THE WAY WE ARE: Irish setters over tea-baggers!

FRIDAY, MAY 18, 2012

Part 4—As the liberal world slept: According to Jason Horowitz’s reporting, some of which is thoroughly documented, Mitt Romney behaved quite badly at several times during his high school career.

In response, Gail Collins behaved rather badly herself. But Collins is not in high school.

Horowitz’s novella-length piece appeared in last Thursday’s Washington Post. Two days later, Collins and her colleague, Charles Blow, devoted their New York Times columns to the latest proof of Romney’s bad character.

Speaking of faulty moral performance, Blow had just spent a month spreading disinformation about a possible murder case. But so what! On this day, he expounded in detail about Romney’s bad character flaws.

In her own column, Lady Collins rewarded herself with a doggie treat.

Her overall reasoning was a bit hard to follow; this produced complaints from commenters. But at one point, Collins treated herself! Again, she told her favorite tale. But this time, she employed a new image: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/12/opinion/collins-the-anatomy-of-a-jokester.html?
COLLINS (5/12/12): He is incapable, really, of admitting past errors. Perhaps you may remember that Romney once drove to Canada with the family Irish setter stuck in a cage on the station wagon roof. When he was originally asked about it, he claimed the dog “loves fresh air.”
Really? Was Seamus on the roof of the car “in a cage” that day?

In fairness, Collins had placed Seamus in a “cage” once before, in a column from December 2010. (Incredibly, she has been repeating this tale for five years.) Last Saturday, she cited Romney's quip about the “fresh air,” creating an image she must have known would mislead some of her readers.

Surely, Collins understands that Seamus wasn’t “in a cage.” But darlings! As Chekhov wrote about Gurov, the semi-crazy columnist “wanted to enjoy life so badly and it all seemed so simple and amusing!”

Semi-crazy—and dishonest? Whatever! Blow and Collins were happy this day, helping readers understand that Romney is a bad person.

(Which he may be, of course!)

Tomorrow, we’ll post the story you won’t hear from Collins; we’ll post the news report about the time Romney rescued the drowning dog. (It happened in 2003.) For now, let’s consider the reactions of Collins’ liberal readers when she wrote the semi-confusing but pleasing piece about Mitt’s high school conduct.

We liberals! As we pleasured ourselves last week with tales about Romney’s behavior in high school, Romney crept ahead of Obama in the New York Times national poll! Can it be that this is happening because of The Way We Are—because of our vast limitations?

Alas! Scanning the comments from Collins’ readers, we saw the standard assembly of pseudo-liberal nonsense and incomprehension. Question: If these comments define the way we are, might we liberals be too daft to keep Romney out of the White House?
COMMENT FROM FLORIDA: You don't remember the incident, but you DO remember you didn't know the boy was gay?

COMMENT FROM WISCONSIN: I believe I read that Mr. Romney stated that the kennel was airtight so no problem. How does that work? Dogs don't need air to live?

COMMENT FROM DC: And remember when Mitt said "I'm not concerned with the very poor, they've got the safety net." Yeah, right! From his vantage point, the lives of poor people might seem like something he read about in a school book rather than something he was curious enough to study first hand. And we know he likes to "fire people"—ha ha, what a fun and crazy guy!

COMMENT FROM FLORIDA: I saw the real Romney on a news clip of him on the campaign trail. When asked a question by a citizen (potential voter/employer), Romney simply said, "You're wrong and I'm right" and turned his back. Why the press didn't pick up on this totally insulting behavior is beyond me. Arrogance personified. Really, if elected, I'm afraid we will hear from him over and over and over that he's right and we're wrong.

COMMENT FROM NEW YORK: I will never get tired of your Seamus-on-the-roof references. It just highlights how absurd this all is. Maybe SNL is behind this whole thing and the real Republican candidate will appear any day. Oh, wait, there are no other options. Seth Meyers for President.

COMMENT FROM NEW JERSEY: Actually, the most frightening aspect of the Romney/Lauber incident is that, you can be sure, many of his supporters have no problem with Mitt's behavior and—indeed—probably applaud it.

COMMENT FROM NEW JERSEY: What do expect from a person named Mitt? I think naming a child Mitt probably dooms that person forever to try to be "one of the guys." Romney reminds me of that kid in high school everyone liked because he had the best car and paid for gas. Maybe the last kid chosen for dodgeball? Whatever it is, I do not think someone as shallow and insecure as he looks to be should be president. Actually, I can name twenty-five other policies he has put out there that lead me to think of Romney as a poor choice but the name Mitt stands out. Does this make me shallow? Probably.
Gaze on the way we are:

The commenter from New York “will never get tired of [Collins’] Seamus-on-the-roof references.” Collins gets that a lot.

