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By popular demand, a/k/a Readership Capture.
Archives for 2010
Militant Moderates
Apparently last night’s post went right over the Sully borg’s collective heads:
Do you think they understood the point of my post last night? Like, for example, the people on “teh left” who are all nominated for awards are basically folks with no institutional power, and whose grave sins range from saying fuck too much and pointing out that wingnuts are crazy? That it is absurd to equate a bunch of slightly obnoxious comments from random bloggers to the Malkin awards, which is a list of individuals who make up the institutional right. When was the last time Digby was on television? Or Tbogg? Or Amanda Marcotte? Do they understand that Markos is essentially blacklisted from NBC?
Do they even understand the concept of false equivalence?
Do they understand how silly it is to nominate someone for a Moore award for noting that the right-wing is fomenting violence, and then hosting an award for a dozen right-wingers fomenting violence?
Do they understand my comment was a riff on a well-known remark by Dave Wiegel?
Do you think there is even the slightest chance they understand we’re making fun of them? Probably. Which is why my post is now a nominee for “for divisive, bitter and intemperate left-wing rhetoric.”
Clowns.
And I don’t want another hundred comments telling me you love Sullivan. Clearly, I love the blog, too. But the false equivalence between a couple of powerless bloggers and William Donohoe and Roger Ailes and comapny, who can get on tv with the snap of their fingers to spread their poisonous bile, is just absurd.
Make Mine a Manhattan
It seems that an honorary member of the Crow tribe has just signed on with the Black Helicopter brigade and is readying — now, as I write, in some secure undisclosed location (Berchtesgaden?) — the documents of transfer that will (at last!) restore its traditional owners to their rightful enjoyment of just a tiny piece of American soil.
That would be President Obama, getting ready to hand Manhattan back to the descendents of the Native Americans who first sold off the island to the Dutch.
No, seriously.
Via Jillian Rayfield at TPM, we learn that the Obama administration’s decision to reverse Bush era policy and support the U. N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People has so terrified folks that the usual suspects on the right are ginning up the reverb chamber to declare that yes, our Black, Kenyan, Muslim, Crow Usurper has taken the next step to obliterate liberty and subdue Americans terrified and ill-informed elderly white people under the yoke of — who is it this time? Oh yeah, Native Americans (getting in line after African American teenagers on buses, Muslims, Democrats and the Zerg Swarm).*
Rayfield documents the usual suspects getting on board with this nonsense: the American Family Association (sic. Not my family–ed.); WND; John Bolton — through whom, of course, our friends at Fox News are chiming in. Bolton follows the “it would be irresponsible not to…” tack, all the way down to acknowledging the Declaration has no legal meaning in the US…but, but, but, “… there are enough judges who couldn’t care less about strictly applying the law.”
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Look, this is fun and all, and yes, people spending even seconds seriously considering the notion that Barack Obama could or would just hand over chunks of the US to whoever he wants need medical help (where are those damn meds, honey?), but as usual, this isn’t about what the folks weighing in so ponderously on Fox say it is.
The Republican Party has only one genuine political goal now: to destroy Obama’s presidency, and more generally the idea that the Democratic Party is a legitimate party of government. Which is to say that our Republican friends** view elections in which the other side might actually gain access to power — actual democracy — as an accessory. Such theater is fine as long it produces the desired result, the GOP on top. When it does not, then it is dispensible.
All of which to say that whatever the Republican party once was it is now a danger to the nation. It seeks not to govern but to rule for the benefit of its faction, not the country as a whole.
Factio Grandaeva Delenda Est.
*Yup. Proud parent of a ten year old boy…
**The actual party apparatus, of course. I’m willing to concede that not all Republican voters are thus convinced. Too many are, I think, but by no means every last one.
Image: Benjamin West, The Death of General Wolfe, 1770 (or 1771. Maybe).
I understand about indecision
A lot of people are surprised that George W. Bush’s book “Decision Points” is selling so well.
The next question, though, is how on earth sales have been this good. Or put another way, who’s actually buying the poorly-reviewed book of a failed former president?
