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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

Let me file that under fuck it.

In my day, never was longer.

When I was faster i was always behind.

Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

The lights are all blinking red.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

Bark louder, little dog.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

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You are here: Home / Please Just Make It All Stop. I’m Seriously Begging.

Please Just Make It All Stop. I’m Seriously Begging.

by John Cole|  November 6, 20091:15 pm| 125 Comments

This post is in: Assholes, Clown Shoes, I Read These Morons So You Don't Have To

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The lead story at memeorandum is Robert George’s condemnation of Obama’s insufficiently weepy statement after the Fort Hood shooting yesterday:

But instead of a somber chief executive offering reassuring words and expressions of sympathy and compassion, viewers saw a wildly disconnected and inappropriately light president making introductory remarks. At the event, a Tribal Nations Conference hosted by the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Indian affairs, the president thanked various staffers and offered a “shout-out” to “Dr. Joe Medicine Crow — that Congressional Medal of Honor winner.” Three minutes in, the president spoke about the shooting, in measured and appropriate terms. Who is advising him?

Anyone at home aware of the major news story of the previous hours had to have been stunned. An incident like this requires a scrapping of the early light banter. The president should apologize for the tone of his remarks, explain what has happened, express sympathy for those slain and appeal for calm and patience until all the facts are in. That’s the least that should occur.

Here is some of his statement:

Now, I have to say, though, that beyond that, I plan to make some broader remarks about the challenges that lay ahead for Native Americans, as well as collaboration with our administration, but as some of you might have heard, there has been a tragic shooting at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas. We don’t yet know all the details at this moment; we will share them as we get them. What we do know is that a number of American soldiers have been killed, and even more have been wounded in a horrific outburst of violence.

My immediate thoughts and prayers are with the wounded and with the families of the fallen, and with those who live and serve at Fort Hood. These are men and women who have made the selfless and courageous decision to risk and at times give their lives to protect the rest of us on a daily basis. It’s difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas. It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil.

Why, yes, that was just light banter! I’d go so far to say light-hearted and jocular, although maybe fanciful and mischievous might be how I would describe it, Robert! I haven’t laughed like that since the Curb Your Enthusiasm where Larry pissed on an image of Christ.

Serenity now. Although I would like to inform the wingnuts that Bill Ayers actually wrote Obama’s remarks yesterday.

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Reader Interactions

125Comments

  1. 1.

    Comrade javafascist

    November 6, 2009 at 1:17 pm

    Maybe he should have had some cake with McCain first.

  2. 2.

    Ash

    November 6, 2009 at 1:19 pm

    Native Americans are used to being brushed off for more important things anyway. They would’ve been totally cool with it!

  3. 3.

    Leelee for Obama

    November 6, 2009 at 1:20 pm

    I hate to quote Stephen King, really, but one of his best, from “The Waste Land”, I think, is: “the only way out is through”. We are gonna have to learn to let this crap flow around us and away, cause nothing will stop it.

  4. 4.

    licensed to kill time

    November 6, 2009 at 1:20 pm

    I guess he could have gone all weepy like Beck. That’d show Amurka he really srsly cares.

  5. 5.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    November 6, 2009 at 1:20 pm

    President Obama needs to take a lesson from Danger Monkey and learn how to hide until this kinda shit blows over.

  6. 6.

    bago

    November 6, 2009 at 1:21 pm

    None of these tut-tuters gave a crap when it was my friends dying in a mass shooting. F them.

  7. 7.

    ruemara

    November 6, 2009 at 1:22 pm

    You know the only appropriate thing would’ve been for Obama to rip off his suit, wear sackcloth and rub ashes on his face. Then, after properly flagellating himself for his failure to stop this, he resign his presidency and his entire administration in favor of Palin/SomeCrankyOldster. This is the only acceptable response.

    fuck memeo. also. too.

  8. 8.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    November 6, 2009 at 1:22 pm

    Danger Monkey would still be flying around on Air Force One while President Cheney made sure this wasn’t an organized attack on all government installations.

  9. 9.

    Brick Oven Bill

    November 6, 2009 at 1:24 pm

    The joke told in the introduction was the give-away. This belied the man, who was not disturbed by the shootings. The rest were just words, read from a teleprompter.

    Obama was not moved, he was reading. I watched him and was offended.

  10. 10.

    Zam

    November 6, 2009 at 1:24 pm

    @Ash: As they should be, they are still being punished by God as evidenced by their redskin.

  11. 11.

    Mnemosyne

    November 6, 2009 at 1:26 pm

    @Ash:

    Native Americans are used to being brushed off for more important things anyway. They would’ve been totally cool with it!

    That’s exactly what I was thinking. There would be no possible reason for the attendees at the Tribal Nations Conference to be upset at the president scrapping his speech discussing their issues and instead talking only about a shooting where the information was so sketchy that we didn’t even find out that the shooter was still alive until three hours later. I mean, come on, they’re just Indians, it’s not like they’re important or anything.

    And is it just me, or is part of the writer’s problem due to the fact that he doesn’t think that Dr. Joe Medicine Crow’s name is sufficiently “serious.” Come on, it must be a nickname or a rapper name because no one has an actual name like that, amirite?

  12. 12.

    GReynoldsCT00

    November 6, 2009 at 1:27 pm

    OT, we have another shooting in Orlando

  13. 13.

