Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow!

FRIDAY, JUNE 2, 2017

Times attacks Anderson Cooper:
Kathy Griffin's artistry is under attack again.

Griffin posed with a severed head, got fired by CNN. In the New York Times, one reporter decided the time was right to take on Anderson Cooper:
BROMWICH (6/1/17): “CNN has terminated our agreement with Kathy Griffin to appear on our New Year’s Eve program,” the network tweeted. A spokeswoman said that there would be no additional comment.

The image of Ms. Griffin had provoked howls of outrage from Mr. Trump’s supporters and critics alike when it first appeared on Tuesday. Melania Trump, the first lady, said the image was “simply wrong.” Donald Trump Jr., the president’s son, called it “disgusting but not surprising”; Chelsea Clinton said it was “vile and wrong.”

Even Ms. Griffin’s entertainment industry colleagues, including CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who had hosted the network’s New Year’s Eve broadcast with her, shook their heads in disgust.
Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow! Like a baby-faced assassin, Bromwich referred to Cooper as one of Griffin's "entertainment industry colleagues."

"Even Cooper" thought this was wrong, the cold-blooded tailgunner said.

He's only six years out of college. Is Bromwich allowed to say that?

Kidding aside, might we recall some recent comments made right here at this site? Our self-impressed liberal team seems to possess an endless supply of absurdly bad judgment.

Do you realize how many hits we've taken, down through the years, just because of our various tone-deaf "comedians?" Luckily, Griffin didn't save the severed head for a Dem fund-raising event.

Professor Williams said it last week. "Mr. Limbaugh, like Mr. Trump, feeds off class resentment," she said. "Let’s stop making their jobs easier."

To Professor Williams, we'll only say this:

Dream on, sister. Dream on!

45 comments:

  1. Examples of this endless abuse rarely are not offered and are convincing when they are not. Therefore, you sir are an idiot.

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    1. Dark Greg, the gag is up loser. But I will plenty to say about Bobs idiocy here.

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    2. How many insinuations can dance of the head
      of a sentence stating a simple fact.

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  2. Kathy Griffin is just an individual expressing her views about Trump, as is her right as an American citizen, in her own fashion.

    She doesn't speak for me. She doesn't speak for liberals or Democrats. She doesn't speak for comedians in general. She doesn't speak for anyone except herself (and the person who helped her produce the video, I assume).

    Trump and his supporters have certainly piled on. Democrats have visibly scrambled to disassociate themselves from her message. So have comedians.

    So, I don't see how Somerby's complaint can be valid.

    There are many people who dislike Trump out there and that dislike is bipartisan. They may have shared Griffin's dislike, if not her way of expressing it. They are craven in the face of the overwhelming attack on Griffin. So she stands alone even though she is far from alone in terms of the magnitude of dislike of Trump. Who are the hypocrites these days? Not Somerby. He only dislikes Maddow, as near as anyone here can tell.

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  3. The problem with Kathy Griffin's photo is that Democrats (including Kathy Griffin herself!) previously blasted Republicans for material that was much, much less inflammatory. E.g., after the tragic shooting of Gabrielle Giffords, Griffin posted:

    Watching the news? Congresswoman in AZ,who is ON Sarah Palin's crosshairs map was SHOT in the head 2day. Happy now Sarah?

    (Palin had released an online map showing several congressional districts in crosshairs.)

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    Replies
    1. Poor, poor David. I understand that Breitbart has safe space for delicate snowflakes like yourself.

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    2. Not an argument, anon

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    3. Of course it is an argument. Anon is suggesting that we do not decide what is appropriate entertainment for adults based on the reactions of children, especially not the children of the targets of those jokes. Conan for example says his kids do not watch his show. Even Gaffigan (who is relatively mild and clean) doesn't encourage his wife and kids to watch his humor which is largely about them. Louis C.K.'s humor is entirely unfit for little Barron (and presumably for David in Cal). There are protected spaces besides Breitbart where he'll never hear any criticism of Trump, such as the Disney channel or ABC Family. Some people are just not made for this world.

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  4. Well best keep it simple: when Nugent threatened Obamas life O"Reilly gave him a pass and Bob gave Billo a pass. Then Nugent came to the White House and Bob gave Trump a pass.

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    1. And therefore liberal condescension isn't a political problem? I think you've been drinking too much urine and blood.

