January 15, 2017

"Don't give up blogging; our minds would rust without you. But I think you have earned a retirement from watching those Sunday morning panel shows."

I'm reading the comments on yesterday's post "This blog is 13 years old today" just after shutting off the TV — after 2 minutes — with the thought I don't have to do this. Not that I ever had to do it. It wasn't my job to monitor the Sunday morning shows.

The quote is from WA-mom. And thanks to all who commented on my bloggiversary post — and on all posts, which (I assure you) are written because I have genuinely found something interesting. I'm not under assignment to do any of this. It's not like the way I had to submit myself to the task of reading, say, Martin v. Hunter's Lessee, when it was my job to teach Conlaw1.

Why have I watched the Sunday shows? It's a one-day-a-week variation from the usual approach to looking around for something to talk about. Often I do sit through 3 or even 4 or 5 of them. This morning, I couldn't get started even on the first one.

What's blocking me isn't that I just retired and I'm living in a new way. It's that — or so it seemed from the first 2 minutes — the shows are grinding through all the complaints about Donald Trump. I feel I've heard them, I've had my fill of the grousing, and I think a new President deserves his moment of elevated pomp followed by a fair chance to show he can do something beneficial for the country. I've never seen anything like this kind of hostility and opposition thrown in front of a new President.

I think Trump has figured out how to thrive on hostility and opposition, and I know it causes me to root for him. It's my instinct to pull for the underdog, even as I recognize the absurdity of seeing the most powerful man in the world as the underdog. But that's what the Trump haters have done. Congratulations, you nitwits. Now, could you sing me a song about your triumph?



By the way, celebrities, "I Will Survive" is not "by Gloria Gaynor." The song was written by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris. The big hit version was sung by Gloria Gaynor, but when it's you singing it, you're not singing a song by Gloria Gaynor. But I appreciate your underscoring how embarrassingly stupid you are. That helps the rest of us "survive" — by ignoring everything you have to say.

297 comments:

1 – 200 of 297   Newer›   Newest»
Ken B said...

The mistake is characteristic. These are not creative people. They are the telegenic presenters of the work of creative people, whose contribution they scarcely notice.

And what strength and courage. With my adulation and millions I will survive, but I am doing it for you.

Martha said...

Well said, Professor Althouse!

.....if your blog survives, we will continue to benefit from your incomparable wisdom and insight

whitney said...

That was harsh. Justifiably.

MadisonMan said...

You can also listen to Je survivrai, by Regine. One of my most embarrassing Album purchases ever. Seemed like a good idea at the time, saw her on Carson and thought Why Not?. After purchasing it, the answer was self-evident.

Chuck said...

"Dude, just stop."

https://twitter.com/justinamash/status/820429521665093633

Mark said...

I feel I've heard them, I've had my fill of the grousing

That, and just as the nation is rid of Hillary and now Obama, we are subjected to the return of The Maverick, and to a lesser extent his little buddy. No one should ever have to endure -- not you, not the country -- that much John McCain and Lindsey Graham, who already have dreams of being the real power by holding the Senate majority hostage to their whims (much like they did with George W.).

Anonymous said...

I guess 8 years of Obama grousing and hatred never got old though.

Paco Wové said...

Time for the obligatory "I have no idea who those people are" comment.

Jeff Brokaw said...

Congrats! I used to watch Fox News Sunday every week, but I had started watching it during the Bush years when Iraq and Afghanistan war news was a regular feature every week, which made for much more compelling viewing for me. It felt like this stuff *mattered* in a post-9/11 word.

Then at some point during the Obama years it became too depressing to watch the laundry list of stupidity. Over the years I've determined all of those shows are just excuses to both bash conservatives and canonize leftist causes - even Fox News Sunday during the Trump campaign, the few times I bothered trying to watch. Whatevs. Don't need it, don't want it, don't care about it.

Chuck said...

Okay; Natalie Portman and Matthew McConaughey.

That's it. My answer to the standard question, "Do you even know who these people are?"

These things are past parody now, right? The parody video (very well done, better than the originals at this point) has already been shot and posted... and blogged by Althouse:

http://althouse.blogspot.com/2017/01/dear-celebrities-dear-celebrities-dear.html?showComment=1483803257233



Jeff Brokaw said...

Love your rant about having had your fill of all these people -I completely agree. It's not just stupid, it's BORING.

cubanbob said...

Althouse please, please, please never give up the blog until it has to be pried from your cold dead hand. As for the Sunday morning talk shows, thank God you do the watching as it spares me the torture. Taking a pass today is fine, its all about the whining. Nothing new here to see or hear. What would be fascinating is your hypothetical take on how a Trumpy Administration with a Republican Congress can change the IP laws and the tax code to really put the hurt on Hollywood and the media.

traditionalguy said...

Trump has taken on the roll
Of being a light shining in a dark place. And many love the dark and want to extinguish Trump at all cost.

But DJT is not afraid of them . Pray for the man.

Bob Boyd said...

"It may get too real."


Yeah, uh...I don't anticipate that.

David Begley said...

Ann Althouse, "I think Trump has figured out how to thrive on hostility and opposition, and I know it causes me to root for him. It's my instinct to pull for the underdog, even as I recognize the absurdity of seeing the most powerful man in the world as the underdog. But that's what the Trump haters have done."

Althouse is not the only one who feels that way. We have seen the coercion of Jennifer Holliday and now Andrea Bocelli. The events of January 20th more insanity by the Left. The Progressives are showing their true colors. Nuttiness and fascism on a large scale.

Great discipline over 13 years in turning out great and insightful content.

Marginalia, Wisconsin would be a great title for the Althouse novel.

Birkel said...

Chuck, who supports anything anti-Trump, should learn to stay on the topic Althouse offers.

Wince said...

Was that more off-beat French audience clapping at the start of Je survivrai, by Regine?

Is that what soldiers meant when they said, "I caught 'the clap' from a French whore back in WWII"?

rhhardin said...

I recognize the absurdity of seeing the most powerful man in the world as the underdog.

Trump is a soap opera matador.

He still depends on the bull's act, however.

Unknown said...

There needs to be a conservative parody of the celeb/prog "I will survive" that involves the same song, but properly attributed.

Unknown said...

Re: "But that's what the Trump haters have done. Congratulations, you nitwits. Now, could you sing me a song about your triumph?"

Nitwits? Think about it this way:

The NotMyPresident country owns most of the money and makes money (Wall Street).
The NotMyPresident country makes modern American culture (LA, NY, Nashville).
The NotMyPresident country makes the future (Silicon Valley and Seattle).

What does Trumpland offer. Sweet nothings.

Beef, cereal, wheat, cheese? Well, NotMyPresident country can import all those and much more from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and many other places.

Don't forget the 400 counties Hillary won generate nearly 70% of economic output and the 3000 counties that Trump won generate about 30%.

Within weeks of Trump's inauguration, all existing sympathy for the "plight" of the Trumpeteers in Trumpland will vanish. Poof!

Nitwits. Yeah, right.

Birkel said...

Also needing a proper attribution:

Users of the Unknown moniker.

rehajm said...

I feel I've heard them, I've had my fill of the grousing...

Yes, many of us made it to that position long ago. I still find value in them since all of their topics are coordinated with the propaganda of the left so it's interesting to observe the how the politicians they've coordinated with utilize the narrative development the Sunday shows provide.

It's going to be fascinating to watch the GOP blitzkrieg counterstrategy continue to obliviate the left's traditionally effective narratives.

Birkel said...

After importing all that stuff from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Argentina and elsewhwere...

How does that stuff get off the trains and boats and to the stores? When did Pajama Boy go to commercial driving school?

Jason said...

I have long been a defender of artists intellectual property rights.

After being repaid this way by the Film Actors Guild, though, I think I'm done.

Go ahead, kids. Download all the pirated content you want. These happy-face fascist clowns aren't worth defending.

tcrosse said...

So, Unknown is arguing that Hillary would have been the best president money could buy.

Anonymous said...

Mark: That, and just as the nation is rid of Hillary and now Obama, we are subjected to the return of The Maverick, and to a lesser extent his little buddy. No one should ever have to endure -- not you, not the country -- that much John McCain and Lindsey Graham...

I'm willing to hold off on nuking Arizona and South Carolina for inflicting this on us, because of ameliorating electoral choices otherwise...

...but just barely.

Fernandinande said...

Is the "Slap Chop" guy in the video?

Derek Kite said...

I'm hoping to see on the news that a protester in a crowd gets cold cocked by someone sitting there trying to enjoy the show.

Shut up and sit down.

Fernandinande said...

