I’ve always been a loner. Growing up I was not one of the kewl kidz but it never bothered me because I never felt the need to be part of any group. I prefer jobs that let me work independently without co-workers getting in my way or bosses looking over my shoulder. I live alone, but I’m not lonely.
Maybe that’s why peer pressure has never had much effect on me. I’m always behind on fashions and the latest pop trends. I usually discover the fashion changes when I go to buy something and the clerk informs me that “they don’t make those anymore.”
It’s not that I’m afraid to try new things. But if I try it and I don’t like it then I don’t keep doing/wearing/eating whatever it is, even if everyone else believes (or claims to believe) that it’s the greatest/coolest/most wonderful thing ever. I make up my own mind and I trust my own judgment.
But even though I’m a loner and don’t need anyone’s approval to validate my existence I was never treated like an outcast before (or if I was I didn’t notice.)
Ironically, I now find myself art of a group – of pariahs. If you’re reading this there’s a pretty good chance you’re in that group with me. If you’re not in our group then you’re probably a deranged blogstalker who needs to get a life.
You can divide lefty bloggers into three main groups – the ones who supported Obama enthusiastically and uncritically, the ones who would have preferred someone else but went ahead and voted for him anyway and those of us that saw through him and refused to support him just because he had a “D” after his name.
Among the many weird phenomena that swept Left Blogistan beginning in 2007 was the Obama supporters’ rabid intolerance for differing/dissenting views. Not that long ago nonconformity was considered a highly-prized virtue by liberals and progressives and freedom of speech was a holy principle that the Flying Spaghetti Monster gave to Founding Fathers.
Suddenly everyone on the left side of the blogosphere was expected to conform and stop exercising independent thought – as if we were right-wing authoritarian followers.
To question the One-derfulness of Obama was heresy, and supporting Hillary Clinton was blasphemy. The cult-like behavior of the Obots was never more evident than in the way they persecuted anyone who dared to disagree with them. At many blogs moderation was non-existent or one-sided. Anyone who refused to support Teh Precious had two choices: STFU or GTFO. So we left, and they tried to follow us so they could keep harassing us.
We had committed a mortal sin – we rejected the divinity and most awesome gloriousity of Barack Obama, made worse by the fact that we were very vocal about it. But the worst part is that we were liberal Democrats, which made us apostates to the true believers.
They told us we weren’t wanted in “their” party. They said we were old, ugly and stupid and no one wanted us. Then after all that they went ballistic when we announced after the RBC meeting that we didn’t give a fuck about party unity and we were not going to vote for Obama no matter how many of Hillary’s delegates they gave him. For that we got called traitors.
They also said we were racists, which was stupid because it didn’t work the first 20-30 times they said it. Then they called us Republican ratfuckers, which was even dumber. The one thing they didn’t do was admit the truth – our votes were stolen from us.
So Obama beat McCain in an election that any Democrat without a felony conviction should have won easily. He’s been in office a little over a year, his approval ratings are going down like the Titanic and it seems like every day we see another former Obama supporter admitting that Obama isn’t really the greatest thing since sliced bread. Well no shit?
The thing is the RBC ruling was just icing on the cake for us. Now if you listen to the Obots they’ll tell you we’re a bunch of bitter old women who never followed politics until Hillary Clinton ran for President, and then we “identified” with her so we supported her. They also claim we’re racists who wouldn’t vote for Obama because he’s black, but that’s a one size fits all accusation for anyone who doesn’t drink Kool-aid.
The reality is we had Obama’s number from the beginning. The first thing we noticed is his lack of experience. It’s kinda hard to miss because he barely had any experience at all. He was a community organizer, but didn’t organize anything. He was president of the Harvard Law Review but never published anything. He was a lawyer who never went to court.
He won elections by eliminating the competition from the ballot. Once in office he did nothing. He was a state senator who voted “present.” He was a US Senator who never held subcommittee meetings. He demonstrated a knack for claiming credit for the work of others but he found the day-to-day work of creating legislation boring.
He gave an anti-war speech nobody paid attention to. He read a speech off a teleprompter at the 2004 Democratic convention and impressed the easily impressed. Despite having accomplished nothing with his life, he wrote (supposedly) two memoirs by his mid-forties. After just two years in the Senate he got bored and decided to run for President.
The more we learned about Obama the less we liked what we saw. His ability to give speeches was highly exaggerated – without a teleprompter he is almost incoherent. Like Sarah Palin he’s not stupid but he’s not particularly smart either. His political skills are average at best. His association with people like Tony Rezko and Bill Ayers demonstrated his “superior” judgment was suspect.
Then there was his lack of policy expertise. He basically copied all his policy statements off Hillary. He ran a divisive, dirty campaign that utilized CDS, misogyny, false accusations of racism and recycled right-wing memes. He gave speeches against NAFTA in Ohio while secretly telling the Canadians he didn’t mean it. He revived the “Harry and Louise” ads to use against Hillary. He ran around with homophobes and praised Ronald Reagan. He was the “media darling” – the same media that hated Bill Clinton and Al Gore but loved George Bush.
