There’s been a campaign going on around the blogosphere for awhile, advocating that MSNBC ban Pat Buchanan from appearing on the network. Buchanan is a political analyst, who, in the wake of the tragedy in Norway, wrote an editorial
, which appeared to rationalise, if not favour, the motives of the assassin in question, Anders Behring Breivik.
If that were not enough, Buchanan dug himself into a deeper hole, when he appeared as a guest on Rev Al Sharpton’s new MSNBC progam, and made reference to the President, using a term with echoes the collective periods of time encompassing the Antebellum South right up through the era of Civil Rights struggles. You can watch the incident, which occurs at about the five-minute mark here.
That’s right. Pat Buchanan, political speechwriter, strategist, commentator and one-time Presidential candidate, referred to the President of the United States as a “boy.”
Now, I know Pat’s past seventy, and he’s a man of his era and time. I grew up in the South, and Pat always, for some reason, makes me think of the Virginia history textbook I was made to study in the Seventh Grade. I don’t think it had been re-written in sixty years, and that was in the mid-1960s. Every five years or so, the publishers would tack another couple of chapters onto the end of the thing, as time passed and more events occurred; but in Virginia, in 1966, in the wake of historic Civil Rights legislation passing, we were still being taught how happy and gay (as in contented) African Americans were when they were enslaved, chattel, someone else’s property and not their own person.
The quaint little drawings showed plump, well-fed people, dressed simply, but smartly, dancing happily around a campfire and receiving gifts of a ham at Christmas. We were taught that masters and mistresses were kind, and that their slaves didn’t really want to be free. I think Pat bought into this too. In fact, I think he genuinely believed and still believes malarkey like this.
But, rightly, politely and forcefully, Rev Sharpton upbraided him on this slip-of-the-tongue. When Pat referred to the President as “your boy, Barack Obama,” the reverend was ready:-
He’s nobody’s boy– he’s your president, he’s our president, and that’s what ya’ll don’t get through your head.
Rev Sharpton, that’s what a lot of people don’t get through their heads.
The next night, Lawrence O’Donnell, had as his guest, Arianna Huffington. I’ve followed Huffington’s career for about thirty years. She’s the privleged daughter of a corrupt Greek politician, whose family fled Greece in the socialist coup of the early 1960s. Huffington, nee Stanisopoulos, is a prime example of someone who has used money and sex to climb both the social and professional ladders.
Following her academic career at Cambridge, she expected to be welcomed with opened arms into the British political media, most of whom are traditionally centre-Leftish; but Huffington was so far to the Right in those days, she made Phyllis Schlafly look like a weeping Nellie atheist. She wrote a couple of books, and got sued for extensive plagiarism in one of them. In fact, plagiarism follows Huffington like a lost puppy, as does unethical journalistic methods.
She decamped to the US in the early 1980s and suddenly became BFF with Baba Wawa, no mean social climber, herself. Then she managed to marry Michael Huffington, a closeted gay politician, who needed a wife for his image as much as Arianna needed a (rich) American husband in order to stay in the country. Huffington was a neocon and to the Left of Madam, who was still rabidly Rightwing.
He served as a Congressman from California for two years in the 1990s, hoping to win a Senate seat in 1996 from Diane Feinstein. (He lost). I’ve no doubt, had he won, he may even have attempted a run for the White House in 2000 or 2004. Imagine Zsa Zsa Mach II as our First Lady!
Also, during the 90s, Arianna developed a penchant for Newt Gingrich and a pathological hatred for all things Clinton. She contributed to George W Bush’s Presidential campaigns, not once, but twice, and suddenly woke up on the morning of November 3, 2004, the day Dubya officially became Lame Duck plus three, and experienced a full-on Damascene conversion, declaring herself no longer a neocon, but a 100% dyed-in-the-wool Progressive.
No questions asked, no details given, the shallow and insipid 24/7 news media accepted her as the new and fully-fledged voice of the Left.
In another space and time, she would have been called a ratfucker, because since Barack Obama’s inauguration, she’s worked steadily and consistently to ructure irreparably the Left. It was she, as well as Jane Hamsher, who made sure that the Firebaggers (who inhabit the opposite side of the political coin from the Teabaggers, but who share with them a single brain cell) were sufficiently conflicted to believe that the President was weak, spineless, a tool of Wall Street, a closet Republican, a war mongerer, an enemy of the people, especially the Middle Class.
In the weeks leading up to the 2010 Midterms, she trolled the United States, being given almost unlimited airtime on MSNBC, to tell all and sundry of the middle class that “the President just isn’t that into you.”
Almost as much as Ed Schultz, another ex-neocon rapidly converted to progressivism, she was instrumental in ensuring that people on the Left, who should have voted, sulked out the vote and gave us the Tea Party Congress we loathe and detest today – and all the while, referring to the President as “nowhere man.”
Last night, she set up her shingle on O’Donnell’s show, to talk about the debt ceiling agreement, and immediately offered this choice titbit about the President:-
I think he needs intense therapy, to explain to himself first of all why he did what he did, because there is no rational explanation.
All said with that maliciously sweet butter-wouldn’t-melt-in-her-mouth smile plastered to her greasy, botoxed face.
That was a pernicious remark, which exhibited the utmost contempt and disrespect for this man. She’s a nasty piece of work, totally without tact or class. A person whom, in the words of Oscar Wilde, knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
She is, above all, the embodiment of white privileged elitism, from the debutante daughters to the flaunting of her own brand for her own purposes.
