Like Atrios, I have a feeling there’s going to be a crazy right-wing backlash against tonight’s memorial service. They’re already getting apoplectic over some tee-shirts that were distributed.
I don’t think they’ll succeed the way they did with the Wellstone memorial, but I’m sure Joe Scar and Co. will be pushing the “inappropriate” angle tomorrow.
Kryptik
Considering they’ve managed to successfully turn the incident into yet another opportunity to play up their persecution complex successfully, and use it to utterly tar the left, with either milquetoast chides of ‘both sides do it’ or an enthusiastic nod and echo of how evil those damn libs are for ‘inciting hatred’…you think they won’t succeed?
I’m expecting this to be used for fundraising by the end of the week and more proof about how the left really supported Loughner.
JPL
In the words of a great philosopher..
FUCKEM
Mike Kay
Man, I just came back from a wonderful dinner at a Jewish restaurant in NYC.
Have you guys ever had Matzha marinated in nubile christian blood?
Delicious.
danimal
Some conservatives will try, but they won’t succeed in doing anything but turning people off. Too many people watched the thing and listened to the content.
I didn’t even like the cheering, but it’s hard to pin the blame on anyone, and Obama came across as very presidential in spite of the cheers.
The Dangerman
If there were T-shirts distributed, I suspect that it was done by the U of A; it was their event, after all…
…and, odd event it was, but I don’t know how you introduce the Heroes of the day without there being rapturous applause (especially since one is a U of A student). Similarly, the “Gabby opened her eyes” line was guaranteed to raise the roof.
I guess what I’m saying is I wouldn’t have called it a Memorial; that was certainly a large part of it, but … it was something much more. That “more” was so far removed from a Memorial that it was a little strange to watch.
JRon
I may be a sap but I found that watching the people cheer wax very moving.
Phoebe
JoScar dissed Palin’s response to the shooting, so I doubt he’ll get stupid about this one. He’s rational sometimes.
Kryptik
@danimal:
No matter how many actually watched it, it’ll pale to those who simply hear about the ‘play by play’ via Drudge, Breitbart, Beck, O’Reilly, Limbaugh, etc. as well as the crazies in Congress about how partisan Obama was and how horribly persecuted the right has become now, thanks to lefties and especially Obama.
Then again, I’m just a fuckin’ ball of sunshine.
DougJarvus Green-Ellis
@Phoebe:
I do give him credit for being so anti-Palin, though he waited to long to do it
Ija
I feel like we haven’t yet have sufficient backlash to the blood libel thing, and now that is going to be drowned out by the backlash to the memorial service. Palin sure knows how to pick her timing.
Allan
Let them try.
It will be hilarious.
toschek
ctrl+f “malkin” not found.
here ya go:
http://michellemalkin.com/2011/01/12/branding-the-tuscon-massacre-together-we-thrive-in-white-and-blue/
Some highlights:
“President Obama used to preach that there was no “Red America” and no “Blue America,” just one America.
But tonight at the memorial for the Tucson massacre victims, it will be a sea of blue as the White House unveils the “Together We Thrive” logo and slogan.
Yes, the Tucson massacre is being branded …”
Click it, you know you want to!
General Stuck
The T shirt thing is truly bizarre, even for wingnuts.
This tweet has been taken down, apparently, but also is nonsensical. There was absolutely nada political on those T shirts, nothing. Sp why would it make her cry? Other than the wingnuts are so laser like obsessed with regaining power and the politics it takes to get there, any sign of “togetherness” in the American hinterlands, is cause for sorrow. Double that with Palin going full crocodile in her video, and now on pol suicide watch after.
I just cannot make myself think of this politically, it is just too awful, especially with the nine year old girl losing her young life, and if anything, it gives urges just to forsake politics altogether.
edit sorry forgot link. at TPM
SFAW
Katrina and the Fuckin’ Waves, right?
Cat Lady
This is snark, right? Cuz can you point to something since Obama’s election that didn’t create crazy right wing backlash? I mean the guy’s choice of blue jeans set the rightards off.
feebog
I’m wondering how many of our left leaning media types will point out that while this moving memorial was taking place, the Boehner and 130 or so of his best buddies were whooping it up at a fundraiser. A fundraiser. They didn’t even have the decency to postpone it to another date.
The Dangerman
@Ija:
Her timing was the shits; she looks very small tonight. She needed to rise up … and didn’t, in a very big way, and the people that should be most offended (Jews) won’t miss it in all the excitement.
Actually, if I was going to pick a moment to criticize, it was towards the end of the event; the U of A President asked for a moment of silence and everyone stood up…
…but the front row didn’t. It looked wrong even if it was right. Was I already too hammered and I missed something?
Mike Kay
Meh.
I don’t think we’re in 2002 anymore, Toto.
Judas Escargot
WTF is wrong with “Thriving Together”? Totally non-partisan. It could almost be an Amway slogan.
Would they prefer red shirts printed with “Suffer Alone” instead?
SFAW
Sure. Because no one ever went broke … what was that line again?
But I really hope you’re right – it would be a nice change from the standard adulatory response those $%^&*s get.
KG
@toschek: wasn’t it U of A that passed out the T-Shirts? And their primary school color is blue, right? And the primary color of their rival ASU is red? So, why wouldn’t they make the shirts blue?
Joy
I was there. At times the applause/reaction felt weird to those of us in the crowd because, of course, you weren’t necessarily “cheering” the content so much as trying to express agreement and/or support for the idea expressed. It was almost like a substitute for “amen” or something like that. I haven’t seen anyone else mention the “Fanfare for the Common Man” opening, but that was very moving and did seem to calm things down and set the tone more at the beginning.
kdaug
@Mike Kay: Particularly tasty with Arctic Wolf meat and some free-range Caribou.
Lolis
@Kryptik:
If that is where they get the news they were lost already.
kdaug
@SFAW: “Gotta feel GOOD!”
SFAW
Well, of course, ’cause they’re BLUE, silly. If he really wanted to be bipartisan, he’d wear red jeans (the commie). Or, perhaps as an acknowledgment of the new alpha-male in Town, orange jeans. Well, tear-stained orange jeans, that is. But you get the idea.
David Richey
@feebog:
……………………
The Gee-Dub post-Katrina playbook: still relevant!
eemom
O fucking T:
somebody tell me how to get detoxed from blogs. Pleeeez.
SatanicPanic
So what? Let them. The rest of us saw a beautiful, moving speech.
Mark S.
I know what she’s going through. That’s the same reaction I had to the FEED Tunch t-shirts.
danimal
@SFAW: My default is to write off the 28 percenters. Of course they’ll be outraged, they can’t help it, it’s how they roll. They just won’t get traction.
Joy
Oh yeah and FWIW, the T-shirts were both red and blue. The student volunteers all wore the Red t-shirts, and the blue t-shirts were apparently handed out to attendees (although not all as I did not get one).
