A damn shame
Posted on August 10th, 2008 by Brad
I had hope for Lambert coming back to reality after the primaries were over. The Talk Left folks have toned it down, as has Taylor Marsh. But no, Lambert is still really insane. It’s a damn shame.
Well, look at it this way: Larry Johnson was lonely and needed the company.
Maybe Lambert and Cornfederate Yanqui can pool their conspiracy theories.
Oh, he’s never come back from the edge. Most of the other Corrente writers have, but ol’ Lambert’s still going strong. The “tepid Obama supporter” bashes Obama day in, day out. J. Sidney McCain gets a pass, though. The last post on McCain? A remark on his mixing up the Steelers and the Packers.
You should check out their “Progressive Blogosphere 2.0” posts. The whole project appears to amount to nothing more than bitching about how the rest of the liberal blogs preferred Obama, so they’re going to start their own blogosphere. With blackjack, and hookers.
It’s really frightening how intense the hatred of Obama is at places like NoQuarter; it’s watching a fresh two-minute’s hate every time someone posts.
Blackjack and hookers?
Hell, that beats the crap outta this blogosphere. This one’s just got words, some pictures and a few youtube videos.
Sign me up…
mikey
There should be a theme park that you can go to that emulates the US after say, three years of McCain presidency. People should have to go there to help them figure out that this is about a little more than their hurt feelings…
mikey
I don’t get it. Obama has everything to loose by any smears that affect fellow Dems. A big part of his platform is how squeaky clean his party is in comparison to the rethugs.
On the subject of the Edwards scandal.. What a load of crock. As a European, the only time a politician with a mistress is a sex scandal is when his wife is hotter than his mistress.
Face it.. Clinton lost because she was badly organised, didn’t appeal well to the young who are now getting much more politically involved, and people didn’t really fancy continuing the Bush Clinton Bush Clinton pattern. Political dynastys just sound too undemocratic to a country with real worries about the health of its electoral process.
Edwards only ever got any support because he was the white male, and the cynics that believed a white male was necessary to win gave him some begrudging support.
Kerry’s loss of course lead Dems away from the conventional wisdom of choosing the “safe” candidate. Obama didn’t need to smear anyone, he just won through being the best organised and the most appealing candidate.
Mikey:
That theme park exists. It is called “New Orleans”
Yeah, I was wondering what the dilly-o was with Corrente. About a week after Hillary dropped out, they seemed to go along with Obama, but there was still some bile on Obama thrown about. Guess it makes sense that one or two of the contributors are still in-fucking-sane.
Actually, Sockpuppet #47, I was an Edwards supporter, and not because he was a white man. I had been impressed by him during the 2004 primaries, and this year I felt he was the only candidate who was talking about the poor.
Now I’m furious at him, for running for president with a scandal like this ready to put a hole in his candidacy if he’d won the nomination. Americans are prudish about affairs to begin with, and cheating on your cancer-ridden wife is a serious offense. At least he had enough class not to ask his wife to sit next to him while he confessed.
But how the Edwards revelation is supposed to help Obama, I have no idea.
Wow, Obama is in Hawaii on vacation while John Edwards makes his announcement. And hey, my car got into a crash yesterday. Can this all be conicidence? I think not.
After Super Tuesday, Clinton’s campaign intentionally fomented feelings of victimization and outrage as a last ditch attempt to fire up her supporters and get the nomination. They did it with no apologies. They were playing for keeps.
It was hardball politics, but the cost of fomenting victimization is that it inevitably sets off a handful of true believers on a righteous crusade against those that have victimized them. It may be a lifelong crusade – in any case, it’s a long way back, and I don’t think either Lambert or Larry Johnson is ever going to make it.
Hardball is fine against the Bush/Rove era Republicans, but it’s not OK against your own side. Future Dem candidates would best serve their party by bowing out gracefully just before going divisive becomes their only shot at the nomination.
Lambert and his like invested everything in HRC and lost, throwing away their honor and credibility in the process. Now they’re too far out on the margins to ever again be relevant, so they’re reduced to throwing their feces at the rest of us. Just ignore the poor, sad monkeys.
There should be a theme park that you can go to that emulates the US after say, three years of McCain presidency.
I rode the Waterboarder fifteen times in a row ’til my Mom said that’s enough and took me to play in the Oilslick.
“It’s like these guys take pride in being ignorant. You know?”
The “shrill” comes through loud & clear, but the “boldly” part seems lacking somehow – unless blatantly ignoring McCain’s recent gaffe-a-thon now qualifies as boldness. Smells like junior-high locker-room politics at its finest: you didn’t vote for my girlfriend for Pin, so I’m not going to pass you the ball when we’re just about to win the State Championship – ha ha ha, take THAT! Yeah, get back to the rest of us in 2011 or so, & let us know how remarkably well that worked out for you.
Now, hands please: anyone at this point actually giving a flying fuck what’s in Clinton’s e-mails? Anyone … anybody at all?
But hey, give them the credit they deserve – when riverdaughter uses the exact same line in regard to Edwards, she uses 4 consecutive e’s in “convenient” instead of Corrente’s mere 3, so at least Corrente is showing some class.
