I ask for very little, but I would like some mother fucking credit for paying no attention to the latest Sullivan freak-out. I haven’t even clicked the links from other front pagers to find out what his major malfunction is this time.
I’s rather roofie myself before taking a prison shower than pay attention to that fucking nonsense.
Hill Dweller
His twitter meltdown is epic.
Mark S.
Hey, I haven’t clicked over there either. But I did hear he was having a Level 5 meltdown on Twitter and posting in all caps.
gwangung
Umm…..wasn’t the reason why Obama was successful in 2008 was that he ignored the day to day fluctuations, didn’t even TRY to win the daily news cycle, and focussed on the long game? And that he had setbacks in the primary and the general?
Moeiz
OBAMA HAS THROWN IN THE TOWEL – Sully, lol
freelancer
It’s not like he did this last Obama campaign…oh wait:
Yellow-cake from Africa
You should make a serious exception this time John. It’s the smartest thing he’s said in many years.
cckids
Congrats to you. I confess, I gave in to temptation & wandered over . . . holy shit. That is one hell of a public humiliation, overreaction, . . whatever superlative you can throw at him, Sully’s over there doing it.
If only he had comments I’d refer him back to Wonkette’s remarks from last week; “sack up, you tedious wanker”.
SatanicPanic
I give you credit, but isn’t not reading him its own reward?
Hill Dweller
Some people are saying the supposed Sullivan twitter meltdown is from a parody account.
TexasMango
That fucker has gone crazy.
Andrew Sullivan @sillydish
@amk4obama A silly man for a silly time. Obama can’t even get a DEBATE right.
mai naem
Leeeeaaaave Sullllyyyy alllllooooone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
(for real)
KG
@TexasMango: yeah, that’s a parody account
Valdivia
@Hill Dweller:
some of us are in china and even with a VPN blocked from the twitter machine–can a girl get a summary?
Comrade Mary
You’re a better man than I am, John.
TexasMango
@Hill Dweller:
Yeah, it’s fake. His real account is SullyDish.
But they guy was doing a great impression.
Comrade Colette Collaboratrice
@Hill Dweller: Poe’s Law. On a horse!
Hill Dweller
@Valdivia: It’s apparently a parody twitter account, but it is hilarious.
mai naem
Well, I was wasting my time on the intertubes and I am surprised I haven’t seen a BJ’r reference to this but James Fallows has this really cool piece related to a Frontline series on Obama and Romney. I wasn’t an Obot from way back so maybe some of you people have seen this stuff, I haven’t. There’s letters from Obama and Romney. Really good stuff. I love the letter from Obama. Very lyrical and evocative. This guy could have made a living just writing. Forget the senate and presidentialing stuff.
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/10/the-difference-between-obama-and-romney-distilled/263299/
Felanius Kootea
@freelancer: Has anyone pointed out his stupid comments from the previous campaign and asked (1) how he’s enjoying the Obama loss due to hubris in Berlin and (2) how he’s enjoying the McCain presidency in the alternate reality in which he seems to dwell?
I guess deep down he’s never believed in Barack Obama (it’s hard to believe that any Margaret Thatcher devotee can truly appreciate Obama) and has been suspending that disbelief because of positive social policy developments. The slightest confirmation of his true beliefs causes him to freak out and he’s convinced that all other Obama supporters are just as fickle.
I can’t believe this is the same guy who wrote the Obama as the Dem’s Reagan piece. He needs to look into meditation, yoga or get a prescription to help himself calm the fuck down stat.
Valdivia
@Hill Dweller:
ha ha. The funny thing is that everyone believed it–just goes to show how crazy he went. I did send him en email telling him his post today was the last straw for me and that the day after the election he would have to eat crow and apologize for saying those horrendous things about Obama.
Or something like that.Suffern Ace
Sullivan has posted about moving. Did he move from DC to New York? Or was he just swapping apartments. My guess is that having been barraged by ads meant for Virginians the past few moths, their absence is making him think that Obama has stopped campaigning.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Apparently Sullivan twitter parodies are “a thing”, as the kids say
Brachiator
@gwangung:
People are voting now and there is only a short time until the general election. It’s time for Obama’s short game, if he has one.
I’m not concerned about Sully’s freak out. The stupid thing is that despite the Unbearable Lightness of Mittens, some people are looking for a reason to abandon Obama, in part because of his poor debate performance. This is not good. Even if this is a minor setback, Obama has to deal with it.
