• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

White supremacy is terrorism.

Do we throw up our hands or do we roll up our sleeves? (hint, door #2)

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

They want us to be overwhelmed and exhausted. Focus. Resist. Oppose.

Hell hath no fury like a farmer bankrupted.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

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

Dear elected officials: Trump is temporary, dishonor is forever.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

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

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Mobile Menu

  • 4 Directions VA 2025 Raffle
  • 2025 Activism
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / I don’t really think that the end can be assessed as of itself as being the end

I don’t really think that the end can be assessed as of itself as being the end

by DougJ|  May 28, 20102:56 pm| 125 Comments

This post is in: We Are All Mayans Now

FacebookTweetEmail

I read a lot of right-wing blogs as well as reasonable number of right-wing pundits now. I’m always struck by the fact that the pundits are generally more over-the-top with their rhetoric than the blogs are. Peggy Noonan today (via Sullvian):

The disaster in the Gulf may well spell the political end of the president and his administration

Sullivan, bless his soul, devotes an almost McArdlesque number of words to eviscerating this idiocy, but is that even necessary? Noonan is declaring the end of a presidency less than 18 months in as a result of a disaster that had more to do with the previous administration’s policies than anything else.

Whenever anyone talks about “the end” I like to watch this clip:

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Folks like us
Next Post: Blame it on the puppy »

Reader Interactions

125Comments

  1. 1.

    Corner Stone

    May 28, 2010 at 2:59 pm

    Good God! What’s that?? It’s…it’s…Joe Sestak! He’s come to kill us all!!
    This is the end…my friend. This is the end.

  2. 2.

    Moonbatting Average

    May 28, 2010 at 3:00 pm

    Huh, I thought Obama’s presidency had failed sometime in February of 2009 or so

  3. 3.

    Lit3Bolt

    May 28, 2010 at 3:00 pm

    The horror of memes…the horror…

  4. 4.

    Zifnab

    May 28, 2010 at 3:01 pm

    Hasn’t the Iraq War taught Noonan anything? Clap harder you idiot! You’ll only win if you clap harder!

  5. 5.

    erlking

    May 28, 2010 at 3:02 pm

    Nooners needs to put the g&t down and step away. There’s still a chance her surviving brain cells can be saved.

  6. 6.

    Corner Stone

    May 28, 2010 at 3:02 pm

    Well, if Deepwater Horizon doesn’t kill Obama’s presidency then it’s obvious Joe Sestak will.

  7. 7.

    licensed to kill time

    May 28, 2010 at 3:04 pm

    It’s the end of Obama and Noonan knows it
    and she feels fine

  8. 8.

    JCT

    May 28, 2010 at 3:05 pm

    @erlking:

    What surviving brain cells?

    She is a mind-numbing maroon.

    With any luck the Wonketeers are carving up her missive right now, something to look forward to.

  9. 9.

    GambitRF

    May 28, 2010 at 3:06 pm

    Shouldn’t we look forward and not backward at the oil spill? That was Noonan’s philosophy for when we tortured the shit out of people.

  10. 10.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    May 28, 2010 at 3:07 pm

    @GambitRF: Only if it means we’re twirling towards freedom.

  11. 11.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    May 28, 2010 at 3:07 pm

    By my count this is the five gazillionth end for Obama (the nominee or president). Clearly the fact that he keeps going proves he’s an Islamozombie.

  12. 12.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    May 28, 2010 at 3:08 pm

    Sometimes I get the sneaking suspicion that the Dolphin Lady just ain’t that bright.

    I do not know what the Democratic Party spent, in toto, on the 2004 election, but what they seem to have gotten for it is Barack Obama. Let us savor.
    “So Much to Savor” in The Wall Street Journal (4 November 2004)

  13. 13.

    square1

    May 28, 2010 at 3:08 pm

    If we are lucky, the disaster will spell the end of liberal Democrats marching in near lockstep with Blue-Dog/Third-Way Democrats like Obama. But, still, I doubt even that will happen.

  14. 14.

    Midnight Marauder

    May 28, 2010 at 3:08 pm

    @kommrade reproductive vigor:

    By my count this is the five gazillionth end for Obama (the nominee or president). Clearly the fact that he keeps going proves he’s an Islamozombie.

    I, for one, welcome our new zombie presidential overlords.

  15. 15.

    Mark S.

    May 28, 2010 at 3:10 pm

    God she’s a total fucking idiot. I am curious, though, why this is Obama’s third political disaster. What were the other two? Giving the Queen an iPod? Chicago not getting the Olympics? Scott Brown?

  16. 16.

    Corner Stone

    May 28, 2010 at 3:10 pm

    @Midnight Marauder: Aren’t you forgetting something?

  17. 17.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    May 28, 2010 at 3:10 pm

    Lent began yesterday, and I mean to give up a great deal, as you would too if you were me. One of the things I mean to give up is the habit of thinking it and not saying it. A lady has some rights, and this happens to be one I can assert. “You are embarrassing the angels.” This is what I intend to say for the next 40 days whenever I see someone who is hurting the culture, hurting human dignity, denying the stature of a human being.
    “Embarrassing the Angels” in The Wall Street Journal (2 March 2006)

  18. 18.

    handy

    May 28, 2010 at 3:10 pm

    @JCT:

    Hey at least she was right about Sarah Palin, you know, when she didn’t know the mic was on and thought no one was listening. She’ll always have that.