Oh, and she still cahoots with Newt
.
But what dismayed me the most about the entire segment of the O’Donnell show is the way the host let her spew her disrespectful venom without once taking her to task.
Kudos to Rev Sharpton, who didn’t stint in reminding a long-time political operative from the other side, that a modicum of respect was due the President of the United States. Neither is it mete to imply, snarkily or otherwise, that this President is mentally or emotionally unfit enough to require therapy, but it seems that the President and anyone who supports him now not only are told regularly by the Professional Left that they need professional help or that they really are Republican trolls (like the President is a secret Republican) paid by Andrew Breitbart or that they’re “the dumbest motherfuckers,” we’re now deemed “starry-eyed followers”, like the adherents to some sick cult.
I guess the question we are left to ponder is why Rev Sharpton was quick and right to call out blatant disrespect, and Lawrence O’Donnell wasn’t?
Let me just say this: I don’t think Pat Buchanan should be banned. Why? Because that would be a denial of his First Amendment right, and if we go around banning people who say things which are offensive to us, or who write as much, that puts us on the level of the sorts of people who want to restrict speech. As offensive as Pat is, we need to hear what he’s saying, to BE offended by it, and to know that it’s there in order to work against it. If you ban Buchanan for those beliefs, then how long is a piece of string? Do you ban Bill O’Reilly for “Tiller the Baby Killer?” Do you ban Bill Maher for calling the 9/11 terrorists heroes? Do you ban Jane Hamsher for allowing her dittoes to refer to the President as a “house nigger?” Even the Supreme Court, unanimously, upheld the Westboro Baptist Church’s right to carry out their awful protests. So, unless Pat goes further and incites open rebellion or violence, I don’t have a problem with him expressing his views. He has a right to express them, and I have a right to disagree, as do we all.
I agree. The First Amendment trumps everything.
It doesn’t exist to protect us from things we don’t like, it exists to protect things we don’t like from us.
Nor do I but he must be called out, just as Arianna must be called out on their disrespect.
I wonder what would happen if these people ended up as some people who disagreed with W did? The couple wearing down with Bush t-shirts taken to jail, the stories go on and on.
Pat has been a racial arsonist since at least the 70’s when I learned about him. Pat, on his web site, called then Candidate Obama a con-man and a street thug.
The powers-that-be at MSNBC are NO different than Arianna Huffington in that their bottom line is profit. These people are not stupid. They will do whatever it takes to line their pockets. Lawrence O’Donnell is a company man. He won’t buck and he’ll take it and like it. As I previously said, if I didn’t know better (and I don’t) O’Donnell behaved as though Huffington signs his paychecks. From that day to this I have not and will not watch O’Donnell again. I’ve crossed Ed off my list and Rachel is on her way out. I’ve realized for sometime that their are subjects that Rachel won’t touch which made me even more aware of corporate control. Now, I have even more reason to no longer stress myself with these pundits who get paid to stir the pot. Their goal now is try to make 2012 a horse race to increase ratings.
Sabreen, I just recently downgraded my cable tv package. I no longer get cable news and I don’t miss it one bit. There are plenty of other sources for news without all the game playing that takes place on all the cable news channels. As you said, all they really care about is the bottom line. $$$$$$$
MSNBC Contributor Pat Buchanan’s New Book Includes Chapter Entitled ‘The End of White America’
MSNBC contributor and long-standing bigot Pat Buchanan has a new book coming out called: “Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?”
This upbeat future “best-seller” will hit the shelves in October, but this morning, Politico Playbook provided those waiting with race-baited breath a preview of the wisdom within. Chapter 4, entitled “The End of White America,” lauds:
“[The] radicalization of the working and middle class, such as occurred in the Truman-McCarthy era, during the George Wallace campaigns, and in the anti-amnesty firestorm that killed the Bush-Kennedy-McCain push for a path to citizenship for illegal aliens.”.
To Buchanan — a member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans — these “movements” shared a “populist rage” and a “sense that they are losing their country. And they are right.” George Wallace, of course, was the stauchly pro-segregationist former governor of Alabama and presidental candidate, know for his most famous quote: “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!” Other chapters of Buchanan’s book include, “The Death of Christian America,” which explains President Obama’s “campaign to expel Christianity;” and “Demographic Winter,” which links the West’s downfall to the fact that “children are no longer desirable” here.
– — – — – — – — – — –
Pat Buchanan in His Own Words.
On African-Americans:
On race relations in the late 1940s and early 1950s: “There were no politics to polarize us then, to magnify every slight. The ‘negroes’ of Washington had their public schools, restaurants, bars, movie houses, playgrounds and churches; and we had ours.”
“Integration of blacks and whites — but even more so, poor and well-to-do — is less likely to result in accommodation than it is in perpetual friction, as the incapable are placed consciously by government side by side with the capable.”
“There is a legitimate grievance in my view of white working-class people that every time, on every issue, that the blacks loud-mouth it, we come up with more money…. If we can give 50 Jets to the Jews, and a multi-billion dollar welfare program for the blacks, why not help the Catholics save their collapsing school system.”
Buchanan chided the Republican Party for overreacting to Duke and his Nazi “costume”:
“Take a hard look at Duke’s portfolio of winning issues and expropriate those not in conflict with GOP principles like reverse discrimination against white folks.”
Justifying apartheid in South Africa, he denounced the notion that, “white rule of a black majority is inherently wrong. Where did we get that idea? The Founding Fathers did not believe this.”