Off topic but thought it might be gratifying to hear. Fred Phelps and his batshit crew travelled into Canada to “protest” at the funeral of Tim McLean, the fellow who was beheaded on the bus two weeks ago. (Their MO was the usual…God killed Tim because Canada allows gay marriage and abortion.) Neither the government nor the border guards were successful in keeping them out, though they tried. Canadians hearing of it on the news arrived in the hundreds at the funeral and erected a human wall to keep them from disrupting the funeral and getting anywhere near the mourners. The gasbags didn’t show up, saying they were afraid someone might assault them. Damn straight.
Canada 1
Gasbags: 0
I don’t get it.
Me either. The theory seems to be that Obama, safely nestled in his supervillain headquarters (a cat on his lap, no doubt) is nefariously plotting the downfall of fellow Democrats. Yep, the surest way of getting voters to trust him is to systematically destroy his own party.
That obvious silliness aside, I’m also skeptical that the internal Clinton emails have anything very explosive to offer. It’s not like we all didn’t know what they were up to, based on, you know, what they were doing.
Obama’s gone on vacation (to the state where he was born), the Olympics started (in China), Edwards admitted he was having an affair (on ABC), Bernie Mac died (IN THE STATE WHERE OBAMA IS SENATOR!) The date was 08.08.08. Turn all the letters into numbers, carry the one, look up and see the clouds … the clouds are round, like an O… IT’S A PLOT!
And wait! A bus crashed in Texas, it was full of people from a Vietnamese Catholic Group. Vietnam and China are on the Pacific Ocean, just like Hawaii. And a country called Georgia is at war just like the state of Georgia was once at war … Now the clouds are spelling out words … H…I…L…L…
At least he had enough class not to ask his wife to sit next to him while he confessed.
Damn! I’ve been waiting to NOT SEE that, and I missed it!
I just don’t understand the wives who do that. Though I do understand one thing… the Spitzer public apology with his wife standing there stoically, until at one point Spitzer said something about being sorry for what he’d done to his family.
Mrs. Spitzer gave him a look that should have melted his bones.
Oh, yeah… the topic.
Investment. They really plunged some self-esteem down that particular rat-hole.
And they can’t be disappointed in the candidate they have invested so much into, so they displace it onto the one who must have CHEATED and LIED and PLOTTED.
How else could they have beaten the one the person favored?
Let me explain you the thought process.
The conspiracy theory is thrown out there ahead of time so that, come next week, it will allow them to dismiss anything that will come out of the emails like any confirmation of the attempt to stoke up racial tensions (“Obama planted those emails to play the race card!”) or the utter dysfunction of those people (“Patti worked for Obama all along and planted seeds of discords !”).
“The Talk Left folks have toned it down”
Perhaps the FP’s have, but the commentors are as bitter as ever. Still a lot of ODS there. Haven’t seen Iris around of late though.
And, they took SN! off of their blog roll.
And, they took SN! off of their blog roll.
The fact is, that’s because they think SN! is hostile. We want Democrats to win. Just not in the way they want a Democrat to win.
FUCKING CHRIST!
Loose.
Lose.
People that mix the two up fall into the second category.
The commenters at Shakesville are still pretty loony about Obama, too.
The bloggers there can’t even say anything good about Obama without adding a disclaimer to clarify that they are not saying he is NOT the incarnation of evil, oh he very well may be, but he did this one kinda ok thing today. If anybody appears to have anthing good to say about him over there, be prepared for a dozen people to show up and accuse you of somehow abusing them as well as all women everywhere.
Ah, Lambert. And his brand has bled to the other CW posters, too, some of whom I used to respect a lot. There was that one time when he posted about how we shouldn’t ban cell phone jammers because cell phones SHOULD be jammed in public places, and how actually cell phone jammers should be commonplace. Kinda ridiculous…
Canada 1
Gasbags: 0
Music to my eyes.
Thank you, Canada.
Bets on Bernie Mac appearing on the Obama death list e-mails?
Let’s all just fire one up and get loose til we lose…
mikey
Even better failblog picture:
http://failblog.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/fail-owned-spelling-fail3.jpg
FUCKING CHRIST!
I’ve given up on the loose vs. lose thing. Not sure how it got started, or where it comes from. Perhaps from the same lost island where people are confused by their, there and they’re.
And the scary part is, you’re in some of the more literate comment threads you’ll read on the internet. Want to see something scary? Read YouTube comments.
I read it as a joke. Did anyone else?
/me gives bago a big ol’ hug
Dude/dudette, I’m right there with you.
And huge thank you to Blue Buddha for the hilarious pic.
Let’s all just fire one up and get loose til we lose…
Sounds like a plan.
OT and irrelevant p-shop/blog-whoring.
What can I say? I need the traffic or we don’t eat next week.
Look, it should be perfectly clear to everyone that Obama was behind Rielle Hunter’s seduction of Edwards. He’s been planning this coup for years and had his family’s vacation arrangements conveniently lined up and ready to go just waiting for the moment when he forced Edwards to go public with his confession.
I suggest we assemble a crack team to check the kerning on those Clinton documents because there’s no doubt Obama’s Chicago mob connections will have slipped a few forgeries in with the genuine material.
Wow, the Obamabots have learned nothing I see. Well, I suppose when you pledge yourself to an utterly unprincipled and unqualified candidate, destroying the best chance in decades for a liberal revival in the process, it can be hard to admit the error. Still, after the FISA fiasco one might have hoped a little light might seep through.
Ah well, thank goodness Corrente remains an island of integrity in a sea of Kool Aid.
Ya know, I can’t tell if he’s parody or the real thing.
