We are all socialists now.
As expected, Democratic losses last week led to certain Professional Asshats squealing with glee: “OMG OBAMA IS SO FAIL LOL.”
“See!” They shouted asshattily. “I told you so! Why didn’t you listen to meeeeeeee. I told you that everybody wants a public option or a pony or the right to [be gay, to not be gay, to be gay on Tuesdays, or to wear jean shorts and not be called gay]. Didn’t I say everyone should have a right to [insert issue].” “And by the way!” –they just kept on talking and wouldn’t shut up, “I don’t want to brag, but I’m pretty sure I also told you that everybody wanted a bigger stimulus and nobody wanted any sort of stimulating if it wasn’t going to be the biggest hardest stimulus EVAR!”
Finally, on November 2 and 3, these asshats laughed and laughed and immediately joined together in one giant circle jerk to give each other the happy ending they’d been yearning for ever since Obama slapped that smirky public option off of the health care reform bill’s face with his giant pimp hand.
Knowing that my reaction to the post-election shenanigans would run the gamut of “oh kindly STFU” to “If you don’t STFU, I’m going to stab you in the neck with my pen,” I promised myself that after the election I was done: I was done reading comment fuckery, and I was done even attempting ironic responses to idiotic comments. (To understand why this is a big deal, you have to know me. I’m an argumentative person by nature. Just ask my friends. I will argue and argue until you concede simply because you want me to shut the hell up.) But I couldn’t. I don’t have it in me.
For the past week, it’s been grand! I’ve stayed away from certain political websites. I stop myself from reading any comment sections (aside from Balloon Juice and occasionally, Wonkette). It doesn’t hurt that I’m too busy at work to cast vitriolic tweets into the Twitter vacuum at the asshats out there who think that they—and only they—hold the secret to whatever is going to usher in the greatest Progressive Revolution since the New Deal, the Great Society, Progressive Era, and the era of ubiquitous Progressive Insurance commercials combined.
Nevertheless, I winced as I saw certain bloggers claiming that the Republican Party—ZOMG! they are gonna take back the country and holy shitballs, the Democratz are going to be executed by fire squad and we’re all gonna have to wear hats with tea bagz on our headsz lol—took back the House because gay people were pissed about DADT. (I even saw a number being floated around—did you know that 76% of gay men voted for Republicans? [I’m not even going to look it up because to do so would be a colossal waste of my time, I suspect].)
My blood pressure rose when I saw pundits claiming that the Republicans had been given a mandate to kick Obama out of the White House and send him back to Muslimistan to live in exile for all eternity with his anti-colonial Kenyan father and his former Pastor Jeremiah Wright who will be screaming “GODDAMN AMERICA!” every hour on the hour.
My head ached when I saw blog posts definitively stating that the midterm election was a referendum on Obama and his inherent wussiness or Blue Doggedness, or his failure as Our Leader because he didn’t crap a public option into America’s Toilet.
And my head almost exploded upon reading that the Teatwits think they are the center now.
But none of it was anything that stirred up enough rage to warrant a blog post.
I just read an article, however, that is such a load of shit that it has quite figuratively bottled my mind.
The article details the kerfluffle between Glenn Greenwald at Salon.com and MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell. Greenwald and O’Donnell have been slap-fighting about Greenwald’s criticism of O’Donnell’s analysis during MSNBC’s election night coverage. Greenwald accused O’Donnell of blaming liberalism and liberals for the blowout. Lawrence responded that he had done no such thing. According to Greenwald:
I wasn’t sitting in front of the TV watching MSNBC until numerous people started emailing me and alerting me on Twitter to the fact that O’Donnell was repeatedly blaming liberalism and the Left for the Democrats’ political problems. That’s how I became aware of what O’Donnell was saying. Beyond that, here is what Salon’s Editor-in-Chief Joan Walsh wrote on election night, long before I wrote a word about any of this (I hadn’t read this until yesterday):
“Strangely, I watched Democrats including MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell try to blame the blowout on whiny progressives.”
If O’Donnell didn’t actually do that, he might want to ask himself why so many people think he did. [Because they have no critical thinking skills?] Did huge numbers of people simultaneously suffer a mass hallucination, or did his comments — spread out over the course of several hours that night — create the impression that this was precisely the point he was making? [No, the people who are pissed off about what he said were inclined to be pissed off no matter what he said and therefore didn’t actually listen to the words that were coming out of his mouth.]
Here’s an exchange between O’Donnell and Maddow that Greenwald uses to illustrate the point:
MADDOW: The situation is that Russ Feingold never earned the loyalty of his party because he was so iconoclastic, he went his own way, he made principled votes on things like the Patriot Act . . . he never earned any national favor from anyone but progressives . . . . . he’s against someone who has a ton of outside help and a ton of money. He just didn’t have anyone supporting him because the national party just never backed him up.
O’DONNELL: What does this have to do with the argument that’s going on inside the Democratic Party between progressives and others about how Democrats should run? Did Russ Feingold lose because he wasn’t liberal enough? . . . . When we talk about money in races, we have to face the fact that it’s not the full explainer that everyone thinks it is. If money beat Russ Feingold in Wisconsin, why isn’t it beating Jerry Brown in California? . . . This is about real candidates, this is about real positions they’ve taken, especially if they’re incumbents, like Russ Feingold, and to pretend that voting on Russ Feingold has nothing to do with his voting as an incumbent I think is to ignore the reality of life on the ballot as a Democrat in Wisconsin.. . . .
MADDOW: If you really believe he could have campaigned his way out of this race, I’d love to hear how he could have campaigned differently in a more effective way, but I just don’t see it.
O’DONNELL: A liberal was defeated by a Republican — by voters who had information about this one being a liberal, this one being a Republican. We have to then assume the voters are completely irrational and don’t know what they are doing, or we assume that they do know the difference between a liberal and a Republican and they made that choice, based on his being a liberal and him being a Republican, money being whatever it was in that situation.
(As much as I love the Maddow (and I do, deep in my lady areas), O’Donnell is dead on here. Russ Feingold never earned the loyalty of his party because he made principled votes, i.e., liberal votes, on things like the Patriot Act. America didn’t want a principled vote on the Patriot Act at the time. Americans wanted to send its military somewhere to blow some shit up! Russ Feingold went down, in my humble opinion, because he voted his conscience. There aren’t a lot of politicians who are willing to risk their careers in order to do the right thing. For that, I say, HUZZAH FEINGOLD.)
Later, Greenwald posits that the midterm results were actually a good thing because the Blue Dog Democrats got crushed:
Half of the Blue Dog incumbents were defeated, and by themselves accounted for close to half of the Democratic losses. Some of us have been arguing for quite some time that the Rahm-engineered dependence on Blue Dog power is one of the many factors that has made the Democratic Party so weak, blurry, indistinguishable from the GOP, and therefore so politically inept, and would thus be stronger and better without them…. Despite viewing last night’s Blue Dog losses with happiness, I wouldn’t point to this outcome as vindication for my argument, as there are many complex factors that account for last night’s crushing of Congressional Democrats: widespread economic suffering, anxiety over America’s obvious decline, the perception that Obama has done little to undermine destructive status quo forces and much to bolster them, etc. etc.
But for slothful pundits who want to derive sweeping meaning from individual races in order to blame the Left and claim that last night was a repudiation of liberalism, the far more rational conclusion — given the eradication of 50% of the Blue Dog caucus — is that the worst possible choice Democrats can make is to run as GOP-replicating corporatists devoted above all else to serving corporate interests in order to perpetuate their own power: what Washington calls “centrists” and “conservative Democrats.” That is who bore the bulk of the brunt of last night’s Democratic bloodbath — not liberals.
I watched MSNBC’s election coverage, and I didn’t get the sense that O’Donnell was blaming “The Left,” but rather making the point—the very valid point—that not everyone in the Democratic party is a paint-by-numbers liberal. As such, it seems facile to argue that the thrashing of the Blue Dogs means the Democrats should have run a more liberal candidate in those particular districts. It seems more likely that a conservative Democrat was the only electable Democrat in that district.1
Well, last night, Greenwald appeared on the Last Word to get this whole slap-fight sorted:
I have respected Greenwald for years. During the Bush Nightmare, he was one of the lone voices detailing the gross abuses of power going on in that Administration. On policy and constitutional theory, Greenwald is one of the best, but when it comes to political analysis, he’s not so great. The constant “Obama is fucking it all up” and the “Obama is alienating his base” drumbeat is the reason I stopped reading him on a regular basis. I do, however, agree with some of Greenwald’s criticism and I believe that Obama does have his hopey head up his changey ass on important issues.