On Immigrants and People of Color:
“There is nothing wrong with us sitting down and arguing that issue that we are a European country.”
On affirmative action:
“How, then, can the feds justify favoring sons of Hispanics over sons of white Americans who fought in World War II or Vietnam?”
To the Christian Coalition, Buchanan described multiculturalism as “an across-the-board assault on our Anglo-American heritage.”
“If we had to take a million immigrants in, say Zulus, next year, or Englishmen, and put them up in Virginia, what group would be easier to assimilate and would cause less problems for the people of Virginia?”
On Jews:
“Hitler was an individual of great courage…. his success was not based on his extraordinary gifts alone. His genius was an intuitive sense of the mushiness, the character flaws, the weakness masquerading as morality that was in the hearts of the statesmen who stood in his path.”
In many publications that claim Nazi death camps are a Zionist concoction, Buchanan challenged the historical record that thousands of Jews were gassed to death by diesel exhaust at Treblinka:
“Diesel engines do not emit enough carbon monoxide to kill anybody.”
“If U.S. Jewry takes the clucking appeasement of the Catholic cardinalate as indicative of our submission, it is mistaken. When Cardinal O’Connor of New York seeks to soothe the always irate Elie Wiesel by reassuring him ‘there are many Catholics who are anti-Semitic’…he speaks for himself. Be not afraid, Your Eminence; just step aside, there are bishops and priests ready to assume the role of defender of the faith.”
“Our culture is superior. Our culture is superior because our religion is Christianity and that is the truth that makes men free.”
On Gays:
“Homosexuality involves sexual acts most men consider not only immoral, but filthy. The reason public men rarely say aloud what most say privately is they are fearful of being branded ‘bigots’ by an intolerant liberal orthodoxy that holds, against all evidence and experience, that homosexuality is a normal, healthy lifestyle.”
“Homosexuality is not a civil right. Its rise almost always is accompanied, as in the Weimar Republic, with a decay of society and a collapse of its basic cinder block, the family.”
“Gay rights activists seek to substitute, for laws rooted in Judeo-Christian morality, laws rooted in the secular humanist belief that all consensual sexual acts are morally equal. That belief is anti-biblical and amoral; to codify it into law is to codify a lie.”
“The poor homosexuals — they have declared war upon nature, and now nature is extracting an awful retribution (AIDS).”
Buchanan demanded that New York City Ed Koch and New York Gov. Mario Cuomo cancel the Gay Pride Parade or else “be held personally responsible for the spread of the AIDS plague.”
“With 80,000 dead of AIDS, our promiscuous homosexuals appear literally hell-bent on Satanism and suicide,”.
“AIDS is nature’s retribution for violating the laws of nature.”
On Women:
“Rail as they will about ‘discrimination,’ women are simply not endowed by nature with the same measures of single-minded ambition and the will to succeed in the fiercely competitive world of Western capitalism.”
“The real liberators of American women were not the feminist noise-makers, they were the automobile, the supermarket, the shopping center, the dishwasher, the washer-dryer, the freezer.”
“If a woman has come to believe that divorce is the answer to every difficult marriage, that career comes before children… no democratic government can impose another set of values upon her.”
Yet this UNAPOLOGETIC RACIST, HOMOPHOBE, BIGOT, ANTI-SEMITE, & MISOGYNIST is still a “contributing commentator” for the likes of MSNBC.. giving him not only a semblance of “credence”.. but GRAVITAS ferchrissakes.
What the FUCK?
Good morning, BSM!
Thanks so much for posting this, even though it made me physically ill to read this filth! Even before there was any popular movement to get Buchannan off MSNBC, I was on that train! After this bigoted piece of crap hits the bookstores, they (MSNBC) will no longer have ANY reason to shove him down our throats in the interest of “balance”. I will be writing them to insist that he is removed from their guest list.
From the quotes you included in your comment, I don’t know which is the more egregious! This bigoted extremist should be marginalized..IMMEDIATELY!
And people wonder why our politics in this country are so polarized! With a segment of the population that accepts this garbage, how could they be otherwise? It galls me that he will probably rake in millions, spewing his racist crap! A boycott of bookstores selling the book might also be in order…
Holy shit. For someone to write that racist, sexist, dinosaur drivel in this day and age ….and this moron is on television!
OMG. Well, what CAN you expect from a man who, once a friend of Rachel’s, said “white people built this nation.”
Anti-immigrant sentiment runs high in our culture. A prominent pediatrician wrote of immigrants that they were a scourge, were the dregs of humanity, were scum, and that they would ruin our culture.
Of course that was written in 1892…
Buchanan and Samuel P. Huntington agree that immigration will destroy America. Well, my ancestors, WASPs to the core and part of the founding settlers, did not want Buchanans in their midst with their Catholicism and ignorant Irishness. The drumbeats against immigrants as “culture destroyers” is relentless.
And yet, Rutgers scholar Jackson Lears showed in his amazing book, “Rebirth of a Nation” how profoundly PROTESTANT our entire civil and governmental society is. Every aspect of our polity is infused with “out of chaos, rebirth” which is not Catholic, not Jewish, but profoundly Protestant. The willingness to HAVE the chaos in order TO regenerate is equally part of our national psyche. Culture certainly gets transformed in America with immigrants – but it’s theirs, not the national psyche, that changes.