    Tsulagi

    November 6, 2009 at 1:27 pm

    So the real story is that Obama didn’t wet the floor with Beckian level waterworks? Seriously, these wingnut short bus brigades really know how to express their inner pissant.

  14. 14.

    malraux

    November 6, 2009 at 1:27 pm

    @Comrade javafascist: Or maybe read “My Pet Goat” to them.

  15. 15.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    November 6, 2009 at 1:28 pm

    Where’s President Clinton when ya need real, trembly, teary-eyed, lower-lip-chewing emotion on command?

  16. 16.

    Leelee for Obama

    November 6, 2009 at 1:29 pm

    @GReynoldsCT00: Besides the one at the Gateway Center? I’m watching back-tracked news on my local Orlando station.

  17. 17.

    Max

    November 6, 2009 at 1:30 pm

    It’s worse than this…

    According to the GOP’s favorite wack-job, the Ft Hood Shooter was part of Obama’s transition team.

    Truly, there is no limit to their racism and hate.

  18. 18.

    slag

    November 6, 2009 at 1:31 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill: If you watched him, then you would know he wasn’t using a teleprompter.

    Do people really buy into this act of yours? Maybe the same people who buy into Glenn Beck’s act?

  19. 19.

    Seebach

    November 6, 2009 at 1:31 pm

    The joke told in the introduction was the give-away. This belied the man, who was not disturbed by the shootings. The rest were just words, read from a teleprompter.
    Obama was not moved, he was reading. I watched him and was offended.

    He didn’t joke about the shootings, like Bush joked about how 9/11 was a lucky trifecta.

  20. 20.

    Will

    November 6, 2009 at 1:31 pm

    I really though Memeorandum was fucking with me when I saw that. That is beyond the pale. Robert George should be fired for that kind of hateful, nonsensical, whipping up of partisan fury. “Wildly disconnected”? “Inappropriately light”? No one outside of The Corner could possibly have seen that yesterday. In the wake of this horrible tragedy, this is truly sickening. I thought I couldn’t be shocked anymore. Then they go and prove me wrong again.

    Ugh.

  21. 21.

    Senyordave

    November 6, 2009 at 1:32 pm

    The mere fact the he was able to wirte these words shows that Robert George is not suffciently disturbed. He should have been in church the last 24 hours, praying nonstop.

  22. 22.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    November 6, 2009 at 1:32 pm

    I’m not going to judge President Obama until he fails to show up at Ft. Hood with a bullhorn and makes promises he never follows through on. Because that is what is important to me: words, yelled through a bullhorn.

  23. 23.

    licensed to kill time

    November 6, 2009 at 1:33 pm

    @Seebach: Or joking on NATIONAL TV about searching for WMD under a couch at the WH. That was classy.

  24. 24.

    Ann B. Nonymous

    November 6, 2009 at 1:33 pm

    The Democratic President exists so that the Villagers can project their failings on him. Then, at the end of the sacred cycle, the Democratic President is ritually or symbolically killed, and the cycle begins anew.

    The Republican President exists so that the Villagers can project their virtues on him. At the end of his sacred cycle, the Republican President is ritually anointed and enters the circle of Esteemed Elders.

    Since the Villagers have few virtues left, the previous Republican president lives in a special hut outside the Village. Instead, his tanist has taken his place among the Villagers.

  25. 25.

    geg6

    November 6, 2009 at 1:36 pm

    Here’s the speech:

    http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/remarks-president-during-opening-tribal-nations-conference-interactive-discussion-w

    So he inserted some remarks about the shooting at some point in the official speech and they are pissed that he did that? At a function that was about Native Americans? What was he supposed to do? Cancel it? Speak about an incident that was in progress, that was not yet clear, and that had nothing to do with the audience to whom he was speaking?

    Outrage machine. Anything and everything is an outrage.

  26. 26.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    November 6, 2009 at 1:36 pm

    When did the American Dream go from prosperity and having a better, happier, richer life to seeing how many people you could kill at once before being killed yourself?

    I blame video games.

  27. 27.

    Macha Maguire

    November 6, 2009 at 1:36 pm

    They’re still smarting from ‘My Pet Goat’ and the idiocy of their former champion. So they have to stomp on a man who has more social grace in his little finger than the entire top ranks of their party…

    it’s sad, really. We don’t have to take it seriously.

  28. 28.

    MikeJ

    November 6, 2009 at 1:38 pm

    Can we guess the wingnut response had Obama wept? I’d guess they’d go with “showing weakness”, “womanly tears”, and “aid and comfort to our enemies”.

  29. 29.

    GReynoldsCT00

    November 6, 2009 at 1:39 pm

    @Leelee for Obama:

    I meant another including yesterday’s…

  30. 30.

    kelly

    November 6, 2009 at 1:40 pm

    re: the actual post above-
    yeah, but all that said, Obama is a dumbass
    Can we all stop pretending what a great politician he is and just admit that a combination of Bush fatigue, a crappy GOP candidate and white liberal and moderate guilt elected Obama, not anything he actually did or said. He’s proving he’s terribly out of his depth daily and the country will be glad to see the end of him in ’12. I’d go so far as to say he may not even run if the economy keeps getting worse, or risk a bloodbath in the undercard Senators and Congressmen when he is defeated in a landslide.

    What a relief seeing the last of him will be.

