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You are here: Home / Civil Rights / Racial Justice / Post-racial America / Something

Something

by DougJ|  June 15, 20127:12 pm| 131 Comments

This post is in: Post-racial America

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There are those who say that Neil Munro is a right-wing hack. There are those who say he’s the new Edward R. Murrow. What no one seems to say — outside of a few half-hearted attempts to compare him to Sam Donaldson — is that anything like this has happened before.

So let’s go through a list of things that haven’t happened to previous presidents:

 

  1. Constant questioning about his place of birth.
  2. Congressmen shouting “you lie” during an address to Congress.
  3. “Journalists” heckling him during a Rose Garden press conference.

Hmm…I wonder what it is about Obama that might make him get treated differently than previous presidents.

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Reader Interactions

131Comments

  1. 1.

    John Cole

    June 15, 2012 at 7:15 pm

    The sheriff is a ….

  2. 2.

    muddy

    June 15, 2012 at 7:15 pm

    He’s clearly a socialist, he’s just *asking* for it with those kind of beliefs. How do you like that “everybody’s equal” stuff now, Obambi?!1!

  3. 3.

    El Cruzado

    June 15, 2012 at 7:15 pm

    In “defense” of wingnuts, I’m not even convinced that they’d act differently if it were, say, POTUS Joe Biden.

    Remember how they treated Clinton, and remember they are far crazier now.

  4. 4.

    TooManyJens

    June 15, 2012 at 7:16 pm

    @El Cruzado: Yeah, but why are they far crazier now? Not saying there’s just one reason, but the nearness of the President is a big part of it.

  5. 5.

    Valdivia

    June 15, 2012 at 7:17 pm

    well it has to be the ears no? Had a President ever had those big ears before? I am sure there is a paper done by some enterprising academic on this very issue.

  6. 6.

    muddy

    June 15, 2012 at 7:17 pm

    @TooManyJens: The nearness of the President, that is lovely.

  7. 7.

    TooManyJens

    June 15, 2012 at 7:18 pm

    BTW, that is some really odd list formatting in the OP.

  8. 8.

    Arundel

    June 15, 2012 at 7:18 pm

    A Supreme Court Justice shaking his head and mouthing, “Not true” as the President spoke at the SOTU, fully aware of the cameras..

  9. 9.

    muddy

    June 15, 2012 at 7:19 pm

    @Valdivia: He looks nothing like Bigears.
    http://www.enidblytonsociety.co.uk/book-details.php?id=1231&title=Big-Ears

  10. 10.

    Turgidson

    June 15, 2012 at 7:20 pm

    On the bright side, the title reminded me of one of my more-favorite Beatles songs.

  11. 11.

    Valdivia

    June 15, 2012 at 7:22 pm

    @muddy:

    ha! I am still sure it has to be that, I mean what else could it be right, because we have been told countless of times by our betters that the color of his skin has nothing to do it with! ;)

  12. 12.

    jl

    June 15, 2012 at 7:23 pm

    I tend to agree that the racism is there, but it is not the sole motivating factor. It is just happens to figure prominently in the harassment of a Democrat that would happen anyway, because they are bigots, and appealing to bigots.

    Not sure what they would have done with a President Biden. But I think the BS sexist stuff that they would pull with a Prez HRC would be the similar.

    The bigotry is still there though. I don’t see how anyone can deny that. Has anyone kept a score card of the rotating BS bigot stereotypes they rotate through? Inadequate black man one day, lazy loafing welfare cheat the next, fearsome Kenyan commie Skeletor the next.

    It would be comic, except when you wonder how many people are dumb enough to fall for it.

  13. 13.

    beltane

    June 15, 2012 at 7:24 pm

    Even during the worst years of the Bush presidency I always taught my children to respect the office of the President even if we vehemently disagreed with Bush’s policies. That type of respect is forever gone.

  14. 14.

    MikeJ

    June 15, 2012 at 7:25 pm

    Wait, people are (dis)honestly comparing Sam Donaldson yelling questions while Reagen walked to the helicopter with interrupting a speech?

  15. 15.

    Sasha

    June 15, 2012 at 7:25 pm

    @jl:

    Agreed. As I’ve said before, racism isn’t the fuel that powers Obama’s opposition, but it is an additive that causes it to run at a higher octane.

  16. 16.

    Raven

    June 15, 2012 at 7:25 pm

    Hey Hey
    LBJ
    How many kids did you kill today?

  17. 17.

    Valdivia

    June 15, 2012 at 7:26 pm

    @MikeJ:

    yes because in the feeble minds of the wingnuts they are just like journalists and truth tellers in the worst period of Stalinist oppression.

  18. 18.

    Bruce S

    June 15, 2012 at 7:27 pm

    I don’t think Democrats – at least I can say this for myself – steeled ourselves for what was inevitable coming out of the 2008 primary. We were choosing between the first black President and the first woman President. I’m proud of the party for that, but this shouldn’t be coming as a shock to anybody. Although, to some extent – precisely because it’s so consistent and shameless – it still is.

    Ironically, IMHO the way we could have averted some of this would not have been simply circling our wagons around the President himself, but by being more aggressive with movements around the issues and forcing more serious dialog into the public square. Despite their being morons, the Tea Party trumped liberals on that score. We were engaged largely in self-congratulation and had no sense of urgency around the difficult politics. And I’m not talking about more blogs, online petitions or blog comments. But people organizing around issues on the ground. It didn’t happen until the Right forced our hand and had set the agenda.