Working as a lobbyist with large numbers of young immigrant-American advocates, they are more like me than I am! In other words – they live up to the very best “American” values and are fully acculturated in the standards of profoundly hard work, dedication, and persistence. They DO, however, retain one indigenous attribute – they retain passion for the cause, the “fire in the belly” on justice. The sense of purpose and drive for doing the right things to correct wrongs.
So maybe, in the end, THAT is what Buchanan and Huntington fear – the passion that still exists for justice? After all by looking around we can see that is not a life goal for most politicians. And being in the presence of people for whom it is must be very scary to the people whose livelihoods depend on the lack of justice.
But what must scare him the most is that with the labor movement once again on the rise, blue collar white guys are marching, too. Be afraid, Pat, be very afraid – we’re remembering how to work together against power, and you’re it.
Wow! This is Buchanan’s “Mein Kampf.” It is simply disgusting that anybody in the 21st century can actually sit down and write this crap. And also to believe it. And I am quite sure there are millions of Americans who will praise this piece of filth.
Bail out the Catholic schools? The Catholic church is one of the richest entities on earth.
Whites built America? Some caucasian nationalities did, like the Irish and the Italian immigrants, but much of America was also built by Afro-Americans, Chinese and Hispanics.
How can anybody deny the murders of millions of people at the hands of the NAZIs? No matter what camps these murders took place in or what methods were used. The NAZIs were the first and only people to use science and industry to build assembly lines of death. Literally factories whose only purpose was the total destruction of human beings.
How can anybody who knows even a little about Hitler claim that those he threw under the bus in his rise to power were “morally,” inferior?
I think we should start a petition to get Buchanan banned from MSNBC. The genuine immorality of this man should be against all standards and practices of ANY public outlet. Let alone a fairly popular “news and opinion,” outlet that is available across the entire nation.
This sort of hatred and dishonesty has to be stopped. Yeah, this bigot has a 1st amendment right to spew his filth, but supposedly reputable organizations like MSNBC are not required to air this garbage or hire those who write it.
Well, he was right about this at least. If you’re gonna be a Constitutional originalist at least be consistent, I say.
That next part about us being a European nation… does that mean we finally get a real Socialist Party? Gotta have someone to challenge his National Socialism, after all.
Hey, Marion, I was about to turn off the computer when I decided to read your piece. I’m glad I did because it gives me a place to opine for a minute–plus, I caught both the shows you talked about and am in complete agreement. Well done!
This almost feels like a boilerplate, but I need to reiterate: I support the President and I have already begun working for him for re-election. I anticipate that as the time grows closer to the election, I will be working much harder. I do this because I believe it to be imperative; quite literally critical to ensure he is re-elected. Not only because any of the Repub candidates are despicable and would be the death knell of this country, but because I also think Obama is a very good president, one whom I actually trust. Who knows? I believe in his second term (if he has one) he could very likely become one of the greatest of presidents. He has it in him.
Having said that, I have critical feelings about him, and they are growing exponentially daily. The most overarching feelings are those of frustration and bafflement. Believe me, I read about him all day, seven days a week. And I read mostly articles in support of him. Nonetheless, I am annoyed and depressed. I know all about his strategy for re-election; one aimed at re-gaining the Independents he lost in ’10. It’s probably a smart one. But I have two problems with it, one emotional and the other practical.
On an emotional level, I feel abandoned. He knows people like me will vote for him so he has no need to throw us any red meat. I like to think he thinks the same way I do about the Right, but just knows it will do him no good to articulate those things. The thing is, I am sometimes bedside myself at what the Right is doing; I am enraged and fearful of their power. They have the media, the wealth, the power in this country; they have the advantage of a determinedly stupid populace. Every day, I see one more unthinkable outrage committed against us. And we have no one to speak for us. He was the person I wanted to speak for us. I thought he would and on occasion he has. How many of us treasure those times, only to find they were the exception, and not the norm? Again, I get it. But this is the emotional part of my problem. It is very hard to watch what the Dominionists, the Baggers, the greedy, the plain old evil miscreants seem to be getting away with–and with very effective bullhorns–while people like me have no vocal champion of equal power. I don’t even have a media hero to speak for me–even the Reverend Al, close as he comes, is not my favorite spokesman. (And as an aside, I recently read that he worked hard to see that the Comcast deal to take over MSNBC went through, so I’m not sure he won’t be a sell-out too. http://www.politico.com/blogs/onmedia/0711/Al_Sharptons_Comcast_connection_raises_questions.html)
So on to the practical criticisms. Again, I am assuming that the President has shifted towards the Center-Right to regain his support among the Indies. He must keep their support, but he simply cannot afford to alienate too many on the Left either. I am not speaking about the Hamshires et al., nor the far Left, nor the purists. They will probably stay home. I am talking about people who will vote for him, but who will do so because the alternative is abhorrent. Well, those folks are not going to volunteer, they are not going to join OFA, nor get out the vote. And the Indies certainly won’t. So whenever Obama says things like “both Parties are to blame for gridlock,” or says nothing derogatory about the Tea Party Republicans–in short, whenever he fails to even criticize the GOP specifically, I feel our collective spirits flag. I can feel the disappointment, the demoralization. As I have admitted before, I do not understand the vast majority of voters in America, so for all I know, he IS resonating with them; perhaps they are energized. Perhaps they are his authentic base in way maybe I am not, in which case he will be tremendously successful in 2012. I hope so. I also know that this really is a Center-Right country now, even though it’s hard to know as voters act in very different way then the polls might show. All I know is, people who I understand to be Democrats in the sense that I came of age in are becoming saddened–not by any policy or lack thereof, but by the fact that Obama is not speaking for us, even as he acts for us. I honestly think that while actions DO speak louder than words, it is through words that we get motivated and excited and inspired. And more and more, I am feeling the opposite of those.
