I read shit like this and I kind of want to vote for Romney just so these creeps get what they deserve:
But there is another narrative, a real narrative about Barack Obama and his administration. Obama is the ultimate cynic, a dishonest, highly reactionary social and corporate ladder climbing con artist. Obama is the guy who calls a female reporter “sweety”, who plays poker with the guys, and who thinks that his senior advisor’s decision to cash out after making a “modest” salary of $172,000 at the White House is just natural. He’s the guy who used the rationale that he’s a father of two girls as to why he doesn’t want young women to have access to Plan B. He was in favor of gay marriage in 1996, flip flopped for political reasons, and then pretended to change his mind as a matter of conscience. He runs on populism with a worse record than George W. Bush on income inequality. His narcissism, and the post-modern ironic sense of self-awareness of how his narrative is put together and tended, is his defining character trait. It’s not just that he’s a liar. Lyndon Johnson was a liar, but LBJ lied us into a war in Vietnam as well as a war on poverty. FDR lied all the time, for good and ill. Obama’s entire edifice is based on lying almost entirely to help sustain his image, with almost no interest in sound policy-making. Obama understands the threat of climate change, but like the exceptional con artist he is, what happens to others he does not know, or what happens in the future, is irrelevant to him. He understands banking, and war, and women’s issues, and corruption and Citizens United. Like a great con artist, he has studied his mark, the American voter, and specifically the Democratic voter, and he undersands which buttons to push.
Many criticize Obama, with the idea that he doesn’t understand, and if only he understood, he would change his mind. This is part of his false narrative of hope and change. But Obama reads Paul Krugman – he studied the left intensely and spent years as a community organizer. He understands his opposition, those crying out for justice against the powerful, and finds them laughable, finds in them weakness at best, a punchline at worst. He reads his left-wing opponents so he can absorb the talking points, and rebut them. Some think that Obama can be appealed to around the better angels of nature, that he’s naturally with “the left” but must be gently praised. But again, this is more of the false hope and change narrative. Obama understands Saul Alinsky. He gets left-wing ideas. But he hates the left, with the passion of any bully towards his victims. To him, they are chumps, weak, pathetic, losers. They are such pathetic losers, in fact, that they will believe anything he tells them. And Obama has no better nature, he is what he’s done in office, someone who murders children with drone strikes and then jokes about it to his rich friends.
There ya go. Alan Grayson’s former policy advisor, Matt Stoller. I’m shocked he made it through the entire rant without calling all Obama voters “sheeple.”
How long before he gets invited on Fox?
*** Update ***
My bad. Not Fox, but FX:
The first half of “Brand X” will feature Brand discussing news and culture with former congressional policy advisor Matt Stoller, brother of Nicholas Stoller, who directed “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” and “Get Him to the Greek.” Brand believes their dynamic will be illuminating: “Matt comes from the perspective of someone who understands American politics and media and how it works, and I come from the perspective of an electrified Peter Pan Dionysus figure.”
I’m sure that piece will get him all the media attention he needs, which is probably a good thing, because any Democrat who ever hires him again needs their fucking head examined.
4tehlulz
Bill Frist approves.
daveNYC
We need another financial crisis so Naked Capitalism can go back to not sucking.
chopper
jesus, he sounds like glennzilla without the ‘giving ron paul a sloppy beej’.
aimai
I recently read some other piece by Matt Stoller and holy shit, I couldn’t pick my jaw up off the floor. It was rancid. Even, on some level, depraved in its total indifference to reality and its contempt for Obama and for every voter who ever voted for him. And yet it was also like descending into an opium dream or a pastiche. It kind of hung together–it was the obverse of so much Repbulican nuttiness but it had its own coherence. I remember him as being an ok guy. Not important, but not totally insane either. This shit reads like a scene out of the life of Howard Hughes or A Beautiful Mind. I’m pretty sure if you went into his apartment you’d find the walls covered with maps and photos and clippings, each linked by multiple pieces of yarn and pins and exclamation points.
aimai
Olivia
And of course, y’know he isn’t white and all.
Foxhunter
W.T.F? Srsly.
Is he peddling this shit in anticipation of changing employers/auditioning for a new job?
Next up, he will be on Alex P’s list of hacktacular garbage producers.
Edited to add: Sitemeter login? Just me, or…..???
Brian R.
Jesus Christ. Sack the fuck up, liberals.
beltane
At least we know last week’s outburst wasn’t an aberration. Can’t we just lock this guy in a room with Scalia and be done with it?
Jacquelyn
This seems like lyrics that were meant to be recorded backwards.
Linda Featheringill
Phooey on him.
If you want to get excited about something, try:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2012/jun/24/us-east-coast-sea-level-rise
Sea level rise on US east coast. I read somewhere today that the rising water in this particular area is indicative of a weakening gulf stream. And a messed up Gulf Stream, ladies and gentlemen, will cause all kinds of mischief.
I find this upsetting.
Quarks
Sigh.
About two years back I was trying to explain to people that Alan Grayson’s ads might be making a certain branch of progressives happily, but that they were distinctly irritating his constituents. I live in his district, and after his ads – not his opponents’s ads, his ads — Grayson went from local unknown to local clown, with various people at the grocery store and library complaining that they hated the ads.
And yet, when I expressed this, I was told by firebaggers who don’t live here that oh, no, this was the sort of thing that needed to be said and that it was incredibly important that Grayson say it.
As a result, we have the completely useless (even by Republican standards) Daniel Webster in office. Thanks. Really. Thanks.
the Conster
If Matt Stoller’s one of “the base” that the trolls here wank endlessly about Obama not appeasing, then it makes me trust Obama’s judgment even more. That Stoller person needs professional help stat.
Baud
FTFY
bemused
Stoller needs some serious therapy and medication unless he’s just an asshole. Seriously, who pays any real attention to him beside other messed up people?
celticdragonchick
The guy needs a job with Alex Jones. They deserve each other.
JoyceH
Gooooooood grief…
third of two
Speaking of Krugman:
If Geithner is the active designer of the Wall Street bailout, Obama is the passive enabler of Republican intransigence. Scheiber describes how, time and time again, Obama’s reflexive search for bipartisanship handed the advantage to the Republicans. Scheiber observes that “in Obama’s mind, ‘partisan’ equaled ‘parochial,’ or even ‘corrupt,’” leading to “making huge concessions before the [stimulus] negotiation had even started,” that Obama’s hunger for acceptance through bipartisanship was “deeply confused,” and, perhaps most damningly, that in contrast to Obama’s approach, “partisan muscle-flexing may very well serve the public interest, since there’s no other way to pass legislation.”