We saw all of this way back in the primaries. We didn’t care about the color of his skin, we judged him on the content of his character. We concluded that he wasn’t just inexperienced but that he was corrupt and incompetent too, and no amount of experience would ever fix that.
We predicted he would be a disaster as President and he would severely damage the Democratic party. Even worse, he would set back liberal progress a decade or more.
Our archives are there, you can go check and you’ll see that I’m telling the truth. We weren’t the only ones who were right about Obama – Violet Socks, Alegre, Pacific John, Joseph Cannon, New Hampster, Cinie, Arthur Silber, Anglachel, Lambert and VastLeft are just a few of the people who weren’t fooled by Obama either. If we were wrong about anything it’s that Obama has turned out to be even worse than we predicted.
You would think that now that we have been proven right and they have been proven wrong that the rest of Left Blogistan would apologize for the way they treated us the past two years. Sadly, no. They continue to treat us like we have cooties, dandruff, halitosis and body odor. Jane Hamsher would rather hang out with Grover Norquist than acknowledge our existence.
If you don’t believe me check out the dicussion between Riverdaughter (aka Goldberry) and BTD in this thread at TalkLeft. Apparently even though we knew Obama would be a disaster and despite the way our votes were stolen we were supposed to go ahead and vote for him anyway because he’s a Democrat – the candidate of the same party that told us the didn’t want us anymore.
2008 was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for liberals and true progressives to change the direction of our country, to move the Overton Window back to the left. Between the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Katrina, the collapse of the economy, Bush administration lawbreaking and the failure of conservative ideology in general we had a set of circumstances that hasn’t been seen since 1932.
In 1932 we got FDR – the liberal Democrat who brought us the New Deal. In 2008 we got Obama – a narcissistic DINO-crat who is giving corporate America carte blanche to steal. Obama is even worse than George Bush because G-Dubya was a Republican. Obama is destroying the country AND the Democratic brand.
There is a whole lot of blame to go around for what happened, the lion’s share belonging to the Democratic party leadership. But the leaders of the “reality-based community” in Left Blogistan should be ashamed of themselves. Not because they were wrong in their judgment (they were) but because they abandoned their principles.
Some of the big bloggers joined in with the unhinged behavior and promoted the numerous fauxrages and wankfests while the others sat silently and let it happen. But whether they are guilty of sins of commission or sins of omission, they are certainly not innocent. Nor does admitting a year later that they were a “chickenshit” when it mattered absolve them of anything.
Even now they can’t be honest about what they did (and/or failed to do) which is the real reason they continue to shun us. Like Banquo’s ghost, we remind them of what they want to forget.
Filed under: Barack Obama, Blogosphere, broken promises, corruption, Democratic Party, DNC, Failbots, Financial Meltdown of 2008, Florida primary, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, General, Hillary Clinton, Liberalism, movement conservatism, Politics, Presidential Election 2008, Worst President Ever, zombies | Tagged: Barack Obama, blogospphere |
The Confluence 
There is somewhere a great quote from RFK about people refusing to accept that they have been duped – I can’t find it. Maybe someone else would. I read RD’s posts to BTD – the one that sums it all is
It reminds me of something I lifted from B0botland from someone shocked at the sudden timidity of an aggressive B0bot:
I think it’s called the Iphigenia syndrome (she was cursed to be a prophet who would never be believed)
You didn’t need Miss Cleo to see this trainwreck coming.
That was Kassandra.
Hillary was Iphigeneia in 2008–sacrificed so Teh Precious’ ship could sail and he could sack the Treasury of Alexander (Hamilton, that is.)
spammy ate my comment that said the same thing.
Hillary as Iphigenia — that’s a good one.
So will Palin be BO’s Clytemnestra?
I stand corrected.
That was Cassandra. Apollo was in love with her so he gave her the gift of prophecy. But she spurned his advances so he jinxed his gift so that no one would believe her.
Iphigenia was the daughter that Agamemnon sacrificed so that he could get favorable winds to sail to Troy.
Which is why I always think of his wife (her mother) Clytemnestra killing him later on as completely justified. Ironically, Cassandra was a Trojan prisoner of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra killed her too, after she killed Agamemnon. Poor kid.
The story of Cassandra’s death may have been manufactured — I remember reading that archeologists found inscriptions indicating that she and “her sons” survived and founded a city. I’ll see if I can find the cite.
djmm
Powerful post myiq. Thank you for doing that.
Yes, this is a great post. I’d call it a rant, but it actually sounds really calm.
You shoulda seen the first draft.
LOL. I’m trying to picture that with quite a few not so family friendly expressions and perhaps a detailed description of some particular people being drawn and quartered. Save that for the after hours, adult section.
It’s a manifesto that I’d be proud to stand behind. Truth over lies and denials.
Agree. Bravo, Myiq!!
It is an incredibly well done post. Very easy to relate to.
And, BB, I’m pretty sure other blogs actually WOULD/WILL refer to it as a rant if they feel the need to defend themselves for being such easy marks for teh one.
