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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
Where's the borderline between a politician being overly opportunistic and pandering? Maybe Hillary has been mentioning all along that her Father taught her to hunt and now the media is just deeming it worthy of revelation. Certainly possible. I do remember Hillary told a reporter that the question of when she last hunted was not relevant. That was a red flag to me. Like I said, it is the last minute coloration of the canvas that is annoying. NAFTA was the same way. It would have been cleaner to deal with it upfront at the start of the campaign and she would have (IM!HO) had a better chance at defining and controlling the narrative. But that's always been one of my issues with Hillary from the start. Truthiness. Does she really believe it, or is she just telling me what I want to hear?
It's a judgement call, as always, but I would prefer to hear, "I respect you instead of I'm just like you".
None of these guys are much like us anymore. They're living in a separate reality.
McClinton... McWalsh... McGarbage.
"affluent, educated, Ivy League sense of self-righteousness and entitlement that my Irish Catholic working-class side occasionally chafes at. So does Michelle Obama. So does Jeffrey Toobin. So do some of our Obama supporting readers. So sue me."
"the candidate of coastal liberals, lefty intellectuals, Ivy League check-writers and African-Americans,"
"doesn't ever again seem to disrespect the disadvantaged working class while he's flattering the overadvantaged class that attends his fundraisers, or his Harvard and Columbia class reunions. (In my experience, the black and white overclass has far more in common with one another than they'll ever publicly acknowledge.) "
Your pose of Irish working-class-ness is about as convincing as Peggy Noonan's. Get real, lady.
I see you have a teenage daughter - any comments on her college plans? I'm sure you don't want her to be "overadvantaged," now.
Joan I think you are way off base on this remark in your post: "that despite his impressive showing so far in the 2008 primary season, he's still mostly the candidate of coastal liberals, lefty intellectuals, Ivy League check-writers and African-Americans, and he isn't doing enough to reach the white working-class voters that a Democrat will need to beat John McCain in November"
What Planet are you on. I am a 51 year old white blue collar 33 year Democrat and can see through the Hillary mirrors and smoke screen. Bill Clinton pretty much said the same thing about white people with not the same words that Barack used but the exact same meaning. Now how do you explain all the people in the western most United States that have overwhelmingly gone for Obama. I do not think this fits your description of Barack Obama's base as quoted above. I know you are a Clinton supporter but please wake up and see the writing on the wall. Check out the Peter Paul Law Suit comming up in your home state that was reported on CNN tonight. It said the court date will be set April 25th. How much trust do you have in someone who lies about campaign money and lies about Bosnia sniper fire. Call it what you want but Barack did misspeak on the cling and bitter comment but did not lie. My wife is white, 46 years old and she thinks Hillary is really not helping the womens cause at all in fact she is taking the Democrats down with her Tanya Harding moves.
That there is such a ridiculous abunditry of shitheeld punditry.
Is it just me?
My fucking god, is this ever getting annoying. Bittergate?? Obama says that people are bitter and are voting against their best interests and that's somehow fucking scandalous?!
GW Bush has suspended habeas corpus, thrown money hand over fist to the richest Americans by way of tax cuts, ignored warnings of an impending terrorist attack (and hid when it was going on), failed to get the bad guys when the chance was had (Operation Anaconda), lied his way into an effectively endless war of opportunity against a country that didn't invade us, has saddled the country with mountains of debt, has kept our country tied to oil dependency, has politicized every branch of government, etc., etc. -- and the press meekly goes along with this. No scandal, no protest, just supine acquiescence.
But Obama says something that's obvious -- that people are bitter, and this is a goddamned "Gate?" This is a fucking gaffe? Bull-fucking-shit, Salon. J'accuse! This is an incredible amount of nonsense that is just infuriating me. After all Bush and Cheney have done to the country -- we're talking lasting, structural damage to the security, prosperity, and future of this country -- THIS is what the media are obsessing about?! THIS is what people in the press hope will be a deciding factor in Obama's ability to serve?
Obama on his worst day is leagues better than Bush and Cheney at their very best. Bittergate is making me fucking bitter.
Joan Walsh just is terrible, lousy, and obvious. Indeed the only pandering here is to the Hillary campaign.
Which just goes to show how Clinton is attacking Obama using the standard GOP playbook.
The argument that these kind of attacks are tolerable because we can expect the exact same attacks from the GOP in the general misses a crucial point.
Certainly the role of the nomination contest in vetting candidates for their ability to withstand attacks should not be underestimated. Attacking fellow candidates on their positions, their personal scandals, their honesty and character, their legislative history - substantive questions - these are (for the most part) desirable and productive.
But attacks that rely upon and therefore reinforce pre-existing stereotypes propagated and used by the right-wing to demonize all liberals and progressives are a different matter. To take one in-artfully expressed remark and twist it to accuse Obama of being elitist and out-of-touch with "heartland" America does damage to the entire Democratic cause. (A remark made in the context of explaining why Democrats need to tackle economic issues to make headway in small-town America, no less!)
Those kind of attacks will be made by every right-winger against nearly every Democrat running for office. It is standard right-wing divisive demagoguery. It is to be expected from right-wingers, and its over-all effectiveness as a tactic depends upon the ability of the stereotype to divide us. For a prominent Democrat to employ this tactic (and one who claims to be a progressive candidate!) is inexcusable. Not only does it reinforce and strengthen the stereotype that a majority of Democrats are latte-drinking, coastal elites who look down on small town and middle America, it does so far more effectively than any right-winger could. When Obama is the eventual nominee, McCain and every other right-winger will be able to point to Clinton's description of Obama as an out-of-touch elitist intellectual as evidence that their own attacks are something other than the standard (but increasingly ineffective) right-wing smears.
It would have been one thing for Clinton to attack Obama for being impolitic and not being careful enough with his message. Such criticisms are legitimate issues to raise about any candidate. She could even argue that his comments show that she'd be the candidate least vulnerable to this standard right-wing smear (Ha!). But to actually argue that Obama, and by extension most of his supporters, are elitist and out of touch is something else entirely.
She is harming and dividing the Democratic Party, hurting the general election prospects of the likely Presidential nominee as well as those of every other Democrat running for office, and proving beyond a doubt that she will do anything in her own quest for power.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
Salon headlines in your mailbox