[…..] [C]onservative books nearly always outsell liberal books in large part because of bulk orders. A couple of months ago, for example, Mitt Romney boosted sales of his book by requiring various schools, think tanks, and institutions to buy thousands of copies in exchange for his speeches. Various conferences and Republican outlets do this all the time.Without access to the data, it’s impossible to say just how much of this may have inflated “Decision Points” sales, but it seems like the most credible explanation. How else could it have sold so many copies?
I have no idea if conservative bulk orders are what’s going on here; I don’t have a good handle on how the right thinks of George W. Bush right now (failed RINO or Churchillian genius). I do think the media reaction to the book was a bit strange. There was a tendency to pretend the Bush presidency took place a long time ago, or never happened at all (that’s not so surprising, I think a lot in the media would like to forget that they fluffed the guy so much from 2001 to 2006). And this long ago, far away depiction of the book made it seem like something no one would want to read.
I personally would be interested in reading the book. I’m not going to buy it, because I don’t want to give my money to that clown and because I don’t have time, but given the choice between reading W’s book and reading memoirs by Obama or Clinton or Bush I, I’d go with W’s book in a heartbeat. With most recent presidents, the thought processes and political success make sense to me. George W. Bush’s do not. His presidency is Real Murkin mystery to me. Could he really have been as detached from reflective decision-making as he seemed to be? I’m sure the book is largely inaccurate but I wonder what you can learn from those inaccuracies.
The Bush presidency was a spectacular disaster that I hope someday to understand. There must be other people who feel the same way about it.
I Disagree With This Premise
I notice a lot of folks poking fun at Chris Christie and his LT. Gov for being out of state:
Following up on an item from yesterday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) and his lieutenant governor were told Sunday about the blizzard barreling down on the Garden State. Soon after, they left town at the same time, with Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno (R) and her family flying to Mexico, and Christie and his family going to Disney World in Florida.
It left state Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D) in charge as the acting governor, and by all appearances, he’s handling everything fine — he declared a state of emergency, dispatched road crews, coordinated with state agencies, and activated the National Guard. The response seems to have gone fairly well, and Sweeney lifted the state of emergency this morning.
But there’s still the political fallout to consider. Many are questioning why the Christie administration allowed both the governor and lieutenant governor to go on vacation at the same time, despite warnings about the impending storm. Others have noted that the governor isn’t bothering to rush home to deal with the situation.
This is just silliness. This is like the idiotic need for our President, whoever he may be, to be wearing hip-waders while filling sand bags whenever there is a flood, etc. There are large redundant systems in place to handle the snow removal, and there is no need for Christie or Guadagno to be anywhere near the state for things to function properly. Likewise, our military isn’t going to forget their mission while Obama vacations in Hawaii, and the world and the country will keep on keeping on.
Assange, awards, etc.
Atrios writes of establishment media reaction to Wikileaks:
It isn’t exactly the same thing, but moments like this I’m reminded of a time years ago when I was talking at a conference about internets and stuff to a not entirely plugged in audience and a man stood up and said something like, “You mean, people can just say whatever they want on the internet? Don’t we need to do something about that?”
I think the Moore Awards/Hewitt Awards etc. that John rightly mocked come from the same place, they’re about deciding who should and who shouldn’t be taken seriously. It’s a way of maintaining status, a way of differentiating “serious” bloggers like those at the Atlantic from the vituperative, foul-mouthed masses. When you take into consideration that the Atlantic is essentially a neocon millionaire’s vanity project (and that Sullivan got his start at another neocon millionaire’s vanity project), this all starts to look pretty sinister.
Likewise, the establishment journalists who attack Wikileaks mostly work for media outfits that are owned by large companies that have their own interest in controlling dialogue. And of course these journalists are also interested in maintaining their own status and turf (which is inextricably linked with that of the companies they work for).
Shouting down outsiders with a large corporate megaphone should not be considered a honorable journalistic enterprise, not in my opinion.
Update. This isn’t about right/left. I’d prefer Erick Erickson not be shouted down either. I wouldn’t give him a CNN gig, but I support his right to be heard at RedState and I generally find him much less frightening than Bill Kristol (I read RedState and I find it silly and sometimes offensive but mostly not that bad).
A Mildly Amusing Quip
I apparently went Galt this week without even knowing it, and I’ve been struggling to find things interesting enough to talk about. This, however, made me laugh:
Sad, but true.