Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

When you’re in more danger from the IDF than from Russian shelling, that’s really bad.

This fight is for everything.

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

Dear Washington Post, you are the darkness now.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

If rights aren’t universal, they are privilege, not rights.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

Washington Post Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Disappointing to see gov. newsom with his finger to the wind.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Readership Capture / Ain’t too proud to bleg

Ain’t too proud to bleg

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My therapist said to stop reading Bobo (she said he’s like a disease without any cure…don’t think you’re clever for saying the next line is true too btw), but I am now engaged in an epic battle to make my totebagger uncle stop taking him seriously. Beyond the classic Sasha Issenberg take down from the Philadelphia magazine, are they are any other definitive anti-Bobo treatises you are aware of? Any from official-looking places? My uncle isn’t the type to take it seriously if it’s from a place with a name like “Balloon Juice” or “No More Mister Nice Guy”.

Reader Interactions

77Comments

  1. 1.

    BGinCHI

    Bobo’s mom told me he still pees the bed sometimes, but you really can’t use that.

    Pillow talk.

  2. 2.

    patrick II

    Matt Taibbi has killed Bobo on his blog a few times, but if your uncle is a conservative guy I don’t think a “Rolling Stone” blog and Matt Taibbi’s hyperbolic ways will sit easy with him. They work fine for me though.

  3. 3.

    DFS

    Yeah, I was about to say, Taibbi has repeatedly murdered him, but those treatises all involve naughty words and such that automatically disqualify the argument from consideration.

  4. 4.

    schrodinger's cat

    Isn’t reading his lame columns about science or economics enough to prove to your uncle how disingenuous Bobo is.

  7. 7.

    Exurban Mom

    Yes, being obsessed about Bobo could lead one to become a bore, I suppose…good luck with the uncle. I’m in a similar battle with my own father, which is a different type of hell…

  10. 10.

    John W.

    BTW, this is a good example of why Taibbi should stop saying fuck so often. The medium swamps the message.

    If you say anything with a smile and look official, people take you seriously. Sad reality of everyday life. Fascism came to America wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross, and calling its opponents unreasonable as David Gregory nods along.

    /rant

  12. 12.

    DougJ

    @Tim in SF:

    Link. It’s a very good article, not just because it rips Brooks but because the analysis of new journalism and what came after is spot on. A great piece, all in all.

  13. 13.

    DougJ

    @John W.:

    Yeah, that Bobo-on-Haiti piece that Taibbi did would be perfect otherwise, my uncle is involved with Haitian relief efforts. But the use of “fuck” might turn him off.

  16. 16.

    The Dangerman

    Bobo? How about Jabba? As in, the Hut.

    I’m thinking he would be an amazing candidate to primary Obama; tag line to the bumper stickers would be:

    “Don’t Blow It; Hand Jabba The Presidency”

    Kinda has a Clintonian ring to it, doncha think?

  19. 19.

    Calming Influence

    My uncle isn’t the type to take it seriously if it’s from a place with a name like “Balloon Juice” or “No More Mister Nice Guy”.

    1. Collect up all the great take downs from BJ and NMMNG.
    2. Go to Blogger and start a blog named “Normal Opinions Of Normal Americans Who Punch Hippies” or some such shit, with lots of Very Serious images, links, etc.
    3. Post collected take downs on the new blog, and direct your uncle there.
    4. Profit.

  21. 21.

    lol

    Copy and paste some Rolling Stone Taibbi pieces but do some edits yourself. Do you really think he’s going to read the actual link if you send him the text?

  24. 24.

    John W.

    Anyone else think this is a problem with the left somehow? That we literally have problems thinking of a piece that reads as credible?

    I mean, fuck, Taibbi’s good enough for me but we do need to reach out more to middle America. Or in the last words of Gay Perry in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: “… to all you good people in the Midwest, sorry we said fuck so much.”

  27. 27.

    Tim in SF

    @DougJ: Link. It’s a very good article, not just because it rips Brooks but because the analysis of new journalism and what came after is spot on. A great piece, all in all.