Here's what the Slap Chop Guy would tell them about their video:

"Alright, this is making you cry, it's making me cry. Life's hard enough as it is; you don't wanna cry anymore."

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

"Conservative" Louisa Wurlitzer said...
I guess 8 years of Obama grousing and hatred never got old though."

From who? Obama's received nothing but tongue baths from the media and Hollywood since he announced he was running for office.

ddh said...

Pathetic.

Inga said...

How many times over 8 years of Obama did we hear "Not my President"? Why does Trump deserve better treatment? Lots and lots of whining about how Trump is being treated. How was Obama treated in the first few days of his Presidency by McConnel and Republicans? The hypocrisy is amazing.

Sean Gleeson said...

Was there anyplace it explicitly said this video was to protest Donald Trump? Because it seems like a particularly inapt song to use as a protest against him. “I Will Survive” is about recovering from a rejection by a former lover. The object of scorn, the villain, has committed the offense of leaving, then coming back, expecting to be received amicably. All of the pain and injury was caused by his not being there when the singer very much desired him. How does any of that apply to Donald Trump?

Snark said...

Life is random and capricious and the concept of "deserving" anything, good or bad, is at best useful only as a construct when arbitrarily applied. Trump has month over month conducted himself like an unusually boorish bull in a China shop against conventions of public speech and decorum and is just about dead last on any reasonable list of people who should receive pomp, good will or anything else just because it's been a traditional instinct to do so in the past.

Rick said...

I think we're seeing the impact of retirement already. I like it, so I hope the sacrifice of your position doesn't turn out to be a greater cost than you expected.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

How does that stuff get off the trains and boats and to the stores? When did Pajama Boy go to commercial driving school?

1/15/17, 10:08 AM

If all the deplorable Trump voters vanished tomorrow, Inga Unknown's cats would be eating her corpse in a few weeks.

Inga said...

I see intellectual laziness.

Chuck said...

ChrisW said...
How many times over 8 years of Obama did we hear "Not my President"?


I can't think of a single person of importance, who ever said of Obama, "Not my President..."

I do recall Mitch McConnell, saying the blandly true thing that his goal as minority leader in the Senate, was to make Barack Obama a one-term president. That was every Republican's goal.

I also recall Rush Limbaugh, in the course of a much longer monologue in which he explained his terms pretty carefully, saying that he hoped that Obama "failed." Limbaugh was saying, with reasonable precision, that he hoped that Obama failed to install a much more broadly leftist national agenda.

That's it. That's all I recall. What have you got by way of specifics to support your claim, Chris?


Wince said...

Unknown said...
Within weeks of Trump's inauguration, all existing sympathy for the "plight" of the Trumpeteers in Trumpland will vanish. Poof!

Don't worry. We already knew that altruistic pose was bullshit all along.

Jason said...

Snark: The left is rioting at Milo events, breaking down barricades, beating up people for wearing Trump hats, suing small business owners into bankruptcy when they aren't threatening arson and murder, throwing eggs at women, engaging in rape threats, and you think the one with a problem involving being a bull in a China shop and conducting himself against conventions of speech and decorum is Trump?

Go suck a rock.

Rick said...

Unknown said...
The NotMyPresident country owns most of the money and makes money (Wall Street).
The NotMyPresident country makes modern American culture (LA, NY, Nashville).
The NotMyPresident country makes the future (Silicon Valley and Seattle).


Contrast this to the Democrats' claims they protect regular Americans from Republican efforts on behalf of the rich. Hate is such a strong emotion it overrides your discipline and you accidentally admit your professed political outlook is propaganda even you don't believe.

Whoops.

Bob Ellison said...

Unknown #1 (there seems to be more than one with that name), I assume you're referring to this report RE: the folks who voted for Hillary producing most of the economic juice.

Let's start with basic economics, the kind we learned in high school. Hillarynomics is focused in rich economies like NYC, coastal California, and DC. That's where she gets the votes. The folks there do produce some things, but at very high cost. It's like comparing Luxembourg with southern Italy. DC produces negative value. Dollar-for-dollar, it's a dumb comparison. Indiana produces quite a lot of value, as do Texas and western California.

MaxedOutMama said...

Same syndrome here - this is not news; it's agitprop. And it's become thumpingly boring!!! These people are caught in a squirrel cage of Trump hysteria.

I will pay attention when there is something to talk about other that's real. I mean, come on, nominating Sessions is not a human rights violation.



exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

" Trump has month over month conducted himself like an unusually boorish bull in a China shop against conventions of public speech and decorum"

True, but I've come to believe only a bull in a china stuff can break through the sclerotic grip of Big Government. The task before Trump is so daunting that perhaps only a egotist with little regard for niceties is up to it.

It is interesting watching so called "progressives" bitterly clinging to the status quo and the old ways of doing things.

Inga said...

Blogger ChrisW said...
Chuck, "people of importance"? People in my social circle, in my family, my co workers, most conservatives I know said at one time or another that Obama was not their President. As for people of importance, those people are not important to me. I don't care about what celebrities and famous people think. What was McConnel and a circle of Republicans doing on the night of Obama's inauguration balls? Meeting to make a plan to obstruct him in everything he tried to do as President, to make sure he was a one term President. Well that didn't work did it?

Birkel said...

Snark: "Life is random and capricious..."

...and therefore snark has decided to be entirely predictable and boring as a Collectivist Leftist.

Bob Ellison said...

Another thing has been floating around for years: the giver states v. the taker states. Lefties love to float that they pay higher taxes and are therefore givers, and righties love to float that they are less needy overall and take less.

The numbers are not good to the lefty arguments.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Snark: The left is rioting at Milo events, breaking down barricades, beating up people for wearing Trump hats, suing small business owners into bankruptcy when they aren't threatening arson and murder, throwing eggs at women, engaging in rape threats, and you think the one with a problem involving being a bull in a China shop and conducting himself against conventions of speech and decorum is Trump?"

Exactly. All the actual violence is coming from the Left, not the Right, including hate crime hoaxes that include a black man who burned down his own church and tried to make it look like Trump supporters did it.

It is rich: Leftists are kicking and beating Trump supporters while howling "You're making me do this because you're so violent and hateful!"

Sebastian said...

Skip the US shows, just watch the Premier League. Man U vs. Liverpool, making Sunday morning television great again.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

The desire for victimhood has become neurotically intense if it requires one to view Trump as a 'victim'. I am sure Attila the Hun had his critics as well.

Sprezzatura said...

It's good that the reporting on and discussing of DJT is making Althouse into a stronger DJT loyalist.

Hopefully she'll keep getting more and more devoted to DJT apologist-ing.

It's best to fully commit, and the sooner the better.

glenn said...

Ann, what you need to understand is for Trumps detractors politics is a religion. And Trump just let all the morons they worship reveal themselves as morons. They don't like it. Delegitimization is the only thing they have left.

Birkel said...

ChrisW:

So you could not find a person import to compare with Congressman Lewis? And you point to the scoreboard of Obama's re-election?

Trump won. The House is Republican. The Senate is Republican. Most governors are Republican. Most state legislatures are Republican.

Obama has sold more guns and elected more Republicans than any person in history. Scoreboard indeed.

CWJ said...

ChrisW,

I don't think the McConnel quote you're implying was said the first days of O's presidency. Just because it's a talking point doeen't make it true.

Sydney said...

Thank you for stating so well what I have been feeling. This constant whining is making me feel dyspeptic. There are people who are so miserable they make those around them feel miserable, too. When they threaten self-harm, those around them think, "Please, put us out of our misery." That's the way I feel about the media and the celebrities and the Facebook posters who spew this anti-Trump garbage 24/7. I've tuned them out and am waiting for them to implode.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

exiledonmainstreet said...
Exactly. All the actual violence is coming from the Left


This is going to be news to Gabby Giffords and the congregants of the Emanuel AME Church.

mockturtle said...

Alas, most of these cretins will survive. But I do my best to ignore their rantings.

BTW, great post, Ann! :-)

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Bob Ellison said...
Another thing has been floating around for years: the giver states v. the taker states"

Since the left wing states are such givers, San Francisco and LA and NY surely will not mind if the Feds cut off federal funding to sanctuary cities. They're rich, after all, they can surely make up the slack.

In the meantime, deep blue Illinois lost more people than any other state in the union, as the middle class flees.

Replacing middle class taxpayers with low skill, uneducated illegals does not strike me as a wise bet in the long run.

Inga said...

Whining about how Trump is being treated is rich and sort of pathetic. After 8 years of Obama Derangement Syndrome, it's poetic justice. Don't be depressed over the treatment of Trump, Make it be an opportunity to believe in Karma and the turning of tables.

Hagar said...

