Atrios is looking back at ten years of blogging and holding a spring fundraiser while also listing the ten biggest wankers of the decade. The first entry (9th Runner-Up) is our very own McMegan.
Wankers of the Decade
This post is in: Glibertarianism, Pink Himalayan Salt, Technically True but Collectively Nonsense
DougJ, Head of Infidelity
I’m a little disappointed he didn’t mention my run-in with her.
Walker
What role in the blogosphere does Atrios serve anymore that he needs a fundraiser? His posts are barely longer than Twitter messages. It used to be that he was the major news aggregator, but these days he lags behind this site in timeliness.
Comrade Javamanphil
The only question that remains is will she get upset that she’s on the list or that she was only good enough to make ninth runner-up. I predict both.
Alexandra
Hope Karl ‘The Math’ Rove is on the list.
SteveM
Maybe he should try more actual writing. This post requires a non-ADHD attention span, possibly for the first time in his blog career, and it isn’t bad.
Villago Delenda Est
He made a decision to exclude from his top 10 anyone no longer alive, which means that one of the premiere wankers of the last 10 years is now ineligible.
The Ghost of David Broder is having a sad somewhere, probably haunting the pantry of Sans Souci.
schrodinger's cat
Bobo deserves the prize, in mendacity with a smiling face, he has no competition.
Schlemizel
I’m stunned. If the gastritis queen is ninth there must be some real losers in the top 5
Punchy
Im imagining DougJ with a heart aflutter and raging hard-on waiting to see where Dr. Black ranks Andrew Sullivan. Then, of course, we’ll need to have an immediate post telling us what Sully thinks of this…
beltane
@Walker: I’d really like to see him do more actual writing on economic issues. Also, the one-liner posts wouldn’t be so bad if he had a decent comment section, but his very loyal group of commenters tend to comment on everything but the subject of the post. They remind me of the regulars at the Greek coffee shop that was down the street from me when I was a kid.
schrodinger's cat
@DougJ, Head of Infidelity: What run in, we want details, or do you mean the bit about gastritis and the calculator.
beltane
If Tom Freidman doesn’t win the #1 Wanker of the Decade prize I will be very disappointed.
PeakVT
Friedman has to be #1 on that list. There are worse people than him – sadly, a lot of them – but Tommy “Suck on this” Friedman is definitely America’s number one tosser. Also, too: Friedman unit.
hojo
Bill Kristol had better be on that list.
Villago Delenda Est
@PeakVT:
Tommy “Friedman Unit” Friedman has to be one of the top few, but don’t discount BoBo’s chances. Those two are neck and neck in wankerdom.
Comrade Javamanphil
@schrodinger’s cat: Halperin. He takes lazy, smarminess to 11.
Freddie deBoer
The mind still reels.
Villago Delenda Est
@hojo:
Every time I see William Kristol’s face, I think of the scene in The Search for Spock where Kirk kicks Kruge in the face while saying “I…have had…enough…of YOU!”
ExurbanMom
In better news, Ta Nehisi Coates just won an award for his opinion and analysis: http://www.hillmanfoundation.org/
He is a terrific writer and thinker, with a consistently interesting commentariat of readers. If you’re not reading him regularly, yer doin’ it wrong.
schrodinger's cat
@ExurbanMom: I find the comment section too goody-goody. I rather prefer the company of the jackals here. I like my political news with a dose
of snark. TNC is too earnest, not quite my cup of tea.
FlipYrWhig
“Shitpile” WHEEEEE! Someone should do something. Open thread.
Dork
@hojo: I wonder if Billy Crystal rues the fact that his moniker is homophonic with Billy Kristol.
PeakVT
@Villago Delenda Est: Bobo is smarmier but I’d give Tommy the nod for his absolute sincerity.
FlipYrWhig
@schrodinger’s cat: That comment section has always been a weird place. Like an airport bar that somehow has regulars.
Villago Delenda Est
@FlipYrWhig:
NORM!
