Conservative Nastiness & Smears
In response to my back and forth with Michelle Malkin in which I asserted that incivility on the part of conservatives is (at least) as bad as incivility on the part of the left, I was challenged by both Ms. Malkin and Sean Hannity to provide a list of examples. My assertion all along is that, while we can disagree vociferously with our ideological opponents, we owe it to our humanity and our democracy to at least assume our opponents are well-intentioned and to avoid nasty insults that suggest otherwise.
With that in mind, by no means exhaustive, here are a few examples of personal insults and baseless hyperbole smearing President Obama and prominent liberals. And I’m not even including the Twitter smears from conservative lay folks. These are from prominent conservatives:
As a bonus, one of my favorites: Brent Bozell (on Sean Hannity’s TV show) critiquing MSNBC’s Chris Matthews for saying Newt Gingrich looks like a “car bomber” speculates what would happen if a conservative on Fox said that Obama looks like “a skinny, ghetto crackhead” — then, for good measure, Bozell then adds, “Which, by the way, you might want to say that Barack Obama does.”
And, less Ms. Malkin protest otherwise, these smears are having their desired intent. A Newsweek poll found that 52% of Republicans surveyed thought it was “definitely true” or “probably true” that Obama sympathized with the goal of fundamentalists who want to impose Islamic law around the world. Meanwhile, 33% believe he favors the interests of Muslim Americans over those of other Americans. The majority of GOP voters (52%) in Mississippi think Obama is a Muslim (which at least I still have trouble reconciling with all the smears based on his Christian minister Jeremiah Wright). 39% of Republicans in Illinois and 45% of Republicans in Alabama think Obama is a Muslim.
Meanwhile, almost 1 in 3 Republicans believe that President Obama was not born in the United States.
Bill O’Reilly has also stood up against ugly insults against the sitting President of the United States. And the conservative columnist Michael Medved wrote that, with respect to smearing President Obama personally, “it’s particularly unhelpful to focus on alleged bad intentions and rotten character when every survey shows more favorable views of his personality than his policies.” I couldn’t agree more. It also happens to be mean and unbecoming of any self-respecting American.
Anyway that’s just Obama… Hello? I don’t have time to collect the smears against Debbie Wasserman-Schultz or pick through the many examples in my own inbox let alone look at the everyday examples of conservatives smearing liberals on the Internet. For crying out loud, Rush Limbaugh has called more than 61 women in leadership positions “babe” — which perhaps Ms. Malkin would excuse as just being funny, but most folks would consider demeaning and dismissive, part of an conscious or unconscious campaign to silence liberal women and women in general.
I’d keep posting examples but I have to now go through all the nasty personal attacks and threats of violence in my Inbox thanks to my radio exchange with Ms. Malkin. Meanwhile, if Michelle Malkin wants to attack the left’s smears while contorting to justify smears from the right and simultaneously try and smear me for attempting to draw an equivalency and hold us ALL to a higher standard, well, I certainly celebrate the right to free speech that allows her to spread such sad nonsense.
143 Responses to Conservative Nastiness & Smears
Leave a Reply Cancel reply
NEW YORK TIMES PROFILE
JOIN SALLY’S EMAIL LIST
FOR A GOOD TIME, FOLLOW
LATEST TWEETS
RUMORS ABOUT ME
Loading Quotes...TV DOESN’T PAY THE BILLS
Make a tax-deductible contribution via our fiscal sponsor, the Grassroots Policy ProjectPOPULAR TAGS
2012 Election 2012 Elections barack obama budget capitalism civility Congress corporations debt deficit democrats economy feminism financial reform Fox News gay rights Glenn Beck government greed ideology inequality jobs marriage equality Mitt Romney Obama occupy wall st occupy wall street Paul Ryan popular education populism president obama progressive protests race racism Republicans Right wing sexism social movements strategy taxes Tea Party unions values Wall Street







Nice try, Sally, but the truth isn’t necessarily a smear. Sometimes the truth just hurts. Your examples positively do not prove your point at all – only makes you look like you’re whining because people are starting to see President Obama and the liberals for who they are.
None of the above is the truth, just the usual nonsense from the CONmen when someone stands in the way of helping their rich buddies at the expense of the middle class and poor.
Such amnesia. The attacks on the President started before he had served a single day in office. Including attacks by the Senate Minority leader who publicly stated that their single most important objective is to make sure Mr. Obama doesn’t get a second term. This is totally backed up by the unprecedented use of the filibuster even when some of the legislation was at least in part crafted by the Gop. And who could forget the treasonous statement by the REAL leader of the Gop Limbaugh who doubled down on his “I hope the President fails” statement. So your silly comment is total BS.
Wanting to make a left wing president a one-termer is not nasty or a smear.
yes but saying that in 2009 when our country was in the middle of a financial crisis just reeks of patriotism (which by the way the republicans go on about all the time).
If you do not understand the meaning of Honor, Duty, Country, then you will never truly understand Patriotism.
Thank you for proving her point. What an idiot…
Actually, Tracy, you’ve confused truth with smears. Not the same thing. And frankly, it’s obvious. Too bad it’s over your head.
Tracy, try reading the list again.
The President is Black. The President is a Democrat and he is your President.
The Truth Shall Set You Free
Whatever…you got back what you dished out, silly. School was in session…
Wow, get a grip on reality Sally. Those are pitiful examples!!!
Most of those quotes you wrote are TRUE about the president. How can they be smears or hyperbole if they’re TRUE? I don’t believe anyone should talk nasty about another person, but there’s nothing wrong with stating the truth. Some of the things on your list are wrong (the crackhead comment for example), I will give you that. But most of the things you listed? I’m sorry if you don’t want to see them as truth.
The fact of the matter is that there is a blatant bias among the media. Democrats can get away with far worse than Republicans. Liberals are such hypocrites and liars. I say this as a registered Democrat!
I voted for Obama in 2008 because I believed all of his lies. I will not be voting for him again.
Good for you, April!
You’ve been brainwashed – which is probably giving you an undeserved compliment.
President Obama is “hell-bent on weakening America” – The same can be said for CONmen who will stop at nothing to further root corporate America into politics.
“We’re now governed by people who do not like the country” – Conservatives don’t like this country. They say they do, but in reality the equal rights of others stand in their way of letting corporations dictate what really happens.
President Obama wants to “destroy capitalism” – He doesn’t want capitalism run amok, which is what has happened in this country for the last 30 years.
President Obama “certainly isn’t one of us” – I’m glad he’s not one of “you”.
President Obama “doesn’t put America first” – Total OPINION by a right wing-nut.
President Obama was “born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia” – Donald Trump, he of the 12 bankrupt companies in the last 20 years.
The Obama Administration is “deliberately destroying” American economy – No, the GOP logjam in congress (13% approval) is.
President Obama has a “deep resentment for this country” basically because he’s black – This from the leader of racists.
Now for something we call “facts”:
President Obama is “hell-bent on weakening America” – he has done exactly that. The dollar is worth crap, 2.2% GDP, the US credit has been downgraded under his watch and unemployment is still above 8%; something he promised would never happen after the Stimulus bill was passed. Guess that idea didn’t work out too well, huh?
“We’re now governed by people who do not like the country” – Obama himself said that he wanted to fundementally change this country, went overseas apologizing for America’s “arrogance”, disrespects our allies while genuflecting to those that don’t like this country. And you wonder why someone would make this comment?
President Obama wants to “destroy capitalism” – He is attacking the very people who can put this country back on track by trying to tax the crap out of them. I’ve never worked for a poor person.
President Obama “certainly isn’t one of us” – referring to the fact that he does not hold the same values that Conservatives has, which is true. Even you can figure that list out.
President Obama “doesn’t put America first” – Obama – “I will not rest until every American that wants a job gets a job”…remember that line? You should – he’s said it about 10 times. Meanwhile at 8.2% unemployment, he seems to only have time to travel the country begging for money from his Hollywood friends for his re-election…so who do YOU think he’s putting first?
