Letters to the Editor
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Elephantman
Elephantman:
"Swiftboat-spewing operatives who function in the shadows and the sewers"
Why is there no reciprocation?
-- JBinMOThere is. They call it the New York Times.
- - Elephantman @ 08:16Elephantman, which part(s) of the New York Times article consisted of swiftboating, and how so?
And by the way, how do you justify your absurd claim that the the Lugar-Obama Act and the Coburn-Obama Act aren't bipartisan? Do you have some special and unusual definition of "bipartisan"?
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once again
people don't forget who's the darling of this race. How can you go against somebody that is preferred by the media. Is pledgirism not ok in to today society, especially if I'm running for office. And this is man says he want to stay above the fray. Well Mr. Barrack "insider" Obama, you are like the rest of those politician. And the media has your back, for whatever reason. Why does it take a long time for you to explain and mumble something so simple? Mr. Insider. People in the media do not like the Clintons, and we can see that. I am not a liberal democrat, but I am a moderate one. You said that you are not a divider and you are a man to bring about change. Remember Mr. Insider people are not going to see and go beyond the rhetoric and see that you are just another one term want to be president with no infrustruction and learn as you go attidute. We already had the President and his name is George W. Bush. Yes Mr. Insider you were being attact and did not amount to nothing, I think I'm writing the most negative think that a media has said about your campaing.
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The Only sensible response to the corporate media
...and its self-serving lackies in government is...
...bullshit or
if one is wordy...
...whom...
...do you think...
...you are bullshitting?
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@ demanditnow
You are mistaking Barack Obama for Colin Powell. You do have one political party's talking points memorized fairly well. With a little more practice you'll probably have all of them memorized. Good for you. Remember, "practice makes perfect".
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Politics as consumer good
Demanditnow? From whom?
What Ralph Nader, I wonder, would be so foolish as to defend our right to have what we demand simply because we mistakenly believe we've paid for it.
In the sweat of thy brow shalt though eat bread. As with honest agriculture, so also with politics. The more we demand, the more is demanded of us...how could it be otherwise?
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Theater of the absurd as comedy
This could turn out to be fun. Fake though it all is, the building crescendo of vitriol requires emotional fervor. O'Reilly and Limbaugh are my favorite examples. They get really heated about lies - about crap that they know is not true. McCain is a weak candidate, and as the campaign season heats up, propping him up will be an exercise in increasing futility. We may see a few casualties among the phony punditocracy.
The fakery is the key to it all. I think psychotic anger actually takes a greater toll than genuine anger. In order to be a bitter "right winger," you have to make up a reality that is increasingly at odds with what is real. It has to be maddening. After all the crimes of the past seven years, lie upon lie has to be built up, like the Tower of Babel. The meaninglessness of an existence spent building such a tower has to eventually take its toll. All this garbage had a beginning, and it will have an end. Let's enjoy the finale.
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Grasping the nettle
In classic right-wing authoritarian fashion, Mr. JerryDampf attempts to draw an equivalence where none exists:
Why is it repellent to note associations with Communists, but not associations with Nazi's?sic?
Allow me to grasp that nettle, as no one else seems willing to.
Neo-Nazi groups have been convicted of numerous hate crimes in the United States, are involved in racketeering, conspiracy, and civil rights violations. Their organisations, such as the Order and Aryan Nations, recruit with great success in the prisons of this country. Despite their absence of any redeeming social virtue, the free-speech rights of Neo-Nazi Americans have been repeatedly upheld - as indeed they should have been, under our Constitution.
The Communist Party of the United States of America (CPUSA), on the other hand, played a pivotal role in organising the labour movement in the United States, and championed the rights of African-Americans, Jews and other minorities through the dark years of the last century. Despite massive repression by the U.S. government, the CPUSA never committed or sanctioned any act of violence.
Was every member of the Party pure and angelic? By no means. Some individual Communists spied for the regime in Moscow, though secret papers released after the fall of the Soviet Union showed far fewer numbers of spies with far less effect than had been assumed.
However, the average American Communist (of which there were tens of millions in the last century) was an idealist who wanted the best for his family and his country, in a time when workers' rights were frequently violated and minorities had no voice.
The average American Nazi was, and still is, a thug and a racist.
That, Mr. JerryDampf, is exactly why your equivalence is "repellent."
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In Cynicism We Trust
Right to the point once again, Glenn. Keep at it. The voice of one crying in the wilderness. It was so obvious that what you are saying is true when, for example, today and yesterday EVERYONE--the media, Clinton, McCain--are ALL using the same talking points regarding Obama, that he is an "empty suit," all style and no substance, etc.
The goal is to increase cynicism, to see the worst, to deconstruct, to buy, buy, buy or bomb, bomb, bomb.
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Ana Marie Cox & Mike Salter & TNR
http://time-blog.com/swampland
February 20, 2008 11:52
McCain Senior Adviser Responds to Times Story
Posted by Ana Marie CoxMark Salter, John McCain's obstreperous senior aide, just responded to Time's query about the New York Times's long-simmering McCain-mixed-up-with-lobbyists story.
Speaking from a parking garage in Toledo, where the campaign is overnighting, Salter vehemently denied any improper relationship between the lobbyist singled out in the piece and the senator. He also attempted to cast doubt on both the story and the newspaper's reasons for running it. The bulk of the story's more titillating accusations, he said, stemmed from "two blind quotes....Are these the standards of the New York Times? No. They are the standards of the National Enquirer."
[...] Salter blamed the New York Times [...] "They did this because the The New Republic was going to run a story [...]"
- - Ana Marie Cox
The New Republic says that they can't YET confirm that:
http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_stump/default.aspx
The McCain campaign is apparently blaming TNR for forcing the Times' hand on this story. We can't yet confirm that.
But we can say this: TNR correspondent Gabe Sherman is working on a piece about the Times' foot-dragging on the McCain story, and the back-and-forth within the paper about whether to publish it.
Gabe's story will be online tomorrow.
- - Noam Scheiber
Cui bono? According to Kirchik, the article proves that the Times is "in the tank for Obama" (hey, or maybe they're in the tank for my man Mike Huckabee):
http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/default.aspx
John Weaver, whom McCain fired last summer (indentified in the Times piece as "now an informal campaign adviser" to McCain, which sounds like a puffed-up euphemism for "unemployed") says that 8 years ago, he and two other former employees who have since "become disillusioned" (read: disgruntled), suspected that McCain was having an affair with a lobbyist.
The rest of the article, rehashing old news about the Keating Five, is, as Rich Lowry says, complete "window dressing." If you had been wondering whether the Times was in the tank for Obama, well, here's your answer.
- - James Kirchick