Xecky Gilchrist
I have a feeling there’s going to be a crazy right-wing backlash against tonight’s memorial service.
Like there is against EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE ENTIRE GODDAM UNIVERSE.
As others here have said.
Or do you mean even crazier than the usual background crazy?
WarMunchkin
@Mike Kay: It’s absolutely delicious. For a vegetarian like me, eating Mooslim is out of the question.
You can all stare disapprovingly now.
Villago Delenda Est
@Judas Escargot:
But coming from Obama, it’s further example of the dreaded “S” word.
The problem, and I’m not the first to say it, nor will I be the last, it’s not original with me, I’ll never claim it is…
Is that the President is near.
That is the motherfucking problem with Obama for the wingtards.
It boils down to that. While the Federal deficit has been ballooning for 10 years, the teabag movement did not get started until just after 8PM PST on 4 November 2008.
It’s all about the President being near.
Most people here who bash Obama, for whatever reason, do so on the basis of policy disagreements, or political strategy disagreements, or failure to be the reincarnation of FDR letdown.
Wingtards just don’t like the cut of his jib, wink wink, nudge nudge, you know what I mean.
SFAW
kdaug –
“And don’t it feel good!”
accompanied by her silly head shake/wag like a methed-up wogga-wogga dog
freelancer
Funny that, I had a physical reaction to a Democratic member of the United States Congress being shot, along with nineteen or twenty other innocent people. I teared up. It felt wrong. Priorities are quirky like that.
batemapa
name 1 thing obama and co. have done that HASN’T created a wingnut backlash. seriously. 1 thing. this hasn’t been news for a long time. it just is.
Anonne
@Judas Escargot:
lol. But that’s precisely their MO and what they want for society. If you aren’t rich, fuck you, you lazy shit. Work 48 hours a day!
I didn’t watch it, but I can’t see why it’s worth getting up in arms over a move of solidarity. It’s not a funeral. It is kind of like a huge wake, where people recount the great times they had with the loved one and celebrate their lives, instead of brooding over the loss. I admit to the tendency of being a brooder, and I can see how it feels weird, but fuck the rest of us – it was for the families, and for Tucson, people who desperately need reasons to smile right now.
Laughter and positive feelings can be very cathartic, people should be able to allow them that.
The Dangerman
@Villago Delenda Est:
We could probably retire the National Debt if Obama promised to start the State of the Union by reaching down and saying “Excuse me while I whip this out”; I know I’d pay a pretty penny.
Mark S.
@Judas Escargot:
Hey, even FDR wasn’t always good at cheering everybody up.
SFAW
CLANG!
The Sheriff's A Ni-
Haters gonna hate.
SFAW
Damn! The Dangerman beat me to it.
General Stuck
Now we have officially jumped the shark and should reach Peak Wingnut soon, theoretically of course. Since it doesn’t exist unnaturally .
hildebrand
I think it will be a tough sell from the conservative types, as President Obama’s speech was outstanding and most people (who actually watch the speech) will come away thinking that they have finally seen the only adult in the room.
In many ways, I think Obama’s speech will make Palin look even smaller than her own viciousness did this morning. Comparing the two will win the quitter no new fans.
KG
@The Dangerman: not unless he slapped someone with whatever he was whipping out…
handy
@Judas Escargot:
The slogan sounds like something one of Obamacare’s Death Panel implementing companies would use.
Xecky Gilchrist
@General Stuck: Palin aide: She’s getting death threats at unprecedented levels
“one ever” is an unprecedented level, I suspect.
Probably a conservative infiltrator trying to make liberals look bad.
that said, if anyone is making threats against La Palin, they should knock it the fuck off. It’s wrong whoever it gets leveled at.
SFAW
Yes, because it’s happened so often in the past two years.
The MSM would rather cover the 10% who screech irrationally than the 50+% percent who might be a little more muted in their response. Or have things changed in the last 12 hours, and I missed it?
The Dangerman
@KG:
That would be with a Premium charge on the Spice Channel.
KG
@General Stuck: actually, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some deranged wingnut (redundant, I know) that is thinking “if someone took out Sarah, and then said they were liberal, it would help the cause, we’d have a martyr… Honey, where’s my rifle?”
suzanne
@KG:
UA is navy and red. Most of the gear they sell is navy blue. ASU is maroon and gold.
Anya
Maybe Sarah Palin will release another video from her cave and tell us the t-shirts signify some sort of assault on real americans.
hamletta
@Joy: Thank you.
It’s hard to do solemn in a basketball arena. The acoustics are all wrong.
Mark S.
@General Stuck:
I won’t be too surprised if tomorrow some guy from the FBI in Alaska says they have not been contacted by the Palins concerning any death threats.
Joseph Nobles
The Politico informs us that Obama may have undercut charges against Loughner by saying Roll was there to say “hi.” The prosecutors are saying Roll was there to talk business, and hence the higher levels of charges for his death. Instapundit has flung this far and wide. I saw it from Allahpundit on Twitter.
The “blue shirt” “controversy” is another example of why the next election cycle should restart the practice of swapping the colors.
Villago Delenda Est
OK, I’d like to see the logs on this. To compare with the Secret Service logs on Clinton or Obama.
Because asserting something like this ain’t gonna hack it, dude.
Of course, it might be factually accurate. She got her first death threat today. Which was without precedent!
On edit: It appears I owe Xecky Gilchrist a refreshing fizzy beverage.
askew
I think the right trying to demonize this speech will backfire on them. This, like Obama’s race speech, rose above the usual politics and when the right tries to call Obama out in these moments they end up looking so small. It will appeal to the usual 30%, but they will lose the independents on this attack.
I would imagine that he’ll get a boost in his approval ratings over this speech. That seems petty after the speech, but I do think it will happen.
Mike Kay
@eemom: lots of sex
Comrade Luke
I know this is unrealistic, but in the spirit of everything that’s gone on over the last few days, as well as the President’s comments tonight, wouldn’t the proper response to the inevitable backlash be to…ignore it and move on?
The Dangerman
@Anya:
Would that be the Batty Cave?
KG
@suzanne: even though my business partner is a Sun Devil, I’ll say, “eh, close enough for government work.”
Mike Kay
@Anya: I swear, she reminds me of the SLA.
Every week patti hearst or one of the other kooks would release a tape.
maya
I believe the precise conservative term is:”Every man for himself, Jack.”
kdaug
@SFAW: I stand corrected.
KG
@Joseph Nobles: pretty sure Obama’s statement is going to be hearsay and inadmissible… and I find it hard to believe the defense is going to be able to call Obama as a witness.
