It turns out, in the Great Media Fish Slapping Dance, me and my little blog and podcast swing exactly as much cod as Hate Radio and Fox News. Which is a very exciting development indeed!
I know this because the President of the United States went on Fox News and said so (From Crooks & Liars):
..."The perception is going to be changing over time as people see results," Obama replied. "But -- and this is the big but -- nobody is going to be 100 percent satisfied in a democracy like ours with every outcome.""And I think the danger both among Republicans and among Democrats who just listen to each other or they just listen to people that already agree with them -- you know, Republicans have their own TV station," he noted."Go ahead," Wallace interrupted. "You can say Fox News.""They've got their own publications, their own blogs," the president continued. "Democrats, same thing. Increasingly what happens is, we don't hear each other. And so what happens then is when Republicans promise to repeal Obamacare and it doesn't get repealed, they're outraged."...
I get that President Obama is not talking to me. That he is playing for history books now, trying to exit the stage on the same "There are no Red States, There are no Blue States" flotilla that sailed him into office.
But there really are Red States.
And they really, really hate you.
And their media/think-tank infrastructure is deeply and lavishly funded.
And their elected representatives are dangerously insane.
And after +7 years of continuous obstruction, lies, shutdowns and sedition -- capped off by the rise of Trump and Cruz -- it is deeply disappointing that President Got No Fucks Left To Give still feels compelled to feed the biggest lie in American politics,
15 comments:
"To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."
-- the Nuremburg tribunal as quoted by Wikipedia
Just so does Both Siderism differ from other wingnut lies only in that it props up, by itself, their accumulated evil.
"But if the headaches continue, and the Elder Gods keep punishing you for knowing of their presence, then by God no matter how 'straight' you are, you will go down in the Medicine Fish Hole. And there you have the choice between The Con's killer dope, and The PILS of 'Bob.'"
-- Rev. Ivan Stang, The Book of the SubGenius Chapter 16, "Health, the Industrial Diet, and BAD THINGS"
Well I've always had many issues with Obama, one of which is his endless - and it continues to be endless apparently - sucking/kissing up to the Cons in power. I mean, he's not really sucking up to rightwing voters, even though that's how he frames it. He's sucking up to the .001% PTB. And this kind of bullshit comes out of his mouth on a routine basis, so color me unsurprised. Pile on, if that's your choice.
This is THE MEME of this particular age - that BOTH SIDES DO IT equally, and therefore BOTH SIDES are "responsible" for whatever ills are going on. Let's get real, Obama hired Rahm Emanual, who hesitated not one instant to nastily punch the f*cking r*t*rded hippies, as well as Gibbsy who adjured us all to get drug tests.
So really, no I'm not surprised that Obama said this, disappointing as it may be. While I am enjoying his mostly NO Fucks left to give tour, duly noted that he takes yet one more opportunity to punch the left. I mean, why not? Whadda we gonna do aboud it? Vote for Trump?
P.S. I can concede that "both sides" tend to stay in our little communities and read blogs and somewhat more real "news" sites that may, in fact, reinforce our belief systems and the reality that we perceive. But managing to compare "both sides" as equal in this regard is just irresponsible and utterly unfounded bullshit. Just saying... this is allegedly "our" leader. Think Clinton will be any different?
This has always been my biggest disappointment with Obama: seeming not to understand for a second the thinking of the people opposed to his existence; he thinks we're all on the same team...
I admit I don't watch Fox News or read things like National Review - mostly because I would be tempted to break things and I'm on a limited budget.
"...And after +7 years of continuous obstruction, lies, shutdowns and sedition -- capped off by the rise of Trump and Cruz..."
Just imagine what he could have said if we hadn't sat home in 2010 and given the political power right back to conservatives while we had our Drones!/BlueDogs!/DudeWhereIsMySinglePayerPot?/WorseThanBush hissy fit?
Reelecting Obama in 2012 only delayed the Right's revenge on the country for putting one of THOSE in their White House. Until we get our electoral shit together, President Hillary/Sanders/whomever will only be lame duck stop gaps while conservatives continue to set individual states afire and set the country back two generations.