Obama’s innate centrism led him to adopt the preoccupation with the budget deficit of Geithner and Peter Orszag (his head of the Office of Management and Budget and another Rubin protégé) in opposition to vocal protests from both Summers and Romer that now was not the time to worry about deficits. As a result, Obama would never acknowledge that the original stimulus was not big enough, a position that left him boxed in when it became clear—as it already had by summer of 2010, if not earlier—that it had indeed been far too small.
The low point, in Scheiber’s account, was Obama’s inept handling of the 2010 negotiations over the extension of the Bush tax cuts. His own economics team, deeply concerned that “the president was AWOL” on the issue, undertook to resolve it on their own. It was Geithner and the former Clinton political hand Gene Sperling who extracted concessions from the Republicans on the final deal, while Obama still sought compromise. Another casualty of this period was any real progress on debt relief for homeowners. By the end of 2010, both Summers and Romer left Washington in frustration.
balconesfaul
Great.
A nest of fools who without question believe that America today wouldn’t have been a far different, far better place had Al Gore won a solid victory in 2000.
MobiusKlein
So wait, it’s Obama being cynical because the Senate couldn’t pass Cap & Trade?
If it was all about the banksters, and failing to do something about the mortgage crisis, I’d be ready to listen.
But for firebaggers to forget about the 60 vote Senate, they lose any credibility.
Baud
@MobiusKlein:
Nancy Pelosi’s House passed a climate bill. We rewarded them by kicking them out of power.
Argive
Yeah, a friend of mine just posted this on facebook. The appropriate counterargument to such tiresome Gush – Borism, I think (it worked on my friend, anyway) is to note that today, the Supreme Court voted 5-4 to strike down mandatory LWOP sentences for juveniles, with Elena Kagan writing the majority opinion. How would a McCain or Romney – appointed justice have voted? The Supreme Court is balancing on a razor’s edge right now. If Romney gets elected and Ginsburg leaves, we are screwed.
balconesfaul
@Linda Featheringill: That only because you don’t own a lot of stock in civil engineering firms.
Commenting at Ballon Juice since 1937
Why d you do this to yourself?
beltane
@MobiusKlein: They always forget about the 60 vote Senate. Always. In fact, they seem unable to accept that such a situation even exists. The 60 vote Senate is the Firebagger version of Obama’s birth certificate.
kc
Stoller’s mind reading skills are impressive.
Baud
@beltane:
You forget, Bully Pulpit!
Dave
What Quarks said. No surprise that Stoller and Grayson a part of the same cell.
Dave
What Quarks said. No surprise that Stoller and Grayson are part of the same cell.
General Stuck
I had BDS in the worst way, at times howling at the moon in the middle of the day. But it didn’t take me a 1000 words or more to tell you why. ODS always seems to be a wordy affair, picking nits to make a riot act gumbo that really never says much more than what every president has done since the founding, with the big point he acts like a politician. Well, boo fucking who, water is wet.
All I had to say to express my disdain for Bush was a couple of words or three. Something like ‘what a fucking asshole’ pretty much said it all. These guys got to give a doctoral dissertation and never seem quite satisfied they covered everything.
gex
Holly crap. How does that much delusion fit into one skull without said skull exploding?
Svensker
This is completely OT and my apologies, but I’m running out the door and couldn’t wait for an open thread.
My cousin works for pitbull rescue in the Philly area. They have an awful case of a sweet pb who was set on fire. She’s survived but with terrible injuries and needs lots of treatment. You can read about it here and either donate to the PSPCA at the link or here, which cuz tells me is raising money for Chloe’s care.
The picture of that doggie is just heartbreaking. Bastards.
Now, back to your regularly scheduled bastards.
lacp
I like and respect Yves Smith’s writing, although I think she could lose her visceral hatred for Obama, and I think lambert can be both interesting and informative (although all too often nuts), but Stoller is really far off the rails. Is the prez a corporatist? Sure. Does he micromanage every real and imagined insult to lefties everywhere? Stay tuned…..I mean, Christ, if my dog threw up last night, it doesn’t mean that Barack Motherfucking Obama tossed broken glass in the kibble.
balconesfault
@Argive: If Romney gets elected and Ginsburg leaves, we are screwed.
Everyone should consider the phrase Justice Roberts – swing vote
MobiusKlein
@Baud: So it was a double failure then. They took the fall, and we got shit for the trouble. Passing a useful climate bill into law would be a planetary achievement.
But this ties into Stoller’s critique how?
amk
The dkos mob of nutz will love it. At least the teabaggers were effective politically unlike these impotent thugs.
Linda Featheringill
@balconesfaul:
:-) You’re right. I don’t.
Baud
@General Stuck:
They think more words will cover up the vacuousness of their analysis.
4tehlulz
@daveNYC: The only way that will happen is if Hillary goes back in time and wins the 2008 election.
SiubhanDuinne
@Foxhunter:
Not just you. Happening tonight every time I link to anything from the FP or comments, even when I move to Next Post or Previous Post.
Knock it off, Tunch.
danimal
BJ pageviews must be going down. Time to ramp up the firebagger/Obot wars…
Roger Moore
OT, but I’m having problems with a Sitemeter login prompt popping up when I reload the page. I just click cancel to make it go away, but there’s no way I should be seeing the thing in the first place.
ETA: @Foxhunter:
Not just you.
Argive
Hoo boy. Some of these commenters at naked capitalism are crazy.
To be fair, saner people replied to these comments calling the respective authors out on their craziness. But still, damn.
Linda Featheringill
@Svensker: #31
Good luck to Chloe.
doofus
The reference to Saul Alinsky is the tell here. Only folks I know of who refer to Saul Alinsky on a regular basis are the Fox News crowd and their ilk. (Although I have to admit I do not read Firebaggers often)
Baud
@danimal:
If Stoller thinks it’s worthwhile to write it, I think it’s worthwhile to call it bullshit.
Mr Stagger Lee
Perhaps Stoller can get a job at Alexander Cockburn’s CounterPunch, hell that is all they do is firebag President Obama. I got that sitemeter shit too, going to do some scanning just in case.
General Stuck
@Roger Moore:
Same here,. My mouse functions are acting weird as well. I thought it was just my aging computer or something.
burnspbesq
Whiskey Tango Hotel.
Baud
Same here on the sitemeter popup.
dmsilev
@Roger Moore: I got that as well. Clicking Cancel gets the page to load, but it’s still annoying.
Observer
@MobiusKlein:
There isn’t a “60 vote Senate”.
There is however a Senate which has a legislative power decided by simple majority rule as dictated in the US Constitution.
Whatever other rules the Senate sets for itself are convention not law and can be changed at anytime.
Since the Democratic party controls the Senate, they could have changed those rules and in fact specifically declined to do so as you may recall.
It’s like you folks need to blame Republicans just so you don’t have the face the naked truth about your own party’s fecklessness.
balconesfault
@Argive: Holy shiite!
SiubhanDuinne
@Linda Featheringill:
There goes my long-planned trip to Findhorn.