Frankly, now that I’ve pondered on it some, I’m not sure if “the real thing” isn’t parody somehow or another. I mean, it’s impossible to take ’em seriously.
Ah well, thank goodness Corrente remains an island inhabited by the increasingly isolated tin-foil hat tribe
Fixed your typo.
Unprincipled like tossing out rules already agreed upon and feeding the Republican party oppo research?
I have to admit tho, being Former First Lady certainly would have helped Hillary find the restrooms a little easier.
Mikey:
That theme park exists. It is called “New Orleans”
With Scalia clones presiding over reproductive and civil rights rulings.
Let me explain you the thought process.
The conspiracy theory is thrown out there ahead of time so that, come next week, it will allow them to dismiss anything that will come out of the emails like any confirmation of the attempt to stoke up racial tensions (”Obama planted those emails to play the race card!”) or the utter dysfunction of those people (”Patti worked for Obama all along and planted seeds of discords !”).
Good to see the conspiracy theories aren’t limited to the pro-Clinton crowd. Jeez. I didn’t even care which reactionary pig wins as long as they beat the bat-shit crazy even more reactionary pigs, but can you guys just once stick the hell together? No wonder you always lose.
Democrats don’t lose. Republicans Steal. Every time.
🙂
With Hillary “Obliterate Them” Clinton? Are you fucking kidding me?
Edwards only ever got any support because he was the white male, and the cynics that believed a white male was necessary to win gave him some begrudging support… Obama didn’t need to smear anyone, he just won through being the best organised and the most appealing candidate.
As an Edwards supporter who will vote for Obama in November, if only because he’s Not McLame, I have to say one thing: The Magical Unity Pony has attracted some of the most self-righteous, pig-ignorant, flap-mouthed, annoying supporters since Ron Paul failed to win the Rethug nomination. Obama’s campaign is top-notch, and his political skills unimpeachable. But you MUPpets? Fuck off and die. (If you’re in a swing state, you can wait until after November 4.)
anyone at this point actually giving a flying fuck what’s in Clinton’s e-mails? Anyone … anybody at all?
I’m hoping they’re send each other jokes, but that’s just me.
I just hope we all remember how these nutjobs tried to sabotage Obama and the Dem Party when they try to slither back into the Big Tent after Election Day.
I just hope we all remember how these nutjobs tried to sabotage Obama and the Dem Party when they try to slither back into the Big Tent after Election Day.
Fuck. We better prepare ourselves for a McCain presidency. Let me spell this out for ya, johnbinpt: bunches of liberals (Todd Gitlin etc.) didn’t manage to protest the Iraq war because they didn’t like the organizers of the demos. If you think they will vote for Obama when you spend the rest of the year slagging them off, you are mistaken.
anyone at this point actually giving a flying fuck what’s in Clinton’s e-mails? Anyone … anybody at all?
Not really, but I think it would be pretty cool if they contain strategy memos for how to deal with the possibility that McCain might actually croak on stage during a debate. You know, like what would be the protocol if you’d just been particularly hard on him in a follow-up response and he blew a gasket.
I don’t even understand what Lambert’s post is about. Is he saying Obama engineered Edwards’ affair? That he released the Clinton e-mails? And then went to Hawaii so no one would suspect him?
Did Obama also kill the Merovingian Kings?
Me: And the scary part is, you’re in some of the more literate comment threads you’ll read on the internet. Want to see something scary? Read YouTube comments.
xkcd has already covered this.
If you think they will vote for Obama when you spend the rest of the year slagging them off, you are mistaken.
That’s putting a whole lot of importance on a blog comment. Calm down.
Fuck. We better prepare ourselves for a McCain presidency.
Do you honestly think any one of those 1%’s gives a flying fuck what any commenter here says about anything? They will spend countless hours combing the intertubes searching for any tiny morsel that reinforces their hatred of Obama. And if nothing he does or says will make any difference to these dead enders, why should I worry about offending them.
If you think they will vote for Obama when you spend the rest of the year slagging them off, you are mistaken.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — any liberal who, after eight years of George W. Bush, votes for four years of George W. Bush’s Loyal Sycophant, knowing that he will make sure all of Bush’s anti-freedom, eternal-war-enabling, anti-abortion, anti-infrastructure, pro-Patriot-Act, economy-wrecking, anti-environment, pro-megacorp, pro-domestic-spying, pro-torture policies continue onward without any alteration… should just start being outraged by Chappaquidick now.
Let me put it this way. I for one hope he wins. But there is something very disappointing about Obama and in particular the movement that put him in power. That thing is an apparent unwillingness to hold the American right, and indeed, all those responsible for the current situation, to account. If not criminally, then at least to say that “We were right in that past, and you were wrong,” and to make this a CLEAR repudiation of one branch of American political thought.
Now, you might argue that because of The Media, he cannot appear to be doing this. But why does it seem so important for him and many of his supporters to talk about “divisive” politics. Politics were divisive because one side was dreadfully, dangerously wrong/bad/evil, and need to be politically crushed, not “reached out” to. \
That’s really important, and the Obama movement seems to be the…revenge of the radical center-right against the hard right, at least until it sounds like its going to do what a surprisingly large fraction of the electorate seems to think, pace Broderists, that one powerful political perspective is so irresponsible that any compromise with it should be very grudging at best.