Althouse is right about the Sunday gasbag shows. These people have all been around so long we know what they are going to say on any given subject before they say it.

YoungHegelian said...

It's that — or so it seemed from the first 2 minutes — the shows are grinding through all the complaints about Donald Trump.

The election & Trump's victory has killed NPR for me, too. It was always a "grit your teeth & see how the other half lives" experience, but now it's simply unbearable.

BBC World sure doesn't like Trump either, but at least they can find something else in the world to talk about.

Chuck said...

ChrisW said...
...
What was McConnel and a circle of Republicans doing on the night of Obama's inauguration balls? Meeting to make a plan to obstruct him in everything he tried to do as President, to make sure he was a one term President. Well that didn't work did it?

On the night of Barack Obama's inauguration in 2009, he had a huge majority in the House and a veto-proof 60 votes in the Senate. He got to do whatever the hell he wanted to do. And what he did, was so extremist and so partisan that his agenda for the first several months was enacted without a single Republican vote, and also with some of the most extreme measures imaginable, to cobble together Democrat votes to avoid a filibuster in the Senate. The "Louisiana Purchase." The "Cornhusker Kickback." And the abortion-provision lies told to members of the House who were pro-life Democrats. They are virtually all gone from Congress now.

Republicans, in 2009 and much of 2010 could do nothing to stop Obama, because Obama had the votes. The election had consequences. Elections have consequences.

Sprezzatura said...

"Don't be depressed over the treatment of Trump, Make it be an opportunity to believe in Karma and the turning of tables."

I think the better move is to reinforce the isolation bubble. Sure, you still want to have multiple info streams, that's why you have Rush and Breitbart and, of course, the DJT tweets. But don't let that Fake news into the bubble.

David Begley said...

Missed the anniversary post in real time. A $17,000 property tax bill is near criminal. In Nebraska, property taxes mostly go to local K-12 schools (the bulk), police, fire, roads and trash. Are the Madison public schools performing at a level equal to their funding? Competition in K-12 education needs to happen. The Omaha Catholic schools spend less than half of what the public schools get, but many people are priced out of Catholic school education here.

Original Mike said...

Blogger ChrisW said..."What was McConnel and a circle of Republicans doing on the night of Obama's inauguration balls? Meeting to make a plan to obstruct him in everything he tried to do as President, to make sure he was a one term President."

Not to burst your indignation-bubble (probably not possible) but you owe it to yourself to understand the facts of that quote you like.

Bob Ellison said...

NPR spent a lot of air time publicizing Obama's farewell speech over the last few days. Nobody gave a crap about a presidential farewell speech until this one. C'mon, NPR, take off the knee pads.

Snark said...

"True, but I've come to believe only a bull in a china stuff can break through the sclerotic grip of Big Government. The task before Trump is so daunting that perhaps only a egotist with little regard for niceties is up to it."

I have had comparable thoughts before about figures like Julian Assange or Edward Snowdon. While I find them both exquisitely unlikable and largely unsympathetic figures, perhaps the uncommon depth of narcissistic self regard and willingness to effectively impose one's own worldview is simply not separable from the characteristics and drive that produce change agents. But that also means that great caution should be applied in embracing any of them as saviours of anything. It's complicated, destabilization is always unpredictable and I simply don't think that there is an argument that Trump "deserves" automatic respect or respite. If you live by the proverbial sword you should expect a sustained effort by some to have you die by it.

Curious George said...

"ChrisW said...
Chuck, "people of importance"? People in my social circle, in my family, my co workers, most conservatives I know said at one time or another that Obama was not their President."

I'm just going to say you're full of shit.

Original Mike said...

"Whining about how Trump is being treated is rich and sort of pathetic. After 8 years of Obama Derangement Syndrome, it's poetic justice. Don't be depressed over the treatment of Trump, Make it be an opportunity to believe in Karma and the turning of tables."

Personally, I hope the left keeps it up. As to Obama Derangement Syndrome, he earned it. An abbreviated list would include imploding ObamaCare, a moribund economic recovery, and disastrous foreign policies.

Hagar said...

I wonder how Megyn Kelly is going to do at NBC. For her news-based talk show, she would depend a lot on tips on subjects from around the building, and I imagine that at NBC, employees would be better off gettting caught with kiddie porn on their computers than some of Miss Megyn's past subjects.

Bob Ellison said...

Yeah, ditto, Curious George. That's total bullshit. Obama was and still is our President. He's a lousy one, but he's the one we've got. Conservatives are consistent on that.

People in my social circle, in my family, my co-workers, most liberals I know, said at one time or another that Trump roasts kittens and puppies on an open fire and then throws them to pigs to eat. Or so I've heard.

Chuck said...

ChrisW said...
Whining about how Trump is being treated is rich and sort of pathetic. After 8 years of Obama Derangement Syndrome, it's poetic justice. Don't be depressed over the treatment of Trump, Make it be an opportunity to believe in Karma and the turning of tables.


Your arguments won't work with me. I can suggest to you some better arguments, and they still won't work on me.

What you could have argued, is that Trump and his supporters can't complain about language intended to de-legitimize a president, since Trump did the very same thing with his long and idiotic "Birther" campaign. But of course you can't use that argument on me, since I condemned Birtherism from the start, and continue to do so now even though Trump seems to have tried to abandon it.

And you could have claimed that, "Well, Sean Hannity actually did say 'He's not my president!' in relation to Obama." But again, I have often pointed out that Hannity always claimed that he was never a Republican at all. And now he is simply a pure, discredited Trump acolyte. Hannity represents virtually nothing, within the Republican Party.

There; some better arguments for you to consider using, against Trumpism. They just don't work on me, a conservative Republican who voted for Trump only as the last shot at the least-worst alternative. And whose opposition to Obama was as carefully measured as it was consistent.


exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

"This is going to be news to Gabby Giffords and the congregants of the Emanuel AME Church."

1. Provide some evidence that Gabby Giffords was shot by a right winger and not just a garden variety nut. You conveniently forgot that a very conservative judge, John Roll, who was appointed by Bush, was murdered in the same attack.

2. The AME Church shooting, finally, finally gave the Left what they had been hoping for - a mass murder committed by a white male racist instead of a Muslim. Can you provide evidence that it was somehow inspired by Trump or Trump's rhetoric?

JLScott said...

You don't need the Sunday shows. Read a good book instead, like To Kill a Mockingbird by Gregory Peck.

William said...

Over the years I have settled down with Althouse. I share her company with my morning coffee. I get to hang out with an attractive, witty woman and don't have to reciprocate in any way. How great is that! This has been one of my most successful relationships, and I hope she continues with the blogging for many years........I also hope Trump funds a crash program to develop a successful Princess Leia sex robot. I think he has the vision to do such a thing and the organizational expertise to make it happen. We are just now at the cusp of the greatest happiness for the greatest number of human beings since the dawn of civilization.

Rick said...

AReasonableMan said...
[exiledonmainstreet said...
Exactly. All the actual violence is coming from the Left]

This is going to be news to Gabby Giffords


Remember this the next time some left winger criticizes some nut on the right's belief in something that doesn't exist. Giffords was attacked by someone with a mental illness for non-political reasons, the entire "blame it on the right" efforts was that period's version of Fake News. And note that while people on the right who believe fake nonsense are regarded as ignorant or nuts those on the left with similarly absurd beliefs consider themselves "Reasonable".

This is why the fake news meme hurt the left so much. Their fake news much more central to their political message than Pizzagate, so discrediting fake news hurts their efforts much more.

Unknown said...

How are you "living in a new way" post-retirement? I'm curious because retirement takes such different directions for different people. Some people end up loving it and some people end up hating it and wishing they had never retired.

retail lawyer said...

What is more excruciating - watching celebrities finishing stupid sentences started by other celebrities or the Sunday morning talk shows? I am unable to make it through a minute of either.

Original Mike said...

The "Not My President" trope is patheitc, starting with the fact that it's demonstrably false.

Sprezzatura said...

"True, but I've come to believe only a bull in a china stuff can break through the sclerotic grip of Big Government. The task before Trump is so daunting that perhaps only a egotist with little regard for niceties is up to it."

Already thinking of the 2020 slogan: Make America Shattered Shit

YoungHegelian said...

@ChrisW,

Whining about how Trump is being treated is rich and sort of pathetic

Exactly how many Democratic rallies were shut down by Republicans this election, Chris? The guys who shut down the Trump rally in Chicago? Out & proud Bernie supporters. When Bernie was asked about it he lamely said "I can't control those people...". One of his campaign managers said of the incident "Oh, those poor suffering white people".

And now, the rumors are of violence at the inauguration. You know, just like the Republicans did at both Obama inaugurations. Right, Chris?

