IN THE YEAR 2525: Krystal Ball explains gaffe culture!

WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 2014

Part 2—Why pundits are forced to “guess:”
During Campaign 2012, the Washington Post’s Philip Rucker was busy patrolling the gaffes.

Candidate Romney was visiting a Polish war memorial. At Politico, Dylan Byers described the excitement which followed:
BYERS (8/23/12): Philip Rucker, the Washington Post reporter who famously shouted "What about your gaffes!?" at Mitt Romney, arrived on the campaign's press plane yesterday with a homemade t-shirt that read, "What about your gaffes!?"

Rucker then sought Romney's signature, which he obtained.

The memorable quote came during a stop at a Polish war memorial during Romney's overseas trip...
As you may recall, the conduct produced a bit of a flap, given the nature of the site at which Rucker shouted his iconic question.

“What about your gaffes!” Young Rucker, just six years out of Yale, already had his hand on the pulse of prevailing “press corps” culture.

Yesterday, we described a channeling from the future which we received this weekend. If that channeling was correct, anthropologists in the year 2525 will regard that shouted question as an iconic moment in the coming disintegration of the American nation-state.

If that channeling was correct, anthropologists will identify so-called “gaffe culture” as one of the many mental diseases which took the American discourse down. And sure enough:

On June 17 of this very year, MSNBC’s Krystal Ball offered an unusually clear rationale for this familiar part of modern pundit culture.

Ball, a bit of a constant Clinton-hater, took to the airwaves in the first week of the new jihad against Hillary Clinton. For the full text of her commentary, just click here.

In the year 2525, anthropologists will regard Ball’s broadcast as an iconic text from the era which saw the former United States disintegrate into the 83 “smaller republics” which were sometimes called “Ron Paulsylvania.”

Let’s focus on Ball’s rationale for the “gaffe culture” which fuels our successor to news.

Tomorrow, we’ll examine the fuller sweep of Ball’s remarks. For today, consider her explanation for the focus on gaffes, which she refers to as “bobbles:”
BALL (6/17/14): As I watched [the new jihad] unfold, I began asking myself an uncomfortable question: Is Hillary Clinton our Mitt Romney?

Smart? Sure. Confident? Absolutely. Incredible resume? Without a doubt. But also kind of tone deaf and unrelatable.

I mean, be honest. Didn’t Hillary’s “dead broke” comment make you think just for a second about Mitt saying “Ann drives a couple of Cadillacs,” or that he likes firing people?

And like Mitt, after decades in public service, we still can only really speculate on what Hillary Clinton is all about.

Is she a triangulating moderate? A secret liberal? A DLC Wall Street Dem? What will she run on? What sort of president would she actually be? There’s no clues in the bland safety of her State Department record and certainly not in Hard Choices. So we can only guess through the bobbles, the accidental deviations from the script, the things that are said that didn’t come from the briefing book.
We’re told that, in the year 2525, this will be regarded as an iconic text. We don’t know if that is true. But Ball’s remarks truly do capture the soul of The Pundit Age.

By way of background: When the Clintons left the White House in 2001, they were $10 million in debt. When Clinton described that state of affairs as being “not only dead broke, but in debt,” pundits like Ball instantly saw that her comment was a gaffe.

Let’s be fair! Without question, Clinton made an unforced error, given prevailing pundit culture.

Everyone knows what politicians are supposed to say about their personal wealth. When Clinton failed to work from this script, workers like Ball, by the rules of their trade, were required to call it a “bobble.”

For that reason, one of Ball’s questions in that passage almost answers itself. When Clinton said the words “dead broke,” did that make you think of Romney’s earlier comments?

In real time, it probably didn’t! Eventually, though, people like Ball spread this comparison far and wide. If you had your cable on, then of course that thought came to mind!

(Please note: Ball even used an “invented gaffe” in that passage— Romney’s alleged statement that he likes firing people. As everyone knows, that statement by Romney was ripped from its actual context. As anthropologists will explain in the future, people like Ball have lost the distinction between actual statements by politicians and statements their tribe has dreamed up.)

In the bulk of that passage, Ball compared Clinton to Romney. Eventually, though, she explained the need for gaffe culture.