  19. 19.

    sherifffruitfly

    May 28, 2010 at 3:12 pm

    (shrug) No different from what I see the self-proclaimed “true progressives” whining about hour after hour. They seem to enjoy cycling between calling it Katrina, Chernobyl, and Hiroshima.

  20. 20.

    MattF

    May 28, 2010 at 3:13 pm

    Noonan has a deep need to worship authority figures. Reagan, John Paul, the P-P-P-President, even if the current Prez happens to be a soshalist Kenyan. It’s an unfortunate thing, because she’s not, otherwise, a dummy. But because the President is, in this case, vexed and confounded by the laws of physical reality, he’s a failure.

  21. 21.

    ruemara

    May 28, 2010 at 3:13 pm

    @Mark S.:
    3rd? It really is closer to a gazillion.

    scott brown
    tea party
    waterloo HCR
    unemployment
    drill baby drill
    “he will be tested”
    Queen iPod
    Arugula
    Gardengate
    Dijongate
    Too Visible
    Not Visible
    Spock
    Testy
    Professor
    etcetcetc

  22. 22.

    me

    May 28, 2010 at 3:13 pm

    Why doesn’t Noonan just walk on by?

  23. 23.

    Corner Stone

    May 28, 2010 at 3:14 pm

    I’m not sure Mariska Hargitay could be any more flat out attractive.

  24. 24.

    Shawn in ShowMe

    May 28, 2010 at 3:14 pm

    “The disaster in the Gulf may well spell the political end of the president and his administration.”

    Reminds me of when Jack D. Ripper declared that fluoridation would lead to contamination of everyone’s precious bodily fluids.

  25. 25.

    Sentient Puddle

    May 28, 2010 at 3:14 pm

    I’m disappointed in your description of Sully’s post. A McArdlesque post would have been at least three times as long, and still wouldn’t have managed to say anything.

  26. 26.

    cyntax

    May 28, 2010 at 3:15 pm

    What’s even better is that I’m sure Nooners doesn’t believe it’s the end. Remember when that hot mike caught what she really thought of Caribou Barbie back in the day? Our punditocracy just spins the day’s events to their respective side’s advantage and Nooner’s just throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks and to justify her take home pay.

  27. 27.

    kay

    May 28, 2010 at 3:17 pm

    @Mark S.:

    Pundits believed that the Fort Hood shootings and the Christmas attempted bombing and the Times Square attempted bombings were political disasters.

    No regular person has ever been able to persuade them otherwise.

    I don’t know if they’re right that this is a political disaster.

    I don’t recall them pushing a theme this blatantly and constantly and uniformly though, so clearly they’re confident.

  28. 28.

    Brandon

    May 28, 2010 at 3:17 pm

    I guess that most people have no clue who Peggy Noonan is and if somebody told them, “she’s a former Reagan speech writer with an opinion column in the Wall Street Journal”, they’d probably shrug and say so what.

    But I do really get the sense that people in the village don’t really pay attention to her and what she opines on. She seems to be more widely regarded as a personality than anything else. I think the last time she has written anything relevant that “shaped opinion” in the village was her diatribes against Hillary during the Clinton administration. How long ago was that?

    I do get the sense that she is trying to reassert herself as relevant again, but she’s without practice and no one has been alerted that we are supposed to take her seriously now, particularly in the village. And with the way the media landscape has changed, she may have a hard time getting relevant again unless she can do the full Malkin, which may cause a bit of a stir among her Georgetown dinner party set.

    Am I the only one who sees this? And what important piece of analysis or “stinging” rebuke could she deliver Obama considering the din of crazy that is already evident among conservative opinion makers. She says his administration ended after 18 months? Well Rush Limbaugh, who’s far more influential, already came to that conclusion 17 months and 29 days ago.

  29. 29.

    Mike Kay

    May 28, 2010 at 3:19 pm

    It would be nice to match up what Noonan said after the actual Katrina.

  30. 30.

    QuaintIrene

    May 28, 2010 at 3:22 pm

    3rd? It really is closer to a gazillion.

    Don’t forget Bo. The fact that he was both not a rescue dog and a gift from Ted Kennedy.
    I think the funniest thing about that whole thing, was when the story broke about them finally getting the dog, wingnuttia was in a hissy fit cause they were convinced Obama named the dog after himself.

  31. 31.

    Mike Kay

    May 28, 2010 at 3:22 pm

    @cyntax:

    What’s even better is that I’m sure Nooners doesn’t believe it’s the end. Remember when that hot mike caught what she really thought of Caribou Barbie back in the day?

    Yes, she was bitching about how republicans always go for “narrative” (her word) instead of substance.

    Heh!

  32. 32.

    Brandon

    May 28, 2010 at 3:25 pm

    @sherifffruitfly: Well if there is anyone who can destroy a good soundbite it’s progressives. I hope they keep it up because pretty soon they will equatheir connect the spill to globalization, which will confuse things so much that no one will know what they are talking about. Firebaggers might be useful afterall, if they can muddy the GOP rinse-and-repeat talking points enough, it will make them worthless. Fred Luntz’s worst nightmare will come true, as firebaggers will destroy his message discipline.

