by bartleby the scrivener | On the dismaying of MoDo by internet bloggers who hide behind pseudonyms ("On the Internet, it’s often less about being constructive and more about being cowardly," writes Dowd), Bats Left, Throws Right rejoins:
Y'know, thirty-five years ago news media strode the earth like a
Colossus. And from that vantage point they saw bigger profits on the
horizon from cable, and space phones, and billboards on the Moon, and,
especially, unfettered mergering and acquistioning and other rapining.
And they decided that the Supermarket Tabloid model of making shit up
was an unfair advantage, costing them literally hundreds of dollars a
week in fact-checking. Pretty soon you can't say
Time without
the guy sitting next to you on the bus replying, "Warner." And what
happens? When there are no standards left, aside from that byline
thing, people discover they can make shit up for themselves and cut out
the middle-man....
.And we learn in short order that there're 40,000 people who can write
better than you, would do it for less, and can produce coherent thought
without a Blackberryfull of "sources". (
The New Maureen Dowd Signature Line Of Donkey Appendage Strap-ons)
Jill at Brilliant at Breakfast:
Does Barack Obama think that the people who donated $25, $50, and $100
at a time last year are going to do it again in 2012 for a
president/candidate who not only snubbed them the minute he got into
office but who was so intent on getting a bill -- any bill -- that he
not only threw the Democratic base, but also the independents who
helped push him over the top, under the bus? Does Rahm Emanuel think
the Democrats are going to be able to retain both houses of Congress
after selling out the entire country to the very same insurance company
thieves that caused this mess?
Congresscritters don't have to worry;
Americans are so fucking stupid that they elect these clowns every time
they come up for election. (
Hope and Change, My Ass)
Mick Arran, at Fact-esque:
Well. I'm feeling so much better about our torture policy now that
Obama is in charge of it instead of Dick Cheney. Change is happening.
Change you can believe in.
For example, that evil rendition policy where we send (likely
innocent) detainees to other countries to be tortured for real, not
that namby-pamby waterboarding stuff that's like a dip in your 5-Star
hotel pool but the Real Thing - electricity through testicles,
thumbscrews, Iron Maidens, racks, you know - is going to be totally dumped in favor of a new rendition policy
where we send them to the same countries but now we're going to monitor
the interrogators to make sure they don't do anything bad....
Yessir, some fine American is going to sit right there in some Syrian prison and if those interrogators get out of line one inch, s/he's going to write a very stern letter....(Happy Daze Are Here Again)
curv3ball at The Poor Man:
There is a pattern emerging in right wing discourse, but you can only
follow along with about a dozen tabs, an eight ball and some of uncle
Rush’s oxycontin and pot brownies to soften the rough edges. (
Acid)
Jon Cole at Balloon Juice:
They are not a serious party, and they won’t be until they start
calling out the hucksters, liars, and crass opportunists. Quite
honestly, I don’t see that happening anytime soon, and why should it?
The media never makes them pay, worthless shit peddlers like the
smirking glibertarians at Reason are providing rhetorical cover for
lunatics carrying guns to presidential events, an activity that would
seem unthinkable to most sane people, and a lot of them have carved out
a very lucrative lifestyle for themselves pushing the crazy. Gingrich
raked in millions last year, Coulter and Beck and Limbaugh make a
fortune, and Sarah Palin just quit her day job so she could join the
wingnut welfare circuit.
Until that dynamic changes, why
would they do anything differently? Every incentive is there for them
to just make shit up. And so they do. (Stupid and Proud of It)
Kevin K at Rumproast, on an Idaho gubernatorial candidate's risible "jest" that he'd like to buy hunting tags for a certain U.S. president currently in office:
Jim Yeager at skippy:
the kennedys were advocates for the little guys, and the bushes
are advocates for the big guys. and yet these little guy right-wingers
were totally silent while the bush administration was pouring hundreds
of billions of dollars into the iraq war sand trap and the coffers of
mercenary outfits, giving the big guys tax cuts, and gutting whatever's
left of our freedoms with the patriot act. all that, they were cool
with.
the last time i took part in a public
protest, the two notions at work were ending the iraq war and seeing
bush impeached for starting that criminal war. i'm positive a few of
the people on the sidewalks who jeered at me and everyone else in my
crowd then are among the boot-licking hand-biters publicly protesting
affordable health care and saying stupid things about ted kennedy today. (
"people who bite the hand that feeds them usually lick the boot that kicks them"...)
Matthew at These Bastards, on right-wing
nutjobs who are busily politicizing Kennedy's death by protesting the
politicization of Kennedy's death:
All I
know is that when I see Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity advocate for the
same idea and line of thinking within two sentences in the same article
and try to put forth the idea
that an event that hasn't even happened yet is irrevocably politicized,
I am filled with the knowledge that it is undeniably a good idea and
the product of honest people trying valiantly to protect Ted Kennedy's
legacy and look out for the American people. In fact, I agree, in order
to honor Ted Kennedy and make sure there isn't even a whiff of
politicization in the air we need to make sure health care is defeated!
For Teddy! (
Damn this Politicization)
Sean Paul Kelley at The Agonist:
All they seem able to do these days is cry. Cry-babies, the lot of 'em. (
And So It Begins)
Recent Buck Naked Politics Postings
Doghouse Riley of Bats Left, Throws Right was the second one to blogroll me as I was getting started (Jon Swift was first). You were the third or fourth.
His screeds are far more interesting than anything Maureen Dowd has to say, but have become the primary reason I read her column from time to time. She should be grateful.
Posted by: James Stripes | August 30, 2009 at 02:51 PM