President Obama was “born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia” – While I don’t agree with the Kenya comment, had Obama addressed the birther issue in the beginning, maybe he wouldn’t have made that comment. BTW – there is still lots about the president that has been asked that seems to be “top secret” for some reason, including the fact that he was a member of a socialist 3rd party in his early political career (Limbaugh talked about this today). At least Trump owned the companies and still owns successful businesses and is trying to employ Americans and is still more successful than you (no need to comment on that – I know he is). How many companies do YOU own? How many Americans do YOU employ?
The Obama Administration is “deliberately destroying” American economy – Obama was given a budget from Congress a couple of times and refused to approve it because it didn’t have the stuff he wanted – which was more money to spend.
President Obama has a “deep resentment for this country” basically because he’s black – I don’t know who this “leader of racists” is, but Jeremiah Wright sounds like a great candidate. He doesn’t seem to like this country too much…
So, @April – don’t listen to knuckleheads like this guy. He’s not in touch with reality like YOU are!
“The dollar is worth crap, 2.2% GDP, the US credit has been downgraded under his watch and unemployment is still above 8%; something he promised would never happen after the Stimulus bill was passed. Guess that idea didn’t work out too well, huh?”
—–the dollar has been declining against other currencies since 1981. However, if you invested in the stock market during Bush’s last year, you have almost doubled your money by now. If all it takes to destroy an economy is a Democratic president, then the economy was never very strong to begin with.
“Obama himself said that he wanted to fundementally change this country, went overseas apologizing for America’s “arrogance”, disrespects our allies while genuflecting to those that don’t like this country. And you wonder why someone would make this comment?”
—-Obama was “apologizing” for right-wing arrogance like yours, not American. I never heard this alleged apology, except from right-wing radio opinionators anyway.
“He is attacking the very people who can put this country back on track by trying to tax the crap out of them. I’ve never worked for a poor person.”
—just who is he attacking? Warren Buffet? Bill Gates? Define “attack,” sounds like you consider taxing power granted by the Constitution and “attacking” the same thing. I have 100 poor clients for every rich one.
“(Limaugh talked about this today)”
—therefore it has ZERO credibility, and anybody who listens to Limbaugh or any of the other blatherers available 24/7 coast to coast is a complete moron.
“Obama was given a budget from Congress a couple of times and refused to approve it because it didn’t have the stuff he wanted – which was more money to spend.”
—Therefore, he is trying to destroy the economy? That is a leap in logic I would expect from a someone who parrots Limbaugh like you. Another example of right-wing logic:
Marx was a communist, all socialism is fascism, therefore Obama is a Muslim.
“I don’t know who this “leader of racists” is, but Jeremiah Wright sounds like a great candidate. He doesn’t seem to like this country too much…”
—ah yeah, Jeremiah Wright, why not throw in Bill Ayers and George Soros, … manomoley this crap is making me sick. Without Googling, name one other statement Jeremiah Wright made besides “God damned America.”
You freaks are like broken records. The only thing that gets repeated more than this garbage are the crappy songs on the other radio stations. NONE of what is said above is fact, it’s all opinion. It’s not a matter of being true or false, it’s a matter of whether you agree or disagree. Right-wingers do not know the difference.
Well, you haven’t disproven anything I’ve said with any facts of your own, so I guess I’m good.
Everything I said IS based on facts, and is happening now if you take a few minutes to take your rosy colored glasses off and see for yourself.
As for your comment about more from Jeremiah Wright, isn’t the fact that he said what he said in a church as an active pastor and a man of God is enough? And the fact that Obama decided to distant himself from him should give you all the proof you need. But maybe you’d like for him to spin his head around a few times and hang the cross upside down just like in the movies. Would that do it?
Other than that, if you have some time after you’re done getting your daily news from CNN and Comedy Central, maybe you should re-read what I said, do a little more objective fact checking and think about it some more.
Maybe you’ll get it. I doubt it, but there is always (dare I say it…gulp)…hope.
I lone how people whine about Jeremiah Wright. Unlike most of his distractors Rev. Wright served honorably in the military. So that whole he hates America thing is kind of funny.
BCL-
Well if Limbaugh talked about it today …. You need to turn off the radio and read for yourself for a change.
Hard to accomplish, I’m sure.
I did. Now why don’t you put your foot where your mouth is and try reading it yourself. Sorry, they didn’t add any pictures for you….
http://www.newsmax.com/Newsfront/obama-joined-new-party/2012/06/07/id/441619?s=al&promo_code=F20A-1
Regarding Rush’s mention of Obama as a member of a Socialist 3rd Party:
The Democratic Socialists of America established “The New Party” in some US cities which included Chicago. Obama was a member of this group.
He was elected as a Democrat to the Illinois State Senate with the full support of the New Party.
If you believe that this is not true, please provide a trustworthy source as proof.
thumbs up!
I don’t accept your statement that you are a Democrat. If you are a registered Democrat, you are not registered with the right party.
You just don’t get it! You talk about policy differences in your list, liberals smear people. Calling a person a socialist (which Obama is) and calling Sarah Palin the “c” word, the “b” word. Are not the same. Mentioning the names of donors to the Rommeny campaign publicly and ridiculing them is not nice. You want to shut up conservatives, and we are not going to be silent. Liberals have called for the murder of Scott Walker, hope Chaney dies, etc. clean up your side before you talk about our side.
Chaney? Lon Chaney? he’s already dead…
Those are examples of people speaking the truth, not smears. Try again Sally.
And these aren’t even the most egregious examples of right-wing hate talk.
So then what are the most egregious examples? Because I’ve gotta tell you, those really just criticisms and sound pretty mild. They don’t rise to the level of smears
Unfortunately true.
I just heard you on Sean Hannity’s radio show debating Michelle Malkin. What happened, you did not bring your “A” game.
Tracy – just what I was thinking as I read Sally’s article. I can’t see how Sally is saying these are personal insults. It seems that the “attacks” by conservatives are really just facts being stated. I don’t think they are mean-spirited but rather truthful.
So you are stupid enough to believe that the President wasn’t born in the United States when the REPUBLICAN governor of Hawaii confirmed it. You believe he is Muslim but at the same time followed a radical CHRISTIAN minister? Really? Do you not understand the contradictions in those statements or are you so partisan that you don’t care?
Will, good comment – these same people probably deny that Romney’s family has a whole branch living in Mexico, because they didn’t want to limit themselves to just one wife, but they believe lies about Obama every day.
Where did you get that little tid bit Vicki?
Skippy-
Guess the right wing media is omitting that part about Etch-a-Sketch because they know how their followers go nuts over anything Mexican.
Skipper asked you a question. We’re all wondering where you heard that?
It’s Romney’s family history ??
See IT’s TRUE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FOX VIEWERS ARE LESS INFORMED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
You guys haven’t heard about it because Fox network didn’t mention it !!!!
Google it Wiseguys !!!!!!!!!!!!!
She’s so partisan she doesn’t care.
Wow Will, thanks for your bi-partisan response
Hey Will… the guvnor of Hawaii is a socialist DEMOCRAT! Who also took his sweet-ass time in delivering said (forged) birth cetificate. This, only after he refused to hand it over, then said it couldn’t be found. But what the hell eh’, facts only get in the way of agenda… right? Dumbass!
The governor of Hawaii that confirmed Obama’s certificate to be legit was REPUBLICAN Linda Lingle. You call someone “dumbass” without checking the facts?
