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Paul Krugman: Conscience of a Liberal
The Confluence
Suburban Guerrilla Ian WelshJames Wolcott skewers some of our former friends and blogmates in one of the most merciless pieces of snark I’ve read in a long time. Teacherken gets a starring role. It’s like watching a trainwreck, it’s fascinating and horrifying at the same time.
Just read it: The Sorrow and the Pity Party
Teach me, Master!
Filed under: Blogosphere, Hillary Clinton | Tagged: james wolcott, teacherken |
Corrente (Lambert) Avedon’s Sideshow
The Confluence 
Wow!
Great Hillary supporters think alike. Check my last comment from the previous post.
Oh, you beat me to it. I was just rushing over here to post the link. I can’t help but feel some satisfaction at seeing teacherken be the subject of Wolcott’s post. Ha ha ha. Teacherken has developed into one of the worst of the Obamabots. How embarrassing for him.
BB: He may be the worst of the Obamabots but his writing style has been consistently preachy from the start. He never could grasp that brevity thing.
I know. And that’s why I feel so…I don’t know how to describe how I feel–vidicated? supported in my nonconformity?
I’ve always found him so preachy and self-righteous, and yet he’s always instantly on the wreck list. And in each diary he “modestly” explains why he thinks this diary won’t get any attention.
Really! It’s fine to have TeacherKen’s attitude. I think he should vote any way he wants to. But really, don’t these people know that we have starvation and genocide in this world? Shouldn’t they save their long and preachy diaries for the real issues and problems in this world?
The world will not end if Hillary Clinton wins the nomination…but will DailyKOS?
BB: Yep, we’re non-conformists among non-conformists. I thought Kossacks were different, that they were more rational, less susceptible to emotional manipulation but it isn’t true. So, I gotta wonder, what makes US different? We are getting to be true outliers. That’s scary.
riverdaughter– They are talking about it at the orange place. Check out this comment:
“I guess you’ve arrived when you’ve been derided
by James Wolcott. Way to go teacherken! I kind of agree with Wolcott on that one in one aspect. If I decide I can’t vote for her, I’ll not vote for her kinda quietly.”
This person think tk has “arrived.” They are in an alternate universe over there. They honestly don’t understand that they are being laughed at.
And always remember how many Americans have voted for Hillary–and how many Democrats! There is no way for anyone to honestly argue that she doesn’t have serious grass roots support.
Teresa: What do you think about DailyKos’ chances of survival after the primaries are over? Heck, will it last even that long or will the Obamaphiles desert it in droves when they realize (any day now) that Obama can’t win?
Theresa– These people actually believe that Hillary is responsible for the starvation and genocide. If she can be defeated and stomped into the dirt, all the world’s problems will be solved and Obama will make everything clean and nice and happy. See how it works?
I honestly don’t know. I never would have thought they’d turn into what they’ve turned into, so I think their next iteration is also highly unpredicable.
I also wonder about media including Air America and Keith Olbermann. They’ve wrapped themselves around a candidate to the alienation of everyone else. What are they going to do if Obama fails?
One thing for sure: I’ve got the popcorn popping, because I think the signs are pointing Hillary’s way….
Boston: Oh right, I forgot. Broke a nail? Blame it on Clinton ;-). (remember the B.I.O.C. acronym?) And of course, the bigger issues are DEFINITELY all Clinton’s fault.
Theresa– I know this is mean of me, but I just wish I could be (have been?) a fly on the wall when teacherken reads (read?) the Wolcott piece.
BB: I suspect he will just assume that Wolcott doesn’t see the committment and nobility. Wolcott is just another non-believing, triangulating, corporate loving Hillary whore.
What would be more interesting to me is being a fly on the wall when some of his students read it. THAT would be priceless.
In teacherken’s minimal defense, he is a clinical depressive (who ought to know better by now than to talk himself out on that ledge).
Background, in his verbosely self-absorbed first-person style, here
ronk: You know, I feel compassion for him but many people share experiences similar to his. My father was a perfect example. But he didn’t run around in self-relevatory phase, writing self-righteous, preachy screeds (actually, my dad was a very GOOD writer). Knowing his proclivity for depressive episodes, maybe teacherken should have spent a little more time reflecting rather than writing about his reverence for all things Obama.
I don’t know if you’ve read some of teacherken’s diaries since he became of one of THEM. He has been pretty out of control for awhile, IMHO. I thought that he would be one of the “adults” who helped the rest of us get the abusive behavior under control over there. But he just jumped right into the pile with Markos and the rest of the hate-Hillary crowd.
Disclaimer: I know about depression. My mother was depressive, in and out of mental hospitals and committed suicide when she was 39 (I was 15).
I don’t knock people who are depressed.
That said, TeacherKen may be teetering on the brink of obsessive compulsive disorder. The kind of obsession he feels about Obama that would lead to his long tirade really isn’t normal, and truly is pretty dangerous for someone who has had suicidal tendencies. He needs to step away from all this. I’m serious.