(Not meaning to be flippant; I know this could be dire. I also know I have dreamt of going to Findhorn for many years, but it kind of relies on the warmth of the Gulf Stream.)
Rommie
@Argive: yeah, and they seem to love to quote Mark Twain. Sam Clemens would stare at them silently for a few seconds, then start beating the shit out of them with a stick.
Just Some Fuckhead
Totally agree. I’ll never understand why people don’t agree with me 100%.
balconesfault
@Observer: Hey – I’ve said at least 100 times in the last 4 years that Harry Reid should start making Republicans actually … well … filibuster every time they wanted to filibuster, and not just get away with a threat and maybe a cloture vote.
That said – is there anyone out there who believes it would have gone well had Obama started demanding that Harry Reid eliminate the filibuster so they could move his legislation?
Is there really anyone that stupid?
burnspbesq
@balconesfault:
Or, alternatively, the phrase “Justice Janice Rogers Brown.”
Maude
Obama is upsetting a lot of people. He’s doing something right.
Cap'n Magic
And Stoller isn’t just content with that piece-you must read his latest. Here’s a sample:
Rex Everything
Massive fail, Cole. To say that this guy, who criticizes Obama purely from the left, is a closet Republican is exactly like saying someone who criticizes the Catholics must be a Jesuit.
And btw, he’ll never be invited on Fox News. The whole purpose of Fox News is to promote and entrench the 2-party system. They don’t tolerate, or even acknowledge the existence of, views like Stoller’s.
Gwangung
@Observer: Dude, law of untended consequences,
You re not very good at gaming scenarios out, are you?
SiubhanDuinne
@Argive:
Cracks me up. Kind of like cartoon drawings of the sun wearing sunglasses.
AB
Matt Stoller would never go on Fox. He has worked hard in the past to prevent Democrats from legitimizing them.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-stoller/action-freeze-out-fox-new_b_41800.html
I disagree with Stoller’s essay because it characterizes him as a malevolent actor, and not someone who is constrained politically, and completely leaves out all the good Obama has done, with healthcare, the war in Iraq, immigration and equal rights. But to lump him in with Alan Colmes is wrong. The problem with Stoller is not that he criticizes Obama – its that he is bad at using that criticism for political change. Obama needs Stoller like Jon Huntsman needs Grover Norquist. The media loves a guy who fights with his base. The difference between Stoller and Norquist is that people know who Norquist is. Norquist actually changes minds. Stoller is just bitching to the choir.
beltane
@Argive: It looks like the David Icke crowd found a home away from home over at Naked Capitalism.
salacious crumb
so Obama is ready to extend all help to Turkey in its confrontation against Syria..The downing of the Turkish fighter jet by Syria, shall not go unpunished says Hillary..oh sense the steaming anger coming out of this administration against this grave injustice against the Turks!!
I wonder where Hillary and Obama were when Israel killed those Turkish citizens on the Mavi Marmara…
I know I know I am a racist..so what else is new?
lacp
@Svensker: Oh, fuck. I’m here in Philly. I’m out of the house 10 hours a day, but there’s an independent living place right down the street; I’ll ask if some of the folks who live there might want to help out. I sort of wish there was a god, so I could help him/her/it torch this miserable fucking planet and its evil fucking inhabitants.
Roger Moore
@balconesfault:
And it still displays a lack of understanding of the actual rules of the Senate. The rules say that to call a vote, they need to have either unanimous consent or 3/5 of the total membership of the Senate voting for cloture. For a minority to hold up legislation, they just need one or two members to hang around denying unanimous consent and point out that they don’t have 60 votes for cloture when votes come up. The minority doesn’t need to go up and talk; they can stall things with boring, bloodless procedures.
Davis X. Machina
@Cap’n Magic: More mind-reading in there than in a month of MoDo…
General Stuck
@Rex Everything:
“criticism”? That was a reading of the charges at the inquisition.
Lurking Canadian
@General Stuck: The key difference seems to be that you can criticize Bush by pointing to things he actually did, whereas this entire screed depends on the author’s ability to read President Obama’s mind and intuit his “true feelings”, even when they are counter to reality.
When somebody gets to that point, only thorazine can help.
Norbrook
Stoller apparently suffers from much the same memory deficit as the other firebaggers. It was that same rhetoric which mainly served to turn off people, leading to a reduced turnout at the voting booth and the House being taken over by the Teapublicans. So, just how has that worked out for them? Christ, the stupidity they evince rivals the damn birthers.
Xecky Gilchrist
Wow, that Stoller rant is some primo Reedy Nasal Whine.
ant
I remember this douchebag from way back in the primarys.
He hated everybody. Edwards was his choice, but not good enough. He hated kucinich. He hated Hillary.
But nobody did he hate more than Obama. Matt went all the way to South Carolina to campaign for Hillary, just cause he hated Obama so much.
Matt wrote anti-Omama screeds at open-left blog every day for months and months nonstop.
Does Jane Hampsher still blog these days?
ChrisNYC
Well, to be fair, Stoller won’t be asked to go on Fox because he loves Ron Paul. Ron Paul is “the true progressive,” Stoller says, and the reason liberals dislike Ron is because they are just so so jealous.
AxelFoley
Who the fuck is this Stoller asshole? And who the fuck is this Yves bitch?
Fuck ’em both.
amk
@Norbrook: One big diff. birthers fucking vote unlike these loony left maroons.
The Dangerman
Don’t end up
waking in a roadside ditchvoting for Romney!/directtv
Southern Beale
But apparently liberals aren’t conciliatory enough! Apparently we need to reach across the aisle more. I guess smacking the president from the left doesn’t count.
amk
@ant: Is that sewer openleft still open ?
Roger Moore
@Lurking Canadian:
I don’t know about that. This particular screed may be based on mind reading, but there is valid criticism of Obama from the left, especially on foreign policy.
MBunge
@Roger Moore: “The minority doesn’t need to go up and talk; they can stall things with boring, bloodless procedures.”
The point is that during an actual fillibuster, nothing else can happen. That means everyone else, including defense contractors and other billion dollar campaign donors, can’t get any of their preferred shit done. That’s where the counter pressure to the fillibuster is supposed to come from, but it requires actual filibusters in order to exist. If the Senate ground to a halt for weeks at a time whenever the GOP tried to filibuster, you can be damn sure the Chamber of Commerce and various monied interests looking for their own sweetheart deals would be crawling up the ass of Mitch McConnell to cut it out.
Mike
ant
@amk: nope.
belly up, while ago.
beltane
@Lurking Canadian: The best part is that Matt Stoller could read Obama’s mind even before the inauguration. He’s like Deanna Troi when it comes to Obama. If anyone thinks this is new they should remember the way his site, MyDD gradually became a cesspool of PUMA trolls during the 2008 campaign.