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2009/jul/01/obamas-birth-certificate-final-chapter-time-we-mea/
Hmmm, well, as it happens, it wasn’t Linda Lingle who confirmed nor denied the existence of said birth certificate, but it was in fact Neil Abecrombie as the birth certificate hadn’t yet really become an issue. Yes, as of your link there was an incumbent Republican, but then we were not discussing dates but rather incidents. You can trace whatever the hell you want to whenever the hell the timeline to fit your stats but rest assured, dumbass, it was indeed Neil Abercrombie who held out the record, then said it could not be found, then came up with a (liberal) accepted version of: “Oh, hey… here it is”. Spin this any ol’ way you like… but if indeed most news outlets at the time are wrong, and you, in your infinite wisdom are right… then hey… no problem… right? Good Lord man, why are you liberals so brain-washed?
Here ya’ go, about as insightful as your link and maybe a little more to the point:
WORLD NET DAILY: 1/18/2011
Hawaii Governor can’t find Obama Birth Certificate
and I did mention you are a dumbass liberal… right?
I would also add, ironically, that I never really believed in the whole birther thing… I was simply responding to a post a didn’t happen to agree with…
President Obama’s literary agent wrote that he was born in Kenya, raised in Indonesia in a 1991 booklet …. maybe that’s why people claim he was born in Kenya. http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/05/17/The-Vetting-Barack-Obama-Literary-Agent-1991-Born-in-Kenya-Raised-Indonesia-Hawaii
Oh sure, a dead breitbart link.
I’m sure that’s accurate . NOT !
The link is not dead.
The link might not be dead but Breitbart is . True Republicans don’t believe any of this rhetoric, conservative media has to find points to argue about, since their party has become lost.
The right is so hypocritical it is ridiculous. The Dixie Chicks say they are ashamed President Bush is from Texas and almost every conservative outlet calls for boycotts or worse. Ted Nugent threatens the President and says that Hillary Clinton can suck on his machine gun and the right wing media winks and nods and wraps themselves in the flag. The only time those in the right wing media support the first amendment is when people agree with them.
Ted Nugent had made his comments in response to direct questions when being asked his opinion, or to groups who were paying him to deliver a speech, where his opinion was clearly expected. The Dixie chick made her comment about Bush on stage during a concert in London. There is a difference. If someone forks out money to attend a concert, they expect to be entertained…not to have an international stage used as an opportunity for the entertainers to spout political opinions. Further, whatever your political feelings, on stage during a live concert in a foreign country is not the time to bash your country’s leader. Also, for the record, nobody on the “right” is trying to silence anyone’s free speech. It is the Liberal pundits who keep bringing up the topic of conservative “incivility”…. conservative pundits have simply pointed out the hypocrisy of that claim.
@Renee: Amen!
Pretty “impressive” list you came up with in less than 5 minutes after the interview. Why didn’t you come up with this list with Sean and Michelle asked you on the air? You just proved the point that Sean and Michelle made by only keeping score of what the Right says, while blatantly ignoring the vile stuff said on the Left, which is way more vulgar than anything said on the Right. By then trying to melt it all into one big pot, suggesting that we all be more civil and attacking Michelle for what she has said sounds pretty hypocritical to me.
You really don’t get it Sally. What we are tired of is being lectured by the so called ‘tolerant’ liberals about our ‘incivility’ while at the same time being called things like cunt, bitch, wing nut, terrorist, hostage taker, evil doer, tea bagger etc. Call us all the names you want – we all have freedom of speech – just don’t lecture us when we speak out and you don’t agree.
@Amy, right on the money!
@Sally, intellectually, you really got your @ss handed to you in that debate. If you can not make a more effective argument than that, I suggest you stay off TV/Radio.
Not at all. Kohn stayed civil. Malkin couldn’t name call much cause people were listening a little harder than usual because of the article that started it. So Malkin was simply seething in her own juices.
I could hear the sizzle even if you couldn’t !!!!!
To the others who have left comments before me….you say Sally’s examples are pitiful!? the quotes are true!? You are friggin kidding me right? If Obama is SOOO BADDD shouldn’t I as a liberal gotten everything on my liberal wish list by now. The only true explanation for thinking Obama wants to hurt and/or destroy the the country and is a Muslim and isn’t one of us yada yada yada is that he is black, not white. Conservatives still can’t come to grips with a black man in the White House. It is so easy to paint him as the boogey man. It couldn’t be that he just has a different point of view than you. No his point of view (being different) will bring about the end of the U.S.A. as we know it. Now if a milk toast white guy, like Mitt Romney were in charge we’d all be better off, right?
Give me a f___king break. The race card’s getting pretty old and is only used by loosers that can’t defend what Obama has done….or, not done. Obama has given us a long list of things to criticize. His skin color is irrelevant.
If conservative commentators believe this compiled list to be very mild in comparison to common smears said by liberals, please do provide such a list of prominent liberals smearing conservatives.
It amazes me that you responders think the examples given are truths- do you know what truth is? So, if you have your way in November we are headed “Back to the Future” with more of the same unbridled capitalist ideas that got us into the mess we are in right now. We will be soing the limbo- how low can you go?!
The things that Sally listed as “smears” are comments based on how Obama has governed during his presidency and they are true.
Washington has been under Democratic control for over 40 years (in either the White House and/or Congress). Republicans just got control of the House 2 years ago and we were nearly at 9% when the Democrats controlled Congress before 2010. So try again – WHO got us into this mess? And we’re still above 8% unemployment, something the president said would never happen after the Stimulus bill was passed. So I’d rather have “capitalist ideas” in Washington than the current “socialist ideas” that screwing up this country right now!
Correction…Washington’s been under Democratic control for nearly 80 years…my bad.
Washington was under control of the Republicans during GW Bush with control of both houses of Congress, the presidency and the Supreme court for 6 straight years before the Democrats won the house during Bush’s last two years. Pelosi was speaker for two terms until 2010 elections, but at least she wasn’t thrown out of Congress and reprimanded by her own party on ethics issues (like Gingrich) when he was speaker during Clinton’s administration. Gold standard was dumped under Nixon, trickle-down economics and the era of corporate raiding, mergers and acquisitions and junk bonds was gifted to us by Reagan, the Republicans “Contract With America” was soundly rejected during Clinton, Reagonomics was once again implemented under GW Bush with no opposition (Congress/Senate were both friendly) which drove us (like under Reagan) back to massive budget deficits, and the Bushies didn’t even put the costs of their wars on the budget…, which Obama immediately corrected when he came into office, which had the immediate effect of spiking the budget deficit by adding the costs of the wars to the books… so actually Obama’s biggest addition to the deficit his first year was actually by counting the cost of the war in the accounting process, which Bush never did… just look at the facts, try to somehow get a grasp on the hard-to-believe notion that Republicans have been disastrous to our economy ever since Reagan… and have had the most control… just open your eyes and study history with and open mind, then make your judgements…
First of all, under both Reagan and Bush we had the most economic growth in history, so “Reaganomics” worked. Companies thrived and hired. Next, this falsehood of “stopping the wars” to save money is crap. While we were in Iraq and Afghanistan, we still had more growth than we are having now and the wars don’t cost anywhere near what the current debt is now. The fact that Bush didn’t count the cost of the war is also a lie. You guys believe that Obama is counting it now because he has to try to explain why the current debt is $15 trillion when it was at $5 trillion under Bush. So, don’t try to flim-flam me with the “know your history” crap. I know facts and see the proof in front of my eyes. It’s not that complicated.