We expect too much of our Presidents and too little of ourselves.
It was a continuing puzzlement to me, why Obama insisted on throwing the then-prostrate Repubs a life ring in 2008 instead of a diesel truck engine block. My conclusion? The (R-Krazy Fucks) serve to provide cover for the machinations of the oligarchy, and as a two-fer, further depress citizens' faith in the ability of government to serve their needs in any meaningful fashion. BHO's ongoing subservience to the ways of power is his signal failure from which all else springs, and history, I think, will indeed accord him this as his legacy--the last one who with his landslide electoral support, could have changed the nation's course, but chose not to.
I cringed when I heard him say that. I thought "Driftglass is going to burst a blood vessel".
Just a little defense of the President and what he said about "both sides".
* he is on FOX and doesn't need an argument or fake sound bites floating. They will be there anyways but they will make them up instead of using actual reality.
*Re consider the both sider comment. In context.
There are too many that only listen to a side they only care to hear.
For me, I tend to do this. Out of frustration from fact free discussions on ne side. Way too many outright LIES.
There is no way I care to listen to any Birther continuing with his psycosis blathering aimless blame of everything on Obama, Liberals, Democrats, etc etc.
So yes, I do tend to listen to respect trustful media.
This is where the President should have espoused. I agrree.
A side that fakes, lies, manufactures issues like Birth Certificates, Death Panels, hating America,
So in essence of portionality, the President has a point.
Example,
I will not read an Allen West piece on Obama in bed with Muslims to destroy America.
Whereas I would read an article of Paul Krugman writing of economic barriers and structural walls to may.
I choose to read this post instead of Alex Jones. For good reason...!
Yes, Obama could have and should have pointed hard to why I choose media as I do.
Mr. President, could you tell me what the Republican good ideas are, and where I can go to read them?
We can see the difference in the parties in the current campaigns. Republican poop slinging and kindergarten insults. Democrats discuss policy and serious issues. Not much both siderism there.
I had that reaction also, but I'm gonna miss him when he's gone.
-Doug in Oakland
Obama: aggressive-passive to the end.
Just a reminder that he stated on a Spanish language TV station that he saw himself as a mid eighties moderate Republican. He governed like one.
I don't think Obama is wrong to say that the Left has its own tendencies towards a self-reinforcing bubble. But the problem with what he said and how he said it is that it implies the "both sides are equally bad" conclusion even though he didn't quite say that.
The left is capable of talking only to itself - the primary is proof enough of that - but even when it is, it's talking about actual issues and dealing predominantly in reality and facts. The Right talks about fucking Benghazi and black helicopters and Agenda 21 and all manner of nonsensical bullshit, and that's only when it's not openly hating on whatever non-white people are today's Reason Why America Sucks du jour.
When you can't expound on your "both sides do it" remark to make plain that both sides aren't equally bad, it's best to just skip the "both sides" comment to begin with. You're just giving lollygaggers like Ron "Severe Dementia" Fournier that much more material to work with.
Anything President Obama says and does will be used against him in the court of public opinion (as well as things he did not say or do). So he always has to be the adult in the room. He's president-ed straight down the middle (as others have pointed out), yet he's painted as the biggest baddest socialist since Mao. If he said that the right wing (and the right wing only) has their own 'information', then omg he's attacking republicans (yet again!). Due to the constraints of the deck being stacked against liberalism in the media, I don't put too much stock into small stuff like this, and see it more along the lines of Robt, rather than Unknown. Or even bigger stuff, like his nominating a moderate Garland to the Supreme Court, rather than a liberal judge. Say he nominated a liberal, then it gives the right wing ammunition, 'see, he's totally a socialist like we said all along!!' But nominating a moderate, they have no ammunition (and it's not like whoever Obama nominated was going to get confirmed anyway). Adult in the room. Meanwhile, republicans refuse to do their jobs of governing. 17-th dimensional chess, don't sweat the small stuff, because the O man has got this.
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