The passage which follows makes almost no sense. One day, anthropologists will apparently call it iconic:
BALL: [A]fter decades in public service, we still can only really speculate on what Hillary Clinton is all about.

Is she a triangulating moderate? A secret liberal? A DLC Wall Street Dem? What will she run on? What sort of president would she actually be? There’s no clues in the bland safety of her State Department record and certainly not in Hard Choices. So we can only guess through the bobbles, the accidental deviations from the script, the things that are said that didn’t come from the briefing book.
According to Ball, pundits are forced to “speculate” and “guess” about the secret meaning of gaffes. In the present case, they’re forced to do so because there is no other way to know what Clinton “will run on.”

Even after all these years, there’s no way to know what Clinton is all about! There’s no way to know “what sort of president she would actually be.”

That text deserves to be iconic. It stands as a monument to the oddness of modern pundit culture. Let’s ponder several statements:

There’s no way to know what Clinton “will run on?”

To state the obvious, there’s no way to know what Clinton will run on because she isn’t running yet. In fact, no one is running at this point. There is no presidential campaign under way at present.

There’s no way to know what Clinton “will run on” from her current book, Hard Choices?

There’s no way to know from her current book because it’s a book about her years in the State Department. You also can’t tell what Clinton will run on from The Old Man and the Sea.

After decades in public service, we still can only speculate on what Clinton is all about.

That statement is so odd one hardly knows how to respond. Clinton’s general outlines are fairly clear, whether you like them or not.

What sort of president would Clinton be? There are no clues in the bland safety of her State Department record?

Here too, the statement is so odd one hardly knows how to respond. If her record is characterized by “blind safety,” why wouldn’t that count as a clue to the sort of president she’d be?

In the passage we have posted, Ball gives an unusually clear rationale for the pundit corps’ prevailing “gaffe culture.” Her rationale is strikingly clear—and it makes no sense.

According to Ball, Clinton’s long record as first lady, senator and secretary of state provides no clues about the type of president she would be. For that reason, Ball is forced to divine the meaning of a trivial gaffe—a “bobble.”

If we have been correctly informed, anthropologists will come to regard this commentary as iconic—as a road map to the mental processes of our pundits in the years before the rapid decline.

This is the puzzling essence of that text:

Twenty-two years on the national stage have given Krystal Ball “no clues” about Hillary Clinton! For that reason, she has been forced to interpret the meaning of a bobble.

She’s been forced to “guess” about a campaign which hasn’t started yet!

Where do life forms like Ball come from? What explains their peculiar conduct?

Tomorrow, we’ll briefly ponder those questions as we examine the rest of Ball’s text. We’ll also ask an unpleasant question:

Why on earth do modern “liberals” tolerate conduct like this? Rather plainly, this bullshit sent George Bush to the White House. Why does this piddle persist?

Tomorrow: Ball recites the RNC’s most famous and time-honored scripts

30 comments:

  1. While slamming Hillary Clinton on her supposed gaffes and supposed tone deaf and unrelatable, Ball gives her an unwarranted compliment on something more important, writing that Clinton has an "Incredible resume."

    Sorry, but law practice, brief stint as Senator, and a brief stint as Secretary of State is not anincredible resume for a President. Clinton's experience is pretty ordinary for someone aspiring to that position.

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    1. Secretaries of state who went on to become president include: Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, J. Q. Adams, Van Buren, Buchanan. Several former presidents served a single term as senator before becoming either VP or president, including Harding, Wilson, JFK, Nixon (3 yrs). No one has had both experiences and gone on to be President. Clinton was also first lady for 8 years nationally and was first lady of Arkansas while Clinton was governor. While that is not direct experience governing, it involves campaigning, diplomacy, travel, exposure to public affairs and involvement behind the scenes to a greater or lesser extent. Clinton arguably has a great deal more experience than most men running for the office. LBJ is the notable exception. Both Obama and JFK had a great deal less experience.

      When you factor in the difficulties women have winning office compared to men, it is an "Incredible" resume. No woman has a comparable resume. One full term in the senate is 6 years and is by no means a "brief stint". Your use of that kind of language betrays your bias, if nothing else did.