Whatever you say about Lambert, he’s been very consistent about this goal. And so it’s easy to understand why Obama and his movement have been very disappointing. For while Hillary may merely have accomodated the (R) party, Obama has created a movement about Unity and Bipartisanship, both of which are politically poisonous memes.
If there was anything that Grover Norquist was right about, it was that. As I said on another thread, the point of politics is the same as the point of war. If you know your opponents are wrong, and you’re (rightly) never going to change your mind about that, then it *is* in fact a principled stand to want to figuratively eat their figurative brains.
Whatever you say about Lambert, he’s been very consistent about this goal.
By supporting Clinton…right…
I don’t get it either. Obama forced Edwards to cheat? Is that it? Did he use mind control?
Or he just leaked the news that Edwards cheated? How did he know?
Wouldn’t the best time for other candidates to implode be during the nomination process, not after Obama is the nominee?
Wouldn’t the best time for other candidates to implode be during the nomination process, not after Obama is the nominee?
Logic is a wreath of pretty flowers that smell bad.
I saw the same post the other day, and had the same reaction. Sad. He’s also not the only one.
A massive explosion just occurred in Toronto. Youtube here taken by a resident shows the fireball. Looks freakin’ nuclear
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2008/08/10/explosion-rocks-west-end-photos-reports.aspx
anyone at this point actually giving a flying fuck what’s in Clinton’s e-mails? Anyone … anybody at all?
If they contained links to donkey porn and/or anti semitic ranting, yes, otherwise, no.
Why is Obama simultaneously the most unqualified and inept presidential candidate yet so Machiavellian that he can engineer the fall of his former rivals? Is it because (as others have noted) doing so makes absolutely no sense whatsoever?
Also: For the ten thousandth time. There are disappointing things about Obama. If Hilary was the nominee at this point, I would be disappointed with her on something. Perhaps not FISA… (and I give her a lot of credit for that). It’s one of the things we will never know.
The point is that there are many supporters of Obama who don’t see him as a messiah or a rock star or anything like that. Just as, I may note, there were plenty of Clinton supporters who preferred her for many reasons and didn’t refer to anyone who disagreed as an obot.
Lesley, we have friends in Toronto. CNN has nothing (duh). Do theyknow what happened?
Sometimes I wonder if conspiracy theorists are just people suffering from undiagnosed paranoid schizophrenia.
Sure it makes sense: look at George W Bush. 😛
Blue Buddha, I forgot that little detail.
Obviously I failed to note their similarities.
Oh and sorta OT but NoQuarter has a post up claiming (for the ten thousandth time) that Obama is about to suddenly implode because he’s a secret Kenyan and, um, they found his real birth certificate that calls him Barry Seotoro. Also unnamed people are visiting Pakistan and Indonesia and spending lots of money to obtain “documents.” And this is worse than the “Whitey tape”
Clearly this is good news for Hillary.
I hope everybody’s OK up in Toronto – I saw that explosion vid and that must have been terrifying.
Jesus that No Quarter thread hurts to read.
Someone needs to cut the electricity to those people’s homes for a day or two so they are forced to go outside and breathe something besides their own farts. Yipes.
Toronto – wow. That’s some scary shit.
I have friends who live near the beach. No phone number, just an email at work.
Good Grief!
GuymbyAnne @ 4:50:
The bloggers there can’t even say anything good about Obama without adding a disclaimer to clarify that they are not saying he is NOT the incarnation of evil, oh he very well may be, but he did this one kinda ok thing today. If anybody appears to have anthing good to say about him over there, be prepared for a dozen people to show up and accuse you of somehow abusing them as well as all women everywhere.
I’m a former S’ville contributor. Former, mainly for this reason. I mourn the loss of what used to be a thoroughly enjoyable place to hang out online, and I really miss some of the other writers; however, many of them have left, too.
So are we going to see this birth certificate this Friday? …which will be postponed until next Friday …which will be postponed until after the convention …which will be postponed until days before the election…
BTW, did Larry ever come up with his “Whitey tape” yet?
You should have seen the thread at Suburban Guerilla last week where they were discussing how to turn Maslow’s hierarchy of needs pyramid into an action plan. It was sad and funny at the same time.
Blue Buddha,
Well, like last time Larry’s “sources” which I believe we can safely say consist of drunks rambling at bars, claim that Republican operatives have obtained the original birth certificate because “Hawaii is a small place” and “the Edwards fiasco showed that you can’t hide your past.” He’s claiming that the Republican Pearl Harbor attack on Obama will happen after the convention.
There was an almost child-like glee in his post with him bragging about how money gets you things in Indonesia and Pakistan. I wish someone would tell him that money would get you an Obama Seotoro Birth Certificate in Peroria and it would look pretty authentic too.
And no, the Whitey tape has not been released yet… but remember this is worse for Obama.
BTW, did Larry ever come up with his “Whitey tape” yet?
Well, he’s still suggesting that it exists. In the linked post, he seems to be making that assumption (“Michelle’s “whitey” tape and the controversy over his birth certificate are the least of his concerns.”).
Oh, and that comment section is something else. Half those commenters sound like parodies. Is it possible that this whole movement is some sort of elaborate political performance art? (Or is this wishful thinking?)
Anyone who puts an emotional investment in a politician of all things, is a fucking idiot. I support Obama because he is capable of motivating people and organising campaigning efforts in a way that Kerry failed to do. The sun doesn’t shine out of his multiracial ass.
