BRAVE NEW VOICES: Something for everyone!

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2014

Part 2—Ann Compton pimps Bush pimping Bush:
There was something for everyone in the Outlook section of Sunday’s Washington Post.

But first, we had Monday morning. In the New York Times, we liberals got conned once again.

Charles Blow was very upset with the partisanship in Washington. That led him to please us with this:
BLOW (11/17/14): [T]he tipping point will likely come when the president takes executive action on immigration, which, according to reports, could protect up to five million unauthorized immigrants from deportation. Republicans are beside themselves at the prospect.

Amnesty! Out-and-out lawlessness! Shredding the Constitution! No claim—and no recourse—is out of bounds, it seems.

Many conservatives, like Rush Limbaugh, are demanding another government shutdown to stop it. Others, like Charles Krauthammer, have suggested that Obama’s actions on immigration might be “an impeachable offense.”

The grown-ups on the right—to the degree such people exist—know full well that shutdowns and impeachment proceedings are suicidal, but such is the political blood lust on that end of the spectrum that one can’t be sure that cooler heads will prevail over hot ones.
From that, we liberals might get the impression that Krauthammer has called for impeachment proceedings. Or at least for a government shutdown, unlike the GOP’s dwindling number of grown-ups.

That claim seems to be false, but it makes us liberals feel good. For that reason, we liberals are now being fed this dish everywhere we look.

Increasingly, the world of upper-end journalism seems devoted to giving something to everyone. Big modern newspapers cast wide nets. They must provide pabulum to all comers.

In Sunday’s Times, the truly insufferable Nicholas Kristof praised the brilliance of Blow, even as he recited Volume 4 in his own long-running series, “When Whites Just Don’t Get It.”

Kristof’s skill consists in the way he pre-slimes those who might disagree with his own brilliant vision. This is the way he started:
KRISTOF (11/16/14): When Whites Just Don’t Get It, Part 4

When I write about racial inequality in America, one common response from whites is eye-rolling
and an emphatic: It’s time to move on.

“As whites, are we doomed to an eternity of apology?” Neil tweeted at me. “When does individual responsibility kick in?”

Terry asked on my Facebook page: “Why are we still being held to actions that took place long ago?”

“How long am I supposed to feel guilty about being white? I bust my hump at work and refrain from living a thug life,” Bradley chimed in. “America is about personal responsibility…And really, get past the slavery issue.”
Those whites! They do it every time!

At any rate, dissenters were wrong this day before Kristof even got started! They stood accused of eye-rolling before he’d advanced his first point!

In our view, Kristof has little to say about race that’s likely to be helpful. We’ll ponder his column tomorrow.

For today, we thought we’d consider the puddles of piddle which streamed from Sunday’s Outlook—from a section which seemed to provide a feel-good space to each of the paper’s constituencies.

Feminists actually got two spaces. This included Roxanne Gay’s fiery response to Time’s fourth annual (tongue-in-cheek) survey of words which ought to be banned—a survey for which the humbled magazine has already apologized.

More from Outlook:

Jonathan Gruber got batted around for calling voters stupid. In the Post’s devolving Five Myths feature, Nia-Malika Henderson composed a tribute to Valerie Jarrett, whose name few voters have heard, let alone swallowed myths about.

For unknown reasons, the section included a lengthy report concerning a mathematical formula which explains why hipsters all look alike. Most foolishly, there stood Compton.

Compton is the go-to journalist for fawning profiles of All Things Bush. On Outlook’s front page, there she stood, offering a “book review” of Bush the Younger’s loving profile of Bush the Elder—his father.

No one knows how to sand the edges quite the way Compton does. Henderson fawned to Jarrett on page B2, but Compton was on B1.

Compton has never been better. From her lengthy tribute review, you’d never know that some people think our ongoing war in Iraq was perhaps a small tiny partial mistake:
COMPTON (11/16/14): George Herbert Walker Bush, the 41st president of the United States, is the only commander in chief in modern times who has declined to write a memoir. Now George W. Bush, the 43rd president, strides into the void with a book of his own intended to give voice to his modest father’s life and legacy.

At the outset of “41,” George W. makes clear his objective. He says he expects that many books will assess his father’s contributions. “Some of those works may be objective,” he writes in an author’s note. “This one is not. This book is a love story.

Indeed, “41” is a chronicle of family love and loss, written in a plainspoken voice that sounds just like George W. Bush in person, with wisecrack asides and loads of family sentimentality. For those of us who watched both Bush presidencies up close, the book is also a predictably firm defense of the elder Bush’s foreign policy, particularly in Iraq and the Cold War, a strategy that laid down even higher stakes for the son’s presidency eight years later.

[...]