      Expecting women to be twice as qualified as men to seek the same office is also a form of sexism.

      One reason Hillary Clinton is so widely admired, especially by women, is her continuing activism on behalf of women and children via charities and support for programs to help them. This has continued throughout her career and is consistent a theme as Gore's environmentalism. Comparing Clinton to first ladies like Jackie Kennedy, Laura Bush and Michelle Obama, who stuck to safe causes and parenting and kept out of their husbands' limelights, she has been an active public servant throughout times when she might have relaxed and been little more than decorative. People both noticed and respected that when she ran for the senate.

      That you consider her qualifications ordinary says a great deal about you, David.

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    2. David mentioned nothing about Clinton's time as First Lady, making your comparison of her to and dismissal of other Presidential spouses's service irrelevant.

      You also were factually incorrect several times. Wilson never served in the Senate. Kennedy was in his second term when elected, as Clinton was when she ran in 2008.
      He had served six year prior to that in the House. And Barak Obama had served longer in elective office than Clinton when he was elected President.

      That you chose to correct someone else says something. That said, I hope Hillary Clinton becomes President. If she quits saying things like she did to Diane Sawyer she might make it. Let's hope she says nothing to reinforce the "stay home baking cookies-Tammy Wynette Stand By Your Man" dismissal of other women image she earned with words coming out of her own mouth in earlier years.

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    3. Right, David does not consider her time as First Lady to be a qualification, which makes my mention of it a rebuttal of that opinion. If my facts on Wilson were incorrect, so are several sources on the internet.

      It is odd that being first lady is not elective office, despite the fact that one can only occupy that position after an election. This belief that a wife does nothing worthy of any consideration while first lady is offensive to most women and that is what I called David on. The Republican brouhaha over Clinton's cookie remark was unimportant to women in general who tend to regard Clinton as a role model. Remember that the Republicans tend to attack Democratic candidates by challenging their strengths. Hillary's have always been her involvement beyond the home, so that is what they went for when they tried to manufacture that cookie remark into a faux pas. Women don't care about that -- except for the Republican women who pretended false offense over an innocuous comment.

      Blaming Clinton for the garbage the right comes up with needs to stop. This is what Somerby means when he says no one has the backs of those attacked by pundits. The criticism was stupid and people need to say so, not pretend that Hillary just can't keep her foot out of her mouth.

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    4. And I am always grateful for those who can explain what Somerby really means, since he doesn't do a very good job of that himself.

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    5. Trolls here use the same tactics as Republicans. They misread the post and voice specious criticism, then pretend Somerby's writing is opaque when someone tries to explain their mistake.

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    6. Anon @ 8:22 your vigorous defense of yourself reminds one of the woman your admire so much...a seeming inability to
      admit error coupled with a strong attack on others when questioned.

      "If my facts... were incorrect so are several sources on the internet." Classic!

      "It is odd that being first lady is not elective office...." Yes,
      that old oddity called Article II of the Constitution.

      I admire the way you ignored your other errors but put forth a strong defense of your rebuttal of David over a point he did not make.

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  2. It is the equivalent of being upstaged by Bonzo and every other actor on screen followed by a couple of terms in Sacramento. No more, no less.

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  3. I dunno, Bob. The public doesn't appear to care much about this issue at all. Seems to be down to you and Krystal at this point.

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    1. A bit premature in this conclusion, aren't you?

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  4. Since her phrase, "There’s no clues in..." is grammatically incorrect, Ms. Ball is clearly incapable of combining words together to form a coherent thought. Ergo, she is incapable of combining complex concepts together, and has a low IQ. It therefore follows that she is well qualified to work in the mainstream media.

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    1. Let's compare this thoughtful analysis based on one improper conjugation to the most recent intellectual offering from Mr. Feathers in the last post:

      "The half wit trolls who abound here would rather pick out a minor, insignificant point that Bob made, magnify it out of all proportion, and mock him accordingly, rather than grasp the larger point he is making."

      Based on the current comment and the last, anyone with a half decent IQ must conclude Mr. Feathers has indentified himself as a half wit troll.