Damn Cher- I was going to write the same thing.. but you found the words while I was waiting for them to show up!!! 😉
Jkk–you were? Wonderful–I thought I was an outlier!
Nope , it was right on the money mt friend.
Thanks, tex.
Cher- I am smack in the middle of what you said..
I find myself being frustrated by having to remind myself of all he has accomplished. Why isn’t the party shouting it out?
When will they learn that sometimes you have to use the enemy’s weapons to win the battle? There’s no honor among thieves or politicians.
grrrrrrrrrrr!
Jkk, That’s it!–
For me, it’s not just that they don’t say it, it’s that I have to tell myself that in order to stay in the game. Of course, the Repubs help me do that tremendously.
Cher- that’s the problem- and it’s an election loser! I don’t care how much he campaigns on his ‘record’- it will be ‘new’ to people who aren’t familiar with his accomplishments.
The GOP will spin it- spend more money doing it- create bigger lies against it- and the Dems will be caught standing ‘downwind’ again.
If I learned one thing at Leo Burnett- it is to keep the product memorable, and the message in front of your demographic.
If it worked for the Green Giant, and ‘The incredible edible egg’ -it works doubly well in politics.
jkk, ya still mad at me about the Chicago Cubs jokes? Ya gotta admit the are real losers. 🙂
tex as a lifelong Cubs fan- there is nothing left that can piss me off, or insult me.
I will always consider Wrigley Field the ultimate baseball venue, and the legends and traditions that accompany the field are near and dear to all Cubfans.
A day at Wrigley Field will always be the Best Day you can have.
And- if you are fortunate enough to be able to sing Steve Goodman’s ‘Go Cubs Go’ at the end of the game- you have had a sterling day.
Cher, I spent most of my adult life in harms way and two of my sons followed me into public service. No big deal, it’s the life we chose. Veteran street cops will tell you they know when somethings not quite right and something bad is about to happen. I get those feelings about the political situation now. People are afraid and becoming desperate. It’s becoming that clans tribes thing I told you about. We need leaders with LOUD clear voices that point us all in the right direction. Quiet certitude just won’t work right now.
tex, I’ll bow to your street smarts, because I am not such a good judge. But I was just reading about the riots in England. It’s a big effing deal! And these are not “political” just anger at injustice, by young people who might not even know the names of the leaders of Parliament. I have lived through two L.A. riots and wouldn’t want to see that again, but sometimes that’s what it takes. I think Obama might worry about that too, and is trying to be a calming influence. I don’t really know if that will work.
Yep, Tottenham England has an erie resemblance to Watts ’65. Europe is a tinder box right now. Let’s hope cool heads in all the ethnic and religious communities there prevail.
Cher, you are right! There is such political unrest brewing in this country, and it’s growing. The debt ceiling fight did nothing to soothe the discontent of middle class people who are struggling to keep their homes and their jobs…if they have one!
The RW propaganda groups, like Rove’s Crossroads, are trying to co-opt this discontent into rethug votes, blaming President Obama for EVERYTHING! Like you said, they have the money and the power…we have Harry Reid. No contest.
If the President will not speak for us and our values as Democrats, then WHO? I don’t have many suggestions at this point. I do hope Debbie Wasserman-Schultz will continue to speak out every time she’s given the chance to do so. The voters, on a daily basis, need to be reminded just who is fighting for them!
Em, exactly. There is widespread worry. Those families with jobs don’t feel secure and they shouldn’t. It’s sinking in that things can get much worse, when already nobody’s kids can find a job, no one over 50 can find a job, and if you have a job it is tenuous. This situation calls for more than the President telling us to remain calm. The candidate who can articulate our stress and can tell us what he wants to do about it will win the election. As I’ve said (along with hundreds of others) Obama needs to tell us what he WANTS to do, not just what is meagerly possible. He knows how to get us back on the road to recovery. I trust him completely on that. But he’s mired in defeatism.
Cher, you speak for me as well. I am motivated by the knowledge that we are in a fight to the death that won’t ever end. But I certainly need something beyond that to be inspired to rise above mere survival. Right now, the administration and power centers of the Democratic party are not providing it.
Funk, I can only fervently hope that Team Obama will realize they need to step it up. As you say, I will vote my fears of the Repubs, but most people vote on hope. I’m not getting any of that at all.
I think too much hope is a form of naivete. Especially when one sees, day after day the total opposition to anything one tries to do. How many times do the GOP/TP have to say they want Obama to fail before acts in a cognitive way against their hatred and defeatism?
I think sometimes that Obama sees bi-partisanship as the genuine intent of the constitution and to be partisan is to be somewhat untrue to his vow to uphold and defend the constitution. And, there was a time when he would be correct in such a belief. But when the opposition party is fanatically intent on seeing him fail, it’s time to talk to the nation about it. In a clear and concise manner.
Hi Cher! What an excellent comment that totally sums up the way I believe many of “the base” are feeling. I personally have been on the roller coaster ride…up one day, and down the next.
I guess we all have come to the conclusion that he is not going to come out with his hair on fire over any issue. The closest thing to that was when Boehner walked out of the talks and refused to answer the President’s phone calls back during the debt ceiling talks.
But it sure would be nice, when lies are told, when the rethugs are clearly obstructing him, for the President to come out and pound the podium a little. Maybe now that his campaign persona is coming to the forefront, we will see more of that fire we saw before his election.