The Left, including the Democratic Party, has some serious Stalinists in its ranks now. Do not coddle or tolerate these people, however useful these people may be in organizing, in the hopes that the crocodile will eat you last. They are dangerous & evil & as they fall they will take you down with them. Count on it.

Original Mike said...

"This is going to be news to Gabby Giffords."

What?

chickelit said...

rhhardin said...Trump is a soap opera matador.

That is a brilliant metaphor. Easy to imagine. Probably easy to illustrate.

William said...

Two of the most honored and celebrated movies in history were Birth Of A Nation and Gone With The Wind. I don't think anyone in Hollywood currently would agree with the racial politics of those movies. Hollywood had been flagrantly wrong about any number of things. Why were they wrong then and right now. A little humility is in order.

chickelit said...

Lyin'PB_Ombudsman said...Already thinking of the 2020 slogan: Make America Shattered Shit

You keep coming up with highly forgettable slogans. They slip through our minds like jello.

Inga said...

#trumpwhiners

buwaya said...

I used to watch these shows till about 2004-5, thinking that they had some way of granting insight into events and current controversies. But never since.

It was clear by then that the subjects and treatment of them were trivial, scripted, constrained, and usually crudely didactic.

There was nothing novel or educational. There was no intelligent argument. There was no charm or wit.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

" Don't be depressed over the treatment of Trump"

Depressed? The only depressed ones I've seen since November are leftists, who have been wailing and blubbering and posting their teary hissy fits on You Tube for the world to see since the night of the election.

I certainly felt down after Election Day 2008 and '12, but I got up and went to work anyway. I did not need coloring books and puppies and therapy sessions and safe spaces like the overgrown infants who inhabit today's college campuses. I did not run out into the streets to trash my own city like leftists did in Portland and Oakland. Neither did any other conservative.

I'm not depressed in the slightest. I'm bemused and a bit worried about the prolonged display of childish immaturity I'm seeing from the Left. It's not good to have so many screaming, delusional brats in this country.

YoungHegelian said...

@Chris W,

#trumpwhiners

An original thought has never passed through your pretty little face, has it, boy?

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

ChrisW:

You want whining?

Watch this, it's quite amusing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bugQ7m_W93E

YoungHegelian said...

@exile,

I certainly felt down after Election Day 2008 and '12, but I got up and went to work anyway. I did not need coloring books and puppies and therapy sessions and safe spaces like the overgrown infants who inhabit today's college campuses. I did not run out into the streets to trash my own city like leftists did in Portland and Oakland. Neither did any other conservative

I certainly wasn't happy when Obama won in 2008, but my black neighbors were so thrilled it would have been churlish to rain on their parade in any way. In 2012, I expressed my great displeasure at Obama's victory by the socially revolutionary act of working from home the day after the election.

Inga said...

Ask yourselves, when did the Alt Right originate? In the days after Obama was sworn in. You whine about Trump demonization? How many years did Trump try to delegitimize Obama by his birther nonsense? It's Karma baby, and it's damn funny.

buwaya said...

On the bullfight term - Trump is not just the matador, he is the entire cuadrilla, or team. He is the banderillero, who provokes with painful jabs, the picador, who meets the beasts rage with steel and gives the bull the opportunity to injure itself, and of course the matador, who cleanly and unexpectedly kills the weakened, confused animal.

Sprezzatura said...

chick,

That was just my way of hinting that pro-DJT folks may want to think of better analogies for DTJ.

E.g. that soap opera thing seems like a better way to go.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

BTW, ARM, I was discussing POST-election violence. Both of the examples you brought up occurred well before the election (and the Giffords shooting was not done to further any political ideology).

Name me some actual "hate crimes" committed by Trump supporters which have not be proven to be hoaxes. That Muslim woman who said her hijab was ripped off by a guy in a MAGA hat? A hoax. A Muslim man in Houston set his own mosque ablaze and tried to make it look like Trump voters did it.

I simply assume now that any reported campus "hate crime" is a hoax - because they always are.

Tell me, if Trump supporters are really that hateful and violent why does the Left have to concoct hate crimes out of thin air?

Could it be because you know damn well that your opponents really are not what you claim they are?

Sean E said...

OK, this was pretty stupid, but Amy Adams is still just frickin' adorable.

Almost enough to offset the super serious/super obnoxious read-the-lyrics approach a few of took.

Birkel said...

I told all the younger people who were excited at voting for Obama in 2008 that their chances of getting a job had just gone down. A few years later one of them called me selling vitamin juice or some such nonsense. I did not buy any. He was calling from his parents' house where he lived with his younger sister. Both had graduated college and neither had a job that allowed advancement.

Irony is fun!

YoungHegelian said...

@Chris W,

Ask yourselves, when did the Alt Right originate? In the days after Obama was sworn in.

So, everything that happened in the realm of political ideology after Jan 20, 2009 was in reaction the Obama administration?

That's really even too loopy to dignify with a Latin phrase like "post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy".

Can we put an ad in Craigslist like "Seeking Responsible Lefty Commentators for Conservative Blog -- Flexible Hours -- No Pay" or sumthin'? 'Cause, what we're getting now just ain't cutting it.

Roughcoat said...

Congratulations, you nitwits. . . . I appreciate your underscoring how embarrassingly stupid you are.

Bracing. Priceless. Love it.

Michael K said...

"How was Obama treated in the first few days of his Presidency by McConnel and Republicans? The hypocrisy is amazing."

It's interesting to see the Obama/Hillary trolls appearing out of nowhere. DNC workshop this week, Chris ?

All your idiotic points have been answered by others. I'll just say that the left seems to be losing its mind.

The great accomplishments of the coastal elites are mostly vaporware, like snapchat and Google, which while useful and which make a lot of money for the developers until the fad switches, contribute nothing permanent.

Or the mortgage meltdown, which was driven by the bankers who are "too big to fail."

As far as the "modern culture" you want to take credit for, it is a step toward the suicide of the west,

You could read David Goldman's "how Civilizations Die," but you won't.

buwaya said...

If I recall correctly, and I was paying attention, general right-wing grass roots opposition to Obama did not get going until February, with the proposal to further bail out mortgage lenders and expand the already unpopular TARP.

This may have been the convenient issue to transfer anxiety about the economy at that time, but legitimately so.

The other cause was the cruel harassment of Sarah Palin. That created very bad blood.

Both of these drove the enmity beyond the usual partisan limits.

Michael K said...

How many years did Trump try to delegitimize Obama by his birther nonsense? It's Karma baby, and it's damn funny.

These targets are so huge, like fish in a barrel, it's tempting.

Hillary's campaign learned that Obama had intimated that he was Kenyan in some of his book promotional material.

There is still speculation about his birth certificate because that one that was finally released is not the original. I don't think he was born in Kenya but so much has been concealed about this guy that curiosity results.

I can get a photocopy of my birth certificate from over 70 years ago. Along with his grades and his history of college applications, there is a lot unknown about him. And nobody on the left wants to know.

Sprezzatura said...

"Irony is fun!"

It's cool how those two aren't starting out well. They got what they deserved. So, Fun!

BTW, taking guidance form The D, I think we're supposed to be smarmy and mean, but then we close w/ "Sad!" That shows that we really care, and aren't monsters.

Carry on.

Gahrie said...

This is going to be news to Gabby Giffords and the congregants of the Emanuel AME Church.


Wait...did something happen to them since Trump was nominated?

Oh..both of those attacks happened years ago, and were committed by crazy people, not political operatives and people butthurt because they lost an election?

nevermind.........

Leora said...

The Sunday shows are a waste of time now. Back when they were the only way for a politician or other newsmaker to attract the attention of a few hundred thousand Americans they were important. Now, there are interview shows on cable 24/7, Facebook, Twitter and web advertising with Google. Paul Ryan puts out his talking points every day on his website. Why would he need the Sunday shows?

Gahrie said...

Along with his grades and his history of college applications, there is a lot unknown about him. And nobody on the left wants to know.

...and apparently it is racist of us to want to know.....

Roughcoat said...

.I also hope Trump funds a crash program to develop a successful Princess Leia sex robot.

I prefer the Kate Upton robot, but that's just me.

Sprezzatura said...

"I can get a photocopy of my birth certificate from over 70 years ago. Along with his grades and his history of college applications, there is a lot unknown about him. And nobody on the left wants to know."

Dude, you're trying to deny that there was BHO Derangement Syndrome. Don't do the opposite.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

I'm hoping to see on the news that a protester in a crowd gets cold cocked by someone sitting there trying to enjoy the show.