Jade Jordan
I thought ABL was the Obot. John Cole has been in the Obot closet.
Mnemosyne
@Rex Everything:
You may need to work on your reading comprehension. The point was not that Stoller is a secret Republican, but that cable news loves to have people on to criticize Obama from the left because it drives their “Everyone Hates Obama!” narrative.
I think John’s wrong about Fox News, though. It’s CNN that’s going to be calling Stoller to see what his earliest availability is.
(Edited for pronoun trouble.)
doofus
@amk: Teabaggers also call their representatives, write letters to the editor, and work their ass off for their own. Firebaggers just write scathing posts on their websites so they can get page hits.
catboxer
That last line in de post sounds sorta like when Dick & Dubya used to say “If you ain’t with us you must be one o’ them.” I’m with Prof. Unger.
Linda Featheringill
@SiubhanDuinne:
Searching for a wee bit of the Scottish, eh lassie?
ETA:
Definitely depends on the warmth of the Gulf Stream. If the Stream goes kaput, the whole of the British Isles will change.
karen marie
@amk: I think you give the teabaggers too much credit. What was politically effective was the PR snow job by the money men for whom the teabaggers front.
amk
@doofus: yup, these numb nutz want ‘a reason’ to vote. No wonder they end up yelling from the sidelines and passersby point and laugh at them.
@ant: Small mercies and all that.
General Stuck
@Roger Moore:
Really, valid criticism. this?
Cap'n Magic
This is a beaut: Stoller’s Twitter from about a half-hour ago:
If that’s the case, Matt, then do yourself and everyone else a favor-and shut the fuck up.
Mnemosyne
@Roger Moore:
I think that’s the point, though — IMO, the rules should be written in such a way that it’s no longer totally painless for the minority to hang things up. Right now, it’s completely effortless for the minority to block legislation.
That’s why people keep bringing up the “talking filibuster” type of idea. It doesn’t need to be that, exactly, but when all a Senator has to do in order to grind things to a halt is to send a note, it gives way more power to the minority than the writers of the Constitution ever dreamed of giving them.
El Cid
When writers become obsessed with the personal nuances of political figures — especially Democratic or liberal figures — and express more and more frequently a wrenching, visceral disgust, it’s not going to turn out well.
When a Hitchens or Cockburn go from principled denunciation of some policy or statement or other to being worked up to a fever pitch of loathing disgust whenever the subject of Bill Clinton comes around, it’s just luck that Cockburn didn’t turn out full anti-left and go full-on pro-Iraq-War-for-civilization like Hitchens did.
amk
@karen marie: They shellacked and flipped the house. Money bags made them do it or not.
NR
@Observer: This, a thousand times this.
The filibuster only remained in place so the Democrats would have an excuse not to pass progressive legislation.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@AxelFoley:
bitch? Really?
Raven
I keep getting a “tracking meter” login page when I hit the BJ? WTF-K?
beltane
@Cap’n Magic: When my six-year old is angry he stomps his feet and yells “That’s it. I don’t love anybody in this house anymore.”
Same thing, right?
amk
@Raven: cole’s vista moment never stops.
karen marie
@Cap’n Magic: Stoller writes very much like his rightwing counterparts.
GxB
@Foxhunter:
Same here – getting it at Tbogg’s too. Firefox on Win7, starting to piss me off.
amk
@Cap’n Magic: And this is the loser nut that lectures that dems give up too easily.
lacp
@El Cid: He got real weird about climate change, though, didn’t he? Think he’s also started contributing at paleoconservative joints like Chronicles.
Roger Moore
@General Stuck:
I didn’t mean there was valid criticism in his post, just that valid criticism is possible. For example, I’m pretty damn upset about our launching cyberattacks against Iran, which I think are probably illegal and almost certainly unwise.
Davis X. Machina
I just want you to know I didn’t leave the party, the party left me.
In 1848.
I’m a Conscience Whig.
Raven
@GxB: I’m on a mac, FF.
El Cid
@lacp: You’re right, there was that.
It was all the worse because it wasn’t in any way the Marxist approach he imagined — if climate change was real, then the global super-wealthy would be the ones to shape the debate and policies in their favor, both to profit from any new investments and to shift costs toward the non-super-rich.
That is a class analysis of the politics of climate change, not suggesting it was all fake and got up by the liberal wing of a center-right capitalist plutocracy.
Maude
@Raven:
It’s Sitemeter. It’s doing it on a lot of sites.
Lojasmo
I hated Grayson from his first sanctimonious whing. Now I know why. Wanker.
Raven
@Maude: Well, make it stop!
Keith G
How many divisions does Matt Stoller have?
Nonetheless, I am sure I am outraged.
Argive
@General Stuck:
Stoller managed to blame Obama for 40 years’ worth of problems afflicting labor unions earlier this month. This is ODS like I’ve never seen from anyone on the left. The blinding rage on display here is quite something.
MikeJ
@Raven: noscript is your friend.
General Stuck
@Roger Moore:
Okay. Cyber attacks don’t bother me that much. As it’s better than dropping bombs, imo. And the US is hardly the only powerful country doing those. I can’t think of anything else on the national security/warfare front, that he didn’t tell us he was going to do in the 08 campaign, or try to do within the limits of his office.
Maude
@Raven:
I’ll get right on it, sir.
Dave
Apart from everything else, Stoller evidently doesn’t understand the meaning of the word “narrative.”
Mike S.
LOL, John Cole failed to even attempt to address the substance of Stoller’s criticism of Obama.
Cole just can’t stand for criticism of POTUS coming from the left; abject terror that voters will stay home trumps any attempt to discuss the behavior of the administration and the policies which it pursues.
Raven
@Maude: Spec 4, no sir.
Lol
Obligatory link to Stoller’s “Obama is Done” piece from 2007.
mk3872
I like this part:
They do. They just need a prescription.
Funny how most lefty or righty extremists don’t even have their facts straight.
Joe Bauers
Nice to know that there would be at least some good to come from a Romney victory: the knowledge that stupid assholes like this one would be getting the government they deserve.
Steve in DC
@General Stuck:
Actually it is valid, and Stoller is pretty on point at times. Even prior to getting elected Obama was going on about grand bargains to “fix” social security because it can’t work any longer, aka cut social security, he said that about the entire New Deal. He was also full of shit and cynically flipped on issues whenever he had something to gain or lose on it, it’s always been about him.
The basic logic for voting Democratic outside of a few key people is “they may suck, and they may be malicious actors, but the other side is stark raving insane”. What we are starting to see with Stoller, Greenwald, Taibbi, and numerous others is that they are fucking tired of it. We can’t hold the Republicans accountable but we can fucking hold the Democrats accountable. And that will mean losing some elections, and that will mean periods of trouble. But if we don’t do this, we allow Democrats to continue to shred the social safety net to appease Wall Street and improve their own personal image, and to continue Republican policies outside of social issues.