R Johnston
@Villago Delenda Est:
On the contrary, I can already see the final post in this series, and its title will be “And the David Broder Memorial Award for Wanker of the Decade Goes to . . .”
It will not be hard for Atrios to properly honor Broder within the constraints he’s put forward if he decides to do so.
Face
@FlipYrWhig: Banks suck. Austerity sucks. Another day at the dogtracks.
Comments:
1) FIRST
2) First
3) Dammit, not first. nevermind
4) hey #2, how’s your root canal doing?
5) FRIST!
6) Meatloaf is tasty
7) Hey #4, canal great. Yeast infection cleared too
8) Sheets!
9) First!
10) Repeat 1-9
Jon
@schrodinger’s cat: Friedman Unit Tom will give him a run for it.
FlipYrWhig
@Face: Well played!
Villago Delenda Est
@Face:
Classically, one would have a FRIST, then if one was fortunate, the second, third, and fourth posts, which of course would be an inside the park home run.
Sheets is sometimes referred to as “Owls”, in honor of Hogwarts.
The pony thing is classic Atrios from the mid decade period, in which a poster commented that if the deserting coward’s approval rating dropped below a certain number (it may have been 40%, I can’t recall exactly) he should get a pony. The number did drop,and Atrios started posting ponies every time he reported on the deserting coward’s deteriorating approval numbers.
Jon
@schrodinger’s cat: Aww, man, I was hoping we had a “yeah, I fucked her” story about McMegan.
beltane
@Face: Perfectly done. And it’s been the same group of people making these comments for the whole ten years. I hope these people pony up because if their little virtual airport bar ever disappears they will not know what do do with themselves.
slag
@schrodinger’s cat: I think I’m with you. But rather than “goody-goody”, I would use the word “tedious”. Though I think we’re saying the same thing.
Don’t spend 50 words telling someone what a dumbass they are. Either ignore them or call them a dumbass and get on with it. They’ve taken “With all due respect” up to eleven, and the only gain from doing so appears to be a non-ironic self-satisfaction.
That said, I read TNC every day.
Egg Berry
SUPERTRAINS!
slag
@schrodinger’s cat: I think I’m with you. But rather than “goody-goody”, I would use the word “tedious”. Though I think we’re saying the same thing.
Don’t spend 50 words telling someone what a dumbass they are. Either ignore them or call them a dumbass and get on with it. They’ve taken “With all due respect” up to eleven, and the only gain from doing so appears to be a non-ironic self-satisfaction.
That said, I read TNC almost every day.
dms
@SteveM: Well, it’s not the first time in his life. He used to write, back about ten years ago, regular entries like this one. He was actually the first liberal blogger I ever hooked up with; the first were, during the run-up to the Iraqi War, a bunch of Max Boots, Andrew Sullivans (who never seemed to understand the articles they linked to), and a bunch of libertarians who were all for the war (whose names I can’t remember because they’ve assumed the obscurity they so richly deserved). His was the first opposing voice, and he also had an economic voice that wasn’t all “I’ve got mine, fuck you.”
He did good work in the beginning, and garnered a substantial audience because of it. But you are right, he’s now little more than the left’s Glenn Reynolds.
But don’t act like he never did anything of merit, and this post is a “first”.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I think any list of wankers needs two categories– acknowledged right-wingers and self-styled ‘centrists’ and “I’m a liberal but” jackasses. Tom Friedman is a very different animal from Michael Gerson.
I always liked the free-wheeling aspect of Atrios’ comment section, even if the personal stuff creeped me out a little. It was the fusion of PUMAs and Naderites coming together to decide Obama is worse than Bush that drove me off, along with most of the funny people who posted there. Also, too, Atrios’ constant use of the “Lucy and the football” thing to describe Obama trying to work with the other two branches of the government– you know, like the Constitution mandates– is irritating and childish.
slag
@slag: That said, at least TNC’s comment system doesn’t break down right after a total overhaul/redesign. As far as I know anyway.
schrodinger's cat
@slag: Yes, but does he have a fat cat, that glares at you through the computer screen.
kindness
McMegan does indeed suck. How about we start a pool as to who the other 9 will be?
slag
@schrodinger’s cat: …or analogize bipartisanship with a dinner compromise between Italian and a meal of tire rims and anthrax…
Some things are just sui generis.
bogdan
I still don’t know or care who this McArdle character is I keep hearing about. Some people sure seem obsessed with keeping her relevant by constantly pointing out how irrelevant she is. Just sayin.