Why don’t I like Hillary? More hawkish foreign policy, and more devoted to robber baron capitalism than Margaret Thatcher. Nuff said.
Obama has a passable imitation of slightly left of centre policies, which is a good thing considering what we could have had instead.
But hero worshipping a politician? Look where that got the wingnuts.. It is just way too culty. And no politician is worth more than begrudging respect. At their worst, they are tyrants. At their best, mere public servants.
Whilst Obama doesn’t deserve worship, if you want to worship him, go right ahead! Nobody worshipped Kerry, and look where that got him.
If we have to sell this candidate to people as a trendy new brand name, so be it. Putting a candidate with a reasonable grasp of reality into the white house is now THE most important thing.
”Michelle’s “whitey” tape and the controversy over his birth certificate are the least of his concerns.”
Well, I can’t disagree with that.
Putting a candidate with a reasonable grasp of reality into the white house is now THE most important thing.
And I definitely can’t disagree with that.
Sanity would be so weird to see after all these years that it would seem wrong, somehow. Like when you see “scenario” spelled correctly online.
For those of you who don’t want to click on that link, here are some of the choicer comments from NQ:
But hey, why wait until he is the nominee? Can’t we put him in jail yet? Is it a venue fight? I had a really gloomy theory about Pakistan last April so anxiously await the outcome.
Hmmm….Although I’m a skeptic this is my take…I think 1/2 of Obama’s support was a fiction anyway ( christian campers who inflated the expectations ) and were goin to go back to camp anyway….Wriiight after the convention…
If Hill is not selected as vp, then the Dems might be in the embarrassing position of having to reconvene the convention, at least in virtual form. In regards to the arrogance of political candidates, Sam Stein at Huffington Post says that it looks like Rielle Hunter’s documentary project was an elaborate cover for the affair, which would mean money people were contributing to Edwards’ poverty eradication project was going to fund his affair.
What worries me to tears is the fact that Obama’s first Cousin, GenocidalDinga is running the Records Show in Kenya – let’s just remember that Obaalzebub went there to ensure an election victory. I mean what’s a little burning, shooting, dousing of the democratic flames when you have secrets to hide?
And, my personal favorite, one which I think explains everything you need to know about the Hillary or Nothing movement:
It won’t “ruin the Democratic Party”. On the contrary, perhaps it will be the sorely-needed catalyst for the Democratic Party to buck up the courage to tell those in it’s Daily Kos/MoveOn.org/George Soros wing to go fuck themselves and move back towards the political center so that maybe you can start winning national elections again.
I am a Republican (although I did vote for Clinton in 1996 and Gore in 2000) and a long-time John McCain fan. I also think Bush has done a very good job in the GWOT and, albeit after a very bad first 3 1/2 years, in Iraq. But he has totally wrecked the federal budget, done virtually nothing to wean us off of foreign oil, catered to the far right wing of his party on nearly every occasion, and has one of the lowest approval ratings of any president in history.
Seriously, if you guys can’t win in THIS environment, when will you EVER win???
Yeah, guys! If we don’t nominate Hillary, what chance do we have of winning over people who have already decided to vote for McCain? What do you have to say to THAT, Obots?!!!1!!1!
I’m surprised he hasn’t yet blamed Obama for the attack on Pearl Harbor because Obama ignored intelligence that the Japanese were preparing to invade.
Wake up, America. ‘Seotoro’ spelled backwards is ‘oro toes’. In Esperanto, ‘oro’ means ‘gold’. In calling himself ‘goldtoes’ Obama is openly showing solidarity with the sinister James Bond villain Auric Goldfinger.
Larry Johnson will soon announce the existence of a DVD showing Obama engaging in sexual congress with gold-painted women.
Of course they conveniently leave out the fact that those who’ve already decided to vote for McCain are most likely the same people who’ve been whining for the past 8 years that “Hillary is going to take over the country by becoming President”.
Larry Johnson will soon announce the existence of a DVD showing Obama engaging in sexual congress with gold-painted women.
Dude. I’d pay good money to see that.
Wow. When I read batshit insane nonsense like that NQ post and comments, I have to remind myself that at least half of those people are republicans, and the rest constitute about 0.01% of those who actually supported Clinton.
I wonder, will they finally fade away after the convention? After the election?
I’m surprised that he hasn’t claimed that Obama’s birth certificate will prove once and for all that he piloted the first Zero over Honolulu.
Anyone who puts an emotional investment in a politician of all things, is a fucking idiot. I support Obama because he is capable of motivating people and organising campaigning efforts in a way that Kerry failed to do. The sun doesn’t shine out of his multiracial ass.
All of this is true. However, I did find one additional reason to support him – his work as a community organizer, which I think may make him more in touch with the problems of average people and the obstacles they face every day. Certainly more in touch than any of the Republican presidents of the past 30 years, and probably more in touch than Clinton was as well. I say “may” but the likelihood is that it “will”. Having done that type of work myself for several years, my experience is that you don’t forget the people you were working with or what their lives are like. Another thing I know is that the only reason anyone would do that type of work for longer than a few months would be that they are motivated by a desire to help people improve their lives. Believe me, ain’t nobody in that line of work for the money, and the frustrations are legion. It’s like banging your head into a brick wall day after day. The ones who stick with it are the ones who actually succeed in helping people gain some power for themselves.