  19. 19.

    Martin

    June 15, 2012 at 7:30 pm

    So let’s go through a list of things that haven’t happened to previous presidents:

    Yeah, but Democrats did all of those things to Bush, so it’s fair.

  20. 20.

    Smiling Mortician

    June 15, 2012 at 7:31 pm

    Racism, sure, and undoubtedly the sexism would be just as rampant if HRC had won. But part of it is also a sincere, thick-skulled anger-confusion that has something to do with Bush the Younger. They understand, somewhere on the lizard-brain level, that GWB was hated. Really hated. Since their cognitive abilities don’t really go beyond blind payback, they figure it’s the democrat’s turn to be hated just as much as the republican was. Only there’s just nothing truly loathesome in this president and the majority of people won’t join them in getting their hate on. This just makes them madder. At the president. Who must be some kind of sick freak alien with mind control or something because why doesn’t EVERYONE hate him?

  21. 21.

    JPL

    June 15, 2012 at 7:31 pm

    Unfortunately, this is the new norm for Democrats. Romney thinks it cute to honk outside the Presidents venues and act like a bully. We have become a nation of bullies. I got mine and f..k you. Get a job digging ditches for seven dollars a hour.

  22. 22.

    David Koch

    June 15, 2012 at 7:32 pm

    you’re buddies at Outside the Beltway are defending heckling, saying Obama left Munro no choice but interruption and how Obama not taking questions every time he makes a statement is worse then Watergate.

    http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/the-other-side-of-the-neil-munro-story-obama-doesnt-take-many-questions/

    You really think these retards should be on our blogroll?

  23. 23.

    Amir Khalid

    June 15, 2012 at 7:33 pm

    OT: for some reason, the Recent Posts box doesn’t load when I refresh a page, only when I come to it from another page or from the front page. This results in the page I’m trying to refresh not completely loading. Is anyone else having this problem?

  24. 24.

    Martin

    June 15, 2012 at 7:34 pm

    @Bruce S:

    I don’t think Democrats – at least I can say this for myself – steeled ourselves for what was inevitable coming out of the 2008 primary.

    I did. At least one reason why I have trouble being overly critical of Obama is that I’m regularly amazed that he’s still alive.

    I honestly don’t know how the first family deal with the shit that’s thrown at them. I’d need a Prozaç drip just to get out of bed every day.

  25. 25.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    June 15, 2012 at 7:35 pm

    Remember how they treated Clinton, and remember they are far crazier now.

    I agree that a lot of this crazy started under Clinton– Dan Burton, CSI, shooting melons in his backyard; Helen Chenoweth, who was Michelle Bachmann when Marcus was explaining to Michelle that god had told him that was sinful if they weren’t going to have more kids, yammering about black “heliocopters”; Tom DeLay’s wild-eyed rants about secret evidence– and there are a lot more Dan Burtons now in Congress and in their ideological media*, but I don’t think you can reasonably deny that racial anxiety hasn’t accelerated the pace of the crazy.

    *does anyone remember when Fox took their hard right turn? When did they hire O’Reilly and Hannity? I believe when they started in the early/mid-nineties they didn’t have such a clear ideological bent.

  26. 26.

    General Stuck

    June 15, 2012 at 7:36 pm

    Obama did okay. In fact, considering all the circumstances, better than okay. Ask every progressive minded president since TR. Comprehensive health care reform and regulation for the first time in this country, with near universal coverage. He kept all 60 dem caucus senators in line, along with Nancy and Harry. Just that alone was a monumental achievement, that the wingnuts could not stop, and did not stop. And that wasn’t the only big leg that was passed. In the face of an intransigent and seditious GOP. I am fully proud of this president, and happy to support him any way I can. I don’t care what anyone else thinks about that.

  27. 27.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    June 15, 2012 at 7:37 pm

    Ot – Ellie Wyatt update. (ICYMI from earlier threads) He did not have a broken leg but a torn ligament and a dislocated knee. It was fixed with surgery (and he was also “fixed” while he was under man is he gonna be pissed when he figures that out). He is now home and fine. He is still wobbly from the anesthesia (he just fell in the sink) is eating well and is his old snuggly and loving self.

    Again I want to thank those BJ pals who helped with the vet bill. You will never know how much I appreciate it.

  28. 28.

    samuel

    June 15, 2012 at 7:37 pm

    @El Cruzado: Yea, I remember it was pretty bad about this time in Clintons presidency too. Surprised that doesn’t come up more. The whole black thing is just one more thing for them this time.

    The sooner people stop taking EVERYTHING they say and do (birth certificates, faux controversies, daily rants) seriously and start treating them as nothing more than immature children the better.

  29. 29.

    Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God

    June 15, 2012 at 7:39 pm

    @David Koch:

    That’s par for the course for Obama, who rarely takes questions from the press pool that follows him almost futilely to his staged events.

    This is pre-emption.

    Romney’s already giving closed events, and I’d be surprised if we see many real interviews with him outside of Fox. So they push the meme “OBAMA DOESNT ANSWER QUESTIONS” out there first as a Fact-Blocker.

