dagblog - Comments for "Amid the Sturm und Drang, a Moment Sublime"

Nice. I think their sense of

Ramona — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 23:47:27 +0000

Nice. I think their sense of entitlement is showing. How DARE anybody go against them? I don't see the Dems getting physical whenever anyone crosses them. How many more times are we going to see this from the Republicans/RW before this election cycle is over?

From my own POV Lawrence gets

Ramona — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 23:42:15 +0000

In reply to Sorry to burst your bubble,

From my own POV Lawrence gets it right most of the time, but his "rage" is bad-actorish.

Rachel Maddow works hard, does her homework, and consistently shreds the message from the other side, but sometimes she giggles too much.

Michael Moore had done some incredibly good work, but sometimes I have to say "eew". (His ambush on Charleton Heston when he knew the man was already in the mid-stages of Alzheimers is one example.)

Keith Olbermann's Special Comments often grab me but his stretches to find the "Worst Person in the World" can be pretty laughable.

I do care about how outrageous the other side can be, because they're a dangerous enemy. We're at the end of a campaign season that has hit us like no other, thanks not just to Big Money but to Humungous Money doing their best to buy elections. As far as I'm concerned, this is the emphasis these days--at least until Tuesday night.

Next week I'll concentrate on other things. For weeks now I've concentrated my energies on the mid-terms, trying to get the Dems elected. I'm not thrilled with many of the Dems, but, at risk of enraging anybody who hates both the Dems and the Republicans, they're the ones I'm working to get elected.

When the pundits I admire are out there showing the country why there would be hell to pay if the Republicans win, I'm out there cheering them on. I figure it's the least I can do.

This is what I found on 538,

Ramona — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 23:09:21 +0000

In reply to Are you saying Feingold is

This is what I found on 538, sorry to say:

http://elections.nytimes.com/2010/forecasts/senate/wisconsin

Sorry to burst your bubble,

SleepinJeezus — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 05:23:34 +0000

In reply to Oh, Sleepin, you're going to

Sorry to burst your bubble, Ramona, but I would caution that if you are looking for heroic figures in today's political climate (and who isn't?), you need look a lot further than O'Donnell. I've seen little more from him in terms of analysis or a real discussion of the issues than what we get from Beckerhead on the other side. O'Donnell focuses upon the low-hanging fruit in the Bread & Circuses and pounds it into a paroxysm of outrage that is rarely enlightening or even germaine to the legitimate discussions that need to be addressed.

Michael Moore is an example of one who does a much better job of framing the discussion beyond the "Contest in the Coliseum." Maddow seems capable at times, although she can also get involved in a little too much hyperventilaton as a means to show she's working hard on making a "really important" point.

In the end, I actually care not a whit how outrageous the other side can be in this Class War. It is important, I guess, to highlight their transgressions and expose their crimes against the middle class. In so doing, it's important to respond to the hypocrisies and the intellectual vacuum around which the Tea Party crowd thrives.

But, ultimately, it's most important for our messengers and "pundits" to have the integrity of character and the fundamental belief in liberal/progressive principles to consistently spend their time hammering home the points showing that it doesn't need to be this way. O'Donnell & Co. instead too often present the circus acts for our entertainment rather than actually pointing out how the corporations, the wealthy, the Repubs, AND THE DEMS (in far too many instances) are, in so many ways, a singular force that play us ALL for fools on this long, slow walk toward an oligarchy that serves only the interests of the most powerful elite.

That Paladino bit was kind of

kgb999 — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 03:15:10 +0000

In reply to Oh, Sleepin, you're going to

That Paladino bit was kind of off to me also. IMO, if you are apologizing to someone it's kind of odd to bring up something critical of them in the same breath. With the way he went into the whole "I'm sure he wishes he could say something about it" bit, I sort of wonder if they didn't talk about the issue privately. Definitely a weird graphic cut-away and such in the context of a personal apology - kind of seemed a tortured justification for bringing in a non sequitur if there wasn't a personal context between the men that occurred in their private conversation.

