criticized Obama without being called a racist. Ever.
Pro Tip: If you want to criticize Obama without being called a racist, don’t use racial stereotypes in the process of your criticism. And if you don’t know what racial stereotypes are, ask somebody who knows something for help.
EEH
Martin
The man was shot in the chest, got up and gave an hour long speech. And they complain about Obama’s predilection for giving speeches…
AnotherBruce
Yes, all of our actions or non-actions as Liberals and Democrats should be based on the fear of what the right wing will do if they get pissed off.
My main reaction to pissed off right wingers is laughter and sweet delicious schadenfreude.
Surly Duff
@Martin:
Yes, but did Teddy have to use a teleprompter?
DougJ
Speaking of narcissism, this quote from TR’s daughter is one of my very favorites:
“My father always wanted to be the corpse at every funeral, the bride at every wedding and the baby at every christening.”
Xanthippas
This is just unbelievable idiocy. Un-freakin’-believable. If I get this right, because this will make right-wingers really, really REALLY mad, that could hurt Obama’s agenda. What, like the really, really, REALLY mad tea partiers have managed to slow down health care reform? Anybody see liberal pundits talking about how support for the public option is growing? Yeah…point made.
The stupidest thing in the world that he could do is turn it down, and insult the people overseas who believe in him (and now us, thanks to his election.) The proper course is to take the damn thing, deserved or not, and then live up to it.
Jesus H. Christ. I’m a freakin’ moron and I can see this. And these people get PAID to write these things?
Joe Bleau
I’ll say the same thing here that I said at Hullabaloo: for anyone on the left who is really seriously worried that this award is a Bad Thing because it will spawn a whole new round of right-wing hissy fits, and create a backlash that will ultimately validate the “narcissist” meme that the lizard brains have been bandying about lately, I have only one thing to say: It’s not your fault.
Will
How did I miss this:
thedailybeast.com/cheat-sheet/
ericblair
@Xanthippas: Jesus H. Christ. I’m a freakin’ moron and I can see this. And these people get PAID to write these things?
Sure. People get paid to write “Concern Troll is Concerned” over and over again until Democrats are afraid to fart. It’s worked like a charm so far.
Corner Stone
@Comrade Dread:
You’re lucky I put the drink down before I scrolled through this thread. Otherwise I’d be sending you a bill for a new monitor and extensive dry cleaning.
Mark D
Ya know, I really, really, reeeeaaaaaallly don’t want to come across all concern trolly. And anyone can ask Steve Benen if that’s my style; he’ll assure you it is not.
But … my concern isn’t that the wacked out right in this nation will use it to hurt Obama politically, or to stop his agenda. They’ve proven that they’ll oppose anything Obama advocates, no matter how much good it will do or how much sense it makes. That’s just what the right does.
Instead, it’s that this will send them totally off the edge, and they’ll use it to hurt him physically. I’ve had that concern since he was nominated, and this just adds to it.
Please, please don’t get me wrong — while I’m not sure it was the best choice the committee could have made (Dr. Denis Mukwege would have been a great choice), no way in hell should he return it.
It’s an incredible honor, and I’m proud he received it. Hopefully, it will give him that extra umph needed to tackle some huge problems on the international stage and gain support for initiatives.
I just … I dunno. The right is a danger to our country, and I hope this isn’t the medal that broke what’s left of their sanity (to completely destroy a metaphor).
Flugelhorn
@slag: What are you talking about? Racial stereotypes? Huh? Are you afflicted with a non-sequitur disease of some sort? If so, I am emoting oodles of compassion in your general direction.
Mark D
Okay .. I’m going to get a wave of “Concern troll is concerned!” responses, ain’t I?
And for the record, I don’t think decisions should be made based on whether or not the right will freak out. I’m just a tad worried in this particular instance.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll go crawl back under my rock now …
**slinks away**
Joel
@Flugelhorn: Something, something, something.