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  5. If gentry liberals like Krystal Ball were anymore stupid, they'd be Tea Partiers. They will eventually have the same corrosive effect in the Democratic party as the Tea Party is now having on GOP.

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    1. They remind me of those who supported Gene McCarthy and Bobby Kennedy and let the press give us Nixon. Or those who supported Ted Kennedy let the press give us Reagan.

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    2. Some gentry liberal. Both her parents are educators.

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    3. But she is not an educator. She was a businesswoman and CPA before running for office. A good capitalist from the South.

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    4. So I assume if she was a bad capitalist from the north or midwest she would not be gentry.

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  6. my favorite line from this one "You also can’t tell what Clinton will run on from The Old Man and the Sea." LOL

    Is the reporter's name really Krystal Ball or is that a stage name?

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    1. My personal favorite was "Where do life forms like Ball come from?" LOL. That Bob. No wonder he abandoned the black kids in Baltimore to answer Comedy's call.

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    2. She claims her name is real but it does seem like a cruel joke for a father to give his daughter a stripper name like that.

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    3. James Hogg, governor of Texas in the 1890s, named his only daughter "Ima." So you never can tell.

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    4. "Ima Hogg has been the source of "unfortunate name" or "worst baby name" jokes, lists, and contests, including the incorrect lore that Jim Hogg had named his two daughters "Ima Hogg" and "Ura Hogg". Similar unfortunate baby names according to United States Census records include Ima Pigg, Ima Muskrat, Ima Nut, Ima Hooker, Ima Weiner, Ima Reck, Ima Pain and Ima Butt." Wikepedia

      In the city where young Miss Ima lived while Daddy governed there is a practicing urologist named Dick Chopp.

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  7. "Young Rucker, just six years out of Yale, already had his hand on the pulse of prevailing “press corps” culture."

    Exceptional analysis of today's greedy youth. Unlike an earlier generation.

    Like young Al Gore, just seven years out of Harvard, already had his hand on the pulse of prevailing political culture and his Daddy's old seat in Congress.

    Or young Ted Kennedy, just five years out of Harvard, already had his hand on the pulse of prevailing political culture and his brother's Senate seat. Of course it took his big brother seven years after Harvard and he had to start in the House like Al Jr.'s daddy.


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    1. You just don't seem to be able to think clearly, do you?

      Rucker is being blamed for his conduct as a journalist, not for having gone into the profession of journalism.

      Whether Gore and Kennedy followed in a family profession or not, no one is claiming they were inept or corrupt in their performance, as is being suggested for Rucker. There is no parallel here that makes any sense.

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    2. Ah, but the case Bob builds against the young, Ivy League-educated Rucker seems to rest on the facts that he is:

      A. Young.

      B. Ivy League educated.

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    3. C. Someone who thinks "gaffes" are important.

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    4. Sorry to have to educate you about U.S. history, deadrat. But "gaffes" have always been important, dating at least back to Blaine's "rum, Romanism and rebellion" rally in New York that is credited with swinging the Catholic vote -- and the election -- to Grover Cleveland.

      It may not be the way we want the game to be played, but it is certainly the way the game is played. And seasoned politicians should know that.

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  8. Where does the venom come from in these comments? Why would anyone who so vehemently disagrees with someone they deride as having no influence in the national discourse bother to return to that same source religiously every day, just to get riled up? At best, perhaps a few are infected by a form of groupthink, but it smells like others may in fact be part of a larger, organized effort.

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    1. Perhaps some of us are not riled, but rather harmlessly addicted to poking fun at the hopeless pontifications of those
      who delight in demonstrating their "wisdom" by repeatedly pointing out the obvious and stretching it with their own embellishments.

      Which of course does not discount the strong possibility a larger, organized effort is also a major source.

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  9. "Yesterday, we described a channeling from the future which we received this weekend. If that channeling was correct, anthropologists in the year 2525 will regard that shouted question as an iconic moment in the coming disintegration of the American nation-state."

    Of course, if that channeling is incorrect it will be remembered only by Polish students as a trivia question about stupid Americans who desecrated a holy sight in their land during a time of their "miracle."

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