Obama was too slow to recognize that the Republicans were going to be obstructionist and united behind their “we don’t have a square to spare” plan for governance. Obama’s extension of Bush’s executive authority bullshit. I’m pissed off about FISA and the continuing invasions of privacy. Obama should be busting mad caps in Wall Street’s ass. And, I don’t think the CIA should be running around the globe assassinating fools willy nilly (although I watched Alias and you can’t convince me that shit ain’t real– there’s some sort of shadow government, with shadow ops doing shadowy shit.)
All that aside, however, I have to say yell this: I AM PART OF THIS HOLY BASE YOU KEEP YAMMERING ABOUT, AND I DON’T FEEL ALIENATED.
A lot of colored folks don’t feel alienated. But those who cry “hippy punching” don’t seem to care about us.2 They just want to complain.
So whatever. Let these people who clearly know what is best for me throw their tantrums because that’s definitely what will build a better Progressive Coalition. Keep shooting inside the tent at those who are your allies because that’s definitely the way to build a broader coalition. Completely ignore that your base comprises more than white men, gays who want to serve in the military, gays who want to be married, and rich armchair feminists because that’s also an excellent way to build a broader coalition.
Progressives have a long road3 to hoe. Because face it–this country is not predominantly “liberal.” As O’Donnell pointed out, this country doesn’t even like the word “liberal.” [Check out the video after the jump; O’Donnell proclaims that yes, he is a socialist and no, he’s not ashamed!] This summer’s freak out over healthcare is evidence of that. Add to that the fact that Fox News is pouring propaganda into the minds of millions of Americans twenty-four hours a day/seven days a week, and it becomes apparent that liberals/progressives are pretty much fucked.
Liberals are losing the message war, and liberals can’t stop in-fighting long enough to make it clear to the millions who are being screwed by the Tea Party and by the GOP that they are, in fact, being screwed by a bunch of rich white assholes.
***
Look, I think it is a fantastic idea for lefties to band together and kick the asses of Republicans and corporatist Democrats. President Kucinich? I’d be down. But pragmatically, that shit ain’t happenin’, and if it does, it certainly ain’t happening if folks on the left keep crapping on one another’s faces.
Seriously, Democrats/Progressives/ Liberals (and all non-neocons/Teatwits, and nutjobs), get your shit together. It’s time to get over yourselves and realize that you and people who think exactly the way you do are NOT THE BASE. The Democratic Party is not the GOP; it isn’t a lockstep party. It’s messy being a Democrat. It’s even messier being a liberal. And all the bullshit (mine included! but it’s my blog and I’ll do what I want!) simply isn’t helping.
All your base are NOT belong to you. All your base are belong to US.
/end rant
1 I don’t know, I haven’t actually googled it our anything. This is political analysis from my own ass.
2 Straw man, party of one!
3 I literally just learned that the proper phrase is “long row to hoe.” First notar republic, then “all intensive purposes,” then “kitten caboodle,” and now this! Our childrens is learning, y’all.
[image via xkcd]
***This is an abridged version of this admittedly rambly mcRant. I am redacting portions of it because I don’t want to set fire to somebody else’s house, so to speak. The full entry is at my blog and I suspect controlled fires are being set as we speak. So stop by if you are inclined. Bring a fire extinguisher. I’ve been told that Sarah Palin is bringing cookies… so … um… maybe bring some chloroform too. I must say, with all due respect, of course, that some of you won’t be able to handle the truth, ya dig? I mean, no offense, but some of you just ain’t pickin’ up what i’m puttin’ down. It’s cool though. Angry Black Lady isn’t for everyone. Not everyone is down with the ABLC. Peace, brothers and sisters. -ABL
Comrade Luke
Maybe you should and your fellow Obots should do the same thing.
Just a thought.
asiangrrlMN
Right on. So glad you cross-posted this. As I have stated elsewhere, I felt alienated all right–from the left who kept prattling about Obama shitting on the base. Democrats in general (not to mention Democrats of color in specific) were still overwhelmingly for Obama*, and yet, somehow, the base had spoken and delivered a message to Obama. I expected the batshitcrazy right to act and vote the way they did–I did not expect the left to join in on the craziness, but in a completely different way.
There really is no ‘base’ to the Democratic Party because we are supposedly about inclusion. And, that’s supposed to be a good thing. Supposedly.
*Like ABL, I am pullings stats out of my ass.
@Comrade Luke: “I know you are, but what am I?” is so fifth grade. Really. And, if you would stop with the snotty attitude, that would be appreciated as well. Snark is good; snide is not.
MattR
Bring back the puppehs!!!!!! :)
Comrade Luke
@asiangrrlMN:
I’m tired of “Yea, we know he’s fucked up on x, y and z, but shut the fuck up, firebagger!” attitude.
Time for me to take a break from this place I think.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: Admit it, you just want that damn fortune cookie. :)
And I think you’re referencing the 88% approval rating Obama has among Democrats. So there, now you haz numbers. Not that there’s anything wrong with your ass.
WyldPirate
@Comrade Luke:
No shit, Comrade Luke. It’s nothing but a river of excuses from ABL and the rest of the sniveling Obot excuse-makers here. They’re much like the Bush defenders who would have excused Bush for conducting a live kitten vivesection in the Oval Office or ass-raping a child on the Mall.
Angry Black Lady
@Comrade Luke: you have not only missed the entire point, but you’re projecting your own issues and didn’t read the post carefully. but that’s fine. i expect a certain number of reflexive tantrums from folks around here.
Lupin
A similarly interesting article could have been written (and indeed was) in defense of Gorbachev during perestroika by those who argued with the Old Guard (the Andropov/Chernenko faction) that Gorby’s was the best, nay, last hope to save the crumbling Soviet model.
And you know what? History is a bitch (but we know that already) and today, we read those books and articles and laugh at their naivete and irrelevance.
Look, ABL, you may well be right on every point, but BECAUSE OF THAT, the country (as we knew it) is going to turn into Mumbai-on-the-Volga under our feet. We the poor dumb DFH who clearly recognize this may be flailing haphazardly in panic like headless chickens, and that’s sure not helping, I’ll grant you that, but we’re smart enough to recognize a sinking Hindenburg when we’re aboard one.
In other words, “that shit ain’t happenin'” (as you put it) is the reason why all the other shit is.
WyldPirate
Damn, Ann Laurie deep-sixed her open thread.
Oh well, you Obot’s need to hear about Obama fixin’ to get his war on some more in Afghanistan and needlessly waste several hundred more American lives and hundreds of billions of dollars.
White House moves away from 2011 Afghanistan withdrawal timeline
Got that finger in the wind, baby. Got’s to get re-elected. Get that war on for that worthless South-Central Asian shithole where the leadership is corrupt (just like ours) and takes bribes from both sides (we dcall ’em campaign contributions here).
Yutsano
@Angry Black Lady: Would it be too gauche to make popcorn now? I can do homemade caramel or rosemary-parmesan.
WyldPirate
@Angry Black Lady:
good FSM, ABL. You’re the Crack-smoker in Chief of the Obot zombie defenders.
Obama’s getting his war on in Afgahnistan and got it on in the first place because he runs scared from the Rethugs.
White House moves away from 2011 Afghanistan withdrawal timeline
He got punked by the Chairs of his own Catfood Commission and Pelosi had to step up and show some leadership and say their recs were horseshit and an abandonment of Democratic principles.
What do we here from the Obama crowd??/….fucking crickets. Why do we hear that? He’s pulling his finger out of his bi-partisan happy ass, whiping the shit of his finger before he sticks said finger in his mouth to stick it in the wind to see how he can save his ass in 2012. Fuck leadership and principles–just get re-elected.
And the river of excuses will continue from the Obots….
edited to added link and blockquote
freelancer
I’m going to bed, so I’m on the verge of not giving a shit about anything aka lemme sleep on it, I’ll give you an answer in the morning…
BUT WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED TO THE PREVIOUS THREAD? Stop Right There! I gotta know right now!
