Today, George Robert Stephanopoulos apparently could not stomach the idea of sharing his bathwater with both the Moustache of Understanding"Forgetfulness: A Gift of God bestowed upon debtors in compensation for their destitution of conscience."-- Ambrose Bierce
and Bloody Bill Kristol.
So instead he delegated the honor of not projectile vomiting while introducing two of the most extravagantly wrong media slunkweasels in recent American history as experts in the subject on which both of them have been the most horribly, prodigiously wrong -- foreign policy -- to Martha Raddatz who, once, long ago, was a journalist.
It was awful.
But clearly the Beltway Conventional Wisdom Message of the Day was that anyone with huevos to stand in the way of gutting the social safety net Shall Be Denounced a crazy radical Lefty-Left extreme radical Leftist.
Because Both Sides!
Or something.
Needless to say, America's overflowing spittoon of Beltway Conventional Wisdom was 100% on-board with that:
So was Bob Schieffer (h/t Heather at Crooks and Liars):DAVID BROOKS:Yes. And it's all bad for the country. (CHUCKLE) So what are the things that are going to help the economy in the near term? Immigration would be a huge boost for the economy. A fast-track trade deal across the Atlantic, across the Pacific, huge boost. Chained CPI would save a trillion dollars in the second decade off the federal budget debt.So these are all gigantic, very good policies, where there is majority support and where, in the old days in Washington, you'd cobble together a bipartisan coalition and get rid of the fringes. But right now, the fringes have veto power over everything else, and nobody's found a solution to that.
SCHIEFFER: But you know, governor, I'm sure you would concede that you have those on the left who would take the party as far that way as some of the tea party folks want to take the Republican party on the right.I mean, when the president comes out and says he's not going to touch entitlement reform, that's like waving a red flag in front of a bull to the Republicans. I mean... ugh... have we given up on trying to get anything done and compromising on anything?
In other words, just another Sunday at the zombie apocalypse
...We conclude this week at ABC, where The Clinton Guy Shocked By Blowjobs left the big chair to old pal Martha Raddatz again, and she hosted a discussion of the events in the Ukraine and elsewhere. She invited both Tom Friedman and Bill Kristol to share their thoughts, and the entire universe sailed over the event horizon of Ultimate Wrongness and never was seen again. Even though he's apparently developing another cockamamie scheme to divide the nations of the world into neat little categories -- the austerity-maddened European Union is dedicated to having "prosperous people"? Tell it to Greece. -- Friedman, at least, was realist enough to admit that a country's revolution belongs, for good or ill, to the people of that country, Kristol responded with a volley of platitudes from deep in 2002.RADDATZ: So, Bill Kristol, step back for a moment here quickly and look at what Barack Obama's foreign policy legacy is up to this point, with Syria, with Ukraine, with Libya, with Iraq, with Afghanistan.KRISTOL: With Iran, people around the world, I think, will want liberty to an amazing degree. And we've done very little to help them.Gee, if only we hadn't squandered every shred of influence we had in that part of the world by embarking on an aggressive war based on a foundation of lies. We should find the people responsible for that cock-up and keep them away from positions of influence forever.
10 comments:
The day arrived years (decades?) ago when the words "American journalism" used together in a sentence evoked only guffaws.
Love you guys!
During your last podcast, you mentioned "The Masque of the Red Death", and I was reminded of two of the best versions of that story I have ever encountered: Phil Ochs' song "Ringing of Revolution" and the climax of Daniel Suarez's book "FreedonTM". Both feature satisfying comes-uppance for the one percent.
I still hope it doesn't come to that, of course, but at this point I do have to wonder why it hasn't.
All the world is roger Ailes' stage and we are mearly players.
-Ric
Because in the beltway, in NYC, and in any other place that counts... cutting social security is the liberal position. That won't change, social security is going to be cut and I will not have social security when I am old. That is the Democratic position and the liberal position.
By staking out a position to the left of that, you take yourself completely out of the conversation and simply insure nobody will listen to what you have to say and will laugh at you for being a crazy person.
Repeat after me... this is not the new deal Democratic party. Anybody insisting this is the New Deal Democratic party is more batshit insane than people insisting the Republican party is the party of Lincoln.
Other quibbles aside, as a conceptual matter what would the leftist equivalent of the Tea Party actually be? The Tea Party is the 28% of the population most susceptible to Us/Them propaganda by its combination of ignorance, existential terror and economic parlousness, which then is manipulated by the Malefactors of Concentrated Private Wealth to support their goals. So the leftist equivalent would be that part of the population most susceptible to We're All the Same propaganda by a combination of ???, which then is manipulated by the unceasing propaganda in the establishment media of ... Chairman Mao? the Khmer Rouge? Ted Kuczinski??? to support their goals? BSDI isn't only wrong & stupid & craven, the concept isn't even coherent enough to be expressed in words. But at least we know that the 28% of the U.S. population made up of Kumbaya Khmer Rouge sympathizers holds a veto over the policies of the Democratic party ... makes me feel a lot better about prospects for the TPP ...
Journalism has gone the way of blacksmithing.
People still have a nostalgic twinge for it, but I don't recall anyone ever pretending to be a blacksmith.
"social security is going to be cut and I will not have social security when I am old"
"Cut" and "gone" are different.
There is only one way to ensure you won't have social security: elect republicans. There is only one way to ensure you will have social security: don't elect republicans.
If you want both parties gone, start with the republicans. When they're gone, move on to the democrats.
I usually avoid the Sunday shows, and when I saw Bill Kristol and Tom Friedman, I instantly thought of you, and averted my eyes, kind of like Indy and Marion in "Raiders of the Lost Ark". Saved my sanity, it did.
Bill can be the most mealy mouthed blood thirsty killer.
Agreed Steeve. You've said the same thing before, so I'm just paraphrasing you.
Hate the neo-liberal Democrats?
Destroy the Republican party.
Hate neo-conservative Democrats?
Destroy the Republican party.
Want a social safety net and a functioning society.
Destroy the Republican party.
You can always tell when a Pure™ is concern trolling when they start shouting about BOTH SIDES!!! doing it.
The Democrats can only move as far left as the overton window allows.
So, instead of bitching about how the Democrats are worse than Republicans because they're almost as bad as Republicans...Destroy the fucking Republican party.
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