I dunno. I'm never regretful that I don't have a TV. Drama city. But as drama goes, certainly more fulfilling than watching Olbermann act-out another round of forced indignation.

How many times have I seen

kgb999 — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 02:47:50 +0000

In reply to I don't think he'd be

How many times have I seen someone on these threads and posts in Democratland call those who run our military "terrorists" or "fascists" and worse? The fuckers are torturing people - about TIME someone called 'em terrorists. What? He improperly used the word socialist as a pejorative?

Are you genuinely arguing that DeMint (or even Rawl, really) would vote better than Greene? If not, your ridicule is self-defeating. As I said. I'd vote for him in a heartbeat. You ignore his suggestions of investing in national road infrastructure to increase industry and tourism, prison reform and a bunch of other stuff.

Republicans are winning with people that make this guy look like a rocket scientist - pretending to be "outsider populists" after a lifetime grooming for insider politics. You get a genuine not-owned guy who just ran on his own and won. And instead of playing it for all it's worth and kicking some ass, you fall all over yourselves to extract the most out-there comments he makes plaster them everywhere ... then take the lead in ridiculing him. One had to go to the international press to actually find a place where the entirety of what he said was respectfully reported on ... and you, of all people, highlight Josh's TMZ coverage?

There is a reason America views Democrats as elitists. And Obama plays to your sense of superiority like a virtuoso - that's how he gets away with doing what he does with barely even a whimper of opposition from those who would be through the roof it were a republican doing it. "But he's just so garsh-danged SMART ... Harvard, dontcha know ... he's not really selling us out, he's just a long-game player ... you just don't have the intellect to understand."

I'll take Greene with the occasional stupid comment and the seemingly good heart.

I don't think he'd be

artappraiser — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 02:09:02 +0000

In reply to I can't help it. I like Alvin

I don't think he'd be terribly effective at *creating* legislation

So you don't think he'd able to get other Senators on board with his passionate patriotic and personal goal of purging the U.S. military of all the communists and terrorists that have infiltrated it's upper echelons? I dunno, should some of the other "teh crazy" win, it's not that hard to imagine some of them being very interested as well.

I can't help it. I like Alvin

kgb999 — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 01:11:16 +0000

In reply to Well, Ramona, there's not a

I can't help it. I like Alvin Greene. I would LOVE to see him join the Senate club. I don't think he'd be terribly effective at *creating* legislation ... but all that is done by interns and aides anyhow. You know he'd consistently vote better than someone like Lincoln ... and a bazillion times better than DeMint. I'd proudly cast a vote for the guy.

Oh, Sleepin, you're going to

Ramona — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 20:55:38 +0000

In reply to Sorry, Ramona, but I don't

Oh, Sleepin, you're going to burst my little bubble. . .and just when I was riding high, for a change. I wasn't kidding when I said I've watched it over and over again. You aren't the only one who saw it as insincere, but I just don't see it that way. I've actually seen more responses that mirror mine than the other way around, but I can see how the theatrics and the voice might turn you off.

I know Lawrence can be an actor, and much of his outrage is phony--especially his tirades on Morning Joe--but this just seemed genuine to me.

I don't know exactly what you mean by "He even issues a passive-aggressive attack of Steele for demanding an apology from him whilst making no such demand of Paladino - essentially taking the opportunity of his apology to attack Steele as a hypocrite." Yes, there may have been a bit of snark there, but I saw it directed mainly at the Republicans who never would have wanted Steele to do it.

I think "demand" is a little harsh. It didn't sound like Steele was "demanding" an apology. It sounded to me like two men who are usually in opposite corners chose to meet in the middle and shake hands instead of beating each other to a pulp.

Representative Clyburn is a

Richard Day — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 19:41:40 +0000

In reply to Are you talking about

Representative Clyburn is a great American indeed.