Roger Moore
@kindness:
I’ll be very disappointed if Doughy “Liberal Fascism” Pantload isn’t on the list.
schrodinger's cat
@kindness: I think we already have one third of the list right here in the comments.
Bobo
Friedman
Halperin
@slag: Also, no one can accuse the commenters here of being too polite or goody goody.
ETA: We do have some tedious commenters, who keep saying the same thing no matter what the topic, but at least they come up with original spelling and syntax.
Walker
@dms:
I agree that he was formative back in the day. But in recent years he has always struck me as “getting out of the biz”. At least John kept it going by turning BJ into a community blog.
This is why I was so surprised he was holding a fundraiser. A fundraiser for what?
beltane
@kindness: Since he said posthumous entries would be considered under certain circumstances, I’m guessing Dean Broder is on the list. Tom Friedman will definitely be on the list. Who else? George Will? Mark Halperin? David Gergen? Bobo? Ross Douthat? Trying to narrow it down to only 10 is hard work.
piratedan
well don’t forget Dear Ruthie, Krauthammer and Senor Bowtie
Raven
The Newsroom trailer!
hilts
Rush Marcus’ latest column is a valiant attempt to overtake McMegan in the Wanker sweepstakes.
h/t http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/obamas-unsettling-attack-on-the-supreme-court/2012/04/02/gIQA4BXYrS_blog.html
comrade scott's agenda of rage
@Face:
This sums up why I stopped reading Dr Black several years back. A quick review lately prompted the same reaction as Walker in #2. Quite frankly, I’m shocked he’s written something as long as his piece on McDumbfuck.
And what’s this with “our very own” crap. If everybody stopped reading and linking to her, there’s be a slight chance that she’d go away.
Kristol, Bobo, Sullivan and Friedman will make it into the Top 5.
slag
@comrade scott’s agenda of rage: You underestimate The Atlantic’s reach. I see links to McMegan far and wide among the pseudo-intellectuati. Distressing it is.
beltane
@hilts: Atrios is on the case. Ruth Marcus is now officially Wanker of the Day.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
I think the focus of the question is wrong. Wankers are a dime-a-dozen, which is why it is so hard to winnow the list down to only 10. Get rid of one, and another will rise to take his/her place in less time than you can say “Both sides do it. Now where’s my paycheck?”. Wankers are fungible. We should be highlighting the publications that give the Wankers a platform. To start with I’m nominating the WaPo as combining the worst apsects of contemporary wankerdom crossed with trading on reserves of credibility they built up from (long past) acts of journalism, to inflict maximum damage on our discourse.
Kiril
@Villago Delenda Est: If you’re interested, the whole pony thing came from this post from John and Belle Have a Blog:
http://examinedlife.typepad.com/johnbelle/2004/03/if_wishes_were_.html
The idea originally came from a Calvin and Hobbes cartoon, and the gist is if you’re going to wish for a bunch of unrealistic things, you may as well wish for a pony while you’re at it.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@slag: I would guess the Atlantic also has a solid core among uber-tote-baggers, the kind of people voting to get their taxes cut who want to tell themselves they have less selfish reasons for voting R.
Yevgraf
In other news, in suburban Dallas, the myth of climate change is continuing to be disproved by a massive tornado and 4 inch hail. Please continue driving SUVs and leaving your incandescent lights to burn on Earth Day.
America, Fuck Yah! And Freedom Fries.
WOLVERINES!!!!!
pragmatism
needs MOAR thermomix, “technically true but collectively nonsense”, “i come from an academic family that is actually intimidating”, “my calculator doesn’t go into the billions”, etc.