    BTW, some Fox News anchors (probably quite aware of their audience) have already repudiated the interruption. So there’s still a split in perception.

  30. 30.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    June 15, 2012 at 7:41 pm

    Obama is blah? Yeah, that’s got to be it.

  31. 31.

    Raven

    June 15, 2012 at 7:42 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: Please give me a link to the original story. I somehow missed it.

  32. 32.

    Trentrunner

    June 15, 2012 at 7:42 pm

    @samuel: These “immature children” control two branches of government. I think we need more than a time-out.

  33. 33.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    June 15, 2012 at 7:42 pm

    another difference the Clinton WH had was the still surviving dinosaurs of Eisenhower/Rockefeller republicanism: old man Chaffee, Roth, Jeffords, Snowe wasn’t so afraid of her own shadow when she had them to stand with, and there were a fair number in the House– Houghton, Shays, Biggert. Though IIRC most of them did vote to impeach

  34. 34.

    Maude

    June 15, 2012 at 7:46 pm

    @General Stuck:
    That’s one of the reasons the righties are so obnoxious. Obama is competent and Bush wasn’t.
    There’s nothing they can attack him on and so they do the nonsense.
    This is starting to sink in with the public.
    The 27% will always be with us.
    Obama has done what no other prez in our lifetime has done.

  35. 35.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 15, 2012 at 7:46 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Yes, frequently.

  36. 36.

    wcdude

    June 15, 2012 at 7:48 pm

    I think a lot of it has to do with Republicans, and especially the far right, just don’t accept the legitimacy of a Democratic Presidency.

  37. 37.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    June 15, 2012 at 7:49 pm

    @Raven: I have searched and can’t find the original post but Ellie the kitten who showed up at my doorstep last year went missing for a couple of days and then came home with a broken leg. I was in a horrible position in that I knew he needed serious treatment but thanks to my husband’s recently medical issues (and assorted co-pays and deductibles) I did not have the money for. The BJ commenters stepped up to the plate and donated the money for his treatment.

    He is now post treatment and doing fine. Thanks to some of the fine folks at BJ. I can never thank them enough.

  38. 38.

    Bruce S

    June 15, 2012 at 7:50 pm

    In the midst of the brouhaha about this idiot Munro, I want to affirm that Obama’s decision on this was both good policy and good politics. The people whose heads are exploding would never vote for Obama in a million years. But it appeals to Americans across various spectrums who value fairness and it helps bring the base together around an issue that’s been on the table as a priority since the primaries. Very good move. Munro probably did the President a favor by helping to make this call by Obama a headline.

  39. 39.

    Citizen_X

    June 15, 2012 at 7:51 pm

    What’s different about this president? I was going to snark, “His last name ends with a vowel!” but now I realize that that is pretty rare, and it does reflect Anglo-Saxon dominance in our presidents. The last was Kennedy–our first catholic–and other than that, there’s McKinley, and a couple with silent vowels, Coolidge and Fillmore. Any more?

    Anyway, damn Papists and Hindoos and whatnot with their vowelly names! I want my country back!

  40. 40.

    Tonal Crow

    June 15, 2012 at 7:52 pm

    Once upon time, in an America far far away, Republicans were sane, responsible members of society.

    Then they found they could win more often if they lied.

    So they began to lie, and found that it worked, gaining them power they wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. But they still remembered that they were lying.

    Then a magic newt hopped onto their shoulders, and said, “You’re not lying enough. Especially you’re not slandering enough. Great power — unending in scope and extending even unto the stars and the bases of the Moon — can be yours! But only if put aside your scruples and lie with abandon!”

    Since Republicans were already used to lying, they soon adopted the newt’s advice, and found that it worked even better than before. So more and more Republicans lied more and more often, and got more and more success thereby.

    It worked so well that eventually Republicans forgot they were lying, and began to treat the lies as if they were the truth.

    And here we are.

  41. 41.

    Raven

    June 15, 2012 at 7:52 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: I’m sorry I missed it, I’m even good for cat blegs now and then! Glad it’s going well.

  42. 42.

    boss bitch

    June 15, 2012 at 7:52 pm

    Hmm…I wonder what it is about Obama that might make him get treated differently than previous presidents.

    They’re afraid that more “Obamas” are out there and they might start getting ideas?

  43. 43.

    Maude

    June 15, 2012 at 7:53 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt:
    Maybe a towel under him when he goes to sleep in case the drug makes him whoopsie?

  44. 44.

    schrodinger's cat

    June 15, 2012 at 7:54 pm

    @Valdivia: That’s it, he must be Vulcan. Seriously though, I never realized the depths of racism, some people are still capable of, in 2012. Post-racial indeed. Obama’s election highlights a side of the country (and its citizens) that most do not want to recognize or even acknowledge.

  45. 45.

    mk3872

    June 15, 2012 at 7:54 pm

    This is only possible because ConservaCreeps get away with everything.

    It is the 20 years of “librul press” bullying by the Murdoch empire and right-wing media that has castrated our mainstream media.

    Pathetic.

  46. 46.