  31. 31.

    Rathskeller

    November 6, 2009 at 1:41 pm

    Please ban BOB

  32. 32.

    dSquib

    November 6, 2009 at 1:42 pm

    Obama is on the ropes! That’s the narrative. So everything he now says and does must comply, reality be damned.

  33. 33.

    Leelee for Obama

    November 6, 2009 at 1:42 pm

    @GReynoldsCT00: Thanks! I was gonna crawl into my bed otherwise.

  34. 34.

    tripletee

    November 6, 2009 at 1:42 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    I watched him and was offended.

    I’m terribly sorry to hear that. Please take this test and report back with the results so we can recommend an appropriate level of treatment for your inflamed sense of butthurt.

  35. 35.

    Shell

    November 6, 2009 at 1:42 pm

    How long did it take Bush to address the American people after 9/11? Two-three days?

  36. 36.

    Svensker

    November 6, 2009 at 1:42 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    When did the American Dream go from prosperity and having a better, happier, richer life to seeing how many people you could kill at once before being killed yourself?
    I blame video games.

    No, been going on long before that. Before Pong even.

    I’ve run across a couple of wingnuts commenters today who are going on about how inappropriately Obama acted yesterday. How could I have been part of that group? How? (Although in some fairness to me, I thought Rush was a douche right from the get go.)

  37. 37.

    gwangung

    November 6, 2009 at 1:43 pm

    yeah, but all that said, Obama is a dumbass

    Well, at least Mr. George is getting paid for his claptrap. What’s your excuse? Convince us your IQ is above room temperature.

  38. 38.

    eemom

    November 6, 2009 at 1:43 pm

    Who puts together Memeorandum? I find the links useful a lot of the time, but they do seem to give way too much space to the nutfringe.

  39. 39.

    Ann B. Nonymous

    November 6, 2009 at 1:43 pm

    @kelly:

    Why would I admit something that isn’t true? If you don’t like it, Somalia has some great beaches.

  40. 40.

    El Cid

    November 6, 2009 at 1:44 pm

    In light of these insulting remarks, Obama should immediately resign and ask the Supreme Court to approve Sarah Palin as his replacement. Only she and Vice President Beck can restore this nation to its 9/12/2001 glory.

  41. 41.

    Midnight Marauder

    November 6, 2009 at 1:44 pm

    @kelly:

    yeah, but all that said, Obama is a dumbass
    Can we all stop pretending what a great politician he is and just admit that a combination of Bush fatigue, a crappy GOP candidate and white liberal and moderate guilt elected Obama, not anything he actually did or said. He’s proving he’s terribly out of his depth daily and the country will be glad to see the end of him in ‘12. I’d go so far as to say he may not even run if the economy keeps getting worse, or risk a bloodbath in the undercard Senators and Congressmen when he is defeated in a landslide.
    What a relief seeing the last of him will be.

    LOLWUT? I see we’re getting a large helping of Weak Sauce today, chock full of extra weak.

  42. 42.

    Ash

    November 6, 2009 at 1:44 pm

    @kelly: I can already tell you’re one of our most boring trolls ever. And that’s saying a lot.

  43. 43.

    Bobby Thomson

    November 6, 2009 at 1:44 pm

    @kelly:

    Harriet Christian, ladies and gentlemen.

    John, you should be honored.

  44. 44.

    tripletee

    November 6, 2009 at 1:44 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    I blame video games.

    Nonsense. It’s the continuing popularity of Dungeons & Dragons, clearly.

  45. 45.

    AnotherBruce

    November 6, 2009 at 1:46 pm

    Who the fuck is Robert George and why should I care about his sensitive feelings?

  46. 46.

    Shell

    November 6, 2009 at 1:46 pm

    I’m terribly sorry to hear that. Please take this test and report

    Yikes, that Beckian montage is especially dismaying.

  47. 47.

    Mark in SJ

    November 6, 2009 at 1:48 pm

    I would like to see a leap in technology that allows one to reach through the internet and punch right-wing idiots in whatever they have that passes for gonads.

    For a bunch of “tough guys”, they sure are weak-assed little crybabies.

    Everything offends them, except for, you know, things that are actually offensive.

  48. 48.

    Midnight Marauder

    November 6, 2009 at 1:48 pm

    And given the title of this thread, I feel like this isn’t very OT at all:

    Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry: Let states lead the way

    Texas, for example, has adopted approaches to controlling health-care costs while improving choice, advancing quality of care and expanding coverage. Consider the successful 2003 tort reform. Fewer frivolous lawsuits have attracted record numbers of doctors to the state as medical malpractice insurance premiums dropped by half. Christus Health, a large Catholic nonprofit system with a significant presence in Texas, spent about $100 million on liability defense payments in 2003. Last year, Christus spent $2.3 million on such payments. Much of that savings has gone into expanding health-care services in low-income neighborhoods.

    Thank goodness for Ezra Klein, however:

    Well, Texas currently leads the nation in the rate of uninsured, with more than 25 percent of the state’s residents lacking health-care coverage. If you limit the analysis to residents under age 65, which takes seniors covered by the national Medicare program out of the data, 28 percent of Texans are uninsured.

    It would be interesting to hear Gov. Perry explain why this is, but this teensy little fact doesn’t appear anywhere in his op-ed. Presumably, that’s because there is no good explanation: Texas, despite its much-touted $9 billion rainy-day fund, simply has not made it a priority to fix its health-care system, and so it has deteriorated into the worst in the nation.