  33. 33.

    Mike Kay

    May 28, 2010 at 3:26 pm

    @sherifffruitfly:

    No different from what I see the self-proclaimed “true progressives” whining about hour after hour. They seem to enjoy cycling between calling it Katrina, Chernobyl, and Hiroshima.

    Which “true progs” would that be? Tweety?

  34. 34.

    eemom

    May 28, 2010 at 3:28 pm

    damn, I was so hoping y’all would keep walking when you saw Noonan’s latest drivel.

    There is a lot to be said for just tuning out when certain names are mentioned.

  35. 35.

    FormerSwingVoter

    May 28, 2010 at 3:28 pm

    @sherifffruitfly:

    They seem to enjoy cycling between calling it Katrina, Chernobyl, and Hiroshima.

    This is Obama’s Katrinobyshima.

  36. 36.

    licensed to kill time

    May 28, 2010 at 3:30 pm

    @Mike Kay:

    Hurricane Katrina: the good, the bad, the let’s shoot them now by Noonan 2005 WSJ

    a taste:

    The media. Excellent as always in time of crisis. We all love to hate them, but when a story like this comes along you’re glad Anderson Cooper decided to stand there up to his butt in snakes and alligators to tell you about the city that’s become a swamp. You’re glad the anchors are so crisp and contained, you’re glad Brian Williams is in the Superdome telling you what’s going on. They’re rich and celebrated, our media stars, but when stories like this come they earn it.

    Hunh.

  37. 37.

    Mike Kay

    May 28, 2010 at 3:30 pm

    @square1:

    If we are lucky, the disaster will spell the end of liberal Democrats marching in near lockstep with Blue-Dog/Third-Way Democrats like Obama. But, still, I doubt even that will happen.

    Hahahahahhahahhahahahahahahaha. And some of you wonder why I mock the firebaggers.

  38. 38.

    FlipYrWhig

    May 28, 2010 at 3:32 pm

    Peggy Noonan is just upset that the spill could diminish the Gulf’s population of magical Christian dolphins.

  39. 39.

    Mike Kay

    May 28, 2010 at 3:33 pm

    @licensed to kill time: nothing about the end of shrub’s presidency/power?

  40. 40.

    licensed to kill time

    May 28, 2010 at 3:35 pm

    Oh, and the Folks Like Us thread has been nuked by the Hyphen Bomb.

    Folks, just say No to hyphens !

  41. 41.

    Mike Kay

    May 28, 2010 at 3:36 pm

    anyone who compares the spill to katrina should be locked up.

    nearly 2,000 lives were lost in katrina from government fuck ups versus 11 lives lost from a private company’s greed.

  42. 42.

    Tom Hilton

    May 28, 2010 at 3:36 pm

    When I was in college some mumblemumble years ago, we threw an End of the World Party (which included, among other things, laundering student council money to buy 175 hits of acid). The world did not, in fact, end. I think we can extrapolate from that experience.

  43. 43.

    scav

    May 28, 2010 at 3:38 pm

    @Mike Kay: come come. That presidency was only to be judged by the ages and future historians until it ceased to have ever existed.

  44. 44.

    Tonal Crow

    May 28, 2010 at 3:38 pm

    Surely, for once, this is good news for John McCain?

  45. 45.

    licensed to kill time

    May 28, 2010 at 3:40 pm

    It was mostly a screed about the piggish looters:

    As for the tragic piggism that is taking place on the streets of New Orleans, it is not unbelievable but it is unforgivable, and I hope the looters are shot.

    But she said this about Bush:

    President Bush. The political subtext: Does he understand that what has happened in our gulf is as important as what is happening in the other gulf? Does he know in his gut that the existence of looting, chaos and disease in a great American city, or cities, is a terrible blow that may have deep implications? It was bad luck that on the day it became clear a bad storm was a catastrophe he was giving a major Iraq speech, and bad planning that he arrived back at the White House cradling a yippy puppy. But his Rose Garden statement was solid. Yes, it was a laundry list, but the kind that that gives an impression of comprehensive government action. Having the cabinet there was good. His concern was obvious. But more was needed in terms of sending a U.S. military presence into New Orleans.

    Quoted so you don’t have to read the whole thing.

  46. 46.

    Mike Kay

    May 28, 2010 at 3:42 pm

    I wonder if Peggy thought Exxon Valdez (March 1989 – two month into office) was the end of Bush Sr. power/presidency?

  47. 47.

    Tom Q

    May 28, 2010 at 3:42 pm

    This is something that’s been bugging me for a week or two. Can anyone tell me if, during the Exxon Valdez disaster, there was even the slightest attempt to say it was the president who ought to be blamed for it?

  48. 48.

    scav

    May 28, 2010 at 3:42 pm

    @scav: and no, please don’t ask me to parse that. I haven’t been so confused since I learned French has a Past Imperative. Thunk about it.

  49. 49.