Seriously…? Wow, lots of Kool-Aide passed your lips… first of all, Bush did not put the costs of the wars on the budget, it was off budget money… yes, we knew how much was “approved” by Congress each year (close to 100 billion/year, or more) but it was not overseen by Congress, and not put on the budget… this is not a lie. Reagan drove the budget deficit to record levels during his term, and had to raise taxes to compensate for his huge spending (not to mention illegal sales of missiles to Iran to fund and illegal supporting of the Contras after Congress did not approve the US doing this) but, awww, shucks, he was such a nice guy, right? Even George Herbert Walker Bush called trickle-down Reagonomics “voodoo economics” until he lost his bid for the nomination, and took the VP job… of course he then just toed the line, as McCain did back in 2000… funny thing about some of these guys, when they are feeling free to speak without being threatened with expulsion from the Republican party, they actually made a lot of sense… but, survival of self always comes first… but still, sometimes it’s possible to see the glimmer of independent, intelligent thinking, even in a Republican… but heaven forbid if they ever let it show…
Oh… one last thing, Mr. Flim Flam… a president normally has no power to spend money, unless like GWB they get Congress to approve a blank check to conduct a war… just in case hostilities might happen… yeah, right… wink, wink…
Since it’s right there in front of you, as you say, just look harder, because honestly, the truth is there… you’re just not getting it… Obama is slowing down the runaway spending freight train he landed in, but it can’t happen overnight, so look at the deceleration of spending under Obama, even including the stimulus… sure, spending is still increasing, but almost at a negligible rate over the prior year, year after year, and soon that curve will be in the decreased spending direction… if you think it’s as simple as the tea party simpletons believe to just cut spending instantly in an economy such as ours, that would be like stopping a train from 60-0 in just a foot or so… it can be done, but you’ll destroy the train, and a lot of people will be hurt in the process… then private capitalists can come in and pick through the salvage and make a killing while China takes over the economic world… is that what your really want?? Wake up, bro!
Good point FCarlos. And as history has shown, during those first six years we had a pretty good economy, with GDP growth 3.5%, average unemployment of 5.3% and a budget deficit of $161b (1.2% of GDP). Once Pelosi & Reed got ahold of the purse strings and Bush didn’t have the guts to veto anything, the wheels came off and have gotten worse ever since. Thanks for reminding me.
Oh, that’s really brilliant… Pelosi caused the economic meltdown…? It had nothing to do with our banking and financial system wreaking havoc with our economy because they had the freedom to turn all our capital into casino chips? It had nothing to do with continuous massive spending and budget deficits (not counting the off-books wars) and massive tax cuts which weren’t needed, since the economy was doing fine by the time Clinton left office… It had nothing to do with out-sourcing almost all manufacturing by supposedly American corporations, largely paid for by tax-payers through huge tax credits for offsetting the expenses of relocating jobs… that was brilliant, too, btw… nope, I guess none of that mattered, and that deck of cards economy that looked great because it was all built on the false premise of credit, easy credit to everyone, remember when Bush answered the question of how should Americans sacrifice to support the war effort, and he said, “go out and spend money, act like everything is normal…” so, we did. We all went into hock, the country went into hock, Wall street gambled with our money (taxpayers and investors) because they were too big to fail, and knew we’d have to bail then out if they screwed up… which is when the “good” Bush economy came crashing down…. someone pulled the bottom card out of the thing, and that was that…. perhaps it was Pelosi… hahaha… wow… no wonder we’re in trouble in this country if people believe that silly excuse…
@Skipper –
You’re right – Bush was ready to leave and gave in to Democrat wishes, so in the end, he lost his nerve.
What Obama inherited was 5-6% unemployment and 4 billion dollars in debt and made it worse. And as for the “runaway spending freight train”, he’s the one driving it.
The war is the only thing you libs have to go to deflect blame for the reason Obama’s policies failed. A war, BTW, that no one had a problem with after 9/11.
The stimulus bill cost more than both wars put together. Regardless of whether it was on-budget or off budget. Obama promised that the unemployment rate would not go past 8 percent if the bill was passed and would create jobs. He didn’t say anything about it “taking a little more time”. He also said that if he didn’t fix the economy in 3 years that he would be a 1 term president. Remember that? Instead, the jobless rate hasn’t gone below 8 percent since the bill was passed, he quadrupled the national debt from 4 trillion to nearly 16 billion in 3 years and caused the US credit rating to be downgraded! And he still wants to keep his job. Absolutely ridiculous. He’s spent more than all of the presidents combined and wants to spend more. As for China, he doesn’t seem interested at all in resolving our debt with them or making us more competitive because he’s going to kill any business growth in the US if he doesn’t cease his war on the rich and stop his tax hike agenda.
Well, it looks like he’ll will be 1 term president but not because he wants to be. So he, you and everyone else in for him are now making all of these excuses, digging back into history, looking for reasons to make all of us with common sense believe that everything is okay when it isn’t so that he can keep his job.
Balancing the budget is just as easy as cutting spending across the board. Just like anyone that runs a household can tell you. And I believe that even you know that. But you and Obama try to tug on our heart strings to keep funding entitlements, and to grow government because you guys think that the US is a big fat ATM with no fees and that only government can fix our problems.
Right now, I don’t care about what either Bush did or Reagan did. What I care about is what Obama has said he would do and what he actually has done, which is nothing. Because of that, he’ll be a 1 term president just like he said he would be.
And if you think that after 3 years of doing nothing that all of a sudden he’s gonna roll up his sleeves and go to work during a 2nd term, YOU’RE the one who needs to wake up!
Actually, BCL, you’re just perpetuating the lie that Obama promised unemployment rate of less than 8% if the stimulus bill was passed, because in fact he never promised that… that’s a distortion by the right wing media. So, I challenge you to dig up some actual verification that Obama himself ever promised this result, because I have no doubt you won’t be able to. And just to be clear, using some third-party right wing talking head’s statement of such does not count as proof, anymore than hearsay evidence is admissible in court.
There might have been some of his advisers or others in the administration who suggested this could be the case, but to pin it on Obama as a promise made to the American people is not only disingenuous, but it’s simply not true.
I read part of the actual bill that had an analysis in it, and in it they mentioned that passing the bill would prevent unemployment from going above 7.7%. It’s been a while but I do remember that. I cannot find the .pdf, but if you want to make yourself useful and share some real information to prove me wrong go ahead.
Here’s the deal. When this bill was first mentioned, Obama stood next to people who supposedly were unemployed and said that the bill had to be passed because too many Americans were losing their jobs. At that time, unemployment was about 6.7-7%. After the bill was passed, Americans were still (and are still) losing jobs. The jobless rate has gotten WORSE under Obama – and THAT’S a fact.
Fact is that he isn’t getting the job done like he said he would, and just because he didn’t “say” certain things doesn’t excuse the fact that people are still losing jobs and the economy is getting worse. You don’t need to say anything more about that because THAT is a fact.
Fact is that he said he would fix this mess in 3 years or he would be a 1 term president. Prove to me that he didn’t say that. Whether you believe it or not or think it’s a “lie” makes no difference to me, because you know who knows it – Obama knows it. That’s why he’s out there trying to make up excuses about why the economy hasn’t improved and why he’s trying to back pedal on that statement he made about being a 1 term president.
Fact is that the Democrats controlled Congress just for the first 2 years, but 2 years of Bush’s administration (altogether – 4 frickin’ years) and did nothing to resolve this problem.
Fact is that many Americans are hurting because of Obama’s failed policies and have not benefitted from any of them, and you can try to put ice cream on it and dress it up all you want – the facts are in black and white every day. And whether you know it or not makes no difference to me because you’re nothing but a little Obama foot soldier who is ignorant to what is really going on out there.
It’s always interesting to hear from Liberals like yourself. Instead of offering facts and real solutions that don’t involve government or raising taxes, you guys go back into history to point fingers at others for why you can’t get things done, blame the rich and Republicans. It’s always someone else’s fault.
It’s apparent that regardless of what I say, you’ll come up with a different excuse for Obama. We need to educate a new generation of Americans and teach them how to be successful and to be productive without government’s help, because your generation is lost.
I know you think you’re being cute trying to play the word game with me about what he said and what he didn’t say, making excuses, blaming Bush and Republicans all to protect your precious Obama but it doesn’t matter, because the majority of Americans now see the truth, and nothing you, Obama or anyone else on the left says now is going to change that.
Good for you, Sally!! Listening to the discussion today, with you defending yourself against Michelle Malkin on Sean Hannity, convinced us who to vote for. We are Republicans, but cannot tolerate the hatred that Ms. Malkin and Laura Ingraham spew out daily! Please continue to speak out for civility.