  49. 49.

    JM

    November 6, 2009 at 1:49 pm

    I watched him and was offended.

    You were going to do that anyway.

  50. 50.

    SpotWeld

    November 6, 2009 at 1:52 pm

    I think the Right Wing is looking for a “My Pet Goat” moment. The problem is, the whole My Pet Goat thing was hugely overblown and unlike 9/11 there was no immediacy to the Ft. Hood incident. (By the time anyone outside of the base knew what was going on, it was over.)

    So.. meh. Obama took a few moments away from a scheduled talk to make a few short notes on this. It wasn;t perfect, but it let everyone know he was aware of the situation…

    I’m real tempted to try to read something into that.. but really, it’s just ego stroking. Obama could have said nothing and just let a press release go out (as Bush has done with full cofidence that such a release would be repeated without further comment) Bah,

  51. 51.

    Randy P

    November 6, 2009 at 1:52 pm

    @Rathskeller:

    Please ban BOB

    I’m a relative newbie here, but I understand it happens on a semi-regular basis. Last time was about a week ago, maybe 2 days after I first commented.

    How come we don’t have a preview feature? I’ll have no idea whether I successfully block-quoted till after I hit the send button.

  52. 52.

    AnotherBruce

    November 6, 2009 at 1:53 pm

    @Mark in SJ:

    You win. These tough conservatives are the biggest WATBs on the planet.

  53. 53.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    November 6, 2009 at 1:54 pm

    @tripletee:

    Nonsense. It’s the continuing popularity of Dungeons & Dragons, clearly.

    Who has time to plan and execute a mass killing when yer trying to roll a 20 against an imaginary tree that is attacking your party, hmmm?

  54. 54.

    Midnight Marauder

    November 6, 2009 at 1:55 pm

    @Randy P:

    How come we don’t have a preview feature? I’ll have no idea whether I successfully block-quoted till after I hit the send button.

    Ah, to be so young and fresh-faced again…

  55. 55.

    Mr. Wonderful

    November 6, 2009 at 1:56 pm

    What JM said. B. O. Bill, why watch? Just be offended. It’s what you “do.” Good job!

  56. 56.

    Reason60

    November 6, 2009 at 1:56 pm

    When I see the rightwing now, I am reminded more and more about the left in the 1970’s.

    Back then, it was the left that fell in love with and, hopelessly addicted to, street theater and the politics of symbolism and images, all at the expense of coherent thought and message.

    Identity politics- young hip bohemians vs old square rightists- became a substitute for clear ideas.

    Now we see the right mimicing those same tactics- proud Beckian patriots who tear up at the mention of America, who defiantly recite the Pledge of Allegiance (well sorta-its hard to remember the whole thing) and a dashing fighter pilot President, striding boldly across the flight deck wearing a halloween costume to deliver his lines convincingly.

    No wonder the lack of tears and garment rending by Obama is so offensive to them; he refuses to follow the script.

  57. 57.

    Something Fabulous

    November 6, 2009 at 1:58 pm

    @Ann B. Nonymous: Gorgeous. Never heard it put quite like that. Perfect.

  58. 58.

    tripletee

    November 6, 2009 at 1:59 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    Who has time to plan and execute a mass killing when yer trying to roll a 20 against an imaginary tree that is attacking your party, hmmm?

    A good DM will build it into the schedule.

  59. 59.

    Citizen_X

    November 6, 2009 at 2:00 pm

    @kelly: You know, when you write “re: the actual post above,” you’re supposed to follow that with something that genuinely relates to the “actual post above.” Unless, of course, you’re just trying to waste the reader’s time.

    Asshole.

  60. 60.

    Randy P

    November 6, 2009 at 2:04 pm

    Oh, and every right-winger who trots out the tired old teleprompter thing should have this montage stapled to their forehead.

    From top to bottom that’s Saint Ronaldus Magnus, John McCain, George W, a picture of Hannity’s teleprompter informing him that he’s Sean Hannity, someone I haven’t identified (Fred Thompson?), and Sarah. All, of course, on teleprompters.

    I think one of the most idiotic comments along those lines was after the State of the Union when I was hearing “he was looking left and right at the teleprompters instead of into the cameras at us!” No, you microcephalic idiots. Teleprompters are put at the camera so the person speaking can look at the camera and read. That is the entire freaking point. He was looking left and right because that’s where his audience was. You know, the people in the room with him.

  61. 61.

    Stooleo

    November 6, 2009 at 2:05 pm

    I love how the worst of W’s flaws are now projected onto Obama. They can’t even think up some different flaws.

  62. 62.

    Lyle4

    November 6, 2009 at 2:06 pm

    @Randy P:

    How come we don’t have a preview feature?

    We used to have preview. We even had an edit function! Those were the the good old days (like 3 months ago). I think John Cole kicked WordPress’ puppy though and really pissed them off. Or something like that.

  63. 63.

    Randy P

    November 6, 2009 at 2:07 pm

    Dammit. Screwed up the link

    Repeat previous whine about preview feature, lack thereof.

  64. 64.