Did Tunch go and rendition the fucker? The commentariat has a right to know.
Night all.
Also, WyldePirate, nice that you changed your name from wilfred/joebeese/change. Variety is the spice of life.
SiubhanDuinne
O/T but does anyone know what happened to the “Paws and Purple Hearts” thread? It’s possible my fatigued insomnia is causing me to hallucinate, but maybe someone else saw it a little while ago?
WyldPirate
This isw fucking hilarious:
ABL sez:
And where the fuck is the leadership on this issue from
Black JesusObama, ABL? Or are you simply spouting a load of hypocritical horseshit to excuse Obama?Why the fuck did his administration shit all over the UAW contracts in the bailout of the auto industry while all of those “rich white assholes” on Wall St (who where Obama’s biggest campaign donors) got their huge bonuses courtesy of the US taxpayer when by all rights their lily-white asses should have been on the streets looking for lawyers to keep their ass out of prison? Is it because a “contract is a contract” only when it is a contract from your rich donors?
Turn on the excuse spigot, ABL and Obots….
freelancer
@SiubhanDuinne:
Nope, you’re not insane.
pattonbt
@WyldPirate:
Are you OK? Do you need your mommy?
SiubhanDuinne
Oh good, I see I am not hallucinating after all.
Well, at least not about the Purple Paws thread.
WyldPirate
@freelancer:
You know shit, freelancer. I’ve only posted under this handle the entire time I’ve posted here. which, btw, is far longer than you have.
No wonder you’re so easily fooled by the lack of leadership from the Dems and buy the load of horseshit from Obama’s dwindling ranks of defenders.
freelancer
@WyldPirate:
To paraphrase Stuck,
If I took a dead chicken, and found a magic marker, and wrote “Obama Betrayed Us” along its vertebrae, and then threw it over the fence, would you fuck it in the ass or the beak?
WyldPirate
@pattonbt:
That all you got?
Not surprising as it is getting harder for you brainless, spineless Obots to defend the indefensible.
Drag your weak-assed shit on outta here, pattonbt.
Yutsano
@WyldPirate: Okay then, how’s about we wait until a source with balls enough to actually use their name confirm this? Or does that interfere with your Obama is teh suxxors narrative too much?
freelancer
@WyldPirate:
Yeah I’m a newb, and that has
fuck allonly everything to do with my sanity. Keep fuckin’ that chicken you principled ‘bagger!ETA: I promise not to spam you, but I challenge you to implore one of the FPers to PROVE you’re not “change”. You seem that immune and immutable to reasonable discourse, I’m willing to bet you’re not even someone who leans left. You’re a fucking dittohead, spoofing what he thinks is a “liberal”. Prove me wrong, ya jackwagon!
WyldPirate
@freelancer:
No, because I wouldn’t want to stick my dick where your’s had already been. You wouldn’t have been able to resist fucking the chicken the moment you wrote Obama on it.
something fabulous
My goodness, children. EWWWW.
[would edit to add the linkies to direct the EWWWW. Can’t seem to do it from the edit window. You know who you are. Poultry-abusers.]
Jager
The “big tent” has too many “little tents” inside of it. If you go to a Democratic meeting, every group at the meeting makes their speech, sits down, crosses their fucking arms and pouts while the next person gets up and talks about their issue and then does the same, nothing ever gets done. That shit never happens at a Repug meeting, they get their marching orders, their talking points and hit it…they are always on the same page, always. I don’t think the R’s ever called each other names until the Tea Party came along, we fucking Dems do it all the time, for proof read this blog!
Feingold is a wonderful, smart guy, the reality is he was a shitty candidate (see his wonky fucking TV spot? He was in the fight of his life and you’d never have known it by the spot)) and probably has been for a long time. He got into a money fueled shit fight and he lost to a lunatic.
Martha Coakley, running for Ted’s seat last winter was a shitty candidate and she lost to a wishy-washy guy who never uttered the R word in a speech. She screwed the pooch on the the Curt Schilling issue and WEEI the sports talk radio station (#1 in adult men in Boston) pounded her ass for weeks over it. The day before the election Scott Brown was live on EVERY WEEI SHOW from morning til night…you know why she lost? Red Sox fans for christ’s sake! Only a shitty candidate would make that mistake in Boston! Coakley worked her ass off this time and won last week.
The R’s have the media, they have the money and they stay on message! When Dems win, the first thing we do is piss inside our tent! Zero unity.
hg
Fsck this.
Where are the Tunch pics?
pattonbt
@WyldPirate:
Dude, I’m just noting that you seemed to have completely lost your shit.
WyldPirate
@Yutsano:
What the fuck are you babbling incoherently about, Yutsano? Aren’t you usually off playing public cyber grab-ass with asiangrrl this time of night?
NR
@WyldPirate: Not only that, he’s fixing to fold on tax cuts for the rich, too:
Passing tax cuts for the middle class is probably the easiest thing politically to do in this country. If Obama won’t even fight on the easy stuff, we are well and truly fucked. Get ready for another Republican landslide in 2012, because this weak-ass president isn’t going to do a damn thing to stop it.
Comrade Kevin
Would someone point me to a “principled” No vote Feingold made, where it made a difference between a bill passing or not?
(since the Dems took control of the Senate)
Suck It Up!
Every time I leave a comment like this, the first word out of their mouths is “It’s Obama’s fault”. Can progressives not take things into their own hands? ya know, be proactive? FOX News turned up the war on Liberalism since Obama took office and instead of taking them on, the left just sat and waited for Obama to give some speech.
I’m pulling this analysis out of my ass also but I do think blue dogs lost because of the L-word. The top Democrat, in those voters minds, is a liberal and that extends to every member of their party no matter what their voting records look like. This is what Fox and the right wing media told them.
WyldPirate
@freelancer:
I’ll be happy to, because this is the only handle I’ve ever posted under. I doubt that Cole will waste his time with it though.
Maybe that will crack your “all-knowing facade” and you’ll realize you’re just a know-nothing dumbass.
freelancer
@WyldPirate:
Can you prove, or at least provide evidence by the way of links quotations or other digital means, that you’re not a complete dittohead, right-wing troll, intent on bludgeoning the left as much as possible, ostensibly from within? You don’t really sound like a DFH, cause Dave’s not here, man. And you ain’t Dave.
Yutsano
@WyldPirate: Dear Allah are you gonna make it this fucking easy?
THAT’S FROM YOUR OWN DAMN SOURCED ARTICLE DUMBASS. If they can’t come out and say who the fuck they are, why the hell should I believe a fucking word out of their mouths? They couldn’t POSSIBLY be working their own agendas, could they? Nah, because that interferes with your narrative too. Try harder.
P.S. Leave AsiangrrlMN out of this. Takes a lot of balls to swipe at a sweet soul like hers when she’s not around. Fucktard.
pattonbt
@WyldPirate:
So honest question….has Obama done anything good? Has he done anything defensible?
I am no slavish Obot (although I am moderately satisfied with his performance and given the rules of the game and players on the bench he is on the top of the list – amongst a few others – who I want running the show).
Sure, there are many areas I want tons more from him. But I am not naive enough to believe that I should expect as much as others seem to believe he can deliver.
I may be too far gone as a cynic to think anyone can do anything to really move the US in a direction which I think is proper and rational. I have to be OK with baby steps. The US and it’s citizenry (all of us) have a lot of growing up to do before the country can make real steps forward.
And overall, I think Obama is taking some of those small steps. I guess I can live with that. If that makes me an Obot, so be it. But I’d rather win the long game and lose the short game than vice versa.
But, I am an idiot, so, whatever.
Comrade Kevin
@freelancer: He is a bit too happy at the election results, isn’t he?
Angry Black Lady
you’re an obot! no you are! i know you are but what am i! you’re stupid! no you are!
LOUD NOISES!!
::FALLS DOWN::
now THIS sounds like something i would be good at. what does the job entail, exactly? and does it have to be crack? can i substitute something more organic?
Also, I’ve heard of Obots and Obombies, but never Obot zombies, much less Obot zombie defenders. Does the Obot zombie only eat the brains of Obots? Or, like, the microprocessor or whatever? Or is the Obot itself not a zombie, but a defender of zombies?