Calliope Jane
Watching local news, people in the crowd seemed delighted to get the t-shirts as they waited for the doors to open. Now I’m reading that there were t-shirts on the seats inside, but I saw people with t-shirts outside and that’s what the local news was reporting (they were passing out t-shirts to people in the line). I’m agreeing with The Dangerman, although I don’t have any specific information, that it was the University of AZ coming up with the t-shirts (and I’m thinking it was, in part, to assuage the feelings of those who waited hours and hours and were relegated to the stadium to watch on the screen…or it was just something to keep the crowd calm, as I also heard that they also passed out paper that people could write down comments and it would later become apart of a paper chain for a memorial). And I’m fairly positive the University also came up with the title, “Together We Thrive: Tucson and America” because I heard about it before we heard that the President had accepted the invitation and that phrase has been in all the UA press releases about the event. And the t-shirts are blue because…navy blue is a nice color and this is UA Wildcat country after all (our colors are navy blue and red–did you see the cloth behind the podium? :)).
But color me surprised that there’s going to be a right-wing backlash against this. No, really, how wonderful that they’re just itching to attack us down here. So charming. The UA (not the City of Tucson, mind you) put this together on short notice and I think they did a great job. People here have said this is such a test for the University, and everyone here hopes that they’re up to the scrutiny. They’ve done well so far but we’ll see, of course.
Mike Kay
@General Stuck:
Calls made by her family don’t count.
Ija
@KG:
Please don’t give these people ideas. They are crazy as it is.
Windy City
If anyone is feeling truly adventurous tonight, take a look at the reader comments on Malkin’s liveblog of the speech. Talk about a viper’s nest of rage and stupidity. They’re literally falling over themselves to slag the president and pretty much every element of the memorial. Here’s a particularly loathsome comment:
Seriously, the man’s wife is hanging on for life after BEING SHOT IN THE F’ING HEAD, and these jag bags are carping over what he’s wearing.
President Obama wanted us to act civil. I feel awful I couldn’t make it 24 hours. It’s time to go off the grid for the night.
Mike in NC
Good. The Wicked Witch from Wasilla needs to go away and never come back.
Funny how Alaska is one of only three states where any nutjob can freely walk around with a pistol in their pocket, no questions asked.
kdaug
For the record:
handy
@suzanne:
UA is weird that way. The promiment color the athletic teams wear (basketball roadies, football home unies) is blue–but the fans all wear red.
Ana Gama
I bet if she took down her facebook and twitter accounts, and just went home to Wasilla, sat down, shut up and never ever showed her face in public again, it would stop.
Suffern ACE
@Comrade Luke: Tough to say. I would think that might be prudent. Let them talk to the wind for awhile.
General Stuck
@KG:
All public figures get death threats, I suspect, including Palin, but I just find it rich her staff saw fit to announce it today, and to claim unprecedented numbers of them, especially since there have been very few actual acts of violence on republicans, from liberals, or anyone, in a long time, as compared to what we have seen with wingers. That is all
kdaug
Link fail. My problem. Serves me right playing with Firefox 4 betas.
freelancer
@kdaug:
Well said. I stand corrected. Mea Culpa.
KG
@General Stuck: didn’t even think of that, but my brain is being distracted by my alma mater being on the teevee playing basketball, and running another conference opponent out of the gym
That's Master of Accountancy to You, Pal
@General Stuck:
I think people are missing the meaning here. The implication behind it is despicable, but what she’s saying is that she is moved by the t-shirts, despite the fact that she didn’t want to be.
At least, I think that people missed that, and thought she was criticizing the shirts. As is often the case, I have trouble with sarcasm.
hamletta
Speaking of the Quitta from Wasilla, we have Got Medieval on all the libels against Jews back in the good ol’ days.
Blood libel was the number one smash, but other libels were bubbling under: Ass libel! Leper libel!
The hits kept coming!
Geez, I thought Michael Steele stepped in it when he compared abortion to the Holocaust at a Jewish seniors’ home in my old home town.
kdaug
@General Stuck:
Unplugging it is easier.
I dare you.
Vixen Strangely
@freelancer:
Um,, I hate to be one of *those* commenters, but this. If you’re putting t-shirts right up there with “rainy days and Mondays”, honestly, hello, there was a mass-shooting. Someone really needs to prioritize their “sadz”.
freelancer
@Vixen Strangely:
This.
handy
The dots are all right there pointing waving at each other, pointing at each other, doing shout outs to one another, pleading to be connected. And these idiots can’t even do that.
Chris Martinez
Not a chance the attempted backlash would get any meaningful traction. The speech was just too damn good, and it rather brilliantly preempts petty complaints with its call to higher priorities and national sanity.
As for my HUMAN (not political) reaction, damn was I moved – almost enough to think we could have a shot at beginning to move beyond the stultifying idiocy, bitterness, and selfishness of today’s discourse. Effectively, with things being as they are, this may simply mean the snarling dogs and crying babies no longer dominate the conversation at every moment, and the adults can finally hear each other speak.
Not just on this count, but also economically, I get the sense, against my more cynical instincts, that we are just beginning to emerge from the darkest hour, right before the dawn.
The Dangerman
@Calliope Jane:
I think UA gets mad props for the job they did; short notice and, if it’s anything like CA right now, Public University budgets are cut to the bone. Just getting people in and out costs a pretty fair chunk of change…
…and I can’t even imagine the security costs over and above the Secret Service.
Also, props to the U of A Student Leader and the Student Hero (blanking on his name right now); it isn’t easy to stand in front of a few hundred million people and trip over one’s words and they nailed it.
maya
I heard she’s even getting anthrax laced e-cards.
JenJen
Don’t know if anyone besides me had the misfortune of flipping over to CNN immediately following the speech, but in case you did, you’ll agree that Michael Gerson was in rare form.
The former Bush speechwriter whined, in a manner that was even more sniveling than usual, that the speech was too long, that the President was lecturing Americans instead of connecting with them, that the crowd made a solemn event seem like a campaign rally. When one of the other talking heads chimed in to say that the event was planned by the University of Arizona, Gerson almost exploded. “The President has control over all events!! The President has control over all events!!” Maybe he was just feeling nostalgic for the days of hyper-orchestrated Bush events and crowd-stacking, but it was honestly creepy, and hysterical, and not in a funny ha-ha way. Dude was bent and it seemed disconnected from what everyone else had just watched. I’d recommend catching it online later, if you keep some anti-nausea tonic nearby.
David Gergen wagged his Villager finger at the crowd as well, but nobody else on the panel was having it, and I really don’t think this “pep rally” meme is going anywhere outside of the usual circles. The speech transcended whatever else was happening before that moment, and when the President broke the news about Giffords opening her eyes, there was a shift inside the hall and I thought the mood began to soar a bit. Watching the First Lady clutch the hand of Giffords’ husband and lean on his shoulder, well, I wanted to cheer, too. As others have pointed out, this event, while tragic, had survivors, and heroes, and who are we to not applaud them, and celebrate them, or tut-tut others for not behaving in a way that we felt was “appropriate”?
