Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

This really is a full service blog.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

No one could have predicted…

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

The revolution will be supervised.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

The words do not have to be perfect.

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

People are complicated. Love is not.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

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

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Reader Interactions

41Comments

  1. 1.

    demkat620

    But Mark Halperin said this was all good news for Sarah Palin.

    And Tweety says he’s dithering and has too many chins stuck out.

    How can they be wrong?

  2. 2.

    valdivia

    Maybe our political journalists can go live in china for a year so they learn how to cover the news?

    This week the insanity of the Village is at a maximum–a total ignoramus is getting wall to wall coverage for having a book written for her and our president who by all accounts of those who know did well on this trip is getting savaged for not punching the chinese in the mouth. Huh?

  4. 4.

    Napoleon

    Our press is so catastrophically bad its hard to put into words. The whole institution really needs to burn to the ground.

    Oh, and as usual Fallows nails it.

  5. 5.

    JK

    James Fallows rules. He’s one of the reasons why the Atlantic is still worth reading.

    @demkat620:

    Chris Matthews acted like such a supreme asshole last night with his obnoxious bullying of Steven Gillon, I wish a grand piano would fall on top of his fucking head.

  6. 6.

    Derelict

    To be fair, the U.S. media had much more important stories to cover–stories that had a direct and dramatic impact on everyone’s day-to-day life.

    Like Sarah’s track shorts on the cover of NewsLeak.

    Michelle Obama’s arms.

    The gender balance of White House basketball games.

  7. 7.

    valdivia

    @JenJen:

    what is surprising to me is that all the lemming from the Village said word for word the same thing and those who live in china and know china had a completely different sense of what the trip was about. Also–our media seem not to think maybe they should say how the local media covers things, but no, the horse race is so much better way of assessing things no?

  8. 8.

    Cat Lady

    Whichever commenter here said that the epitaph of this country will read “killed by a story arc” has won the internets. The Village must be destroyed in order to save the village.

  10. 10.

    kay

    It really was shameful. I was embarrassed at how the media completely ignored the countries and people the visit was intended for, and focused solely on American impressions and American views. It’s not subtle, this message they are sending. “What you over there think does not matter”.
    And I’m hardly an “internationalist world traveler”, or whatever Chris Matthews is calling people who know more than him. If I picked it up, loud and clear, it’s gotta be pretty bad.
    We really have to get our heads out of our asses and look around a little.

  13. 13.

    kay

    @valdivia:

    those who live in china and know china had a completely different sense of what the trip was about

    Well, we’ll never know, will we? And, really, who the hell cares?
    Ugh. Talk about complete failure covering the point of the trip.
    I keep waiting for one of them to break ranks and just say “I’m not following the script” but it never happens. That profession must reward conformity. There’s no other explanation for the complete adherence to the meme.

  17. 17.

    Violet

    @kay:

    We really have to get our heads out of our asses and look around a little.

    Same as it ever was. Americans think they’re the center of the world. The media is no different.

  18. 18.

    JenJen

    @valdivia: To be honest, the only appropriate reaction to Tish Durkin’s quote would be to roll myself into a ball of depression. It’s sad.

    I want my country back! And I’m not kidding.

  19. 19.

    JK

    @donovong:

    Bill Clinton is free to do whatever he pleases, but it’s disappointing that he felt compelled to take a cheap shot at Keith Olbermann. Sure, Olbermann has his faults, but Clinton didn’t need to go there.

  20. 20.

    Rey

    Tweety has officially lost me as a viewer. Rachel Maddow is the only show I watch for real information, Keith O is my entertainment.
    I can not wait until October 2011 when Oprah Winfrey ventures into the cables. My 75 yo mom has been mentioning lately how awful and biased the news is now. When you lose the 75 year old crowd, you really suck!

  21. 21.

    Beauzeaux

    The news media will continue to suck as long as it remains legal for a very tiny number of hands to own and control nearly all media. Maybe the laws we used to have regarding the concentration of media ownership weren’t such a bad idea after all.

  22. 22.

    kay

    @valdivia:

    It might be just my impression, but I thought something interesting happened. The reporters who were actually there made an initial effort to cover the events, including some sound bite tidbits about, oh, where they were. They appeared charged up and actually interested in what was happening.
    It seemed to change. It was if they were speaking with the media people here, and they “got” the script, and the tone of their reporting changed. They adopted the US media approach, which was essentially completely dismissive of what the people there might think.
    I ended up thinking it was a waste of time and money to actually send them. They can do “what might be the American impression of Obama today” from the studio, and save on time and travel. Sad.

  23. 23.

    Rey

    btw- about the President’s chin thing, I recently saw a photo of Malia Obama and her chin was positioned in the same way. I guess this 10 y.o. looks down on her Barbies as well….

  24. 24.