    Oh yeah. I remember that article. I liked it. It was an accurate and effective description.

  30. 30.

    JITC

    HERE is a Google search of “David Brooks wrong.” As you might imagine, there is a lot of material.

    Also, quoting James = awesome.

  32. 32.

    coldiez

    DRIFTGLASS

    Yeah you can’t touch Driftglass. No one destroys BOBO or Sullivan quite like him. Too bad you won’t catch him in any lamestream media. And what you need for your uncle doesnt exist inside of a framework that will work for him. You’re fucked. (so is your uncle)

  37. 37.

    WyldPirate

    @Exurban Mom:

    I’m in a similar battle with my own father, which is a different type of hell…

    Tell me about it. My Dad thinks FDR is a heathen for Bretton Woods and he yammers crazy shit about “taking the US off the gold standard”.

    Lot’s of “face meets palm” moments when I go home for visits.

  41. 41.

    bostondreams

    Offtopic, but anyone here watch and enjoy Psych? Tonight’s episode takes place in the town of Dual Spires, where they have to solve the mysterious death of a young woman named Paula. They have encountered town residents with famous names (the sheriff is named Andrew Jackson tho, not Harry Truman), and a woman who was carrying a log and looked like she was talking to it..but Gus and Shawn both agree that ‘that would be too much.’ Some very familiar actors and actresses appear too. And the opening theme song was performed by Julee Cruise.
    I wonder how many in the audience get the references. I love this show.

  43. 43.

    Chicago dyke

    i haven’t read a Bobo piece in years, so i’m probably not much help here. but i’ll say this instead.

    ask your relative: why, specifically, are you so attached to this writer? and his opinions? what makes you think he knows more than me (which is to say, you, Doug)? do you know where his money comes from? do you know what influences him? what interests or corporations or editors? if you think you do, why? if you don’t, why not? why is this writer, who has a national microphone, better informed and more correct than your family member, who is read by thousands daily, for all he (Doug) is not paid to write about politics like this trustifarian hack is? why do you think one opinion is better than another? how do you back that up with fact and example?

    fact. example. reason. logic. it shuts them down every time, if they aren’t the crazy sort. i do this all the time; i have many conservative and libertarian friends. they generally don’t engage me anymore about politics; they are too afraid, these days. if you have a relative who worships Bobo or any other media personality, ask them the simple question, “so, where did Bobo go to school and get his PhD in economics? or his MA in the history of the middle east? his BA in evolutionary biology? oh, he didn’t do any of those things? or, you don’t know if he did or not? so… why are you letting a potentially uneducated stranger tell you how to think? are you sure for a fact he’s not on drugs?” usually when i use that sort of argument, i get flapping fish lips and silence from my right-leaning friends.

  48. 48.

    Upper West

    @Calming Influence:

    Yes. Great Idea.

    I would add, as others have suggested, a cleaned up version of Driftglass.

    The main point is to show that Brooks is far from “reasonable,” so digging up his cheerleading for the worst of Bush would help. If he’s really a “totebagger” (not a teabagger) he probably doesn’t like the Bush tax cuts or the Iraq war much and reminding him couldn’t hurt.

    You might also try my diary on Kos about Brooks’ sneering column on Gore’s Assault on Reason

  50. 50.

    Calouste

    OT:

    NASA is going to announce tomorrow that they have found a microbe in Mono Lake in California that uses arsenic in its DNA instead of phosphorus like every other lifeform on Earth. First indication that there might well be life out there in the universe that is completely different from ours.

  51. 51.

    eemom

    um……dude? I don’t actually know, of course, but I kind of think when your therapist said stop reading Bobo, she might have implicitly meant that advice to encompass, you know, not spending your time engaging in epic battles to find definitive anti-Bobo treatises, as well…..?

    Just a thought, zall.

  52. 52.

    miwome

    Well, he came in as #30 in the Hack Thirty. I dunno how seriously your uncle would take Salon or Alex Pareene, but it’s there. (Note: the piece isn’t as harsh as at least my own feelings are, but maybe it would be a good gateway perspective?)

  53. 53.