So, you’re not going to vote for Michelle Malkin or Laura Ingraham?
Oh brother….getting a quesy feeling in my stomach about now. Sounds like you’ve been drinking the Liberal Kool-Aid…sad.
You really shouldn’t be talking about Kool-Aide when your own lips are so stained from the stuff… really…! Seriously… just look in the mirror… see that stain… yup…! What gives me a queasy feeling is how one side of our political system gains more the less people are informed… feed them a bunch of stuff they want to hear, fire up the base by belittling the other side, preach to the converted while wrapping themselves in the flag (very few of who really served) while simultaneously cutting veterans benefits after bragging about how much they love the troops and America… it’s a recipe guaranteed to harvest the votes of a lot of very uneducated people who are easy to inflame with simple rhetoric… why else would simply outspending the other side with any kind of lies on tv work if this weren’t true? Freedom of speech now means freedom of money to dominate any political process, to shout down any civil debate or actual discussion of issues, and how our government (all of it) can actually do it’s damn job and work with each other, even if one side is in the minority or doesn’t hold the White House… that’s always going to be the case, but today it seems to be a problem, and if the answer is a one-party runs everything… permanently, because they have the corporate money, then we become Mexico… where any liberal opposition is just overpowered by the controlling class of wealthy property owners, year after year. Does that sound like an America you really want to see…? Just think about how much Kook-Aide is out there on the right, because millions, if not billions of dollars are being spent by a handful of people… and I’m sure it isn’t out of the generosity of their hearts, or intended to educate the masses… hence, Kool-Aide in the form of a propaganda network posing as a news network (24 hrs a day,) the decline of newspapers and investigative journalism, corporate bosses handing news operations of networks over to the entertainment departments… the war on neutral, unbiased journalism which can be found on PBS, the huge amounts of money in right-wing think tanks and PACS, including ALEC (look it up) which writes legislation with lobbiests and special interests that is handed to Republican controlled state legislations to vote on, literally word for word unchanged, which is why we see nearly identical legislation being passed in multiple Republican controlled states, from anti-abortion laws to anti-immigration laws, to new voter registration laws, to anti-union laws… all funded by major PACS not located in any of these states… ever wonder what their real interests are? What’s in it for them? Surely wealthy people and corporate special interests (energy, tobacco, Wall Street traders, etc) aren’t stupid, and would not throw millions of dollars away out of the goodness of their hearts… obviously, if they are as smart as many think because they’re rich, there must be an expected return… and that probably is correct thinking… so, tax breaks, tax credits, relaxed regulations allowing more pollution or more hoodwinks on Wall Street, and certainly… a major say in any new legislation to make sure they benefit… and if you understand logic, where one side always benefits, the other side loses… simple as that… but, if it were a fair game, then fine… but if the game is rigged, it’s bullshit…(and this ain’t a Republican/Democrat thing, it’s a wealthy vs. middle class and poor thing.)
Finally, if you understand anything about a thriving economy, and how one works… there has to be a lively flow of capital/money to the majority of the population, so it can be exchanged in the form of goods, services, with money changing hands over and over… this creates demand, jobs and ultimately, even the wealthy will do better, just not at the huge immediate way they would if they grab everything now…it never pays to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs. We are on our way to becoming a banana republic, but not because of Obama… but because all the “banana” corporations and wealthy “land owners” will soon own everything, and we’ll all be (figuratively speaking) only able to pick their bananas… that goes for Republican average people as well as Democrats… maybe then all the uninformed people out there will realize we should all be on the same side against the real enemy of our continuing democracy, where money counts for more than citizenship… and only a few own most of the money and country. It’ll be very hard to fix it then, because Americans will be facing the same problem any other poor population does when they hold no power… no money… and can simply be marginalized… John Adams warned us nearly 200 years ago about the dangers of corporations, and Eisenhauer warned us of the dangers of the military-industrial complex as he left office… we’d be wise to heed their warnings instead of wearing blinders and drinking all that corporate media over-simplified, sugary, rhetorical Kool-Aide intended to get the masses to either be compliant, or to do their bidding without realizing it… that’s Kool-Aide… mmmm, mmmm… tasty!! And, oh, so plentiful… just don’t put it to your lips, folks. A free society and democracy requires an informed electorate, or it just fails sooner than later…
Uh…..
What in the hell are you talking about?
I’m going to keep this simple.
Obama failed and he’s going to lose in November. Sorry.
Our economy is not growing under his “leadership”. Attacking the rich, taxing them more and demonizing corporate America isn’t going to get us out of this mess. When free market grows, our economy grows. Government doesn’t create jobs – growth in the free market does.
You seem to know quite a bit about Kool-Aid and it seems to be the only thing you know about. You last incoherent rant proves it.
I’ve got other things to do, so if you want to try and impress someone else with this crap, go for it.
IOW BCL, you got PWND!
Sorry, BCL, I guess I was over your head there… so if you want to know what I’m talking about, go back and read… slowly… it should be clear to anyone with a high school education what I’m talking about.
I read it and it was a bunch of garbage. If a person with a high school education wrote this, I would see paragraphs, no run on sentences and better spelling. But maybe you went to a different kind of high school that didn’t teach those things.
i wasnt going to reply until i read the comments. as someone who considers themself a progressive, i spend many hours listening to sean and rush and savage and medved while i toil for a meager check. first of all can anyone of you explain how saying that obama is resentful of america or that he’s only goal is to destroy our way of life can be considered “truth”?? calling those OPINIONS truth implies that you have a psychic link to the president and know his thoughts. BO has nt proposed or enacted a single thing that is alien to arguments that have ben going on in politics forever. when he fights for a progressive cause, hes a socialist. when he passes somethin straight from GWB’s playbook, he’s a fascist. i voted for obama because i fell for his propoganda, i may not vote for him becuse all the stuff he HASNT done. just because you disagree with his policy doesnt make him an extrmist muslim or a evil super villian bent on destroying the world. as soon as you realize that overcoming differances, not vilifying the “enemy”, made us a great nation maybe we can start to recapture that greatness. thats the point sall is making. we are not enemies. we are on the same team and having a quarterback controversy… no matter who gets the starting spot, the job of everone on he team is to win together.
sorry about the typos, im on my phone without spell check and kinda in a hurry… point is: someone give me an example of obama’s hatred of america.
keystone pipeline (this country runs on oil). War against religion (birth control, same sex can marry). War against woman (abortion if the fetus is female).
keeping American companies from drilling for oil, but lending billions of dollars to Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil’s Tupi oil field; keeping the KeyStone Pipeline from going forward and giving China an opportunity to get safe, less expensive energy; giving EPA go ahead to regulate power plants out of existence; shoving Obamacare down our throats; Anyone who lies as much as he does doesn’t love people….. he says one thing and does something else – many times the opposite thing.
right-wing argument:
blahblahblahblah Keystone pipeline
blablablabla Obamacare rammed down our throats.
blahblahblahblah No republican ever did any deficit spending
blahblahblah Jeremiah Wright
blahblahblah if it weren’t for the EPA the economy would be booming
blahblahblahblah thu left
blahblahblahbalh Chicago-style politics
blahblahblah he’s anti-small business
blah blah blah, need to tax the rich
blah blah blah, the recession is over..
blah blah blah, the economy is growing
blah blah blah, bain capital
blah blah blah, treyvon martin could’ve been my son
blah blah blah, they want us to breath dirty air
blah blah blah, they want us to drink dirty water
blah blah blah they want ppl with autism to fend for themselves
blah blah blah, they want granma to die
so really dude ? blah blah…..blah urself
Well said, Mark!
really ? well said mark ? like libs don’t have their talking points too ?
