Much ado about nothing. Now, if he became editor of say The Drudge Report, then we are talking impact.
P.S. Matt Yglesias, you owe everyone here a 50% royalty for this.
The Imperial City And The World
Much ado about nothing. Now, if he became editor of say The Drudge Report, then we are talking impact.
P.S. Matt Yglesias, you owe everyone here a 50% royalty for this.
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Anon says
Aren’t liberal novelists supposed to have some imagination? Jong drags in every cliche and misses the whole point. Now if we go back in time and we hear Reagan invoke FDR’s name isn’t it understood that does not mean he likes New Deal policies? Anyway – just more evidence of the older order passing away. Something tells us Republican Spain (or Francoist Spain for Pat&Co) has lost its political resonance for todays voters.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/erica-jong/barack-hearts-ronnie-an-_b_82150.html
Anon says
Is that Jim Morrison way off in the woodpile?
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/002711.php
Anon says
Cold war is now officially over with the death of Bobby Fischer.
Anon says
Leo we know you are an audacity skeptic and adamant, but this is his good politics in action – Call it a reverse Sistah Soljah moment (though the media and the left blogs don’t understand what he was doing and they cut the clip short)
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2008/01/leading-village-by-their-collective.html
Anon says
WaPo’s Kurtz said Matthews was pressured by feminist groups – just what said he feared.
Chris Matthews should probably withdraw the idea for Obama’s campaign to drop U2 music in favor of this tune:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuRED1tScRQ
Comment says
Romney looks a bit weak getting tooled on by this reporter “Glen” Johnson from AP. Had Johnson tried that with Bush at a campaign even in ’04 he would have been pounced on by brigands. Imagine what Nixon would have said about him on the tapes?
Comment says
We saw Jonah getting a hard time on Daily Show – Stewart did not succeed in doing a job on him the way he did with Tweety – He hadn’t really groked what Jonah was selling and so he kind of spun his wheels and relied on default Jonah-derision in the audience to carry him over. We have not seen the edited parts though. Stewart did not respect the book enough to read it – He often reads the book, but this was a skim job.
Morning Joe – Buchanan and company and trying to get their thread on the Tweety controversy. They don’t really “get it” though Buchanan sort of ironed out the HRC narrative in an artful way that Matthews should have used.
But Matthews made a tactical mistake when he implied that one clip was a the root of it all – He will be dogged by this – It’s not an Imus moment – not even close (though Im$s did k in the end).
like we said – we think Matthews will be hurt by this mostly *indirectly* as he tries, against deep instinct, to round out unfair attacks on HRC with unfair attacks on others – It will ring false – like Milinda and Milinda etc.
Expect Tweety to(reluctantly) go after Obama on Rev. Wright – But he will bungle this and Obama will be unscathed on that association (just as Bush was unscathed by many dark associations)
A Random Quote says
“A chap I met in Paris a while back gave me some amazing statistics on the proportion of the western European sex trade now staffed by Ukrainian gals.”
~Mark Steyn
NRO, Corner 1-17-08
Aldershot says
Speaking of Jonah, his new book is causing a stir. Did you catch his Daily Show appearance? Here’s a critique from the right I have yet to read:
http://pajamasmedia.com/xpress/michaelledeen/2008/01/14/fascism_liberal_and_otherwise.php
Comment says
It’s bad news for Dowd when Tweety is attacked – They are both daemons of sort to one another. Both are part of that bad pundit class. Dowd’s schtick is gettting absurd – We recall she called “Obambi” (when he was losing fashion) “uxorious,” even though he isn’t = She was trying to create false meme and use a big word. That’s some life for a journalists.
Comment says
It’s hard to over estimate how much it drives people like Tweety and others crazy to have there words quoted back at them.
It makes them very self conscious and they deeply resent the ivy league nerds that intern at places like Media Matteres. Deep resentment. It’s not rational.
Matthews and Bill O are constantly denying or dismissing things that are one Media Matters – But it’s definately something they react to – They cannot help it.
Too bad Sid isn’t writing about this now for all of us to read – He really really groked all of this stuff and really understood the power
Comment says
We actually don’t like the “gets it” phrase – We associate it with Tom Friedman. But anyway, we definately underestimated the tactics of Media Matters compiling lists of quotes. It seemed like nit picking to us at first, but it’s actually devasting when it aggregates stuff. But the nit picking at rightist pundits is still good tactics. A lot of the punitocracy is just waiting to be overthrown. They are overrated and overpaid – We have nothing against Jonah Goldberg personally, but it’s a disgrace that universities pay him money to speak on campus. Media Matters has a great nit pick against him now:
“Hillary Clinton is essentially like the agricultural minister from the Soviet Politburo in 1976. She’s sort of, you know, the product of a sort of bureaucratic, Walter Mondale machine, ‘check off the right constituencies’ kind of thing.”