I don’t see the “pep rally” meme traveling far outside of the usual circles who would’ve criticized the speech anyway. Don’t you think most people have actually tired of that Peggy Noonan kind of bullshit?
Like Mike Kay said above, we’re not in 2002 anymore, Toto, and you could tell we’re not in 2002 anymore, and it felt good to me.
asiangrrlMN
The atmosphere was weird to me, but I can understand why people wanted to cheer. Obama was really good in the beginning, a bit faltering in the middle, and he hit it out of the ballpark at the end. I knew the rightwingers would hate it, but they hate everything he does, so, whatever. I thought they would take the line of, “Obama’s exploiting the death of a child to push forward a far-left agenda,” which they still may do.
Doesn’t matter. The last minute or two of his speech was inspired and inspiring.
P.S. In contrast, Jan Brewer was a wreck. Her speech was awful, and she almost seemed to fawn over Obama. Very weird.
ETA: Daniel Hernandez, the intern, saying he wasn’t a hero was awesome. His speech was really good, too.
General Stuck
@kdaug:
True pol addict here, so that wouldn’t work, no more than an alky deciding to pour the whiskey down the drain. I don’t mind being a pol addict except when the shit makes me wonder what must be going through the mind of someone like Palin, to say and do the stuff she does. That’s when things go too far.
SFAW
Actually, the “death threat” was Levi making a telephone call:
Levi (w/muffled voice): “Do you have Prince Albert in a can?”
Mooselini: “What? You’re going to shoot me in the can?”
OK, so they can’t all be gems. I blame Obama.
kdaug
@freelancer: I deserved that.
I really did.
Mark S.
@That’s Master of Accountancy to You, Pal:
You think? That makes her sound like even more of a monster. “I almost had a human reaction, but I’m a partisan hack and this is wrong.”
Mike Kay
the t-shirts are innocent.
but if they’re objecting to the color, they shouldn’t because it was distributed by people wearing red shirts.
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/03fQa3J45B6eo/610x.jpg
Also too, the phrase on the shirts: “together we thrive” was the official name of the event, so chosen by the University.
http://uanews.org/node/36874
Ija
@JenJen:
Isn’t this the talking point for all of Obama’s speeches? It’s like they can’t find anything new to say. What is “connecting” anyway? Can Gerson see through the hearts of all Americans and assess whether Obama is “connecting”? I really, really hate that term. Who the hell knows whether he “connected” or not.
handy
@JenJen:
Except for those moments when people hang large signs proclaiming “Mission Accomplished” on a member vessel of a fleet under the control of a military body he commands, as a back drop to his everybody-look-at-my-codpiece speeches. Cuz he totally doesn’t have control of events then, right Mr. Gerson?
KG
@asiangrrlMN:
Count on this being Limbaugh’s main line of attack tomorrow morning. He’s going to rouse the rabble by talking about how Obama doesn’t love America as it is, and the America that Obama loves is the America that he (said sneeringly) wants to create. He’s gone that route before and this will just be exhibit 909,232,421,234,539 for the prosecution.
batemapa
i really thought obama killed it tonight and i think the quality of the speech and the occasion will trump any backlash there.
as an American and a NASA/space nerd, these words, spoke earlier this week, really got to me as well:
“As I look out my window at Earth, it looks like a peaceful planet. But it’s not…we must do better.” – Astronaut Scott Kelly, Gabrielle Giffords’ brother-in-law, aboard the International Space Station
Chris Martinez
JenJen,
I too saw the CNN post-speech Statler and Waldorf routine, and it was sickening. I changed the channel before I could see the others correct the GOP concern trolls, as you say they did, but I’m sure they’re observations seemed as discordant to most viewers as they did to you and me.
asiangrrlMN
@Mark S.: I don’t know. I can see it reading either way. And, neither explanation makes her look good.
kdaug
@Mike Kay: Ah, yes, the redshirts.
freelancer
@kdaug:
It’s okay, and here’s a secret. In the copy/paste of creating the response to your post, Chrome decided I needed to be diverted to hear a certain song. So I think your html-fu was perceptible but still stealthy.
PS Good Christ the record company is litigious! Most YouTube videos of the song have had the audio component muted.
hamletta
@The Dangerman: I thought it was lovely.
Someone on an earlier thread said that outside our major entertainment cities, anything like this is going to have a certain “Waiting For Guffman” quality to it.
I didn’t get that vibe, though. I thought it was very dignified and well-paced. And I’m a liturgy geek.
I thought the music was well chosen, too. “Fanfare for the Common Man”? It was a celebration of ordinary people who rose to extraordinary heights in a moment of crisis. What could be more appropriate?
Chris Martinez
*their*
Ugh.
JenJen
@Ija: Well, yeah, exactly. I imagine that was one of those throwaway lines Gerson had prepared before hearing the speech, and I think he tossed it out there in a bit of a panic when it appeared as though everyone else thought it was a rather excellent speech.
It doesn’t mean anything to say “the President doesn’t connect.” They’re well aware of that, aren’t they? Don’t they just say that when there’s nothing else to criticize the President about, knowing the “he doesn’t connect” message is going to make at least a portion of their audience nod their heads no matter what?
@Chris Martinez: When listening to Gergen and Gerson, you know what I was thinking of? How after every Obama-McCain debate, the talking heads would almost immediately and universally decide that the debate was some kind of “toss-up,” and then the flash polls would come out with some 65% saying Obama cleaned McCain’s clock, and they’d all look kind of confused briefly, and then move back to their original script, which had nothing to do with what the rest of the country just witnessed.
I think maybe the same thing happened tonight.
Bob Loblaw
@General Stuck:
@Xecky Gilchrist:
@KG:
@Mark S.:
@Villago Delenda Est:
@Mike Kay:
@Mike in NC:
You’re all exposing our own little bigotries rather casually in this thread, don’t you think?
Nice to see the wisdom of Obama’s speech sunk in so deeply.
jaleh
I watched Fox right after the speech. They could not have been more complementary of the President’s speech. Bret Hume and Kraughhammer(?) and some other right winger. They were all of the opinion that the President was eloquent and that we may see a change in the national political discourse. I guess they were wrong.
mofo
The backlash will begin tomorrow as soon as hannity rush beck o’reilly figure out how to counter fox’s relatively benign immediate reading of the event. Nothing is beyond the evil reach of the tea baggers & their media allies.
They still set the debate.
Is it small of me to say that if the Heat pull off another comeback that I will have been emotionally uplifted 2x in one evening? This looks to be the night they finally lose, h/ever.