A side note, I’ve heard a couple of talk radio hosts here in Southern California who lean toward Romney note that the economic numbers he danced around during the debate do not add up. And there was no “both sides do it” spin, just a surprisingly frank acknowledgement that Romney is peddling economic snake oil and is not sealing the deal that he understands business and the economy.
Electribe
Sullivan wrote for months on end about his absolute certainly of Sarah Palin running for and eventually winning the GOP nomination.
Crushes, indeed.
He goes apeshit over anything these days. What a freaking drama queen.
Felanius Kootea
@Felanius Kootea: Crap. It was a parody account that’s now suspended.
I have only ever paid attention to Andrew Sullivan because the frontpagers here keep mentioning him but I think I’ll just ignore any mentions of him from now on.
Redshift
@mai naem:
He did, pretty much. Obama has talked about how his and Michelle’s student loans weren’t paid off until he became a successful author and his books made a lot of money.
TS
@Felanius Kootea:
Good move to ignore him – he loves Bill Clinton, Margaret Thatcher and the Pope – that combination causes the weirdest memes – England was well rid of him.
pogu
I made the mistake of going to the Dish earlier today to see him freaking out. I stopped myself, looked at what else was in my feed — and, sure enough, others were posting about how much of a drama queen he was being. I spent all of one minute on his site.
Redshift
@Brachiator:
Funny how Romney claiming that his tax cuts will boost the economy but they’ll be revenue neutral and no one will pay less, especially not the rich, is a bridge too far even for some denizens of the bubble.
? Martin
@Redshift: Also makes him one of those small business owners that Republicans constantly demagogue over.
amk
@Comrade Colette Collaboratrice: mea culpa. A victim.
Narcissus
That dude is one hysterical queen. I say this as someone who likes queens.
But he is seriously getting his Henny Penny on.
Kane
Last week Don Imus was reading Sullivan’s meltdown on air, and claiming that Sullivan is a liberal.
some guy
@Redshift:
two neighborhood seniors in the line ahead of me at the market had essentially the same conversation in the check out line today, and they are both pretty much card-carrying Republicans, based on the yard signs they usually post. No Rmoney yard signs this cycle for them.
amk
@mai naem: Post 2016, he will do just fine being a writer, a speaker, a roving UN ambassador (mebbe).
Felanius Kootea
Has any news outlet focused extensively on the ground game and banking of early votes?
Wayne t
He’s the poster boy for being a DRAMA QUEEN.
I find it impossible to believe he successfully fooled anyone when he was in the closet.
Wayne t
He’s the poster boy for being a DRAMA QUEEN.
I find it impossible to believe he successfully fooled anyone when he was in the closet.
Quaker in a Basement
John, it was totally AWESOME how you…how you, um…did nothing at all. Way to go!
Kane
Something smelled fishy when Sullivan began comparing Romney to Reagan ten minutes into the debate.
Brachiator
BTW, I have been seriously swamped with work recently. Has Romney given his big foreign policy speech? I thought I heard something about it earlier today.
TheMightyTrowel
@Brachiator: Yes. He lied a lot, contradicted previous positions, made serious declamations that are mutually incomprehensible and liable to cause great pain and suffering if enacted.
tl;dr: same old. same old.
Felanius Kootea
@Brachiator: Here’s an analysis from a Forbes blog: Romney Foreign Policy Speech Brings More Lies and Reversals in Positions. Madeleine Allbright also panned the speech.
Mnemosyne
The eternal problem with Sullivan is that he gets a fixed idea in his head, and his very first reaction if you try to debunk that idea is always — always — to double down.
For just one example, at this point the only possible rationale for his continued support of the Bell Curve is either that he’s just that racist, or he’s just that stubborn and unwilling to admit he was wrong.
Narcissus
Remember when he thought Palin had won 2008 for McCain?
TheMightyTrowel
@Narcissus: I feel like we’re reliving Palin mania but with fewer starbursts.
Cain
I was having fun going back and reading this thread With a little luck, we’ll be doing the same happy dance.
I doubt it will be anything as emotional as the 2008 one was. That was fucking history in the making. But I’ll be glad to call Obama my president again and this time.. Obama II – no more mr. passive resistance.
amk
david fucking brooks, ladies and gentlemen
My bottom line is this: The status quo is cataclysmic. The national debt problem is a Medicare problem. The Democrats’ price-control approach has little chance of working.