It is wise to go after Jonah on this – He is likening Hillary to a Sov Communist part that killed millions of its own citizens. The more pushback he gets on this the more he will whine, “can’t you take a joke?”
But the fact is nepotism wonders like Jonah and Tucker are dependent on this Republican version of idiot humor.
Like Matthews trashing women, they grew up mocking all their opponents – esp bookish ones – as Communists. They coupled this with a holier than thou belife that they took the crimes of communism seriously and others did not. You can’t have it both ways
Hillary’s people should act toward this the same as they would act as if Matthews compared Clinton to Eva Braun or Martin Borman.
Ofcourse, it’s actually easy to attack your political opponents without reference to race, sex, or communist comparisons – But many on the right do not know how to do this – They are as bankrupt as the NY Times Gail Collins-types at the NY Times.
Aldershot says
Belay that, I meant he gets it intellectually, etc., etc., etc.
Aldershot says
Well, I say Tweety gets it emotionally, and you say intellectually. I think we need a tie-breaker. Hmmmm, who could we get…maybe….Doc?!
Comment says
Lazio is nice person – but he was hollow. He was engaging in transactional rudeness because phony consultants were pressing him to be some sort of steretypic NY jerk. It was like someone running for office Penn and ostentatiously eating Philu Cheesteak to make some bogus point.
It was obvious to people that know Lazio that he was not normally like that. He was led astray. We recall Lazio’s campaign saying the word “Fugghetaboutit” and other bogus Neu Yawkism. Boring!
Comment says
“I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance.” _ Wm. Faulkner Nobel speech 1949
Tweety alluded this speech when he invoked Faulkner’s “prevail.”
Alas — If Keith worked on another channel he could mock Tweety on this by pointing out that Faulker’s values are the exact opposite of Tweety’s. In fact – Tweety has the inexhaustable voice – but he lacks soulfullness and compassion. He repeats lies about people he doesn’t want to vote for, but he does not have the excuse of passion that the candidates have – Afterall, Matthews lies about the candidates that he agrees with issue wise and he lies on behalf (recipe for misery) for the ones he disagrees with. Like McCain and Rudy.
Almost everything Matthews says is the oppposite of truth – Like when he says he agrees with Tip O’Neil’s values, not his politics – It’s probably the opposite, if anything.
Aldershot says
I admired the way she stared Lazio down and held her ground, but wasn’t it strange how she also got credit for being assaulted on some level. I just looked for it on Youtube, but couldn’t find it.
Comment says
“We keep forgetting it. She didn’t win there on her merit.”~Tweety (On Hillary)
What Tweety does not remember is that Hillary drop kicked her opponent, Rick Lazio. She ran a campaign that impressed Hillary skeptics like Comment & Co.
Lazio’s rude invasion of her space during the debate was cheered by the Tweety types. Full disclosure – we were rooting for Lazio at that time because we are against Hillary. But we knew he blew it – Also – we knew that Russert made errors of fact in the debate and tried to skew it to Lazio’s advantage.
We recall reading JPod exultant the next day – Happy as if swimming in nouget, when discussing Lazio’s rude stunt.
Hillary just cleaned Lazio’s clock and made Lazio look like someone unfit to be a regional cell phone salesmen, much less a Senator.
Matthews was in shock back then over the Moynihan ennoblement of Hillary – He has to forget all that – Too painful
Comment says
Aldershot – Maybe you’re right, but we just think that he may “get it” emotionally, but not intellectually. That’s why he failed to find the right words – His speech tonight will do him more harm than good. Emotionally he knows that he is a mess – It’s deep and fascinating to watch. You are correct that this helps short term ratings. But his inability to express lies and hate in the future with ease will serious hamper his mojo – He will go on making tv, just like Woody Allen continues to makes moviews. But he will not be what he was –
Comment says
“Hmmmm, maybe the nuns beat on him.” – Interesting that you suggest this – This is where we’d guess you may be wrong. Tthe nuns probably did not hit him because he came of age as that kind if thing was being phased out in all schools and he went to one of the more upscale Catholic schools in the Phil suburbs – Also he went to a relatively competetive college. So he was probably reasonably studious.
Rather – we think he is nostalgic for a false past of pretend rigor and certainty. And he , like Bill, grew up in relative suburban comfort, so he goes slumming in his own mind to pretend to be from a gritty Rizzo-like urban past.
This is a boomer conceit of his.
Comment says
We like reading Pournelle’s stuff. That does not mean we agree with a fraction of it. Incidentally, one aspect of the Bush era that we loath the most is the tendency of his fan club to assume that if you agree with someone about x, then you also agree with them about y. This attitude has always existed, on ‘both’ sides, but it seems to have gotten out of hand lately.
