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You are here: Home / Anatomy of a Circle Jerk

Anatomy of a Circle Jerk

by $8 blue check mistermix|  June 21, 20108:22 am| 44 Comments

This post is in: DC Press Corpse, Our Failed Media Experiment

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This:

“I would bet he will go after the midterms,” said a leading Democratic consultant in Washington. “Nobody thinks it’s working but they can’t get rid of him – that would look awful. He needs the right sort of job to go to but the consensus is he’ll go.”

An official from the Bill Clinton era said that “no one will be surprised” if Mr Emanuel left after the midterm elections in November [..]

is all it takes to get this:

Not every one of those 562 pieces are about Rahm quitting, but the NY Post, Daily News, Fox News and even Haaretz took the bait.

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Reader Interactions

44Comments

  1. 1.

    Kirk Spencer

    June 21, 2010 at 8:32 am

    Pundits write for the people who read them. Their most dedicated readers are other pundits, who then rewrite (or occasionally rebut).

    echoechoechoechoechoecho…

  2. 2.

    Uloborus

    June 21, 2010 at 8:36 am

    Yet another unsourced leak about the Obama administration that turned out to be someone who’s not even in the administration talking out of their ass. Good times. Good times.

  3. 3.

    Shalimar

    June 21, 2010 at 8:37 am

    I don’t like Rahm, I think he is just as much an enemy of liberal legislation as Republicans are. But this is bullshit. All this says is that the gossip around certain undefined DC circles is anti-Rahm too. Only Obama or Emanuel can decide that he will go, so any other source only knows a little more than I do.

    edited to add: If he was really going to go, the time would have been right after health care passed when he could have announced for the Illinois Senate seat. He would have been a better candidate than Giannoulias and the job would have been high-profile enough for his ego.

  4. 4.

    Ronbo

    June 21, 2010 at 8:37 am

    How about a job for Rahm at the RNC? Rahm seems a natural. Time to replace Steele and who better to enforce Republican values and conservatism than Rahm. we’ll be so glad to see you go; we could use a middle-class recovery.

  5. 5.

    Remember November

    June 21, 2010 at 8:41 am

    Apple rumor sites have more accuracy and integrity.

  6. 6.

    Linda Featheringill

    June 21, 2010 at 8:41 am

    My crystal ball is on the blink today but I don’t see Rahm in any trouble with his boss. Everybody knew from the get-go that he was somewhat of an attack dog. Somebody thought that was needed. And he might be needed.

    Nothing lasts forever and he will eventually go on to do something else. And probably do it very well.

    And he will still be cute. :-)

  7. 7.

    MikeJ

    June 21, 2010 at 8:48 am

    Chiefs of Staff generally don’t serve more than a couple of years. Bush I had three in one term. Clinton had four over two terms.

    Somebody surely has noticed this and decided that telling a reporter that his side is gonna force Rahm out will make them look better and stronger when he does inevitably quit.

  8. 8.

    eemom

    June 21, 2010 at 8:53 am

    Jane Hamsher taking credit for “forcing” Rahm out to part some more fools from their money with her $50k “fund drive” coming in 5….4….3…..

  9. 9.

    Allison W.

    June 21, 2010 at 8:53 am

    @MikeJ:

    Indeed this is normal, but with Obama it will mean the toppling of his presidency.

    All I have to say is that no one should be salivating at this “news”, and then act disappointed when the replacement isn’t a certified Liberal hero like Howard Dean. I actually like Rahm. The fear and loathing he inspires is hilarious.

  10. 10.

    dmsilev

    June 21, 2010 at 8:53 am

    Wait, so there are rumors that an occupant of a historically high-turnover job might be considering leaving? I’m shocked.

    dms

  11. 11.

    fucen tarmal

    June 21, 2010 at 8:55 am

    this is all because obama hates israel.

  12. 12.

    WereBear

    June 21, 2010 at 8:56 am

    @Linda Featheringill: Know whatcha mean: I’ve always been a sucker for intensity.

    My first husband was half Sicilian and half Romanian.

    I think this is why pundits make so many predictions; it’s like throwing a zillion darts at a dartboard.

  13. 13.

    Comrade Jake

    June 21, 2010 at 8:57 am

    Surely the whitey tape will be released soon as well.

  14. 14.

    El Cid

    June 21, 2010 at 8:59 am

    Well, if you can’t trust the Telegraph quoting unnamed insiders, who can you trust.

    And though I’m not a fan of Rahm myself, at my most pissy I wouldn’t dream of saying something hallucinatory like this:

    His abrasive style has rubbed some people the wrong way, while there has been frustration among Mr Obama’s closest advisers that he failed to deliver a smooth ride for the president’s legislative programme that his background promised.
    __
    “It might not be his fault, but the perception is there,” said the consultant, who asked not to be named. “Every vote has been tough, from health care to energy to financial reform.
    __
    “Democrats have not stood behind the president in the way Republicans did for George W Bush, and that was meant to be Rahm’s job.”

