Monday, March 14, 2016

Today In Both Sides Do It: Ron Fournier, The Sad Clown of Centrism



Ron "Severe Dementia" Fournier would like you to know that the harder you laugh at his claptrap the more certain he is that he's Doing It Right. Ron must be hell on a date. Or looking for directions. Or cooking dinner. Or...

By the way, as one half of The Professional Left, I think I have pinpointed the paragraphs in the article (for which The Atlantic paid Ron Fournier actual American money) which Ron expressed preemptively crankiness at me for deriding.

Ah, but what if Ron had just kept his pie hole shut about what the Professional Left might do, thus leading me to never trouble myself to read his crappy article in the first place?

These intersections of prophecy and predestination can mess with your head:



Anyhoo. see if you can spot the subtle logical error which makes America's Sad Clown of Centrism so very, very mockable.
...
From the start of his campaign, I’ve maintained that Trump’s disruptive potential says less about him than it does these times. In June, I called him “a combed-over reflection of angry America”—people cut adrift by globalization, buffeted by intense social change, and disconnected from a corrupt political duopoly.

Still, Trump has surprised even me with his ability to inflame and exploit people’s anger. What did I miss? First, I overestimated the political establishment. Nobody in a crowded field of rivals built a strong and sustained case against Trump; one after another, the bully made them flinch. In Washington, clueless Republican leaders dismissed Trump’s chances for months and, even now, lack the moral courage to defy him. Meanwhile, professional Democrats cheered Trump’s ascent as a sign of their own superiority, smugly ignoring the fact that his voters could be their voters if the Democratic Party hadn’t disconnected from their concerns.
...
Over the last seven years the Trumpshirts have made it perfectly clear that their primary "concern" is thata Usurping Kenyan Muslim N*gger has seized their White House and he and his Liberal minions are actively engaged in a vast and traitorous plot the destroy the United States and hand this nation , bound hand and foot, over to our enemies.

And as one half of the Professional Left, I would not be more proud to be disconnected from those concerns.

9 comments:

Kevin Holsinger said...

Good morning, Mr. Glass.

(movie trailer voice) This time...it's personal.

Oh, and ze Grammah Nazi returns. "rthus leading me to never troubl"

Be seeing you.

RUKidding said...

"...professional Democrats cheered Trump’s ascent as a sign of their own superiority..."

Nifty way of quoting the usual, tired, bullshit, nonsensical, rightwing talking points, you useless demented KKKlown.

Fournier can't be bothered to come up with something, uh, more original than what the Koch brothers' hacks and shills shit out daily from rightwing think tanks.

It is galling that someone like Fournier gets paid good buckaroo$ for plagiarism.

DrBB said...

Also too: "professional" Democrats? As opposed to what, the "amateur" Republicans? I guess that would be one euphemism for what they are, though considerably nicer than they deserve.

trgahan said...

There are potential democratic voters at Trump rally's if only those arrogant elitist liberals weren't so arrogant and elitist!? Tolkien would be envious of the magical imaginary world Ron has created out of thin air.

Like any writer, I am interested in exactly who is Ron's target audience?

I assume suburban white college educated working professionals who make just enough money to prosper no matter who's in control of the White House and Congress, but not enough to isolate themselves. Their position either allows them the privilege of being willfully ignorant of the events that creates the political present OR, due to their education, they clearly know better but their social-economic position is high enough to view (therefore think they can reach)a top tier standard of living but not high enough that few missed paychecks wouldn't drop them back deep into the middle class. This makes them open to "free market, tax cuts and deregulation" bullshit and too scared of losing social-economic position that they are easily scared away from supporting truely liberal government policy.

Unknown said...

Fournier doesn't mention the dreadful Republican policies which have hurt their own base. Trump is just exploiting the justified anger at their own leadership.

Robt said...

"Still, Trump has surprised even me with his ability to inflame and exploit people’s anger. What did I miss?"

Well, he missed the last 30 years of hate propaganda for one.

He neglected the GOP and its minions concluding the only way to fully WIN (exactly what who knows) is to make your political opponents the cnter of hatred. That getting elected became undermining America as a whole. Spitting on the beloved Constitution and justifying it by dclaring war on the evil left. That gets in your way of corruptive profits for you and your ilk.

He missed the the ablility to pick up ethics aloong the way in his life. He missed the falability of his misinformation when it stands in front of peer review.

Need I go on?

Unknown said...

Slowly, Ron "Severe Dementia" Fournier is making subtle changes to his "both sides BUT REALLY OBAMA" column macro, which he's used so much that he's had to replace the "Enter" key on his keyboard five times since 2009. He's slowly removing the "but Obama can't lead" boilerplate. I suppose we can consider this to be progress. Just like David "Axis of Evil" Frum has made progress in that he doesn't reflexively spew anti-Obama ad hominems in every column anymore. But Ron "Severe Dementia" Fournier can't let go all at once, so we get the old-school tsk-tsk routine about arrogant liberals.

There's a couple things going on here: First, obviously, is that the GOP's nosedive into barking madness has gotten so spectacular that even the most dedicated Both Siderists are getting antsy - the only thing they are more loyal to than the Both Sides narrative is their own prosperity. They are trying to figure out if they need to update their bullshit for a new era.

And second, relatedly, it turns out that our old innumerate Tory friend Andrew Sullivan vacated the lucrative "so-called conservative discovering and repeating things liberals have known all along" niche at a very opportune moment. Ron "Severe Dementia" Fournier, David Frum, and perhaps even David f'ing Brooks and Ross Doubt-that/DoucheHat are dipping their toes in that water, seeing if it suits them. (frankly, I'm surprised Sullivan has stayed so quiet through this election aside from the occasional appearance on Maher to remind everyone how much of an unhinged lunatic he is when Hillary Clinton is in the news)

We live in interesting times. Perhaps, maybe, the Both Sides house of cards is finally collapsing. But somehow, it will probably find a way to stagger on.

RUKidding said...

@ Unknown: "They are trying to figure out if they need to update their bullshit for a new era."

Bingo! The barking insanity of the Trumpistas gives the Both Siderist hacks the creeps - as in: ewwwww proles icky.

What these rightwingnut gravy train recipients are concerned about is their very generous paycheck. Oh my! Who and How do I fluff now? And in which direction? Content uncertain! Content uncertain!

Unknown said...

So, 13 years ago Klein, in a major publication, used "well educated" as a pejorative.

Holy cow, where did all these Trump voters come from?