    Randy P

    November 6, 2009 at 2:08 pm

    AARGH.
    One more try

  65. 65.

    slag

    November 6, 2009 at 2:10 pm

    @Bobby Thomson: I wouldn’t be so sure. She forgot to mention that Obama was black while in the process of calling him inadequate. Resulting in a serious loss of style points.

  66. 66.

    slag

    November 6, 2009 at 2:12 pm

    @Lyle4: The edit feature comes back periodically, though. For like a split second. Just to taunt you.

  67. 67.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    November 6, 2009 at 2:18 pm

    Hopefully Ed or Rachel will put together an 11/6 project that helps us connect the dots, rein in out-of-control spending and take back America and help put things back to the way they were before the worst terrorist attack on American soil since the last one. I’m sensing a real ratings opportunity here for the right demagogue.

  68. 68.

    Skepticat

    November 6, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    @Lyle4: Nuh uh, John took their puppy and enshrined it in a fabulous life, one so opulent that the pup looks back on its previous life and owner with disbelief and barely disguised disgust.

  69. 69.

    Bob In Pacifica

    November 6, 2009 at 2:19 pm

    Ronn Owens the “liberal” 9-12 a.m. talkshow host/dick on KGO-AM, San Francisco, just spent an hour disparaging how disrespectful Obama was after admitting he hadn’t seen the video.

    This is how it works, reverberating all around the tubes.

    If only the President had worn a sombrero and pretended to play guitar.

  70. 70.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    November 6, 2009 at 2:22 pm

    @Bob In Pacifica:

    If only the President had worn a sombrero and pretended to play guitar.

    President Obama is prolly saving his hurricane attire for the busy part of the season.

  71. 71.

    smiley

    November 6, 2009 at 2:23 pm

    This is definitely the right-wing talking point of the day. I’ve seen/heard is several places. That said, this should have been predictable. I guess the president and his political staff felt it was more important to be polite to his hosts than to launch right into his statement about Ft. Hood. I can see it both ways. Even if he did go right into his statement about Ft. Hood, though, the right wing would criticize him for not going immediately back to the WH when he heard or canceling if he heard before he left the WH. They ignore what Bush did on 9/11 but that really was a very different circumstance.

  72. 72.

    licensed to kill time

    November 6, 2009 at 2:29 pm

    @Stooleo:

    I love how the worst of W’s flaws are now projected onto Obama. They can’t even think up some different flaws.

    This. Exactly.
    It’s like they were afraid to see/say the Emperor had no clothes during the W fiasco, but now somehow they “see” all those things in Obama. I think people are taking their stored up rage at W and – unconsciously or not – letting it all out now. PTSD, indeed.

  73. 73.

    Ash Can

    November 6, 2009 at 2:31 pm

    Sorry, John, it’s never going to stop. Busted, rusted tools like kelly up there are living proof. The Robert Georges and kellies of the world are all saying, “I don’t like Obama and this is why and if you tell me any of my reasons are wrong, then you’re wrong, and shut up, that’s why.” Period. They refuse to face any semblance of reality, and it’s a fool’s errand to try to make them do so. No matter what happens, they find a way to twist it into something bad about Obama. Because if they don’t, their narrative implodes, and that would be intolerable to them.

    Only truly strong and principled people can recognize it, admit it, and accept it when their beliefs are shown to be baseless. You are among them; Robert George and kelly evidently are not, at least at this point. They may yet evolve too, but it’s no use fretting about it in the meantime.

  74. 74.

    someguy

    November 6, 2009 at 2:32 pm

    Gotta love the wingers.

    Slaughter shitloads of muslims, make ’em second class citizens, when one cracks as a result of systematic abuse use the isolated an excuse for further racism and religious discrimination, and when the President fails to faint dead away at the news call him an unamurrican traitor, and use the stack of dead bodies to call for less gun control.

    As expected, this shooting is a big win for conservatives. Too. Also.

  75. 75.

    Llelldorin

    November 6, 2009 at 2:32 pm

    @geg6:

    What was he supposed to do?

    In the eyes of the wingnuts? Not be President. Everything else is details, and usually hallucinatory ones.

  76. 76.

    Leelee for Obama

    November 6, 2009 at 2:35 pm

    @Llelldorin: FT m-f’in Win!

    His greatest offense is being President while they don’t want him to be President!

  77. 77.

    Comrade Kevin

    November 6, 2009 at 2:35 pm

    If Obama had gone all weepy, these same morons would be attacking him for not showing a stiff upper lip during what was happening. They were going to attack him for what he said, no matter what it was, or how it was delivered.

  78. 78.

    Bob (Not B.o.B.)

    November 6, 2009 at 2:38 pm

    Don’t forget, these same asses were condemning Obama for meeting the caskets of fallen soldiers at Dover AFB about a week ago.

    Which is it guys, should he support the dead troops or not?

  79. 79.

    tomvox1

    November 6, 2009 at 2:40 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    Totally agree with the “funny” Native American name contributing to this meme. If it was some Respectable White Male from the Chamber of Commerce with a name like “Tom Donohue” who was being saluted by the Prez, this whole “inappropriately light” attack (which has morphed pretty quickly into “He Hates Our Troops!”) would not be nearly as possible to attempt.

  80. 80.

    Chi-city

    November 6, 2009 at 2:41 pm

    But he not being partisan enough………..

  81. 81.