Thank you! Three points that I have noticed:
1. The blogosphere originally didn’t even like Obama all that much as they didn’t think he was progressive enough (they were more Edwards guys). But then when it came down to Obama and Clinton, he was suddenly the second coming.
2. What a contrast that the media pounced with a crew of fact-checkers to pour over Sarah Palin’s memoir, but I don’t recall even one looking into whether Obama’s memoirs were factual.
3. How could it be that Obama was so “pure” when practically everyone he associated with politically in Chicago was tainted and/or corrupt. Why would they befriend him if he was so unlike them?
The hurt and disappointment is still there isn’t it? I’m not disappointed in Obama because I didn’t expect any better from him. Its the so-called Progressive Community, the ones who were gonna set things right after 8 years of Bush and Cheney that have me up at night. They can stomp their feet all they want but they got the Corporate President they supported. A puppet on a string when we could have had a contender and a proven fighter. Didn’t they think that there might be a reason why the Corporate media and establishment loved their guy so much? F*ck em and their shitty little blogs too. And btw, where’s all the outrage about Iraq and Afganistan, DADT, women’s rights, The Patriot Act, Warrantless survellance? Obama’s all for it.
I’m disappointed only because there was always the hope that he would rise up to the office. So many things that he said and did left me feeling queasy, but what he would actually do was a big question mark. His entire career seemed to consist of promoting his next step up, but I thought it was still possible that once he had reached his goal he would for once in his life take his job seriously and actually show leadership and courage.
If you had asked me before he took office, I would have guessed that he would turn out better than my worst fears. But I would have been wrong about that. He’s worse than I ever imagined.
I know what you mean about the war. Hillary promised to begin leaving Iraq as soon as she was sworn in. As I recall Barack then agreed that he would do the same thing. Well? Where are the the anti-war groups now? It is so quiet. Where is the outrage? For his military policy alone, the left should be screaming and yet there is only silence.
He essentially nullified the anti-war movement by coopting the movement. Why don’t they regroup and get their protests going?
Another point, GREEN REVOLUTION. Remember that? Obama commits billions in loan guarantees for building 2 nuclear reactors in Georiga. Harvey Wasserman of Greenpeace said on Democracy Now! that this represents a “complete abandonment” by Obama of green technologies!
Beautifully said, myiq!
If they wanted our votes, they could have counted them.
But President Obama is even worse than I feared and I take little pleasure in that fact. I would have been so happy to have been proved wrong. I have little respect for many “Democratic” bloggers whose writings I once respected enormously. It was sad and annoying to see CDS infect the sites, with no disinfectant applied.
djmm
The thing that’s bothering me is that a lot of people are trying to pretend that the RBC hearing and the Michigan/Florida disenfranchisement never happened.
I’ve read two books about the 2008 campaign. The first was Eric Boehlert’s Bloggers on the Bus, and the second was Heilemann & Halperin’s Game Change. As I recall, it barely rated a mention by Boehlert, and H&H never once bring it up.
Obama supporters who were otherwise fairly clear-eyed about him, like Joan Walsh, go out of their way to avoid talking about it.
I think about it, and I’m reminded of a person-on-the-street interview after the Bush v. Gore decision.
The woman said she wanted all the Florida ballots burned so no one would ever know the truth–we need to move on, and there’s no other way.
People like Joan Walsh, who despite supporting Obama had a fairly clear-eyed
Whoops. Ignore that partial repeat at the end.
How many A-list bloggers protested the MI/FL/RBC fiasco?
How many wanted to boycott ABC because George and Charlie were mean to Obama in the PA debate?
They were too busy reading their civics books to protest.
That’s when I left DU. I wrote I was going to DC to protest and I was told I was like Tom Delay’s gang, the ones trying to STOP the count in Miami in 2000. Opposite objectives notwithstanding. It’s when I realized I had nothing in common with those people anymore.
I doubt you ever had much in common with them in the first place.
When everybody was against Bush it was easy to assume we all had the same vision of a post-Bush world.
The place was created right after the theft 2000. It’s why I joined there as Robbedvoter. Some of the older members still remember that. But chose to ignore it.
I was just defending Hill and pointing out 0’s background and limitations
when I was told that I needed to sign something promising that I would
never be “mean” to Obama. This was on DU, which even more moronic
posters than on Daily Kook.
Good riddance.
Is there a president in the White House now? Seems void.
I remember being stunned that self-described Dems were not upset about Florida/Michigan debacle. I always thought that voting rights were a pillar in the Democratic foundation. Silly, silly me.
CB, I got one of those “loyalty oaths” to sign too.
Those people really need to go fuck themselves. Hey I’m not planning on running for President but maybe I’ll get some delegates from MI? Whaddya think?
If I had a MI delegate I’d give it to you for your first sentence 🙂
It’s still an unhealed wound
No expectation of healing in sight, or desired.