    Leelee for Obama

    @Violet: The media is worse. Americans, for the most part, are self-centered fools. Those of us who expand our knowledge of an issue are generally considered obsessed. It is the job of the media to cut through the misconceptions of those who think the world revolves around our every need and want. Instead, they play the horse-race game, get giddy over politicians on both sides, buy into the center-right nation horseshit with no proof and propagate their crap as truth.

    So, they are worse, because they supposedly attended journalism classes to learn how to do their jobs. I really am sick of them.

  26. 26.

    kay

    @Rey:

    I don’t even want to know. There is a “chin thing”?

    Christ almighty. Let me guess. He holds his head in such a way as to offend….someone?

    Is there a poll on it yet?

  27. 27.

    Leelee for Obama

    @JK: All Bill had to do was decline and not give a reason, but, no, he had to trash Keith. There must still be some bad blood there after Keith let him and Hillary have it last year during the primaries. It makes Bill look small-he should know better. He knows how important this is, and pushing Ms. Lincoln is as necessary as showing her what her State is suffering.

  28. 28.

    Napoleon

    @JK:

    Why do you think he is taking a cheep shot? Here is an alternate read, that he is basically threatening Lincoln that she had better go along with HCR, but the way he is doing it is pointing to someone else as the threat. I think he is putting pressure on Lincoln by suggesting there is a downside to stabbing the Dems in the back. I am glad he said it.

  29. 29.

    Rey

    @kay

    Of course, 82.98% of Fox news viewers believe he is a snob, oh and because he is half Black- he is uppity– also…

  31. 31.

    valdivia

    You know what would be great–a news channel that only shows clips of things that happen every day *without* commentary of narration. That way the people can make up their minds what is happening. Like the traffic flow channel where you see the cars go by? I want to same for news. Clips of Obama abroad, clips of congress debating stuff, etc. If we cut out the news people I think we would be better informed as a nation.

  32. 32.

    Leelee for Obama

    @valdivia: This is one reason why c-span has been around so long. They are not perfect, but they keep their opinions to themselves. Now, if they could stop giving nutcases a forum on WJ, it would be better. And I’m not just talking about the phone calls.

  33. 33.

    kay

    @valdivia:

    I just don’t want them making me out to be a big stupid lout who doesn’t care anything at all about anything besides my own narrow interests.
    I don’t want their attitude to be considered representative of my interests.
    It isn’t.

  34. 34.

    Leelee for Obama

    @Maude: Sadly, it seems so. I didn’t find myself noticing it all the time, but it gets more obvious as time passes. Last year was a surprise-not that they shouldn’t fight, but I though they were both politcally smarter than they seemed during the primaries. And the petty stuff got under my skin right off.

  35. 35.

    valdivia

    @Leelee for Obama:

    yep CSpan. I wish they could replace cnn and co.

    Kay–I dont want any of these village people representing me in any way. they are awful. and they represent the worse of the worse in me me me-ism.

  37. 37.

    Leelee for Obama

    @valdivia: Actually, WE could replace CNN et al with C-Span. Just say no the all the others-and write to them and tell them why. If they really are about money-things might change. That’s the free-market, ain’t it?

  38. 38.

    Nellcote

    Does Bill realize they wouldn’t even be having a free clinic in Ark. if it wasn’t for the “politicizing” by Keith?

  39. 39.

    Brachiator

    @valdivia:

    You know what would be great—a news channel that only shows clips of things that happen every day without commentary of narration. That way the people can make up their minds what is happening.

    I don’t know. Context is important. One of the little nuggets that I really liked in the “Obama visits China” story was this:

    They give him credit for holding his own umbrella in the rain, thereby emitting a humanity and a humility that they rarely see in their own, distant leaders.

    There is no way to explain this via soundless news clips.

  40. 40.

    valdivia

    @Brachiator:

    true, unfortunately *that* will never get reported. if the context given was the right context instead of the horse race crap, yes we need it otherwise we get Obama and his chin being out sorts of comments.

  41. 41.

    Brachiator

    @valdivia:

    true, unfortunately that will never get reported. if the context given was the right context instead of the horse race crap, yes we need it otherwise we get Obama and his chin being out sorts of comments.

    Yep. Much of the media depends on lame templates which can be quickly doled out with easily-digestible empty filler.

    By contrast, another Tish Durkin piece, a remembrance of her own family’s values, demonstrates the power of even a small, but telling observation:

    Those photos reminded me of the many summers when my parents held picnics on our front lawn for an organization that aided low-income, visually impaired people. On the eve of one such event, my sister and I were trying to talk sense into my mother, who was ironing and re-ironing tablecloths for people who wouldn’t be able to see the tables, let alone the cloths, let alone the wrinkles in the cloths.
    …
    “Mom, it’s 3 a.m. Why are you ironing linens for people who can’t even see them?”
    …
    “Guests are guests,” she purred.
    …
    The next day, a guest sat down at one of the tables, felt for her fork, and hesitated. After a second, she started to run her hands over the freshly pressed tablecloth, and sighed a sigh that shamed me: “I knew this was going to be nice.”

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