Say what you will about the Tea Party but they have been extremely effective at moving the party to the right and getting what they want. Why? They aren’t chicken shits that are afraid to lose. They aren’t fucking cowards who will give up all of their principles for the sake of loving their Dear Leader or suffering an electoral loss. As a result their politicians are scared shitless of them and pander to them.
Until the left gets a pair of brass balls and brass knuckles and primaries every Democrat that isn’t running on a platform of “75% higher tax rates, socialized medicine, windmill production, more government spending on everything” we’re just going to get jackasses high on themselves who enact “bipartisan” (read Republican!) ideas and reforms and sell us down the river.
For all their fury, none of these guys is advocating voting for Romney because again “Obama is a liar and malicious, but Romney is a bigger liar and bug fuck insane”, so I wouldn’t worry about that.
The left needs a debate where someone says flat out “would you accept a 10:1 trade for revenue increases vs cuts” and not a damn one of them should raise their hand out of fear they will be out on their ass the first chance possible.
Partisanship is a good thing and what the Democrats claim to support is what is needed. Though the reelection of Obama will prove, like Clinton, that you can win reelection as a Democrat but advocating neoliberal and Republican solutions.
Maude
@Raven:
Oops.
lacp
@El Cid: Yeah, I think the folks at Monthly Review do climate change much better from the left. And I’ve also heard snark that Cockburn is mostly twisty because he likes driving big gas-guzzlers.
burnspbesq
@Mike S.:
“John Cole failed to even attempt to address the substance of Stoller’s criticism of Obama”
What substance is that?
doofus
@Mike S.: You mean this one?
His narcissism, and the post-modern ironic sense of self-awareness of how his narrative is put together and tended, is his defining character trait.
He understands his opposition, those crying out for justice against the powerful, and finds them laughable, finds in them weakness at best, a punchline at worst. He reads his left-wing opponents so he can absorb the talking points, and rebut them.
Raven
@Maude: :)
karen marie
@amk: Without the money bags there are no teabags.
rikyrah
naw, can’t vote for Willard. just tell them how stupid they are.
rikyrah
naw, can’t vote for Willard. just tell them how stupid they are.
Argive
@Mike S.:
It’s not that Obama is perfect, or that he hasn’t done anything warrating criticism. He’s not perfect by any stretch. But the idea that there’s no difference between him and Romney is just wrong, and can be incredibly destructive. In the end, Stoller’s article is way over the top and a lot of it isn’t much more than making Obama a scapegoat for really complicated problems or pointless personal criticism of Obama based on second-hand comments by people who don’t like him. For one thing, we’re supposed to hate Obama because he’s narcissistic? Really? I take it as a given that anyone running for president is a narcissist.
burnspbesq
Speaking of people who’ve gone all the way through the looking-glass, here’s Jay Sekulow’s take on Arizona.
http://www.scotusblog.com/2012/06/online-symposium-scotus-on-az-immigration-state-sovereignty-is-the-issue/
mk3872
@Steve in DC: Are completely clueless? Take a read through the comments to the post that John links to. They are left-wing baggers who want to vote for Ron Paul and WON’T vote for Obama. EVER.
Rex Everything
Another closet Republican, Jodi Dean, HWS College poly-sci prof and communist:
“[Obama is] someone to the right of Nixon and Reagan. I don’t think he is a playing an electoral pollitics game. He seems to think of government in the service of markets, where markets mean primarily financial markets (but also insurance markets and others). So, my basic read is: never the progressive or moderate Democrat that progressives and moderate Democrats wanted or fantasized him to be; always the state as an instrument of the ruling class. But what gets me: his last debt ceiling speech went on about shared responsibility when that was not at all what he was going to do or what he actually wanted. Differently put, I sign on to the “not weak just a bad guy capitalist” interpretation. Yet this is rooted in taking him at his word (and not thinking that he deceives or is manipulated). So the glitch is why he would present his preferred solution/plan as other than what it was. Maybe the only difference now between Tea Party crazy and mainstream conservative (Obama) is the willingness to embrace the becoming-Mad-Max-future-of-the US v. lip service to the fragile veneer of governance/sociality still holding something like everyday life together.”
—Dr Jodi Dean, soon to be appearing on Fox News…
mk3872
Personally, I hate all Baggers: Fire and Tea
mk3872
@Rex Everything: Crazy people thrive on the Right and the Left
General Stuck
@Steve in DC:
Maybe you should be commenting at Stoller’s place, wherever that is. I don’t mind the amusement of the third rate trolling you bring with your comment (s). Though I’ve heard it all before, and the thrill is all but gone.
Rex Everything
Another closet republican, Adolph Reed, professor of political science at Penn:
“[Obama]’s a one-trick pony, always has been, and that trick is performing judiciousness, reasonableness, performing the guy who shows his seriousness by being able to agree with those with whom he supposedly disagrees and to disagree with those with whom he supposedly agrees. He has never — not at any moment in his political career — stood for anything more concrete than a platitude. He is also one of those get all the smart people in the room to figure out what’s best for us all technocratic left-neoliberals and at the end of the day (well, even at dawn) believes that the Wall St types are smarter than the rest of us.”
Professor Reed will become a Fox News regular any minute now …
Rex Everything
Corey Robin, author of The Reactionary Mind, closet Republican:
“I tend to think people like Obama really don’t believe the bullshit they preach; what they do believe is that moderation is the mark of maturity and that Wall Street types are smarter than the rest of us. But that is a fairly apolitical reading of them, which doesn’t look at the real and substantive impact neoliberal ideology has had on such folks. I toggle back and forth between those two views. Obama reminds me so much of people I went to college with, who just hitched themselves to a cart that told them this is where success was, and that intelligence is demonstrated by breaking with the crazy left. After a while maybe they start believing their own bullshit, but I can’t help thinking that if careerism is your motivation, you’ll basically go with wherever you think the career incentives will take you. Of course, all this gets into the kind of armchair psychologizing that is totally besides the point. But I do wonder how these ideological formations happen.”
That’s Corey Robin, soon to be a regular on Fox News.
lacp
@Rex Everything: And to make it even worse, Prof. Reed is a knee-grow!
Marcellus Shale, Public Dick
i think the better angels of matt stoller’s nature were giving the bullpen catcher a hotfoot instead of manning their positions in the outfield when he wrote this.
T. Scheisskoppf
Well, Stoller is someone who once had a burgeoning career in party politics. He worked for Corzine, as I recall.
Now he is a “Political Strategist”. In Washington-speak, a political strategist is someone looking for a job.
