Prayers for her and all those killed and wounded. We’ve been lucky. It’s taken this long for one (as of this writing) from the fringe to act out. They’ve been given the dog whistle green light since at least February 2009.
It’s wrong for most commentators to blame the fringe alone, or talk radio, a few cable talking heads or Palin’s unfortunate web graphics. The urge to violence and its accompanying eliminationist impulses are a major fuel rod of the Movement’s nuclear reactor. Grover, for example, asked at this year’s televised RNC Chair candidate debates to each candidate, ‘Do you own guns?’ and they detailed how yes and how many. Galvanizing violent activity is the sub rosa Movement political life blood — from Newt’s calls for ‘destroying’ , ‘revolution’ and abolishing in 1994-1995 through 2009-2010’s behind the expulsion of all sources of cognitive dissonance into an illegitimate Other as way station to remorseless destruction. (Forget Carlson’s frat boy stupidity re Vick, that’s just dumb privileged white idiocy).
Obama’s flinching, weakness, caving and refusal to engage the Movement imposes another cost. His speech today fine for the moment. But he must create a national tone that imposes and *exacts* real political cost for Movement extremism. You’d think of all people the Boy King would see the need. They brought assault rifles to his own events. We doubt in the end he has the balls for setting tonal barriers necessary to exact a cost for extremism peddling, let alone understanding the fundamental need. Moments of silence are a necessary but woefully insignificant step.
An example of what not to do? More mewling from Eugene Robinson that the Movement and Republican leaders ‘must renounce and marginalize’ those calling for violence as the right thing to do. Or what? Worse than his usual banal cliches.
Dr Leo Strauss says
Because a new institute on civility is exactly what will help solve this vexing problem.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/20/AR2011022003994.html?wpisrc=nl_natlalert
Comment says
Imperial city twitter war btw Frum and Breitbart over hollywood celebs and Gtown cocktail parties:
http://twitter.com/AndrewBreitbart/status/25943930809876480
Comment says
Imagine if Tweety was forced to cover the turmoil in Tunis tonight instead of Palin’s latest Tweet?lol
Comment says
We never actually saw LOCKUP – just happened to notice it on during the holidays and quickly changed the station. But then we noticed someone via twitter say also noticed how the rancid nature of their fare.
Btw – Greenwald has a great piece in reply to liberal bedwetter (and someone Tweety respects)wm. Glaston:
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2011/01/12/galston/index.html
DrLeoStrauss says
@Comment
Seem to recall a few years seeing ratings of the Lockup shows outperforming MSNBC ‘news’ demos. Wonder what the disparity – if any – would be today.
DrLeoStrauss says
@Comment
On one level Levin can be seen unintentionally parodying Colbert (albeit via a microphone darkly). And his show becomes broadly comedic when we’re stuck in say the 495 evening parking lot. Especially viewed through sort of the Flatbush bar audience filter.
Yet that coping filter never lasts and we kill it after a few minuted. Ever since he achieved minor fame during the Paula Jones day his was a malign spirit. Doubt Obama Hug Therapy ™ would be successful.
Comment says
Made the mistake of turning msnbc on during the day – They are continuing their pattern of flinging hideous sights at their few viewers – Today they are showing a rat climb all over a homeless man in the NYC subways – Thus, jamming in grossness with disrespect for the poor. Then of course they cut to a mug shot of the shooter. They should just change their logo to a s*** stained middle finger with a the words LOCKUP behind it.
Comment says
Mark Levin: Answer me this, are you a married woman? Yes or no?
CALLER [Democratic Woman]: Yes.
Mark Levin: Well I don’t know why your husband doesn’t put a gun to his temple. Get the hell out of here.
Comment says
That Dec. 2006 Tony Snow Saudis have made clear quote just popped up. Nice.
Comment says
Also Tweet does have some potential in him to do excellent work from time to time. He is a bit like Maureen Dowd. Both are still trying to reconcile upper middle class boomerism with the myth and reality of mid-20th century ethnic Irish identity.
Comment says
@Dr Leo Strauss
We always thought the problem with Tweety was not bias one way or the other, but the vacuous nature of his politics. His hero is Churchill? Give us a break. But yes he is definitely successful. So we don’t really blame him, but think that his undeniable success (2 dozen honary doctorates, 5 million plus paycheck) indicate something is out of whack in our so called meritocracy. In a fair world Tweety should be a success. But he is being rewarded like some great entrepreneur or scholar or champion athlete.
Ezra is really bright, but he is starting to become part of the insider establishment. Ten years from now you may hear people saying ‘Even Ezra thinks we should bomb country x …’
But think about Tweety equating W with anti-elitism – It means that mere shifting of surface attributes like dropping g in speech or getting so-so grades or not speaking French etc etc can be enough to hoodwink a major media influencer. That is part of the reason why you have people seriously thinking of rich people as ordinary folks and that the elite are college professors and teachers unions. It’s just so silly. But sad.
Tweetys need for conservative validation is pretty funny. In his heart he knows he skipped out of military service and went to grad school, but he wants to cling to his self image as an ethnic Irish big fella with military medals and a workingman’s ‘tude. Hence, his silly comment once that Nantucket was less snobby than the Vineyard, or Obama’s excellence at pool shows pool playing is now elite, etc. None of it makes sense, but as with Tom Friedman’s success, it’s just a symptom of our present state of affairs,
Hunter says
@Comment
Also: fuck “independence” as a synonym for “journalistic objectivity”. Journalists in this country need to rediscover a respect for reality, facts, investigative methodology, truth telling, and quit trying to pretend that “objective” means allowing “both” sides (as though there were only two) to speak with equal credibility. There’s plenty wrong with Ezra, but at least he’s trying.
