(Ben Sargent via GoComics.com)
Making A Stink in Public is a form of power, as every tantruming three-year-old discovers. The more powerful an individual, the more “right” they have — or are perceived to have — to Make A Stink. That’s why would-be Big Men make themselves unpleasant to waiters (and loathed by every other diner). It’s why Donald Trump, whose “power” is based entirely on the perception that he’s got a lot of money, is so publicly, obnoxiously obsessed with demonstrating that money gives him the right to Make A Stink in Public.
The “Rise of the Tea Party” was a public demonstration that the GOP’s voting base had the power to shut down discussion of the President’s healthcare proposals by Making A Stink in Public. As we now know, it was a demonstration (“movement”) entirely conceived, funded, and controlled by the Koch brothers and their fellow billionaires, but there were plenty of unwitting volunteers ready to stand up and Make A Stink, to out-shout everyone else’s ideas and questions with a selection of easily-memorized talking points. And the mainstream media outlets — also owned, funded, and controlled by the same small cadre of billionaires — were all too happy to concede that the Tea Party volunteers had the “right” to out-shout, to drown out, all dissenting voices.
That’s why this Spring’s Wisconsin labor protests were such an unpleasant shock, first to the major media and then to the Koch cadres funding that media. The teachers, public workers, and their supporters in Wisconsin “took back” their right to Make A Stink in Public, a tactic the Billionaire Boys Club hadn’t considered possible. But the Koch’s paid lobbyists failed in their frantic search to discover the powerful shadow elite they were sure must be puppeteering the labor protestors just as the Kochs were puppeteering the Wisconsin governor and his fellow GOP legislators. So they were forced back upon the authoritarians’ ever-ready second line of defense: Those labor protestors were unworthy of the right to Make A Stink in Public; they were ridiculous, tantrumming spoiled children, an embarrassment to their fiscal betters, in need of stern correction by a strong paternal authority.
The current GOP obsession with keeping the government from functioning uses Making A Stink in Public as its most powerful tactic, but if you listen to the Koch-bankrolled lobbyists, the Murdoch-bought media, and their wholly-owned (mostly) GOP legislators, it’s that Black guy in the White House who’s… Making A Stink in Public. Who gave him the right — the power — to stand up in public and argue against them?
JGabriel
I think they’re called voters.
.
Villago Delenda Est
He’s an usurper, he’s uppity.
What more need you say?
eemom
Splendiforous post, AL.
Elizabelle
Find this sentence by Steve Benen depressing:
We cannot let that happen.
OT: anybody watch or watching “Pan Am”?
Comrade Kevin
“Stop Obama’s assault on our veterans. Sign our petition now.” From Ron Paul for president, an ad on the left margin. Those Paulistas must think that veterans are really fucking stupid to try that shit.
Yutsano
He’s near too!!
Brachiator
From the PEW Media research: The much pilloried mainstream media counts for less, even as the worst, most biased news organizations ramp up their propaganda machines.
Facebook and Twitter vs Rupert Murdoch?
jaleh
Anybody watched 60 Minutes?
They had a segment about the Neo-Nazi guy who was killed by his ten year old son. Leslie Stahl interviewed the grand-mother about her son being a Nazi, she didn’t seem to care much about it and to a question by Stathl as far as “what now about politics?” the grand-mother said “Nazism is over, this is a conservative, Republican family, I wish there were more of them here”, she meant CA.
This should go viral, IMO…I assume all these Nazis vote Republican.
Hill Dweller
The republicans are threatening to shut down the government for the third time in less than a year(not counting the FAA and debt ceiling debacles), but listening to the MSM, the Dems are to blame.
Yutsano
@Hill Dweller: The Dems are always to blame. It’s a corollary to IOKIYAR.
Hill Dweller
@Elizabelle: A Boehlert excerpt from that same Benen piece:
piratedan
Well its the same old shit that never gets on TV
who’s against a fair shake for everyone, be it what you’re paid or where you go to school… Republicans
who wants to shut down the societal safety nets… republicans
who believes that just because you have money you’re better than everyone else… Republicans
who wants to control your sexual equipment and orientation…Republicans
who controls the media and what you see and how you see it… Republicans
and gawd forbid anyone say this on network television or even on your local news
what is so sad is how the old money rich have co-opted so many folks into thinking its about religion or guns when its really about keeping what they got and limiting who else gets into the club, so they can keep their ways, their rules.
Comrade Kevin
@jaleh: Was it an actual new episode, with new stories? I see the story is available online.
TenguPhule
So Obama needs to break out a giant switch and whip the GOP until they cry and make them in a corner for time out?
TenguPhule
Uh, wrong.
I believe the last time it was this bad, it was called the Civil War.
We even hung some of the bastards on the other side for it.
Break out the history books, we seemed doomed to repeat until the lesson is learned.
