Comments on: Not so fast

By: eric

eric — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 04:12:41 +0000

Bush is an idiot, yet he won election and reelection. Give me a man who is truly smart and confident over a patrician pretending everyman like G. W. Bush any day.

By: LTB

LTB — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 05:20:28 +0000

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-onthemedia4-2008aug04,0,2648035.story

“So apparently the verdict is in: Sen. Barack Obama, too confident to govern…So here are a few lessons for would-be commanders in chief: Inspire attention, but not too much. Act presidential, but not like you already have the job. Be confident, but in an obsequious kind of way. — It’s really not that complicated.”

I am thinking that the closest that we have had to humility in a president, in my lifetime, would be Jimmy Carter. And that was more a matter of manners than mentality.

I can’t fault you too badly, Mr. Jarvis, for any baiting of party loyalists and blindered idealists. God knows that Barack Obama is just more proof of bone deep corruption in the system, and we’re all weary of choosing “lesser evils” – but I remain flummoxed by the idea that anyone who sees their values even a little more aligned with social liberalism than with the current administration, would take a lifetime of upholding feminism, human rights, privacy rights…and then help put John McCain in the White House. The next President will be appointing a Supreme Court Justice or three, will continue to press the scope of the powers of an executive presidency, or not — how does punishing H. Clinton’s detractors stack up to that?

By: Frank Paynter

Frank Paynter — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 03:32:51 +0000

“Followers” is a twitter thing. Here in the real world, in our democracy, many of us are proud (I underscore PROUD) to be Obama supporters. IPolls suggest we constitute a majority. Followers are more what you have when party discipline and a consistent spin is more important to you than a candidate who demonstrates appropriate self-regard, self-respect, and a presidential bearing. Senator McCain has followers. Senator Obama has supporters.

(Frank exits to his own blog with no illusions that he’ll actually have the last word humming “Bomb, bomb, bomb — bomb, bomb Iran…”)

By: Mike G

Mike G — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 03:10:21 +0000

No, I came up with the opinion that he and his followers are dreamy-eyed and full of hot air by myself.

You’ll never guess how.

By: Frank Paynter

Frank Paynter — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 00:09:56 +0000

Cool. Creative way to keep the spin moving. Did you get one of these?

* * *

To: Interested Parties

From: Rick Davis, McCain Campaign Manager

Date: July 30, 2008

Re: Barack Obama’s Celebrity

Barack Obama is the biggest celebrity in the world, comparable to Tom Cruise, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. As he told Congressional Democrats yesterday, he has become the “symbol” for the world’s aspirations for America and that we are now at “the moment … that the world is waiting for.”

By: Mike G

Mike G — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 23:31:00 +0000

“When you’re a Scientologist, and you drive by an accident, you know you have to do something about it, because you know you’re the only one who can really help… We are the way to happiness. We can bring peace and unite cultures.” –Tom Cruise

By: Frank Paynter

Frank Paynter — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 20:20:03 +0000

Well, the GOP claque, the so called “Audacity Watch,” would like you to believe there’s something frightening in these observations. And perhaps for them, for the likes of Dick Cheney and Ann Coulter and their boosters, there is something to be afraid of.

But when Obama says, “It has become increasingly clear in my travel, the campaign — that the crowds, the enthusiasm, 200,000 people in Berlin, is not about me at all. It’s about America. I have just become a symbol,” then I think there is room for a more generous interpretation.

The American people, the American democracy, this election will not be subverted by the Public Relations media echo chamber propaganda machine that Jarvis here enables and that is so adroitly manipulated by corporate hired guns.

Media manipulation has become laughable and most of us are laughing. There are a few who have been so frightened by the Bush administration’s War of Terrorism, the color coded fear alerts, the absurd homeland security screenings in and out of the country, the seven year investigation of an anthrax scare that looks like it was at least used by a leadership more interested in manufacturing evidence and guiding public opinion than in finding truth and administering justice — and those few can be led by the PR specialists who plant hints and releases and word of mouth campaigns designed to create an up-swelling of indignity around the latest synthetic rallying point manufactured to provide some focus for opposition, no matter how absurd.

Milbank’s column was one of dozens and dozens media mentions of Obama’s “hubris,” in the July 29 – 30 timeframe. It was less than original. It was inaccurate. It was a puff piece bolstering an attempt to frame Obama as “uppity” in comparison to that humble servant of our country, Johnny Mac. Milbank’s column and Jarvis’ wink and nudge, slap and tickle reference to it were just part of a well managed PR play. Kat’s comment reads like one of those bizarre emails that circulate amongst the Lawrence Welk fans, the kind that are easily debunked at Snopes and serve as an electronic equivalent of sticking one’s fingers in one’s ears and saying loudly to others with differing perspectives: LALALALALA… I CAN’T HEAR YOU!!!

By: kat

kat — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 16:04:29 +0000

-”That’s how slaves and abolitionists resisted that wicked system and how a new president chartered a course to ensure we would not remain half-slave and half-free.
-That’s how the greatest generation—that’s how the greatest generation, my grandfather fighting in Patton’s army, my grandmother staying at home with a baby and still working on a bomber assembly line, how that greatest generation overcame Hitler and fascism and also lifted themselves up out of a Great Depression.
-That’s how women won the right to vote, how workers won the right to organize, how young people like you traveled down South to march, and sit-in, and go to jail, and some were beaten, and some died for freedom’s cause. That’s what hope is.
-I have become a symbol of the possibility of America returning to our best traditions.”
This arrogant man is comparing his campaign to overcoming fascism, abolition of slavery, women’s suffrage. Oprah has the gall to call him “THE ONE” and he has deemed himself a symbol–like what–the second coming of Christ?. That scares me–are we going to be asked to worship him like dictators demand they be worshipped? What evil is he comparing to Hitler–those that don’t buy into his crap? Does that make me evil? It won’t be long before he will be comparing himself to Jesus.
People who can’t see his arrogance choose not to see it. It is there in plain sight and his words reek of it but we country hicks turn to guns and religion and don’t understand the true meaning of his parables.