Calliope Jane
@Joseph Nobles: Interesting (about Judge Roll). I think in one of the press conferences, they said he stopped by to say “hi” and to thank her for increased funding for the federal courts. So perhaps the President saying he stopped by to say “hi” to his Congresswoman (and not “friend,” right? I’m trying to remember the speech) doesn’t preclude the prosecutor’s interpretation.
…and I think I’m just in a prickly, defensive mood tonight. In many ways, Tucson operates as a small town. Judge Roll was such a kind man and I’m sure he just wanted to say “hi” and “thank you” to his friend/member of Congress.
@The Dangerman: Thank you, that’s great to hear. And, yeah, the budgets for higher ed (and all ed, really) in AZ are getting absolutely gutted but everyone at the UA (from President Shelton on down) knew they had to do this. It’s lucky they have Tucson Police, UAPD, and the Sheriff’s Department to draw on, but still, I can’t imagine the cost for all of this. And they tried to do their best in even offering free parking in the nearby garages on campus. And I was very impressed with the UA Student Body President and Daniel Hernandez, too; definitely not an easy crowd to speak to.
fitzwili
The shirts were done entirely by the university. The volunteers wore red shirts and the audience got blue shirts. This is so mind boggling that people are trying to make this nice gesture by the university into something that reflects poorly on the President. So I stopped reading and did something which made me feel a whole lot better. I went to DonorsChoose.org, found a project in a classroom full of kids Christina Taylor Green’s age, and made a donation in her name. This helped my mood immensely and I strongly suggest anyone who is frustrated by the negativity to ameliorate that negativity by donating (in her name) a little something to a charity that helps kids.
handy
@Ija:
Michael Gerson is a pompous ass. He’s one of the lesser-spoken of in the whole Bush cabal. Cheney, Rumsfeld, Abu Gonzales, and Wolfowitz are the obvious targets of much deserved wrath, but Gerson holds a special place of loathing in my heart. Probably because as a post-Evangelical I’ve been following this guy the last ten years give speeches and write articles in various Christian circles, and continue to marvel how he insists on calling himself a Christ-follower as an enabler of one of the most blatantly hypocritically anti-Christian administrations in this nation’s history. Yeah, I don’t like the guy.
General Stuck
@Mark S.:
Yup. and I suppose that is why the tweet was taken down.
Mike Kay
Tom Brokaw (the greatest generation guy) compared the speech to the Gettysburg Address on msnbc. So take that, cnn losers.
asiangrrlMN
@Ija: He connected with me. He connected with the students there. He connected with many people on this thread. So, with whom exactly, did Obama fail to connect? Maybe Gerson can address that question. With evidence to back him up. Asshat.
I don’t watch the talking bobbleheads for this very reason–just reading about them secondhand gets me pissed off.
@KG: Yeah. I have no doubt one of the big cheeses will roll it out. I put nothing past them. I’m not as optimistic as everyone else that the public in general will not like this line of attacks or even care about them.
@handy: I have no idea.
I don’t watch the cables. Well, actually, I have a vague idea of who he is, but still. Whatever.
handy
@asiangrrlMN:
Exactly. Who the hell is Michael Gerson?
General Stuck
@Bob Loblaw:
Blow it out your ass Mother Superior
And don’t misuse the word “bigotry” that waters down the meaning of the word.
SFAW
Shit! I didn’t make the list AGAIN?!?!
Suffern ACE
@Ija: I’m expecting a lot of “I’m tired of the president telling me how to feel” tomorrow. Arrogant, aloof, unprecedented abuse of power, mind-control, jamming “togetherness” down our throats whether we want to feel together or not, I’ll put my eye out if I want to. And he didn’t call the shooter “evil,” so it’s as if he’s surrendering. All this healing stuff. We’re coddled enough. Doesn’t he know we’re at war with evil?
Hope I’m wrong.
kdaug
@freelancer: Damn, I’m a fucking ninja.
Take that! With some sunshine!
General Stuck
@SFAW:
Loblaw has a scold file on all of us, your time for making his list will come soon enough.
KG
@asiangrrlMN: I’m not even going to try to guess how the general public will take the speech and/or reactions to it. I know how certain segments will respond, but general public? No idea whatsoever.
KG
@General Stuck: i’m actually a bit surprised that I made the list.
JenJen
@handy: You’d have especially enjoyed the part on CNN tonight where Michael Gerson said that Palin’s middle-of-the-night taped speech from her mountain hideaway was “7 minutes of Reagan and 30 seconds of Spiro Agnew.”
asiangrrlMN
@KG: I’m with you. I know most of my friends will be impressed and moved. Beyond that? No clue.
Richard
Regarding the Wellstone freak out, Digby’s ‘The Art of the Hissy Fit’ is worth another read and still applicable:
http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/art-hissy-fit
mofo
sheesh—krauthammer & even wallace came off as more reasonabe than that snoid gerson or mr villager gergen.
even frikkin fox got the ‘crowd wanted & needed to cheer, so be it whatever it seemed like on telly to us fogies’ thing.
but tomorrow rush will whip them back into line
asiangrrlMN
FYWP!
@JenJen: Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
SFAW
General –
Thanks for the tip. So, whadda I gotta do? Become an O-bot, or an anti-O-bot? Or perhaps coarsen the discourse? Or suggest that the Rethugs fuck themselves for being uncivil?
I really want to pass the test, but I don’t want to do the Kaplan Test Prep thing.
Thanks in advance for any advice you can give me.
Edit: Also, too.
Mark S.
@General Stuck:
Loblow: the conscience of Balloon Juice.
Chris Martinez
JenJen,
I think the comparison to the punditry’s reactions to the Obama-McCain debates is very apt. They had a story and they were sticking to it: everything must be assessed in perfect, homeostatic “balance,” including unambiguously uplifting speeches and overwhelming rhetorical victories. There’s always a severe “concern” to prove one’s “objectivity,” and we are permanently, as decreed by our ratings whores, “evenly divided” in every way on on every topic. Accordingly, the better one does (especially if a liberal or Dem), the worse they must have done.
Joseph Nobles
@KG: Yes, absolutely. The idea Obama had done anything wrong legally just made my eyes roll. As if, gee, Obama screwed up and now we can put Loughner into prison for only five times his natural life span instead of six.
@Mike in NC: Well, to be fair, Alaska is a state that has to lock lids onto its urban trash cans to keep the bears from roaming the streets.
Bob Loblaw
@General Stuck:
Bigotry just means unwavering intolerance and hate, Stuck. It comes in all forms, and directed at all targets. It is not a synonym for racism…
@SFAW:
Oh it’s easy enough to do, if you’re still interested. Just express glee at the notion of death threats to a public official/celebrity/whoever, even if it’s Sarah Palin.
Mark S.
@SFAW:
Say something nice about Angry Black Lady.
freelancer
@kdaug:
Yeah but I still felt it amusing to slag you cause you fucked up.