I must confess, I don’t get it. Before your insults are going to have their proper sting, I’m going to need you to clarify them.
Kisses,
ABL
Suck It Up!
@Comrade Luke:
Huh? I can’t speak for other obots but I am well aware that the Democratic base is extremely diverse.
Comrade Kevin
@Angry Black Lady: I have suspected that WyldPirate was a racist for a while. He reaches for that kind of language repeatedly.
WyldPirate
@NR:
Of course Obama is gonna fold like a cheap fucking suit. His got his finger out of his ass and into that electoral wind.
Easier for him to fold and hope to get re-elected–which he won’t.
The Rethugs will strong-arm a deal for two years, make the tax cuts permanent in 2012 right before they start ripping HCR reform to shreds and privatizing SS. By that time, the Dems will be below 40 seats in the fucking Senate because of their fucking spinelessness, too.
Yutsano
@Angry Black Lady: Teach me your ways of mock-fu, oh wise sensei of the blogging world!
freelancer
@Comrade Kevin:
Something about protesting too much, and the word “doth” should be in there too. I’m too tired, read Hamlet, you idjits, this shit ain’t new by any means. The only way he could differentiate himself from the dittoheads is that he actually accepts our framing (aka reality) that taxes apply to everyone regardless of party affiliation.
Suck It Up!
Dang WyldEyed! ya know DU and DKOS and FDL are still open.
WyldPirate
@<a href="#comment-2191898″>pattonbt:
@WyldPirate:
Fair question.
Yep. The equal pay act thing was great. A lot of the healthcare reform stuff was awesome, I’m simply pissed because he didn’t ask for the moon top start with and negotiate from a position of strength and he let the fucking Senate dawdle with the Quixotic bipartisanship.
I thought the thing about closing Gitmo was awesome–but no fucking follow through and he got cowed on the trials by shear idiocy from the right.
I thought the bailout of the auto industry was great. They deserved it, it saved hundreds of thousands of jobs and help preserve at least some heavy-industrial base in the US. But then he turned around and shit all over the UAW contracts.
You people here don’t get it. I’m probably one of the most left-wing radical DFH on this board. I’m to the left of Dennis Kucinich. I’m pissed because the campaign rhetoric is a fucking hollow empty shell and the leadership from “the Man” is nearly as spineless and as absent as from the rest of the Dems.
freelancer
@WyldPirate:
Okay, this post is pretty much conclusive that WP is under the influence of some substance. He replies to NR, and writes, responding to his post, but the section that he blockquotes is me, the SAME QUOTE, and it’s the second time he’s done that but does that stop him? Does that even cause him to edit? No. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. Move along, these aren’t the droids you’re looking for.
Screw the troll, he’s placing his bet before the game is over and trying to swing the odds. And he’s drunk about it still. It’s been a week and a day, we haven’t even seen them sworn in on their King James Bibles yet, dude, calm down.
ETA: @WyldPirate:
Also, this post too pretty much means WyldPirate+12, like you needed to know that.
WyldPirate
@Comrade Kevin:
You’re full of shit.
I used “Black Jimmy Carter” once and that’s a goddamned tag here and I used
Black jesusbecause you fucking numbnutz Obots worship him like the worst of the Bible-humping fundies.Yutsano
@freelancer:
I can’t stop now. I shall accept nothing less than abject humiliation for this fartknocker. Going after me is fine, I’m a tough ol’ bitch, and no matter what he says about me I’ve been called worse by better men than he will ever be. But going after my wifey? It’s fucking ON dude. You will rue the day your daddy’s sperm decided to meet your mama’s egg for a tango.
freelancer
@WyldPirate:
It’s called snark. You have no chance to survive, make your time!
sweet Fanny Adams
@WyldPirate all over the place – You’re funny.
Stupid too.
All your base are belong to us
WyldPirate
@freelancer:
No, you dumbfuck, it proves nothing other than I have a shitty mouse with a right key that doesn’t always work. This causes the last bit of text I copied on the clipboard to get inserted instead of the one I copied Sometimes, i don’t catch the mistake before the sand runs out of the edit hourglass.
On top of that, I woke up and I’m trying to get tired enough to go back to sleep. Joblessness, hunting for a job every waking moment I’m not on here, waiting for the Rethugs to not extend unemployment benefits this month and having no healthcare while having diabetes and having recently had a triple bypass tends to make one worry about shit.
Now shut the fuck up and run along, you’re boring me.
Joseph Nobles
Hold on, hold on, let me spell this out for the slow to get it. Quick, go get two index cards and write this on the first one:
July 2011 – START
And then write this on the second one.
2014 – FINISH
Now when you start feeling anxious about what Obama’s doing in Afghanistan, take out those two cards and read them again. Every damn thing Obama and his administration has ever said and will continue to say has always been the same thing as those two cards.
OK. Back to the thread.
WyldPirate
@Yutsano:
Whatever,
YutzPutz. I’ve seen your ass around. Your shit is real weak.Bring. It. The. fuck. On.
Yutsano
@WyldPirate: Nah. You’re not worth the shit I found on the bottom of my shoe coming home from work today. Especially after you totally ignored the fact that I made a liar out of you right on this very thread. But hey, enjoy your superiority. You sure showed those wimpy Democrats good, now you can REALLY blame them for your $50,000 ER bill when you’re in dire straits!
WyldPirate
@freelancer:
Which was snark? What you linked to was my response to Comrade Kevin accusing me of being a racist. That’s a serious accusation in my book. I’m old enough to remember the Civil Rights movement, separate bathrooms and water fountains, and all of that sorry horseshit from our past. I was so pissed at my own father’s constant stream of racism I didn’t fucking speak to him for two years.
Now if you simply made a mistake and referenced the wrong post, I can forgive you for that. ;)
El Cid
I would stop hoping that large numbers of people would spontaneously and out of being impressed by rational argument and urging come together on their own as a coherent political force.
Maybe it’s simply impossible for any, whatever, liberal or populist or progressive large scale organized movement to emerge that can last any amount of time past one election, but no amount of demanding or hoping that some mass of blog readers agree on certain strategic points and then do something about it in the real world will actually have such an effect.
It isn’t so hard to organize right wing freakouts, because someone’s always there to bankroll them, you don’t need that many people, and they’ll always be treated as a serious, respectable, important political force.
But I don’t see that there is and I don’t think that there will be anything likewise on the liberal / Democrat / take whatever name you god-damn well please side. And it would be easy to blame the ideological outlook of too many people on that side of the spectrum (not incorrectly), but I don’t see this sort of thing self-organizing via blogs.
Even a million years ago, before the intertrons allowed us to all live in each others’ heads, you had the same rivers not being bridged. For example, it was well understood by plenty of people — and not just African Americans — that even when the African American community was more or less in like mind on certain issues or on supporting certain leaders or organizations (the Democratic Party), large organizations backing liberal (etc.) causes weren’t taking those views into account, and even when including African Americans in leadership positions (I know, not so common), this didn’t mean that suddenly the bridge had been built.
Occasionally during a huge period of turmoil and focused dissatisfaction, you can bring together people around a political candidate or party for an election, maybe two.
Maybe it’s more like throwing a rope bridge over a river when people understand that the fire is advancing on the side most everyone is on and they still feel the most intense burns, and lots of people rushing across, and it wasn’t twined that well in the first place, ordinary people aren’t going to keep up the newer degrees of time and effort they had been putting in gathering up fibers and twisting them into a rope — which for a while was new and interesting, and it’s nobody’s job to keep it up, nobody’s really hiring a crew to finish the actual bridge, and to a degree, people no longer think it’s that interesting to make sure others cross over the river, and it’s more difficult to convince them that the other bank is so much more desirable.
And of course you always have a number of people angry at how the rope isn’t being made correctly and the wrong fibers have been chosen and the wood for the planks is too dry and rotted, and better stuff may very well have been available, though so much harder to get at and on some rich guy’s land, and some of the people put in charge of the groups saying how it’s going to be done have had a past of screwing up bridge-related activities. Maybe there was a time in which it was more possible to build a real bridge, and some of those leaders opposed doing so, but right now it’s just not going to happen, theoretically possible or not.
