Evidently if the lady in question is the Queen of England, and what you give her is a video ipod, yes. Amazing what louts we have dictating our manners, propriety and etiquette in the eighth week of the 44th Presidency, especially when you consider that Bush 43 often gave self-centered gifts to go with his loutish behavior. He got praise for his loutishness, you may recall.
Yes, it's faux outrage from the Right. Yes, it's tired warmed over same-old same-old. (Yes, on still another level, it's a snide snipe at the Queen, who already had an audio Ipod but did not have and did request a video model; the White House personalized it with video of her most recent visit to the US -- DC and Williamsburg -- as well as some video of President Obama's speeches).
Yes, it continues the mythology that divides us as a nation. Yes, I'm tired of it. Scout Prime over at First Draft got a wad of this recycled bs hurled at her in connection with the current flooding in Fargo, and her scathingly appropriate smackdown is here. (By the bye, Bobby Jindal, why in hell can't you fix Big Charity? Or the University Hospital? Oh, that's right, I forgot -- public charity hospitals aren't a profitmaking venture.)
It's not just the President, though, and it's not just a personal destruction these cretinous medianuts are pushing -- it's a nationwide agenda of slander and libel and misrepresentation, historical revision for the sake of aggrandizing what never existed while denying facts in favor of ideology.
It's pure, simple, and gloriously ugly, and its common thread is the race of the persons being excoriated, from the photographs of stranded people on their roofs in NOLa in August 2005 right up through the photographs of President Obama and the First Lady meeting Queen Elizabeth yesterday.
Yes. It. Is. Racism.
Time to call it out, point it out, and make its sycophants acknowledge their bigotry.
Otherwise we'd be hearing, day and night, a hue and cry like we heard in the aftermath of Katrina: abandon NOLa. Oh, except, of course, this is Dakota; these are not poor people who had no means of evacuation -- and more importantly they're not black people.
The main$tream media in this country, frankly, sucks. Perhaps it will implode along with its corporate masters. Couldn't happen to a nicer series of attention-grabbing cocktail-weenie-sucking losers.
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If I'm reading what you wrote,
you're saying that any and all criticism of the POTUS has a common thread and that thread is racism. Therefore, all criticism is unjust and motivated by racism. Well, ok then. I guess everyone can just STFU
.
You can certainly continue to think that. And people will continue criticizing the president. They will be racist. Me, too. I hope there are a lot of us.
There is a difference
Between justified and unjustified criticism. What the examples above illustrate is an unjustified line of criticism, designed to make the President look "low-class" and "urban" therefore an Other. Like the people in NOLA were Othered to justify this nation's abandonment.
If your criticism of Obama doesn't cross the line into Othering and discrimination, and perpetuating unjust stereotypes, this post isn't about you. Don't try to make a shoe fit, if it doesn't belong to you.
He who will not reason is a bigot; he who cannot is a fool; and he who dares not is a slave.
- Sir William Drummond
I remember, vividly and with much horror,
the story Incurious Georgie goes to visit the Queen. He brought his own chef and trashed her roses. As I recall, he never went back.
As a result, I'm amused at the "intelligent" coverage by our intrepid media as the Obamas demonstrate a much more dignified presence and representation.
If I didn't read the blogs, I wouldn't have to be continually reminded how stupid today's journalists are.
lizpolaris: please, work with me here
that's not how i read this post at all. and frankly, comments like yours are exactly why it's so hard for people like me to post here, these days.
flame away, but let me be blunt.
1. obama is hardly better than reagan, policy-wise. he's that conservative, he's that hypocritical, he's that arrogant and disinterested in facts that affect the poor, uninsured, etc.
2. the SCLM
is a racist, lying, self-concerned social hierarchy of self-referential idiots who care more about protecting their own financial and social interests than they do for factual "reporting." let me stress again how monotone and racist they are. and sexist! and homophobic, and closeted.
i, like many people, can hold these two statements to be true at the same time. gimme some credit for that, yo?
HRC was treated unfairly by a bunch of sexist "reporters" and continues to be treated so.
BHO was treated unfairly by a bunch of racist "reporters" and continues to be treated so.
these two statements don't mean that i can't object to how either of them do their jobs, to my dissatisfaction as a progressive.
is that clear enough for you?
...seriously, it's like i can't win. i can't post here, b/c i don't "hate obama" enough. i can't post anywhere else, because i want to make moderated but significant comment and complaint of what i perceive to be his many shortcomings, as a "democrat" and party leader of the american left. goddess help me, but it's annoying and disheartening. thank the FSM i have a garden, and a big one, that takes up a lot of my time.
Huh?
What the fuck do you mean, you can't post here because you don't "'hate Obama'" enough? And how is that sort of generalization different from what LP is doing? I really, really object to this "hate Obama" thing, even in quote-shrouded jest -- possibly because I got that from the OFB
at Kos for fucking months, along with the smears that I was a racist -- those two reasons being the only possible reasons why one wouldn't pick the guy to be
PresidentLeader. I know what hate is: It's waking up in the morning thinking how you can shiv somebody. Well, I don't do that with Obama. And if that's what I woke up thinking, I wouldn't be posting endlessly on boring topics like financial shenanigains and health care policy; I'd be hammering on the COLB shit, or writing snarky posts about Michelle, or propagating winger memes over here. None of which I do -- and it would be very easy for me to do. If you really want an Obama hate site, I can give you a list. Corrente's not on it.And if you want to change the balance of content on the site then the answer is, as always, totally in your power: Post. And if your problem is commenters, then you as a Fellow have the power to deal with such matters as you see fit, if you want to invest the time. And if you're not willing either to post, or to moderate, then I'm not sure what the source of your difficulty might be -- unless RL, which is fine.