Dr Leo Strauss says
@Comment
Yeah, fascinating to watch calibration of his media persona after Nov. 2010. He seems to be playing along with the Lean Forward branding/media coaches/marketing reps generally despite his innate instincts to seek validation from the Right. It’s probably the smart play – his media footprint is probably at zenith if not slightly post apogee.
Comment says
Tweety just said he understands anti-elitism and he fell for it when W ran for Prez. An amusing admission – that defines a Bush as opposite of elite. Also, just an interesting time for Tweety to come clean about a 2000 bias he has denied until now.
Comment says
The President always seems uncomfortable making these kinds of speeches, even though the media seems to think this is his strong suit.
Comment says
PBS special about The Doors on tonight – sounds like better viewing than the endless Shooter and Palin analysis.
DrLeoStrauss says
It’s perhaps inevitable that the prevailing ‘conventional wisdom’ shoveled at Non-Rightists is for American society to stand down and give a pass to years of Movement extremism sanctioned by (explicitly or implicitly) ‘Establishment’ figures — in the spirit of can’t we all get along. The feeble discourse reveals how decayed pluralistic democratic institutions and their social fabric have become. And how much the tattered premises of those institutions and social fabric have been captured/daunted by non-liberal democratic, non-pluralistic Rightist premises. Tweety’s fixation on the word ‘gun’ would be funny if it weren’t so tragic.
Comment says
Oh wait – never mind, that last comment was in error. He did not call him John.
Comment says
Our independent media – Ezra now on a 1st name basis w. John Kerry in news articles = “John and I” – Even Scotty Reston pretended to be independent:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2011/01/if_you_read_only_one_john_kerr.html
Comment says
msnbc sure loves showing that creepy bald mug shot of the shooter over and over again – far more than is necessary to convey the story. This is one reason why they suck – The Ed Show consists mostly of showing unpleasant images they think Ed’s audience will hate. It’s the opposite of pleasant viewing.
Comment says
For someone with 20 plus honorary doctorates filled with latin lettering, Tweetys gun-word ban sounds like anti intellectual fear of context. Obviously some people can say “gun” without conveying menace, while others cannot.
re Mexico – Tweety just says those things in passing in a blizzard of verbiage – so people often miss how full of s*** he is if they don’t listen closely.
DrLeoStrauss says
@Comment
Tweety’s obsession on not using the word ‘guns’ in political discourse as the single fault analysis proves once again his essential trivial contributions. Apparently that word exerts unique shaman-eque power and its absence will address our current radicalization. Just caught his misinformed comments about Mexico, one has to shake one’s head.
Comment says
For a second time in one show Chris Matthews said there was no political assassination in Mexico- He has been saying stuff like this for years:
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&expIds=25657,27955&sugexp=ldymls&xhr=t&q=mexico+assassination&cp=10&pf=p&sclient=psy&aq=0&aqi=&aql=&oq=mexico+assa&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=a20cfd04ba3c5cf9
Comment says
13 Mayors in Mexico have been assassinated this year alone – so obviously Tweety had to say there are now political assassinations in Mexico like there is in the US.
Comment says
What a bunch of crap:
http://nsarchive.wordpress.com/2011/01/07/document-friday-the-department-of-state-was-hiding-this/
Comment says
So Rudy and Mukasy et al are not offering “material support” for communist-terrorist MEK. But the fact is they are in a protected class and so can violate the law.
Comment says
That came out unclear – we have to think a bit about what we were trying to say.
Comment says
The shooter’s reading list is thematically similar to a hacker or a would be anarchist – It makes no sense to put him in definitive political brackets that fit pundit niches. It’s likely he only understood part of what he was reading, but liked the vibe of rebellion all the books gave.
dilbert dogbert says
I don’t go to the places where the spawn of the movement goes. I read what other stronger explorers report back from the front. As that guy who’s name I can’t spell said: If you look long enough into the abysss the abyss looks back at you.
Dr Leo Strauss says
When political actors knowingly refuse to articulate the truth and participate in consensual fabrication they earn their own ultimate fate. This particular individual’s motivations are still under investigation.
Calls for ‘we must all renounce extremism’ are not just platitudes but knowing falsehoods. From murdering doctors to bombing clinics to candidates from FLA to AZ calling for bloodshed and West’s former the CoS-nominee calling for armed insurrection to Confederate Revanchism, the Movement will not cease until there is an actual political cost imposed. That is what the Clintons understood after Oklahoma because they quickly grasped the Movement’s fundamental nature.
As of now, Fox et al., knowing Obama’s a weakling are already taking the offensive against the sheriff and others for the temerity to state Rightist extremism has consequences in political and social discourse. The Movement and its various mouth pieces are smart to go straight at the criticism. They know Obama lacks the will, insight and political skills to create a political tone to penalize their extremism. His half gestures will only galvanize their with more intensity and greater contempt for the fraying normative civil society.
One hopes this tragedy could have a greater silver lining. This White House’s record? We’ve had beer summits, slurpee summits. The blood and lives lost should not be in vain.
We’ve had a beer summit. We’ve done the slurpees.
Comment says
Grover comes across as somewhat comical when he talks weapons. That’s probably unintentional, but imo he is one degree removed from fellow privileged tough guy Carlson in silliness. It’s funny they were (still are) rivals.
RE: Giffords. Let’s hope and pray this sad episode will not be repeated. There’s a lot of mental illness out there and it’s hard to say for now what caused this, but the endless spew of hatred and venom surely doesn’t help.