Yevgraf
Clearly, the provision of FEMA money to suburban Dallas and Arlington will be soc!alistical Kenyan Islamificalidocious Atheist crony capitalistic Marxism, sapping the elasticity of the bootstraps by which all them rugged Texans should be picking themselves up by.
slag
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The Atlantic comforts the comfortable, no doubt. That’s McMegan’s entire raison d’etre.
Satanicpanic
Atrios has kind of dropped into my Digby file- blogs that I read every now and then, but not on my daily list anymore. It must be hard to do a one person blog year after year. Cole had a good idea bringing on other people.
Punchy
@Yevgraf: my thawts exactly. Lets see all these limited govt, personal responsibility, if-shit-happens-deal-with-it, my healthcare for my headwound is my local ER Non-Hypocrits turn down FEMA aid. Rebuilbing assistance is for pussies and those people. Cowboy up and all that.
dmark
If I may, the whole pony thing goes back to an old joke about the kid shoveling horseshit like crazy. When asked why he was working so hard, he replied “There must be a pony in here someplace.”
catclub
@piratedan: “well don’t forget Dear Ruthie, Krauthammer and Senor Bowtie”
My sense of the meaning of ‘wanker of the day’ is that the person has to, at least, be in the crowd that occasionally is worth listening to, but on this particular day, has just gone off the rails. Another way to put it might be that sane people would read this person on occasion.
Therefore, I never consider Krauthammer a possible wanker of the day candidate. he is a pure ideologue, of no redeeming value. Likewise, Rush Limbaugh would never be it either.
dww44
@beltane:I definitely agree. I recently tried to read some comments at Eschaton and they told me nothing. It was all insider stuff.At BJ, as much as I appreciate the posts of the front pagers, I learn an awful lot from the commenters here and get sent great places. BJ has turned out to be my own personal aggregator.
Too bad about Duncan, though. His place could be a lot more informative with a tad less cynicism. Maybe that’s what happens to bloggers over time. Think Digby, whom I’ve always admired but I don’t need to go there to be put into a blue funk. There’s enough of that already.
Triassic Sands
This may be an appropriate thread in which to record my amazement and gratitude that today I was once again reminded that I cannot honestly say there are no prominent conservatives in the US today who possess a shred of integrity.
I just heard Doug Kmiec, Pepperdine law professor, and he reminded me that occasionally someone who may once have been a candidate for supreme wanker status actually looked at the world with an open mind and realized just how dangerous the Modern Republican Party is.
Kmiec first came to prominence when Reagan was president and he carried a lot of water for extreme wingerism. I’m not sure what the full evolution of his thought involved, but apparently the worst president ever, George W. Bush, may have been important. So important that Kmiec did the unthinkable in 2008 and supported Obama.
Today, I heard him on the radio, refuting mindless Tea Bagger Elizabeth Price Foley (John Galt School of Law and Anarchy, er, I mean Florida International U. College of Law professor) concerning the PPACA and individual mandate. Foley’s spiel was a typical compendium of winger nonsense regarding the economy, taxes, job creation, the wealthy, and finally the constitutionality of the PPACA. She was wrong in virtually everything she said, but like any true winger she clings to her errors tenaciously. Kmiec came on the program to argue for the individual mandate, and it’s difficult to express my feelings at hearing someone who I once saw as reprehensible prove to me that the truth is indeed out there and a tiny number of conservatives can, occasionally, discover it.
Steve Simels
HELLO EVERYBODY!!!!
:-)
dww44
@Triassic Sands: Link available?
Satanicpanic
@dww44: Digby Downer is just always so eager to jump on the worst possible interpretation of the administration it just gets old.
Judas Escargot, Your Postmodern Neighbor
@Yevgraf:
Anyone else expect Rick Perry to make a big public show of refusing any Federal aid…
__
…and then find a way to get the money more quietly, a few weeks later?
