[Welcome, Balloon Juice readers. The thing is, I already know how to rant.]
The point isn't that even though Obama's kids were "were almost criminally sweet and charming the entire time" in their 20-minute Access Hollywood interview, Bareback Andy pitched a fit, as Kevin Drum would have it.
The point is that Sullivan -- after mischievously fracturing the Democratic Party along generational lines with his Obama endorsement in the new New Republic, The Atlantic -- is now pivoting away from Obama.
Any excuse would have done; Obama's kids just happened to be the excuse du jour, and as a two-fer, the whole non-issue can be tagged with "family values." Stupid, and lazy.
Oh, you thought the pivot would never happen?
Pas si bete.
I give it thirty days. By the time the Democrat Convention rolls around, Sully will have discovered hitherto unseen and unexpected virtues in McCain -- especially if McCain could find it in his heart to welcome Andy aboard the Straight Talk Express with a nice, sloppy blow job, as I'm sure he'd be more than willing to do. I mean, the man's already been tortured, right?
NOTE Naturally, as soon as the right clutched their pearls and headed for the fainting couches, Obama promised* never to do it again. So now -- quelle surprise -- they're all running with the flip flop narrative.
NOTE * I'm really trying to avoid words like "cringed," and "whimpered" here, but seriously, WTF
? Who cares what the people who have a problem with Obama's kids being interviewed think? Why encourage them? Have we learned nothing? I could type the MoDo column on this little episode, stoned on Percodan, with one hand -- while fondling my Pulitzer with the other. And so could MoDo. In fact, I think she will.
UPDATE Some tweaks to make the imagery more vivid.
- lambert's blog
- Login or register to post comments
- 1+[encrypted]+#b94+
Printer-friendly version
Front page
Comments
oh, the agony
and why is he upset?
...and who would know better than andrew sullivan?
so sad--he "regrets" it, like Rezko, Wright, etc
--what's that about his judgment again?
That Access Hollywood thing was making the Obamas like Will and Jada Pinkett Smith and their family---really trivializing and non-presidential.
Wait, You Mean
all those conservatives who told us Obama was the second coming may not really be for Obama or have the Democratic Party's best interest at heart? Shocking.
"Do what you feel in your heart to be right -- for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't. " - Eleanor Roosevelt
Yeah, I think a lot of people...
... are going to have to do some serious rethinking on this.
Not.
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
another news cycle shot to hell
over fuckall nothing because the real hard stuff is, well, hard. Obama's kids; as long as they aren't dealing crack out of the White House, why should I care about them? Even if they are dealing crack, why should I care?
Does anyone, anyone, still read Andrew Sullivan? Why?
And yes, Lambert, if you would only write in a style that is more appealing to John Cole, you would have one more reader per day. Let's see; at that rate....
For the record, the reason I don't read John Cole's writing is - to be perfectly honest - John Cole's writing.
The news cycle
I agree the news cycle was shot to hell, but I think this was deliberate. There was no reason for him to publicly comment that his girls won't speak to the press again - it falls under the pattern of false outrage that is the hallmark of the Obama campaign. But this, combined with the Jesse Jackson comment certainly got some of the attention off the FISA vote, didn't it?
(FWIW, I also think the Jackson comment was contrived. Now Obama can distance himself from the comment, and to voters' minds, "distance" himself from Jesse Jackson, which may appeal to more conservative white Dem voters. But no, I'm no conspiracy theorist).
JB (cmugirl)
JB (cmugirl / jbindc at TL)
Jesse Jackson's comments
aren't contrived even by himself, which is the problem. Ole' Jesse has a mouth on him, always has, and he forgets sometimes that other people will repeat what he says. With him, more contrived would be better all around.
All politicians practice false outrage, it isn't any more a hallmark of Obama than anyone else, and the reason he commented on the decision to not repeat the interview thing with his girls is because he was asked about it, and he answered. Answering questions when asked, damn that Obama; another proof of perfidity.
What Obama does or says is his responsibility. What the media covers, and how much time they give to a particular story at the expense of another, is their responsibility; in cases like this they fail miserably at it. Wasn't worth media commentary from any angle, and certainly isn't worth any further commentary or speculation from progressives other than to condemn the media for again wasting precious time and effort on trivial nonsense instead of things like the FISA vote and the fact that the Bush executive is nothing but a vast criminal cabal.
I don't know lambert
I keep thinking that Cthulhu is a pretty good read at least and one of the more enduring of the Americanized icons.
I still kinda think it is telling that both candidates are so indecisive neither has made a choice for VP yet. I suppose we might have to wait until after the election for that. In Obama's case perhaps never.
"The great divide in this country is not by race or even income, it's by those who think they are better than everyone else and think they should play by a different set of rules," --Bill Clinton
http://www.correntewire.com/ye_olde_writ... fiction link
Miley Obama.
His kids didn't pose in towels, did they?
Personally, I think they're god awful parents. Decent parents don't take their children to KKK meetings or to see Reverend Wright. I mean, really, can you imagine what kind of amorality or thoughtlessness is required to feel comfortable allowing little girls to be near that man?
"Someone needs to point out that elephants produce infinitely more shit than donkeys." Brad Mays
Perhaps Obama Would Have Less Hubris
if guys like Sullivan had spent less time fawning over him and telling him his face would change the world. Not that I care what Sullivan thinks, he's a sexist and racist wanker who helped kill UHC during the first Clinton administration. Anyone who defends demonstrably false reporting by saying it stirred debate or whatever the phrase was he used has no shame and no credibility.
"Do what you feel in your heart to be right -- for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't. " - Eleanor Roosevelt
The Media Sucks
They couldn't find a news story if it bit them on the ass. But then, television news devotes most of its resources to punditry and not reporting. Which is why we get bullshit like Obama's daughters. It takes no actual reporting to speculate on an entertainment show's interview. It also serves no purpose whatsoever in terms of forward the political discussion in this country.
As for Jackson, the only "story" worth reporting out of his comments is one that examines how Obama is treating the black community (since I believe that was the cause of Jackson's ire). But again, that would require actual news reporting and that would be too much to ask. So much easier to play a 30-second video clip and then opine on the political implications than to actually investigate or report on what the problems of the African American community are, what Obama proposes in terms of policy to address them, and whether these policies are adequate. But that would require our media to 1) care about policy, and 2) devote reporting resources to issues related to African Americans or any other matter that isn't shallow bullshit.
"Do what you feel in your heart to be right -- for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't. " - Eleanor Roosevelt
Oh, Snap!
Somerby (emphasis mine):
"Do what you feel in your heart to be right -- for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't. " - Eleanor Roosevelt
Just read this
bullshit post at that vanity site. Both deeply offensive and also deeply stupid. Apparently this writer is of the "Obama can do no wrong" school, where no issue is really important, racism is so 1960's and everyone should just "get over" Obama screwing every traditional liberal idea, position or icon. And all those "Old Schoolers" like Jackson are just trying to perpetuate "self-victimizing". Or something like that.....
The brain recoils from the "naiviness".
-----------------------------
Around these parts we call cucumber slices circle bites
-----------------------------
I'm not such a bad guy once you get to know me.
Speaking of "naiveiness"
Is that like "truthiness", in that it isn't REAL naivete, it is faked naivete. A device meant to fool the "suckers", but understood by everyone in The Village
to just be more bullshit meant to forward "The Narrative".
-----------------------------
Around these parts we call cucumber slices circle bites
-----------------------------
I'm not such a bad guy once you get to know me.