Thu, 03/04/2010 - 10:40pm — lambert
Here's how Bowers reacted when Obama finally put the ol' public option zombie through the woodchipper, right out in front of everybody:
Hearing President Obama thank House Progressives honestly made me feel good.
Hold me back! Hold me back!
BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!
Most pathetic Bowers post, most pathetic career "progressive" post, or most pathetic post in the history of the blogosphere?
You decide!
UPDATE Exclusive footage of the scene in the White House:
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you are much stronger than I,
I stopped reading after I read that line.
"We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them." -Albert Einstein
Alas, there is a precedent for this kind of...
... sad display: http://www.correntewire.com/maybe_im_not_amazed
Yup, nail on the head....
I felt ashamed not knowing who Chris Bowers was until....I read this dreck he posted. Ahhh, man. I hope never to waste another moment on Bowers again.
Obama ... well ... scum from the jump. As we used to say in football, Barry is not fit to carry Van Jones's jock strap.
lambert, thanks for the log in help.
Be grateful. not ashamed, that you don't know...
... your access bloggers.
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
Oh thank heavens for this post!
I read Bowers and fell off my chair and almost killed myself hitting my head on the corner of the counter.
Is this guy for real? I'd laugh - if I wasn't already sobbing hysterically.
Hmmm, I'm not sure...
I still think Bowers' "Down with Bubbas, Up with Progressives" Manifesto was the worst post in the history of the "progressive" blogosphere. "OMG, Obama drinks PBR and shops at Whole Foods! He's just like me! He likes me! He likes me! I'm finally COOOOOOOL!"
I just don't think it can be topped, not even by Bowers himself.
Never vote for people who hate you.
ERA Now!
The Widdershins
"You decide"
I'd say it's a winner in all three!
It's Chris's "Sally Field moment": "I can't deny the fact that you like me, right now, you like me!" Excruciatingly pathetic, really.
Every apathetic citizen is a silent enlistee in the cause of inverted totalitarianism.—Sheldon Wolin
I always thought poor Sally didn't deserve all that shaming...
from the "too cool for school" crowd. Why shouldn't she get to bask in the faux-unconditional love for half a sec. Norma Rae was awesome. But, no, fickle audience and schaudenfreude media smells blood of honest vulnerability and some healthy, honest vanity and goes in for the juggular forever more. This society doesn't forgive expressions of intense feelings.
But I also felt sorry about the "potato" misspelling by what's his name, Danny boy. Not out of a sense of personal concern for him maybe, but let's role model for the kids in this country, when you make a mistake like in spelling, you will be shamed within an inch of your life.
It would be one thing if the media were shaming, say, for collective murder. But a spelling mistake makes a week's worth of news cycles ... and the drone killing of children, say, not so much.
Sorry, didnt't mean to run away with your Sally point so extensively. It caught my eye. I am probably in a minority of one.
Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare. (Japanese proverb)
Call it a minority of two (I agree)
See also: Bob Somerby on "the cult of the offhand comment."
Here:
http://www.google.com/custom?q=cult+offh...
Then again, there's the pithy quote that encapsulates everything
Nixon's "I am not a crook" sums up a lifetime in only five words, for example.
I think Bowers exemplifies the pithy quote rather than the offhand comment (if that's the point at issue, and I'm not sure it is).
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
lambert ... not at issue 4 me--was defending Sally not Bowers
.. do you have any more pithy quotes.... am loving this expansion of my political vocab today...
"follow the money"? ... though that applies to scenario (word?) ... not person.
"Read my lips"? ... or is that one on the cusp ... re a reckless remark?
And then there is the honed-by-another pithy quote, something about seeing Russia from one's house? ahem.... though I think to be fair to Sarah, that goes to vast's cult department, too...
"I did not have sex with that woman"?
Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare. (Japanese proverb)
The Bowers quote...
... is consistent with and indicative of the mindset projected by his ill-fated war against single-payer health care, from beginning to (when will it?) end.
Definitely not "cult of the offhand comment" material.
(By "ill-fated," I mean our fate, not Chris's accessy future nor his side's stunning success at choking the oxygen out of real healthcare reform -- all good intentions assumed, and all).
Actually, I agree
I wasn't really making a comment on Sally's moment per se (and I was impressed with how she was good-natured about it and joked about it herself afterwards)—it was more a comment referring to the perception (rightly or wrongly—and you make a good case for wrongly) of that moment. Chris's gushy, breathless "He thanked us and made me feel good!" struck me as similar to how that (misquoted) "You like me, you really like me!" moment was perceived.
But, hey, it was an offhand comment! :p
Every apathetic citizen is a silent enlistee in the cause of inverted totalitarianism.—Sheldon Wolin
yes, Jeff, see the parallel .. sally & chris in childlike thrall
during their spontaneity ... and chris's enthrallment ... authoritarian following or at least that set up for crony codependency ... where a sense of loyalty skews reality ... warts get put way in background and foreground gets air-brushed by denial. Charisma sure can con, i.e., some kool-aid is dispensed -- that "access" stuff can be seductive, can't it! (I was not familiar with Bower's stuff). But how can indefensible policies, regressive policies, be rationalized and minimized???
Wasn't there an adoring quote by George Clooney about Obama from the beginning? His being dazzled and declaring one wanted to follow him anywhere. Wonder where George stands now? Hopefully on the side of reality.