    Lev

    June 15, 2012 at 7:56 pm

    I think the reason it’s worse now than it was under Clinton is due not to Obama himself, but the idea of Obama. Meaning the idea that America’s course is no longer going to be solely dictated by rich, older white guys. Minorities are mobilized and want their say. Young people are sick of a bankrupt status quo and want change. Previously these were ignorable factors, but no longer. McCain cleaned up with the GOP’s demographics and still lost huge. So the GOP has spent the past couple of years trying to disenfranchise both groups and to destroy the symbol of this ongoing change. Only they can’t stop it, it’s inevitable. That was not obviously the case under Clinton, when the demographics were much more favorable long-term to the GOP: they were ultimately just pissed at Clinton because he ended the GOP’s ascendancy for a while. These people are not exactly good losers.

    In short, 2008 was effectively a visitation from the Ghost of Christmas Future. Only Scrooge this time woke up with a shrug.

  47. 47.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 15, 2012 at 7:57 pm

    @Citizen_X:

    and a couple with silent vowels, Coolidge and Fillmore. Any more?

    Off the top of my head, Monroe and Pierce.

  48. 48.

    schrodinger's cat

    June 15, 2012 at 7:59 pm

    @David Koch: I have never understood the fascination, many here have for OTB. They are a winger blog with better punctuation and spelling, kinda like Bobo.

  49. 49.

    Raven

    June 15, 2012 at 8:00 pm

    @Lev: I some times compare it to the Atlanta Olympics. The right relished the relative failure of the Games as an example that “those people”couldn’t manage it properly. Never mind that the scene across the street from the Coliseum in the 84 LA games was as much of a zoo and flea market as Atlanta. Ubberoth was a genius.

  50. 50.

    General Stuck

    June 15, 2012 at 8:01 pm

    @Maude:

    And you know what else? Everything, or near everything he has done, or tried to do and was blocked by limitations of his office, was done because he wanted to do them, not from being pressured from any side left or right. It has been political calculation based on the art of the possible, at any given point in time. And some of those things had to wait until conditions were optimal.

    Take his new immigration policy, for example. It wasn’t because activists pushed him to do it now, nor any kind of fear them. Dems and Obama have been trying to pass the Dream Act and broad immigration reform since 2001, when even GWB was on board. But the tea tards took over the GOP, and xenophobia has been the policy of the right ever since and they blocked every legislative attempt.

    It was done now, I think, because of the political calculation, and similar with gay marriage, was ripe for support and success, primarily from the oppo previously by labor democrats for anything remotely to seem like amnesty , and Marco Rubio coming out for what Obama did, to provide pol cover from the right wing. And now, even Mitt Romney is on board. That is nothing short of brilliance at presidenting, black or white,.

    It is the art of the possible, but it is also the stuff that makes incrementalism work in a slow to change pol system of a representative republic. You can sometimes shoot for the stars, and win. But very rarely for big emo issues.

  51. 51.

    BGinCHI

    June 15, 2012 at 8:06 pm

    Beyond what everyone has already said on this thread, how fucking sad is it that in the America of 2012 so many people can take a giant shit on the entire American Dream/Melting Pot narrative beloved by, of course, the most conservative among us.

    They can’t even support their own ideological narrative that everyone gets taught in elementary school social studies.

    That we have a black president, that we have someone with a different background should be a sign of our strength as a country.

    Fucking idiots.

  52. 52.

    quannlace

    June 15, 2012 at 8:07 pm

    There are those who say he’s the new Edward R. Murrow.

    I say, lets help him realize that goal. Let’s send him to someplace where he can cover nightly bombings and air raids.

  53. 53.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    June 15, 2012 at 8:09 pm

    @Maude:

    Actually in the good news section he wobbled over to the cat litter box just now, of course he missed by a few inches, but he is trying :)

  54. 54.

    MattMinus

    June 15, 2012 at 8:09 pm

    I think this has much less to do with race than it does the polarized media environment. Seems there was a time when a sort of monolithic media acted as a referee against excesses like this. If nothing else, this fool wouldn’t want all his peers and potential employers to think he was an asshole. Now, for everyone that thinks he’s an asshole, there’s someone in an alternate media universe that thinks he’s a hero. Rather than getting him banished to siberia, this behavior undoubtedly raises his profile and prospects. Like in the microcosm of talk radio, the incentives have been realigned to encourage obnoxious, outrageous behavior. Race may have sped the process aloong a bit, but I suspect we’d be here in a few years anyway.

  55. 55.

    j

    June 15, 2012 at 8:09 pm

    Sam Donaldson asking follow up questions to a known liar during a PRESS CONFERENCE is in no way comparable to this jizz wad interrupting a president (mid-speech) during a Rose Garden address to the nation.

  56. 56.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    June 15, 2012 at 8:11 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    That we have a black president, that we have someone with a different background should be a sign of our strength as a country.

    and to say, as the constantly do, that Obama, son of a single mother, scholarship student, student loan-borrower, doesn’t “understand the American dream”, but Romney, son of a governor, Cranbrook boarder, given IIRC a $50K nut (in the early ’70s) to start out his career, Romney somehow “gets” the middle class.

  57. 57.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    June 15, 2012 at 8:11 pm

    @General Stuck:

    That’s what I like about this move by Obama, he really drank their milkshake on this issue. Rubio and some Repubs were maneuvering to push something like this right before the election. The loudmouth wingers were getting pissed that Rubio was going make a mess of this fall by doing this.