Shut up and sit down


I think that people should be armed with cans of Silly String and when those annoying protestors pop up, just cover them with wads of silly string. That way we will know who they are for the rest of the event and it WILL shut them up if you can get some string in their gaping maws :-)

Paint ball guns would be pretty neat too, but they really really hurt and we don't want to actually injure the delicate irate snowflakes now...do we?

Rick said...

i"How was Obama treated in the first few days of his Presidency by McConnel and Republicans? The hypocrisy is amazing."

I'm amazed left wingers are making this argument to defend the ongoing anti-Trump efforts. The claim may or may not be true of any conservative. They seem to be claiming that because some conservatives supported opposition and all opposition is the same conservatives are all guilty of hypocrisy. It's a weak reed once you understand the nature of the opposition.

But the person making the argument is absolutely revealing their own hypocrisy in arguing against opposition to Obama and in support of far greater efforts against Trump.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Birkel said...
I told all the younger people who were excited at voting for Obama in 2008 that their chances of getting a job had just gone down. A few years later one of them called me selling vitamin juice or some such nonsense."

I said the same thing to a young man who was working toward a degree in Gender Studies in 2008. He works part time as a janitor now and his parents are footing most of his bills. He's pushing 30 and still can not support himself.

Needless to say, he's a huge Bernie fan.

Michael said...

A great line in today's comics: Save Our Planet - Stop Global Whining.

mccullough said...

The Trump presidency is going to be entertaining. Between the celebrities, the Dems in Congress, and the progressive rabble, it should be a ratings hit. Our progressive comedians are going to have to up their game, if they can. I'm going to give them a chance.

Inga said...

Amazing that people think the Sunday shows will just jump aboard the Trump train, in what alternate reality do you live in? Did the right wing talk shows just lay down and accept Obama and say nice things about him? Trump is a treasure trove of reporting of his antics and reporting of future and current investigations regarding conflicts of interest and his strange association with Russia. The press better not lay down and roll over and I'm glad to see they're not.

Gahrie said...

Remember all the entertainers who were bullied when they announced they would perform for Obama?

yeah me neither........

buwaya said...

The problem with how Trump is treated is not really about concern for Trump. Trump has succeeded in making a great many identify with him, which is natural, that is human, thats what happens to leaders. It pays to find some way to oppose the current administration without making even more or worse enemies.

Insults naively intended for Trump tend to hit all these people too. The anti-Trumpist risks (well, its not a risk, it is certain) further antagonizing Trumps supporters. This is very bad politics. The minor matter of "the system" in forcing, through clearly unfair exercise of its institutional power, a total boycott of what much of the public sees as its own celebration, is such an antagonistic act.

We can usefully come back, again, to Palin. After the 2008 election she was massively attacked, vindictively, personally and unfairly, and moreover in sneering terms, as a hick, a rube, an uneducated lower class person who aspired beyond her proper humble station. Well, there are a great number of Sarah Palins in the US, and this sort of thing did not please them, not at all. This Palin-hunting strategy was truly idiotic politics.

You could use the same argument against Obama-birthers I suppose, but this did not have quite the same identity-attacking fallout.

Inga said...

I recall the treatment of the Dixie Chicks.

Gahrie said...

The press better not lay down and roll over and I'm glad to see they're not.

Let me let you in on a little secret.....so are we....in fact that's why many of us voted for a Republican instead of a Democrat.....so the press would start doing their jobs again.....

TWW said...

By the way, celebrities, "I Will Survive" is not "by Gloria Gaynor."

Yeah, Right. And, you're one of those who believe 'I Will Always Love You' is not by Whitney Houston. Denier!

Gahrie said...

I recall the treatment of the Dixie Chicks.

The Dixie chicks ruined their careers when they talked shit about George Bush overseas during a time of war.........not for performing for Obama.

mockturtle said...

On the bullfight term - Trump is not just the matador, he is the entire cuadrilla, or team. He is the banderillero, who provokes with painful jabs, the picador, who meets the beasts rage with steel and gives the bull the opportunity to injure itself, and of course the matador, who cleanly and unexpectedly kills the weakened, confused animal.

Nicely drawn, buwaya!

Inga said...

Insults naively intended for Obama tend to hit all these people too. The anti-Obamaites risks (well, its not a risk, it is certain) further antagonizing Obama supporters. This is very bad politics. The minor matter of "the system" in forcing, through clearly unfair exercise of its institutional power, a total boycott of what much of the public sees as its own celebration, is such an antagonistic act.

FTFY

Amadeus 48 said...

As per Original Mike above, here are the facts about McConnell's statement. It was made in an interview with the National Journal on October 23, 2010, as the GOP was about to retake control of the US House::

"NJ: What’s the job?
"McConnell: The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.
"NJ: Does that mean endless, or at least frequent, confrontation with the president?
"McConnell: If President Obama does a Clintonian backflip, if he’s willing to meet us halfway on some of the biggest issues, it’s not inappropriate for us to do business with him.
"NJ: What are the big issues?
"McConnell: It is possible the president’s advisers will tell him he has to do something to get right with the public on his levels of spending and [on] lowering the national debt. If he were to heed that advice, he would, I imagine, find more support among our conference than he would among some in the Senate in his own party. I don’t want the president to fail; I want him to change. So, we’ll see. The next move is going to be up to him."

The statement in question was made two years after Obama took office and clearly stated that the GOP was ready to do business with Obama if he would meet them halfway.

The Democratic Party gets out of bed in the morning and starts telling lies about the GOP.

Inga said...

We've been in a time of war for all of Obama's Presidency. Didn't stop right wingers from bashing him overseas and at home. Stop whining about the treatment of Trump after what you people did to Obama. Such hypocrisy. I'm glad Karma is biting you in the ass now.

Inga said...

The meeting by McConnel and his gang of fellow Republicans to destroy Obama's Presidency occurred on the night of the inauguration balls. There has been much reporting of this fact, quit trying to deny what they did.

Dude1394 said...

"The Democratic Party gets out of bed in the morning and starts telling lies about the GOP."

And this is why watching democrat Sunday talk shows is a colossal waste of time. Hopefully like the NFL they will also suffer massive ratings declines.

Michael K said...

Blogger ChrisW said...
I recall the treatment of the Dixie Chicks.


I doubt it. You don;t seem to recall much.

Natalie Maines criticized GW Bush in England during a concert in 2003, a time of war.

They were a country band and most country fans tend to be patriotic. It created quite a backlash, not for GOP politicians but from people who bought their albums. Still, they are not going hungry.

By December 2015, with 30.5 million certified albums sold,[2] and sales of 27.5 million albums in the U.S. alone, they had become the top selling all-female band and biggest-selling country group in the U.S. during the Nielsen SoundScan era (1991–present).

I have not listened to them since 2003 but I was not aware I was required to. Every time you type something you reenforce the image of the left as humorless scolds.

buwaya said...

Indeed, ChrisW.
There were a large number of unproductive attacks against Obama. The personal ones often backfired. The trick is to do so in terms where his supporters dont feel the arrows.
And for the most part the "right" avoided the worst ones, like making these explicitly racial, though many were implicitly so, much of which could not be avoided. And Obama knew it too, hence his consistent policy of thoroughly covering himself with blackness.

It also helped that no very wide-reaching megaphones were available.

The left has some really huge megaphones, and when it makes a messaging error it tends to be a very big one.

Sprezzatura said...

"NJ: What are the big issues?
"McConnell: It is possible the president’s advisers will tell him he has to do something to get right with the public on his levels of spending and [on] lowering the national debt. "


So, is the top priority supposed to be opposing Rs in 2017 when they blow an even bigger hole in the budget then the existing baseline?

JK.

/ rhetorical ?

chewyandchyna said...

Letting grousing sway your emotions so that you always take up for the underdog seems wholly inconsistent with the cruel neutrality you claim. I understand the instinct but it still seems something to be avoided-- at least if you claim to be a thinker.

Birkel said...

ChrisW:

It turns out insulting Obama was very good politics because his policies hurt people and people noticed that the insurers were correct.

The first step in replicating that strategy is to be correct. So far you have failed.

Gahrie said...

I have not listened to them since 2003

I was a huge fan of the Dixie Chicks, and owned their first three CDs.....I honestly tried to ignore their ignorance and lack of patriotism like I do the ignorance of most of the entertainment industry, but in their case I have been unable to do so.

Gahrie said...

Didn't stop right wingers from bashing him overseas....

Citations please.

Birkel said...

ChrisW: "I'm glad Karma is biting you in the ass now."

Yes, I too am nearly tired of all this winning.

Michael K said...

There has been much reporting of this fact, quit trying to deny what they did.

No doubt you have a link to the story. Share it. You would not be bullshitting us, would you ?