    Rick Massimo

    May 28, 2010 at 3:42 pm

    Lent began yesterday, and I mean to give up a great deal, as you would too if you were me. One of the things I mean to give up is the habit of thinking it and not saying it.

    “I’m gonna give up the few times I don’t bitch at people who pis me off” is not what I remember Lenten pledges as being about. Then again, anyone who has an opinion col in the Wall Street Journal and thinks they don’t express their opinions enough is, um, unique.

    Of all the indictments of the Villagers, high on the list is that they take Peggy Noonan seriously because even though she’s a former Reagan speechwriter and a Republican operative of decades’ standing who hurls some of the most partisan invective out there, they think she’s calm, rational, fair and detached because she talks in that New Age/Spock voice. BTW, you have to read her columns in that voice. She’s really really SAD that this is the end of Obama’s presidency; that’s what “makes” her fair and objective.

  50. 50.

    Tom Q

    May 28, 2010 at 3:43 pm

    Wow, Mike Kay — mind meld.

  51. 51.

    Noonan

    May 28, 2010 at 3:43 pm

    Noonan (not me) also wrote a post-mortem to HCR last August. Money quote:

    He could still step back, rethink, say it didn’t work, promise to return with something better.

    When presidents make clear, with modesty and even some chagrin, that they have made a mistake but that they’ve learned a lesson and won’t be making it again, the American people tend to respond with sympathy. It is our tradition and our impulse.

    Such admissions are not a sign of weakness. John F. Kennedy knew this after the Bay of Pigs.

    Clearly she didn’t learn that wishing something was true doesn’t make it true.

  52. 52.

    handy

    May 28, 2010 at 3:43 pm

    @licensed to kill time:

    This really is a strange blog that way.

  53. 53.

    Mike Kay

    May 28, 2010 at 3:47 pm

    @licensed to kill time: Thanks! Just what I thought. To her, Bush’s governmental failure wasn’t bad, but BP’s failure is obama’s fault.

  54. 54.

    El Cid

    May 28, 2010 at 3:47 pm

    I depend on a former Reagan speechwriter (though she really was good) for my political analysis.

  55. 55.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    May 28, 2010 at 3:48 pm

    Noonan is declaring the end of a presidency less than 18 months in as a result of a disaster that had more to do with the previous administration’s policies than anything else.

    Thou Shalt Not Question the Story Arc. Also.

  56. 56.

    Ryan

    May 28, 2010 at 3:48 pm

    @Mike Kay:

    Is the Bush Era over? No, no, no. It has three more years. That’s a long time. History turns on a dime. There is much ahead, and potential for progress.

  57. 57.

    mistersnrub

    May 28, 2010 at 3:49 pm

    Noonan +6 Vodka Gimlets.

  58. 58.

    licensed to kill time

    May 28, 2010 at 3:49 pm

    @handy:

    Yes, there are all sorts of little traps laid for the unsuspecting commenter, like hyphens and asterisks. Kind of evil Easter eggs, as it were. Surprise! You nuked the place!

  59. 59.

    Mike Kay

    May 28, 2010 at 3:49 pm

    @Tom Q: The answer is no. But that’s because the media is scarred of saying anything negative about the republicans.

  60. 60.

    Mike Kay

    May 28, 2010 at 3:51 pm

    @Ryan: Peggy is so full of shit (and booze) she’s gonna float away.

  61. 61.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    May 28, 2010 at 3:51 pm

    OT: But you gotta be kidding me?

    BECK: “Did you plug the hole yet, daddy?” Is that’s their — that’s the level of their education, that they’re coming to — they’re coming to daddy and saying ‘Daddy, did you plug the hole yet?’ ” Plug the hole!

    Glenn Beck is questioning the education of the Obama family? Glenn Beck?

    My brain hurts.

  62. 62.

    Warren Terra

    May 28, 2010 at 3:52 pm

    Whatever happened to the tag “The failed Obama administration (only took two weeks)”?

    And is there a page listing (and linking) the tags?

  63. 63.

    Citizen_X

    May 28, 2010 at 3:52 pm

    That the Kenyan Usurper REFUSES to recognize how his presidency has ended multiple times is, itself, an impeachable offense. He must resign now and allow the coronation inauguration of President Palin and Vice-President Rand. The Constitution demands it.

    Speaking of which, Sort-of-Doctor Rand has decided that the Fourteenth Amendment doesn’t count. I guess this is because of the Tenth, which, after all, was first.

  64. 64.

    Mike Kay

    May 28, 2010 at 3:52 pm

    Sad News to report: Gary Coleman has passed away at age 42 from a stroke.

  65. 65.

    daveinboca

    May 28, 2010 at 3:55 pm

    Bush was blamed for the Katrina aftermath when it was a tangle of state, municipal [with an incompetent fuck-up as mayor] and fed jurisdictions overlapping and GWB took two days to get the ball rolling. As with the crotch-bomber and the Sestak bribe, it took over a week for Obama’s team of fucktards to get started, after super-fucktard Salazar had fucked up beforehand by granting BP various exemptions from the usual environmental and safety prequels to spudding a well. And the rig had received a Dept. of Interior award for safety late last year. How to cover up the insane incompetence of the Demo-rat administration?