I laugh whenever I hear anyone claim that Obama’s years as a community organizer were all just a part of his crafty plan to gain the presidency. There’s no doubt that this type of work helps you gain political contacts and can help launch a political career, but it’s not by any means the easiest or surest way in. And even if it was, I know I’d prefer the guy who came up the ranks starting from there over the sycophant who attaches himself to an up-and-coming politician or starts playing party power-broker while a member of his college YD organization. I used to come up against these types all the time – the folks for whom wearing the right suit and shoes was more important than really getting anything done.
A new scandal has emerged: in the Mayan calendar ‘2012’ corresponds to the destruction of the planet and also the score of a game of ‘Horse’ Obama played with Nostradamus. On being skunked 2-12, Nostradamus wrote the following quatrain; “There shall come a beanpole guy from the west; His ball-handling shall be subordinate only to his disdain for lapel pins; Ascending to the throne he shall confiscate bibles and guns; Yadda yadda yadda yadda yadda etcetera.”
xkcd has already covered this.
Wow, that site is a treasure. Thanks for the link.
Yeah, I’ll give you that Jennifer. Obama’s work in the community is definitely worth a hell of a lot more than anything Mcain has done. Then again, I’ve seen roadkill with a more impressive biography than Mcain.
The thing is, there are thousands, hundreds of thousands even, of people who have done the same kind of work as Obama. It is nice to see someone with a different history than having slept their way through 5 senate terms, but it hardly makes him Jesus.
Voting record is everything really. Politicians can say anything they want. They WILL say anything they want. All that matters is that they put their vote where their mouth is. Obama has a pretty liberal voting record, which puts some weight behind his rhetoric.
If anything, the excitement over Obama shows just how far standards have dropped. American voters are so used to incompetent, reality-insulated, shameless liars that somebody with the same level of honesty you would demand from the person that gives you your change at Starbucks, seems like a breath of fresh air.
Oh, come on, demand some production value! The least we can hope for is some background music by Shirley Bassey.
Lambert’s always been a few cans short of a six-pack. I’ve always wondered what ever led Atrios to lending him the keys to Eschaton, but that’s water under the bridge.
While we’re talking about the allegedly progressive…
Ah well, thank goodness Corrente remains an island of integrity in a sea of Kool Aid.
So how’s that move to Canada goin’ for you? You know, the one you’ve been planning since Bush beat Kerry? Or is it on hold until Obama wins the election, and then you’ll really really be serious about moving and maybe cancel another couple wargames while you’re at it?
Larry Johnson will soon announce the existence of a DVD showing Obama engaging in sexual congress with gold-painted women
Well, no problem then. Now, if it was a WHITE woman….
mikey
Apparently media expert Lambert has no clue that this is the deadest weekend for anything to happen campaign-wise, with the magic show in Beijing and all.
See? That makes him a barrista, and therefore a latte sucking elitist.
Hey, I understand being cynical, I’m right there wit’cha.
But we can honestly say that Barack Obama is very much more than you, in your world-weary wisdom, paint him to be.
He’s easily as brilliant as anyone who ever held the position.
He has a life experience far outside that of a typical politician.
While there is no doubt he is a consummate pol, there seems to be an essential goodness and compassion that we have sorely missed.
Sure, that last one is as much assumption as hope, but I think it’s pretty clear…
mikey
Sure, that last one is as much assumption as hope, but I think it’s pretty clear…
I hear you, and I see it too. I’m very reluctant to believe any politician is really a good person, but I’m willing to wait and see. And after the Reagan Revolution, especially the most recent act, I’m ready to consider “sane” and “not-hell-bent-on-destruction” as a workable substitute for “good”.
Thing is, standing here with my feet on European shores, Obama doesn’t look at all liberal from my point of view. Supporting the death penalty makes him far right. Supporting a healthcare plan that involves almost entirely private hospitals and insurance companies, instead of a proper single payer mostly nationalised system, makes him far right.
The Germans cheered for him because having a SANE president in the white house is very important to the whole world. Because he would be a big improvement for America, and cause Americas effect on the rest of the world to improve a lot.
I can’t really say I have much ideology in common with Obama. All I can see him as, is a large stride in the right direction.
I’ve often felt that the public’s expectations toward politicians are nuts.
I mean, we keep talking about how we want a politician to just have the courage to speak truth to power. Well, when was the last time you actually “spoke truth to power”, in a situation when “power” could retaliate against you? Most of us have never done that. Probably, the people who actually have, don’t talk about it so blithely.
People say they want politicians to be honest. But politicians can be dishonest in part because they know what kind of public they have to work with. They know the US public often does not react well to the truth. So, they are understandably slow to tell people what they really think. It’s the real statesman or women who puts themselves in a position to be honest.
I think people should just vote for whoever they think is the best one, find a pol. that seems good, mostly on the level, and who votes the way you’d want them too. It’s about all you can realistically do.
Thing is, standing here with my feet on European shores, Obama doesn’t look at all liberal from my point of view.
News flash: the USA is pretty far to the right of western Europe, and always has been.
This is true, as it is any election year. I don’t expect to hear much until the DNC convention in two weeks, unless Obama announces his VP pick as the olympics is winding down.
I can’t really say I have much ideology in common with Obama. All I can see him as, is a large stride in the right direction.
And really, isn’t that enough for now?