I don't remember anything like that. I do remember a few meetings with Obama that were positive. He invited George Will and some others for a dinner. The animosity began when Obama slapped down a suggestion by Paul Ryan at a meeting when he said "I won."

That was well after inauguration. I guess your DNC talking points did not cover that.

Sprezzatura said...

“Just so you know, we’re on the good side with y’all. We do not want this war, this violence, and we’re ashamed that the president of the United States is from Texas.”

BTW, this is not too far from PEOTUSs current POV, not to mention he claims to agreed w/ this POV when the Dixie Gals expressed it.

There aren't a lot of R holdouts still saying the war was a good idea. But, all y'all who were wrong then, when the D Gals were right, don't seem to be able to understand that true patriotism was being correct then, rather than a sheep then, and now seeing that you were wrong then. IMHO.

Carry on.

Milwaukie guy said...

First heard of Obama in 1995 when the left was wetting themselves about his New Party membership, which, in Chicago was where all the retread radicals gathered for a while. He was an idiot social democrat and coasted through the Illinois Senate voting present. As U.S. Senator he just ran for president.

I have disliked Obama for 20 years for his social democratic leftoid nonsense.

Starting in 2009, I always called him our president:

Our president is a narcissistic asshole.

Our president is trying to wreck the health care system that 85% of Americans liked.

Our president is cozying to our foreign enemies and alienating our friends.

Ad nauseum. And our president changes this Friday.

Huzzah!

Trumpit said...

You shouldn't be so hard on Trump's detractors; we genuinely hate him for good reasons. We don't wish him ill because the country will suffer, but we fully expect him to fail because of his ignorance, arrogance, lack of integrity, and destructive personality defects that will result in an ongoing disaster in his running this country. We oppose all of his lousy ideas as well. He will wreck this country to the extent he isn't boxed in and resisted. Your disdain for us, his haters, is misplaced. The Trump administration is a failure before it has begun with the worst cabinet appointments in U.S. history. Trump = Disaster. It's as obvious as the next shocking & insulting tweet coming out his stubby little fingers, and his lack of awareness and lack of impulse control.

Birkel said...

Lyin'PB:
Are you suggesting the Republican budget projection is worse than the more than $1.25 trillion increase in debt per year that Obama has averaged?

I know you put lying right in the nickname but this one is too much even for your level of disingenuousness.

Sprezzatura said...

Birk,

I'm saying that they're going to ditch taxes, but keep the spending. Like they did w/ W.

Birkel said...

Lyin'PB:

And I am calling you a liar.

chuck said...

> The press better not lay down and roll over and I'm glad to see they're not.

I predicted an MSM meltdown of historic proportions and have enjoyed every bit of it. Best free entertainment I've had in years.

Sprezzatura said...

Don't forget Reagan went back and raised taxes after cuts hit the budget too hard. Not to mention the FICA increases that ended up producing surpluses that filled in deficit holes, in exchange for IOUs from the gov to the gov. (and then Bush one raised, and then WJC raised, and then the budget was balanced).

This bunch isn't going the Reagan route where folks realize you can't just keep tax cutting and spending. They're going the W route where you cut taxes and keep spending.

Maybe I'm wrong. But, if the put forward a budget like Ws, will you support it?

Henry said...

But I appreciate your underscoring how embarrassingly stupid you are. That helps the rest of us "survive" — by ignoring everything you have to say.

Someone left their cake out in the rain.

Amadeus 48 said...

Chris W--
I have not noticed you before in comments, but you seem to be quite adamant about some things. Please cite a report from the news rather than Dem Party e-mails and speeches of the meeting on the night of Obama's inauguration balls where "McConnell and his gang of fellow Republicans set out to destroy the Obama Presidency." That would have been a pretty neat trick, since the GOP was about to have 40 Senators and 179 out of 435 House seats. Any such statement by McConnell or any other Republican at that time would have been delusional.
As Original Mike's post above cites, the Washington Post fact checker found that the statement that McConnell made was the one I cited above from the National Journal on October 23, 2010. They also found that Obama's, Durbin's and others' statements to the contrary were not truthful.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

Let me let you in on a little secret.....so are we....in fact that's why many of us voted for a Republican instead of a Democrat.....so the press would start doing their jobs again....."

I expect them to continue doing what they have been doing all along, Gahrie - serving as the propaganda wing of the Democrat Party.

mccullough said...

Who cares if people trash Trump or Obama or W or Clinton (or Gore, Kerry, McCain, Romney, or Hillary).

The media has lower approval ratings than Congress who has lower approval ratings than Trump.

Celebrities are going to celebrity. Only two SAG members (each of whom has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame) have been elected president. Both were former Dems elected as Republicans. Hollywood and the national news media aren't powerful.

traditionalguy said...

Along the way to victory after victory DJT will do things we are unfamiliar with seeing since Ronnie Raygun. But it is his America First target acquisition that will always still be there.

The MSM talking heads hoard has grown up with targets to have the USA wither away and a new World Order arise governing us with old European Authority. That Gang has instinctively seen Trump and Russia as their two enemies.

Too bad, so sad. Europe and its Pope can go to war with Russia on their own this time. We will take Great Britain and cut ties to the rest.

Anyone ever ask why France, Italy, Austria and Germany were ever given a drop of status in our United Nations? How about you Chuckie?

YoungHegelian said...

@Trumpit,

The Trump administration is a failure before it has begun with the worst cabinet appointments in U.S. history.

But, the real story here is not that Trump won. It's that your side lost.

With 8 years to plan, a $1.2 billion war chest, the full support of the media & entertainment industries & the guaranteed electoral votes of New York & California in the bag, HRC lost. Electorally, it was a blow-out.

The press & pundits saw none of this coming. On election night you could see the amazement on their faces. The Repubs now control a strong majority of the states, the Executive, the House & the Senate. This is the strongest the Republicans have been in 100 years. Yet, your side treats this as some strange anomaly that will pass, like an eclipse or something.

If your side wants to come in from the wilderness, the arrogance & moral preening needs to stop. You guys need to sit down & have a brutal post-mortem of just what incredible fuckups you are & what fundamental changes you have to make to the Democratic Party to stop being a party of fuckups.

The problem with the Democratic Party is displayed in microcosm in this forum: its illusion of moral rectitude & competency. The last eight years & especially this election have shown that the Democrats possess neither.

Birkel said...

Lyin'PB: "...Rs in 2017 when they blow an even bigger hole in the budget then the existing baseline. "

This conjecture has no factual basis, liar.
The current average annual debt increase is over $1.25 trillion.

Fixing what you cheered these last eight years will be yeoman's work. That Obama and acolytes made his manifest failures hard to unravel gives you purchase to criticize Republicans? Pardon me if I care not about your sophistry.

Gahrie said...

BTW, this is not too far from PEOTUSs current POV, not to mention he claims to agreed w/ this POV when the Dixie Gals expressed it.

So what? Even though i disagree with what the woman said, my problem isn't what she said, it is where and how she said it.

And they still didn't take shit for performing for Obama, which was the original claim.

Original Mike said...

"The animosity began when Obama slapped down a suggestion by Paul Ryan at a meeting when he said "I won.""

Eric Cantor, I believe (unless he did it more than once).

Sprezzatura said...

Bickel,

Dude, do you know what baseline means re fed budget making?

If not, why don't you look it up, and then you can respond to what I wrote.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

" The Trump administration is a failure before it has begun with the worst cabinet appointments in U.S. history."

Heh. Mattis made Kamala Harris look like an blithering idiot (admittedly that's not hard to do). The nominees have conducted themselves very well in the hearings despite the inane PC questioning from the usual suspects and the silly grandstanding of certified loons like the Code Pink brigade. I was a lukewarm Trump supporter before the election. His cabinet picks for the most part have been very reassuring. He is surrounding himself with good, capable people, in contrast to the incompetents and crybullies on the other side.

Seeing Red said...

Just came back from Vegas.

The cab driver, originally from Seattle is "scared." A lot if his foreign passengers are also "scared."

We asked of what? What's he going to do?

Our view is good. The world wants stasis, we are the original rogue nation and the world gates we change every 4 years.

We said if they're scared, good. They need shaking up.


As an aside to a previous post, both our taxi drivers said Uber and Lyft have killed taxi service, they think they have about 2 years.

It seemed There were more people giving away those coupons than stripper/call girl coupons.

Original Mike said...

"For several hours in the Caucus Room (a high-end D.C. establishment), the book says they plotted out ways to not just win back political power, but to also put the brakes on Obama’s legislative platform."

Heaven forfend, politicians seek power. Obama's legislative platform was bad for the country. I fail to see the evil here.

Gahrie said...