All I got out of that screed was a lot of anger and bitterness. Like someone who got turned down for a job and now has a load in his dydies.
andrewsomething
@balconesfaul:
I hear ya, but assuming 9/11 still happens, wouldn’t the road to impeachment have begun on 9/12? If there’s one thing we’ve learned in the past decade, it’s that Republicans will use anything for there advantage…
Lyrebird
@General Stuck: I could offer all sorts of (imnsho) valid criticism from the left of some of Obama’s policies on education (google “Barne Turducken”), the bailout (Krugman), and to some extent foreign/military policy, but here’s what I totally don’t get…
(other than that Mr. Stoller needs professional help, that is…)
1. BHO campaigned as a Midwestern moderate with more integrity (e.g. Iraq war, actually giving a shit about the poor) than most. He is governing as a Midwestern moderate with more integrity than most. How on earth can these campaign pros be surprised at all, let alone surprised enough to warrant a tenth of the paranoid projection contained in just that one excerpt?
2. Again, I can understand jr-high students going for, say, half this much drama, but grown-ups who run campaigns, who cannot for a moment consider alternatives? I’d like to see drone attacks over Af/Pak ended yesterday, I think the PR costs totally take away from the gains, etc… but compared to essentially a third Bush term? war in Iran? etc… I’ll get just as hysterical as Mr. Stoller if I’m not careful here…
Thank heavens for BJ! That and Wonkette help me laugh enough to avoid that fate!
3. Would I rather us already be out of Afgh? Sure. Am I freakin’ impressed with how quickly (less than 2 yrs, yes?) we went from End Of Bush Reign to holding negotiations with the Taliban? BTW I was so unimpressed by HR Clinton as a Senator, but I need some more hats to take off, i am hugely impressed w/her work as SoS. Do I always agree with our nation’s foreign policy? well duh, NO, but noone’s elected me!
Gonna give my spare change to Planned Parenthood, and I’m dem sure gonna vote.
Chad
@Observer: yeah because everyone knew just how intransigent the Republican opposition was going to be and Democrats didn’t just wail at any hints of getting rid of the filibuster when the Republicans were in the majority.
GxB
@Rex Everything: You and your blurbs have convinced me – I’m voting Rmoney!
Soon to be a regular viewer of FOX news.
LT
How does “plays poker with the guys” even fit in there in WngNutThinking? Is he Mormon or something?
lacp
@GxB: Fuck it – vote Nader. Thanksralph!
andrewsomething
@Cap’n Magic:
You do realize that’s the exact thing quoted above in this post right?
Rex Everything
Critics of Obama’s foreign policy: Cenk Uyger, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Charles Pierce, Matt Taibbi, Noam Chomsky et al, all of course noted Republicans and imminent Fox News correspondents.
Enthusiastic supporteres of Obama’s foreign policy: Peter King, John McCain, Max Boot, Dick Cheney et al, whom no one, I repeat, NO ONE could accuse of being closeted Republicans. (How about getting a few of ’em to blog on Balloon Juice, Cole? You know, as a counter to all the new Republican voices on Fox News.)
I hope you all are damn proud of your bedfellows.
doofus
@Rex Everything: Ahh, the sweet sweet support of Dick Cheney.
mk3872
@Rex Everything: Rex – you are BRILLIANT!
Yeah, McCain and Dick Cheney are BIG supporters of Obama’s foreign policy!
You’re a riot!
low-tech cyclist
I’m old enough to remember when Matt Stoller was sane.
That wouldn’t mean I was very old.
utmb
I have always believed that Jane and her firebaggers would be delighted with another Republican administration — more web traffic for FDL, like the halcyon days of the Bush years!
doofus
@Rex Everything: I see McCain is voicing his support for Obama’s foreign policy too.
Omnes Omnibus
@Rex Everything: You take things rather literally, don’t you?
karen
And the differences between Firebaggers and Teabaggers just keep vanishing.
And Obama said he was going to Afghanistan when he was running and voila, they’re in Afghanistan.
To say that he gets off on murdering children overseas is not only disingenuous it’s vulgar. Those same people turn a deaf ear when it comes to the poor and children in this country. They’re Paulistas because Ron Paul doesn’t want overseas wars, yet they don’t care about his racist attitudes.
I don’t like drones but if it’s a choice between drones killing terrorists and the military having to do it? Drones win.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Rex Everything: You know who else has criticized Obama’s foreign policy? John Cole.
Culture of Truth
Since Matt Stoller began blogging income equality has gotten worse! Coincidence???
burnspbesq
@Rex Everything:
I hope you are damn proud of your obtuseness.
Go ahead, stay home in November. When you can’t get your insulin in October because your state burned through its wholly inadequate Ryan-plan Medicaid block grant by May, don’t come here to beg for money.
Marcelo
It just makes me sad. I too remember when Stoller was sane, wrote really good stuff on MyDD and OpenLeft. I loved reading him. It’s really sad to see how far he’s fallen.
I can at least dig where Greenwald is coming from, the issues he writes about are very specific (most of the time) and he spent just about as much energy arguing them against the Bush administration back in the day. And there is a viable criticism to be made of Obama on some of those issues that Glenn touches on, like drones. Glenn has also been very fair to Obama on gay rights, giving him his due.
But this is just nuts. You can argue that Obama made mistakes, you can argue that he likes the unitary executive too much, you can argue that he shouldn’t use drones. But arguing that he HATES the left? Arguing that there is a REAL Obama out there who HATES you? That’s just…that’s nuts.
Gus
Anyone notice a familiar name there? There’s a myiq post! Jesus fuck, it’s a PUMA extravaganza.
Steve in DC
@Rex Everything:
The Obama presidency has proven beyond any doubt that liberals only give a shit about that stuff when a Republican is in office, and god help you should you dare mention anything wrong about Dear Leader.
myiq2xu
Stoller is just another rat, deserting a sinking ship.
General Stuck
@Lyrebird:
Obama has talked like a midwestern moderate, at times, for political effect. And has governed mostly within the confines of the art of the possible, for his shared power with the other branches of government. He is not a stone leftist by any means, and I think of him as a pragmatic liberal.
As for foreign affairs, I personally don’t use the same measuring stick for ideology as with domestic politics. He is not afraid to use the military when he thinks it is warranted, and said as much day in and out during the 08 campaign. If I was going to tender a label for him in that arena, I would call him a multinationalist, serious about working through the world community via the UN to deal with world problems. He said he was going to escalate the war against AQ, and has. And said he was going to remove combat troops from Iraq, and has. The drones I can understand why people oppose them. There is something about joystick warfare that does not set well with me either. But warfare via air power has been with us a long time, and killing civilians with air strikes against an enemy, just as long. Abject anti war is a honorable stand, as is pacifism. But It is not a requirement to be a liberal, only that some liberals take that stand. A small part of the electorate.
That does not mean the anti war left can’t criticize Obama for his war making against AQ and The Taliban, as well as tactics. It does mean claims of betrayal leveled at Obama, is not supported by the facts from what he told us what he was going to do. And at the time, it was still a view held by most Americans.