Tavis Smiley had Harry Belafonte on at one point a while ago. Clearly, Tavis is disappointed and dismayed, but the look on Harry's face about Obama and some of his startling utterances if I heard correctly (I am not sure I did with one thing at the beginning of the interview...it was so extreme) ... were stunning. Obama's sell out so profound to him clearly.
Pete Seeger turns 90 is it, this year. There is an American who fought and is still fighting the good fight. This land is OUR land!
Love your Wolen quote.
Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare. (Japanese proverb)
And, really, Chris's comment
is so much less defensible than that of Sally (even though I brought her up). At least Sally got the relationships right: the Academy is supposed to be recognizing achievement and Sally, in an unguarded moment that displayed vulnerability, basked in that recognition. It has none of that obsequious leader/follower creepiness that Chris's comment had. Does Chris really give a crap if President Obama thanks him after he and the other "progressive" bloggers kowtow to the White House and, even then, Obama doesn't give even a scintilla of support for what they, in deference to the White House, said they wanted? The multiple levels of co-dependency are astonishing (and sickening). One commenter said Chris was like "an abused housewife"—can't argue with that.
Dismay, disappointment, disbelief are better than a Kool-Aid-induced wall of denial but only the degree of Obama's conservatism was ever in question, not whether he was conservative or not.
And glad you like the Wolin quote. Maybe one of these days I'll get around to reading his book.
Every apathetic citizen is a silent enlistee in the cause of inverted totalitarianism.—Sheldon Wolin
Wee correction: Pete Seeger turned 90 last May 3, 2009--
He'll be 91 this May 3rd! Stay healthy, Pete!
The concert for his 90th b'day was just rebroadcast on Ch. 13.
vast, ty!!! i love it when it actually has earned a name....
.. it cracks open that kool-aid induced wall of denial! will remember this wisdom!
Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare. (Japanese proverb)
More Bowers classics
Imperious:
"This is journalism"
http://vastleft.blogspot.com/2009/06/pro...
Wow, just wow:
"I want to be an active member of the small clique, coterie or circle that identified the possibility for massive change and precipitated its manifestation.":
http://vastleft.blogspot.com/2009/11/its...
Pot calls kettle black:
"[T]he teabaggers are taking a pass on action that could actually stop "socialism," and opting instead for ineffective, symbolic, identity-based actions: they don't care about actual issues or legislation."
http://vastleft.blogspot.com/2010/01/tea...
Je regrette très un peu:
"We should have pushed to expand Medicare availability, rather than create a new public option. As popular as the public option was in polls, Medicare is even more popular. It is also simpler to explain, and does more to build toward universal coverage through Medicare in the future."
http://vastleft.blogspot.com/2009/12/iir...
True that:
"I have redefined my position on what victory means for this legislation"
I feel your pain:
"Funneling huge amounts of customers and public money to for-profit health insurance companies is offensive to me ideologically. The continued lack of influence Congressional Progressives have over public policy is also extremely frustrating."
My brain hurts:
My thinking on the matter started to change when Representative Alan Grayson started talking about the number of people who die each year from health insurance. Even though I, and other members of my family, had gone through sometimes lengthy periods without health insurance, it was still not an angle I had considered previously. Saving those lives is a very powerful, ethical argument to me.
http://vastleft.blogspot.com/2009/12/blo...
Don't ask a question if you won't like the answer:
"Ever wonder why it is so hard to elect good candidates and pass good legislation?"
http://vastleft.blogspot.com/2009/12/say-that-is-good-question.html
Say, what?
"There will be a transfer of public money from unemployment compensation to health insurance subsidies, which is a good thing and worth fighting for."
http://vastleft.blogspot.com/2009/12/im-...
No mirrors at Open Left:
"If we keep suggesting fake, bullshit solutions to serious problems, then we will never get to the actual source of those serious problems and thus have no chance of solving them."
http://vastleft.blogspot.com/2009/10/wha...
Political-feasibility conventional wisdom, accepted as a deal-breaker for single-payer, is disreputable when used against "public option":
"Instead of arguing against the public option in policy terms, the Senators instead argue that the public option simply cannot pass. In fact, among these five Senators, only Joe Lieberman has even stated his opposition to a public option--and Lieberman cites the inability of the public option to pass as his 'most important' rationale for opposition." http://www.correntewire.com/naturally_doesnt_apply_deep_sixing_single_payer
The problem with the "my brain hurts" quote
Is the lack of empathy. Some day, when I write my "Sorry History of Public Option" takedown, that concept will figure largely.
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
My brain hurts because...
There's so much wrong with that quote, the shocking lack of empathy and more.
My brain hurts because
drinking a shot for every "I,me,my" in that post comes to 27, and now (hic) .....
"Rule number one: pay attention"-Ded Bob
Chris is
what Chris is.
Chris does
What Chris does. By denying single payer oxygen, he and his career "progressive" cohort did a great deal of damage to a lot of people in desperate need.
Now, he's moved on to financial reform! God help us.
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
"Access Bloggers Suck"
What Lambert says here needs to be shouted from the rooftops.
Idea for vastleft: how about a T-shirt expressing this sentiment-if not this exact phrase.
I'd buy it.
Hell, I'd buy 10.
Obama "sorta, kinda" said he would work on next steps...
PO
...whatever.....
From Bowers' post:
(Head, desk; repeat.)