@ChrisW:

Not only are Democratic leaders (using that word loosely) already plotting on how to prevent the Republicans from being successful, they're bragging about it in the media.

Even worse the Left is calling for outright violence to prevent Trump from taking office next week. For the first time since George Washington, the peaceful transfer of power, that we should all be so proud of, is at risk.

Etienne said...

"...what are you rebelling against?"

"What do you got?"

buwaya said...

A nit pick.
FICA taxes always plugged the budget deficit, since the late 1960s at least. I don't think there ever was a FICA investment in anything but government debt.
During "surplus" years, which would not have been surplus without FICA, it would just have taken on some of the expiring debt held by the public.

Hmm, just looking at the Fedgov budget of 1962, a deficit year. FICA is counted as revenue, 17% of receipts. The deficit of @ 7% of receipts is accounted net of gross receipts, including FICA. Which is as I recall for Fedgov accounting going back to the 1940s.

traditionalguy said...

As for Obama needing the GOP's help, he never asked for it. He used them as a foil to play his victim game as he crafted a destruction of every American strength he could get to using that smoke screen Propaganda. Seeing his followers repeats it now borders on insanity.

Sammy Finkelman said...

The Sunday morning TV interview shows are re-broadcast on radio all day in New York City on Bloomberg radio - 1330 AM - whhich is maybe available streaming too

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

More celebrities I get to ignore and not spend a dime on.

Sprezzatura said...

buw,

Sure, but it's worth recalling that the Gipper/Tipper deal to "fix" soc sec, meant more (regressive) tax collection that could help compensate for holes made by tax cuts, via gov dough shell game. Just something to keep in mind re tax revenue.

YoungHegelian said...

@ChrisW,

including secret meetings led by House GOP whip Eric Cantor (in December 2008) and Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell

Ohhhh, secret meetings!

I'm sorry. What sort of hyperventilating, hysterical nonsense is that? "Secret Meetings". Is there some sort of moral responsibility for the Democratic or Republican members of Congress to notify the world when they have a get-together to plan partisan strategy? Are party con-fabs at the various meeting centers in the mid-Atlantic "secret meetings"?

The problem here is that even though it's right in front of your face that this stuff is tendentious nonsense, you see this stuff as Gospel.

Stop reading this stuff. Start visiting Insty, or National Review, or whatever & see how the other half lives.

Amadeus 48 said...

Chris W--
I notice your cite from The Plumb Line above. Why should we believe what Biden said in 2012? Joe is a little loose with the facts (Cf. Biden's statement on Roosevelt's television address at the time of the stock market crash), and he didn't hear McConnell say anything. It appears that the GOP dinner you cited was not attended by McConnell. The question isn't what Biden said, the question is what McConnell said and when he said it.
By the way, based on what you have seen, do you think that Schumer's goal is to make Trump a one-term president? Do you think it is because Schumer is prejudiced against orange people, or because Schumer is the leader of the opposition in the Senate? Do you think John Lewis's goal is to make Trump a no-term president? He says Trump was not legitimately elected.
I'll say it again: the Democratic Party routinely lies about the GOP.

buwaya said...

And that bit about the Republicans legislatively blocking Obama is a bit silly.
They could do nothing substantial until 2011, other than loudly complain.
There certainly werent anti-Obama boycotts organized by entire industries. This current madness is unprecedented.

Jupiter said...

Michael K said...

"The great accomplishments of the coastal elites are mostly vaporware, like snapchat and Google, which while useful and which make a lot of money for the developers until the fad switches, contribute nothing permanent."

The financial success of various Internet giants tends to obscure the fact that what they sell is a new way to attract people's attention, so that they can be subjected to advertising. And their success was achieved at the expense of the existing media, who don't do it so well.

It seems undeniable that Google, and internet search generally, has greatly reduced the difficulty of getting information and products, and that reduction must have economic value. Even so, Google has not harvested that value directly, by user fees. Google's success is almost entirely at the expense of other media.

David said...

"It's that — or so it seemed from the first 2 minutes — the shows are grinding through all the complaints about Donald Trump. I feel I've heard them, I've had my fill of the grousing . . . "

I decided to buy the Sunday NYT today. I used to read it every week but that habit waned a while ago. Boy are they upset. Allow me to summarize. Trump is very bad. His election is a crisis for democracy. Also for women, people of color, students, children, old people, public health, education, freedom of speech, gay people, freedom generally and puppies. Bad. Bad Trump. Very bad.

Obama was great in all respects.

tcrosse said...

" The Trump administration is a failure before it has begun with the worst cabinet appointments in U.S. history."
That's a tough league. Hard to be worse than Hillary Clinton and John Kerry at State.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

That's a tough league. Hard to be worse than Hillary Clinton and John Kerry at State."

And Holder and Lynch as AG.

buwaya said...

Soc Sec is in a hole as it is, if not being a purely fictional construct as it always was. Its a benefit paid for out of the same tax revenue/debt pot, as it has always been.
On another angle,
An interesting way of approaching substance on your point about who did what re regressive taxation would be the net tax burden by income quintiles over time. SS and Medicare are in the mix as well as the Income tax, as well as the EITC. I'm sure I did something like that many years ago, you may want to give it a try. Report back.

Jon Ericson said...

I enjoy a fine whine.
Carry on!

Sprezzatura said...

"This current madness is unprecedented."

Comparing DJT coming in to BHO (as you're doing) probably doesn't help DJT, e.g. there's the difference re vote margin of victory (i.e. almost negative 3 million votes for DJT re HRC), Also the PUMAs went away v many NeverT folks that didn't, the Pro-DJT Russia and Comey letter's correlation (causation?) w/ HRC's poll drop doesn't have a McCain equiv, also BHO's tweeter and pussy grabbing MO is different than BHO's.

IOW, this current PEOTUS is unprecedented.

YoungHegelian said...

@David,

So, let me pose a question here.

If the US goes to hell like the NYT says it will, then, well, they were right & we were wrong about Trump.

But, what if Trump just turns out to be a relatively harmless, middling president (which I think will be the case)? Or, what if he amazes us all & turns out to be a great president?

Will the left just double-down on stupid & dial the screech to eleven for four or eight years? Or, as the map just turns redder & redder, will there ever be meaningful introspection?

Honestly, I'm expecting an ideological implosion. I just think that post-Marxist leftism is so internally contradictory & so unwieldy that the Democratic Party will have to dump a fair chunk of the left & return to a more classical liberal center if it wishes to stay in power on a national basis. Or, they could just fall apart, & re-incarnate without any classical liberalism at all.

Seeing the future is hard, I guess.

Paco Wové said...

"The cab driver, originally from Seattle is "scared." A lot if his foreign passengers are also "scared."

We asked of what? What's he going to do?"


What was his response?

Original Mike said...

"Trump's legislative platform was bad for the country. I fail to see the evil here."

That's nice, but ObamaCare needs fixing and if we don't increase growth the country's in the shitter.

Original Mike said...

"The cab driver, originally from Seattle is "scared." A lot if his foreign passengers are also "scared."

That's about all you need to know about the judgement of this segment of the population. Scared of what?

buwaya said...

The country is already down the shitter.
Its ultimately all about human resources and culture, and both are in an unrecoverable dive. If Trump succeeds, by whatever metric seems best to whomever, it is just a limit to the rate of downward acceleration.
The worst rot is at the top, your best and brightest are less good and much dumber than before, and their replacements are even worse.

buwaya said...

Oh, and the blame for pulling the lever on the shitter belongs entirely to the US cultural elite. They have broken, corrupted and paralyzed everything good and unique in your culture.
Everything else flows down from that.
The correct response is a la lanterne, but I think the people, even now, are too demoralized for such decisive action.

tcrosse said...

We asked of what? What's he going to do?
Scott Adams has pointed out that all Trump needs to do is refrain from doing all the awful shit people are afraid he's going to do. Some of this dread is due to his thorough demonization by the Clinton campaign, with plenty of help from The Donald himself. There is the hope that cooler heads in the Cabinet and Congress will prevail.
Still, nobody knows for sure how Trump will pan out, since he's such an unpredictable guy.

Christy said...

Sigh. This is the morning I woke at the crack of noon and came to Althouse to find out what I missed in the talking head's shows.

Am I wrong, but didn't they once have pundits who talked issues instead of the day's talking points? It has been a while, but I used to love watching Julianne Malveaux on To the Contrary even though I agreed with her on nothing. She always had a fresh take. I always liked George Will because he would challenge the party line. I feel your pain, Althouse. These shows have no new perspectives.

David said...

watch it with the sound off. funny.

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

"But, what if Trump just turns out to be a relatively harmless, middling president (which I think will be the case)? Or, what if he amazes us all & turns out to be a great president?"