In 2008, left blogistan became its own annexed Village. They fell in lurve with their own influence and made the same mistakes that they criticized the MSM for making in the years before that. The MSM sold both Bush-Cheney and Iraq and then when public opinion soured on both the very same MSM turned around and criticized Bush and the war without ever taking any real responsibility for their part in selling the mess in the first place. The MSM’s complicity and marginalization of the voices that were actually right about Bush and Iraq was the focus of much of left blogistan’s ire during the last Administratiion, and yet left blogistan turned around and sold Obama because he was “likable”…so sayeth the Village.
Now the Taibbis and all the rest of the prog bloggers think they can write up rants about the American taxpayer being (date) raped as if they had nothing to do with setting the American taxpayer up with that date.
The A-listers never had influence. They might have thought they did, but they didn’t.
They, the corporate media, and the Democratic establishment were ships that converged at the same point. The paths, though, were never the same.
The A-listers thought they were getting a leftie President.
The Dem establishment thought they were getting a figurehead who would rubber-stamp their bidding.
The media saw Obama as the candidate they could most successfully merchandise for a time, and their corporate masters saw him as someone who would do exactly what they wanted.
The corporate media were the only ones who got Obama right.
If there’s a lesson to take from that, I guess it’s that if the corporate media likes a Democrat, run as fast you can. Just remember their continuing love affairs with the likes of Joe Lieberman, Harold Ford, and Evan Bayh.
I agree there. I made a shortcut there — they fell in love with the IDEA of their own influence– I think that’s what Obama represented to a lot of people, the idea of being the ones they were waiting for, literally. Remember the Chris Bowers post…. “Out with Bubbas, up with Creatives.”
I’m not sure the A-listers all cared *enough* about getting a liberal president in the first place, though–they are just upset right now because they have nothing to SHOW for Obama. If Obama had passed his bailout to the health insurance industry, more of the progs would be happy just to have the word “reform” to parade about. They would be bragging about that right now. Not all of them, but Paul Krugman and Joan Walsh would be.
It’s not really much better than the MSM playing to corporate masters. The Obama progs play to partisan masters–and then when they decide to buck party unity, it’s when the moment has already passed and it’s more of a stunt than anything constructive that can acutally be built on (e..g Hamsher teaming up with Norquist).
I always go back to Cindy Sheehan. The bloggers wanted her to be their Mommy and lead them out of the wilderness while they lay on the couch and kos and Marshall went to seminars. But when it turned out Mommy was a person and not a symbol or a puppet who just did whatever they wanted but were too lazy to do for themselves, they turned on her with a vengeance. They want to win for the sake of winning and being cool and being pointed to, but they don’t actually care about anything or want to do anything. They want others to do it for them while they pat themselves on the back and take the credit. And when it comes to Figurehead Nation, it’s no wonder Obama is their god. If Bush weren’t so uncool, he would have done just fine.
The A-listers used to have influence – just ask Strom Thurmond or former AG Gonzales.
They had influence when the were an alternative to the traditional media and they were the only ones saying the emperor had no clothes.
Then they sold out to the Village for fame and fortune.
Nobody goes to a football game to watch the cheerleaders.
Nobody goes to a football game to watch the cheerleaders
Depends on the football team and the cheerleaders.
The only woman blogger invited to the WH wrote Dear Senator Hillary Clinton, Please Step Down in Feb 2008 and prompted the petition, Open Letter to Hillary Clinton: Show Class, Quit Now. Look at the comments on the petition. Remember, You’re helping McCain win and Quit for the sake of the party!
Smart lady!
FDR was divisive too. He was either loved or hated.
I’ve never heard of that blog or the petition. Is that your blog?
As if the day wasn’t bad enough already, that required a three flush vomit. I’m back. Reader and friend above can go to hell. Pious cultish bullcrap.
/Snark
The woman invited to the WH was Erin Vest of the blog Lady of Spain.
It’s no wonder she was the only woman invited to the WH.
I am not usually profane, but FU, moron.
Ncie summary. myiq. I’ll have to use it as my reference these days when people say McCain wouldn’t have been any better – at least the Democratic brand wouldn’t have been damaged the way it is now.
Hmm, and I wonder who would have been running in ’12 if he’d won.
And if Hill and Palin ran against each other in ’12 it would have been such a g’damn eff you to Hatefest 2008, that set any little girl with half an ounce of common sense dreaming of moving to another country when she grew up.
Give BTD the chance to define PUMA and he twists it to what he needs it to be for his own argument. No matter how many times people have tried to explain to him what the PUMA were truly about, he demands that his definition be used in his posts and his comments.
This is the trend, though. The supporters who have now changed their minds about Teh One are twisting the truth of what happened, continuing to deny anything unethical happened, and making the sorriest of excuses for themselves.
Try to get BTD to admit anything unfair or illegal happened at the caucuses, or the rules committee meeting and you’ll be verbally abused with his A-game bullying tactics.
When they aren’t denying the truth they are trying real hard to remain ignorant of it.
The proggers don’t want to look into caucus fraud because they’re afraid of what they’ll learn.
I believe they know what they will learn already. That’s an even better reason not to look from their standpoint.
There is a real parallel between this denial behavior we see on every side and the denial behaviors in alcohol and drug addiction. Maybe that koolaid had more chemistry going for it than even we thought.