Look, the Nobel Peace Prize has endured plenty of controversy in the past and will continue to do so in the future. And yet, it’s still considered a great honor.
geg6
@Mark D:
Darlin’, I’ve been worried about his physical safety since 2004 when anyone with eyes and ears could see and hear that this wonderful, young, brilliant man was going to be running for and, possibly, winning the presidency of this battered country of ours.
Didn’t stop me from encouraging him to run, volunteering for him during the primaries, and working my fingers to the bone to get him elected.
Thankfully, I have a friend who is a SS agent. He certainly tells me nothing about threats to or protection efforts for POTUS. But he is an extremely professional, competent, and intelligent guy. And I take comfort in the thought that the entire SS is made of men and women like him.
Jules
I’m amazed that anyone could see this as anything but an honor for both our President and the American people.
We really have become way too cynical….
JGabriel
p.a.:
Personally, I think the Nobel committee’s intent was to tell America: “Thank god for electing someone sane, not reflexively violent, and who won’t hit on Merkel with erotic backrubs — because that shit was giving us nightmares.”
.
Kenneth Fair
Obama’s “narcissism problem” is much the same as Mickey Kaus’s “goat-blowing problem.”
Which reminds me, “Mickey Kaus blows goats” needs an entry in the BJ Lexicon.
kay
@Jules:
It’s mostly the political pundits, Jules, and they’re using a purely political calculus, and their usual self-aggrandizing predictions of Great Harm to Come to Barack Obama. Blah, blah, f-ing blah. It’s what they do.
Good for you, in any event. Enjoy it.
Mike in NC
The Daily Show and Colbert Report would have had full coverage of the wingnut tsunami of outrage, so it’s a shame they aren’t on tonight. Might have to settle for Tweety and his idiot guests. Krauthammer is likely to stroke-out prior to his Sunday appearance on “Face the Republicans”.
JGabriel
Mike in NC:
But now they’ll have 3-4 days worth of outrage to cull. It should make for a highly concentrated brew.
.
Anne Laurie
@El Cid:
Also, John McCain is a warm-hearted conciliator whose only reason for seeking the Presidency was to implement disarmament.
Ask Don Draper — attention given to anyone other than a white male is stolen attention wasted on a narcissist. Sure, money and power can buy a broad or a colored some airtime, but that only proves “they” are obsessed with stealing some temporary reflected glory from the white man’s… washington monument.
Because in WingerWorld, it is still 1958, and as long as the wingnuts can keep their eyes squinched shut and their ears plugged (or their dials turned to Fox News and Rush) it will always be 1958.
Origuy
@Mark D: I think the Norwegian Nobel Committee may have been worried about the same thing. They don’t give out posthumous awards, and they aren’t sure that he’s going to finish out his term. A lot of Europeans appear to be surprised he’s lived this long. They have an idea that America is full of gun-toting racist wackos. Can’t imagine how they got that idea!
slag
@Flugelhorn: Good on you for taking the Pro Tip seriously and asking for help. It’s a sign of strength that you admit your ignorance. For your edification, I will refer you to this Scientific American Mind article as a brief primer on the subject. Feel free to ask questions about anything in the article you don’t understand.
LD50
People get paid for that?
Goddamn it, where is MY Soros check??
mcd410x
Is this the wingularity?
Mark D
They drove through southern Missouri?
;-)
Ya know, maybe Jules is right and I’m just too damned cynical.
I’ll have to work on that …
Zach
It’s as if, in the Village, the art of PR reached its apogee in McClellen’s press office. Who the hell isn’t bright enough to spin winning a Nobel Prize positively?
Joel
@rock:
Actually, George F. Will is even lazier and more dishonest than you are willing to credit him for being.
He isn’t counting the frequency of “I/me/my” etc. in Obama’s speeches and comparing them to Presidential norms. No, that is work, and George F. Will is too lazy to even do that much.
How do I know this? Because the good linguists over at Language Log have counted the frequency of “I/me/my” etc. in Obama’s speeches and compared them to Presidential norms, and Obama uses such words far less frequently than either George W. Bush or Bill Clinton.
languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=1797
George F. Will is wrong, and he knows it. But since the facts are in opposition to his brilliant “narcisist” thesis, he will continue spouting lies all the same.