DuckFisqus
@Steve Simels:
DuckFisqus. By which I mean, again.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Triassic Sands:
The sad part is that as you go backwards in time, GOP administrations looking increasingly reasonable by today’s standards. By the standards of the W admin, Reagan and his people look at least competent at their jobs if not wholly of good intentions. By the standards of the Reagan admin, Ford/Nixon look even better; not only competent at their jobs but from a purely policy standpoint halfway decent (i.e. at least they were Keynesians, for fucks sake) absent the whole rampant paranoia, contempt for the rule of law and criminal conspiracy bits. Eisenhower looks like Obama in whiteface. And now we have the insane clown posse of the current GOP in 2012 bidding fair to make us miss the good old days of the W admin, should they get into power.
This continuous devolution of the Right does not bode well for the future, if the GOP continues to have a floor of 43% of the vote in national elections. Something’s got to give or at this rate we’ll be debating the merits of cannibalism by 2020.
David Koch
you guys are slipping up. 69 comments and no one has nominated joe klein.
sharl
@Steve Simels:
Heh, so your ears were burning over there, eh?
FWIW, I drop in over there on rare occasion. I think of you guys as a big family, whose members can complete one another’s sentences at this stage. The closeness reminds me of bedtime on Walton’s Mountain, only with a lot more swearing, and occasional ragegasms. My opinion – obviously not too widely shared – is that y’all are basically a likeable bunch.
David Koch
@Triassic Sands: what show was this?
David Koch
Digby will never forgive Obama for beating Hillary.
Warren Terra
Just echoing a lot of the commenters: Atrios was a hugely important and hugely influential blogger … years and years ago. Back when he wrote, and even then his comment threads were unreadable; back when it was one of my first introductions to partisan blogging and when every news story had me eager to know Atrios’s spin on it. Back when he was strictly pseudonymous, and for a year or two afterward. At some point his blog came to resemble that old joke about a prison wing full of lifers who’ve all memorized the one joke book in the prison library and so amuse each other by mentioning the page number of a particularly clever and relevant joke. Atrios created or popularized a huge number of very important memes (just offhand, the Blogger Ethics Panel, the Ponies, and the Friedman Unit), and he promoted the campaign of Barack Obama when Obama was a dark horse entrant into a Senate primary. But for years now his blog has been the mirror image of Glenn Reynolds’s, only without the work ethic. A day-long string of references to references to injokes, a few dozen words in total, linking to news stories and to other bloggers. Atrios really ought to retire from blogging and write a memoir of the things his blog accomplished back when it was hard work and it made a difference.
Oh, and The Wanker will obviously be Friedman, for the simple reason that Atrios’s interactions with him are more legendary than his interactions with any of the other front-runners, and unlike Brooks his wankery was more pronounced and prominent when Atrios’s blog mattered.
TG Chicago
Speaking of McMegan, I’ve been wondering…. shouldn’t she be included in the list of “Blogs we Monitor and Mock as Needed”? I see more Balloon Juice mockery of her than I do of Hugh Hewitt or Confederate Yankee.
LittlePig
@Steve Simels: SIMELS!
FlipYrWhig
@Warren Terra: It’s not like this place isn’t full of inscrutable inside jokes and long-running feuds. But I think we also discuss the content of posts and the issues underlying them. And what led me to give up on Atrios was realizing that that virtually never happened in comments there. It was like going to an acquaintance’s college reunion, every day, for weeks.
The Tragically Flip
@dms:
Except you know, Atrios is funny, insightful, not a bigot and generally makes good points. There is no “left” version of Glenn Reynolds.
Calling him a mere news aggregator misses the point. He highlights important less obvious stories and very effectively boils them down to a couple sentences or even a key phrase that becomes a popular term (shitpile, pony, etc).
That he writes short posts is a strength. It’s hard to do well.
The Tragically Flip
I do agree his comment section isn’t great though. Even the Sadlynaughts spend the first 50 comments to every post talking about the subject at hand before devolving into clubby chit chat.
Libby
If there’s really a pool, I’m thinking Halperin, Little Tommy Friedman and probably Douthat will make the cut. Also thinking the Goat Blower and the Dick Whisperer have a shot. Trying to decide if Fred Hiatt is distinctive enough to make the list.