Others didn’t really have a problem with what they were supposed to be doing helping out, but it’s not possible to be there all the time, because even though the flames right now are close, they have to pay for food for the kids because no one else will, and if they starve they’re just as dead as burned, and to get medicine and the like and so they still have to work, and maybe they can figure out places to stand where the fire won’t get that hot, and they really do hope that the other people will somehow figure out a way to get that bridge built, ’cause they sure need it and won’t have other options.
At the very beginning, even those people worried (often quite accurately, other times not at all) about the materials and the bridge team were able to put those worries a few steps back and just work on getting the bridge more built. And as it goes on, this goes back and forth, but maybe
Because, of course, the other side isn’t fire-free either. Just lower and more controlled and safer and at least a few people have started to dig some trenches and pushing up firelines, but there aren’t enough tools, and some of the leaders over there keep saying that it’s just not right to do all this fire-stopping without getting agreement from all those pro-fire forces.
And you have lots of people on the other side screaming how awful it is that these rope-bridge people are trying to take people out of the flames that is their God-given right to be in, and lots of people with bullhorns screaming how much more dangerous it is on the other side, and how those trying to bridge that river are all really trying to trick you into falling off and drowning, and then some people come along from nice areas without fire and hand the people standing in the smoking hot soil money and flags and hats and tells them it’s okay to scream and yell at anyone doing this whole ‘river crossing’ thing, and that what we need to do is go much further back into the flames because we all felt better then, because what’s going to happen is if you get enough screamy shouty people to stay in the flames and fuck up all these attempts to build a bridge, the rains will come soon enough to cool everything down. There may be no sign of rain, and it almost never rains in this area in this dry season, but they’re convinced that if they drive out the bridge-builders and jump around and dance and scream some more, God will send them rain.
Plus, the main bridge builder is black and foreign, and they heard that there used to be a whole lot of bridges until the black guy gave them all to other black people who give money to pimps, and he’s just trying to get you to the other side to take your guns away and be stuck in the jail of some fort and made to learn a foreign religion.
I was going to make more of a point about the potential I had once seen for online gathering spots to really cross the bridge into widespread and strong local organizing, and sustainably, not just before each election cycle (Move On? DFA?), but after that whole river shit I spewed out as the sleeping medication kicks in, I guess I’ll see if it’s time to lie down again.
Porlock Junior
@Angry Black Lady:
“Also, I’ve heard of Obots and Obombies, but never Obot zombies, much less Obot zombie defenders. Does the Obot zombie only eat the brains of Obots? Or, like, the microprocessor or whatever? Or is the Obot itself not a zombie, but a defender of zombies?”
Thank you for bringing sober, rational discourse into this discussion.
No, I mean it. When pretty much all the sane people have allowed WyldWatzis to steal the whole fucking thread, this is really the only sort of response that might clear the air enough to bring back actual discussion.
After all, a sober, rational advocate for a different position from ABL’s, and I’m sure they exist, would have a good laugh at the snark directed to the idiots and trolls claiming to be on his/her side, and then would be in a position to present a real opinion and an argument for it.
In fact, not only do such people exist, I’m not at all sure they wouldn’t have some good points. But who’s gonna hear from them while hastily trying to scan past the bullshit, even if they show up?
Sweet Fanny Adams
@WyldPirate: Laying it on a little thick, aren’t you? I know lefties are suckers for a sad story, but come on, man.
WyldPirate
@@Yutsano:
they anonymous sourcing is often a softening of the news from fucking administration sources, dumbass, It happens all the time.
Obama was fucking stupid for escalating in Afghanistan in the first place. He’s wasting people’s lifes for nothing. He caves on practically everything. He won’t resist Petreus because a.) the Rethugs will have a fit when the generals start yakking on background.
Wake the fuck up. we’ve seen this shit before.
I’ve got nothing against asiangrll personally. I think she probably is a sweet sould. My problem about your asiangrll fetish? Grow the fuck up and take the mushy chickenshit priivate. this isn’t an adult dating site. You both act like you’re fucking ten years old on here sometimes. Goddamned, man (or is it woman?–not that it really matters). You have heard of webcams haven’t you?
Yutsano
@WyldPirate:
Your ability to type seems to be impaired. This suggests a lack of sobriety. And you’re also aware you didn’t refute my point at all. They are not reliable sources. “It happens all the time” only proves how badly journalistic standards have slipped in this country. It does not strengthen your position.
You know, for someone who seems to have observed our interactions so closely, you have totally missed the fucking point. That seems to be a recurring theme with you. Maybe you need to do some serious self-introspection and analysis of your life. Because right now all you’re doing is causing resentment towards yourself.
Oh and I believe you’re about as left as I am Mormon. Which is not at all. You talk too much in right-wing framing.
WyldPirate
@Sweet Fanny Adams:
IT is 100% gospel truth. I lost my job in Aug. 2009 due to state budget cutbacks. I had a heart attack on Nov. 5 2009. Had a stent put in and had to wait a month to get the other shit bypassed.
I fudged a bit on healthcare. initially, i didn’t apply for COBRA because i was letting the three months enrollment period click down hoping I would find a job cause I didn’t think I would get sick. I did, in a big way. Found out I had diabetes, too even though I’m not overweight (yeah, that happens for all of you smartasses out there) I thought I could still apply once I got the 60k bill for just the stint. I was denied, but my former employer made a mistake on my termination date so I got it. After my bypass in Dec. I got another 60K bill. The insurance took care of it after they negotiated both bills down from my uninsured 120K to 59K of which I have to pay 4K.
So guilty, I fudged a bit. My COBRA runs out at the end of this month–the 15th month.
That’s another thing Obama did that was good. The provision in the ARA act of 2009 to subsidize COBRA premiums. Mine went from $450/month down to $160. I couldn’t have afford the former and can barely afford the latter.
AB
chilllllllll, shoot in the right direction, and listen to some music:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DaYbTPuon_w
Angry Black Lady
@Yutsano: oh, i’m no sensei. i’m just a half-drunk overworked lawyer who is dealing with lawyers on the other side who are so utterly wretched, that reading the tired yet valiant efforts of these aimless and angry thread-bombers is actually a pretty decent end to a long ass day.
El Cid
@WyldPirate:
It would have been very good to have gotten a majority of Americans to understand this, in the same way they apparently cannot understand that their taxes were lowered.
Angry Black Lady
@El Cid: I LOVE THIS. (i may post it on ablc, if you’ll let me.)
Angry Black Lady
@Porlock Junior: Yup. I’m too busy to get into a screaming match with Some Person on the Internet. I comment on these threads to learn new things and hear opposing points of view, not to be tripped in the caf and called a loser. :)
ETA: if people want to make loud noises, then they can. it’s a waste of time, but whatevs. it’s the damn internet. people can act the fool if they want to!
El Cid
@Angry Black Lady: Wow. OK. Was it that coherent? I didn’t read it again. Sleep finally approacheth. Sure, whatever you like, thanks.
WyldPirate
@Yutsano:
You are full of shit. The administration puts shit out on background all of the time. All of them do, even Obama’s. I don’t disagree anonymous sourcing is shitty journalism, but it’s here and it’s not going anywhere.
But we’ll see when the conference in Lisbon referenced in the article happens (later this month I think), won’t we?
Do you know the goddamned sources? Or are you talking out of your ass? My bet is the latter, so your “point”–such as it is—ain’t worth refuting because it’s a goddmaned strawman.
Maybe, but it also might suggest that I’ve had two hours sleep in the last 24 hrs. For the record, i don’t drink nor do I use drugs. I can’t type worth a shit and I usually don’t proofread.
No, dude, y’alls sappy chickenshit interactions are sickening. No one gives a fuck about seeing you call her “wifey”. And you are acting liking fucking teenagers when you do it. Shit, if you to are that into each other, find a website and go balls to the wall–you can mutually masturbate all you want with each other. Hell, you can even have a real life viewing audience that is interested in watching that kind of BS. My bet is that you haven’t been laid in ages if at all, because, well, in addition to being a Yuts, you’re also a big internet exhibitionist Putz,
So bring some more of your weak shit on, Putz. I’m just getting warmed up, now.
WyldPirate
@El Cid:
Amen to that, El Cid. It saved my ass from total economic ruin. My total bill went from 120K that I was facing without insurance down to about 7K considering premiums, hospitalization costs and aftercare.