    Then BLAM!, Obama moves in and steals the issue from them, forcing Romney and Rubio to either denounce their own plan or embrace it. Since they have decided to mouth the minimum of support and not denounce it, the wingers are now in a double froth.

    Timing, Obama haz it.

  58. 58.

    Keith

    June 15, 2012 at 8:12 pm

    So let’s go through a list of things that haven’t happened to previous presidents:

    A similar list could be made of Clinton (such as “Constantly implying that the president ordered a man killed and covered up as a suicide”

    I don’t think it’s so much as Obama is black, but rather that Young Republicans are adults that haven’t grown up and are running the show under an “anything goes” mindset. It will only get worse (until they win, in which case they will suddenly discover “respect for the office” and the vapors)

  59. 59.

    BGinCHI

    June 15, 2012 at 8:13 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: It’s fucking insanity.

    I have taken the week off NPR and MSNBC (Rachel & Lawrence) because I just can’t take it. I have felt much better as a result.

  60. 60.

    kay

    June 15, 2012 at 8:16 pm

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    And the SCOTUS decision on Arizona’s law could come next week.

  61. 61.

    WaterGirl

    June 15, 2012 at 8:16 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: @Raven: Here’s the post you are looking for:

    https://balloon-juice.com/2012/06/11/chris-hayes-has-a-book-to-sell-give-away/#comment-3338584

  62. 62.

    pete

    June 15, 2012 at 8:17 pm

    Kindly note that the lunatic Monroe is an immigrant himself. A legal one, it seems (as am I) but his empathy must have been lost by the airline; I do hope they find it eventually.

  63. 63.

    gogol's wife

    June 15, 2012 at 8:17 pm

    @BGinCHI:

    I’ve taken a lifetime off all media except NYTimes (crossword habit) and Balloon Juice. I can only stand what trickles through on this blog, basically.

  64. 64.

    j

    June 15, 2012 at 8:18 pm

    @Martin: Any proof?

    I didn’t think so.

    Although W did get a few shoes thrown at him (justifiability so).

  65. 65.

    BGinCHI

    June 15, 2012 at 8:19 pm

    @gogol’s wife: Didn’t you hear about the killer bees?

    Don’t go outside!

  66. 66.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    June 15, 2012 at 8:21 pm

    @kay:

    Exactly. It will be interesting to see if they release it, delay it and what ‘it’ is exactly. That and if this move by the President has an influence on ‘it’.

    I think this summer is going to be ‘hotter’ than people think, especially in the south. ;)

  67. 67.

    General Stuck

    June 15, 2012 at 8:21 pm

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    yuppers. And the cherry on top. Besides doing this in the first place, then cornering Romney to follow Obama’s lead, which isn’t exactly the best place for a POTUS candidate trying to unseat an incumbent.

    The sweet part of the deal, now has Romney in the winger dog house for Teh Oh Noes!! AMNESTY. Not exactly playing to the base in an election season

    edit – but then, that was what your comment said.

  68. 68.

    Patricia Kayden

    June 15, 2012 at 8:21 pm

    Let the Righties rally around Munro — he did them proud today. Their nastiness and racism is already well known. No more press passes for the Daily Caller?

    The President did the right thing with his Executive Order today, which hopefully is the bigger story.

  69. 69.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    June 15, 2012 at 8:21 pm

    @WaterGirl:

    Thank you so much!

  70. 70.

    Beauzeaux

    June 15, 2012 at 8:22 pm

    @Raven:

    This was not done
    1. At a press conference
    2. During a State of the Union address
    3. Nor was LBJ’s birthplace questioned.

  71. 71.

    Beauzeaux

    June 15, 2012 at 8:23 pm

    From the lovely people who brought you Neil Munro:
    http://dailycaller.com/2012/06/15/bryce-harper-conservative-hero/

    The comments are fully justified.

  72. 72.

    MonkeyBoy

    June 15, 2012 at 8:25 pm

    There is a lot of overlap between rightwingers, racists, and people who reject evolution.

    Their consensus has been that it is ridiculous and shameful to say that humans’ ancestors were monkeys.

    The new truth to be ignored is that humans evolved in Africa (from monkeys) and that whites are descended from blacks. Those who can accept evolution take this to mean that whites are more evolved than blacks.

  73. 73.

    Nathanael

    June 15, 2012 at 8:25 pm

    I don’t actually think it’s anything about Obama. You think they wouldn’t have done the same thing to Gore? They would have.

    Edit: Well, OK, it’s the fact that Obama isn’t employed by the Republicans. I’m with the person who said that Republicans no longer accept Democratic Presidents as legitimate, period.

    As Keith said,

    A similar list could be made of Clinton (such as “Constantly implying that the president ordered a man killed and covered up as a suicide”)

    .
    Accusing the President of a murder (based on utterly made-up bullshit) is not normal either.

    I think it’s the fact that this is the first time in quite a while that we’ve had a party which disrespects our entire system of government, denies its legitimacy, and is hostile to the very concept of democracy itself.

    (It’s the Republican Party, if you’re wondering.)

    I say “the first time in quite a while” because it’s obviously happened before — before the Civil War, the pro-slavery movement did not respect the entire concept of democratic government. A pro-slavery Senator actually beat an abolitionist Senator on the floor of the Senate with a cane.