Sorry Sally. I got caught up in all of the banter. I do appreciate the way you conduct yourself in interviews and I thought that Sean and Michelle were pretty unfair to you by not letting you speak. That said, I don’t think that the list you provided comes close to the smut that has been said by Bill Maher, David Letterman, Ed Schultz, etc.
okay, Bill Maher is a stand up comidian with a weekly hour long show that usually has a mixed idealogical panel. He has used offensive language but his are more insults than smears. he never seriously claims that romney is a paligamist or that bush allowed 9\11 to happen. He is crude but he doesnt make baseless claims on how someone is thinking. i dont watch David Letterman but its hard to believe that he would get away with saying things eqivelent to Rush or Medved on tv for this long. And Ed Shultz is an idiot and most liberals dismss him as such. the problem is the right’s idiots (rush, micheal savage, hannity, etc) are the defacto leaders of the republican grassroots… you’re making false equivallincies that fall apart unde scrutany.
Sally, you are a venal liar and an anti freedom American and you have us blocked on Twitter @PushBackNow.
If you think that these are smears, then why would a massive percentile, a majority of Americans agree with most, if not off of the comments.
Here is some more truth, regarding WI and the Nov. 6th vote. Share this with your progressive friends – Truth 1) Walker won. 2) If money bought elections Meg Whitman would be the Gov of CA, not Moon beam. 3) We The People are just getting started.
There are elements we may agree on, but the left will have to, must be put out of power before you destroy this country. This is NOT the EuroZone and we have no intention of letting the selfish turn it over, Rather the self-less will hear the call to arms, and rise up together to remove the both the ineffective and dangerous components of the democratic party.
Failure for the progressives is the only option, and total annihilation of the political possibilities from many decades.
you know… there have been a few other political parties thats wanted utter annihilation of it’s opponnants. i dont think many of them turned out well for the masses (or We the People as you so erroniously use)
“•President Obama was “born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia” — Donald Trump” Try again, Sally. Trump is only quoting what President Obama’s literary agent put in a 1991 booklet about him! http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2012/05/17/The-Vetting-Barack-Obama-Literary-Agent-1991-Born-in-Kenya-Raised-Indonesia-Hawaii
“•President Obama has a ‘deep resentment for this country’ basically because he’s black” Rush did say that President Obama has a deep resentment for this country (and I agree!), but no where on the page you cited did he say that it was because he was black. Talk about smears…
if you think that Obama does have resentment for our country but its NOT because he’s black, then where does his resentment come from?
I don’t know all the reasons for his resentment(his socialist mindset b/c of his upbringing), but it doesn’t really matter. What I was addressing is that Rush did NOT say that President has deep resentment for this country BECAUSE he is black. The point Sally is trying to make is that the right says many uncivil things; and she stepped in it by claiming Rush said something that he did not.
My guess is Sally just went to some liberal site to find some altered, edited, and inaccurate “statements” made by those mean conservatives about those innocent, and always civil liberals. She didn’t even bother to inquire if the statements are accurate and in context, so typical.
In the 20 years since Clinton’s election the republicans have controlled the House for 14 years and the Senate for 12. Counting Obama, the democrats have held the Presidency for 12 years.
While the democrats held the house for many years previous to the republican victory in 1994′ it should be noted that the republicans have held the Presidency for 28 of the 44 years since Nixon was elected in 1968.
I would hardly call that democrat domination.
Nice try Sally. Too bad I don’t have 5 pages to fill out the slurs that are examples of incivility by the left that, as you say, at least as bad as conservatives. Your own president has backed the OWS, along with Biden, Pelosi, Reid, etc, yet they have issued death threats, have had hundreds of arrests, have deficated and urinated on public property ( and police vehicles), yet your Messiah has literally endorsed them
Your big uniion thugs like Hoffa jr, called for “taking those sons of bitches out”, in referring to the Tea Party- which, in case you were asleep at the wheel (which you obviously are) had no arrests, nor any act of viloence- unlike the OWS movement (and I don’t mean bowels).
You are a clueless contributor who is grasping at straws, because you are getting your proverbial butt whipped
Michelle Malkin & Sean Hannity are two of the most hysterically aggrieved, habitually hyperbolic idiots trotted out by Fox “News” and its business partners in the right wing echo chamber. Two completely vacuous zombies incapable of a cogent thought between them.
LOL1 You got owned !!!
You people are all so sad. I have very little hope for the “Grand Experiment”. It is an abject failure. Uneducated hate mongers rule the day. Congratulations.
Calling someone a socialist, when they are a socialist just like Hollande in France is a socialist, is not a smear. Calling someone a socialist, when they were a member of the New Party, a socialist party in Chicago in the 1990′s, is not a smear. Being born in Kenya? Obama himself claimed Kenyan birth on his publishers media material. Is Obama smearing himself?
Calling Sarah Palin, a vice presidential candidate, the “c” word is a smear.
but calling sarah palin the c-word is not a smear because it’s true.
Haha, so typical. So Sick of Wingers, I’m curious, how do you define a “c”?
This piece is hillarious! Has anyone been watching Obama? He’s comming apart mentally!
When Romney took office in Mass. the State was #50 in Job Creation. After about 2 year it was #47. At the end of Romneys term Mass was #30 in the Nation for Job creation with a rate of unemployment of about 5%. Now lets not forget that the Federal Government Consisers FULL employment to be 4.7%.
And where’s Obama? 8.2% Unemployment!
Is it any wonder that the Mulatto doen’t want his academic records revealed??
What do you mean “the Mulatto” and are you inferring he’s not human, but something less…? Maybe you could have said “the Negro” or “the Halfbreed” or some other equally bigoted term….but the term “the Mulatto” just seems too sophisticated for a racist redneck to be using…
“a racist redneck”? How civil of you!
Rush has called a 1000 times more than 61 women babe, he started a facebook page and got more than 60,000 likes in a couple of days – Facebook “Rush Babes for America” sorry sally you fail on all counts, see you in Nov.
(cross-posted from the audio article)
Sally, I hope you’re taking some time to think about what Michelle said. Now, I don’t think it was very fair of Sean to constantly interrupt you while letting Michelle have her monologues, but even in a fair debate you would have had no position! You had literally nothing of substance to say, and your terrified backtracking and desperate attempt to head Michelle off with platitudes about civil discourse fell so flat you could cut them up and shingle a roof.
You tried to write a sneering smear column about Michelle and she had the nerve, the temerity, to actually call you out on it, and you had nothing to say in return. Just like any Leftist, when challenged to actually defend your positions and ideas, you draw a blank. When rational-minded, thinking individualists come up against collectivists, the individualists always come out ahead.
Now, I applaud you for what I personally feel was a heartfelt apology. It is Michelle’s prerogative to accept or reject, however.
I expect you will simply take this as an excuse to talk about the mean, hateful Sean and Michelle who gave you a huge audience (versus your, shall we say, miniscule following) to defend yourself. That you blew it so badly is simply proof that you have nothing but politically correct invective to offer on a public stage.
President Obama’s insistence on being less than transparent about his past contributes to what you call “baseless hyberbole” about him. With mostly obfuscations and sealed personal records to draw upon, rather than facts, how could anyone’s conclusions be other than baseless?
Whats the problem. All of those examples are true. Obama is all thise andmy worst fear is that you will live to see this proved right. Why can yall not see the truth? I just dont understand you all sticking by this guy no matter what. He has gotten away with all but murder. Oh wait. No, hes murdering the country!
GW Bush during his term was the butt of many jokes, but I can safely say the liberal media, liberal talk show host, or creditable liberal internet columnist ever attack him in away that compares to the conservative attacks on Obama. Whether you like him or not he was elected by the people and does hold the top seat in our goverment. That seat demands the respect of all Americans liberal or conservative. In reading these replies I can not believe the amount of ignorance congregated in one site.