Mike Kay
Tomorrow’s WaPo Front Page
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/print/asection/index.html
SFAW
No need to lord it over me, ya know. Friggin’ elitist.
Ija
@Suffern ACE:
You’re probably not.
I don’t think Obama mentioned the shooter at all in the speech, if I am not mistaken. Another point for the winger to get outraged about.
General Stuck
@SFAW:
Newt to Ripley – It won’t make any difference.
Mike Kay
Headline of the Associated Press story: “Summoning the Soul of a Nation”
handy
@JenJen:
30 seconds of Spiro Agnew, eh? I really am glad I don’t have cable anymore.
KG
@Bob Loblaw: I expressed glee at a death threat? I just hypothesized that there could be a crazy person out there who would believe that killing Sarah Palin would be good for the conservative cause. I didn’t say I condoned such action (I don’t, not that I think it even needs to be said), nor did I say I wanted to see it happen (I don’t, again, shouldn’t need to be said).
ETA: nor, I should add, do I think my comment contained any statement of intolerance or hatred. I dislike Sarah Palin as a politician, I have since she gave her speech at the 2008 GOP Convention. I don’t have much of an opinion of her as a person because, quite frankly, I don’t care.
handy
@freelancer:
Abe Lincoln?! That’s so passe. What I wanna know is what really happened to Abe Froman, the sausage king of Chicago.
SiubhanDuinne
@freelancer #37: This. Oh yes, very very THIS.
Mike Kay
NYT lead editorial
freelancer
@Mark S.:
Fixed.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
The Gerson/Gergen pairing is interesting– a Bush dead-ender and a Nixon/Reagan loyalist who worked for Bill Clinton for two years. After all these years and all that fail, CNN is still determined to win that huge Fox-Lite audience that somebody just knows is out there.
I bought Gergen’s book, I think it came out in the late nineties. I never made it past the early chapters, in which he mostly said just because Nixon did those things, he wasn’t he sort of guy who would do those things.
handy
@Mike Kay:
Commies.
Suffern ACE
@jaleh:
As is often the case. When people who aren’t regular viewers might be watching.
Mike Kay
Let me try this again.
Tomorrow’s WaPo front page:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/fpImages/fp_front.jpg
Ija
@freelancer:
No, he can’t be the omsbudsman. What would ED Kain do?
Okay, I kid. Actually, Kain has been pretty good lately.
kdaug
@Bob Loblaw: Hey, I’m the fucking invisible sunshine ninja here. Don’t I get some love?
KG
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Eye Witness to Power? I read the whole thing, didn’t think it was that bad, but that was a few years ago, been a while since I’ve pulled it off the bookshelf.
JenJen
@freelancer: Ohhhhh, good one.
El Cid
Why are these liberals making a big stink just because one of their politicians got shot through the head and a few other people killed?
What sort of immoral freaks would gather people together to talk publicly about such a thing, and even use rhetoric like “heal” and “wounds” and “together”, when they know very well that those are just code words for “take away the First Amendment rights of conservatives”?
All they want to do with their talk of ‘joining together’ and so on and so forth is to direct a blood libel at every single Republican in America. I guess next they’ll be using the Census information to knock on your door in order to take any Republicans to FEMA camps to be converted to Muslim.
Republicans never hold elaborate public ceremonies for some sort of tragedy which becomes an event where they talk about what they like and what they want to do.
General Stuck
@Bob Loblaw:
You are really a piece of work, loblaw.
Questioning the truthfulness of Sarah Palin is like handing out speeding tickets at the Indy 500. It is hardly hate and intolerance. It’s called politics, where everything revolves around credibility of what is said and done. It is not bigotry in the least.
handy
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
And that’s the heart of the fail. If people want Fox they’re going to go to Fox. Because as ridiculous as it seems, to them David Gergen is just another TV liberal–precisely because he isn’t on Fox.
Mike Kay
This is a good one.
Kelsey Grammer is a cross dresser.
http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2011/01/12/2011-01-12_camille_donatacci_implies_kelsey_grammer_is_a_crossdresser_before_backtracking_h.html
asiangrrlMN
@Mike Kay: Thanks for showcasing what the traditional media is saying. Maybe, just maybe….
@General Stuck: Or, as Rachel says, if it’s truth, it’s not rhetoric. Facts matter.
Bob Loblaw
@KG:
No, you reduced the potential threat to mockery and claimed that only “some deranged wingnut (redundant, I know)” could be responsible, possibly as part of a concerted attempt to use political assassination as reverse psychological warfare.
Now if you want to defend that, by all means go right ahead, but don’t you start running from your own words.
Villago Delenda Est
@Ija:
E.D. has, for now, won me over. He’s abandoned doctrinaire loonytarianism and is actually talking about how, yeah, it does seem that some regulation just might be in order, and that corporations might have too much power.
And scroll back up to 45 and check out General Stuck’s link.
The loons are oblivious to the impact of their own rhetoric, and project every last one of their pathologies on “liberals” or “progressives” or “the left”.
Has even one to the left of Pat Buchanan person in this country discussed “second amendment remedies” while running for a federal office? One? Please? One example?
I mean, come on, people. That T3 from the Spock-with-a-beard universe is a precious and expensive resource. Don’t waste it on crap that cannot fly with any thinking person.
The Dangerman
@Bob Loblaw:
I’d mock it as well; Palin has security that might be the 2nd tightest in the country (perhaps 3rd, after Biden, given Secret Service is exclusive to the Executive Branch). I’d also want to know where Romney was if Palin got whacked…
…and, most important of all, Palin is safe because Liberals hate guns.
Villago Delenda Est
@Bob Loblaw:
I’m afraid that Ms. Palin has EARNED my loathing of her. It’s not bigotry if it’s based on actions that the woman is proud of.
asiangrrlMN
@The Dangerman: Well, not so much these days (liberals hating guns). That said, the Republican chair guy who quit in Phoenix didn’t do it because he was afraid of Democrats going after him–he was afraid of the members of his own precinct committee going after him and/or his family.
False equivalences are, indeed, false.
handy
Assuming they are bona fide death threats Palin is getting, I don’t care who is making them. It could be Noam Chomsky for all I know. But that’s just it. Palin and her sycophants are running it up the flagpole as a political tit-for-tat, you got yours I get mine kind of gesture completely ignoring the root issue. The obvious moral is death threats to politicians are not an appropriate in a functioning society, but these idiots are too busy trying to win the 5 PM news cycle to even care.
So maybe that’s why there’s less perceived sympathy for Madam Palin than we should expect coming from “our team.” It’s not an essential moral failing but rather just an unfortunate instinctual reaction to a rather cynical politician.