    Golden Dawn is just as disrespectful to the leaders of Greece as the Republicans are to President Obama. Oh, I can think of some other examples. It’s a characteristic of fascist parties to disrespect the existing system whenever they’re not in power (even while using it), and the Republican Party is pretty much a fascist party now.

    What we’re seeing is entirely about the conversion of the Republican Party into a fascist anti-democracy movement. It’s a very dangerous change.

  74. 74.

    Raven

    June 15, 2012 at 8:27 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: Ah, it wasn’t a separate thread.

  75. 75.

    Yutsano

    June 15, 2012 at 8:28 pm

    @Beauzeaux: That. Was. Awful. And to boot stealing home is not considered gauche in baseball. Gutsy and stupid yes. But not out of line.

  76. 76.

    Roger Moore

    June 15, 2012 at 8:28 pm

    @Citizen_X:

    The last was Kennedy—our first catholic—and other than that, there’s McKinley, and a couple with silent vowels, Coolidge and Fillmore. Any more?

    Monroe and Pierce (silent).

  77. 77.

    kay

    June 15, 2012 at 8:29 pm

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    I saw there was a crowd outside the WH after the announcement. A happy crowd, not hecklers. I like that sort of spontaneous joy where people go to the White House. It’s not the FIRST thing that would occur to me, honestly, “have to go, NOW!” but I’m still glad people do it occasionally.

  78. 78.

    Raven

    June 15, 2012 at 8:31 pm

    @kay: Like the night we whacked OBL. Was Choi up on a pole?

  79. 79.

    pseudonymous in nc

    June 15, 2012 at 8:33 pm

    Like I said: first political campaign conducted on the principles of trolling.

  80. 80.

    arguingwithsignposts

    June 15, 2012 at 8:34 pm

    @David Koch: Why did I know that link would go to Doug Matacaca?

  81. 81.

    Villago Delenda Est

    June 15, 2012 at 8:40 pm

    So, the ABC Evening News aired a clip from congenital fucktard Glenn Beck about how Obama is behaving “exactly like a dictator” with this executive order.

    So, how is it that ABC News is not in the tank with the wingtards, now?

  82. 82.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    June 15, 2012 at 8:41 pm

    @kay:

    It’s a nice change to see people spontaneously rally at the White House in support of a Presidential action.

    I hope we get another four years of it. :)

  83. 83.

    Heliopause

    June 15, 2012 at 8:42 pm

    Here on the left coast just watched Diane Sawyer’s crew cover this. Sorry gang, they’re presenting this as though a brave reporter spoke truth to prickly power.

  84. 84.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 15, 2012 at 8:52 pm

    @Beauzeaux:

    That’s one of the most ridiculous articles I’ve ever read. But the comments are great!

  85. 85.

    Roger Moore

    June 15, 2012 at 8:58 pm

    @Beauzeaux:

    The comments are fully justified.

    I really liked “That’s a clown article, bro”. It’s such a perfect response, because it’s both true and based on the subject of the article. You can’t do better than that.

  86. 86.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 15, 2012 at 8:59 pm

    @Roger Moore:

    I refer you to comment #47
    :-)

  87. 87.

    Valdivia

    June 15, 2012 at 9:02 pm

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    I particularly love the Vulcan reference since for a while the media kept calling him too calm and rational.

  88. 88.

    SiubhanDuinne

    June 15, 2012 at 9:03 pm

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    I hope we get another four years of it. :)

    I’ve mentioned before, in different discussions but the same general context: I am really looking forward to reading Obama’s presidential memoirs — in 2017.

  89. 89.

    erik g

    June 15, 2012 at 9:05 pm

    Hey, if my conservative Aunt married to a Baptist minister gets it, others must too. She actually threatened to divorce him if he gave money to Santorum;) My Mom has noticed She’s been mellowing in her old age.

  90. 90.

    Heliopause

    June 15, 2012 at 9:06 pm

    Comrades Brian and Pete Williams barely mentioned it. I expected a little more from Pravda-at-30-Rock.

  91. 91.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    June 15, 2012 at 9:12 pm

    @Keith: Nope, he’s black. They would be doing the same thing to Hillary Clinton because she’s female. They are racist and sexist and are willing to use these weapons in whatever way they can.

  92. 92.

    Valdivia

    June 15, 2012 at 9:12 pm

    As I mentioned in a previous thread Univision (the number one source of news for Latinos here in the US) has a great article about the immigration move on their website. It is the most popular article. It explains how the Dream Act was killed by the Senate and how the policy works. NO mention of the idiot DailyCaller stunt.

  93. 93.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    June 15, 2012 at 9:15 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    My wife bought me Clinton’s book. I’ll buy Obama’s book before she has a chance to do so.

    @Valdivia:

    A commenter at Redstate has a completely different take on the Univision reporting of this, saying that they are reporting that the move really does nothing to help Latinos.

  94. 94.

    El Cid

    June 15, 2012 at 9:15 pm

    Obama’s difference is that he followed the best and most beloved President that all of human history has ever seen, George W. Two Terms Mandate Bush.

  95. 95.