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    2. Liberal condescension is an example of identity politics played by the right and unfortunately bought by useful idiots that include Tomasky, Drum, you and Somerby.You are all drinking their Kool-Aid.

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    3. Liberal condescension is a real problem. Is it really what causes fools to vote for fools? I would say that is unproven. And it's presence as a handy excuse for people who vote with malicious stupidity is apparent to anyone without an axe to endlessly grind like Bob.

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    4. I don't think liberal condescension is any more of a problem than conservative self-righteousness.

      Why are we repeating and encouraging the latest meme from the right?

      Today I read a ridiculous article about how the white working class are the only ones who value military courage and service. That goes back to the myth that liberals spat on soldiers returning from Vietnam (undocumented -- there is no proof this ever happened -- there is nothing new about fake news emanating from the right). White lower middle class people don't have any monopoly on military service. Black and latino men served in far greater numbers (as a % of their representation in the population) and are just as proud of their service. And they vote Democratic. They are part of the left's diversity coalition.

      This kind of garbage needs to stop being repeated by people on the left. It is wrong and it hurts us in the public eye, which seems to increasingly think in stereotypes and be unable to think beyond the memes and images served up by the media.

      If this has any chance of affecting votes, why are we repeating this stuff?

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  5. Steve - "It was worse than a crime... It was a blunder." This is a famous quote, often attributed to Tallyrand. Griffin's photo was a blunder. It helped Trump. And, it led to an effective Republican ad, which you can see at http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/congress/article153806769.html

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    1. It will help Ossof. You and your ilk's hyprocrisy is laughable.

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  6. As a liberal Bernie voter who preferred Trump to Hillary, the outrage over this is phony and stupid. This called for a perfunctory Secret Service visit, an on-air comment from Anderson Cooper, and a few editorials on the discourse. The hysteria serves the anti-speech left, and reinforces its ignorant ideas about expression that offends them and makes them advocates for government penalties for speech they dislike. Everyone has a right to go after her for it and pressure sponsors, but it's ill-advised for a liberal.

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    1. When is comedy "advised"?

      I am proud of Bill Maher for deliberately using the n-word to deflect the focus on Griffin and broaden the discussion of comedy and free speech beyond what little Barron can appreciate.

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    2. a liberal Bernie voter who preferred Trump to Hillary..


      Bwahahaha!

      Thank you. I hope pussygrabber pervert fraud traitor tRump is meeting all your liberal agenda items to your satisfaction. Bernie Bros - they don't come any dumber.

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    3. mm, I think you may have detected the flaw in his reasoning.

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  7. This, "liberal condescendence to flyover states", the "War on christmas", etc are all nonsense memes coming out of right-wing think tanks so you don't notice their policies which distribute the treasury to the .01%.

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    1. A fish doesn't notice the water it swims in either.

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    2. And you'd know how?

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    3. Fennel CartwrightJune 4, 2017 at 2:04 PM

      Right wing think tanks don't invent the condescension out of whole cloth like they do many of their policy issues and many other things with which they demonize liberals. Liberals hand it to them on a silver platter. Perhaps that's the point. A liberal candidate claims half of Trump support racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic deplorables. That was not an occurrence created by a right wing think tank. The right wing think tanks will use it against liberals to win but it's not like they invented that kind of
      idiotic condescension. It came from a liberal and was delivered to a liberal audience. And you see it all he time with liberals playing the race card against people who voted for Trump. Right wing think tanks don't invent it. They just use it to win elections.

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    4. Clinton rightly pointed out that too many of Trump's supporters were deplorable, coming from the alt-Right (white supremacists and avowed racists) and supporting his sexism and attacks on Muslims and immigrants. It is obviously true. Trump himself proudly owned that term "deplorable" and his supporters broadened it to include themselves, proudly wearing t-shirts with the label. The left didn't make it into a badge of honor. The right did that, while ignoring Clinton's comments about the segment of Trump's base that were not deplorable as if she had never mentioned them.

      So, yes, the right did invent the condescension. Every non-deplorable person should want to put distance between themselves and hate speech and hate crimes, but Trump supporters instead embraced that segment. Why? It is one of the uglier aspects of the campaign and it did not come from the left.