Koz
God, you people really aren’t getting it. It’s not so much about angering or energizing the right-wing base, it’s about puncturing the illusion that Obama is sort of magisterially “above it all”. It’s the same kind of problem with badmouthing the Sergeant from the Cambridge police.
We as Americans hope that Obama furthers the cause of peace in the world, but it’s plainly obvious to anybody paying attention that he hasn’t done it yet.
kay
@Koz:
But that’s the conservative view of Obama. That he’s pretending to be “above it all”. That he’s a “Messiah”. Or a celebrity. Or that people follow him slavishly, and once conservatives can finally, finally crack the code and show Americans how very, very wrong they are he will collapse.
You’re puncturing a myth you created, among yourselves. The rest of the country doesn’t share that view. His personal life is so grindingly conventional it’s a stereotype. Conservatives think he’s exotic. I don’t. I think he’s a wildly ambitious, tough politician, centrist Democrat flavor. I ALWAYS thought that.
Obama won because he was perceived as deliberate and calm and smart, and the country was falling apart. I think he is deliberate and calml and smart, so I’m not all that disillusioned.
Quaker in a Basement
It goes to 11? Awesome!
Koz
“Obama won because he was perceived as deliberate and calm and smart, and the country was falling apart.”
Was? Was what? The country [i]is[/i] falling apart, substantially because Obama is President.
In any case, Glenn Beck notwithstanding, conservatives are not cracking any kind of “code” wrt Obama. Obama is doing that himself. The actual policies of the Obama Administration are unpopular and getting less popular every day. And as President Obama and the Congessional majorities are increasingly evaluated in those terms, they become less popular as well.
Midnight Marauder
@Koz:
I guess that’s why his approval rating is going up following all of the “evaluating” that went on at town halls in August, right?
kay
@Koz:
You’re not offering any alternative. One of your House candidates spent yesterday shooting at a target with a sitting House members initials on it.
The generic House ballot between GOP and Democrats was + 16 Democrats, in 2006. +16. Republicans are drawing even, and you get more hysterical and insane every day. You really thought Americans were going to LOATHE Obama for trying for the Olympics? Come on. That doesn’t even make sense. We’re not like that.
You started this crazy crusade too early. People are not going to abandon the calm and reasonable President they elected to run on over to the guy shooting at a target with a House members initials on it.
You have a year to go, and you’re at “HITLER!”. I would have waited.
Koz
realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/president_obama_job_approval-1044.html#polls
I guess that’s why you’re a low-information liberal.
kay
@Midnight Marauder:
I think it depends completely on the economy, despite these elaborate electoral psychological analyses from the Right.
I’m an optimist, so I think the economy gets better, and we do fine.
El Cid
Go look for the polls which break results down by region. Once you leave off the fuckwad South, Obama’s approval rating skyrockets.
Koz
“You really thought Americans were going to LOATHE Obama for trying for the Olympics?”
You might be mistaking me for somebody else. I think the Olympics thing may end up being good for Obama, in that he will be able to differentiate better the things he really wants to accomplish versus simple indulgence in vanity. But that’s just a guess.
kay
@Midnight Marauder:
The town halls budged the health care number a total of three points, within the margin of error.
Pure cable bullshit, as it turns out, but it gave them something to talk about in August.
Koz
“Once you leave off the fuckwad South, Obama’s approval rating skyrockets.”
From where, 0%?
kay
@Koz:
Obama has 20 points over Republicans on health care. I just think it’s a little silly to say it’s do or die for him to have 40 points on Republicans.
Sure, I guess, 40 is better but 20 is plenty.
You’ll like this. Obama’s approval rating is a coupla points higher than Reagan, same point, first term. I was curious, so looked it up, because I think the economic situation both men faced when taking office allows for comparison, although Obama’s inherited economy was measurably worse, on a systemic scale.
Midnight Marauder
@kay:
I agree with this entirely. That’s why I don’t really buy into the “OMG! History sayz the majority party ALWAYS loses seats! WE ARE TEH DOOMED!” nonsense. Sure, Democrats may lose some seats…if the status quo maintains. But, much like yourself, I see plenty to be optimistic about.