The Romney-Ryan approach might work. If it doesn’t, the federal budget would suffer but seniors wouldn’t. Today’s seniors would be left untouched anyway, and tomorrow’s would have the option of private plans or traditional Medicare. At worst, if the market approach flopped, we’d be back to where we started.
If we don’t get Medicare right, there’s no money for anything else. On this particular policy issue, the Republicans have the edge.
CaliCat
Big kudos to you, John. I haven’t gone to Huffpo since the debate and I vow not to go back until after the election and then only if I’m really bored at work. I’ve given up some other media habits as well. I refuse to be part of the groupthink suckerfest.
TheMightyTrowel
@amk: Clause 13.12 of the BJ reader charter of rights. Any commenter who invokes David Brooks approvingly and suggests his columns are in anyway trenchant or insightful may bring down upon their heads a filter full of pies.
ETA: clauses 1-10 consist entirely of variations on F* you! It’s my blog and I’ll do whatever the f* I want with it!
MikeJ
@mai naem:
It wasn’t that long ago he and Michelle were still paying off student loans. Pretty much all of his wealth comes from book royalties. I always find it hilarious when people complain about two rich guys fighting each other. Romney is worth ~$400M and made it by closing factories and sending jobs to China. Obama is worth ~$10M and made it by writing books.
ETA: should have read on and I would have seen red Shift said everything I did 25 comments sooner.
max
but I would like some mother fucking credit for paying no attention to the latest Sullivan freak-out.
Props to you, John.
I didn’t expect him to be freaking out today so I clicked over expecting to see the usual BS, and there’s Sully in finest ‘The Islamists are going to kill us all!’ glory and I’m like, ‘Oh, shit, he’s still flippin’ out.’
I skipped the rest because, eh, why bother? I admit it’s kind of amusing though.
max
[‘Question: given that this is his operating procedure when dealing with domestic policy, is there any reason to think he isn’t worse when dealing with foreign policy, whatever the position of the moment is?’]
Valdivia
@amk: I love how Brooks seems to totally ignore that there is already a reform of medicare that saves it, it is called ACA. I hope he keeps pimping the Ryan plan.
amk
@TheMightyTrowel: but, but… the fucker uses definitive terms like ‘my bottom line’. ^.^
Hill Dweller
Perhaps it’s naivety or stupidity, but I have a hard time believing the country will elect Romney. Granted, they elected Dubya, but he was an incumbent and likely benefited from cheating in Ohio. Willard is a largely failed politician, who has spent the better part of the last year bumbling around the country. What does he actually bring to the table?
Conversely, Obama has pulled the country from the brink of the another depression, signed some solid legislation, has made some progress on the jobs front, despite the Republicans doing their best to prevent it, and executed a fairly successful foreign policy. He has earned a second term.
Most people in the country, perhaps enough to put him over the top, have to know Obama did what he thought was right, and wants the best for the country.
The next two debates will be important, but barring a disaster, I refuse to believe they’ll elect Willard*.
*If they do, I’m moving.
TheMightyTrowel
@amk: I’m sure there are many things he wishes were done to his bottom line. None of them is appropriate for a family newspaper/blog.
;-)
ETA
@Hill Dweller: I did that post 2000. It worked out great and I’d recommend it.
Brachiator
@Felanius Kootea: Thanks for the link to the Forbes blog.
Amazing that even here, the headline and the body of the piece plainly referred to Romney lies.
And yet, it’s still supposedly a close race.
Pavonis
@Hill Dweller: Yeah, I agree with this. Polls taken last Thurs. + Friday were distorted by the media’s Romney lovefest since Republicans were rushing to their phones to brag of their Romney support while Democrats hid under their desks weeping. All evidence shows that later polls have reverted to normal, i.e., a modest Obama lead.
ruemara
the smallest parade in the world is running through my kitchen, just for you. frickin’ ants.
JustRuss
Just saw Dinesh D’sousa(Obama 2016) speak. Here’s what I learned:
1. Sure, Obama says he’s a Christian, but….
2. Liberals want too much freedom
3. If any other country had dropped atom bombs on Japan, they’d commemorate the dates as national holidays
4. India doesn’t send as much disaster aid to other countries as the US because they aren’t a Christian nation
Plenty more, but I didn’t take notes and those are the highlights. I want that hour back.