      Trump not only attracted but encouraged things like attacking the press and protesters, people who were members of minority groups who tried to attend Trump's talks, and they relished the attacks from the podium and the crowd. There was no left involved in that.

      And the right surely did invent the habit of taking words out of context, ignoring the remainder of what was said, and misportraying what was actually said. It is what they do.

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    5. Here is an example of some liberal condescension for you:

      "Honestly, MoJo, he PROVED that by smirking, swaying, and tapping on his chest during the National Anthem at Arlington. This just proves that he's a dirty sphincter."

      Is it liberal condescending to think that our President should show respect to the fallen dead of past wars? You tell me.

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    6. Fennel CartwrightJune 4, 2017 at 4:35 PM

      I know how you feel man.

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    7. Fennel, I don't think you understand the definition of "condescension". If I call Comrade DinC a son of a bitch, that is not being condescending. That is me calling him a son of a bitch.

      You want to know what condescending was? I'll give you an example.


      In his opening statement at Tuesday night's Republican debate on Fox Business, presidential hopeful Donald Trump said he would not raise the minimum wage and that wages were "too high."

      Here's a good one.

      ************
      Half of the 68 former faculty and staff members identified by the AP had personal bankruptcies, foreclosures, credit-card defaults, tax liens, or other indicators of significant money trouble before teaching Trump University courses promoting "wealth building" and "how to invest like a billionaire," according to AP's review. Many of those hired to teach did not have college degrees and were not licensed to broker real estate.

      At least four had felony convictions.

      They include Ron P. Broussard Jr., who was hired to the Trump University staff in 2007 after years serving as a motivational speaker at get-rich-quick seminars taught in hotel conference rooms.

      Though he has never been licensed as a real-estate agent or broker, Broussard is listed as "staff" or "coordinator" for at least five Trump seminars titled "Fast Track to Foreclosure."

      Records show the former Army sergeant was convicted at court-martial in 1994 of sodomy and indecent acts with a child. He then served five years in the military prison at Leavenworth, Kansas.

      Broussard, who now lives in Duluth, Georgia, is a registered sex offender. He told AP that his conviction involved the 8-year-old daughter of a fellow soldier.
      **********

      You remember Trump University, don't you? That was his FRAUD where he took people's hard earned money while selling a pile of bullshit.


      Of course, Hillary was wrong. I think all rTrump voters are deplorable. I say that because I have yet to see or read one that isn't a hateful bastard. I defy you to show me one.

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    8. Fennel CartwrightJune 5, 2017 at 4:27 AM

      Mm and anon - thank you for helping me understand it is all someone else's fault and we are blameless victims.

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    9. It is probably your fault, Fennel

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    10. Fennel. Nope, that's not what I said.

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    11. mm,
      The story is that Trump ran a fraudulent university because some liberal somewhere said something bad about him once.

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  8. In its effort to achieve false equivalence, the NY Times today attributes Republican opposition to climate change measures to (1) Koch brothers, (2) Democrat hubris. That hubris we find out is because Obama tried to do something about climate change during his second term. It was apparently overreaching for Obama to do anything as President, justifying Republicans in their crazy beliefs and self-destructive behavior (supporting Trump in pulling out of the Paris accord).

    With reasoning like that from the paper of record, no wonder people cannot think straight.

    The idea that Democrats have hubris is becoming a meme firmly established in voters minds. There will be no shaking it during the next election. Any time a candidate opens his or her mouth to say something that combats fake news, we will be accused of elitism and Dem-splaining and speaking down to the white working class, and a variety of similar sins. We are being set up for such charges by our friends at the NY Times, who evidently prefer Trump (or someone like him). Wonder how much they are receiving from Kochs (or people like them).

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  9. On June 1, Vox, Ezra Klein says:

    "I'm going to do something unpopular now. I'm going to defend Hillary Clinton."

    What does this tell you about why she lost? That it is de rigueur to bash Clinton on the left is all the explanation we need about why she lost. All the grassroots enthusiasm in the world cannot overcome that bias. Klein should be ashamed.

    There was never any pushback against this on the left because it came from the left.

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  10. Griffin's tasteless humor sort of reminds me of the Hillary nutcracker. Republicans thought that was hilarious. Who lectured them about the damage they were doing to their party? Maybe this is what Somerby means by "liberal condescension"?