By: Cristóbal Palmer

Cristóbal Palmer — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 07:20:53 +0000

Where’s the source on the Millbank money quote? How is Obama’s ego really an issue when polling shows only 37% consider him arrogant (vs. 34% for McCain)? I think your post is wrong both in detail and in general thrust. If you’re genuinely worried that this is the kind of narrative they’ll use to pin Obama, then fight it with facts instead of public worrying. Your post really is concern trolling without digging deeper to find that, no, he didn’t really say that, and no, people don’t actually find him arrogant (yet).

By: Pats

Pats — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 04:47:56 +0000

Man, I heard the couch critic had a blog. I didn’t want to learn he was more passive aggressive as my mother. Thanks, reality!

By: Frank Paynter

Frank Paynter — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 04:09:42 +0000

Dude. I’m chastened!

(slaps PSGInfinity up side the head with another dead trout)

By: PSGInfinity

PSGInfinity — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 23:47:46 +0000

(Pats wee widdle Frankie pn the head again)
(Now, where’s the boy’s diaper bag?)

By: Frank Paynter

Frank Paynter — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 20:39:42 +0000

lulz

By: Mike P

Mike P — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 18:44:41 +0000

Professor Jarvis,
I respectfully disagree with your take here. Is Obama ambitious? Certainly. So is McCain and so was Clinton (anyone who thinks they should be leader of the free world probably thinks fairly highly of themselves). However, the problem with Milbank’s piece, to my mind, is that it’s based around the use of an incomplete quote (the complete quote alters the intent considerably) and leaves out some other competing facts that would take much of the air out of the article. Basically, Milbank went into the piece designed around a specific, predetermined line of attack (Obama is “presumptuous”) and shaded the piece to confirm that line of attack. I found it to be fairly shoddy (and I think his reader response column today in regards to the article (“whine enthusiast”) is the product of somebody who doesn’t seem to think too much of being accountable to the public or the readers of his paper.

By: kat

kat — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:44:58 +0000

Yes, I heard that leftist lie about McCain having two ads ready. Those spreading the lie owe him an apology. It has already been retracted by the original purveyor of untruth.

By: beachmom

beachmom — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:36:53 +0000

And if Obama didn’t do a foreign trip, he would have been attacked as well. Didn’t you hear that the McCain campaign had an two ads ready for if Obama did or didn’t visit wounded troops at Landstuhl? I mean, can’t you see what is going on? No matter what Obama does he will be attacked. I think it was important that he do a “try out” as leader of the free world, so people could visualize it. Otherwise, he would have been attacked as too inexperienced and not ready for the world stage. I think Milbank pretty much never has a point. His columns are mean spirited and snarky. Our problems are too important for sarcasm and “wittiness” to be taken so seriously.

By: Frank Paynter

Frank Paynter — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:25:15 +0000

(Slaps PSGInfinity with three day old dead trout…) There’s really no political issue here, nor is there a question of who will win in the fall. You old farts aren’t used to being confronted regarding your ill humor and hidebound ways, so you misinterpret.

By: Mike G

Mike G — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 12:14:38 +0000

A Dem says the same thing:

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/373080_erbe01.html

By: Evil Pundit

Evil Pundit — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:08:44 +0000

I sense panic in the ranks.

By: PSGInfinity

PSGInfinity — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:04:33 +0000

Jeff, by all means, blog away about politics, news, springer spaniels, or whatever else suits you. Dana may have been trying to gently chide Obama, but wound up scoring a direct hit. You can tell by the level and vehemence of the flak.

(Reaches out and pats Frank on the head)

By: Jeneane

Jeneane — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 04:01:26 +0000

Yes. Let’s go for the guy who calls his wife a cu*t and a trollop. That’s waaaay better than someone with confidence.

By: kat

kat — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:53:00 +0000

I planned to watch the UNITY thing but when Suzanne Malveaux was fawning all over him and giggling like a school girl with a crush, and Obama was eating it all up, I turned the TV off. There is nothing I’d like better than to have his ego deflated and for him to fall flat on his face. This guy thinks he is God.

By: Jeneane Dot Net » Blog Archive » 3 Years Later, Jarvis Is Still Playing the Reverse-Race-Card

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:47:43 +0000

[...] He tried it again on Oliver Willis in comments. [...]

By: Jeneane

Jeneane — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 02:40:18 +0000

@Glyn, because this is America. One drop rule, dear. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One-drop_rule

By: Jeneane

Jeneane — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 02:36:03 +0000

So, this video is an example of hubris? I think you are so used to 8 years of a leader who Cant. Even. Speak. The. English. Language. that an eloquent ambitious senator becomes an “articulate” and “egotistical” candidate, terms that I will argue ARE the 21st century code words for uppity. Oliver called you on a flawed observation, Jeff. He didn’t call you a racist. Incidentally, Oliver’s right.