    Lie, lie, lie and fire the one below the fucktard-in-chief Salazar!

    Noonan is right, and Obama’s goose is now slowly being basted as the state-controlled media can no longer be deaf, dumb, and blind to the pinball wizard’s serial fuck-ups.

  66. 66.

    licensed to kill time

    May 28, 2010 at 3:58 pm

    Tapa la boca, dave

  67. 67.

    Joseph Nobles

    May 28, 2010 at 4:00 pm

    @J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: It isn’t just questioning their education, but Glenn Beck imitating a child’s voice as Malia, going on and on as another speaker took up Barack’s role — just seeing how close he could get to pickaninny without actually going there.

    At least when Rush called Chelsea Clinton a dog on television, he had to pretend it was a mistake as it was happening. Beck unmercifully and unapologetically ridiculed the 11-year-old child of the President of the United States for an eternity on air.

  68. 68.

    asiangrrlMN

    May 28, 2010 at 4:01 pm

    @Mike Kay: Ha! You said scarred which actually fits, but I think you meant scared.

    I was going to metaphorically gird my loins and read the whole thing, but after the paragraph over how the acrimonious debate on healthcare and Obama’s apparent indifference to the concerns of voters about illegal immigration were his two first unforced catastrophes of his presidency (and remembering the clip I saw of her talking urgently on the need for bipartisanship during the healthcare debacle), I quit. I don’t need the taste of bile in my mouth, thankyewvery much. What a piece of trash she is. Genteel, of course, but trash, nonetheless.

  69. 69.

    frankdawg

    May 28, 2010 at 4:01 pm

    I think this is just yet another in a long line of whistling in the dark bullshit that Republican pundits do.

    You may not remember but Dave Berry was mocking this by always referring to it as “the failed Clinton Presidency” (quote marks and all) even before Clinton was sworn in in 92.

  70. 70.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    May 28, 2010 at 4:03 pm

    @daveinboca:

    Un-, your hinge has become

    /yoda

  71. 71.

    Citizen_X

    May 28, 2010 at 4:05 pm

    Bush was blamed for the Katrina aftermath

    As well as the Katrina foremath, and the math-math, and the math, to boot. All richly deserved.

  72. 72.

    WereBear

    May 28, 2010 at 4:06 pm

    @Mike Kay: Ah, man, that’s so sad.

    To peak at ten years old is some kind of cosmic sick humor.

  73. 73.

    licensed to kill time

    May 28, 2010 at 4:10 pm

    Glenn Beck once again lets his tiny, tiny mind off-leash.

  74. 74.

    DaBomb

    May 28, 2010 at 4:21 pm

    @daveinboca: Actually the Administration had people on the ground since the night of the oil spill.

    Why don’t you read first, before you spew your ignorance?

    http://www.whitehouse.gov/deepwater-bp-oil-spill/

  75. 75.

    Joseph Nobles

    May 28, 2010 at 4:22 pm

    Oh, now Glenn has apologized, so now it’s all better:

    In discussing how President Obama uses children to shield himself from criticism, I broke my own rule about leaving kids out of political debates. The children of public figures should be left on the sidelines. It was a stupid mistake and I apologize–and as a dad I should have known better.

    So this “apology”, at least four times shorter to read than the actual offensive diatribe, continues to attack President Obama for “using children to shield himself from criticism,” implying that Obama has just as shamefully used his own children the way Glenn Beck did, and then works Glenn Beck’s own children into the equation!

    I think I would have been whipped a second time if I’d offered an apology like that growing up.

  76. 76.

    bemused

    May 28, 2010 at 4:23 pm

    @J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:
    Beck making fun of an 11 yr & Rush making fun of Michael J Fox’s Parkinson tremors…both pieces of crap. They are prime examples of people who will stoop to anything to be filthy rich & famous.

  77. 77.

    Punchy

    May 28, 2010 at 4:24 pm

    @Mike Kay: Wha’chew talkin’ about, Mikey?!

  78. 78.

    Resident Firebagger

    May 28, 2010 at 4:26 pm

    You seem surprised that Nooners would have a different outlook on things with a Democrat in the White House…

  79. 79.

    Montysano

    May 28, 2010 at 4:27 pm

    @Joseph Nobles:

    It isn’t just questioning their education, but Glenn Beck imitating a child’s voice as Malia, going on and on as another speaker took up Barack’s role—just seeing how close he could get to pickaninny without actually going there.

    And somewhere back in rural Indiana, my high school classmates are nodding in agreement and laughing.

    I know I shouldn’t let shit like this bother me, but sweet jabbering Jeebus, is there no bottom to the barrel?

  80. 80.

    asiangrrlMN

    May 28, 2010 at 4:28 pm

    @Joseph Nobles: Wow. That really is clever in a sophomoric jackass kind of way. The real question is, who got a hold of him and told him to walk it back? I blame Rahm Emanuel! And could someone please fix the Folks Like Us Thread? It’s killing me not to be able to contribute.

  81. 81.

    jl

    May 28, 2010 at 4:29 pm

    Obama needs to have WH people down there at the gulf coast everyday, on national TV. They will lash the oil that comes ashore with whips and brand the oil fouled beaches with red hot irons. They will curse the sea, with solemn and dreadful curses.