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  11. Putting the London attack into perspective:

    http://yastreblyansky.blogspot.com/2017/06/so-we-dont-have-to-fight-them-here.html#more

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  12. Digby understands what is going. As she notes, the conservatives consider this a civil war, no holds barred. Liberals do not. We need to wise up and get serious about fighting back because the fate of our country is at stake.

    From Digby's most recent Salon article:

    "There was another tempestuous row among conservatives this week, one that exposed the fundamental nature of the disagreement. Last Tuesday talk-show host Dennis Prager published an essay in National Review excoriating conservatives for failing to fall in line behind President Trump. He wrote that these anti-Trumpers didn’t understand that the nation is involved in an existential battle with liberalism. He explained as follows:

    On the other hand, I, and other conservative Trump supporters, do. That is why, after vigorously opposing Trump’s candidacy during the Republican primaries, I vigorously supported him once he won the nomination. I believed then, as I do now, that America was doomed if a Democrat had been elected president.

    He begged them to join the war effort, saying this:
    They can accept an imperfect reality and acknowledge that we are in a civil war, and that Trump, with all his flaws, is our general. If this general is going to win, he needs the best fighters. But too many of them, some of the best minds of the conservative movement, are AWOL. I beg them: Please report for duty."
    -----------

    This makes some sense out of Republican behavior. It also makes Somerby sound like an idiot. He is trying to perfect liberal etiquette while conservatives consider themselves to be in a fight to the death.

    We need to fight back. Following Somerby's advice is not a way to do that.

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    1. I agree with most of this. Maybe these are quibbles. 1. Prager did say "civil war", but he didn't say, "no holds barred."

      2. Prager's view is not the view of all Republicans. The "Never-Trumpers" who viciously opposed Trump continue to viciously oppose Trump. And, the Congressional Republicans are hardly behaving like they're in a life-and-death struggle.

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    2. Republicans who oppose Trump are ingrates. He's doing everything they've been asking for going on 4 decades.
      "Never-Trumpers" are just pissed that he's personally taking more of the grift ($$) they feel entitled to.

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    3. There are no elected republicans who oppose trump. The "never trumpers" are all pundits or ex-office holders. No one running is opposing him.

      their plan for 2018 is to attack the media and run against the media. they need a target to rile up the rubes and Hillary isn't there anymore.

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  13. The Hill has an article that says Democrats want Hillary to shut up and go away. Then you read down further and find out it is an Obama aide who is saying this. Hillary has a book coming out. She is speaking publicly because she has things to say that people are interested in and she wants to sell her book. Al Franken is doing the same thing.

    Obama's aide is upset because she dissed the DNC. It was easy enough to tell the DNC was a mess just from the various disasters during the campaign, beginning with Bernie's theft of Clinton's database info, continuing with the leaked emails about staff hating Bernie and finishing with the chaos at the Nevada convention and the not-quite departure of Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Throughout, Bernie's people tried to tie Schultz to Clinton. I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't some Bernie impetus behind this Hill article itself.

    Hillary Clinton now has the status of a party elder and statesman, just like Obama and John Kerry and Jimmy Carter. She gets to give her opinions on things without no-name Obama staffers telling her to sit down and shut up. If they should have learned anything by now, it is that Hillary Clinton doesn't shut up when anyone tells her to. Nor should she!

    Idiot Obama staffers need to understand that when they tell Hillary to shut up, women hear them telling them to shut up and go away too. Unless that is the message they mean to convey, these bros should think very carefully about what they tell Hill reporters about Clinton's visibility. They are going to need women's votes in 2018 and they won't get them by dissing Wonder Woman.

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    1. Still smarting from the 2008 Dem Primary campaign or just having reading difficulties? As a reminder, former President Obama became former last January.

      The "Obama aide" and "no-name Obama staffer" is actually former Obama aide and current DNC Chairman Tom Perez.

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    2. He should be ashamed of himself.

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    3. "He ought to be ashamed of himself."

      "He" being him?

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    4. Good question. Obama knew about the Russians and Trump before the election and he said nothing. Maybe Perez has a guilty conscience.

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  14. The perception of liberal condescension does influence voting. Many Trump voters acted out their hatred of all things liberal at the polls. It is the schadenfreude they reaped from this that blinds them to the reality of a Trump administration. Of course, the sound of Trumpsters howling in impotent rage is music to our ears, too.

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