I’m now seeing the connection to many responding here and the typical FoxNews audience… did not know that Sally was a paid Fox contributor, and sadly, all those so-called liberals that Fox lets speak on their panels, or they bring in for interviews (with very few exceptions) are selected specifically to be target practice for their dim-witted superstars, chosen for their inability to withstand being shouted down and ganged up on, thus making all liberals look weak in the eyes of the Fox nation… I’ve seen this over and over, where any so-called bipartisan discussion on Fox always looks like a schoolyard mugging of the “weird kid” where the bullies congratulate each other on how wonderful they are… yuck! Very puke-worthy stuff.
“Or creditable liberal internet columnist ever attack him in away that compares to the conservative attacks on Obama.”
Are you serious?? Let’s see some examples to prove your assertions.
What everyone seems to be missing is the point Sally was trying to make: The problem isn’t necessarily which side has all the answers, but the “tone” of the debate and the venom used on both sides to attack the person, not the ideology. Malkin was entitled to her views, but that doesnt give her the right to shout down the opposition without really addressing the topic of debate.
conservatives used to never fight back……taking all the left wing crazies hits, well we’ve woken up…..how’s it feel ?
what dream world have you been living in?? Conservatives have always fought to limit the rights of others, to go to war, to blame liberals for the spending that they actually do, to shove the Christian church down everyone’s throat, to return to Jim Crow laws, to eliminate taxes and screw the poor, and for some reason all the wackos (like the KKK, Nazis, other white supremacists, etc) when they decide to run for office, they always do it as members of the Republican party, never the Democratic party. Conservatives brought us trickle-down economics, Iran-Contra (highly illegal foreign intervention,) Watergate, the Iraq war which had nothing to do with 9/11, Karl Rove and the era of extremely dirty politics, the Tea Party, a right-wing supreme court giving corporations the same rights as people, thus unleashing unlimited anonymous money in politics, the huge sucking sound of jobs leaving this country with tax-payers subsidizing the cost of moving the jobs overseas, the other huge sucking sound of American capital being transferred from average, working class people to the gamblers on Wall St. and the extremely rich and connected of this country… and you thing the right has just started to fight…? Wow… are you ever deluded… and a great example of why our country is in serious trouble due to ignorant citizens not even knowing what is wrong, thus being pointed at someone to blame, especially easy now that that person is half-white… oooohhh, the boogeyman must be the problem. I hate to say it, but Americans have a huge stupidity gap going on right now…
- fundraiser: “They bring a knife, we bring a gun… Because from what I understand folks in Philly like a good brawl”
- to his supporters: “Get in their faces!”
- on ACORN Mobs: “I don’t want to quell anger. I think people are right to be angry! I’m angry!”
- to liberal supporters: “Hit back twice as hard”
- on the private sector: “We talk to these folk. So I know whose ass to kick.”
- to voters: “Republican victory would mean hand-to-hand combat”
- to liberal supporters: “It’s time to fight for it.”
- to Latino supporters: “Punish your enemies.”
- to democrats: “I’m itching for a fight.”
From day one President Obama was blaming, chastising and mocking Bush, the Republicans and the Tea Party.
Obama on the Tea Party
We cut taxes for 95 percent of working Americans just like I promised we would on the campaign. So I’ve been a little amused over the last couple days where people have been having these rallies about taxes. You would think they would be saying, “Thank you!” That’s what you’d think!
Obama on the “Occupy Wall Street”
“Families like yours, young people like the ones here today – including the ones who were just chanting at me – you’re the reason that I ran for office in the first place.”
This is the only thing Obama knows how to do pit people against each other and now that he has a record he cannot run on it will be brutal this election season.
America has never been more divided, what is that saying “You can fool some people sometimes, but you can’t fool all the people all the time.” that’s Obama’s problem right there.
u know what i find amusing……barack owebama himself said that since he’s now POTUS we need to work together and fix things, this board here, makes EVERYONE see that his dream of bringing this country together, was a SHAM…..HE and the progressive/liberals, have divided this country, and until we get our economic house in order….it’s only gonna get worse
If you actually take a look at it, it was Karl Rove who sort of originated the divide and conquer tactics in politics… remember how publicly GWB said he was a compassionate conservative and was a “uniter, not a divider.” ? That worked to get him elected on one hand, but the tactics of Rove were to actually just count on the base, and fight for the 20% of the undecided voters, largely through very divisive tactics like smearing decorated Vietnam war veterans with purple hearts and other medals, bragging about their love for anything military while never having served, especially in combat (except McCain, who was also a victim of Karl Rove, btw.) The entire presidency of GWB wound up being one of the most divisive in history because he promised to unite the country, yet ruled with the help of both houses of Congress much like he had won by a landslide, with a mandate to make many major changes… which, of course, was completely false. Actually, more people in this country voted against GWB than voted for him in 2000, and the whole Florida fiasco was a joke where many votes were thrown out for very questionable reasons, then the Supreme Court (already very partisan and political) stopped the recount… Bush supposedly won Florida with less than 600 votes, giving him the presidency… he should have been humbled, and tried everything to work with the other side, but that’s not the way it went down, and that is how our country became so divided by the time Obama came in… maybe he was a bit naive to think being reasonable would work with the Republicans, and I think he should have just rammed all the stuff his supporters wanted down y’alls throats when he had the chance, but all he had to do to keep the divisions that Bush created (and the right wing media with its constant slandering 24/7) was just show up and be black… nothing else really mattered, the conservatives would oppose the man, even with their very own ideas… nope! No way can the conservatives give our duly elected president (like it or not, he did win the election) any support or credit for anything… except the stuff they don’t like… it becomes almost comical… “He bad… We good!!!” When the conservatives get over electing a bunch of racist, simple minded clowns to office, maybe the country can slowly try to unite itself again, but I’m not at all optimistic this is remotely possible, considering the hit our education system has taken… because, of course… teachers are bad, too… ain’t that about right, y’all…??
WELL SAID BLACKBIRD !!!
Of course, liberals don’t like it when conservatives fight back against the RACIST! meme, the TERRORIST! meme, or the ever popular THEY WANT WOMEN TO DIE! meme.
Imaginary motives and empty moral equivalency is all they have.
At this point, the whining is really old. We’re fighting back against the failed and bankrupt policies of an inept administration, we’re exposing the obfuscation and omission of the Corporate Media, we’re countering the embarrassing empty memes of flagrant leftist propaganda, and we really don’t give a rip if the left likes it or not.
Ugly and wrong. And that’s just one of thousands of racist, misogynistic, hate filled messages that one of our most outspoken media representatives receives.
Do everyone a huge favor, Sally. Address the garbage littering your own yard before you start nitpicking at ours.
Conservatives have called your apology to Malkin insincere. Let’s assume they’re right. If someone is committed to healing the divide, to creating civil dialogue, he or she should still accept it. Malkin didn’t, because Malkin isn’t. As long as there’s some liberal-leaning internet troll out there, Malkin will feel justified in vitriol.
What’s more is that Hannity seems unable to make the distinction between an attack on policy and an attack on people. The right constantly accuses Obama of being motivated by an underlying resentment of America. Hannity and Malkin certainly do. However, Hannity’s suggestion that Obama did the same thing with Bush is just wrong. He was criticizing a policy. Saying it was “unpatriotic” was akin to saying it’s misguided and doesn’t serve our national interests. It wasn’t questioning the basic motives.
Now, granted, while that’s an important distinction, it’s one that is easily lost on people. So it’s probably unwise to resort to that kind of rhetoric simply because so many fail to make the distinction.
Anyway, I thought you handled yourself admirably given the circumstances.
The days of “civil discourse” are over.
They ended the day liberals blamed a Governor from Alaska for a shooting in Arizona. Unhinged bull dung over map bullets was the end of any hope you drama queens had for civility.
We’re done being civil with those who smear and demonize at every opportunity. The constant empty outrage over any wit of criticism doesn’t work anymore. We’re done with the kid gloves.
Get the hell over it, and stop with the whining already.
Let me use a popular leftist meme left over from 9/11 here so maybe it will sink in.