    When the problem is solved, Obama should arrive and sit on a very ornate throne just where the trees stop, and the edge of the sand, and command the oil to go away.

    That will fix any problems.

    People like Morning Joe (TM) and Chris Matthews will be impressed.

    It will make Sestak vanish into thin air during a national TV interview.

  82. 82.

    cat48

    May 28, 2010 at 4:31 pm

    @J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:

    This is why this is probably not the end of Obama’s presidency because Glenn Beck works for the Republican TV station. Sorta puts all of them in perspective. They mock little children and try to strip “anchor baby” citizenship and discuss repealing the parts of the Const. that protects minorities and women. They are a real class act.

  83. 83.

    Remember November

    May 28, 2010 at 4:32 pm

    @ruemara:

    African American. Also.

  84. 84.

    Montysano

    May 28, 2010 at 4:33 pm

    @daveinboca:

    Bush was blamed for the Katrina aftermath…

    …. because, 5 days after the storm, he couldn’t be bothered to get a single fucking pallet of basic supplies delivered to the Convention Center or the Superdome.

  85. 85.

    Chyron HR

    May 28, 2010 at 4:33 pm

    @daveinboca:

    Demo-rat fucktard fuck-ups.

    Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the Republican party’s 2012 presidential candidate.

  86. 86.

    WereBear

    May 28, 2010 at 4:34 pm

    @Joseph Nobles: I think I would have been whipped a second time if I’d offered an apology like that growing up.

    That made me LOL. Becks nonapology is snotty, is what it is, and while the first thing I got in trouble for might not have progressed to a spanking, being snotty in response was the most likely way to get a spanking from my parents.

  87. 87.

    asiangrrlMN

    May 28, 2010 at 4:35 pm

    @jl: I gotta say, I enjoy your comments because you have a way with words. However, I must ask, are you related to Brick Oven Bill in any way? There is a similarity of cadences between you two.

  88. 88.

    Corner Stone

    May 28, 2010 at 4:37 pm

    @jl:

    When the problem is solved, Obama should arrive and sit on a very ornate throne just where the trees stop, and the edge of the sand, and command the oil to go away.

    Like Xerxes in the movie 300 ?

  89. 89.

    Punchy

    May 28, 2010 at 4:43 pm

    Speakin of oil disasters, some peeps at TOD are reporting that the top junk/kill shot has not worked. Judging from the CNN Robocam, I’d hafta agree. Shit went from bad to really bad quick, if brown stuff in front of the camera is any gauge.

  90. 90.

    scav

    May 28, 2010 at 4:46 pm

    @Corner Stone: Canute did it to the tide, although the meaning of his utter failure is argued. Lost brothers?

  91. 91.

    Svensker

    May 28, 2010 at 4:47 pm

    @daveinboca:

    Um, no.

    Bush was blamed for the Katrina aftermath because it was obvious that he DIDN’T CARE. He did not sit up until the wee hours watching TV news and waiting for the storm to hit, like normal Americans did. He didn’t wake up first thing in the morning and rush to turn on the news to find out if the city had survived, like normal Americans did. He wasn’t watching and listening in agony while Geraldo and Shep Smith were practically crying on camera over the suffering and dying, like normal Americans were. He didn’t know he was supposed to care, until his handlers realized that pictures of the Prez playing guitar while Americans drowned was not going over well. Then they told him he was supposed to care.

    That’s when Americans of all stripes — including many Repubs — realized Dubya was an incompetent sociopath.

  92. 92.

    Montysano

    May 28, 2010 at 4:48 pm

    @jl:

    Obama needs to have WH people down there at the gulf coast everyday, on national TV. They will lash the oil that comes ashore with whips and brand the oil fouled beaches with red hot irons. They will curse the sea, with solemn and dreadful curses.

    FTMFW

  93. 93.

    Cacti

    May 28, 2010 at 4:58 pm

    I wonder what will be the end of Obama’s Presidency next month?

  94. 94.

    jl

    May 28, 2010 at 5:02 pm

    I thought Xerxes really did that at one point. I think it’s in Herodotas, so it must be true.

  95. 95.

    Polish the Guillotines

    May 28, 2010 at 5:02 pm

    Up DougJ for the obscure Spinal Tap quote.

  96. 96.

    celticdragonchick

    May 28, 2010 at 5:06 pm

    @FormerSwingVoter:

    This is Obama’s Katrinobyshima.

    I am going to shamelessly steal that!

    ;)

  97. 97.

    celticdragonchick

    May 28, 2010 at 5:12 pm

    @Svensker:

    That’s when Americans of all stripes—including many Repubs—realized Dubya was an incompetent sociopath.

    Exactly.

    That was when I left the Republican Party.

    I will never forget the image of Shep Smith standing beside a covered corpse on an overpass. The sky was the color of dirty linen. He looked stunned, almost like a person with PTSD, as he observed that somebody had cared enough to cover him in what was left of the city that had died with him

    I started crying.

  98. 98.

    celticdragonchick

    May 28, 2010 at 5:14 pm

    @daveinboca:

    Aren’t you supposed to be busy finding women you don’t like and suggesting they be raped with pneumatic tools?