    Jim Pharo

    I’ve always understood Bobo to be self-refuting. Just read him! It’s not like his lack of intellectual honesty and overall hackiness is hidden…

  56. 56.

    Jim Newell

    You could always give him the comically dated National Greatness essay, which was more responsible for “John McCain” than just about anything else. But he probably likes John McCain too.

    My favorite paragraph to re-read, 13 years later:

    America is a more dominant power in the world than Americans a century ago could ever have imagined. Yet we have almost none of the sense of global purpose that Americans had when they only dreamed of enjoying the stature we possess today. Domestically, we have a president and a Congress whose major common purpose is . . . balancing the budget.

    Stupid lame government!

    http://goaheadsueme.blogspot.com/2005/03/return-to-national-greatness-manifesto.html

  58. 58.

    Mike in NC

    @bostondreams:

    Offtopic, but anyone here watch and enjoy Psych? Tonight’s episode takes place in the town of Dual Spires, where they have to solve the mysterious death of a young woman named Paula.

    Never cared much for “Twin Peaks” back in the day, but we were totally baffled until the end credits and I finally got the bit about “Dual Spires”. Duh! Lots of gags about cider/coffee and pie/donuts.

  60. 60.

    Bnut

    No offense, but everyone asking for links to the Issenberg article needs their Internets revoked. Its literally the 3rd link if you plug the name into a Google search. You’re already sitting down, just move the mouse a few inches and hit a few keys….

  61. 61.

    BGinCHI

    @eemom: I tried to shame Doug with the mommy + peepee reference at the top of the thread, but it didn’t take.

    Jesus, you can’t even use reverse psychology on this guy.

  62. 62.

    Church Lady

    Doug, if you are wasting your time in your therapist’s office discussing David Brooks, you are either in need of more help than most would suspect or you’ve got so much damn money that burning $100 an hour, or more, to discuss Brooks won’t make you miss your next meal. What’s next? Discussing the Washington Post Editorial Page, or perhaps coming up with your next Post chat scam?

  65. 65.

    cay

    “She said I’m so obsessed that I’m becoming a bore oh no…ah ya think you’re so prettyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy.” I had to. And the therapist is right. Earth will end. Bobo will end. Scotch will live until I die.

  67. 67.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    If I understand “totebagger” correctly (I just haven’t seen it before, so I’m guessing, but it seems easy to guess) then Greenwald’s demolishing of Brooks I think would be the best.

    Anyone who starts to believe Brooks’ “moderate” act should read it.

    Ah, and actually, if you Google “Greenwald David Brooks”, there’s a whole page of links.

  69. 69.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Calouste: Amazing news. Somehow I always thought that Mono Lake was the most likely candidate on the planet to contain aliens, as anyone who’s been there can attest. What a weird and wonderful place.

  74. 74.

    wenchacha

    I have the same problem with my liberal brother re: The Moustache of Freedom. Of course, in my short phone conversation, that was just about all I could draw on to warn him away from Friedman.

    The snark factor of many of these put-downs is great for those of us playing inside baseball, but isn’t enough to convince people still willing to imagine that there are indeed Very Serious People among Villagers. Poor little bro, he’s still so sweet and innocent.

  76. 76.

    RobW

    Dean Baker’s blog title is “Beat the Press” which may appeal to a wingnut who distrusts the allegedly-liberal-media. Baker’s an economist who regularly skewers the a-l-m, including Bobo, the WaPo, NPR, AP, MSNBC, and others. Of course, he shows them to be both promoting the conservative economic policy line and completely wrong on facts. Highly recommended for reachable teapartiers, if there are any left.

    Though the title’s a bit cheeky, the website is the very-serious Center for Economic Policy Research and has quite the respectable appearance.

    http://www.cepr.net/index.php/beat-the-press/

  77. 77.

    RobW

    I’d also recommend Orcinus blog (sidebar above the blogroll) for excellent, thoroughly-researched scholarly essays by Dave Neiwert and Sara Robinson on the ideological and political ties between TeaPartiers and various anti-government radical right-wingers from militias to the klan.

    http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/

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