Gold standard fans are interesting to read – There are many different types of goldbugs – Ones who “favor” a gold standard and others who actually just pretend. Many other subfactions.
The greatest amound of economic growth in world history occured with what some of us like to call ‘flexible fiat’ currency. Ok – we don’t actually call it that …
Aldershot says
I’m not saying he emotionally gets it, but intellectually he does. Even if his mojo takes a beating, his ratings should do well…people will tune in to watch him struggle with his inner demons. Hmmmm, maybe the nuns beat on him. This is not meant as an anti-Catholic remark. I was raised in the Church and have an affection for it, but I believe it’s been documented that there was quite a bit of violence on the part of some nuns in Catholic schools.
Comment says
Matthews now feels boxed in – inhibited. He will feel constricted and no matter what he says, he’ll try to watch what he says. This will throw his mojo off and hurt his show in hard to quantify ways.
Example – he will increasinly rely on bogus ringers like Nancy Giles. That woman has nothing interesting to say and sure was suspicious that she made three conspicious personal insults about the Republicans tonight. Did Matthews plan that? He seemed please – He could point to this African American woman saying all these mean things about Republicans on his show. This is like FOX featuring J. Garafalo to present the anti war point of view in 2003.
sglover says
Off-topic: Skimming through your blogroll, I noticed Pournelle’s site, and I thought I’d see what he’s up to these days. I got tired of the guy back when I was reading Byte, but…. Jeez, nowadays he’s completely unhinged!! The only thing missing on his site is some kind of fevered screed about “fiat currency” and the glories of gold ingots (and maybe I just overlooked it). Please tell me you list him as some kind of warning example!
Comment says
We douby that he “gets it.” Matthews has a tough time distinguishing between bogus PC stuff and real nasty cracks. He would love to be thought of as anti PC, but that is not really is problem. Buchanan is anti PC, but he does not level the kind of personal vitriol that Matthews does – Indeeed most of Buchanan’s attacks on people are generic right wing outbursts, with qualifiers attached to them.
Maybe because he has sisters, he understands a distinction between being traditional in ones outlook re Women v. being a sexist schmuck. Tweety doesn’t understand how to draw these lines – It might run in his family – we recall his brother on during the RNC convention trying and failing to insult Kerry properly. He attacked Kerry for his height – Said he looked like a tree. He though this was funny – But he was unable to attack Kerry along normal human lines. There was some mental limitation that prevented him from thinking normally, it seemed.
Aldershot says
Yes, he never actually apologized, but I’ll give him a pass for using the classic ‘I get it.’
Comment says
Tweety very much on the defensive – began tonight with a shakey non-apology Apologia for himself. It was poorly written, stylistically and content-wise. Btw, Tweety should stop bragging about being a Carter speechwriter, it just draws attention to Tweety’s general image as an ingrate as well as reminding people of some of the worst parts of Carter’s Presidency – those excruciating speeches.
Media Matters has drawn blood and they probably have not yet touched base with GE shareholders regarding Tweety’s remarks about women. Have they have they pressured Boards? Have they pressured advertisers?
No doubt about it Tweety was reactive – He told a lie about Rudy Giuliani tonight, as if to indicate that he was an equal opportunity POS.
As noted on this blog a few days ago, Rudy himself admitted that he campaigned hard in New Hampshire. He said this on Primary day. It was Tweety, trying to create a false narrative beneficial to Rudy if Ron Paul won that said Rudy never cared about New Hampsire.
Now Matthews Big Number (number of Rudy visits to NH) tries to blame Rudy for the distortions and lies that Chris Matthews told on Rudy’s behalf. Tweety falsely says now that Rudy claims not to have campaigned in NH.
Sometimes it’s excusable if candidates err – but not reporters. Tweety’s pathetic lies on behalf of Rudy were not even requested by Rudy (it seems) and they were rooted in Tweety’s own existential desperation.
Matthews sees Hillary as some sort of spiritual threat. He is frightened of her.
Anon says
Interesting wrap up on Ron Paul in NH and a look under some rocks in the paleo-libertarian world.
http://www.reason.com/news/show/124426.html
Comment says
Yglesias does try to spin Russert as a bipartisan bore, but wethinks he doesn’t really believe that. He convinced himself of this – it’s an easier sell. He must anticipate Russert lumping him in with other left attacks and using them as examples of his centrism.
But he is original in his emphasis on the irrelevent aspects of Russert questions.
Russert’s toughness is right up there with his Buffalo grit. GE knows what it’s doing.
Boy – wouldn’t Russert and Tweety love to go back in time and convince Moynihan not to endorse Hillary – That must have really annoyed them. LOL.
Comment says
Murdoch could tear that column out to show his staff an example of phony pretension. The Safire comparison was hackneyed before anyone uttered it. Even Safire wasn’t “Safire.”