    Erik Vanderhoff

    November 6, 2009 at 2:41 pm

    @Bob in Pacifica: I heard Ronn Owens going off on that claptrap as I was on my way to a meeting. Ronn raises “political moderation” to the level of a fetish and gives it fellatio on air every morning.

  82. 82.

    RJ

    November 6, 2009 at 2:50 pm

    Poor widdle B.O.B. — he gots his widdle feelings hurt. Maybe mommy will kiss it all better.

    As a middle-aged white guy, I can guarantee you that there is nothing more pathetic and whiny than a middle-aged white conservative American man. It makes me sick that I look like them.

    Do us all a favor, BOB — unplug your computer and go mutter to your fellow adolescents.

  83. 83.

    Elie

    November 6, 2009 at 2:50 pm

    LeeLee @ #3

    Yes. This:

    “from “The Waste Land”, I think, is: “the only way out is through”. We are gonna have to learn to let this crap flow around us and away, cause nothing will stop it.”

    This is it. Deep wisdom here.

  84. 84.

    justinslot

    November 6, 2009 at 2:51 pm

    BOB @comment 9: That was the greatest BOBbery I’ve seen in some time. Kudos to whoever’s doing him this week.

  85. 85.

    Elie

    November 6, 2009 at 2:55 pm

    Ya know, it ocurrs to me that as bad as it is, Obama’s personality makes it easier.

    He is totally unflappable and moves along calmly and with maturity and dignity. He gives us the model as per LeeLee’s post @ #3..he/we have to go through the crap. He learned/we will learn, to let [it] flow around us and away”…

  86. 86.

    mcc

    November 6, 2009 at 2:58 pm

    They’re way ahead of you.

    WND claims Ft. Hood shooter “advised” Obama transition team

  87. 87.

    Nellcote

    November 6, 2009 at 3:02 pm

    Is it premature to be worried that Prez. Obama plans to attend funeral services in Texas?

  88. 88.

    Leelee for Obama

    November 6, 2009 at 3:04 pm

    @Elie: @Elie:

    Thanks, Elie! I think you’re right about Obama. I said something about this during the Primaries and the campaign, when people would get upset with his calm demeanor, especially when the attacks were about his name and possible Muslim connections. The President has been Barack Hussein Obama all of his life, and most especially, since 911. He’s learned how to deal with the shitstorms that happen. If he hadn’t, he’d be a practicing attorney and a Law Prof at the University of Chicago, and not have to put up with the Daily Noise. It’s a mitzvah that he decided to try and help his Country, knowing fully half of it would be breaking his shoes the whole time.

  89. 89.

    Leelee for Obama

    November 6, 2009 at 3:08 pm

    @Nellcote: You’re joking, right?

  90. 90.

    Xanthippas

    November 6, 2009 at 3:14 pm

    Great. A shooting is the only reason that anybody (that asshole included) is paying any attention to the Tribal Nations Conference. Even in a mass shooting, the Natives get screwed.

  91. 91.

    Nellcote

    November 6, 2009 at 3:15 pm

    @Leelee for Obama:

    You’re joking, right?

    Not at all. I try to surpress the worry always but that announcement creeped me out.

  92. 92.

    Leelee for Obama

    November 6, 2009 at 3:18 pm

    @Nellcote: Crap! I understand the desire-but I really question the wisdom. The Secret Service guys must be freaking out.

  93. 93.

    slippy

    November 6, 2009 at 3:21 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill: F you. BoB. F yourself running.

  94. 94.

    Leelee for Obama

    November 6, 2009 at 3:26 pm

    @Xanthippas: Ain’t it always the way? The dignity of the Native Americans under the circumstances just gives me chills. I watched the Code-Talkers testifying a few years ago, and one was asked, by Night-Horse Campbell, why he volunteered, given how badly the Native Americans had been treated. His response was that the Japanese had attacked HIS country, and, of course, he wanted to volunteer. It was his duty. So simple, calm and dignified. It made me cry with pride and be ashamed at the same time. The white European woman’s cross.

  95. 95.

    slippy

    November 6, 2009 at 3:28 pm

    @kelly: You’re going to give yourself a herniated disc, or possibly a dislocated shoulder, you’re reaching so hard.

    Give up, you pathetic loser.

  96. 96.

    slippy

    November 6, 2009 at 3:30 pm

    @Bob (Not B.o.B.): Conservatives ALWAYS have to have things both ways. You can ask a conservative the same question twice in one week and get two contradictory and equally pathetic answers, depending on which dead horse they’re bashing the shit out of.

  97. 97.

    Leelee for Obama

    November 6, 2009 at 3:33 pm

    @slippy: It has been seen happening simultaneously, on video. They have mastered talking out of both sides of their mouths.

  98. 98.

    wag

    November 6, 2009 at 3:33 pm

    @Reason60

    When I see the rightwing now, I am reminded more and more about the left in the 1970’s.

    I’ve had exactly the same thought. And just as the press (which may have been liberal in the ’70s) overplayed the influence of the Left in the 70’s and 80’s, so the press (which is clearly NOT liberal now) seems to be overplaying the influence of the Right on everyday voters now. I was blind to the pattern during the 70’s and 80’s, because I refused to believe that my fellow American’s could be taken in by Ray-gun’s BS. I hope that my faith in the American people is correct this time around, and that the GOP is facing a similar 20-30 years in the political wilderness.