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
Hmm, now that I have time to come back to this thread,
I find it amusing that my response is the one accused of generalizing.
The reason I even bothered to put a comment at all on this post, is because after making an argument about spurious wingnut criticism, about halfway through Sarah falls over into a claim about racism - which is pretty much straight out of the blue.
I was over the top because I felt the post went over the top. Sarah suddenly leapt to the conclusion of racism after generalizing from incidents which were not shown to demonstrate any racism at all. And then she broad brushes all conservatives and everyone in the MSM with it.
Generalization anyone? The one issue that has pissed me off most about the entire Obama campaign is that racism is the epithet which can be thrown at anyone for any reason without any specific rationale - and it will stick. I feel his campaign did a lot to reinject racism into dialogue by making it verbal club.
And here we see it in all its glory. Just call someone racist and the rest of us are supposed to applaud.
lizpolaris, what you're missing is
not that the complaints about the Ipod are racist, but that those examples are just one or two more small nuggets in the broad field of criminally ignorant and biased propaganda the media spews.
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
You've completely lost me.
In what possible way are these small nuggets racist? I might agree with ignorant and biased - but how racist? What specifically are you referring to?
You've got to click through the links
There's a ton of noxious Fargo v. Katrina stuff -- which I missed, first time around.
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
welcome to my world, CD.
required filler
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
See above
Your world is what you make it.
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
I got an email
from a pro-Hillary discussion group yesterday. I had signed up after the primary, but never posted there, since it was just another incarnation of other groups out there. They're closing up shop. Others already have. I guess it's hard to keep that sort of anger going when everyone else has moved on and there are so many other things to worry about. I've noticed comments at remaining sites are way down, too. Hillary certainly has moved on.
Doesn't mean any of us will ever forget what happened, and I have to say it's easier to deal with a lot of what's going on since I'm not personally invested in Obama. Easier to judge his actions more objectively, cheer when he does something good, and criticize when he screws up. We need him to succeed, so we can start to overturn some of the awful decisions of the past eight years. It's in our interest to keep up whatever pressure we can to effect the kind of "change" WE want. I think it's encouraging that many, many people are pushing health care reform, notably, single payer.
The Obama apologists are the worst, but there are fewer of them than there used to be. I also resent those who try to tell me how I should feel, how I should talk about Obama. Just stop the lectures and whining. Most of us are willing to cut him some slack. Even some of those who voted for him have ditched the rose-colored glasses, thank dog. For others, it will take more time to find their comfort level, and his actions and decisions will affect that. He's definitely better than Bush, Worst President Ever. It remains to be seen just how much better.
Obama doesn't get my support because he's a democrat. He has to earn it every single day.
Yeah, basically
I'm a bit more Old Testament God than ypu, pie, I think -- I figured Obama and the Democrats were going to win back in August; I didn't think the Republicans were even trying. Which is why I was all over the bailouts immediately, instead of joining the chorus on -- Quelle horreur Sarah Palin. So I "got over it" a long, long time ago (for some definition of "getting over it").
That doesn't mean that I didn't feel, and don't still feel, great anger at the process through which Obama was selected; I haven't forgotten any of it, and I haven't forgiven most of it. But I don't wake up in the morning thinking about it, and I feel no need to post on it. It's a reality of our shared history, like Florida 2000 or the famous victory of 2006. If somebody makes an issue of my support for Obama's Secretary of State, or does the Obama apologist thing, I return fire; otherwise, I'm happy to leave it alone. Revenge is a dish best served cold; and I've found that, if you take that attitude, any thirst for revenge will fade with the passage of time.
My job is to pull the Overton Window
left, and to, hopefully, give Hillary's 18 million some decent representation (which helps everybody, I firmly believe). That's the metric for the "success" through which Obama earns my support. My job isn't to play 11-dimensional chess or to make excuses for the man but to create a board with more squares on it. There are many who are doing the same work.
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
That's certainly how I see it,
especially here. And it has gotten better elsewhere. Your Gandhi quote looks better every day. :)
Well said
I'm with you on this, Lambert. In fact, this is one of the only blogs I hang out on these days because of that way of looking at what has happened.
"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. So is a lot." - Albert Einstein
I guess so, Lambert; but today it seems a little
smaller and a little poorer, and while I probably helped make that happen (although I never voted for Bush and did my dead level best to keep anybody who could hear me from voting for him), I'm not sure how I did.
I'm trying to make my world open to voices and ideas I think are worth sharing.
One of the ways I do that sometimes is by screaming, "NOT LIKE THIS" and pointing.
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
Oh, I don't think so, Sarah
I was talking to a friend who said it was a wonderful time to be alive. On consideration, I had to agree.
I suppose we could have stormed the Capitol after FL 2000.... But that was the real shock and numbing, eh? We aren't numb now.....
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi
It's certainly better than the alternative, Lambert.
But how many of us have lost a friend or family member to depression or a health problem that cost too much to treat, the last 8 years?
How many of us or our family members and friends have lost a job, a home, the sure belief that we have a better future than our past?
I guess it's just a melancholy evening for me.
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18