[T]he younger Bush finds a family silver lining to his father’s defeat in 1992: If the elder Bush had won a second term, George W. would not have run for Texas governor in 1994 and later for president. In 1994, George W. faced a popular incumbent, he writes, “and as the son of the President it would have been distracting to answer questions about whether I agreed with every decision that his administration made.”

Nothing knits this father-son duo closer together than the wars in Iraq. The elder Bush drove Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s forces out of Kuwait in early 1991 during Operation Desert Storm and then called the American action to a halt. When George W. sought to topple Hussein from power more than a decade later, he faced accusations of one-upmanship with his father.

“I was not trying ‘to finish what my father had begun,’ as some have suggested,” he writes. “I never asked Dad what I should do. We both knew that this was a decision that only the President can make.”
No, we’re not making that foolishness up. That’s as tough as Compton gets regarding that small second war, which “knit this father-son duo closer together.”

Compton’s piece runs 1347 words. She never suggests that this new book is anything other than Bush the Younger’s attempt “to give voice to his modest father’s life and legacy.”

She laments the press corps’ attacks on both Bushes. She never hints that something may have gone marginally wrong in that small second war.

Compton was there to please one of our teams. Henderson catered to the other. Feminists were pandered to twice. Also, why do hipsters all look alike, mathematically speaking?

Outlook did include one gloomy book review.
Stuck on page B6, it bore this gloomy headline:

“Is Earth’s dominant species doomed to self-destruct?”

Without even thinking, we voted yes. But then, we had a good solid excuse:

We’d read B1 through B5!

Tomorrow: Brave new voices on race

Parade pandered too: Parade magazine pandered too.

As its cover story on Sunday, it offered an excerpt from Bush’s new book. Then, it ran this hard-hitting interview.

For whatever reason, the reinvention seems to be on.

49 comments:

  1. Charles Blow (and many others) supported Obama when he criticized amnesty as un-constitutional, but they now mock those who criticize Obama's pending amnesty as un-constitutional. This is an example of the tribalism that Bob criticizes.

    Obama himself has spoken out against executive amnesty for illegal immigrants.

    In 2011, he told a Univision town hall that there “are enough laws on the books by Congress that are very clear in terms of how we have to enforce our immigration system.” To ignore those congressional mandates through executive order, Obama said, would “not conform with my appropriate role as president.”

    “I know some people want me to bypass Congress and change the [immigration] on my own,” he told the National Council of La Raza that year. “Believe me, the idea of doing things on my own is very tempting. I promise you. Not just on immigration reform. But that’s not how our system works. That’s not how our democracy functions. That’s not how our Constitution is written.”

    Obama seemed frustrated when pushed on the subject of deportations during a roundtable with Latino reporters in September 2011.

    “I just have to continue to say this notion that somehow I can just change the laws unilaterally is just not true,” he said. “We are doing everything we can administratively. But the fact of the matter is there are laws on the books that I have to enforce.”

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    1. There is no bottom to your ignorance, is there? Yes, the law is very clear about how to enforce immigration. For instance, it gives the President broad authority to grant exemptions to classes of illegal immigrants. No, the President cannot change the law unilaterally, and EOs that delay deportation under exemptions don't change the law.

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    2. You readily confuse ignorance with mendacity.

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  2. Back in 2006, Obama sounded like Rep. Luis Gutierrez's (D-Illinois) worst nightmare.

    “When I see Mexican flags waved at pro-immigration demonstrations, I sometimes feel a flush of patriotic resentment. When I’m forced to use a translator to communicate with the guy fixing my car, I feel a certain frustration.”

    "The number of immigrants added to the labor force every year is of a magnitude not seen in this country for over a century. If this huge influx of mostly low-skill workers provides some benefits to the economy as a whole—especially by keeping our workforce young, in contrast to an increasingly geriatric Europe and Japan—it also threatens to depress further the wages of blue-collar Americans and put strains on an already overburdened safety net.”

    Barack Obama "Audacity of Hope"

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    1. That's nothing.
      Today, the Tea Party (not at all the Republican Party) sounds like liberals from 1984 complaining about big-spending, big government, money-wasting Republicans.
      And, rest assured, they REALLY mean it this time.
      Unless, of course, defense contractors want more from the Treasury, the DEA needs to fight a wasteful drug war while stripping more rights from the citizenry, or the superstitious want women to be 2nd class citizens.

      Berto

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    2. Nancy Pelosi always in possession of her rabbit's foot and four leaf clover, walks around ladders and never steps on sidewalk cracks.

      House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi defended a caucus decision not to allow pregnant Iraq War veteran Rep. Tammy Duckworth vote by proxy from her home in Illinois in this week’s closed-door leadership votes

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    3. I see the small-government Tea Partiers are all in with the NSA. Nothing says small-government like an unaccountable, federal government entity collecting and storing communications data on all US citizens.
      Don't stop believing, cicero, the party that rants about "government tyranny" depends on your gullibility.