  99. 99.

    uri

    November 6, 2009 at 3:41 pm

    @kelly: I had 8 years of feeling exactly what you describe. A low, thrumming fear that the man sitting in the Oval Office was out of his depth and leading the country towards ruin. I’m very familiar with the feeling and I don’t feel it now. Nowadays I fear that the country is now so irrevocably screwed up that no one can fix it.

    Also, fuck you and your “white…guilt.” How stupid do you have to be to look at every other president elected in our nation’s history and conclude that being biracial is an advantage?

  100. 100.

    wag

    November 6, 2009 at 3:42 pm

    Just in case anyone here hasn’t seen how disempathetic (if that isn’t a word, then it should be) our POTUS was yesterday

  101. 101.

    Hubris

    November 6, 2009 at 3:44 pm

    Actually, the section you quoted is the part George described as “measured and appropriate,” so it’s hard to decide whether or not your post is more stupid than his.

  102. 102.

    wag

    November 6, 2009 at 3:45 pm

    D— it, I can’t ever get my links to attach at this site. When I use the link tool above, what else do I need to do to get my link to attach?

  103. 103.

    licensed to kill time

    November 6, 2009 at 3:51 pm

    @wag: Do you use Firefox? If so, here’s a nifty text formatting toolbar that makes it real easy to paste links. I’ve never been able to use the “link” button on the comments box to make anything stick.

  104. 104.

    Trinity

    November 6, 2009 at 4:11 pm

    @wag: I’m not sure what you are trying to do but when I want to link something in a comment I just type in the text I want to have hyperlinked, highlight the text, then push the link button and add the URL.

    Works for me every time.

    Good luck!

  105. 105.

    licensed to kill time

    November 6, 2009 at 4:15 pm

    Hmm, lemme try that : “scozzafavaed” makes Urban Dictionary today!

  106. 106.

    licensed to kill time

    November 6, 2009 at 4:20 pm

    @Trinity: that works! thanks, Trinity.

    I still maintain that until such time as this site gets the superduper upgrade, an FAQ entry on how to reply using the arrow, blockquote without looking like a fool, and linking etc would be Very Handy Indeed. I see folks (myself included) trying and failing and asking how to? all the time.

  107. 107.

    chrome agnomen

    November 6, 2009 at 4:24 pm

    obama could make a lot of the criticism go away if only he’d wear a flight suit 24/7 with an oversized codpiece built in.
    also. mission accomplished. too.

  108. 108.

    Randy P

    November 6, 2009 at 4:27 pm

    @wag: Took me three tries today.

    First of all, the link button will put your opening <a href=”blah blah”> tag in there. Then you put your text. But then you have to put </a> afterward.

    I’m familiar enough with HTML to check that stuff out. But the thing after the “href” kept screwing up on me. It took me three tries to get one where I’d properly made sure that “http” occurred only once after my copy and paste, that it was followed by the proper colon and backslashes “http://” and that everything else was the way I intended it to be.

    Now without the preview I have no idea whether I just did the right things so that you see what look like HTML tags up there but they don’t actually act like HTML tags. We’ll see. Pressing “Submit” in 3… 2… 1…

  109. 109.

    chrome agnomen

    November 6, 2009 at 4:27 pm

    know who else had trouble block quoting?

    that’s right.

  110. 110.

    Randy P

    November 6, 2009 at 4:32 pm

    @Randy P:

    Now without the preview I have no idea whether I just did the right things so that you see what look like HTML tags up there but they don’t actually act like HTML tags.

    Nope. What I did would have worked on a webpage, but this software apparently took my codes, turned them into HTML and then translated them one more time.

    Here’s another stab at what I was trying to say. The link button creates your opening &lt;a href=”blah blah”&gt; but you have to add the &lt;/a&gt; at the end.

    Or maybe this formatting will work: The link button creates your opening <>but you have to add the <> at the end.

  111. 111.

    geg6

    November 6, 2009 at 4:34 pm

    @chrome agnomen:

    FTW

    LOL

  112. 112.

    licensed to kill time

    November 6, 2009 at 4:43 pm

    @Randy P: Do what Trinity says at #104. Super simple.

    @chrome agnomen: Snort!

  113. 113.

    bago

    November 6, 2009 at 4:44 pm

    Now watch this drive.

  114. 114.

    DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)

    November 6, 2009 at 4:51 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill: If you watched him, then you would know he wasn’t using a teleprompter.
     
    Do people really buy into this act of yours? Maybe the same people who buy into Glenn Beck’s act?

    Just like Glenn Beck and his followers, BoB has a firm grip on Reality. Like Glenn Beck and his followers, BoB has named his dick “Reality”.

  115. 115.

    kay

    November 6, 2009 at 5:07 pm

    It’s funny, because I heard this, and I knew they were going to seize on it.

  116. 116.

    wag

    November 6, 2009 at 5:08 pm

    A nice demonstration of empathy

  117. 117.

    wag

    November 6, 2009 at 5:09 pm

    Thanks Trinity! That rocks

  118. 118.

    kay

    November 6, 2009 at 5:19 pm

    @wag:

    But you’re objecting to seeing it, right? I mean, he had to give remarks at the end of the conference, so that would have occurred under nearly any set of circumstances, because he had to do that, as part of his duties. But you wouldn’t have known.
    So what you’re objecting to is seeing the transition in the ordinary schedule, a schedule that would have been followed, because there was no reason to completely shut the joint down.
    What you would like is better stage managing? You don’t want to see the President going from laying a wreath to joking with the winning basketball team, because that’s what President’s do, every day, those sort of transitions.