    JWL

    June 15, 2012 at 9:18 pm

    Lenny Bruce once cursed his own leaking toilet, and later admitted to thinking, “It’s a good thing you’re white”.

  96. 96.

    Valdivia

    June 15, 2012 at 9:21 pm

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    ha ha ha ha. Does this person even read spanish? I linked to the article, I read the article. It is the most detailed thing I have seen on the policy shift all day. It is touted as a change that will benefit them a lot. Wow are these people so delusional they believed it?

  97. 97.

    Valdivia

    June 15, 2012 at 9:23 pm

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    just checked again. now the second most read article is about how the Dreamers are applauding and thanking Obama. Are the Red State people on crack or what?

  98. 98.

    gwangung

    June 15, 2012 at 9:25 pm

    @Valdivia: Hm. And you think that particular community will forget this come voting time?

    The only thing that’ll help Republicans is an all out vote suppression effort, and at that, there’s a good chance it’ll be so blatant that it’ll rile the independents.

  99. 99.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    June 15, 2012 at 9:27 pm

    @Valdivia:

    Oops, they were talking about Telemundo, here’s the quote from the commenter at Redstate:

    Even Telemunodo’s José Díaz-Balart said its a delay to deportation at best. With that slam its not going anywhere this term. If reelected Obama will do nothing.
     
    Harry Reid promised immigration reform to get reelected and has done nothing, no major talk, just the usual BS. Even Hispanics know this is a sucker ploy at best. Close the border then think about asking the people what they really want.
     
    I’d rather see a voter referendum than let DC pols make the decision.

    I wonder if that’s what he actually said. What’s really funny is that this idiot ignores Republican obstructionism (on everything) in the Senate, blaming Reid for not getting anything done.

    The ways that malfunctioning brains interpret things can be interesting.

  100. 100.

    Valdivia

    June 15, 2012 at 9:29 pm

    @gwangung:

    they will not. I can tell you that this issue gets coverage in the Hispanic press here that unless someone follows it they would never get how different it is from the usual Village bs.

    I should add that I didn’t see the newscast by Ramos on tv on this issue but I am sure it wasn’t so different from the tone of the articles online. The people at Red State are desperate if they think Univision played it as something that does nothing for latinos.

  101. 101.

    Valdivia

    June 15, 2012 at 9:30 pm

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    the clue right there is in the name Diaz Balart is a fucking Cuban republican. This is who they are quoting? Ramos at Univision is the guy latinos trust with their news.

  102. 102.

    Tom Q

    June 15, 2012 at 9:31 pm

    Man, that Daily Caller article reaches new heights of “I’m going to take what I already believe and jam it into some cultural phenomenon regardless of how hard I have to push”.

    It kind of matches what someone said above, but…the current crop of Republicans are pretty much the Dartmouth Review crowd grown older. And they never were about anything but hazing & trolling in college, so where would they have learned to do anything else?

    It remains, of course, pathetic that our alleged all-seeing media refuses to acknowledge this, and will treat their every act as politics as usual.

  103. 103.

    Valdivia

    June 15, 2012 at 9:32 pm

    @Valdivia: From wikipedia

    He has three brothers, Rafael Diaz-Balart (a banker), Mario Diaz-Balart (a US Congressman) and Lincoln Diaz-Balart (a former US Congressman).

  104. 104.

    myiq2xu

    June 15, 2012 at 9:37 pm

    You might as well keep playing that race card. It expires in five months.

  105. 105.

    Valdivia

    June 15, 2012 at 9:37 pm

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    ps if I sound totally angry and ranty it isn’t at you, just that it is funny having someone at Red State pimp the one channel latinos barely watch as a source for his Latinos know this won’t help them.

    Funnily enough the Telemundo site has two article and they both are translations from the AP that give pretty much a how this favors latinos take. So the Diaz Balart bs didn’t even make it on the website.

  106. 106.

    BGinCHI

    June 15, 2012 at 9:38 pm

    @myiq2xu: VICTORY!

  107. 107.

    Yutsano

    June 15, 2012 at 9:40 pm

    @myiq2xu: No matter what Hillary will still never be President. Suck. On. That.

    @Omnes Omnibus: Quite. One is a bitter PUMA the other is a conservatroll.

  108. 108.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 15, 2012 at 9:41 pm

    @BGinCHI: Goat Boy and Taco are different entities, aren’t they?

  109. 109.

    Baud

    June 15, 2012 at 9:43 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: We need a chart to keep them all straight.

  110. 110.

    arguingwithsignposts

    June 15, 2012 at 9:44 pm

    @Baud: should be part of the lexicon.

  111. 111.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 15, 2012 at 9:46 pm

    @Baud: @arguingwithsignposts: A branch of cryptozoology?

  112. 112.

    Yutsano

    June 15, 2012 at 9:48 pm

    @efgoldman: Wink wink nudge nudge say no more.

  113. 113.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    June 15, 2012 at 9:53 pm

    this is all you ever need to know about myiq2xu, aka MeatProd.

  114. 114.

    James E Powell

    June 15, 2012 at 9:55 pm

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    José Díaz-Balart? You mean the Cuban-American guy whose brother is a Republican congressman?

    Well as long as he has a Spanish surname, I guess he is as much an expert on the feelings of anyone and everyone else who has a Spanish surname.

  115. 115.