SFAW
You’re joking, right? This is the “bigotry” you’re whining about? Did you even read what KG wrote? I believe it started out with “I wouldn’t be surprised if”, which is speculating on a not-unrealistic scenario – it’s not claiming that only said wingnut could be responsible.
Christ, it’s like reading Makewi or Loona.
General –
Thanks for all the tips.
YellowJournalism
@Mike Kay: CBC National news basically presented the event in the same way. They showed some great clips from the speech, including the line about how America should be the America the young victim imagined it to be. The President was praised up and down, and then they contrasted it with the nasty, it’s-all-about-me reaction of Palin in her video. The reporter specifically explained why the “blood libel” reference was such a terrible choice of words and obviously used to make Palin and her conservative brethren look like the ultimate victims.
Joseph Nobles
Here’s something interesting that just happened:
That’s from my Twitter feed. Glenn Beck has long ago blocked me because I support the Stop Beck campaign, but Van Jones retweeted that from Beck.
He wasn’t watching! Good for him? Not “good for us”? This guy wears me out.
General Stuck
@handy:
Well stated.
Villago Delenda Est
@asiangrrlMN:
Ack! Don’t inject facts into this! Facts are liberal! Oh no! I can see the gnashing of teeth and the subtle movement toward holsters already…
KG
@Bob Loblaw: i wasn’t mocking her or the threat. i simply pointed out one potential source and rational of the alleged threat. maybe the “redundant” bit was across the line, but even that, i would think it would take a truly deranged wingnut to do something like i suggested.
Mark S.
I don’t take anything coming out of the Palin camp at face value. Surveyor symbols?
KG
@SFAW: gracias
SFAW
Don’t be silly.
tBone
@Mike in NC:
You know, I loathe Bible Spice as much as the next DFH, but this kind of response really isn’t helpful. Don’t be a dick.
asiangrrlMN
@Villago Delenda Est: Yes, well, they’ll be ignored, anyway, but I feel obligated to toss them into the mix every now and again.
@Mark S.: Sure. You know. Just like, um, look! Shiny thing!
Bob Loblaw
@Villago Delenda Est:
So basically, it’s your position that it’s ok for people to hypothetically threaten her life for her “role” in Saturday’s events? This is your theory of justice?
I feel like I’m in bizarro world here. The same people that are praising Obama’s speech are, in their next words, saying “Palin’s getting death threats? Yeah right, what a lying bitch! And even if she isn’t lying, fuck her. And her stupid family. Who probably want her dead most of all. Besides, it’s probably all conservatives anyway trying to pull a fast one on us. No true liberal/Democrat/favored-member-of-my-own-proper-thinking-group would ever stoop to such a thing.”
I guess my question, why are all of you praising Obama’s efforts tonight so much when you clearly failed to internalize a single word of it?
Suffern ACE
@The Dangerman:
And yet, those guns are so easy to come by, if one is angry. Seriously, the idea that there isn’t a possibility of a left-wing “nut” shooting someone is just silly. I mean, what was that guy who took over Discovery a few months back. Virulently anti-immigrant right-wing nut, or malthusian environmentalist left-wing nut? Maybe they cancel each other out and he was a moderate?
Admiral_Komack
@toschek:
No.
I don’t.
handy
@Mark S.:
What? Don’t know you know where she got the name Trig from?
freelancer
@Ija:
Grow up a bit, actually, as a writer. Earn the respect of the community that lost respect for him. He did a lot of this today, in my opinion, by revisiting an argument he neglected in the comments by addressing his Mea Culpa on the frontpage. I respect him for that. I’m the same age as ED, but I have no greater aspirations for a future magazine/journalistic career as a writer, and you can tell by his hedging that Kain wants to be taken seriously as a voice by remaining detached and noncommittal. Here’s how I see his mind.
That is what seems to appeal to those holding the purse-strings, but what in fact is more rewarding to your soul, and your own voice, is to simultaneously refine it and shout it out. Don’t hide your passion and your opinion behind blathering platitudes of one day being taken “seriously”. Don’t be afraid to get a little purple in your prose, don’t ever censor your instincts as a writer. Don’t be afraid, deathly so, of the occasional typo. Matt Yglesias isn’t smacked for his grammatically error-ridden posts, he’s smacked when the content of those posts is dead wrong. Kain writes in a style that is bordering on somnambulent, and it is intentional. He’s not a boring guy, he just is writing “up” for the dry sophistry that is so pervasive in our national discourse.
You can suggest the most disgusting, asymmetric, bigoted, racist, war-mongering positions in 21st century in America if you can do so while being excruciatingly dull in your advocacy. No fringe extremist acts without the utmost passion, so the national conventional wisdom goes about policy conversations. This is how batshit propositions become part and parcel of our political landscape. How fringe positions become party platforms and how righteous anger and passionate opposition to unpopular global actions become expeditiously marginalized and moved to the wackjob provinces of American Politics.
The Dangerman
@Suffern ACE:
I should have added a snark tag; I wasn’t serious. Just making a snark off the Right that says Liberals are only interested in taking all our weapons.
Villago Delenda Est
@Bob Loblaw:
Bob, did I say that? Or did you imagine it?
I believe the latter. You need to take care of that bigass log sticking out of your eye, methinks.
SFAW
So much projection, so little time.
You really have a comprehension problem, if that’s how you read the comments you cite. KG speculates, and that becomes “claimed”. Villago talks about how Palin has earned his enmity by her actions, and you read it as he says it’s OK to threaten her life.
As the saying goes: “You got issues.”
SFAW
Do I lose points if I admit I don’t? Or at least that I’ve forgotten? (If I ever knew.)
General Stuck
@Bob Loblaw:
No one on this blog made a campaign add with democratic politicians in cross hairs, with “we reload” rhetoric to go with it. And one of those dem pols then gets gunned down, and you are worried about Sarah’s fee fees from questioning her timing and sincerity, for announcing on this day of memorial that she also to, gets death threats, after months of bloody dog whistling to her followers on how to deal with pol opponents, and just after blathering “blood libel” on a CYA video, also today. You are a very stupid person Loblaw, and I’m sorry it doesn’t match with obama’s kumbaya tonight, but that is just the truth, and the truth is always nothing more than the truth.
The Dangerman
@handy:
Damn, talk about weird tangents.
Wait for it.
Villago Delenda Est
@The Dangerman:
Dammit, I just startled the cat. And endangered my keyboard!
Mark S.
Next Loblow’s going to accuse us of calling for the assassination of Trig.
Bob Loblaw
@General Stuck:
No, I’m not. This has nothing to do with who she is and what she does. And you will never be able to see that, and that’s the difference between you and me.
SFAW
J’accuse!
Ha! Beat him to it. (I hope.)
General Stuck
@Bob Loblaw:
Guess I’ll just have to bear that beast of burden
Villago Delenda Est
@SFAW:
I am worried about Trig.