Em, that’s pretty much says it. I don’t want the President to come out “hair-on-fire” but I DO want to see some fight. If he won’t even defend himself, will he defend me? Actually, I believe he will. But I am trying to see this from the POV of the casual voter. And as I wrote, I could be completely misreading what the average voter likes. They like him being the reasonable adult more than they like a fight, so what do I know?
Cher, also I think he may be shying away from anything that would make him look like “the angry black man”. He can ill-afford to alienate white voters, as silly as that is! There will be some with almost a subconscious racism that would resent him for that. I still see that subconscious kind here in the South…never mind the out-and-out hatred. I’m sure they would pile on.
Hi- I think everyone wants some energy from Obama. But I don’t think he’s headed Center-right at all. I think he’s strategically protecting essential social contracts by presenting them in a very calm way.
I’m not sure as President, given all we’re reading about “boy” and “you lie” and the sheer, drooling hatemongering, that he can BE anything but who he is. He IS the adult in the room, and that can be assuring to voters. He’s capable of great firmness – “I AN the president” he reminded the ahats in the health care discussions who simply saw him as “another Dem”. Said with some apserity and firmness and a clench in his jaw.
I do want him to point fingers at naysayers, but he’s stuck with crappy Blue Dogs who ARE equally responsible even if they are a minority. Hard to call out the anti-agreement vote when a bunch of his own party voted against it, too. He did a good thing, IMHO in calling out CONGRESS for this debacle. It was HE, not Congress, who saved the programs AND put of enactment until the Bush tax cuts expire.
I don’t know how the average person sees all this, but his ratings remain pretty good. I think that our desire to see him fight back WILL come out in the campaign – it did in 2010 – but I doubt we will ever see it in him as president. His cool, his calm, his professionalism is at many times very reassuring to people. His detractors say he’s professorial and distant, but I don’t think people see it that way. He’s the calm at the eye of the hurricane, and people need that relief from the hair on fire PL and the end of the world RW.
So that’s my observation – No Drama Obama is our prez. I think in the long run that’s good.
C’lady, I get such a kick out of you, because whenever you start a reply by saying “Hi” I know I’d better duck! 🙂
Look, I certainly know all that, and totally agree. My dearest hope about this is that the majority of voters feel as you do. I hope they feel as I do too, in that I will work hard to re-elect President Obama. We are not the ones I am concerned about, but as long as the majority of voters feel as comforted as you, and as long as they don’t need Obama to give voice to the feelings I have, he’ll be re-elected. That is the main thing.
As I said in a couple of places above, I know I don’t represent the majority of voters. And I said that as far as I know, most people are completely content with the position he has taken as the adult in the room, the conciliator, and by staying above the fray (save for some notable occasions.) I am not content. Again, it’s not even about the deals or about the policy. I need someone to be the voice of outrage, because regardless of Obama’s not-inconsiderable accomplishments, there is an enormous amount to be legitimately outraged about. Maybe if the President is re-elected and if the Congress is purged of the Baggers and haters, I won’t feel the need to have someone speak out against them. Maybe that in itself will be “speech” enough, and I’ll feel assuaged–not needing anyone to stand up against their tyranny, because we will have won. Until then, I remain feeling frustrated and voiceless.
Very well said cher. I couldn’t have said it better. I voted for Obama, and will do so again, but he should speak out more about the very obvious game the GOP is playing with our democracy and our future. A treacherous game that will only make us poorer, not only in monetary value, but in spiritual and social and moral ways too.
People are relatively content when the have the basic needs of life, like a home, enough food, clothing, transportation….etc. The more these things are denied the people the more discontent will grow. And when people no longer have the basic necessities of life, they will turn violent and criminal. I see this as a distinct possibility. The GOP is NOT doing the jobs they were elected to do. And I actually believe that some of them are outright insane and incapable of making reasoned and honest decisions. It IS scary.
Thanks, KT! I think things are going to get worse, and let’s all hope that their anger and fear can be channeled against their rightful enemies! People need jobs. If jobs are not created, I hope that our message will be unambiguous about who is to blame.
My mom was an Hungarian American Catholic. My dad a hot tempered Scots Irish American hardcore Teamster. We had two pictures on the living room wall. JFK and Jimmy Hoffa and they had to be 15 feet apart.
HA!
🙂
15 feet apart? You must’ve had a great big living room!
We lived in one room, we called it the living room. With dirt floors. 🙂
There is a very weird dynamic going on here.
The “left” is mad at Obama for not being left enough…
Which he never was.
The left is mad at the “left” for being mad at Obama for not being left enough, because even though they know he isn’t left enough, they are practical enough to understand that he’s all they have right now.
The neo-left is finding out that agitating against the man is a lot easier than supporting the man and so they don’t.
And the huckster left is busy trying to figure out how to make a buck out of all of this.
And in the meantime, all of the factions of the left keep forgetting that they make up 20% of the population and all of their bickering is stupid, counter-productive and laughable.
My suspicion? 30 years of conservative dogma and policy combined with a genuinely scary economic situation has made the “left” a little emotionally unstable.
Like Glenn Close the “left” is “not going to be ignored”.
Bravo, funk.
Yep, the “left” has always been and will always be the more volatile side of the political spectrum. Remember that little get together we had in Chicago in ’68?
True tex. What’s funny is that now the left is trying to figure out how to work with a guy that is to the right of Nixon. Funny how life turns out sometimes.