    I recall that was one of your pet past-times.

  99. 99.

    Quiddity

    May 28, 2010 at 5:15 pm

    Noonan is right. Obama should simply implement one of those “common sense” solutions that the right wing is always talking about.

    If oil is leaking into the Gulf, then all you have to do is stop the leak. Simple as that.

    And don’t bother me with details. That’s for out of touch intellectuals who hide in their ivory towers.

  100. 100.

    Corner Stone

    May 28, 2010 at 5:16 pm

    @scav: Sorry. I only know history through the lens of Hollywood.

  101. 101.

    Quaker in a Basement

    May 28, 2010 at 5:19 pm

    That b*st*rd Obama didn’t organize the race of deepwater mutant superwomen he promised?!?

    That’s it! I’m going Galt.

  102. 102.

    kay

    May 28, 2010 at 5:21 pm

    @Joseph Nobles:

    They’re so incredibly dishonest.

    “Uses children” to shield himself. An anecdote about his daughter is “using children”. The apology is another cheap shot.

    Keep in mind, the hero of the Beck Army is Sarah Palin, who has created an entire lucrative brand using her children.

  103. 103.

    Alice Blue

    May 28, 2010 at 5:23 pm

    Oh man, the Doors. After all these years, whenever I hear “The End” I catch the faint scent of weed.

    Vietnam was a stupid, obscene war, but God it had a good soundtrack.

  104. 104.

    Mike Kay

    May 28, 2010 at 5:23 pm

    @Quiddity: obama shouldn’t even be involved, it violates states rights under the 10th amendment

  105. 105.

    Mike Kay

    May 28, 2010 at 5:29 pm

    @celticdragonchick: and that is why it’s an insult for the media to compare the oil spill to katrina. the loss of 2,000 lifes and devastation to the city is simply not comparable. I mean, no one in their right mind would compare 9/11 to Exxon Valdez.

  106. 106.

    maus

    May 28, 2010 at 5:32 pm

    @Mike Kay: State government shouldn’t be involved, either. The invisible hand of the free market will resolve this issue to the delight of all parties involved.

  107. 107.

    Ailuridae

    May 28, 2010 at 5:32 pm

    I’m pretty sympathetic to the President in most spots but here there really was a kind of glibertarian/libertard stupidity to his stance on the expansion (and continuation) of off-shore drilling. Maddow did an excellent piece on the similarities between Ixtoc 1 in 1979 and the Deepwater Horizon mess. Here is an excellent piece on it from the Miami Herald with the following money quote:

    “Everybody keeps saying the spill in the Gulf is unprecedented,” said geologist John Amos, president and founder of SkyTruth, a nonprofit that investigates environmental issues using satellite images. “That is such bull—-t. We had perfect precedence.”

    The President is a bright guy and thinks things through well. But in this case he either tried to score cheep political points by ignoring the obvious, indisputable dangers of off-shore drilling or he was unaware of them. Either way, he was simply plainly wrong.

    And, no it doesn’t make a difference that none of the previous Presidents also did nothing to be honest with the America people about the dangers of off-shore drilling. And given those dangers and the history of fixing off shore leaks (besides drilling new wells 6-9 months later basically nothing has shown to be consistently effective) it was his job as President to establish a set of procedures that could adequately address those dangers. And, if that couldn’t be done (which a whole lot of people think to be the case) then he should haveput a moratorium on off-shore drilling until such time as either the companies themselves or the government or Dean fucking Kamen could come up with a solution.

  108. 108.

    licensed to kill time

    May 28, 2010 at 5:33 pm

    @Alice Blue:

    well it’s one two three what are we fightin’ for?
    don’t ask me ’cause I don’t give a damn
    next stop is Vietnam
    and it’s five six seven open up those pearly gates
    well there ain’t no time to wonder why
    whoopee! we’re all gonna die!

  109. 109.

    Quiddity

    May 28, 2010 at 5:36 pm

    @Mike Kay: Now that’s common sense constitutionalism! Bravo.

  110. 110.

    Ailuridae

    May 28, 2010 at 5:39 pm

    FWIW, lest anyone think I am comparing this to Katrina, I am not. Whatever blame Obama deserves for Deepwater Horizon was a failure of anticipating a problem that it was far more convenient to ignore (for most everybody). As Steven Benen covered very well Katrina is a failure of conservative approach to government in and of itself. FEMA under Clinton and the elder Bush would have handled Katrina many times better.

    I beat FEMA to New Orleans (from Chicago) by 27 hours and I didn’t have a valid drivers license at the time.

  111. 111.

    JCT

    May 28, 2010 at 5:40 pm

    @Cacti:

    I wonder what will be the end of Obama’s Presidency next month?

    The republicans are busy praying to g_d for some new disaster to save them from the kenyan guys dictatorship. Hmmm, hurricane season is coming.

  112. 112.

    celticdragonchick

    May 28, 2010 at 5:45 pm

    @Ailuridae:

    That was interesting.

    I just finished my geology dept. Earth Images class at Guilford College…where you learn to use ARC-GIS software to analyze maps and satellite images.