      Berto

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    4. Apparently you are the self purported dailyhowler expert on all things Tea Party. How is it you missed this:

      "Rand Paul sues Obama over NSA surveillance"

      http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rand-paul-sues-obama-over-nsa-surveillance/

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  3. I thought that this post had something to do with media coverage of the Bush book. All I see in the comments is criticism of Obama. WTF.

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    1. They sure love to change the topic when the subject of "W" comes up, can't say that I don't understand why.

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    2. Bush 43 was discussed ad nauseam before he was in office, while he was in office, and out of office. If you want to see liberals such as (Obama, Pelosi, Kerry, DWS, etc) change the subject quicker than a Dan Marino pass just mention Professor Gruber's name in their presence.

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    3. The Champaign Corp deserter with a secret yen to remake the Middle East by force. No argument with me that the voters in this country can be dangerously stupid. Now, tell me more about that infallible 'W' "gut instinct".

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    4. Gruber was directing his "stupid" comment to liberals. They were his target audience regarding Obamacare. That zero Republicans voted for the bill in the Senate or House proves this to be true.

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  4. Posting Obama's own words is considered criticism of the POTUS? WTF.

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    Replies
    1. When it's you doing the posting, what else can it be?

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  5. I feel terrible for Charles Krauthammer. He's always been objective and reasonable with me.

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    1. He is being misquoted.

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    2. Krauthammer is not being misquoted by Blow, but Blow is being misquoted by Bob. Krauthammer's "suggestion" that it might be an impeachable is about as strong as a suggestion gets. The reason Krauthammer didn't "call for" impeachment was the purely pragmatic reason that it would never get the necessary 67 votes. But Blow did not say he "called for" it, not even implicitly.

      Go and read the g---d---- Krauthammer column instead of trusting Bob to report accurately. When it's a liberal he despises, he often does not report accurately what was said.

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    3. We are still searching for a liberal Bob does NOT despise. Does Al Gore count as a liberal?

      BTW, Krauthammer states it as a fact: it is, according to him, an impeachable offense, end of story (we saw a clip of him on the horrible, awful, increasingly crazy Huffington Post, in between reading articles about Kim Kardashian's mighty ass).

      We wonder why people trust anything Bob says on any topic, He has become one of the more unreliable narrators in blogging. In fact, we cannot think of another blogger, left, right, or center, who is as consistently dishonest. Perhaps that guy from Unskewed Polls, but he is so stupid his falsehoods might not be deliberate. We have few doubts Bob's are anything but. He has to know he's either deliberately twisting things, or reading things so sloppily that he is bound to make frequent errors Yet he doesn't try harder to be accurate. One can only suppose it's because he doesn't care about accuracy. So again, why don't more of Bob's readers double check his work? Do they, too, not care about accuracy?

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    4. When I double check Somerby I find that he is more accurate than his critics.

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    5. Every time I double check Somerby, what he suggests others seem to have said might be what they implied. By any very rough rule of thumb that approximates being reasonably within range.

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  6. I'm sick and tired of all these pimps pimping our discourse.

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  7. I don't know that I agree with Bob's main point. Granted that Bush 43 made some bad policy decisions, the book isn't about him. It's about Bush 41.

    Nor does Bob claim that the reviews don't properly reflect the book. In fact, he doesn't even say whether he read the book.

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    1. The main point seems to be that chums don't ask the tough questions.

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    2. I think the main point is that something for everyone is not as good as nothing for nobody.

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  8. Krauthammer: "I believe it is an impeachable offense." What he said after that doesn't invalidate that statement, which is a direct quotation. We wonder what the Tea Partiers seeing that think. And we wonder if it's even true, given what we've seen about prior presidents using executive powers on behalf of illegal aliens. But never mid that, truth doesn't matter: attacking the left does.

    And needless to say, if someone on "the left" said that about a (we shudder) Republican president Bob would be absolutely furious about it, predicting doom and destruction from the outraged "average (white) voters," and castigating the leftist for their stupidity. But when the left attacks the statement coming from the right, Bob attacks ... the left. Another day in Bobville.

    We look forward to Bob's upcoming lecture on how to properly discuss race with the same enthusiasm that we look forward to negotiating with a used car salesman.

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    1. It's just so frustrating. All that matters to this dude is attacking the left. He has so many problems with the left's media. What is his problem? Thanks for your posts. They are islands of clarity in a sea of hate.

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    2. You consider B.S. a heretic because he dares critique the liberal lame stream media? How is it you are oblivious to the low tide smell emanating from MSNBC? Is it just that you got used to it and became indifferent?