I remember it well, tex. We have our moments. That wasn’t the best one.
I’ve had wine, so all I can do is give you a big thumbs up, funk.
It is always so good to see you. How have you been?
Fairly well, funk. Good to see you wherever we do, kid.
This is about the time I say,
RAAAAAAWWWWWWWRRRRRRRR ME HATE OBAMA!!!!!
RAAAWWWWRRRR!!!! ME HATE HIM WHEN HE DO THINGS!!!
RAAAAAWWWWWRRRRRR!!!!!! ME HATE HIM WHEN HE NOT DO THINGS!!!!!
IT VERY VICIOUS CYCLE. RAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!
ME HATE OBAMA!!!!!!!
Cute. I really like him and would very much like him to succeed. Where’s my magic wand?
**edit** “cute” not intended as an insult. ;>
Chase ,Been hot enough for ya my friend?
68 here today. Just thought you should know. I had to wear a jacket at my office Friday because the air conditioning was set for summer, but it was too cold outside for air conditioning.
You just never stop rubbing it in do you?
No. Because I’m bitter and its funny.
Funk, ya put when those volcanoes all go up you’re gonna need a place to stay
tex, I can’t afford to water my NATIVE plant materials and can’t afford to lose them! Talk about a satan sandwich. Stay cool, friend.
Oh don’t I know it. If the earthquakes don’t get us first.
Adonai, that’s it exactly. My wife sounds like that a lot.
Been reading some of ya’ll Lawrence O bashing. My lawd some of ya are gonna have to come to grips with the fact that not all Obama criticizing is Obama bashing. Sure Lawrence O is arrogant but he’s also pretty smart and experienced. Maybe it’s time to stop shooting messengers when ya don’t like the message. I’m not talking about the Fox talking heads, you can shoot them anytime ya want.
Well lemme qualify my remarks by saying I don’ think Lawrence is an “Obama basher” either. Just a fake TV newsman.
There’s a lot of fake news to report AD.
Amen tex
I do not watch TV, except for some sports. I read some blogs – but not many; but, mostly I read books ( heaven forfend!). I only know what people tell me most commentators say and write. I only read a couple of commentators for insight. Others I read to gauge how much damage they may be doing, or trying to do.
The books that I read have footnotes and I read the footnotes to see if the writer is cooking the data.
The left, from the start of the left, at many times and places, had had a history of turning on itself; feuds, splits, doctinal disputes, etc. This pattern is repeating itself, here and now. Conservatives have had a tendency to stick together.
Basically, I am watching to see how this plays out. I think that the USA has some major adjustments to make; and, it will be long and it will be hard.
When I found out that Al Sharpton might be getting his own show to replace Cenk I decided to che3ck him out. He’s entertaining, has a perspective I find refreshing, and at least once an episode he says something that makes me laugh my ass off(in a good way) or asks a question I really want someone to ask. So I am surprised and I think he would do well on his own show.
Now, to the point of the post.
Lawrence O’ Donnell is a sentient android constructed in the basement lab of Dr. Zaius and The Incredible Hulk. He’s designed to give milquetoast answers to serious political questions and deliver obvious speeches as though they were revolutionary ideas. He is currently operating at 100% efficiency.
hmmm.. I Still like Data better..
Hey Adonai! I wasn’t really sure about Reverend Al when he first took over the show. He really had a hard time reading his lines, stumbling and mispronouncing words. But now, it seems he is getting much more comfortable in his role, and I’m glad to see it.
He has done what few others have done…he backs down the teabaggers…and loudly too! He does not show any hesitancy in calling out their BS! And he makes some really good points!
I believe the good Reverend will continue to improve…if the bosses will allow him to. Keith Olbermann and others have attested that the network does not dictate to them, but there have been some sketchy things going on of late. Let’s hope they don’t try to squelch the Reverend! I’d like to hear more of what he has to say!
I think so too Em. Give him time and he’ll put out a consistently good show. he has the fire for it.
Al Sharpton, while still trying to find his pundit sea legs, makes me laugh every time I watch him. LO does, too. These shows are entertainment politics. It’s what they’re designed to be. If we’re looking to find a messiah among the television hosts, we’re looking in the wrong place.
Dad always taught me: Don’t believe any one source, including your teachers. Always seek more information and opinions. Needless to say, this resulted in some interesting parent/teacher conferences.
Indeed. You go to school to learn. And you learn by asking questions.
The “conversion” of O’Donnell bothers me more than almost anything. He was spot on in December reminding every one of his smart-mouth guests how Congress works. He ought to know – he was part of it working as Chief of Staff for D.P. Moynihan, nobody’s fool.
I fear someone somewhere somehow took Lawrence aside and told him he’d be left off the A guest list if he did not wise up. Wising up being – ignore the fact of due process in democracy and call out the Prez for, well, everything. Don’t lecture any of us about how ignorant WE are – lay it all on Obama. Or else.
Now I don’t think MSNBC did this. I think the left did it. It’s the new mandatory leftie liberal thing. The only person to date who has come to Obama’s side – not defense since he does not need it – is Barbra Streisand in a tweet reminding us this is a GOP assault on Prez Obama AND on us. Wow – who’d have figured HER for an adult in the room?
So I’m not sure where we are with him, but losing his once reasonable voice is a real downer. That he does not have the civility of Al Sharpton – SHARPTON!!! – is pretty pathetic.
Wow.
I’m glad it’s just not me. Lawrence used to put such ideas in their place, it seemed to me.