“You brought it on yourselves. ”
And yes, I know the difference between wit and whit.
Let me get this straight, Sally, you are presenting this list as your answer to Sean Hannity’s request that you provide examples of incivility from the right comparable to the examples he gave of incivility from the left (i.e. Bill Maher using the “c” word referring to Sarah Palin, etc.). Not one of your examples comes close on my incivility meter to Mr. Hannity’s examples and I believe you know it. I lose respect for any person that fails to admit when they’ve made a mistake and attempts to obviscate that reality by supplying answers which cloud the original issue. I suspect you will now claim to have answered the question going forward, but I walk away feeling this feable attempt by you proves Michelle Malkin’s point that your apology was insincere. My respect for you has been diminished by this episode and I hope you’ll reconsider your position on this matter. Please do the right thing by either submitting examples more “on point” to the issue or admit the error in your criticism of Michelle Malkin’s original post.
Sally’s ‘arbitration’ is nothing more a weak attempt at regaining control of the narrative.
I’m not sure why leftists can’t grasp the one simple word that describes the political situation of today uttered by the late and great Andrew Breitbart:
WAR
This single word should be more than clue enough.
Sally: sorry for the “fat- fingered” misspelling of “obfuscate” in my first comment, here’s the corrected comment:
Let me get this straight, Sally, you are presenting this list as your answer to Sean Hannity’s request that you provide examples of incivility from the right comparable to the examples he gave of incivility from the left (i.e. Bill Maher using the “c” word referring to Sarah Palin, etc.). Not one of your examples comes close on my incivility meter to Mr. Hannity’s examples and I believe you know it. I lose respect for any person that fails to admit when they’ve made a mistake and attempts to obfuscate that reality by supplying answers which cloud the original issue. I suspect you will now claim to have answered the question going forward, but I walk away feeling this feable attempt by you proves Michelle Malkin’s point that your apology was insincere. My respect for you has been diminished by this episode and I hope you’ll reconsider your position on this matter. Please do the right thing by either submitting examples more “on point” to the issue or admit the error in your criticism of Michelle Malkin’s original post.
[...] Read it HERE. [...]
wow… you people need to get a life… what exactly is hoped to be gained by all this back and forth? they say that a picture is worth a thousand words… well.. the word count for this is: 9522 (+-100) what picture does that paint? so far who’s winning? neither side.. if you want to make a difference in the world stop staring at your screen from the comfort of your office or living room or.. for some of you the toilet and get out and make a difference, ehh even writing that sentence makes me ill because i know you wont .. i wonder which of you actually voted.
anyone interested in the top ten? i was so here you go:
top ten commentators (if you can call em that)
BCL 10 – way to go! ten comments, surely you made your point, surely.
Leecal 7
Skipper 7
FCarlos 7
American 5
Mark 5
DJ 5
Sick of Wingers 4
Layne S 4
D.W,Robinson 4
top ten words…sorta, take what you will from this:
PresidentObama 48
it? 36
or 36
So 35
who 34
dont 33
more 33
from 29
out 29
people 29
at 27
can 27
right 27
said 27
when 27
would 27
country 26
our 26
us 26
do 25
one 25
will 25
oh and to the lovely person that posted the breitbart story twice… Layne S… come on..
so… final stat for today, the top ten posters time stamps:
June 8, 2012 at 12:56 am BCL says:
June 8, 2012 at 12:40 am BCL says:
June 8, 2012 at 1:16 am BCL says:
June 7, 2012 at 9:59 pm BCL says:
June 7, 2012 at 9:29 pm BCL says:
June 7, 2012 at 9:27 pm BCL says:
June 7, 2012 at 9:21 pm BCL says:
June 7, 2012 at 8:53 pm BCL says:
June 7, 2012 at 8:47 pm BCL says:
June 7, 2012 at 10:12 pm BCL says:
Get back to work! If you don’t work, get back tot he kids.. no kids? feed the dog! cat? look outside there’s a big world just waiting to be discovered…
June 8, 2012 at 6:11 pm Leecal says:
June 8, 2012 at 6:16 pm Leecal says:
June 8, 2012 at 6:17 pm Leecal says:
June 8, 2012 at 6:19 pm Leecal says:
June 8, 2012 at 6:21 pm Leecal says:
June 8, 2012 at 6:23 pm Leecal says:
June 8, 2012 at 6:26 pm Leecal says:
rapid fire.. i like it but still ..
June 7, 2012 at 8:58 pm Skipper says:
June 7, 2012 at 9:03 pm Skipper says:
June 7, 2012 at 8:59 pm Skipper says:
June 7, 2012 at 9:09 pm Skipper says:
June 7, 2012 at 9:11 pm Skipper says:
June 7, 2012 at 9:18 pm Skipper says:
June 7, 2012 at 10:41 pm Skipper says:
Skipper, have to say this is the most reasonable time stamps yet sir
for those of you still reading this post.. what is my point? besides the fact that ms excel is an awesome tool … ? posting comments to the internet does NOTHING if you have this passion for this kind of thing volunteer with your party! the rest of you.. get a life.
The fact that you took time to make an Excel spreadsheet to calculate all of this doesn’t say much about your life, pal.
BCL – 11 comments.
But you are right. I actually do have a life. So I think it’s time to get back to it because I’m tired of debating with a bunch of left-wing, pablum pukin’, crybaby idiots. Just keep strokin’ each other – it’ll be okay.
HAHA, Kohn are you serious?? That’s your list? It’s not even an accurate list. Wow, you should go into comedy, forget about political commentary.
Truth is not smear.
Excellent posts blackbird
My stepdaughter works for HeadStart in a poor neighborhood. She was recently told she may loose her job because she doesn’t speak spanish.. I told her to sue for discrimmination. It’s time we take our country back. Do you really believe this latest act by Obama is good for this country? Where else in the world do immigrants have such power. I am sick over what Obama did. I also see you occasionally on fox news and can’t stand you or anything you have to say. In a Democracy majority rules, we have seemed to forgotten. Communism has no business in America.
[...] of insults and smears that have been hurled at Obama by the GOP press, although Sally Kohn recently did a nice job of highlight some of the more vile [...]
[...] [...]
Test
Almost all Democratic Left Wingers, state that those who watch FOX are uninformed.
Fox has consistently followed Holder’s Fast and Furious Debacle.
Obama Exercised his Presidential Privilege in regard to the matter. I guess CNN, MSNBC and the rest of the Liberal Media will have to cover it.
I wonder whether or not they will continue to refer to it as a Political Witch Hunt. Should be interesting.
I’ve just listened to part of the June 2012 conversation between Sally Kohn and Michelle Malkin, “moderated” by Sean Hannity.
http://goo.gl/vSZal
I’m struck that for people like Hannity and Malkin, civiliity constitutes a profoundly destabilizing economic threat. No way, no how, were Mr. Hannity or Ms. Malkin going to let that conversation degenerate into civility!
One ought to ask, why is there so much at stake–politically and financially–in any discussion that draws attention to, or worse, deliberately seeks to disengage the commitment to partisan invective in America. Why do people become frightened and angry, even to have the topic raised?
This isn’t just a matter of the angry fringe of the left and right; it’s a duality to which so much American political commentary is subordinated. There’s a profound commitment to tribalism in America, a distinction to be preserved at great cost: us and them.
Particularly where the media is concerned, incivility (even when it’s relatively restrained) is the engine that drives our collective attention; it’s a relatively easy way to make money from speech. It’s about stirring us up, more or less as animals.
Americans might get some traction on improved political discourse, once they realise that proponents of civility don’t have to make a case, don’t have to argue, convince, or persuade. We only have to live these values; success will come along by and by.
I say, Americans should simply let go of whatever doesn’t make you stronger. Learn to filter.
A fascinating discussion is definitely worth comment.
I do think that you should write more on this issue,
it may not be a taboo subject but typically people do not talk about
such topics. To the next! Many thanks!!