JustRuss
Just saw Dinesh D’sousa(Obama 2016) speak. Here’s what I learned:
1. Sure, Obama says he’s a Christian, but….
2. Liberals want too much freedom
3. If any other country had dropped atom bombs on Japan, they’d commemorate the dates as national holidays
4. India doesn’t send as much disaster aid to other countries as the US because they aren’t a Christian nation
Plenty more, but I didn’t take notes and those are the highlights. I want that hour back.
Rainey Day
I’m done with Sullivan for the forseeable future. He has totally lost it.
However, we shouldn’t be overconfident. In those states that we expect will push Obama over the number of electoral votes needed, the margin is slimmer than it was just a few days ago.
Yutsano
@amk: Not getting out of the boat. Fuck your mangoes.
mai naem
@Brachiator: It’s by Rick Ungar. FYI – He’s the lone liberal at Forbes. I’ve heard him a bunch of times. He comes on regularly on a talk show I listen to on Sirius/XM.
Anyway, the piece by Fallows/Frontline talks about how after Obama got beat by Bobby Rush, Bobby Rush asked for redistricting to redistrict Obama’s home area out of his district but that Obama wasn’t even interested in that. He asked for the redistricting to get UChicago area with the wealthy liberal area north so that he would get the AA area and the wealthy liberal area for $$$ for campaign $$$. I don’t remember any of this being covered in 2008. In a way, Obama’s lucky that his opponents pay attention to his “pretty words” stuff and end up actually ignoring that he’s a pretty savvy calculating politician.
DPS
Sounds good to me. Let’s partially implement one thing that may or may not work, and then turn around and try something else that may or may not work, and just keep flailing around like that every couple of years. That’s some common sense motherfucking conservatism right there.
amk
@Yutsano: Hey. I post, you decide.
Jewish Steel
Obama (very very quietly) endorses your embargo of Sully, John.
Hill Dweller
@DPS: Brooks is clueless. Ryan’s plan will raise prices not just for the individual, but ultimately the government.
Yutsano
@amk: I did. I’m going fruitless. And I want that meteor that has Brook’s name on it NAOW!!
The Ancient Randonneur
Imagine THIS Sully trying to land a passenger laden jetliner in the Hudson.
sharl
@JustRuss: In case you didn’t see it, Bill Maher tore D’Souza a new one in a late August show. Here’s a clip from that Maher show, at Crooks & Liars (9:55) – I didn’t watch it now to refresh my memory, but as I recall Maher held some of his fire until near the end, when he opened up on the sleazy twerp. Shamelessness is part of that guy’s basic character, so I assume he resumed his tour to hawk his sleazy book without missing a beat.
sm*t cl*de
I ask for very little
And you shall receive!
Darkrose
@mai naem: That was fascinating; thanks for the link. The contrast is striking, especially the way Obama’s letter is very outward-focused, and Romney’s is inward-focused. I also think it’s interesting that Obama acknowledges the challenges he faces coming into South Side neighborhoods that are used to seeing earnest young men come and go. Mitt, on the other hand, seems almost blithely unaware of what it means to try to convert people to your young faith from theirs, which is well over a millenieum old if you count conservatively. It’s the difference between someone soaked in privilege and someone who’s worked for everything he’s achieved.
Fuck ALL the chickens! (né Studly Pantload, t.e.u.u.)
Counter meme I ran across, yesterday, for realzers:
Obama underperformed in the debate to keep more Republican money going to Romney rather than to more-winnable downticket races.
Yeah, I believe that as much as I believe Obama threw the debate to spend more time as a private citizen with his family. But it goes to show there are multiple ways to look at this in a manner that bolsters your preconceiveds.
AxelFoley
@Yellow-cake from Africa:
Oh, look, a new troll. Saw this one in Sarah’s thread earlier, but wasn’t sure if he was snarking. Now I know this is a confirmed underbridge-dweller.
MoZeu
When people can no longer tell the difference between the real twitter feed and the parodies, you know you are in deep water. Sullivan has always been addicted to drama, but this time I think he is truly in need of an intervention.
Jorge
A good fundraiser for the illegal immigrant cats Balloon-juice Loves could be a T-shirt with Sullies face and the caption..
“God Save the Drama Queen”
It would be post-sexuality politics and religiously ironic and some other stuff I read on-line.