Wasn’t it only a few months, if not weeks, ago that HCR was doomed, and so was the public option? And now look at the landscape. HCR will indeed pass by the end of the year, or beginning of next year. The only question is how strong and forceful the reform is, and even in that department, there’s been a marked improvement from just the other week. Pelosi seems to be standing firm on the robust PO attached to Medicare rates. Harry Reid’s spine seems to be slowly but surely regenerating itself (in some kind of weakened, but possibly still effective form).
Things are moving slowly, but they’re moving, and they’re moving in the right direction. Not to mention that Republicans still have an entire year to continue embarrassing and humiliating themselves, while continuing to reveal just how unserious they are about solving any problem of any nature in any way, shape, or form.
Let the concern trolls have their concern. We’ll be okay.
Koz
“Obama has 20 points over Republicans on health care. I just think it’s a little silly to say it’s do or die for him to have 40 points on Republicans.”
If Obama and Congress keep going down the road they’re on, that will change soon enough (and not in the D’s favor). I personally wish the Republicans were a little more proactive on health care than they’ve been. But not being attached to the various white elephants coming out of Washington will be good enough for a while.
El Cid
@Koz: “From where, 0%”
Ha!
If I had the money, I’d buy Gallup’s tabular data. Here’s a simple and free sample, and, of course, the Republican Party would tell you the same thing.
************************
One other interesting point from the Daily Kos data: despite all the noise about Obama’s falling approval ratings, outside of the South 82% of those in the Northeast have a favorable view of Obama (vs. 10% having an unfavorable view), 62% have a favorable view (vs. 31%) in the Midwest, and 59% (vs. 34%) have a favorable view in the West. It is only in the South, where 67% (!) have an unfavorable view of the president (vs. 27% holding a favorable view) that Obama appears to have a serious problem. Again, the regional distribution is quite dramatic.
Flugelhorn
@Midnight Marauder:
This is what happens when you live in an echo chamber.
Not gonna happen. Time will reveal who is right and who is wrong. I will gladly throw down a “mea culpa” if I am wrong. I just do not think it will happen. If it DOES, it will be the toothless reform of LBJ’s Civil Rights Act. If it does not, then good luck come mid-terms.
LD50
@Koz: Jeez, Koz, you’re not even trying here.
Ash Can
@Koz: You do realize that you’re making absolutely no sense whatsoever, right?
LD50
We repeat:
You really need to get out more.
Koz
I dunno, what do you want me to say?
When you look at the things Obama has done as President and the changes in his approval ratings (from every pollster who polls), the trend seems so obvious that I can’t see how any of the rationalizations are anything but mindless cocooning.
LD50
@Koz: You’re right Koz. When Obama won, that was a clear mandate for another 4-8 years of Republican policies. How Obama has missed that, I can’t imagine.
Could you give any suggestions as to how Obama could get his numbers closer to the ~32% that Bush enjoyed for the last two years?
El Cid
@Koz: I live in the white conservative South — Georgia. People around here talk to the people they know, and among white people they pretty much find that everyone around them hates Obama and thinks he’s ruining the economy with his soci_alist policies (and probably think FDR ruined the country too if you asked them and they knew who you were talking about), and they then assume that the rest of the country must be just like them, so they do their little teabag rallies in the state capital and local AM right wing talk radio talks ’em up, and then they turn on FOXNOOZ and they get played up big time there, and, by gosh, soon, a regional political behaviorism is assumed by much of the local population to be representative of the whole country. And it’s not.
slag
@Flugelhorn: I assume you’ve finished your reading assignment. Time to share with the class what you learned.
Midnight Marauder
@Flugelhorn:
Or when you fucking pay attention to what’s happening. The process is further along than it has ever been, and more importantly, than people expected it to be given the current political climate. The dialogue has shifted from “should we have a public option” to “what kind of public option should we have,” which is a pretty fucking huge victory given how things were going not too long ago.