Things are different now, and Obama announced our departure from Afghanistan. Liberals and progressives should speak out loudly for him to hurry up. That is the difference between principled opposition to what is happening, versus scorched earth critique from the left wing. Such as Stoller, et al.
myiq2xu
@Gus:
I miss you too.
GxB
@Rex Everything: Ehhh, needs more “cudlip”…
Q. Q. Moar
@Cap’n Magic: Why is it always with the ‘narcissist’ trope? Clinton was called a narcissist; I thought Bush was a narcissist and now even-the-Liberal-Matt-Stoller agrees with the Free Republic crowd that Obama is a massive narcissist. Either it’s just easy to attribute negative traits to people we disagree with or narcissism comes with the territory. Or maybe both.
Gus
@Rex Everything: Obama is not progressive enough for me. Shit, Roosevelt wasn’t progressive enough for me. I feel bad for defending Obama sometimes. Drone attacks, packing his administration with Wall Street execs, there is a long litany of sins that drive me crazy. The only things keeping me in his camp are 1) the alternative is immeasurably worse and 2) a Nietzsche quote that I love “At times one remains faithful to a cause only because its opponents do not cease to be insipid.” I do it because of the idiots on the right who think he’s a socialist fascist Kenyan Muslim atheist and the dreamers on the left who think the game isn’t rigged and he isn’t the best we can at this period in history. I’m pretty sure Upton fucking Sinclair won’t be on the ballot this November.
sparky
@El Cid: true. arguing about Obama being a narcissist is more than a bit like claiming Bush was (is) a sociopath. even if it is true, and there’s no way to know, it’s not relevant. so no defense of this piece by me.
the only thing that matters is what Obama has done. and some folks simply believe that much of what he has done is continue the general trajectory of the Empire. there’s no requirement that everyone should think that way, but to call those who have a hard time with Obama feckless or worse is to brush off–with a personal attack–substantive issues, or at least what used to be substantive issues.
edit: @Gus: all fair points. but i don’t think taking the opposing view makes one a naif. that it is difficult (not possible?) doesn’t make a position wrong in itself.
Davis X. Machina
@Gus:
Mistah Debs, he dead.
Gus
@myiq2xu: Good to see you’re still beating the Hillary drum!
Culture of Truth
Narcissist isn’t even the right word. It’s egotistical, which Obama certainly is. Of course so was Bill Clinton, Hillary and anyone who’s ever run for President. Bloggers too.
myiq2xu
@Gus:
Sorry to see you’re still beating your meat.
Frankensteinbeck
@Rex Everything:
You are a silly person. You can find someone odious who supports any position and someone largely virtuous who opposes any position. Particularly if you comb, as you are doing with your list, for someone who has ever agreed or disagreed with SOMETHING on a broad list of policies. McCain and Cheney, for example, hate Obama’s foreign policy, and that you cite that they’ve unbent to agree one one or two individual items over the course of Obama’s presidency displays the fallacy of your entire argument.
Your quotes of random people who disagree with Obama were also beautifully indicative of the problem being complained about from the OP on. You chose people whose mind reading powers granted them the ability to know that Obama TOTALLY is lying and secretly in league with the wealthy oppressors.
You have summed up the irrationality of ODS that we were complaining about well. Thank you.
Steve in DC
@Q. Q. Moar:
Because it takes a certain amount of narcissim to be in politics or run for president. We are long past the days of Washington and Jefferson who never really wanted the job and had to be pushed into it. Shit, I’d say the last president that wasn’t screwed up in some form or fashion was Ike… and he’d be a fucking Democrat now. Shows how fucked up we have become.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@myiq2xu: That sure was clever, Meat Prod.
lacp
You libtards will all be laughing out of the other side of your ASSES when George Tierney Jr. of Greenville, South Carolina takes the oath of office in January.
Zifnab25
:-p
Rex Everything
If you oppose the Bush-era tax cuts, the NDAA, warrantless surveillance, expanded killing of civilians worldwide, and the total non-prosecution of the Wall Street bigshots who wrecked the economy, you are obviously a Republican.
lol
@Q. Q. Moar:
Projection. The Professional Left is incredibly narcissistic, it’s one of the reasons they hate Obama because THEY were going to be the king-makers in 2008 and he ruined all of that.
myiq2xu
@The prophet Nostradumbass:
I’m probably the only guy in the blogosphere with a website dedicated to my dingus. What is your fascination with my junk? I’m straight.
Rex Everything
Immunization for the Bush admin officials who ordered, approved, and committed torture? Who but a Republican could have a problem with that?
The prophet Nostradumbass
@myiq2xu: if there is such a site, I haven’t, and wouldn’t want to see it. As for your misogyny, that has been well documented.
Argive
@lacp:
Bookmark it, libs! FREEEEEDOOOOOMMMM
Rex Everything
Why in a million years would FoxNews air Stoller, who lets the cat out of the bag by saying Obama’s not a leftist? FoxNews’ (and John Cole’s) whole schtick is based on pretending that he is.
shortstop
Do these guys really matter, other than as something to keep a blog thread argument going? For the last four years, I forgot Matt Stoller was alive.
Jay in Oregon
@Svensker:
That picture breaks my heart every time I look at it. I just want to curl up with her and keep the bad people away, forever and ever.
I fired off a $20 donation.
Xecky Gilchrist
@Rex Everything: Who would stay home and let Republicans win if they oppose all that?
GxB
@Rex Everything: Laminaria japonica, Macrocystis pyrifera, Laminaria cuneifolia…
Valdivia
yikes, this has been a thread to read while high on something, only way it would make sense with all the pie-able comments.
I remember Stoller from the primaries too. I see he is just more into his own thing than ever.
Johnny Coelacanth
The preznit done gone and broke my librul heart
in the cold wind I’ve been left to twist
once we were pumas; proud noble pumas
now we’re led by a narcissist
(I was hopin for a marxassist!)
The preznit done gone and dashed my libr’l dreams
he’s a dirty technocratic centrist
but we’ll always be baggers; proud firebaggers
our purity and wisdom you can’t resist
(unless you are a narcissist!)
Mike
@Marcelo: Yeah, I don’t know what happened to Matt. He just went off the deep end one day. I think he’s done with his former blog partner Chris Bowers, too. His advice to Grayson was terrible. I was happy about Grayson fighting back against the right wing lies, but he ended up looking like a crazy person instead.
It’s a shame…
GxB
@Valdivia: Psst… since Rex and crew are masters of mind reading and intent knowing I figured they’d get my oblique references to “sea kelp” without me spelling it out to them… looks like I may have been successful…
sherifffruitfly
I blame AngryBlackLady.
Lyrebird
@Gus: You’ve got it!! The hipster bumper sticker (should it be a courier-bag sticker instead), perfect for those people who find the Joe Biden pitch* too militaristic and too positive!