Cheers,
Jorge
Chinn Romney
In my formative years I used to watch the McLaughlin Group. Somehow I picked up the notion that Charles Krauthammer was a reasonable pundit. Didn’t agree with anything he said, but I thought he was fair. Then I read his review of the debate. The biggest route since Agincourt. Uh, okay. Another one bites the dust. Looked more like the Steelers vs Eagles to me.
mk3872
Sullivan, the supposed “conservative” Obama-backer, still does not get who Obama is.
Obama is a nerdy, wonky, middle-of-the-road politician.
What we was in the debate last week was the same as he was in the 2008 debates and the same as he was during the Gulf Oil Spill: cool, calm, collected.
People either love him or hate him for it.
But for folks like Sullivan to lose it over Obama is he doesn’t show up with his hair on fire is completely missing what Obama is all about.
Joy
Good for you. I admit, I looked. The last thing I read was “and this is why Romney is favored”. I thought what? I looked around, didn’t see that anywhere else. Yes, polls tightened. But his total meltdown after the debate was one for the record. Like other posters, I’m not looking at HuffPo and even watching MSNBC. MSNBC would have been much more complete if they had Sullivan on their panel that night. They could have relied on each other for support as they were carried out of the studio. You know it’s comical when SNL parodies your coverage.
LAC
I rarely read Andrew Sullivan – I think he is the original stunt queen and is under some delusion that what he says matters.
Brazilian Rascal
@SatanicPanic:
We’ve all known that Sully flirtation with ‘centrism’ was a shot-lived, unstable thing, doomed to fade when A-) He found a new stern GOP daddy to drool over, or B-) his political crush on Obama subsided.
Seems B it is. That said I still read him because you’ll find no better weather vane as to how the creepy DC Villager mindest will swing.
KXB
I do still read Sullivan, but as others pointed out, his tendency to panic at any setback is embarrassing. Obama was unprepared for the latest version of Romney that came out last week. I expect him to be stronger next time. I also expect that Romney will change position again for each of the two remaining debates. I’ve been reading “The American Conservative” website for more sober criticism of the two. Daniel Larison reminds me of the conservatives I used to read 20 years ago, but would be dismissed by the NR and Weekly Standard crowd today.
different-church-lady
You want credit. On the internet. In 21st century America. Oh, you’re just precious.
kindness
Sully lost me on debate night. I heard on NPR this morning that he had another ‘moment’. I won’t go see for myself. No clicks for Drama Queen. When I think about why he’s doing it I could be charitable and suggest Sully thinks he’s helping to kick start Obama but in reality I feel it is more Sully LIKES the attention he’s getting (and the clicks) and big brave Sully can not stand to be on what he fears is a losing operation. Neither option is really very attractive.
With friends like Sully…..
Tractarian
@amk (quoting Bobo):
I didn’t read the column, but isn’t this, like, the exact opposite of the truth?
The whole point of the Ryan plan is to limit the government’s exposure to increasing medical costs. If that approach doesn’t work in bringing down costs overall, then seniors are left to pay the balance.
In other words, if it doesn’t work, seniors would suffer, but the federal budget wouldn’t.
schrodinger's cat
Sully should be moved to the blogs we mock column. Right now.
His two minutes of sanity are up.
schrodinger's cat
Sully should be moved to the blogs we mock column. Right now.
His two minutes of sanity are up.
Another Halocene Human
Poppers, Cole, poppers.
Phoebe
I knew better than to freak out as hard as Andrew Sullivan, but neither was I going to insist that EVERYTHING’S FINE like ABL. So I looked around for a level of panic that felt about right and found it here:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/10/the-romney-wave/263378/
Whew.
Phoebe
@Brazilian Rascal:
The reason A.S. is panicking now is because he cares. He wants Obama to win. Insisting that your guy is going to win and that polls which indicate otherwise are rigged is not loyalty, it’s delusion. How do you see this as evidence of a rightward shift? I see no evidence for that, I just worry for his blood pressure.
Midnight Marauder
Move him back to the “Blogs We Monitor And Mock As Needed” category and then you’ll have some street cred.
Tractarian
@Phoebe:
There’s no doubt he cares. And for all I know, he’s being completely sincere when he says he thinks Obama just threw the election away.