I’m new to this blogging thing so I don’t know teacherken nor have I ever spent more than five minutes on DailyKos. I’m not going to say anything about teacherkos because I don’t read his stuff and he probably feels as passionately about Obama as I do about Clinton. I’ve mentioned on here before that I will write in Clinton’s name if she doesn’t win the nomination but I don’t make a big deal out of it and I don’t keep a diary or a blog where I write long entries about this stuff. I think it’s gotten a bit out of hand at these political blogs.
I think sites like DailyKos will last a bit longer after Hillary gets the nomination. I’m sure they’ll spend a while crying their eyes out and cursing Hillary for stealing the nomination. Some might actually vote for Nader or continue to criticize Hillary up until election day then continue to blame her for whatever happens after that. Who knows. But DailyKos and whatever other sites that have become Obamabot central could be in very big trouble by year’s end.
DVoter: you say
Some might actually vote for Nader or continue to criticize Hillary up until election day then continue to blame her for whatever happens after that
I *may* vote for Nader if Obama gets the nomination…
I know this attitude is some of what this article is deriding, but… what can I say?
Theresa– I’m no stranger to depression either. I was suicidal when I was 14-15 years old and have struggled with depression most of my life. Bipolar disorder runs in my family, and I was diagnosed with it at one time, but after I stopped drinking I didn’t have the wide mood swings anymore. I went through years of therapy and still take an SSRI. I went back to school in my 40s, and am doing well now. But I know what it’s like.
Anyway, I guess now I’m wondering if teacherken might have gone off the rails a bit. I hope he will be OK, because Obama is not going to win the nomination. I think there will be a lot of grieving among many of the bloggers who have fallen head over heels for The Precious.
As the late Steve Gilliard said, you do not want James Wolcott on your ass.
TeresainSnow2: I think you are right. I have met teacherken and he is a very nice man. But he should take better care of himself.
OTOH, Teacherken’s popularity says more about the mindset of Kossacks. They kept pushing him up the rec list. There was something they liked about his diaries, while much better authors scrolled off the recent list and into oblivion. And make no mistake, this has always been the style of Teacherken’s writing. It doesn’t matter what topic it is. Obamaphilia is just a more recent phenomenon. Does is speak to the self-importance of the Kossacks, the trendiness of the cause or something more pedantic in their nature? Whatever it is, it’s something that feels alien to me. I *am* a little disturbed that here was a bunch of people who I thought was my tribe and yet we now look on each other as almost a different species. I don’t want to sound like an intellectual snob or anything but sometimes I think I overestimated their collective intelligence. And that doesn’t mean I think Teacherken or his fans aren’t intelligent. It’s just that they’ve really disappointed me.
Did the link to Tina Brown’s article in Newsweek get posted?
“Hillary and the Invisible Women”
http://www.newsweek.com/id/120064/page/1
Daily Kos might have been hijacked by some teenagers. Lots of potty talk and teenage silliness.
Another installment of:
Don’t give up on the US press… Yet.
There are still some network executives out there with a brain bigger that a green pea.
That buffoon Tucker Carlsson gets deep-sixed. Not soon enough but we’ll take it.
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/msnbc/tucker_canceled_other_programming_changes_ahead_79352.asp
i thought of riverdaughter immediately when i saw this yesterday. the difference in writing ability between wolcott and the typical decorticated obama supporter on dKos couldn’t be more clear.
ah well. dKos used to have a really good writer, but they ran her off 😉
Riverdaughter:
You belong to a very exclusive specie:
“The Few, the Proud…the Clinton Bloggers”
“Let’s not forget the prolific Riverdaughter, a feminist of wide-ranging abilities who always seems to nail what’s so important about the typical Clinton voter (hint: they work, and they work at hard jobs).”
http://tomwatson.typepad.com/tom_watson/2008/03/the-few-the-pro.html
Don’t feed the ego, guys. I mean it’s nice and all but DailyKos has a LOT of good writers. Unitary Moonbat was/is one of my favorites. pico’s diaries on literature are very good. I LOVE Claude and his handyman blogs. There are many others.
I am a teacher from Texas and I just don’t understand how any teacher could support someone who has admitted to using drugs and someone who as recently as 2004 advocated legalizing drug use while speaking at a college. I am sure TeacherKen is a great guy and I have read many, many of his diaries that were both informative and spot on; however, as a teacher I see legalizing drugs as nothing less than a horrible threat to my students lives, their future and their happiness. Now, maybe Obama wasn’t serious when he made those comments, but I can’t imagine ever having a POTUS who would even consider the possibility.
Capsule summary: “Obamaphilia meets Ophelia”.
Gregoryp: Just about everyone I know that is my age (Obama’s age), has taken drugs. I smoked a little pot myself and I am not ashamed to say that I *did* inhale but that was the extent of my experimentation. I can’t say that I hold it against people who took more risks, especially if they did so in their youth before they decided to become responsible adults. In Obama’s case, apparently no harm was done (tho’ I can’t say the same for Bush)
But it *does* say something about a person that he would take risks that I wouldn’t have contemplated. I don’t know if that is a good or a bad thing. I saw the effects of drug abuse in the people around me and decided that it wasn’t worth it. What does it say about Obama that the destruction he witnessed did not deter him? Does it mean that we should applaud him for overcoming what might have been a possible addiction? Or was he gifted enough to know his limits and simply went up to them and no further? I’d like to think it was a little of both.