Upton f-cking Sinclair won’t be on the ballot… Vote Obama already!
@Johnny Coelacanth: thanks, needed a smile! (got two, just from the coelacanth ref)
*Joe Biden’s pitch – that’s “bin Laden’s dead; GM’s alive” or something like that
@Valdiiva – SO TRUE.
Valdivia
@GxB:
I was wondering why you were talking about that. That’s like a Jedi MindTrick right there :)
Steve Crickmore
I’m one of those who have become disillusioned with Obama. We were warned that Obama was someone who deliberataly chose literary license or tendentious fabrications”, in his autobiography. He wasn’t very ethical either, in how he climbed the greasy pole of ‘Chicago-style’ ‘professional left’ politics.
Still, most of us thought he would be much superior to the known alternatives: Edwards, Hillary Clinton, Biden, and McCain who had the more established reputations of being shady, phony or duplicitous.
On many important divisive issues, like health care, I can understand Obama’s rationalizations why he caved in, or sought compromise with the Republicans, even with some of the wingnuts; that was his natural leaning as a conciliator, from his days as editor of the Harvard Law Review.
However, his zealous pursuit of public interest-minded whistleblowers, even more than the Bush/Cheney adminstration; (from Salon, Obama’s war on whistleblowers’) and not as publized but just as revealingly his stonewalling of the US signing the Landmines treaty, against the urging of 68 senators from May 2010, has lead me to conclude that Obama even when there is no significant GOP opposition, is no genuine progressive, but someone whose guiding principle is to maintain and strengthen his power above the traditional checks and balances, or normal moral decency.
He may be fortunate that Republicans are more indecent, but that gives little comfort or hope to liberals that there has been real proactive change, in the principles of the new Oval Office holder, just a correction in some cases, and some personnel, from the previous Neanderthal adminstration.
FlipYrWhig
At a certain point what started out as “criticism from the left” became criticism for the sheer pleasure of criticism flattering itself as having anything to do with “the left.” It’s the waves of utter self-congratulation emanating from these people that I can’t believe. It’s the “look at me, being a critic, notice how far left I can be, look, I hate everything! Also, corporatists and capital-E Empire.” Very thorough world-building, by which only a ragtag band of daring truth-tellers stand up to corporate hegemony. I guess the completeness of the fantasy deserves a small measure of respect.
FlipYrWhig
Oh, I forgot “disillusioned.” Well, adjust your illusions accordingly, or prepare for a lifetime of despair.
longtime lurk
Maybe I misunderstood this post (the ending is a bit garbled), but a national network is giving a TV show to an actual leftist? Not sure how that could actually be true, but in any event I guess I’m not surprised that John Cole (along with the rest of you BJers) is criticizing it.
Binky Bear
Stoller is part of a program to make Obama look even more centrist by providing a Sister Souljah opportunity for Obama. Nobody likes Romney, and his history, religion and personality are just not going to fly even among the most tighty whitey of the righties. Romney is a liberal pander bear to the Teabaggers and hanging by a thread, even with the legendary GOP solidarity.
If Obama can make a credible enemy on the left the persistent message that he is a Marxist Socialist falls flat among the independents who can be swayed. A couple loud clowns being the sacrificial punching hippies could be an ace in the hole.
RadioOne
I think there can be a correlation between losing elections and losing your mind.
Kelle
@Steve Crickmore: Are you effing serious? He told tales in his autobiography! And you should really care about that! And he totally did unethical things to climb the greasy Chicago-style politics ( nice wingnut buzzword you got there ) that I’m totally not telling you about but believe me, it was super serious. Do you really expect people believe you were ever a supporter of Obama? You sound more like a bot deployed by the GOP.
jamurph
If we could just work together to stop putting pressure on Obama then I’m sure he will do the things we want.
Sly
I agree with Stoller. What we need are fewer Democrats who receive sadistic pleasure from the deaths of brown children in AfPak, like Barack Obama, and more Democrats who receive sadistic pleasure from the deaths of brown children in Palestine, like Alan Grayson.
Peter A
@Steve Crickmore:
All good points. Obama has been a pretty mediocre, uninspiring President, all things considered. Still, when you look at how truly awful Romney is, as a human being not just as a politican, once again leftists don’t really have a choice but to support the man. At least Obama seems to be a fairly decent human being. The sad thing is that Hilary would have been no better, and probably worse – look how quickly Bill ran to defend Bain’s hurt feelings. It’s just corporate whores all the way down in the Democratic Party today.
FromTheBackOfTheRoom
The rank stench of flop sweat in the Ol’ BJ Bunker is awesome. The majority of comments are just shrieks of pain as the Obots scuttle away from the sunlight. Nicely done Matt!
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Gus:
If there’s a goat to blow,
myiq2xuGoatGoy! will be close at hand for sloppy seconds. So Stoller luvs him sum luaP noR? That’s doesn’t surprise me a bit.luaP noR is a magnet for stupid, anyone who supports him can’t be taken seriously.
stormhit
@Kelle:
No, he’s not serious. That trolling wasn’t even subtle.
Omnes Omnibus
@longtime lurk: You misunderstood the post.
Gus
@myiq2xu: Also good to see your wit is as dull as ever.
Marilyn Merlot
Oh come on, the left’s opinions don’t matter. All that matters is they vote for the Obama.
SBJules
What a load of crap.
NCSteve
@Observer: Ah, a more refined version of the alternate universe where the filibuster doesn’t exist. Because, yeah, it’s not like the same rules that have the filibuster in them don’t say they can’t be changed during the session without 67 votes or anything. Because bully pulpit.
Paula
The guy “resigned” from running his semi-successful website and decided to run a campaign for national office for a questionable candidate and failed.
Now he doesn’t even have his website to run back to because it pretty much collapsed when most of its writers decided they’d rather be doing other things too.
Matt Stoller seems like a guy with a lot of delusions of grandeur, like a lot of the Professional Left. They get to be big shots online and think they can suss it out in actual politicking and end up looking pretty foolish. They are their own prime example of how high ideals don’t always translate in the real world.
And yet, they must have done something right because we are apparently supposed to still care about their political instincts despite their tendency of quitting one arena of politics prematurely and then failing another, more crucial, test of actually getting people elected.
Paula
Where be those dudes @ OpenLeft now? One can only hope that Paul Rosenberg is still penning his thousand-word screeds on liberalism during the Van Buren era in some other forum …
nate
You know, all of this “but Democrats are better!” is true, but what has it gotten us in the long run? Losing more slowly.
Say what you will about the teabaggers, but they cost the Republicans elections, and probably control of the senate, yet look at all the power they wield to this day.
Dollars to dougnuts, if real progressives tried a strategy like that John Cole and TBogg and other tough realists out there would be howling for their goddamn blood.