And it’s OK to panic if the situations warrants it. But unwarranted panicking is just not helpful. Sullivan’s Chicken Little routine is based on cherry-picking a single poll, taken mostly immediately after the debate, and saying this is the state of the election. He then compounds his error by pointing out all the different ways (gender gap, favorability) that the cherry-picked poll supports his narrative – that Obama’s debate performance made Romney the favorite to win. Sullivan did this when Pew showed Obama ahead by 10; he’s doing it now when Pew shows Obama behind by 4.
I don’t know if “poll sniffing” is indicative of loyalty, but it’s certainly not delusion. Polls can be outliers. There’s nothing wrong with suggesting that a particular poll, with unfavorable results for your preferred candidate, is one of those outliers. And there’s nothing wrong with pointing to a poll’s internals to bolster that argument.
Now, the people criticizing Pew today, were they loudly complaining back in August when Pew showed Obama up 10? Of course not. But I’m not sure why anyone would expect Obama supporters to scrutinize pro-Obama results; that’s Team Romney’s job. In any event, the worst you could possibly say about “poll sniffers” is that they are hypocritical, in that they only scrutinize polls that are unfavorable to their candidate. But they are not delusional.
Bruce S
I’m not sure that the way to ignore something is to write a post about how you’re ignoring it…
Seems like there’s a bit of a freak-out here about not freaking out. ABL, of course, is the Queen of this “anti-hysteria” hysteria.
Bruce S
“There’s no doubt (Sullivan) cares. And for all I know, he’s being completely sincere when he says he thinks Obama just threw the election away.”
Is it news that Sullivan is a drama queen – and that his blog is about Sullivan’s ups and downs. The guy is ridiculous. He was ridiculous when he was calling people such as myself a “Fifth Column” because we saw through the Iraq hysterics that were obviously being ginned up, and he’s ridiculous now, even though he’s supporting the same guy for President as I am. There was never any good reason to read Sullivan, so I’m not impressed by folks making a big deal out of ignoring him. He’s a fucking waste of time and always has been…unless you’ve got way too much time on your hands.
kindness
@Bruce S:
See many folk, Sully, the entire Serious Village Elders and all love the spinning of wheels. For what ever reason they think the spinning of wheels = actual life and actual work to attain some goal.
For myself, I see spinning of wheels as a waste of energy and not something that leads me to view those who do love spinning of wheels as a favorable personality trait that increases trust of the source. No. Here we have people who want to stand out and ‘show’ themselves to be active in doing something. Well to me, that something is promotion of their own sorry asses, not attaining any goal outside of that.
Yellow-cake from Africa
@Kane: Re: Imus claiming Sullivan is a liberal.
The alternative is much worse: Obama is actually a centrist neocon. And that’s why Sullivan adores him.
different-church-lady
@Yellow-cake from Africa: Knock it off, Doug.
JustRuss
@Tractarian:
It’s always Opposite Day in Boboville.
El Cid
@Bruce S: I am seriously starting to freak out about how many people are freaking out at people freaking out against people who are freaking out.
Pretty soon we should be able to connect directly with Kevin Bacon’s freakout.
JustRuss
@sharl:
Thanks for the link to the Maher clip. Wish he’d have been there last night.
Ian
I know we’re not supposed to be paying attention, but Sully has just ascribed last week’s performance to the President being lazy. Way to bring out the racist tropes, you Thatcherite idiot…
hep kitty
I just can’t read someone I have absolutely no respect for.
hep kitty
@Ian: He’s quoting Sununu, apparently – yup, our President sho’ is lazy and shiffless! Ain’t done a doggone thang these last 4 years ‘cept send Michelle on shopping sprees on the taxpayer dime!
hep kitty
People have a right to be upset about the debate. But they are all going to continue to support the President and have faith he will win this thing. If you’ve seen him lately, he is definitely back on his game.
Don’t chastise people for being upset. It’s not as if their opinion is going to change anyone else’s at this point in time. Supporters who have defended him over and over again were naturally crestfallen and I can totally understand where they are coming from.
But whatever they may say, they have faith in this President and that’s what counts.
That said, I could care less what the likes of Andrew Sullivan thinks/says.
kindness
Well going forward, what is the best way for President Obama to say during the debate that Romney is lying? He can’t just up and say it every segment even though it would have been true the last debate. The press would maul Obama and ignore the fact that what Obama says is accurate and what Romney says is a crock of shit.