An alcoholic or addict that isn’t ready for recovery thinks all they need is to manage their addiction better.
Look at the pposts by proggers trying to figure out how to make Obama become the POTUS they thought he would be.
Good point. Maybe they can spend a year on that—it’s sort of like switching liquors or drugs or high times and thinking you are making progress so why isn’t everybody happy and why are they still bitching.
Great analogy, myiq!
An addict who doesn’t like or can’t endure the withdrawl will probably indulge more than before. If that addiction was to a false prophet who’s been outed, then reality begins to look like a pretzel. Yum.
Disagree, politely, of course. I think the proggers knew exactly what was going on. They thought it was okay as long as 1) It was for Obama; and 2) It was action against Hillary. Now they are simply to ashamed to admit that playing dirty is never justified, but it’s worse–as far as they’re concerned–when the evil action was for someone that was never worth the effort from the outset. They fell for that old saw about the victors being able to write the history books.
I doubt they are ever going to face the fact that play was dirty or feel shame for anything they did to push O into the WH. They will, however, claim they were fooled by a master con-man and establish themselves as victims. And, given the chance to do it again, they would.
Public Policy Polling:
When picking between 2 unqualified people, go with the one you know less about. It almost makes sense.
Can we then assume that the 22% who would vote for her against o, think that he is more unqualified? Maybe WAPO will do a poll to find out how many people now think o is not qualified to be our pres. I can actually relate to that poll. I don’t think either one of them is qualified to be pres but if that is my choice in 2012 I will be voting Palin, you betcha.
Me too!
Not me, no way. But I will defend her against the misogyny.
Here’s Rove on where the Tea Parties Should Go From Here.
Shorter Karl: Stay away from me until you get less nutty.
Are you listening, Donna B?
Yes indeed. Although he is giving the war in Iraq a new name. It’ changing from “Operation Iraqi Freedom” to “Operation New Dawn”, so all is well there. 😉
We concluded that he wasn’t just inexperienced but that he was corrupt and incompetent too,
*********
The pattern continues, Banksters, Health corps, Big Coal, Big Nuclear, Ethanol Scam. etc. etc…Barak Obama is the most corrupt politician ever elected to the Presidency…Grant, Harding, Nixon, the Bushes aren’t even in the same league.
Obama is honest, however, he stays bought.
Sebelius Knocks Insurers for Big Profits and Big Rate Hikes.
Hasn’t the admin been huddling with insurers for some time now. What’s a little public finger waving going to accomplish at this stage.
Well, if she keeps waving that finger she’s sure to catch which way the wind is blowing.
She is going to speak harshly to them. Ooooo. Bet they are scared!
djmm
A good Chicago politician stays bought!
OT– The National Enquirer is in line for the Pulitzer Prize.
MSM FAIL
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/emily-miller/national-enquirer-officia_b_467932.html
Why not the Pulitzer too?
I give the Enquirer credit for breaking the silence bubble on that story and I hope it shames the msm into maybe doing their job.
I think they deserve the prize. No one in the corporate media does any investigative reporting anymore.
Like I said the other day, the only ones doing serious journalism anymore is the Onion.
I’d give them the Pulitzer..if they’d broken the silence before Super Tuesday.
TW: No sh!t!!
The Pulitzer became worthless when Katie Couric was awarded it for her “Interview” with Palin.
Really great post myiq. I always love the tone and pace of your writing, but this also has the added benefit of distilling down 2 years into very illuminating paragraphs.
But one hell of a lot to deny through all the arts of denial—justification, rationalizing, just plain no see, no hear, no speak/write.
And David Plouffe knows the effing dumbasses will keep buying bullshit. Check out his latest masterpiece of misdirection on unemployment. David knows that hitting the bottom on job losses does not equate to *new* jobs. Ten percent unemployment is just the bottom, where unhappily it will remain for a while. But with his shiny new messaging, he’ll have the prog morons believing we’re well on our way back and the false meme will spread. I wouldn’t buy a Big Mac from David Plouffe.
There is something that everyone needs to remember from now until November (at least)….
David Plouffe has been hired by the WH to tailor the 2010 campaign messages and work the same magic he performed for Obama….we are going to need to expand the FactCheck.org industry for the 2010 campaigns….and watch every move the politicians make!
They love caucuses because they’re easy to game. It’s all about excluding the undesirables. Caucus fraud? Hey, no biggie. Sadly, the undesirables are needed for grunt work and to carry out the wishes of the worthy brains of the operation on election day, but the last thing anyone wants is to give them any imput in the process. Maybe someday they’ll do away with the pretense and go back to the smoke filled room, but until then, anything goes.
At what point do the buyers begin to back out of their bargain? It doesn’t pay to own a piece of work that is no longer working or able to pay off for you.
What’s really surprising isn’t that the big bloggers sold out.
It’s that they sold out so cheaply.
Exactly..Wasn’t it Jane H. who was doing the boo…hoo because there was no check in the mail after Obama was elected?