I’ve gotten the same impression. This is showbiz, where to clamor for the “A-list’ guest you have to give them a podium without challenging them.
Of course, he should know more about how that business works too and not be sucked into it.
I’m also sorry to hear that LO has apparently jumped on the latest O-bashing bandwagon. The current climate of hatred toward Obama reminds me of what happens to authors and actors who enjoy too much success early on — at first they are the darlings of the critics and media, but then they come up with something that doesn’t go over so well and the backlash is vicious and way over-done. It’s a wild pendulum swing, commensurate with wild expectations. I certainly don’t agree with everything the president does, but the accusations of “corporatist” and “colluding criminal” and “spineless” and “Republican” are absolutely out of whack.
Hi e-cat! It could be that LO enjoyed too much success in the beginning, but the change in the tone of his comments was palpable. This was as if he was instructed to change his liberal bent to a much more conservative meme. It was hard to believe he would bash the President, especially as he knows well the “nuts and bolts” of working in the Washington environment.
I don’t watch him with the same interest that I used to have and certainly not with the same respect for his opinions. It’s just that he’s on right before Rachel and I don’t miss her show. She’s been preaching infrastructure investment for quite some time…and she has been spot on!
Comcast, Inc.
I have come to the conclusion that elements of the “left” – and I say “left” with reservations – have taken leave of their senses. I do not know the rationale; I do not need to know it. All that I need to do is observe the behavior. And, proceed as indicated.
agrippa – it may be more pernicious than just that. It may be deliberate. See my “American 5th Column” note below.
Hey agrippa…both sides, Left and Right, have people who simply do not THINK FOR THEMSELVES! And this is at the root of the problem. The RW advertising is sometimes “in your face” with lies and distortions, and at other times, it is subtle. Karl Rove and his Crossroads outfit are currently running some of those subtle ads aimed at the Left. Some of these are very effective to place doubt in the minds of people who delve no deeper into issues than the bumper stickers on their cars.
For instance…
A sad and frightened mom gets out of bed in the middle of the night, checks on her sleeping children about whose future she is desperately worried, walks dejectedly down a dark hallway back to her bed where she faces a sleepless night. The female narrator quietly says, “I voted for Obama because he gave us so much hope, but now my mom’s Medicare will be cut. What will we do?”….fade out to black and a web URL to give money to Crossroads. Very subtle, VERY EFFECTIVE for those who do not think for themselves. This ad is currently running in North Carolina. Perhaps others have seen it too.
We had better be prepared for the 2012 onslaught of dirty ads, lies, distortions, rigged voting machines, voter suppression, re-count challenges, fake absentee ballots, and every other dirty trick in the books. We have seen them steal elections in the past and this time should be no different. Meanwhile, their subtle propaganda advertising is working…even on the Lefties!
Mitch McConnell and Michelle Bachmann have made it their top priority to make sure “Obama is a one-term President”! OUR top priority should be voter education!
You forgot Tom Hanks.
The constant Blah blah blah gives me a headache. Nice article, Thank you.
Today while out I had a quick bite of breakfast at Mickey D’s. There, as every where else around here, you are subjected to the unending blah blah blah of Fux Gnu’s.
They were talking to Presidential loser and Baptist Minister Huckabee. He had some wonderfully winning advice for President Obama.
First admitting that he thinks politics is show biz and then telling the President that he had to make some brilliant and grabbing move to grasp the public mind and energy.
His suggestion was to fire Geitner ( because no one can say, spell, or remember his name ) and for the dramatic punch, replace him with Donald Trump.
As you can see this is no exact reproduction of the moment , but the absurdity that the people were eating up with breakfast was …….beyond belief.
The Absurdity of even listening to the Psudo Pundits is also beyond belief.
Arianna ……..why listen to her at all or most of the dolts of similar persuation who appear even worse in a more out-front way. I know why Americans do….and so does Huckabee…..Pitiful.
Buchanan…….an old man who is everything that I cannot stand…..he will never change his spots.
Too many Tweets and blogs are saying the same thing: The Professional Left is behaving crassly, some taking in money then not giving it out to the “cause” for which it was recruited, shifting gears and bashing Obama, lying and creating phony stories – so I ask – are they our 5th Columnists?
To our younger members – that was the supposed Left that was in fact the fascist Right during the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s. They hid their true allegiances then sprang up almost overnight to squash the move for democracy and ushered in decades of oppression under General Franco. They were despicable and acted very much the way the Left is acting today in America.
And we think this can’t happen in the US?
Sorry but I am not understanding your meaning. Must be past my bedtime..Uh Oh …it is.
However…
I do not care to tweet etc so I do my thinking based on experience and what I know and gut feeling .
So are you saying that the left is like the Trojan Horse in these United States and desires to overthrow the country? by sneaking in to destroy it in a disguise? For some un named fascist??
Possibly….. those who claim to be oh so progressive who helped hand the house to the dip shits from the TP ……..
I lecture them briefly on every possible occation and call them on it. like they care.
Their actions disgust me and I agree that they are toxic in their feeding division with their crying if a supposed pet project is not THE PRIORITY….Right Now!!! Big crybabies …contributing to the downfall of freedom, empathy, education etc of our people. So perhaps THEY are the fifth column……Jerks.
I do know that they certainly have a nerve in their lack of support for our President against the biggest Obstructionist movment ever in our history.
Choice I can’t help but feel that there is a big difference between the Nationalists and opportunistic douchebags.