Hill Dweller
@TenguPhule: Boehlert was saying there is no precedent in modern American politics. I suppose it boils down to his definition of modern American politics, but I suspect he wasn’t going as far back as the Civil War.
That said, I take your point. The modern republican party’s base is full of people who are still fighting the Civil War.
amk
trailer trash white privilege trumps blackity black any day. god bless amurikkka.
Kewalo
I usually lurk but since I accidentally took a nap during Masterpiece Mystery I have plenty of energy.
I really just want to say how much I enjoy the way you think and write Anne. It’s always a pleasure to come here and see you have something new up. Thanks
TenguPhule
The problem with Sherman’s march to the sea was that he let the people get out of the big houses before setting them on fire. They’ve had generations to stew and plot revenge.
piratedan
@TenguPhule: well and the fact that he apparently left Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, North Carolina and South Carolina unburned as well….
Kewalo
I’m curious about something. I wrote a post earlier today that I really wanted to share and it disappeared…totally. So I reposted it and THAT disappeared. Can anyone explain why this happened?
Yutsano
@Kewalo: FYWP. It does that every now and again for no rhyme nor reason.
No one of importance
Those would be them pesky voter peeps. Good post. More of the same, please
Kewalo
@Yutsano:
Thank you. It certainly is annoying.
Calouste
@TenguPhule:
Not many. Not many at all. Half of the top traitors, i.e. the Confederate cabinet, ended up in the U.S. Congress after the Civil war instead of at the gallows or with a life sentence like the Nazis got in Nuremberg.
TenguPhule
A mistake I hope we rectify this time.
amk
French left busts sarkos’ balls just seven months before the country’s presidential election in April. .
Rightwingers have controlled the Senate since the Fifth Republic was founded in 1958.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/mobile/world-europe-15055729
John Puma
If Obama had begun using his “bully pulpit” in late Jan 2009, he would have been making a point.
I agree, for him to start using it now amounts to ONLY making a stink and a very foul one at that.
When he had two LARGE congressional majorities, he coddled and empowered his opponents who were simultaneously proclaiming that they would do everything in their power to destroy him politically.
His pathological bipartisanship lead to (massive) loss of the House and reduction of the senate majority.
Now Obama can revert to his impersonation of a progressive with inspiring rhetoric that he, and, more importantly, his corporate backers, know(s) cannot possibly result in any legislation remotely addressing progressive policy.
Next drama, how does Obama further hurt the middle class in exchange for the GOP extortionists keeping the government running past the end of the fiscal year?
Baud
@John Puma:
“This pathological bipartisanship lead to (massive) loss of the House and reduction of the senate majority.”
Yes, the great number of Republicans who voted for HCR, wall street reform, and the stimulus was the problem.
hhex65
@John Puma: one cartoon appreciates another, very nice.
WereBear
I have discovered just how many people, who could consciously reel off the “separation of powers” part of our system, still seem to blame the President for everything.
Congress, how does it work?
SRW1
@amk:
Even more amazing if you consider how the Senate in France is elected. Not by popular vote, but rather by an electoral committee gone beserk. The eligible voters for Senate elections are something like 70,00 delegates, mostly in form of local and regional officials such as mayors, councilors, etc. Not only does that mean that the electors belong to the local and regional elites, it also favors rural over urban areas. So the eligible electorate tended to have a fairly reliable conservative leaning. Some ominous tremors in the French political landscape.
Ben Cisco
@TenguPhule: @Calouste: @TenguPhule: I stated this in another thread – the biggest mistake made after the Civil War was NOT stringing up the ENTIRE Confederate leadership. We are paying for that mistake now.
hildebrand
At least Mr. Puma is aptly named. Bully Pulpit! Just words! Wash, rinse, repeat.
I imagine next Mr. Puma will tell us that he plans on sitting 2012 out.
'Niques
All that money can’t buy class.
amk
@John Puma:
Really ? When the fuck did he have them ? Wake up from delusional hippie nirvana.
Grumpy Code Monkey
@Hill Dweller:
Although this time, they’re fighting for the other side.
Secessionist rhetoric always plays well in Texas (we like to believe we’re special), but the delicious irony comes from the fact that it’s the Republican governor doing it.
Party of Lincoln my ass…
amk
@SRW1: yup, thanks to sarko.
Southern Beale
Wow I got Islamic evangelistic spam on my blog for the first time. It was links to a bunch of videos about who Allah is and what the Koran says. It’s the first time I’ve received any religious spam, now that I think about it. Christian, you’re slacking!
Southern Beale
Oh , gah. Another “why we need a third party” column from the WaPo ….
PurpleGirl
@piratedan: I agree with you, except for one thing. I don’t think it’s the old money rich. The Kochs are not old money; they are relatively new or young in what they have.
Old money is Rockefeller, Morgan, Vanderbilt, Harriman, etc. They aren’t the powerhouses they once were.