I feel sorry in a way for Obama. He had a great messaging machine and quick response team to the horseshit rumors during the election, but it disintegrated once he got into office. Plus, the Dems in Congress couldn’t message their way out of a wet paper bag.
Sweet Fanny Adams
@WyldPirate: Um, those two play for different teams – one of them strictly so. For someone who claims to have noticed their “sappy chickenshit interactions”, you should have picked up on that. Doesn’t say much about your powers of observation, now, does it?
Odie Hugh Manatee
WyldPirate:
Fixed that for ya.
Keep on wanking.
WyldPirate
@Sweet Fanny Adams:
Perhaps, but perhaps there is a difference between “noticing” and voyeurism, no? Personally, i don’t much give a fuck about who sticks their tallywhacker where or who diddles on or licks what with whatever sex. However, there are much better places for that sort of stuff on the intertoobz if that turns your crank.
Just because one or both of them may be gay still doesn’t make the “wifey” stuff cute or interesting. Maybe it does to you and them. I suppose that’s cool if you and they like it. Me, I find it juvenile and disgusting. Last I checked, we were allowed to post opinions here and argue about this kind of shit, too. Plus, it’s good fucking ammo when you get in a throwdown with someone. ;)
WyldPirate
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
What’s that, the sound of one fat-ass manatee fucking another?
Get in line. I’ve got plenty more.
slightly_peeved
The union movement plays this role very effectively in other countries. Unfortunately, the Republicans did a very good job of demonizing it where they didn’t destroy it. I agree that blog readers won’t supplant it; unions rely on solidarity whereas blogs thrive on argument.
TheMightyTrowel
Cleek, if you’re out there, thank you so much for the pie filter…. It’s lunch time where I am and all the pie on this thread is making me hungry!
Nonie
You are right, the country does hate the word liberal – after years of that word being demonized over talk radio, it’s no surprise. BUT before you accept the common wisdom “this country is not liberal” as fact, please consider that most of the polls taken about this only ask people how they identify themselves. Well, who in their right mind would call themselves Liberal after all the negative associations with that word?
An entirely different picture emerges when you ask Americans what they VALUE, without using political labels. It turns out, quite a few things in the liberal “bucket” are valued by a majority of us.
IMO – framing has a lot to do with it. (Disclosure – I work for an advertising/media/marketing sort of outfit, and branding is a big deal here – so there’s a good chance I see more things through this filter than the general public.)
Read here for more:
http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2009/03/political_ideology.html
ReallyWyldPyrate
Arrrgh. Avast me hearties.
*gurgle*
Falls down drunk, for ’tis what we Really Wyld Pyrates do!
mai naem
Will Saletan was on Brian Lehrer yesterday. I feel he made a valid point. which is that the Dems had political capital to spend after 08 and spent it wisely and that the loss this year could have been easily predicted and that furthemore they will be able to point to healthcare in a few years as a great accomplishment. As far as firebaggers vs. Lawrence ODonnell – you people may want to remember that ODonnell was on of the naysayers on healthcare. I like ODonnell when he’s arguing against conservatives but he’s also a third wayer . This is what Erskine Bowles is part of and I ain’t impressed with what’s come out of the BS Catfood Commission. Also too, Rahm Emmanuel et. al do themselves no favor by calling progressives retards etc.
matoko_chan
ABL.
tyvm for pointing this out.
But even though there is zero discussion the refuglies have ginormous problems.
Old white christian people hate the word liberal.
Did you dig Doughy Pantsload (Jonah Goldberg) apologizing for Liberal Fascism?
Too late, they have come undone.
According to Charles Murray, the intellectual elite and the cultural elite have left the conservative building….only the business class elite remain, and they exist to farm the marks, not better their lives with democracy.
This is Salam-Douthat stratification on cognitive ability, or Conservative Selection for Stupid, and has resulted in the elevation of dimwitted ostentatiously pious breeders like Palin and COD to candidacies for offices they are spectacularily unfit for.
The Meaning of the Midterms is that when youth and minorities turn out….the TP/GOP loses.
It is that simple and that robust.
In 2010 youth was 11%, in 2008 18%. Add in the decline of non-hispanic christian caucs in the electorate and the demographic timer, and the result is a conservative party that will never win another presidential election.
You are correct, all their base are belong to us.
A tribe without reps cannot survive.
Nick
@Suck It Up!:
and when he did give said speech, they complained it wasn’t enough or parsed his words to prove he really didn’t mean it.
brantl
@Comrade Luke:
Good, don’t let the door hit you in the ass.
lacp
It was a midterm election. The job market sucks like a Hoover. Democrats lost a bunch of seats. I believe the first two statements were more instrumental in making the third statement true than all of the DFHs, firebaggers, Tea Partiers, Obots, lefties, and wingnuts put together.
brantl
@WyldPirate: That’s unsourced, lame-o, and the denial by the White House is sourced.
But you’ll believe what you want to believe. Obama got exactly who he said, when he said they would get them out, out of Iraq. One for one isn’t good enough for you?
matoko_chan
@WyldPirate: dude, you don’t get it.
Petraeus is DOING THE EXACT SAME THANG he used to pry us out of Eye-rack. Bombing the shit out of the indigenous for face-saving cover so we can start to GTFO.
It is what he was hired to do when pop-centric COIN failed under McC.
Fucking COIN….how does it work?
ans: it DOESN’T…..like the Bush Doctrine (aka the Epic Fail of the Manifest Destiny of
westernstyleJesus-style Democracy in +99% Muslim Nations) COIN cannot work. When muslims are democratically empowered to vote they vote for Islam. A fifth grader could get it. Apparently not that fucking WEC retard Bush tho.Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@WyldPirate:
Are you trying to sound hip and urban, WyldPirate? Because if that is your goal, you are failing pretty miserably.
matoko_chan
@Nick: look…..it doesn’t matter what Obama SAYS……..the low-information (read low IQ) conservative base cannot assimilate it.
That is the paradox of HCR…..they are ones that need it, but they have been ruthlessly culled for intellect.
The poor stupid conservative cudlips have been memetically downselected into a sub-deme that is only permeable to scaremongering and demagoguery.
But they are all old white christian people….a shrinking demographic.
:)
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@WyldPirate:
He campaigned on escalating in Afghan. Seriously. Were you paying attention to what he was saying when he was running for office? You’ve had several posts over where you are criticizing Obama for carrying out his campaign promises as though you didn’t know they were campaign promises.
matoko_chan
@El Cid: it is far more simple than that.
t’other side has an unbeatable argument.
the TP/GOP means never having to say you’re sorry.
:)
Keith G
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:
Habits die hard.
Maody
I see it’s Talk Like A Pirate Night Into Day.
I have some lovely ginger apple pie. Anyone up for some?
snarkypsice
I so agree. I’m part of Obama’s base and I’m not alienated.
I think it’s because a) I listened to what he said in the campaign, not to what I imagined him saying and b) I live in the real world with Lawrence o’ Donnell and not the rigid, ideologically pure fantasy-land that Glenn Greenwald seems to think exists somewhere.
I am way to the left of President Obama but I always knew that. I’m way to the left of most of this country. He’s the President of everyone not just me. Which is a shame but there it is.
snarkypsice
@Nonie:
And yet they don’t vote that way. So I tend not to believe that they value what they say they do.
Weezie
Universal Law: Anything that starts with “you Obots” is going to be followed by complete bullshit.
jinxtigr
Not to, you know, talk about the actual post or anything…
That cartoon of a hippie donkey executing Uncle Sam is actually strangely appropriate ;)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguy%E1%BB%85n_Ng%E1%BB%8Dc_Loan#Prisoner_execution
Seems the prisoner being executed was a death squad leader for the Viet Cong who’d been murdering police officers and their families, had thirty-four dead ones in a nearby ditch, including six of the executioner’s godchildren O_O
mmyeah, I can see why handcuffs wouldn’t suffice for Mr. Warmonger Executioner.
I hope the parallel with Uncle Sam there is noted. It’s a GOOD parallel.
timb
@WyldPirate: And, President McCain awaits your vote to re-elect him.
Seriously, switch sides, already. that sort of absolutist demand for ideological purity doesn’t make you more moral or more intelligent; it makes you sound like a Nader voter who sent George Bush to the White House.