As a teacher, I’d like to think that you’d see the resistence and redemption as laudable, even if the original infraction was not. I still don’t want him as my president but my reasons have more to do with his relative inexperience and the way he has thrown women and working people under a bus.
well said, Riverdaughter.
btw, I agree on Wolcott. I have been reading his stuff for awhile…maybe since 2003/4. he always cracks me up.
Riverdaughter, I agree that experimentation isn’t all that bad; however, I have 3 cousins who are in prison right now. One of whom is a heroin addict. When he isn’t using drugs he is one of the finest people I know, hardworking, big hearted, intelligent. But when he is on the sauce he becomes someone completely different. I think it was terribly irresponsible for Obama to make that speech in 2004. Drugs are devestating. They shouldn’t be legal. As an aside, I have also seen many of my students lives utterly ruined because of drugs. Now, we can argue about the value of the war on drugs and by putting addicts like my cousin in prison. I don’t have an answer on that but I do know that legalizing drugs would make them even more readily available to kids. Of course, there are other reasons as a teacher that I support Hillary over Obama. When it comes to valuing education she is the real deal. She knows the research. She knows all sides of the issue and it is a passion with her. I find it strange that Teacherken doesn’t see it the same way.
Hmmm, I am totally in favor of legalizing marijuana but nothing else. I’m with you there. Cocaine, heroin and the like can cause permanent bchanges to brain structure which is why they’re so hard to quit.
campskunk: when does ‘prolific’ become hypergraphia? No particular reason. Just askin’.
Big Tent Democrat linked to Woolcot’s story over the weekend over at Talkleft. I had seen the diary title on the front page, had opened it and read the first paragraph, and then decided I’d really rather keep my lunch in my stomach.
But after reading the Woolcott excerpts, I went back and read the whole thing. I’ve never been a big fan of teacherken, but man oh man, it was even worse than I had thought when I was worrying about retaining my lunch.
Afterward, I commented that teacherken was either suffering from Grandiose Writer’s Syndrome or Narcissistic Personality Disorder. On behalf of grandiose narcissists everywhere, Big Tent Democrat took great (mock) umbrage.
Re: drug use. Everyone at Yale (well, virtually everyone) did drugs in the 70s. Most of us were just occasional pot smokers (as a scholarship student and general tightwad, I never bought drugs, but mooching was very easy). I never did hallucinogens or coke because they scared me — I don’t like being out of control. But I could never categorically refuse to vote for someone just because he’d admitted youthful drug use.
Several years ago, I got the “did you do drugs in the 70s” question from my now 17 1/2 year old daughter. I decided honesty was the best policy, and also a hell of a lot more credible. So I told her the truth: that I had smoked pot at lots of parties and during late night dorm discussions about music, politics and philosophy; that I had not done hard drugs because they scared me; and that there were a lot more reasons now not to do drugs then there were back then. Also, my husband’s sister is a recovering coke addict (clean for 20 years), so both my daughters are well aware of the dangers of opiates. If she ends up smoking pot in college the way I did, it’s not going to hurt her. Frankly, I think pot is safer than booze.
Long rambling answer to why it doesn’t bother me that Obama has admitted to doing drugs. It’s a more honest position than my beloved Bill’s “I didn’t enjoy it and I didn’t inhale.” Well of course he didn’t enjoy it — you have to inhale to enjoy it.
LM: Too funny about BTD. He’s gotten a lot better since his Dkos days. BTW, what *did* happen to Hunter?
The James Wolcott piece certainly did some skewering. I’ve never been a fan of tk simply because his diaries are preachy imo. He certainly has a right to his feelings but it seems they are overruling reason.
It seems that the Dems now have their own version of the bushbots. People that can see the “leader” do no wrong. When people take leave of reason, all kinds of problems ensue. We’ve seen that for the last 8 years.
Hello to Ga6thDem,
I remember you from way back. Welcome to The Confluence!
ghost,
Thanks. And it’s great to see everybody especially RonKSeattle here. I’ve missed his posts for way too long.
limo rides in the windy city…….ain’t no better than stirring bloomer pudding with a limb cigar and strapping on a jack rabbit harness for a ride of your life…..only trouble is the American people elect them to office.
madmilker: that’s some colorful imagery there. It’s going to take an hour for me to sort it all out but I *think* I have an idea. 😉
well, please think outside of the triangle!
i sympathize with tk being a depressive because i am too, but.. i have met him and he was uninterested in anything but preaching to the rest of us. i managed to say one sentence when he paused for a brief second after posing a question (rhetorical, i suppose) and he cut me off halfway through it and kept right on talking like i wasn’t even there. i was astonished. i gave him a piece of my mind on that diary..