Thing is, standing here with my feet on European shores, Obama doesn’t look at all liberal from my point of view. Supporting the death penalty makes him far right. Supporting a healthcare plan that involves almost entirely private hospitals and insurance companies, instead of a proper single payer mostly nationalised system, makes him far right.
See, here’s where you’re either not being honest or you genuinely don’t understand the current state of american politics.
Nobody EVER said Obama was a liberal. If they did they were horribly misguided. No actual Liberal could EVER get nominated for the office of the President of the United States. Yeah, I reckon in comparison with an absolute judgement of Left vs. Right, especially when viewed from europe, Obama IS “far right”.
Have you ever heard of the Overton Window? In american politics, the “center” has slid massively to the right since 1960. If you haven’t noticed, the “right” has become a crew of slavering authoritarians, whom it is not at all unfair to compare to the Nazis. Being to the left of them certainly does not constitute being on the left.
But that’s where we are. I’m pretty sure american society is headed for a collapse. At a minimum, the current path is not sustainable. But recognize the actual reality of the situation you are commenting on.
Obama a Liberal? Psshhhh.
Obama is the best we’ve got. And he gives me some hope that some of the worst excesses of the past will be rolled back, and that there will be some attention paid to the desperately important problems that face us immediately.
If you ever thought it was more than that, I suggest you do a little more research…
mikey
I really have to stop reading No Quarter…
In a few short minutes, I learned many things: That a McCain-Clinton ticket was the best way to fight the corporations. That despite having conceded and repetitively said that she was no longer running for president, and that she would not win on the ballot at the convention, she’s running a brilliant strategy to win the Presidency. Oh and only by staging a coup at the convention could she heal the party. Oh and Obama is vacationing in Hawaii to hide his birth certificate… No seriously.
I really have to stop reading No Quarter…
GumbyAnne said,
August 10, 2008 at 4:50
The commenters at Shakesville are still pretty loony about Obama, too
Hillary’s campaign was promising pies. Pies filled with OUTRAGE. And blueberries.
I suggest you jot down crib notes. In about five to ten years, this would make an excellent political/historical fiction novel. Then again, Larry might sue you for stealing his material.
What #47 and atheist said. Obama’s not perfect, but he’s definitely an improvement. Given the last 200 years or so, that’s about the best we can ask for.
At No Quater I learned that Obama is part of the Communislam conspiary to take over America. Nothing goes together like Atheism and a major religion. Very cunning.
I also learned that some PUMAs think that these types of things actually help their “movement”:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCRLBJfVXIQ
That place is fucked up
Larry Johnson has unearthed a new, devastating accusation against Barack Obama.
It seems that that in the 1970’s, a recently unearthed friend of Obama during his teen years witnessed Young Barry jerking off while looking at Ohio Players album covers. The fact that this “friend” did not live within a thousand miles of Obama during that period nor had ever met Mr. Obama doesn’t bother Johnson in the least. Johnson said, “We’ve got him now, this shocking sexual depravity will sink his candidacy before the convention, and Hillary will take her rightful place as the president”. Lambert Strether gibbered in excitement at the news.
Here is the thing Mikey. I WANT a liberal to win the US presidency. I would be excited about the prospect.
Obama isn’t what I want. It is really hard to get excited about something I don’t really want at all.
Which do you want? Slap in the face or a red hot poker up the arse? Not a hard decision, but you arnt going to say thank you for the slap, please sir may I have another?
“The best we can manage right now” shouldn’t be high praise. Yes, I would happily have a beer with Obama. He seems like good company. Yes, He is far preferable to the other candidate. Yes, he will push the Overton window back towards sanity a little way.
Getting Obama elected is just damage control. Just stepping back from the brink. The severity of that situation is a big, big motivator to support Obama. But it is a grim task. Not a happy one.
I’m not happy about getting Obama in. The celebration I shall be reserving for keeping Mcain OUT, and seeing the back of GWB.
That said, I think a black president (of any political stripe) is an optimistic sign for American society. I shall be celebrating that too.
Well, I’m thinking that it would resemble something out of Nabokov. At least with the whole unreliable narrator thing. Obama is a communist, we can’t vote for him. No wait, he’s too much of a centrist. No wait, McCain is better that him on Women’s Issues. No wait to conflate “Jeremiah Wright’s homicidal racism with Geraldine Ferraro’s simple observation was only the most glaring evidence of Obama’s tactics.”
Here is the thing Mikey. I WANT a liberal to win the US presidency. I would be excited about the prospect.
Obama isn’t what I want. It is really hard to get excited about something I don’t really want at all.
What you want vs. what is achievable. Welcome to political advocacy 101.
Here is a way to sweeten your feelings, Sockpuppet #47:
Say to yourself, “I work to help Obama NOW. I put my larger goal in the FUTURE.”
Works for me.
I’m hoping that a lot of the Hillary dead-enders will finally give it up after Obama officially gets the nomination– up until then they can hold out for a last minute scandal where we find out that Obama is actually from another planet. or something.
I’m an Obama supporter. I’m not in love with him, but I respect and trust him not to get us into any more unnecessary wars.
I think Obama is smart, thoughtful and brings quite a bit of unconventional experience to the table– spending years as a community organizer means he isn’t as removed from “real life” as someone like McCain. I really think his years living as a real person among real people need to be played up a lot more.
Obama’s challenge is to turn McCain’s nearly 30-years as a beltway insider into a detriment and expose his “maverick” status for the fakery that it truly is. McCain is a “maverick” as much as Bush is a Texas cowboy.