Not to mention that there is still the distinct possibility that the Baucus bill might not pass the SFC, given how much Baucus has shitted on Wyden and particularly Rockefeller over the past few months.
Then you’ve got Pelosi in the House saying the following about the Baucus Debacle:
That’s more than enough to be inspired about where things are headed. Cautiously inspired, as always, but inspired nonetheless.
Also:
@Koz:
This has got to be the understatement of the century.
Ash Can
@Koz:
OK, then how about no rationalization whatsoever? How about just plain historical statistics? Every president has a honeymoon period. Approval ratings decline from there by definition. Given the support of his stated policies by, as you say, every pollster who polls, how are you arriving at the conclusion that his making progress on those policies is going to result in mass dissatisfaction with him? It simply does not make sense.
You need to understand this: Just because you don’t like Obama’s policies doesn’t mean a majority of people don’t like them.
JenJen
@slag: Well done! Thanks for taking care of that. :-)
Leelee for Obama
@El Cid: Even though I am a re-located New Yorker, now in sunny, funny Floriduh, I’m still confuzzled by the lock-step disapproval of Obama in the South. Do people in the South really think their health care rocks, or that unemployment and eceonomic armageddon is somehow God’s punishment for their sins, or that making sure no one in the good old US of A can have control over their own body is going to make all the bad men stop with the misery-making? I know about Tom Frank’s book and I know that there are people who are going to answer yes to the questions I posed, but criminy-how can they just refuse to grasp the damage their favored pols have done to this Country? Confuzzled, like I said.
Janus Daniels
B O B – slag suggested, when you spoof Republicans, you should also make it funny. He has a point. Take a lesson from 155 Koz:
“The country [i]is[/i] falling apart, because Obama is President.”
This simultaneously spoofs Republicans’ incompetence, ignorance, and mind boggling self assurance (and perhaps more). The deliberatelly erroneous use of brackets, in the central sentence, instead of clicking the immediately available i button, particularly appealed to me.
Koz followed with a post citing
realclearpolitics.com/
as a credible source!
Then, “I personally wish the Republicans were a little more proactive on health care…”
B O B – can you do as well?
That said, I suggest that Obama has his major problems, not in the South, but in the underpopulated states, where people who don’t like people go to get disproportionate weight placed on their votes:
Obama Job Approval: Highest in D.C., Hawaii, Vermont
Lowest rating in Wyoming
by Jeffrey M. Jones”
gallup.com/poll/122165/obama-approval-highest-d.c.-hawaii-vermont.aspx
HowStuffWorks “Maps of United States Population Density”
maps.howstuffworks.com/united-states-population-density-map.htm
Now, more good news from before the Nobel…
AP Poll: Obama’s job approval rises after declining since inauguration; war support declines – KSTU
BETH FOUHY Associated Press Writer
8:05 PM MDT, October 6, 2009
fox13now.com/news/sns-ap-us-obama-ap-poll,0,7266430.story
Yes, you read the URL right… had to cite a Fox page for the smirk value; click here for better:
current.com/items/91115251_ap-poll-obamas-job-approval-rises-after-declining-since-inauguration-war-…
“…56 percent of those surveyed in the past week approve of Obama’s job performance, up from 50 percent in September. It’s the first time since he took office in January that his rating has gone up.
People also feel better about his handling of the economy and his proposed health care overhaul.
But not about the war.
Support for the war in Afghanistan has declined…”
Enjoy!
asdf
“The country is falling apart, substantially because Obama is President.”
You can’t just say things and expect reasonable people to believe they are true when they are not. I say you suck goat dick.
See?
Make your case, prove your statement or go suck goat dick.
LD50
@Koz:
Indeed, the economy was doing so well last Fall. What happened???
slag
@JenJen: Thanks. I’m a firm believer in public education.
JenJen
@Will: Oh jeebus. How did I miss that, too? I can’t think of a worse outcome for the NFL.
bago
This statement alone proves that BOB is a troll or literally insane. I have dealt with “Elton John is the king of the gays” levels of psychosis, and this is close.