Maybe that’s why Taylor Marsh and Jeralyn Merritt were so quick to go OBOT post-convention and ban all others from their sites…..they must have been told the followers would be rewarded handsomely for stomping on the heads (and fingers) of the commenters who just wouldn’t stop telling what little they saw in the man of change and hope.
It is one of the hardest things in life to do. Look at yourself in the mirror and realise that you screwed your country. I do not think any of the rabid obots will ever look in the mirror and see what they have done.
For me this past primary and election made me ashamed to ever have been a democrat. Every thing I believed in about the democratic party was trashed. I am not talking just about the treatment of Hillary Clinton but the treatment of long time democrats that worked and contributed to the party. This is now a party that I will never trust again. They do not put the best interest of America first. That to me is unforgivable.
WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE,MEN WHO SUPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY ALWAYS
PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE PEOPLE RULE
Wow…there are a lot of people who probably never will take the time to come to that realization. Not just the Obot bloggers, but Harry Reid, Nancy Pilosi, Oprah, John AND Elizabeth Edwards, and Obama himself.
And then there’s the financial scumbags who also need to have that realization.
But isn’t there an assumption that they care?
But they should. Or they’re not entitled to the power, wealth, or both that a country like this makes possible for all of them.
Sure they should. But I think we learned otherwise in 08.
Sadly I think you are right. They do not give a damn about what the did to the country.
Axis Sally Pelosi and Lord haw haw Reid and the Edwards believe that they will still be ok and they have theirs and screw the rest of the people.
As for the rabid obots until they realise they screwed their own future and the future of generations they will not care or understand.
WOMEN WITH INTELLIGENCE AND EXPERIENCE,MEN WHO SUPPORT THEM AND COUNTRY BEFORE PARTY ALWAYS
PUMAS,BUBBAS,EQUALISTS AND THOSE PEOPLE RULE
They didn’t just screw the country. They fell for a con man and betrayed their friends and allies.
They’re like someone who dumped their spouse for a lover and then found out their lover was just using them and never really cared about them,
Absolutely! Then some of them lectured us on how it was just politics and superior game-playing. They completely misunderstand that it was their OWN party and fellow members they screwed over. They didn’t care about those principles as long as they had their plastic Jesus.
Mad In The Middle was sure as Hell not fooled by Obama, either, but my death threats only ranged in the dozens so I guess that hardly even ranks on the Obot Hate-O-Meter. (They did manage to get me shut down for a couple of days, though.) After this past election, I’m so old I don’t know if will live to see another President I could support, nor do I think I will live long enough to see the real Democrats rise again, and that folks is extremely depressing.
My grandpa in his 90’s said the same thing. He is now of the belief that Obama is the worst president he’s ever seen, and that there is nothing he can do to rectify that now, save a complete reversal of ALL of his policies. It is amazing that Obama undid any hope for real Liberal policies being employed inside of only 1 years time.
Susie Madrak:
That’s fricken funny. So these progbloggers sold their souls for peanuts, many are starting to wake up and realize they’ve been had, and yet they still go to the principles office for a paddling in the ass treatment. That’s priceless.
It’s clear, the past couple of weeks, that the ObamaCo response to MA and sliding approvals is to amp up their campaign machine rather than change course and lead in legislating good bills. That’s no surprise to anybody who knows who Obama is, but still it’s worth noting that’s what they’re doing.
The stimulus bill is no more successful than anybody was saying a month ago. But we sure are getting a widespread meme from the usual suspects that it’s been very successful and the only problem was ObamaCo didn’t do a good enough job getting that message out. But notice in the news reports of the millions of jobs “top economists agree” have been created or saved there’s never links to hard evidence of it.
The most interesting to watch, though, has been CNN because a couple weeks ago CNN decided to do its own analysis of the success of the stimulus bill, no doubt expecting to find all kinds of success stories to shine a dazzling light on The One. But that’s not what they found. What they found is that there’s no way to prove how many real jobs have been created or even saved, it’s all guesswork and no matter what case you want to make -pro or con- you can make it with the floating numbers and where the money actually went.
It’s revealing that ObamaCo uses its seduction and arm twisting to get the media – from MSNBC to NYT to bloggers – to carry the Obama Message rather than to get Congress to pass substantive legislation. With them it’s always about the message and never about actual accomplishment.
I think the money given to the states to pay state workers and the unemployment extensions have been helpful. But that’s about it. The bill was not big enough (as Prof. Krugman kept saying) and there was too much pork that did not hael the country’s infrastructure.
We don’t need better messaging from this administration. Where is our WPA? Where is financial reform? Where are the perps who committed fraud on their customers walking away from their bonuses and into courtrooms in orange jumpsuits? Where are our jobs? Where is our single payor plan?
djmm
that’s part of why they stick by him -they can say they were invited to the WH – it doesn’t matter that there was no substance there or that nothing was done – they’ve been to the WH
fwiw, I’d say the difficulty in admitting culpability is in direct proportion to the depth of the disaster that this has turned out to be. The worse he is, the more chagrin one must feel in being duped, in being a patsy, in behaving like a teenage hero-worshipper. And the nostra-culpa point isn’t yet in sight, because the Little O hasn’t come close to the bottom yet. As Lambert says, this is gonna get much, much worse. The damage to the Democratic Party is almost incalculable at this point.
another fwiw: Of all those who supported Obama, BTD was by far the most clear-eyed. It really isn’t accurate to say he turned a blind eye to misogyny, or to the rules violations, or to the Kool-Aid circus. He certainly was deluded about O, but he wasn’t deluded about the DNC or the Obots.