Yes atheist, I know all that. I think one of the key differences is that I am outside the USA. I am not personally suffering much from the Neo-con rampage. My concern is mostly for the suffering of others.
It takes the edge off somewhat. If I were right in the thick of it, I would be more emotional. As it is, I can remain a bit detached.
Still, I am very glad that the emotional climate in the US is working to Obamas benefit. Anything I can do to help promote Obama, I will do. To be an Obama advocate, I have to shut up about certain things, because the Overton window just won’t let me say certain truths to most Americans.
It is nice to be able to get it off my chest in an environment where most people understand though.
Understood. I often feel the same way.
A third of them are ratfuckers, I think. Teaspoons, baby.
Obama might not be a liberal in the Euro sense but as has been noted already, he’s as liberal as we’ll see here in the US in the near future. What I like most about him is that he’s willing to talk to me like I’m an adult. It’s almost as if he recognizes that I as a citizen can actually deal with complexities and gray areas in the world. Imagine that!
I know, I’m a hopeless romantic.
Anyone who puts an emotional investment in a politician of all things, is a fucking idiot. I support Obama because he is capable of motivating people and organising campaigning efforts in a way that Kerry failed to do. The sun doesn’t shine out of his multiracial ass.
Thank you. Some people don’t seem to grasp that you can support Obama for president without making a big deal out of it. I’m very happy with this candidate and he’s popular with our allies, too. Be a nice thing, having a president who can go visit another country and not cause riots, effigy burnings, and so forth. I also like the way he talks about how we are the ones who have to fix the country, not him. Most politicians try to promise how they’re gonna do all this stuff, and he isn’t going there much.
In addition to Corrente, Suburban Guerilla is also a sad case. The moping and whining there is totally insufferable. Are these people going to keep this up for the next four to eight years? When does it stop?
I support Obama because of his celebrity endorsements.
Oh, and Isaac Hayes died.
Comments like this one…
“What worries me to tears is the fact that Obama’s first Cousin, GenocidalDinga is running the Records Show in Kenya – let’s just remember that Obaalzebub went there to ensure an election victory. I mean what’s a little burning, shooting, dousing of the democratic flames when you have secrets to hide?”
… drive me freaking nuts because it is obvious that the writer is trying to make themselves sound smart by showing that they know about Kenyan politics but it is a total bluff. They are banking on the hope that nobody who really knows about Kenya will read their comment and expose them as totally talking out their asses. My husband is from Kenya and I used to live there and I can tell you that the reference to Kenya and Raila Odinga makes absolutely no sense. It is certainly malicious and probably also racist.
Good to see litbrit weigh in on Shakesville.
I mentally wrote it off when lovable Zuzu moved there from Feministe. I assumed it was because Feministe wasn’t sufficiently anti-Obama.
You guys are just bashing Shakesville because of looksism, fatism, and heteronormativism. Yeah.
but doesn’t pointing out the craziness of fellow lefty bloggers make atrios and other a-list bloggers cry?
Ho. Lee. Shit.
If you haven’t seen this yet, make sure you strap yourself in REAL tight first … the best I can say about that video is that it’s 100% content-free – it actually makes Lyndon LaRouche look like Al Gore in the wackjob-department … uh, yeah, & “the fastest growing political movement in the United States today” can’t even get 200 lousy views on YouTube?
Sure … & I’ll buy that bridge in Brooklyn, too.
It’s pretty obvious from that video (pointed to by shawn214 and jim ) that Perry Logan thinks the real power of the PUMA movement is the content-free super-hilarity that the genius of Logan can bring to the USA.
Political comedy often sucks but that fails in every way a supposedly funny thing can fail. I can’t reallly believe anyone thinks that type of video-onanism / horrible wacky failed standup pseudo-comedy would help any cause in any way.
If they’re all like that guy, it’s obvious that people with huge egos and no talent were somehow horribly hurt that HRC didn’t win — with the help of republicans stirring the pot.
Not exactly…it’s more like Feministe had people in the comments who took Zuzu to task for being hacky, so she took offense and bolted.
A few here get all antsy in the pantsy whenever I whip out the “LadyInstapundit” moniker, but I think it works. You’ve got a near daily THIS is why Obama is doomed! THIS is why Obama is doomed! THIS is why Obama is doomed! drone, complete with passive-aggressive whining and the ad hoc song-and-dance (Obama’s lead is only ______, thus, Hillary should have been the nominee!!!!!). Yeah, the politics differ from the glibertarian sludge that the Ole Prof offers, but the methods smell exactly the same.
Oh, and the ratfuckery tends to delete some of the political differences.
Doesn’t anyone else realize that Obama’s secret aging ray is the sole reason McCain looks and sounds increasingly decrepit? C’mon, the guy is using some of his super powers for good.
BOOYAH! SHUTOUT, BABY!
You just KNOW that if they’d panicked & started anything physical, the RCMP (knowing the law in such matters) would’ve just played Tetris on their cop-car computers while the crowd tenderized them.
Not only that, but our Cheddar Cheese is still Da Bomb.
Canada: we’re so fucking polite, even our intolerance is nice.
“Obama isn’t what I want. It is really hard to get excited about something I don’t really want at all.”
You’re not choosing a spouse, it’s more like choosing which job to take when your options are quite limited and you’re going to get one of them no matter what, so you can’t really opt out.