    James E Powell

    June 15, 2012 at 9:58 pm

    The Mexican-American communities throughout the country will learn about this through people they know more than through TV or newspapers.

  116. 116.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    June 15, 2012 at 10:12 pm

    @Valdivia:

    No prob, it’s understandable. So Diaz-Balart was expressing his conservative Cuban-American opinion and not reporting news? I should have figured that since a conservative was ‘reporting’ it.

    I’m woefully ignorant of the reporting of Univision and the like but I’m glad that some news outlet is actually reporting news.

    And it’s good!

    @myiq2xu GoatBoy!:

    Unlike your racism, which is forever. Go blow a goat you racist asshole, Kaus needs a buddy.

  117. 117.

    arguingwithsignposts

    June 15, 2012 at 10:14 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: There’s probably a grant in there somewhere.

  118. 118.

    Valdivia

    June 15, 2012 at 10:19 pm

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    I have to tell you I had no idea Telemundo did news. They do soap operas but they are all based in Miami so tinged with crazy exiled bs. So given that not surprised about the Diaz Balart bs and his role in pimping that line.

  119. 119.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    June 15, 2012 at 10:23 pm

    @Valdivia: Had a President ever had those big ears before?

    LBJ had some big goddam ears, but they didn’t stick out so much. Maybe you’re right.

  120. 120.

    Omnes Omnibus

    June 15, 2012 at 10:28 pm

    @Xecky Gilchrist: Lincoln?

  121. 121.

    catclub

    June 15, 2012 at 10:34 pm

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Not just the middle class. I am reading Dreams from My Father. Aldgate Gardens was not middle class by the time he got there.

  122. 122.

    Chris

    June 15, 2012 at 10:35 pm

    @jl:

    The bigotry is still there though. I don’t see how anyone can deny that. Has anyone kept a score card of the rotating BS bigot stereotypes they rotate through? Inadequate black man one day, lazy loafing welfare cheat the next, fearsome Kenyan commie Skeletor the next.

    The bigotry is there regardless of the president’s color. President Obama may be a nig[DING!], but President Clinton was a nig[DING!]-lover, as would a hypothetical President Biden. The Democrats are the party of lazy, shiftless, nonwhite people, regardless of what color their leader of the moment may be.

  123. 123.

    Citizen_X

    June 15, 2012 at 10:37 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: The ears helped Lincoln hear the vampires trying to sneak up on him.

  124. 124.

    DW

    June 15, 2012 at 10:39 pm

    I can’t help wondering if Munro was drunk/seriously hung over. Take a good look at him. He doesn’t seem to be tracking Obama or anyone else well, he’s inaudible but doesn’t seem to realize it. Also look at the tie – he looks half dressed. He’s got a tie on, but his top collar button is undone and the tie isn’t pulled up. Maybe that’s a new style, but it looks more like drunken slob to me.

  125. 125.

    Chris

    June 15, 2012 at 10:46 pm

    @MonkeyBoy:

    There is a lot of overlap between rightwingers, racists, and people who reject evolution.

    “Those who can make you believe obscenities can make you commit atrocities” – or at least support them.

    Incidentally, belief in creationism remains my personal litmus test for whether a person is too fucking stupid to enter into a conversation with on, well, anything remotely touching politics. If you can’t even wrap your head around evolution, you’re pretty much a lost cause.

  126. 126.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    June 15, 2012 at 11:02 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: Of course! Lincoln. How could I forget Lincoln?

    I heard he only wore the top hat because he knew those ears would keep it from sliding down over his face.

  127. 127.

    OzoneR

    June 16, 2012 at 1:44 am

    People wouldn’t heckle him if he would use the bully pulpit. Then they’d respect him.

  128. 128.

    OzoneR

    June 16, 2012 at 2:01 am

    @Bruce S:

    Despite their being morons, the Tea Party trumped liberals on that score. We were engaged largely in self-congratulation and had no sense of urgency around the difficult politics. And I’m not talking about more blogs, online petitions or blog comments. But people organizing around issues on the ground. It didn’t happen until the Right forced our hand and had set the agenda.

    Everyone on the left was waiting for Obama to set the agenda, rather than do it themselves.

    Tea Party proved they don’t need an elected leader to fight, all they need is to be organized. I thought we had a shot with OWS, but it turns out they’re far too self absorbed.

  129. 129.

    EIGRP

    June 16, 2012 at 5:39 am

    @Citizen_X:

    and other than that, there’s McKinley, and a couple with silent vowels, Coolidge and Fillmore. Any more?

    Sure:

    Washingto’
    Hamilto’
    Madiso’

    Eric

  130. 130.

    report

    June 16, 2012 at 11:10 am

    @Arundel: Also too: standing up the sitting president for a traditional post-election day meeting with Congresscritters (I believe this happened at least twice).

  131. 131.

    jake the snake

    June 16, 2012 at 3:28 pm

    Reminds me of something Dick Gregory said many years ago, and I think there is still a lot of truth in it.
    I don’t have the exact quite, but the gist is, “A Southerner doesn’t care how close a black person gets, as long as they don’t get too big, a northerner doesn’t care how big a black person gets as long as they don’t get too close. Washington,particularly in the Village sense is a
    confluence of both regions, I think it is fair to say that
    Obama is both.

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