The first commenter from Florida saw a contradiction where no contradiction exists. The commenter from Wisconsin is still puzzled by the “airtight” comment.

The commenter from DC rattled a few of our tribe’s favorite lines. (We once agreed that these favorite lines had been taken “wildly out of context.” Now, we pseudos love these lines as we love life itself.)

The commenter from Florida had been convinced by a brief news clip. And the first commenter from New Jersey was pretty sure that “many” of Romney's supporters probably applaud the way he behaved—the way he behaved in high school.

That said, the second commenter from New Jersey showed us part of The Way We Are. He said he could name twenty-five policies which show that Romney would be a poor choice. But what stands out in this reader’s mind?

Of course! Mitt Romney’s weird name!

Is it fair to go through comments this way? Actually, yes—it is. When Collins writes one of her columns, her comment threads are full of such comments—the type of comments we liberals used to mock.

For decades, pseudo-conservatives called talk radio programs, announcing themselves as ditto-heads. On the air, for all to hear, these callers would affirm every damn fool thing in the world.

We liberals would laugh at the foolishness of these highly scripted callers. And then we invented comment threads—and we got to see the way we are!

The way we are is not super-bright, as we telegraphed again in the wake of the bullying story. And omigod! As we pleasured ourselves with comments about Mitt Romney’s high school days, Romney crept ahead of Obama in the New York Times national poll.

Could it be that voters don't care about our tribe's twaddle? Again, we offer a question:

Romney did behave quite badly in the bullying of John Lauber. Several other unflattering incidents were described in the Horowitz piece—incidents from his high school career.

We liberals swung into action. Our “intellectual leaders” treated themselves in familiar ways, failing to offer us actual leadership. But here’s our question, once again:

Why didn’t we react to the Reuters report at the start of the year about the way Romney looted those pension funds?

Romney behaved this way as a full-grown adult. A very large number of people got looted.

But how weird! Lady Collins didn’t say boo about this bit of bad conduct! Could it be that this lady doesn’t care when tea-baggers might be involved?

Could it be that she cares about Irish setters but not about working-class folk?

In the New York Times poll, Romney moved past Obama last week as we liberals pleasured ourselves with our tribe’s favorite stories. For years, we got to laugh at the other tribe’s ditto-heads—but they at least had highly effective political leadership.

Today, the clueless players must include us. The real fault lies with our intellectual leaders, of course. But look at the way we are!

We get upset about Irish setters—so upset that we invent and select our facts, as Collins has done from the start of this breakdown. We get upset about high school bullying, which is of course a bad thing.

But we don’t seem to care about looted workers—can’t seem to rouse ourselves about that! To us, this seems to be part of an unfortunate package, a point we’ll explore more next week.

The main fault lies with our worthless “leaders,” of course. But then too, there’s the way we are.

Tomorrow: Romney rescues a dog. Plus, JFK as a grown-up!

27 comments:

  1. This post has the word "Irish" in the headline.

    Ergo, Bob Somerby is a racist.

    Or something.

    Signed,
    That usual jackass.

    ReplyDelete
  2. "Romney did behave quite badly in the bullying of John Lauber."

    Hey, stop that, Bob!

    On Wednesday, I promised everyone that you were going to soon be *blaming* Lauber for the incident. I compared it to the MArtin/Zimmerman case.

    Are you trying to make me look like a fool, or am I doing it all on my own?

    Signed,
    An Anonymous Idiot

    ReplyDelete
  3. So we're now calling the combox in a Gail Collins column a representative sample of how "liberals" think?

    Oh, good grief!

    ReplyDelete
  4. "According to Jason Horowitz’s reporting, some of which is thoroughly documented . . ."

    Wow! Finally! A grudging admission that maybe, just maybe, the guy did do a heck of a lot of investigating before he reported.

    But let's ignore the "some". Let's find something that fits the narrative we want to tell about sloppy reporting.

    Oh yeah! Horowitz never quoted anybody directly would could say that Romney thought the kid was gay!

    Horror upon horrors! Let's spend a week writing about that -- long after the rest of the planet has turned the page.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Although I think the conservative position is better for the country on the majority of issues, I'm embarrassed by conservatives who want to teach Creation Science instead of evolution. It makes me uncomfortable to be in the same camp as these people.