Also, too, finding it amusing to see the trashing of the Atriots going on here. Don’t engage much anywhere these days, but I’ve been lurking at both communities for very many years. Not much difference between the two. Every community has its inside jokes. Green balloons anyone? Only difference is you have a lexicon dictionary.
FWIW, I consider both Atriots and Balloon Juicers to be my chosen, somewhat crazy and dysfunctional family. Love and cherish you all. So play nice.
Triassic Sands
@dww44:
The discussion was on “To the Point,” which is co-produced by KCRW and PRI. You should be able to find the program on any public radio station that airs it.
The specific program was: Fading Trust in American Institutions (Tuesday, April 3, 2012)
Gomez
I’m the one that ruined Eschaton. Its my fault. I’d like to ruin this place now.
DougJ, Head of Infidelity
@schrodinger’s cat:
Just the calculator thing.
DougJ, Head of Infidelity
@Libby:
I love Atrios, he’s my favorite blogger.
Soprano
@dmark: One of Reagan’s favorite jokes.
Soprano
@Libby: Love ya back, Libby.
Libby
@DougJ, Head of Infidelity: I’ve learned to love Atrios over the years. Admit at first, when I was just a new blogger I mistook the terse style for laziness. Came to realize there’s an art to saying so much with so few words. It’s really hard to do. It only seems like laziness because he makes look so easy.
But yeah, he’s become one of my favorite bloggers. A list that includes you and the rest of the crew here by the way.
asiangrrlMN
@schrodinger’s cat: I used to comment regularly over at TNC until I had problems with a regular commentator who seemed to have it in for me. I enjoyed the discussions and the civility as an aperitif, so to speak. But, after awhile, said beef with aforementioned commenter and other frustrations with the commentary led me to walk away. I still read TNC from time to time, though.
It’ll be interesting to see who’s at the top of the list as well as Eschaton’s definition of wanker. I used to read his blog, too, but quickly gave up on it after wading into the commentary a few times.
I’m trying to think of a sleeper wanker candidate, but I can’t. Maybe I can after I drink my coffee.
Libby
@Soprano: Aw, thanks. As the saying goes… *mwah*
Triassic Sands
@dww44:
@David Koch:
To the Point
Kathy in St. Louis
@hilts: And may I say of Marcus’ remarks, MEH.
Triassic Sands
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
The amazing thing is how many older Republicans seem unaware of the fundamental and catastrophic changes that have taken place in “their” party.
The old car commercial comes to mind: This is not your father’s GOP (or Oldsmobile).
I have a neighbor who is in her seventies and when you talk to her, at first you think, a little reactionary, but she does actually care about (poor) people, and she can support some good programs (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid… — the first two of which she depends on). But dig a little deeper and you realize just how out of touch she is (“Unions have never been stronger!”) and where she’s currently getting her news (Fox).
In any extended discussion with her it becomes clear that she really doesn’t understand that “her” party has left her behind and she’s now voting in ways that are definitely in conflict with both her professed beliefs and own self-interest. I’ve tried to get through to her, but she sees me as a hyperpartisan with my “own facts.”
If I offer her a factual source — any source — she simply dismisses it as “my facts.” After watching Fox for several years she now expresses doubts about climate change. She says she really believes that all those scientists are doing nothing more than trying to fund their own research — and they’ll falsify things if it helps them. All of them. All.
wobbly
Find another word than “wanker” to insult our enemies.
Wanking is normal healthy sexual activity, and I’m old enough to remember that a Surgeon General of the United States was FIRED for discussing it honestly with young people.
David Koch
@Kathy in St. Louis: Word. What would Marcus be without a hackney defense of conservatives and wingers.