Seriously, he needs to be evacuated from that family before he turns into another grifter, looking to find a way to take money out of people’s pockets, like some street urchin in Paris or Rome.
SFAW
Remember when Candidate Obama said something about “lipstick on a pig”, and the wingnuts started shrieking about him calling the Wasilla Wingnut a pig?
I have no idea why I thought of that just now.
SFAW
I don’t think she can see either of those places from her window, so there’s a reduced likelihood of that happening.
Villago Delenda Est
Totally OT:
OK, some of you will get this (I know John will) and some will not, but I feel like sharing. I just got an email claiming to be from Blizzard, concerning my WoW account. The first paragraph:
If this is the best the Chinese education system can do for composition in English for scammail, I have to wonder if their weapons modernization efforts are any better.
SFAW
Doubtless you’re fluent in Putonghua and Guangdonghua.
And one might surmise that the guys modernizing the weapons are designing in their primary language.
Or am I missing the point?
GregB
It’s funny that the conservatives haven’t been concerned about the unprecedented level of threats that have been leveled at President Obama.
If there are increased threats against Sarah Palin that is awful and she should report everyone of them to the proper authority.
SFAW
And, yes, I realize that you’re probably saying “bad in one area, bad in all (or others)”. It’s just that the Anglocentric view of Chinglish has always irked me.
Gong hsi fa tsai!
Zuzu's Petals
@Ija:
Ya think any of ’em will note he didn’t use a teleprompter?
Nah, me either.
Nellcote
In the room with the husband when Congresswoman Giffords opened her eyes, Debbie Wasserman Shultz, Gillibrand and Nancy Pelosi. As Nancy SMASH! said to Olbermann, “Girl Power!”
Ash Can
@JenJen:
7 minutes of mindless hucksterism and 30 seconds of federal criminal?
lacp
@Villago Delenda Est: Not sure why you think the author(s) Chinese – that sort of grammar and syntax is rather common on Tea Partier signs, isn’t it?
Alex S.
@Ash Can:
or was it 7 minutes of commercials?
SFAW
A few reasons:
2) No mention of blood, tyrants, or Mooslims
3) No “commie”
4) No 2nd Amendment refs
but the main reason:
1) No “morans”
MazeDancer
Thursday Morning Report: Morning Joe loves the speech. Joe, Mika, Harold, Tina even Pat B, all praising President and the speech. Glorifying actually.
I never watch the show, but tuned in to see what they’d say. Many clips, much support of the President.
Gail Collins chose not to trash Sarah Palin this morning.
I’m going to do my best to get through at least one day without upping the vitriol level myself.
Frank Chow
I believe last night was originally called a “memorial event” not a “service.” The media coined it as a service which could account for some of the confusion in tone.
It was an invite by the University of Arizona to the President and was meant to “lift the spirits”, http://uanews.org/node/36874. Maybe slight, but there is a difference…granted that won’t stop those who already hate the man.
Also too, it was a great speech.
batgirl
@SFAW:
And this is the problem. We’ve always had that 10% or that 27% of the population that is batshit crazy. The difference today is that the MSM gives them legitimacy with all their damn coverage.
Sometimes, I think what would happen if Palin released her stupid ass, highly insulting video yesterday and no one talked about it. We all just simply ignored it. She’d probably try to ramp up her crazy talk even more. She is a media whore.
Bulworth
Maybe Obama should have invoked 9/11.
SFAW
It’s Rupert Murdoch’s world, we just live in it, so the likelihood of your (excellent) suggestion happening is, unfortunately, about the same as the Mets winning the 2010 World Series.
SFAW
batgirl –
Charter’s version of Mooselini’s latest insanity:
“With daring and unprecedented tactics, Palin stirs passions and shakes up politics”
thus giving legitimacy to Teh Crazy/Evil that is all things Sarah!
Nothing new, I know, but the juxtaposition with your hopeful comment was poignant.
Ija
What about backlash from left wingers? Like this post from Shakespeare Sister:
http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2011/01/open-thread-on-tucson-memorial.html
Apparently Obama mentioned Jesus too many times last night. Plus Obama said both sides are just as bad. I don’t remember that part, but according to them, he did. I give up. Maybe there is something to the notion that the left is just as bad as the right. They certainly are just as stupid.
gbear
@hamletta:
Have you ever been to a Timberwolves game?
SFAW
Interesting theory. Of course, when the Left is stupid, it usually ends up hurting itself. When the Right is stupid (often along with Evil), multitudes of “others” suffer.
bemused
@MazeDancer:
I heard Joe twice say to Mika, “Do you really want to go there?” but I wasn’t in the room to hear what preceded that. Joe was critical of Beck’s rhetoric on Tuesday so was it about Beck or someone else that Mika found offensive?
The Moar You Know
Morning radio in Los Angeles played a Tea Party lunatic who “just couldn’t understand why the crowd were cheering – it was more like a pep rally than a service – very disturbing”.
It was dogwhistle for “I don’t understand why the crowd cheers for the nigger”, that much was sadly obvious.
I think this may have turned a corner. A lot of folks are backing away from the TeaTards as fast as they can, not because of the assassination, but because of the continued hyper-defensive, totally insensitive, wholly politicized and frankly insane reaction that the far-righties/teatards are having to this whole affair.
Screaming “stop blaming me” when no one of any consequence is, in fact, blaming you is a good way to get people to start asking “is there some reason I should be blaming you?”
SFAW
I think it’s something different, more like the response at Wellstone’s service. It’s a case of “How dare those elitists behave the way they do! Why, they’re no better than the common rabble! Thank FSM we’re above all that.”
I really hope you’re right about a corner being turned. I just hope that it’s not an oncoming locomotive. (Oops, wrong cliche!)
Hawes
@Bulworth:
He did. Beautifully.
Through Christina Green, who was born on that day and the “Faces of Hope” book that she was in. It was so deft and well done as to subtly tie the spirit of loss and unity on that day to Tucson.
Rudy should take notes.
I have been stunned at the positive reaction the speech is getting. It made me openly weep, but most references to young Christina have left me weepy.
But if Marc Thiessen can actually see the merit in it…
And Obama, by imploring us to be bigger than our sense of grievance made all of his potential critics seem very, very small.
300baud
@batgirl:
Of course, we’ve also always had gossips and scandal-mongers. The difference today is that the general public gives them legitimacy with all their damned attention.
I’m not saying the media is right to do what they’re doing. I’m just saying it’s far more profitable than doing what we think they should be doing.
evinfuilt
@General Stuck:
Well remember. For Republicans carrying a picket and demonstrating in front of them (correction, in their marked off free-speech zone) is the same thing as carrying a rifle to a townhall meeting.
Was happy Stewart called Pawlenty last night on that, him trying to say its dangerous out there with all the people in puppet suits.