How does one say your opponent wants to kill each and every one of your dreams in order to fund his plans to transfer wealth from the middle class to the Galtians? Can’t just up and say it. Look what happened to Krugman last week when Matlin said he was lying about what he said about Romney’s lies. The panel agreed with that shrieking harpy Matlin even though I have no doubt they all knew Krugman was right (even Bobo knows this, he just will never admit it).
It is going to happen again. Two more times. You can’t ignore it and you can’t make it the focus of your counter attack. It’s a tough call.
hep kitty
@Bruce S: YUP! My sentiments exactly. Kinda ironic that those who supported the Iraq war have nonetheless, still not been discredited. As a matter of fact, they seem as popular as ever, constantly appearing on teevee panels and such. No matter how wrong they are/were. I’m sorry, gots no time for those ppl.
hep kitty
@LAC: Apparently, a lot of fp’rs and commenters still think he’s the shizzle. I don’t get it.
Tractarian
@kindness:
True. This is a tough problem for BHO. If he is aggressive and calls Mitt out on each and every one of his distortions, the media will most likely Gore him: that is, the media will criticize him for responding to media criticism in the way that the media suggested!
I think, at this point, it’s a risk the President will have to take. Better to have the media critical of you than have Denver Part II.
NobodySpecial
I repeat for the umpteenth time, why does anyone read the little racist?
Tractarian
@hep kitty:
The problem is, he is part of the Village that makes the conventional wisdom and shapes all media coverage. So, in that sense, his opinion matters.
What irks me is that, in the middle of a spit-speckled diatribe accusing Obama of throwing the election, he’ll point out (correctly) that Romney’s debate “win” was based entirely on lies and distortions and the media is letting him get away with it. Well hello? Isn’t that the story? And aren’t you part of the media?
He claims he is just being honest about what he is observing, but his relentless focus on a narrative of Obama Failure – based entirely on one bad night – is indistinguishable from parroting GOP talking points.
I’m beginning to think that comes down to the debate changing Sullivan’s opinions about the candidates and their relative merit. I’ll leave the MoDo-type armchair psychology to others, but it’s clear that he saw starbursts on Wednesday night. He no longer believes in the larger-than-life messianic version of Obama he has built up so studiously for the last five years.
I always believed that Sully would turn on Obama in a big way, should he get a second term. This just expedited the process. In the long run, that’s probably not a bad thing.
@Yellow-cake from Africa:
You’re half right. Credit where credit is due, and all.
Brachiator
@sharl:
D’Souza was also in effect hawking the movie “Obama’s America 2016,” which is based on or inspired by or regurgitated from his book. The movie grossed $33 million before petering out at the box office. I wouldn’t be surprised to hear that voters in swing states recently got a DVD of the film.
Tractarian
I’ve been asking myself that question. Here are the reasons I can come up with.
1) He is a good writer.
2) I agree with him on many (certainly not all) specific issues. Torture, civil rights, etc.
3) It’s interesting to see what appeals to people that are not of my particular political persuasion (that’s the same reason I started reading BJ, even though it’s transformed into a Kos clone over the last 8 years or so)
4) He admits when he’s wrong. (Even if it takes him years to realize he’s wrong.)
Looking back, these are not very good reasons!
Mike Furlan
@Mnemosyne: He can be both stubborn, and racist. And racist in his case is a problem because it defines him as stupid, and therefore not likely to have a valuable opinion on other issues.
montanareddog
@hep kitty: I think you mean I could NOT care less.
I could care less means I care more than 0
I could not care less means I care 0.
Think about it; it’s obvious really.
(Sorry but the increasing use of the “I could care less” expression is a pet peeve)
montanareddog
One things become clear over the last few days; you would want not to be trapped in the proverbial foxhole with Sully. Jesus! I hate to use descriptions like drama queen and hysterical and old woman and such as it’s stereotyping, him being a cockjockey ‘n all, but Jesus!
schrodinger's cat
Sully is what Plouffe calls a professional bed wetter, wasn’t he against the Bains ads too?
hep kitty
@montanareddog: I was trying to do it the right way but I failed, sorry
That said, I had 9 credits in English/Composition going into college.
But I’m old now. Also, tired. I’m good 99% of the time. You can ask anyone here about my grammar which, if I do say so myself, is pretty effing good for blog commenting.
The substance, perhaps, not so much
different-church-lady
@montanareddog:
Nor stranded on the surface of LV-426.
different-church-lady
@montanareddog: I usually handle this situation by simply saying, “You could?“