FlipYrWhig
@Triassic Sands: I don’t know this woman, obviously, but my hunch would be that she cares about poor white people but resents poor black people and poor Mexican immigrants, who just want something for nothing, not that there aren’t good people who need help, but that too many people just sit around waiting for a handout that we can’t afford, not like her, who worked hard for everything she has. Every Republican I’ve ever met has believed in that credo, with the partial exception of Tucker Carlson-esque preppy campus conservatives.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Triassic Sands:
Sad but true. Once Fox gets inside of somebody’s head, I don’t know how we are ever going to reach them short of an issue which they take very personally, one which shatters their illusions. And the older somebody gets, the more tightly they are going to hang on to their cherished illusions, because honestly what else do they have left at that point?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@FlipYrWhig: The post-sixties white American twist on the old joke about the Russian peasant: “I want my (black) neighbor’s cow to die”
wrb
@Triassic Sands:
Very much my experience
wrb
@Triassic Sands:
Very much my experience
wrb
@Triassic Sands:
Very much my experience
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ:
yup
@FlipYrWhig:
yup yup
Jeffraham Prestonian
I know there’s a lot of disrespect for the commenting community over at Eschaton, but I have to say, I know of nowhere else that has as dedicated a bunch of people to one another as that place. OMG, I can’t even begin to tell you how those fine people have helped me over the last decade, and you probably wouldn’t believe me if I did. I showed up there in 2003, and it is still my regular haunt. Not my only haunt, but I’m there every day, and probably will be until A-man shutters it.
.
Triassic Sands
@FlipYrWhig:
Flip, she’s not obviously a racist. She is originally from the UK, but has been in the US for more than fifty years. I’ve spoken with her a lot and don’t ever remember her making any comment that I interpreted as racist. She has never used code words and when we’ve talked about Obama, her ignorance of his policies is apparent, but she doesn’t speak of him in a racially-tinged manner. Rather than ask her overtly about race and minorities, I’ve simply steered conversations in ways that offer her the opportunity to slip. Until now, she hasn’t. What’s in the deepest reaches of her heart? I can’t say.
And, of course, she votes for people who are racist or use racist tactics in campaigns or appeal rhetorically to the racism in people. But then, so does everyone who votes Republican.
PeakVT
@Jeffraham Prestonian: I think what non-regulars find frustrating about the comment section at Eschaton is that it’s essentially an html-based chat room with only a tenuous relationship with Black’s blog. It may be a great community to regulars, but it’s not at all interesting to a casual reader. Others probably think the same thing about the comments here, even though they are much more likely to be on-topic.
FlipYrWhig
@Triassic Sands: Fair enough. I don’t think it’s a matter of conscious racism in every case. But whenever I talk to an avowed Republican about politics, eventually a variant on the following story will come up: a person getting free money from the government without deserving it. And the star in that anecdote is always implicitly a black person. Even if the Republican you’re talking to dotes on a black godchild, in one vivid case I know well, still these fables will bubble up about people who use food stamps but get their nails done, or something along those lines.
There used to be more stories about criminals getting away with it, but that’s fading.
FlipYrWhig
@PeakVT: I think that’s just right. Going to Atrios comments when you’re not a regular is like going to a sports bar to watch a game you can’t get at home, and ending up in a loud crowd of coworkers, and there’s nowhere to sit and see the screen. They love it because it’s their place, but the way they use it defeats its ostensible purpose.
Jeffraham Prestonian
@PeakVT: Can’t disagree with this. But, it’s my neighborhood sports bar. :)
.
Triassic Sands
@FlipYrWhig:
I know exactly what you’re talking about and it wouldn’t surprise me if someday we have a conversation and my neighbor lets something slip that changes my mind about her.
I think you’re right about the prevalence of Republican concern about non-whites getting stuff they don’t deserve. Of course, one of the disheartening things about the health care debate was the “keep gubmint out of my health care” contingent that was on Medicare. When interviewed, people frequently differentiated themselves, who had “earned” their Medicare, and all the other parasites who were just bleeding the system dry.
With Republicans there’s frequently a strong sense of personal entitlement and a deep sense of resentment toward others, who must be unworthy.
IM
@FlipYrWhig:
It is. But you can get inside, after reading for a while. I did read the atrios comment threads for a while too, but these people, while seemingly having a lot of fun, were so insiderish that you just couldn’t get in.