    There’s a difference between arguing whether this or that approach would have helped more or gotten a better result than what happened, but what unnamed, delusional ‘source’ could possibly think that some godlike leader could be appointed to make Republicans help things go smoothly and make conservative Democrats go along with an agenda they hated?

    This almost sounds like they fished around for people who just didn’t have the vicious quotes they were looking for, and the best they could come up with was someone muttering that Moses didn’t come down and part the waters and make all Democrats act together in lockstep.

  15. 15.

    MikeJ

    June 21, 2010 at 9:01 am

    @El Cid: I wondering if the Democratic consultant who asked not to be named also thinks caucuses don’t count, states with too many black people don’t count, votes taken during full moons don’t count…

  16. 16.

    Paul W.

    June 21, 2010 at 9:09 am

    Thank God for those unnamed sources of political has-beens, if it weren’t for them and Sarah Palin’s tweets we wouldn’t know what was going on in the capital or in Real America. Certainly guardians of our democracy such as Rush are doing a heroic job filling in the gaps in propaganda left by the breathless awe the Village has for the aforementioned leading lights with their fingers to the pulse of our nation (which elected Obama by the widest margins for a non-incumbent in half a century).

  17. 17.

    MMonides

    June 21, 2010 at 9:11 am

    Sarah Palin (R-Former Gov of Hooters) is also out bashing Rahm as a liar. I expect Jane “I’m not at all working with Wingnuts” Hamsher to chime in before the day is out.

  18. 18.

    Chat Noir

    June 21, 2010 at 9:15 am

    @Kirk Spencer: Don’t know if you saw this in yesterday’s NY Times.

    The following quote stood out:

    Martin Kaplan, the director of the Norman Lear Center at the Annenberg School for Communications and Journalism at the University of Southern California, said, “I think the most important impact of Washington commentators is on other Washington commentators.”

  19. 19.

    Tone in DC

    June 21, 2010 at 9:23 am

    @Linda Featheringill:
    I truly hope that you are being facetious.

  20. 20.

    Knob Zombie

    June 21, 2010 at 9:26 am

    Thank you Joe Sestak!

  21. 21.

    Lawnguylander

    June 21, 2010 at 9:34 am

    Here’s what’s going to happen, Hillary and Rahm switch jobs after the midterms, Rahm replaces Biden on the ticket in 2012, then Rahm heads up the Dem ticket in 2016. At least I hope so.

  22. 22.

    Linda Featheringill

    June 21, 2010 at 9:38 am

    @WereBear:

    “My first husband was half Sicilian and half Romanian.”

    Did his parents meet in Europe or were they already in the US? I have noticed that a lot of combinations that one finds in the US are actually very rare in the Old Country.

    [and he must have been a force to be reckoned with!]

  23. 23.

    Linda Featheringill

    June 21, 2010 at 9:42 am

    @Tone in DC:

    “I truly hope that you are being facetious.”

    Why? You and I can probably agree on lots of other things.

  24. 24.

    Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle

    June 21, 2010 at 9:46 am

    @eemom: That picture of MoDo’s bored-to-tears personal assistant at the Prop 8 trail wasn’t good enough for you? ;-)

  25. 25.

    Davis X. Machina

    June 21, 2010 at 9:51 am

    What happens if it’s true, Rahm leaves, and nothing changes?

    Then whom do we blame? Who’s the new Dr. Evil?

  26. 26.

    Chad N Freude

    June 21, 2010 at 10:07 am

    OT, I looked at Ha’aretz and found an article about

    Netanyahu: Decision to ease Gaza siege weakens Hamas . . . Prime Minister tells Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that easing civilian blockade allows Israel to focus on real security concerns.

    “The cabinet decision is the best one for Israel, because it eliminates Hamas’ main propaganda claim and allows us and our international allies to face our real concerns in the realm of security,” Netanyahu said.

    Exactly what he has been saying for weeks, against the opinion of all other nations. /snark

  27. 27.

    Allison W.

    June 21, 2010 at 10:24 am

    @Davis X. Machina:

    What happens if it’s true, Rahm leaves, and nothing changes?

    Then whom do we blame? Who’s the new Dr. Evil?

    oh, anyone in the administration that is NOT a card carrying progressive will be the next Dr. Evil

  28. 28.

    dude

    June 21, 2010 at 10:24 am

    aye, but does he have a reason to stay?

  29. 29.