    A question, which perhaps Bob has been hinting at, is whether knowledgeable liberals are embarrassed by other liberals who believe Gail Collins. Does it make any of you uncomfortable to be in the same camp as Collins' most ignorant followers?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. David? I'm not nearly as worried about what people write in comboxes as Somerby is.

      And if I were of a conservative stripe, I wouldn't be embarrased by what other conservatives "say" in whatever forum.

      I would, however, be deeply embarrassed when they take over a state board of education and ban the teaching of evolution unless creationism is taught alongside it.

      As many conservatives in Kansas were.

      Delete
  6. part one of three (probably:



    “For decades, pseudo-conservatives called talk radio programs, announcing themselves as ditto-heads. On the air, for all to hear, these callers would affirm every damn fool thing in the world.
    We liberals would laugh at the foolishness of these highly scripted callers. And then we invented comment threads—and we got to see the way we are!” b. somerby

    >>> you cant properly compare call-ins to a radio station to comments on the internet. and theres no need to, as in the last ten years there has developed a liberal radio counterpoint to the limbaughs and his clones...only about 10% of what the right has as I understand it, but still significant.


    “But how weird! Lady Collins didn’t say boo about this bit of bad conduct.” - b. somerby

    >>>”lady” collins. “lady” dowd. how weird to associate with royalty, of all people, those with an irish catholic heritage. this is a rovian style mind trick ala attacking kerrys courage.


    “Could it be that she cares about Irish setters but not about working-class folk?” - b. somerby

    >>> could it be that she sees a republican winning as a disaster for working-class folk and that her choice of subject matter is the best way to avoid that, in her opinion at least?


    “In the New York Times poll, Romney moved past Obama last week as we liberals pleasured ourselves with our tribe’s favorite stories. For years, we got to laugh at the other tribe’s ditto-heads—but they at least had highly effective political leadership.” - b. somerby

    >>> i agree the republicans r by far the smarter pols --- they have to be, as besides money and the fake liberal media (actually corporatist pr agencies), they got nothing.

    ReplyDelete
  7. part two:


    “Speaking of faulty moral performance, Blow had just spent a month spreading disinformation about a possible murder case.” - b. somerby

    >>> whatever else he did, right or wrong, he was trying to *make it* a case by using media pressure to get the matter adjudicated in a courtroom.



    “As Chekhov wrote about Gurov, the semi-crazy columnist “wanted to enjoy life so badly and it all seemed so simple and amusing!” - b. somerby, refering to g. collins

    >>> classic projection.



    “Blow and Collins were happy this day, helping readers understand that Romney is a bad person. (Which he may be, of course!)” - b. somerby

    >>> he is an economic traitor and economic terrorist. he *is* a bad person. case closed. next case...



    “Can it be that this is happening because of The Way We Are—because of our vast limitations?” -b. somerby

    >>> well excuuuuuse me for not being of germanic or of pseudo germanic ancestry (wasp) and not being a protestant.



    “Could it be that voters don't care about our tribe's twaddle?” b. somerby

    >>> could it be that only a micro fraction of the populace read the ny times?

    ReplyDelete
  8. part three:

    g. collins said:

    “This was more than four years ago. What would have happened if Romney had just said: “Boy, in retrospect that really does sound like a bad idea. But you have to remember that we had five boys under the age of 14. It was like living in a vortex; we did all kinds of stupid stuff.”
    Do you think the nation — particularly the part that has ever tried to drive long distances with a car full of children — would have been understanding? I personally would never have mentioned the incident at all.
    But since we haven’t gotten that sort of input, I kind of feel free to bring it up now and then.”

    >>> very well said.



    “A teacher who students enjoyed making fun of for his poor eyesight was walking with Romney and some of his classmates when they came to two sets of glass doors. Mitt opened the first for his professor, swept his hand forward to indicate the second set was open as well, and then laughed hysterically when the teacher smacked into the closed door.” g. collins

    >>> mean spirited, but even more interesting to me is that he must have been very confident he could get away with it because of his fathers status i presume.

    fin

    ReplyDelete
  9. Holy Moly! A new low for The Howler, and that's saying something.

    Instead of contending with liberals at this very site, who view both Mr. Somerby and Ms. Collins as blinkered, obsessed and preoccupied with nonsense, Our Hero goes to the NYT comments pages, where Gail Collins' silly upper-income fans, all 373 of them, can be used to dismiss "liberals" (in whatever sense Bob is employing that day) as tribal idiots. Now that's initiative!