    I t was pretty frakking cool finding out how you can use false color raster images to get very exact proportions of different types of vegetation, see what areas are subject to desertification and so on.

    That is what that geologist does with his company.

  113. 113.

    Quaker in a Basement

    May 28, 2010 at 5:53 pm

    @Mike Kay: So right you are!! Let those who want clean beaches pay for them!

  114. 114.

    Derek

    May 28, 2010 at 6:44 pm

    OT, but damnit, the “with whom should DougJ have an affair” post is all fucked and I can’t comment on it. But my comment is, Meghan McCain! Not technically a politician, though.

  115. 115.

    Mnemosyne

    May 28, 2010 at 6:55 pm

    @Ailuridae:

    Whatever blame Obama deserves for Deepwater Horizon was a failure of anticipating a problem that it was far more convenient to ignore (for most everybody).

    So Deepwater Horizon is more like 9/11? I keed, I keed.

    It’s just so hard to talk about how they “should have known” when the previous administration was actually told that their big disaster was about to happen and ignored it. If we have evidence of that level of fecklessness (like a whistleblower at BP or Deepwater), then heads should roll all the way up to Salazar’s.

    Right now, it looks like BP, with the help of MMS and the previous administration, gambled that they could cut corners and get away with it. Obama definitely deserves his share of the blame, but his is not the largest share. There’s more than enough to go around.

  116. 116.

    Toast

    May 28, 2010 at 7:11 pm

    @Lit3Bolt: It’s interesting you mention memes. Reading Noonan’s noonsense, I had an epiphany: Republicans win so often in the Narrative Environment because they embrace an evolutionary/memetic approach while Democrats prefer to use Intelligent Design (which we all know is the wrong way to understand a complex, adaptive environment).

    How many times over the years have we heard Dems, liberal pundits and lefty bloggers trying to figure out ways to “frame the debate” or “craft a message”? Clearly, this is folly. The GOP’s approach – spawning random, mutant ideas and spawning them in volume, then letting nature take its discourse – is obviously superior.

    Someone call Alanis Morissette; that’s ironic.

  117. 117.

    SectarianSofa

    May 28, 2010 at 7:29 pm

    Damn, DougJ. Now you’ve got me back to reading Sullivan. What happened to my resolve from last week?

  118. 118.

    SiubhanDuinne

    May 28, 2010 at 7:34 pm

    Wasn’t there someone (a regular poster) who saw Nooners at a DC bar a few months ago, keeping company with . . . can’t remember, Tucker Carlson or David Broder or somebody? Apologies for being so dim on the specifics, and grateful if whoever it was could post an update. Especially, of course, if it’s salacious.

  119. 119.

    kay

    May 28, 2010 at 7:37 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    I can see the wasted opportunity, though. That’s just sad.

    Obama could make a great case for just gritting our teeth and getting serious about this, because weaning us slowly off oil probably isn’t going to work, sadly, we need cold turkey, essentially. How long have we been “cutting back”? My adult lifetime. I don’t think it’s working.

    But he can’t. Now. After his bizarre and abrupt conversion.

  120. 120.

    Mnemosyne

    May 28, 2010 at 10:02 pm

    @kay:

    That Onion headline was even more prescient than they knew. The guy must wake up every morning thinking, “Great, what new disaster is going to happen today?”

    He’s made a lot of mistakes but at least he’s trying to govern and not just openly raiding the government coffers to line his friends’ pockets. If the R’s get back into power, even that much will be over and done with.

  121. 121.

    Uloborus

    May 28, 2010 at 11:18 pm

    @kay:
    …how is it even possible to go off oil cold turkey? How can that be done? If it were somehow feasible, what would it cost? I… cannot see this as in any way feasible.

  122. 122.

    Viva BrisVegas

    May 28, 2010 at 11:29 pm

    Who is actually responsible for the Gulf of Mexico Oilpocalypse is not at all relevent to pundits like Noonan.

    All that matters is how to pin the blame on Obama.

  123. 123.

    DougJ

    May 29, 2010 at 12:54 am

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Yeah, it wasn’t really who they thought it was though.

  124. 124.

    DougJ

    May 29, 2010 at 12:57 am

    @Polish the Guillotines:

    Thank you. It’s one of my favorites.

  125. 125.

    CarolDuhart

    May 29, 2010 at 11:09 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    And to her chagrin, he proved to be a steal at the price.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - way2blue - SINALEI, SAMOA—RESPITE EDITION—FEBRUARY 2025.  (second of five) 8
Image by way2blue (7/16/25)
Donate

Recent Comments

  • Enhanced Voting Techniques on Thursday Morning Open Thread (Jul 17, 2025 @ 9:16am)
  • Belafon on Thursday Morning Open Thread (Jul 17, 2025 @ 9:15am)
  • Miss Bianca on Thursday Morning Open Thread (Jul 17, 2025 @ 9:14am)
  • Miss Bianca on Thursday Morning Open Thread (Jul 17, 2025 @ 9:13am)
  • Baud on Thursday Morning Open Thread (Jul 17, 2025 @ 9:10am)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
No Kings Protests June 14 2025

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

Feeling Defeated?  If We Give Up, It's Game Over

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!