  119. 119.

    Nellcote

    November 6, 2009 at 5:38 pm

    I don’t get it. What was the President’s “joke”?

  120. 120.

    Mnemosyne

    November 6, 2009 at 5:50 pm

    @Nellcote:

    The right thinks that Dr. Joe Medicine Crow’s name is funny, so therefore Obama was making a joke by addressing him by his name.

  121. 121.

    Mnemosyne

    November 6, 2009 at 5:53 pm

    @Hubris:

    Actually, the section you quoted is the part George described as “measured and appropriate,” so it’s hard to decide whether or not your post is more stupid than his.

    Well, there’s an easy way to find out, isn’t there? Let’s look at Obama’s actual remarks, as posted on the White House’s website:

    THE PRESIDENT: Please, everybody have a seat. Let me first of all just thank Ken and the entire Department of the Interior staff for organizing just an extraordinary conference. I want to thank my Cabinet members and senior administration officials who participated today. I hear that Dr. Joe Medicine Crow was around, and so I want to give a shout-out to that Congressional Medal of Honor* winner. It’s good to see you. (Applause.)
    …
    My understanding is, is that you had an extremely productive conference. I want to thank all of you for coming and for your efforts, and I want to give you my solemn guarantee that this is not the end of a process but a beginning of a process, and that we are going to follow up. (Applause.) We are going to follow up. Every single member of my team understands that this is a top priority for us. I want you to know that, as I said this morning, this is not something that we just give lip service to. And we are going to keep on working with you to make sure that the first Americans get the best possible chances in life in a way that’s consistent with your extraordinary traditions and culture and values.
    …
    Now, I have to say, though, that beyond that, I plan to make some broader remarks about the challenges that lay ahead for Native Americans, as well as collaboration with our administration, but as some of you might have heard, there has been a tragic shooting at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas. We don’t yet know all the details at this moment; we will share them as we get them. What we do know is that a number of American soldiers have been killed, and even more have been wounded in a horrific outburst of violence.

    Wow, it sure was offensive the way he thanked the conference participants for coming and assured them that his administration will listen to them and help improve their lives before he addressed the situation at Fort Hood. What a monster.

  122. 122.

    Chris Dowd

    November 6, 2009 at 6:17 pm

    Obama can’t win with the reich wing no matter what he does. If he came out with a dower face and teared up they would have called him weak.

    It really is pathetic.

    And what makes this constant nit picking on quite literally everything Obama does- from the words he chooses to use (they are quite upset that he said “Shout out”) to his body language to how he swings a golf club- all the more hilarious is how utterly not conservative it is.

    They view the Presidency as some sort of Father figure who should lead the nation on all matters- re-assure us and coddle us like children.

    They are constantly talking about the “dignity” of the Presidency – and they act like if the President isn’t some perfect personification of America then the country is going to go down the crapper.

    Of course, it goes without saying that the Reich Wing did not have the same super heightened for proper etiquette when their Dear Leader was the Father. Yes- mocking the dozens of troops who had died while tasked to look for WMD in Iraq that Bush knew didn’t exist at a White House press dinner garnered no similiar reaction from reich wing whatsoever. That was “Funny”.

    I also note the constant reich wing appeals to “the troops” and how Obama hasn’t done this or that for them. This is central to the self image of the reich winger. They view the military as being “theirs”. It is the one institution of the Federal Government that is quite literally beyond any sort of serious criticism from the American right. Generals are Gods to the reich wing- beyond criticism. Any general who pens an autobiography is sure to be a best seller among their ranks. Militarism is central to the GOP legions today. They are constantly harping on Obama’s slights towards the sacred holy “troops”- which are all imagined.

    There is a sizable portion of the American right that would welcome a military coup in this country.

  123. 123.

    kay

    November 6, 2009 at 6:38 pm

    @Chris Dowd:

    They view the Presidency as some sort of Father figure who should lead the nation on all matters- re-assure us and coddle us like children.

    I agree with that, generally, that conservatives want a Daddy-President.

    The fact is, though, the White House is the President’s workplace, and a part of his day is spent checking boxes at appearances, like this conference event. Unless he’s in a bunker somewhere, he’s following the schedule that landed on his desk in the morning.

    I would assume all President’s have to move in and out of various roles, probably somewhat mechanically, all day long. I don’t know what he does after he lays a wreath at Arlington, but it isn’t “sit in a chair and weep uncontrollably”. But we don’t see the next event.

  124. 124.

    Armando

    November 6, 2009 at 7:35 pm

    This schmuck criticizes Pres. Obama for his delay in addressing a crisis that killed Americans.

    Wasn’t that really Pres. Bush on 9/11 when he sat there and continued to read “My Pet Goat” to a group of schoolkids after he was told that the first tower had been hit?

  125. 125.

    Jeff Fecke

    November 7, 2009 at 12:38 am

    Wasn’t that really Pres. Bush on 9/11 when he sat there and continued to read “My Pet Goat” to a group of schoolkids after he was told that the first tower had been hit?

    He did that for freedom and liberty and democracy, whiskey, sexy! Also, shut up!

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