    Tone in DC

    June 21, 2010 at 10:30 am

    If Rahm goes, then hopefully someone worse will not replace him. Obama has had a moderately successful 18 months in office, but the Democratic party may take a beating this fall.

    This despite an opposition party with nothing to offer except obstruction, vituperative rhetoric and increasingly obvious racism.

  30. 30.

    Davis X. Machina

    June 21, 2010 at 10:43 am

    This despite an opposition party with nothing to offer except obstruction, vituperative rhetoric and increasingly obvious racism.

    Don’t be badmouthing obstruction, vituperation, and racism. This isn’t an ordinary opposition party — this is an opposition party in whose hands scapegoat can be cooked so well that it tastes just as good as a job.

    And scapegoat, not chicken, is America’s favorite white meat.

  31. 31.

    SqueakyRat

    June 21, 2010 at 11:16 am

    Uh, are any unnamed sources talking about Ken Salazar leaving? Please tell me yes.

  32. 32.

    LD50

    June 21, 2010 at 11:49 am

    Did his parents meet in Europe or were they already in the US? I have noticed that a lot of combinations that one finds in the US are actually very rare in the Old Country.

    My favorite combination like that I’m aware of is a girl I know who is half Ukrainian, one quarter Cuban and one quarter Finnish. Unless she gets a sibling, I suspect she’s the only one of those in the world.

  33. 33.

    Nellcote

    June 21, 2010 at 12:24 pm

    Rahm already said months ago that he wasn’t staying 4 years so why is this “news”?

  34. 34.

    Svensker

    June 21, 2010 at 12:31 pm

    @LD50:

    My favorite combination like that I’m aware of is a girl I know who is half Ukrainian, one quarter Cuban and one quarter Finnish. Unless she gets a sibling, I suspect she’s the only one of those in the world.

    We know two Coptic Egyptian brothers who live in NJ, one of whom is married to a Korean and the other to a Brazilian. Fortunately, everyone speaks English.

  35. 35.

    ruemara

    June 21, 2010 at 12:56 pm

    @Linda Featheringill:

    Because if you deviate from what he or she likes it will be the end of civility.

  36. 36.

    Mnemosyne

    June 21, 2010 at 1:09 pm

    @Nellcote:

    Because someone wants to be declared a genius by his/her fellow pundits by pretending that Rahm doing something after saying he’s going to do it is some kind of scoop.

  37. 37.

    lawguy

    June 21, 2010 at 3:30 pm

    Can anyone explain why the commenets now all run out foever towards the right side of the page on my computer?

  38. 38.

    Hart Williams

    June 21, 2010 at 3:52 pm

    Nothing new, of course: if you control the “debate” you control the “news cycle,” and what the Great Collective Obnoxious of the Heartland thinks is “reality.”

    And by now Memeorandum is stuffed to overflowing with reflexive and counter-reflexive bloviating.

    Just one problem with minting your own “reality” …

    Do it long enough, and you don’t have any fucking clue as to what “reality” actually is.

    And the Flintstones become a documentary. (to borrow Lewis Black’s line).

    Or, you’ve been taught that semi-trucks are figments of the fever dreams of Liberal propaganda and the “Main Stream Media” for so long that when a Wal-Mart truck splatters your carcass all over Route 66, nobody is more surprised than you.

    Why, had you known, you’d have taken precautions. Because that’s how you roll. (Or formerly rolled.)

  39. 39.

    licensed to kill time

    June 21, 2010 at 4:00 pm

    @lawguy:

    All I can tell you is that everyone who complains about it seems to be using IE, so I would guess that it’s a browser failure to render the page correctly. I have never seen the problem in Firefox.

  40. 40.

    Kerry Reid

    June 21, 2010 at 4:10 pm

    Shouldn’t this have the “Show Me on the Doll Where Rahm Touched You” tag?

  41. 41.

    Mike Kay

    June 21, 2010 at 8:31 pm

    I never understood why so many blogger hate Rahm. How did he become teh boogie-man, even before he was appointed chief of staff?

  42. 42.

    Kerry Reid

    June 21, 2010 at 11:58 pm

    @Mike Kay:
    I’ve particularly never understood how he became the boogieman in the eyes of Hillary Clinton fans — given that he was a key part of the Clinton era.

  43. 43.

    Corner Stone

    June 22, 2010 at 12:18 am

    @LD50:

    My favorite combination like that I’m aware of is a girl I know who is half Ukrainian, one quarter Cuban and one quarter Finnish. Unless she gets a sibling, I suspect she’s the only one of those in the world.

    This has blown my mind.
    Is she 6’3″ with perfect skin and a tude that would make a NJ shopgirl blush?

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. Jules Crittenden » Battered Rahm says:
    June 21, 2010 at 10:20 am

    […] at Balloon-Juice weigh on their field of […]

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