    Per David in Cal's question: no, I'm not embarrassed by these people because, unlike your associates, they're not aggressively supporting destructive policies, or any policies at all, for that matter. For them, politics is simply "being" and having correct attitudes.

    Whereas your associates are destroying, and will destroy, the world as we know it. Sorry if that's being awfully tribal, but it's not as if the so-called "conservative" world-view has never been tested (it's implementation can be seen all over the globe, most notably in the Third World).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Howler has no clue what the word "tribal" means.

      Delete
  10. Yes, I would be embarrassed by fellow liberals who agreed with Gail Collins, if I knew any. Most don't know who She is.

    The use of comment boxes as evidence is, pure and simple, The Daily Howler scrapping bottom. It's a fair assumption many of the cited posters are not liberals at all but resentment sponges who only read the stupidest insult columnists.

    Two questions are begged: Isn't it likely that the intended victims of this
    sort of nonsense actually benefit from the "attacks" (I have only heard the dog on the roof stuff brought up with derision for the STORY, and it was well known by election time that Al Gore internet bragging was hokum (though yes, shamefully repeated one more time by Alex Cockburn), AND isn't it possible that the editors and TV Producers KNOW this? It would be hard not to notice at certain times and certain instances The Clintons benefited from such backlashes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. @ Greg
      re: and it was well known by election time that Al Gore internet bragging was hokum (though yes, shamefully repeated one more time by Alex Cockburn), AND isn't it possible that the editors and TV Producers KNOW this?
      ==============
      re:
      Internet invented by Gore understood as hokum?

      It is *not* well known that this is 'hokum' based on the news coverage I've seen here in Canada.

      Canadian journalists and columnists still bash Gore with the 'invented' story.

      And tribal use...They use this Gore story to aid in mocking: the left, citizens concerned with global warming, liberals, NGO's, anyone who raises questions about conservative, or corporate points of view.

      Gore and inventing the internet is a foundational reference for the right to engage in discrediting of various arguments via ridicule.

      Delete
  11. Comments HERE are packed with arrant nonsense -- and, other times, with challenges to the original post. But Bob doesn't read them, and, as such, he doesn't realize that his nutpicking gambit could be sprung on him, or that he is at least as blinkered and locked into idiosyncratic perspectives as any of his targets.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Really? Could you provide a few examples of these pro-Somerby "nuts"? I read the Daily Howler regularly, but I must have missed them.

      Delete
    2. Give you a good one off the top of my head.

      Bob says Collins obsessively writes about the dog.

      Put "Love Canal" into his search engine and see how many years and words he's got invested in that.

      You will even read him explain how that single incident changed the course of human history.

      Delete
    3. See, I didn't understand you were asking me to show you pro-Somerby comments that were "arrant nonsense."

      SO, instead I show you that Bob shouldn't have wasted his time being the lone voice detailing the crimes of the press against Gore. Why? Because I am an idiot.

      Delete
  12. Shorter comments:

    People don't read Collins.

    Or if they do, they aren't "real" liberals, anyway, like the people *I* know.

    Anyway, Bob is a clear hater of Irish Americans.

    Bob should address what *I* say, that he spends too much time looking at MSNBC and NYT, and WaPo, and CNN.

    And he should talk about the 4 commenters here rather than the hundreds at Collin's pages.

    And, yeah, I am a complete tosser.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The point is we don't know WHO they are, so they are

      Delete
  13. Useless as even the basis for sweeping statement..

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. As useless as Ed Schultz's "Question of the Day."

      But the difference is, Schultz doesn't present that as some sweeping survey and evidence of "liberal" thought.

      Delete
  14. "Could it be that this lady doesn’t care when tea-baggers might be involved?"

    I think it's more that a story about a shitting dog is something that she can make endlessly snarky and comical. She doesn't have to learn complicated details about pensions, pension funding, the PBGC, Bain, private equity - things that might challenge her brain. The snark is primary; she and Dowd will glom onto any issue that can be snarked.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Bob, All the best to you. May you be blessed with Mitt & republicans from here forward. These lousy liberals.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah Bob, stop criticizing "liberals." Criticising liberals is wrong. Believe me, I know from wrong...

      I hope you don't misinterpret "all the best to you" as my saying goodbye, though.

      I'll be back with more of my patented "quaker" idiocy -- count on it!

      Delete