I think a lot of them are in denial, hoping Obama will do something to justify their support.
FWIW – I like BTD and usually agree with him.
I agree… and I think the denial will deepen and get more defensive as it becomes harder and harder to justify objectively. That’s what happens with the humans, unfortunately.
I love your blog, Falstaff. Hope to see more of you here or posting on your blog.
Thanks, DEFV. I guess I find myself in the mindset/heartset Pauline Kael described when she explained why she was ending her gig at The New Yorker. She said it had just become too dispiriting to keep writing about crap every week. And even if revenge or schaudenfreud or simple critique is a dish best served cold… there’s just so often one can dine on it.
Now, if my fantasy of Hillary running again were to materialize… 🙂
Yet I never tire of re-reading Pauline’s reviews and essays. 🙂
Me, too. I disagreed with her on some things — some of her loves (Brian diPalma, Last Tango, Nashville) and some of her hates (Hitchcock, Kubrick) — but she was hands-down the most important writer about movies. And she was also absolutely delicious in person (I interviewed her once).
Myiq. Great post. And Helen, what you said “I do not think any of the rabid obots will ever look in the mirror and see what they have done.”
They cannot, for they do not have either and understand of nor a love for (appreciation) of what “this country” actually is.
You can color outside the lines all you want if you don’t care. They didn’t care. It was all about them.
I was AT the RBC. I sat with a bunch of Congresswomen and Women Representatives from Florida, on the third or so row from the front, and I watched Donna Brazile, Alexis Hermann and others strip representation and choice from the American People. I saw Harriet. I stood 10 feet away from Andrea Mitchell and Chuck Todd while they snarked their love for the Boy One-der and I watched representative government go under the bus.
It was no different in Denver.
You cannot see yourself in in the mirror when you are a vampire sucking so much more from the country than Hillary Clinton.
Again, Myiq – you said it all.
FF
You were a witness to history of a sad kind.
The result was that those who paid attention and cared, were severed from their life-long party.
The BO vote was based on re-writing the electoral map at the expense of real Dems, Dems who volunteered, Dems who donated, Dems who were real Dems, not those influenced by the media fury for the false American Idol candidate.
Real Dems — Those Dems who devoted decades to the party.
“They cannot, for they do not have either an understanding of nor a love for (appreciation)… ”
damn bandaid on r thumb and ring finger! Sorry
Excellent post myiq. Very accurate, detailed, and eloquent.
So, does this make you a Ghost Clown?
Terrific post, myiq2xu!
I think I’m going to bookmark this.
I could have written this post if I were half as talented as you! You mirror my thoughts 100%, wonderful, wonderful post. It’s folks like you that have helped many of us to maintain our sanity this past 2 years, thanks so much.
myiq–you said it all and more. Wish I had seen it earlier.
I’m still angry (a stubborn Irishwoman). I sense that only a few bots will ever admit their mistake and eat humble pie. The rest have already erased ‘the horrors’ from their minds. It is too painful to admit that you were so insecure and needed to belong so bad that you fell for the oldest brain washing trick around-get on the bandwagon.
Why didn’t we? Maybe different reasons for different people–but I happen to believe (as an old teacher) that we were taught how to think back in our day. We have forgotten more than these young pips will ever learn. Also, remember, that if you have to tell people how smart or creative you are, then you’re not too sure about it. It’s ashame that the same lessons have to be re learned over and over when we could be progressing-just wastes alot of time.
And, myiq–you’re not the only loner around. ‘Still waters run deep.’
“Also, remember, that if you have to tell people how smart or creative you are, then you’re not too sure about it. ”
kc, and with that …. Isn’t it extraordinary how many times Obama, his handlers, the MSM, and even my weekly crossword puzzle are constantly reminding me that he is POTUS.
They don’t seem to be as sure of this fact as they portend.
It’s like this: Obama supporters are foul-mouthed Philistines.
The Democratic Party died the minute they started calling their fellow Democrats racists.
“Foul-mouthed Philistines” is such an accurate description. They engaged in racial, gender, and class divisiveness to achieve their aims. They managed to sink even lower by bashing a Down’s Syndrome baby because his mom’s a Republican. The Dem party has been confiscated by a group of gutter snipes.
It’s a cruel aberration and perversion of what used to be the Democratic party and its principles that left many principled Democrats wondering what the hell is going on here.
But, to join in the accolades, great post myiq. If anyone collects the annals of the presidential election and its aftermath, this assessment should be included.
The lamentable part is that President Obama has not done or fought for the one policy change that would change the lives of people of color and working people and that is bringing about Health Care Reform. In fact he took the Public Option off the table of discussion and then went out of his way to make sure no one talked about it, remember Charlie couldn’t or wouldn’t bring it up??? Hello, talk about control!