The only thing depressing about being on a team is teammates like this guy
WyldPirate
@Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony:
Yeah, and his National Security Advisor and a lot of people advised against it. So what? It was idiocy and destined to be a huge fucking failure.
On top of that he made that “campaign promise” to ward off the “weak on defense attacks” from McInsane. It didn’t mean he had to follow through. It’s not like he’s followed through on shit like DADT or closing Gitmo or a shitload of other stuff.
Instead, he’s callously killing soldiers for a waste of an effort to “reform” afghanistan.
timb
@WyldPirate: You mean, “save the UAW” contracts by screwing bond holders? Dear lord, my State Treasurer sued them to stop the cramming down on bond holders in order to save Union contracts. What world does this guy live in?
WyldPirate
@Weezie:
Universal law number 2: Obots excuse any and every fuck-up
Black JesusBlack Jimmy CarterObama makes.BruceFromOhio
@El Cid:
As a techie I frequently must rely on analogy to describe complex, intangible systems to managers, users and financiers. As an analyst, I also use analogy to describe how or why something intangible supports something tangible, like multi-year strategies and funding requests for projects to support same.
Your rope-bridge and fire-by-the-river analogy is one of the best I have seen, and I now steal it.
In applying this analogy to the conservative movement, it’s evident that as hilariously fvcking whacked as the teatard movement appears, its based on a pretty solid, sustainable infrastructure with deep pillars of support (I’ll pick just one as an example, and it started with Bush v Gore and recently gave us Citizens United v Federal Election Commission).
Whether those pillars are ideological or financial in nature is irrelevant: the ‘haves’ are now well-positioned in both to control the ‘have-nots,’ and by the way, welcome to the 112th Congress.
SecState Clinton’s historic admonition about the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy is not only validated, it’s the current business model for the demise of these United States.
From my perspective, it wasn’t a big surprise that the freaks are now going to be running the henhouse under the guidance of the Foxes. In my little corner of Ohio, the constant drumbeat of fear, angst and panic from nearly every easily accessible media platform has only been avoidable by living on Mars since January of 2009.
Are the occasional rope bridges like the 2008 election enough to avoid the fires that could eventually consume everything? And is there enough solidarity among the not-conservatives to begin building sustainable infrastructures to replace or rebuild things like the ACORNs of the world?
2010 Dem losses are, in my humble ignorance, what death by a thousand cuts looks like. I’ll work towards a better outcome in 2012, but its 2016 that has me up nights. Another 8 years of Bush, Inc. will sink us for good.
No conclusions here, just mild amusement at the antics in the comments, and appreciation for your comments and Angry Black Lady’s post.
ornery curmudgeon
@Angry Black Lady: “i expect a certain number of reflexive tantrums from folks around here.”
You certainly gave one. What a stupid, counterproductive whiney self-congratulatory post. I was just warming up to you ABL.
Crap this was. Smells like DKos and the anti-Nader jihad … didn’t do a lot to help that site, either. Purge — as good a way to destroy Democratic support as anything that could be done.
Fail. Just, fail.
El Cid
@BruceFromOhio: I re-read it this morning, and if I had to write it again not in a late night, zombie awake stream of consciousness, I’d have more sensible sentences and be clearer about who “they” are or “some people” are in each case, but if it’s useful take it and use it and maybe make more sense of it.
BruceFromOhio
@Nonie:
I absolutely enjoy the sour, twisted, lemon-sucking looks my in-laws get whenever I remind all present that “I’m a dyed-in-the-wool liberal, and since the Reagan White House I’ve been constantly reminded why I will probably always be a liberal.”
My brain-trust of former colleagues and I get together for the occasional drinking, scheming and storytelling session, and we are two and two: two conservatives, two liberals. Its a fricking blast to twist the Rubik’s cube of modern politics this way and that to see who can calm the others down after riling them up.
So, perhaps I’m not in my ‘right mind’, but I damned straight do not hide what I think, and why.
burnspbesq
@Comrade Luke:
Shame you can’t handle reality, but that’s your issue, not ours.
Sayonara.
@WyldPirate:
Were you born stupid, or is it an acquired skill? The political reality in this country is not what you think it is. People who think the way you do are NOT the majority of people who actually show up and vote (did you actually show up and vote?). Nor are they likely to be such anytime soon. It’s on people who think the way you do to convince the rest of us that what you want is good for the country, and so far you and your friends are doing a piss-poor job of it.
One other thing: we’re not responsible for the fact that you bought into a vision of who Obama is that never had anything to do with reality. We knew all along that he was a centrist technocrat, and we frankly don’t understand why you and your friends didn’t get that. Everything that flows from your error is on you, not on us, although you and your friends are going to be responsible for a huge amount of suffering that is going to be endured by a huge number of your fellow citizens.
Hippie-punching? Happy to oblige, they richly deserve to be punched.
Egypt Steve
hmmmmm — tea-twits, or teat-wits? Since the teabaggers are sucking from the public teat to get their electric scooters and what-not, could go either way.
Meta: did that sound like something Alan Simpson would say?
BruceFromOhio
@burnspbesq:
Aw, hell, and I just got this tie-dye hemp jacket dry cleaned.
eemom
Fine post, ABL. Shame it broke in the middle of the night when all the trolls were out.
I heard on the Pacifica station yesterday that black folks were out in force for last week’s clusterfuck of an election. So who’s that much- ballyhood “base” again, Hamshwald??
Tom65
Boy, that escalated quickly… I mean, that really got out of hand fast.
/Ron Burgundy
cckids
@snarkypsice:
Right there. That is one of my favorite things about Obama, the belief that he needs to be the President of the whole country. His “we are not red/blue states, we are the United States” in 2004 was/is a rallying call too few believe in. No wonder, given the usual flamethrowing & water torture from talk radio & Fox. But the fact that he keeps with it gives me hope that the grown-ups will retain control of the asylum, at least for long enough to start to put the fires out. (hey, I can hope).
Yes, it would be more emotionally satisfying to have him come out & blast the shit out of the nay-sayers & the morons on the right. But then where would we be? It IS their country too. If no one ever stands firm about listening to both sides, we are truly lost.
Someone on BJ recently commented about the number of regulations from this White House slowly but surely working their way through the vast maze of Federal agencies. Also, that HCR has fingers deep into so many areas of the Fed. government that it will be all but impossible for the Repubs to pry it out. Subtle, steady, SMART change works as well as huge lightning bolts. It is just harder to sell & less exciting. But just try to stop the tide.
Relate it to the generational losses that are coming the R’s way. Those have been evident for years, yet they can’t seem to change the way they think or act. I really don’t want the Democrats to start down that road.
Peter
@WyldPirate: Protip, WP: Citing a Some Democrats Say article doesn’t make you look right, it makes you look like a credulous moron.
Wordsmith
@WyldPirate:
What do we here from the Obama crowd??/.
Just a spelling correction; it’s ‘hear.’ Ya know, that thing you do with your ears.
Quarks
John, you are keeping this woman and Tom Levinson as front pagers, right?
harlana
I do not understand why so many commenters here assume that those who are dissatisfied with Obama’s policies were starry-eyed O-bots when they pulled the lever. Many of us knew pretty much what to expect from him, which is what we are getting. Of course, you can’t blame anyone for hoping for more and being disappointed. I am sick to death of every liberal being painted with the same broad brush with all your superior attitudes and telling people to STFU and they don’t have a right to criticize their own government, that’s basically what some of you are saying (and has become the overarching theme of this blog of late) and it’s just getting so tiresome.
Tom65
Criticizing is one thing, it’s the CONSTANT FUCKING WHINING we’re talking about.
matoko_chan
@WyldPirate: nope, the blitzkreig is cover for America-cuts-and-runs-without-having-to-admit-it.
you dumbass, its EXACTLY what Petraeus did in Eye-rack before the SOFA negotiations started.
matoko_chan
@cckids: this. 110%.
that is why he isnt ramming through a DADT repeal.
Because it is better for homosexuals if they get included in the GOP.
He relly believes in one america. That is why he isnt going to press immigration over the next two years…..because it is better for those racist fucktards to start including hispanics …..it is better for hispanics, and better for America.
Hes Lincolnesque. He doesnt want to count coup or gloat or futher polarize the country or punish the old white christian racist low-IQ ‘conservatives’….he sees himself as their president too.
Me….im vindictive…… i’d like to see them all DIAF.