Lojasmo
@hildebrand:
TELEPROMPTERS!!1111,eleveny!
mzrad
Dingbat conservatism–when smug conservatives think they’re being smart while proving themselves stupid. I used to work with this guy who was convinced that WMD had been found in Iraq and pointed me to some guy’s self published site as proof that the US had found WMD. When I asked why no other media had reported this “find,” he just couldn’t wrap his head around the facts of his gullibility and continued on with his unwarranted smugness. What an idiot. Rep. Bachman isn’t the only dingbat out there. They’re everywhere.
And another thing–can we stop gnashing our teeth about the media not doing its job by reporting the right wing lies? Purchasing the media in the 80s and 90s was one of the smartest thing the right ever did. These traditional media “reporters” are merely reporting what their owners allow them to report and they’ve normalized and internalized what’s permitted to report and how to see like a powerful rich person.
Read moar independent blogs written by smart people not owned by the rich. Moar!!
SiubhanDuinne
@Southern Beale:
That can’t possibly be. Don’t you read the “Muslims never proseletyze” threads?
SiubhanDuinne
@Southern Beale:
To my early-morning annoyance, I clicked through and read that column. It could serve as poster child for the “both sides do it” false-equivalency MSM brigade.
arguingwithsignposts
IMHO, the problem was not just the never-healed wounds of the civil war (although that was a major contributing factor), but the fact that we still allow “money” to become “old” in the first place.
SiubhanDuinne
@SiubhanDuinne:
I take it back. I wrote that before listening to Cokie Roberts on NPR just now.
Mark S.
@Southern Beale:
Ha! I read Matt Miller’s third party platform. Most of it is Broder-tastic, fitting for an idiot who thinks the term “far-center” makes any sense, but at least his proposals for fixing our political system are, well, original:
1. Enter everyone who votes into a national lottery with prizes up to $10 million.
2. Give everybody 50 patriot dollars to spend on the candidate of his or her choice.
3. Lower the voting age to 15.
4. End the filibuster. (WTF? That isn’t wacky. Try again, Matt!)
I’m surprised Tweety isn’t all over this shit.
FlipYrWhig
@John Puma: If only Obama had started his administration with a bold statement, perhaps the largest spending bill in US history.
Mino
Booman has been very topical lately. Today he takes on Cole’s trope from last night(children acting out) via a Michael Kazin essay on the lack of same.
I do think there is an argument to be made that Obama short-circuited a lot of rage on the left while they waited for him to do something.
Mino
@Mark S.: Australian law requires one to vote.
Mino
Sorry, forgot linky. http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2011/9/26/2643/16374
WereBear
THAT would work.
grandpajohn
@piratedan: Well since he burnt the city of Columbia, you can take SC off that list
Mino
@grandpajohn: In Sherman’s diary, he said that Georgians encouraged him to do so.
jaleh
@Comrade Kevin:
Yes, it was a new episode…
Catsy
@WereBear: Yeah, I’m thinking that may have more merit than it’s being given credit for. Millions of the poorest Americans shell out a frightening proportion of their income for an astronomically small chance of winning a big jackpot. Combine that with legislation designating Election Day as a federal holiday and empowering vote-by-mail options, and I bet you’d see a staggering increase in low-income voter turnout.
Might raise legal issues, but if they could be overcome it could really work.
piratedan
@grandpajohn: yeah, but he also needed to handle Charleston, if you wanted to bring the point home; as it was, the vast majority of the South, while they lost a significant portion of its landed elite and rural Jacksonian base, obviously there were still plenty of survivors to pass on the hatred.
@John Puma: I believe that the “magic 60” that Obama enjoyed in his first year lasted approximately 6 weeks, from the time that Franken was finally seated (1st week of July, after the 4th holiday), til Ted Kennedy died in the middle of August. Don’t sweat the Kennedy on his deathbed or the unprecedented Republican obstructionism blocking legislation and yeah, if only they had worked non-stop to pass everything that Nancy Smash had already queued up and passed in the first six months…. oh wait, they did.
gocart mozart
@Mark S.:
This is actually a great idea and is not original to him. Giving every eligible voter 50 bucks to earmark to a candidate would dramatically increase small donations and offset the influence of big money.
xian
@piratedan: was there ever really 60? I mean doesn’t that count Lieberman (not a Dem) and Sanders (also not a Dem, though a reliable progressive vote), not to mention the preening toupe-wearing bluedogs?
piratedan
@xian: “you could certainly make a case for it, just saying that there were 60 votes that were more or less could be counted on for most nominal legislation. You witnessed how quickly the power games were applied by both Lieberman and Nelson and the rest of the Blue Dogs, still people continue to believe that after Obama was elected (and a goodly number of Dems too) that a he had a clear path to pass whatever he wanted because of Dems “controlling” both houses of Congress with the refrain that Reid should have known what was coming etc etc etc. After watching the Coleman/Franken election being played out, yeah they should have known more and perhaps done more but obviously the task was made more difficult with the health issues surrounding Kennedy and Byrd.