So, he could have been historic and he could have been remembered as the President that changed the lives of Americans and finally achieved/having the United States joining all the Western Countries who provide Health Care for its citizens…AMEN…wouldn’t that be HISTORIC! I would be clapping/jumping for joy, and the lament is that people accuse us of not wanting him to succeed…HOW WRONG THEY ARE!
When President Obama works for TRUE progressive and life changing policy I will be there giving my full support.
I always suspected BTD to be a closet misogynist so he may not be consciously aware of why he has such poor judgment. In any event he and his ilk have made themselves irrelevant to any serious political discussion. I would view their input on politics as I would Glen Beck or Obermann as devoid of knowledge blah blah blah.
BTD’s typical response was always “Pols will be pols.” Winning by being a “media darling” was all that mattered to him, at the time.
I found it shallow, lazy, and simplistic.
Not enough , really, for a Democratic Party that supposedly wanted to change the country for the better.
I return to TL from time to time, to see if there is any self-understanding or remorse. There’s not much, and their readership—or at least, posters responding— has declined a lot. Perhaps others agree with you: they’re just irrelevant now.
Ironically, Digby’s posters have diminished, too.
W was a media darling before BO. That should have clued BTD in. Media darling status is conferred via the media’s big bosses.
Excellent post, myiq!
I think that most obots will never accept their responsibility in the disastrous 2008 election. To do so will take a lot of growth and maturity and, frankly, I don’t think most of them are up to the task. They’ll have to look deep into their hearts and admit that 1) they are r@cists (putting skin color before all else) and 2) they are either misogynists or sexists (or both). That’s a very bitter pill to swallow and I don’t think any of them have the stomach for it.
A quote from Mickey Kaus (liberal supporter of Obama, who supported healthcare reform):
“Lots of intellectual effort now seems to be going into explaining Obama’s (possible/likely/impending) health care failure as the inevitable product of larger historic and constitutional forces.” (ie, filibuster, American ungovernable, yada yada)……
“But in this case there’s a simple explanation:
Barak Obama’s job was to sell a healthcare reform plan to American voters.
He FAILED.”
Perhaps there really are some bloggers/writers who aren’t buying the WH excuses, and are beginning to move away from being mouthpieces fed talking points by Plouffe et al.
What took them so long?
Great post.
Excellent post, thank you. Wow.
Thank you Myiq – another out of the park post!
I further want to thank you for reminding us every once in a while with your eloquest writing about the theft that took place in 2008.
These little reminders help bubble some of the anger out of me – I don’t think it will ever be gone – I’m an American Citizen who honestly believed we lived in a democratic society and they scr@wed me out of my vote. 👿
I went over and took a read of the BTD’s linked entry. I did read him all through the primaries and couldn’t get over the fact that Obama being “The Media Darling” didn’t make him more suspect of the candidate. However, I will say this about him. He seemed kinda respectful of opposing viewpoints. I was never banned there like I was on other blogs. But it all really comes down to one thing – “Just Words”, courtesy of Axlerod, Deval Patrick, then Obama. Expect more of them and not much else.
Thank you MYIQ2XU! Lets never forget. I’m keeping this page too.
You were one of a few, then. BTD banned anyone who pointed out logical reasons why Obama was a farce of a candidate shortly after the convention. Possibly at Jeralyn’s request, in many cases. When BTD has no intelligent comeback, he goes into bully mode. I haven’t read much of his stuff for awhile because it’s generally just quoting other writers followed by calling them names or saying he agrees without much commentary.
The comment section at TL has become little more than a lemon party….there is a contingent of guys who consider the blog theirs because they’ve been there longer and want very much to push out the people who have only been there 2 years. Seems they sprayed their territory and are furious that people keep stepping across the line. Not sure why any blog would tolerate commenters who claim they have more valued contributions to the discussion simply because they’ve been there longer.
Yes! Spot on, post. Thank you, myiq2xu!
Obama is many, many times worse than Bush exactly because he is assumed to be something he is not. We knew what Bush was.
Oh and that “Hold on there, Sweetie” remark (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Juy9NwI8_i0) sealed it for me. The laughter of his entourage makes my skin crawl. And this was before RBC 5/31/09.
Indeed, there was a lot of weird comments and sexual innuendo on behalf of Obama during the campaign. It gave me the heebie jeebies. Then there was that whole showing off his boner to his staff when he was on the campaign plane .. what was that about?
It’s a bad vid, but clearly the staff’s reactions indicate what’s going on:
myiq — this is such a cooly rational post explaining why we were right and they were wrong that it should be on the “About Us” page. Or, how about a new About us entitled: “Why the Left Blogosphere can stick it until they admit they were wrong and apologize to the PUMA dems!”
Bravo, myiq!
Agreed, Fembots!
Just a small point, but it would be nice to see this post up on the Confluence’s Face Book page!
This post is a Conflucian Classic. Should be required reading for anyone who identifies — or used to — as a (D).