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    3. Anyone who recites phrases popularized by the Thrilla from Wasilla has to prefer the scent of illegally harvested Moose kill to that low tide odor wafting up from the lame stream at low tide.

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    4. Liberals who parrot Keith Olbermann's 'Faux News," or Molly Ivins' "Shrub" or Anderson Cooper's "tea-bagging, prefer canine cuisine as savored by POTUS Obama.

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  9. Something for everyone means including cicero, too. This one's for you, fella.

    http://goplifer.com/2014/11/06/a-reality-check-on-the-2014-results/

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    1. Chris Ladd, aka goplifer, sounds like a Debbie Wasserman Shultz creation. He claims to be a "life long" Republican in Chicago, but his opinions are identical to Chicago politicians Obama, Rahm Emanuel and Valerie Jarrett.

      "What are we getting from Republicans? Climate denial, theocracy, thinly veiled racism, paranoia, and Benghazi hearings. Lots and lots of hearings on Benghazi."

      This guy puts to shame press secretary Josh Earnest's attempts to belittle the Obama scandals.

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    2. Benghazi a scandal? Why didn't Regan send in the Marines to save our people in Beirut?

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    3. You mean POTUS Reagan or Reagan's Secretary of the Treasury, Donald Regan?

      Reagan pulled out the Marines after the Beirut bombing of their quarters. He admitted his mistake and didn't compound it by pretending the terrorists were compelled to act because of a movie.

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    4. No conservative calls Reagan "POTUS". They call him "President Cut-and-Run". You know, because they're sincere and consistent in their opinions. (LOL)

      Berto

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  10. I imagine that after the MIT survey fiasco in which Somerby regurgitated every right-wing talking point about campus rape and drove off about three fourths of his remnant of a readership, he is eagerly awaiting the Ferguson grand jury decision so he can pump out more right wing talking points.

    That'll bring the Zimmerman Defense Team back in the fold!

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    Replies
    1. drove off about three fourths of his remnant of a readership

      Troll alert! Nobody reads TDH anymore!

      TDH didn't talk about rape any more than TDH defended Zimmerman. For good or ill, TDH discusses the reporting about issues. Go back and read the entries about the MIT survey. Sound out the big words if you have to. Right or wrong, spot on or misguided, TDH doesn't think people discussing the survey results make sense.

      When you're done with that review, go back and re-read the entries on the Zimmerman trial.

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  11. Conservatives have zero to do with Ferguson. That is an all POTUS/FLTUS/Holder/Sharpton obsession. Why did both the POTUS and FLOTUS feel compelled to mention Ferguson at the U.N.? Not to mention the lame stream media perpetuating the threat of rioting if the grand jury dares to not indict the LEO.


    "Riots Feared if Ferguson Cop Isn't Charged in Michael Brown Death"

    http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/michael-brown-shooting/riots-feared-if-ferguson-cop-isnt-charged-michael-brown-death-n220481

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  12. "Conservatives have zero to do with Ferguson."
    Exactly. They may rant about freedom and liberty, and against government tyranny, but (like their small government rants) they don't believe a word of it.

    Berto

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    1. What? Maybe you might want to wait for a trial of the LEO should the grand jury indict him, before making hysterical pronouncements about "government tyranny," freedom, liberty" being in jeopardy because of a local law enforcement incident. But you do make the same noises as A.G. Holder which is disturbing for the chief law enforcement officer in the country.

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    2. I think you're too smart to believe the Tea Party gives a shit about freedom and liberty of the people, but if you want to prove me wrong, go ahead and make the counter-argument.

      Berto

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    3. Could you cite examples where Berto has performed functions that ensured the freedom and liberty of Americans?

      You definitely should seek the help of Ray Bolger for your straw man Ferguson rant.

      Delete
    4. A paid troll calling out a commenter for using a straw man by using a straw man instead of a counter-argument.

      What a foof!

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    5. Did you mean to write "foof"? The feminists are going to take you off their Christmas card list.

      The pay isn't as good as being Obamacare architect. Professor Gruber. He is the new Six Million Dollar Man.

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    6. "A paid troll..."

      They can pay cicero all the money in the world, and he still won't find any ideological differences between the Tea Party and the Republican Party.
      Same people, same funding, same failed ideology.

      Berto

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    7. @Berto,

      How is your 7 course meal of crow ? You are going to be a target of the National Audubon Society.

      Berto November 19, 2014 at 1:13 PM

      I see the small-government Tea Partiers are all in with the NSA. Nothing says small-government like an unaccountable, federal government entity collecting and storing communications data on all US citizens.


      "Rand Paul sues Obama over NSA surveillance"

      http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rand-paul-sues-obama-over-nsa-surveillance/

      Delete
    8. Can you call it a political "party" if it has only one member?

      Delete


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