The Left is not afraid that Trump will fail. They are terrified that he might succeed.

M Jordan said...

The hate directed at Trump is as spooky as the adoration that went Obama's way in 2008. There's something going on bigger than is apparent, a kind of spiritual war within our culture. It's made me an even more ardent Trumpkin than I was earlier. Less than a week left of this Obama character. His exeunt cannot come soon enough.

Paco Wové said...

"all Trump needs to do is refrain from doing all the awful shit people are afraid he's going to do"

The Unknown ChrisW's will simply pretend he's doing it anyway.

Freder Frederson said...

I can't think of a single person of importance, who ever said of Obama, "Not my President..."

Sheesh, How about Donald J. Trump. He may not have uttered the exact word but he spent a whole lot of time and his own money trying to prove that Obama was not only not his president, but not president at all.

Big Mike said...

From where I sit the person who decided that Barack Obama would not be my president was -- Barack Obama. He had a wonderful opportunity and he blew it. He certainly wasn't the president for those of us who believe in the rule of law, not after flouting the War Powers Act. Bad enough that Obama ignored his legal responsibilities under the Act, but post-Qaddafi Libya is scarcely a "win" for the Obama foreign policy, is it?

If Barack Obama's signature achievement was supposed to be Obamacare then why, oh why, could he have put a competent manager in charge?

Barack Obama is certainly not their president for coal miners, ranchers, family farmers, small business owners, or devout Christians. He hates those folks, and I mean with a level of hatred that borders on the psychopathic. His hatred for American veterans, as exemplified by his VA and empty rhetoric about fixing really is psychopathic.

OTOH, he has been their president for Lloyd Blankfein, Jamie Dimon, George Soros and other wealthy financiers who can and do give him and his party large donations in return for even larger tax breaks and other financial benefits. He has been their president for inner cities. He has never met a leftist extremist group whose crackpot theories he hasn't advanced through terrible regulations. Academics adore the man.

From where I sit Barack Obama deliberately set out to set people at each other's throats. Eventually it was going to stop working for him. And so it did.

BJM said...

@Amadaus48 -Do you think John Lewis's goal is to make Trump a no-term president?

No, I think John Lewis' intent was to grab the news cycle over the MLK holiday. The next move will be to frame the Inauguration festivities in the worst possible light.

Just as the Democrats are beginning to regret changing the Senate rules, and legislation by Presidential fiat, they will one day regret their post-election behavior and setting a precedent of obstructing a smooth transfer of power. It will come back to bite them.

Paco Wové said...

"There's something going on bigger than is apparent, a kind of spiritual war within our culture"

The left and right seem to have been ratcheting up the butthurt and hysteria since, I don't know, at least the late 1990's. I think it is a symptom of something, but I don't know what.

Amadeus 48 said...

Further to this discussion, based on history the Dems will make a comeback someday. But I think they need to come to terms with the apparent fact that they are the minority party in this country based on the governors, the state legislatures, and the US House of Representatives. They make a better showing in the Senate and the Presidency, but that was true for the GOP from 1932 through 1994. Since 1994, the GOP has controlled the US House for all but four years and has similar success in the states.
People will make what they can of these facts, but they are facts. My own analysis is that the Dems have buried themselves with identity politics, and that many Americans reject and resent being treated as anything other than as Americans, period, end of story, no hyphens, full-stop. Identity politics has the failures of a caste system, with labels based on national or ethnic origins and group identities that lead to privileges and limitations completely separate from individual identity. Theodore Roosevelt famously said in a speech to the Knights of Columbus in 1915, "The one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be a nation at all, would be to permit it to become a tangle of squabbling nationalities...There is no such thing as a hyphenated American who is a good American. The only man who is a good American is the man who is an American and nothing else."
Does the Democratic Party need to re-think their commitment to identity politics?

Freder Frederson said...

They are terrified that he might succeed.

Actually, I consider the possibility that he will succeed so remote that I don't worry about it. I just worry about the damage his spectacular failure will cause.

His promises are complete bullshit.

He is not going to build a wall.
He is not going to bring jobs back to the heartland.
He is not going to drain the swamp (having six Goldman Sachs executives in your cabinet and a former lawyer for Wall Street banks as chairman of the SEC already demonstrates you were lying).
He is not going to replace Obamacare with something "cheaper and better".
Hopefully, he is not going to allow Putin to re-annex the Baltic States.
He doesn't have a secret plan to defeat ISIS.

buwaya said...

M Jordan,

There certainly is something bigger than politics going on.
And it is a sort of spiritual war.
Though its not clear what is warring against what, other than surface phenomena.
There is a deep, deep demoralization. You see it in everything, in religion, in education, in entrepreneurship, in the overwhelming urge to rent-seeking, in low birth rates and declining family formation, in loss of ambition and rise of addictions, not least that so many of the young have retreated to the drugs of social media and games, and care little about making and doing.
And its not just the US either.

Anonymous said...

ChrisW (aka Inga, Threepines, Unknown) seems to be confused about how government works in democratic societies. Apparently, (s)he thinks that rule-based oppositional politics (you know, what people hire their representatives to do) is in the same category of political behavior as obstructing, not policies, but the actual legal, peaceful, transfer of power from one administration to another.

There are "alt-right" sites where the participants jokingly refer to Trump as "our God Emperor anointed by Kek" and the like. Emphasis on "jokingly". Humorless unhinged lefties, on the other hand, seem to seriously believe that it is possible for an American citizen to be guilty of lèse-majesté against (Democrat only) holders of the office of president of the U.S., and that opposition to Democrat policies, in and of itself, is somehow a violation of the rules.

readering said...

Underdog Trump? Too bad Vegas doesn't give odds on things like confirmations for executive and judicial appointments and passage of bills. Althouse could clean up getting those long odds.

Talk about nitwits.

Chuck said...

Freder Frederson said...
I can't think of a single person of importance, who ever said of Obama, "Not my President..."
Sheesh, How about Donald J. Trump. He may not have uttered the exact word but he spent a whole lot of time and his own money trying to prove that Obama was not only not his president, but not president at all.


I think you are helping me make my point. That we Republicans have some very good and consistent arguments to wage against the left, except for the excesses of a Donald Trump or a Sean Hannity, or the stupidities of the alt-right.

People like ChrisW haven't got a leg to stand on -- not factually, not rationally -- when they gripe about any "secret" Republican meetings to foil Obama. People like ChrisW have a pretty potent argument, however, if they simply observed that there is nothing so much like Rep. John Lewis's trying to de-legitimize Trump, as Trump's having tried to de-legitimize Barack Obama's birth certificate.

Again, that's not a problem for me (or Mitch McConnell, or most Republicans) because we were never Birthers, or conspiracy theorists.


Chuck said...

btw - ChrisW should choose; is it a very bad thing, for both Trump and Lewis to try to de-legitinize the President of the United States? Or is it a good thing?

ChrisW doesn't get away with saying that it was terrible for Trump to have waged his Birther campaign, but it's okay for Rep. Lewis to say that the President-elect was elected illegitimately.

I've made my choice, and it is a consistent one. Both of the two stupid claims are wrong.

Seeing Red said...

The taxi driver thought he was too emotional and doesn't like what he says.

Seeing Red said...

I thought Hillary started the Birther campaign?

If so, another thing Chris gets wrong.

Chris W is winning so much, he will get sick of winning!

Rick said...

Freder Frederson said...
[I can't think of a single person of importance, who ever said of Obama, "Not my President..."]

Sheesh, How about Donald J. Trump. He may not have uttered the exact word


Love this. He admits the evidence doesn't exist but charges ahead as if it does regardless. Apparently words don't mean anything, it's just bizarre.

Similarly the left pretends opposition means something more than it does. There was a meeting to discuss how to limit the damage Obama's left wing policies would inflict on the country. Every losing party in the history of electoral politics has done this. But somehow it's supposed to be illegitimate because it limits Obama?

These people are fools.

Chuck said...


Blogger Seeing Red said...
I thought Hillary started the Birther campaign?


What a red herring. It seems to have been true, that somebody in the Clinton '08 campaign, trafficking in the usual oppo-research, mentioned the notion that there had been talk about Obama having been born in Kenya. Mrs. Clinton never said one word about it.

So let's assume all of that to have been true. How in hell, does it excuse Donald Trump's subsequent months-long dog-and-pony show on national television and radio, in which he personally involved himself, going so far as to claim he had sent his own investigators to Hawaii and that those investigators were discovering amazing things that Trump would soon (and never did, of course) reveal?

That history is pat of what makes it so hard for the Trumpkins to complain about Congressman Lewis. I have no such problems.

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