And their house is already on fire, from the demographic timer, their aging base, 50 years of race-baiting and IQ-baiting, and Salam-Douthat stratification on cognitive ability.
I think they are going to burn anyways.
Tom W.
Let me just say – “Obots” is soooooooo 2009, people.
That is all.
timb
@Tom65: THIS
I volunteered to be an Election day observer; I gave a meager amount; I bought a yard sign; I was so happy when my red state went blue, but I never, ever imagined I was getting a liberal. A thoughtful, left-leaning pragmatist/technocrat who was not Eugene Debs. All I knew is that I trusted he would govern better than Hillary and McCain.
i am not surprised he is not perfect. I am not happy about civil liberty abuses or the wussiness about the tax cuts of late, but this guy is so much better than the other two people I could have voted for, better than his predecessor and better than Bill Clinton (I would submit, warts and all, that he is best and most competent President since JFK).
I guess I didn’t expect perfection, but don’t understand how 75% of what I wanted is supposed to be bad?
If the internet had been around in ’94, can you imagine what these puritan lefties would be saying about the guy who bombed aspirin factories, destroyed welfare, tied the economy to the bond market, de-regulated banking, etc
Weezie
@Tom W.: Word.
Calling people mindless followers is a way of devaluing their opinion. It means “My opinion is the only valid one, because I think for myself…..unlike you, you mindless drone.”
So fuck you, wyle. Fuck you hard.
kay
@harlana:
For what it’s worth, harlana, I think most of the discussion about the last election is overly broad and useless.
I think Russ Feingold lost because Wisconsin is spots of bright blue surrounded by sea of red, and there are a lot of older people there, and more of them came out than us. Like Pennsylvania. And Ohio. And Florida.
But I don’t know what someone like O’Donnell talks about without Some Big Theme, so he probably has to engage in this sort of conjecture, or he’s out of a job.
Kitty_Sanchez
I love Balloon Juice and love seeing ABL’s posts here, but I rarely have time to read the threads or comment. After reading ABL’s excellent and entertaining post-election rant, I thought I’d make a comment to thank her and add a little to the election analysis — something to expand beyond the blue-dem-vs-true-progressive frame. But after going through this thread, I lost the desire.
I can tell that many of you are regular commenters. I have to ask: why is this WyldePirate person given so much attention? He/she has dominated this thread. Is this a pattern on BJ threads? This is just my first impression, so I might be wrong, but it looks like this person is engaging in negative attention-seeking behavior. That in itself is annoying but not necessarily terrible. But this person is clearly miserable — unemployed, serious health issues, insomnia, possible rage addiction — and this is what I’ve observed from just this thread. Wouldn’t it be better for everyone, including WyldePirate, to just ignore him/her?
Dr. Squid
@Comrade Luke: Since reading isn’t your thing, you can go join the teatards who also think that not reading pisses off the Obots. It’s not like you PUMAs are really any different from them anyway.
BruceFromOhio
Every junkie needs a fix.
DaBomb
@NR: Stop believing everything that Huff Post publishes…
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/11/11/919624/-Once-AgainAnother-MSM-LIE-taken-as-fact
Here’s another…
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/plum-line/2010/11/the_morning_plum_129.html
Both showing the WH is not caving into the tax cuts. But keep with the circle jerk.
Linda Binda
I think it means something that a thread that promotes party unity and a single platform is hijacked by a flame-throwing troll trying to compare Obama defenders to Bush ones. Especially after it’s come out that Republicans went out of their way this past election to convince Democratic voters not to come to the polls because of broken promises and whichever, and you REALLY have to think…
And after reading the thread about the gay Republicans, I really have to hand it to the black electorate (of which I’m part and parcel (Hies, there!)). They seemed to have been the only smart portion of the base in this election and every other one. Blacks get accused of being on welfare, of being racist and voting racist, for sleeping around: yadda yadda. They also suck at getting to the polls, but when they *do* show up, do they always vote for the candidates? Usually. Can you usually count on black progressives not to mince words and actually defend themselves? Yes. Do they have a healthy sort of skepticism for wedge-issue BS? Yes. It means a lot that in 2004 that they can both hate on the gays and still vote for Kerry. (Heh heh.)
But, seriously, why can’t more voters be like the black voters? ;)
Weezie
@Linda Binda: You said it (I am also part of that voting block – we are sassy and don’t take no shit. You know, I have never met a firebagger/hissyfit thrower who was black. Interesting.)
Angry Black Lady
@ornery curmudgeon: stupid, whiny, AND self-congratulatory. it’s a rare day that i hit the trifecta.
again, i think some of you missed the point. but who am i to get in the way of this circular firing squad? let me know when anyone who believes that obama has alienated the base wants to talk about who “the base” is. i’ll be over at my blog where the tumbleweeds and a cool breeze blow through the comment section, and there’s no bathroom line.
cheers,
ABL
Tom W.
Let me just add this – “Puma” is sooooo 2008. There are like 3 still living in the wild.
That is all.
FlipYrWhig
@DaBomb: You could tell from the careful word “continuation” that there was nothing much to get worked up about. A short-term continuation is a continuation too, and we’ve been hearing about that one for a long time. One way you might begin to freak out woudl be if you read the story under a headline that used the word “cave” or “give in,” as DKos and HuffPo both did, because both are malevolent forces designed to make people like our very own WP, OL, and NR continue their jihad with as much enthusiasm as possible. But I’ve basically given up on expecting too many people to be able to read more than 4 words without already forming a hard-and-fast opinion about What They Mean.
FlipYrWhig
The stupid thing about all of this is that what Greenwald wants would be very nice indeed. Yes, Democrats _should_ stand up for progressive principles; they _should_ all believe in certain core values; they _shouldn’t_ undermine each other and through their discord convey to the world disorganization and even cowardice.
But, you know, how do we get there? Greenwald has no answer for that. There are places where running as a liberal or even just a Democratic partisan _will make you lose_. There’s no such thing as a partisan/liberal majority. It can’t be done. The closest thing we’ve seen to one, _we just lost_. (It wasn’t that close to one. That’s the point.)
O’Donnell is obviously right on this (and he was obviously not “blaming” “liberals” in any way whatsoever), and I’m not usually a fan of is.
eemom
@FlipYrWig
I OT’d about this on another thread. It really pisses me off big time — especially that Arianna’s
crock of misleadingly paraphrased shitbig scoop is STILL being raved about all over left fuckistan even though it has now been categorically denied by two WH sources.As always, a lie gets halfway around the world before the truth can get its boots on.
FlipYrWhig
@eemom: We have always been at war with Left Fuckistan.
DaBomb
@FlipYrWhig:
I remember one time there was this erroneous headline on Huff n Fluff about how Pres. Obama was going to destroy the tress in this secluded part of Alaska and that he had already broken a promise… eleventy billion…
This blogger that I normally read went off the handle. So I read the whole entire article and it wasn’t anything similar to the headline. It had to do with a road that was being built and a plot of land that was already promised to these contractors to complete this road. That was it. They weren’t going to be allow to cut down any endangered forest or anything of the sort.
When I pointed this out and people actually read the article, the tune changed. That’s when I stopped venturing over to Huff n Puff. Very dishonest journalism.
OldEditor
@Angry Black Lady: I agree. It needs editing, though, to tighten up and focus a little better. But a great post.
Tim I
@WyldPirate:
There is nothing lamer than some clueless keyboard commando calling another blogger out with tough talk he’s only ever heard on a movie screen.
Weezie
@Tim I: LOLZ
Angry Black Lady
@Weezie: @Linda Binda: Amen!
@Quarks: “this woman” is better than “that woman.” “i did not have sexual relations with that woman….”
:D
Angry Black Lady
@Kitty_Sanchez: kitty, you can always comment on my actual blog. i try to respond to commenters there as much as possible. over here, it’s nearly impossible although i do read all the comments. in any event, thank you!
Angry Black Lady
@OldEditor: thanks. it definitely could use some tightening, but sometimes when i get going, i just can’t stop. you should see some of the posts i write after coming home from a bar. actually, no you shouldn’t…
Angry Black Lady
@El Cid: Posted here: http://www.angryblacklady.com/2010/11/11/fuckin-analogies-about-fuckin-midterms-how-do-they-work/
Too lazy for HTML!