How Did You Love The Speech?

Obama gets some good reviews for his speech in the NY Times (and the sun rose in the east...).  Having read the speech, I am a bit of a non-believer - as with his condemnation of both Jeremiah Wright and his own grandmother or the criticism of left-winger Bill Ayers and offsetting righty Tom Coburn, Obama took his normal conciliatory tack of rebuking both sides and presenting himself as the calm man in the middle.

So to appease righties such as myself we heard Krugman seemingly tossed under the bus early in the speech:

Scripture tells us that there is evil in the world, and that terrible things happen for reasons that defy human understanding.  In the words of Job, "when I looked for light, then came darkness."  Bad things happen, and we must guard against simple explanations in the aftermath.
 
For the truth is that none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack.  None of us can know with any certainty what might have stopped those shots from being fired, or what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man's mind.
 
So yes, we must examine all the facts behind this tragedy.  We cannot and will not be passive in the face of such violence. We should be willing to challenge old assumptions in order to lessen the prospects of violence in the future.
 
But what we can't do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another.  As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility.  Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together.

Which is fine.  Yet a bit later the President adopts Krugman's message:

And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let's remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy, but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud.

So Krugman et al are wrong to blame the Tea Party and Sarah Palin but right that we all need to be more civil.  I don't think for a moment that the man who described his Republican counterparts as "hostage takers" includes himself among those who have lowered the tone, so I am reading this as a call to the right to pipe down. 

The NY Times editors apparently heard it the same way:

It was important that Mr. Obama transcend the debate about whose partisanship has been excessive and whose words have sown the most division and dread. This page and many others have identified those voices and called on them to stop demonizing their political opponents. The president’s role in Tucson was to comfort and honor, and instill hope.

Yeah, they know who the bad guys are, so the President didn't need to sully his hands.  Please.

NEVER MOVE ON:  Lectures on civility from the guy who flipped the bird to Hillary Clinton and John McCain during the 2008 campaign.  Whatever.

 

Comments

[JohnFLob]

Posted by: bunkerbuster | January 13, 2011 at 08:17 AM ". . . But, again, no mainstream liberals are making any suggestion of that. . . ."

Apparently you have been asleep since mid-day Saturday, 01/08/2011. Almost simultaneous with the announcement of the tragedy in Tucson the left exploded with accusations against Sarah Palin, Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, et-al. What did Daily Kos, MediaMatters, etc do? Did you not read Rep. Clayburn's (D S.C.) statments and projections?

[DebinNC]

What if the next spree killer is an illegal who crossed the border Obama refused to defend? What if the killer is a desperate oil worker whose industry Obama capriciously destroyed? What if a volatile black student kills his teacher and others because Obama's new blanket "disparate outcome" discipline policy kept him in the school, because expelling him might mean the school would lose its funding? Would the msm ascribe any hint of blame to Obama then? No.

[Jack is Back!]

Whoops! Looks like he's done it again.

Any of the lawyers out there in JOM land want to comment on this little stumble by The Won in his speech. Seems it may effect the murder charge against Judge Roll and whether he was there on "government business" or merely there as a civilian and "private business". LUN

[narciso]

Ask yourself, why would Politico, one of the leading Journolista mills, put forward that argument,

[JohnFLob]

Was Obama's appearance in Tucson a memorial service or a political rally? It appeared to be a memorial in name only. IT reminded me of Wellman (sp?) in Minnesota a few years ago. The crowd's behavior was at best distasteful. Perhaps some applause was appropriate but the frequency of the wild applause coupled with the screams and cheering quickly dis-spelled the facade of it being a memorial.

http://michellemalkin.com/2011/01/12/branding-the-tuscon-massacre-together-we-thrive-in-white-and-blue/#comments

[Neo]

All that was missing from the "memorial" was the student in the stands screaming that they want to have Barack baby.

[bgates]

JiB, (IANAL but) it looks to me like Obama accidentally told the truth there for a second, in which case the fault lies with Holder for attempting to pin a fraudulent federal charge on a lunatic just to make himself look better.

[Danube of Thought]

Three instances when violent action occurred in an atmosphere of violent rhetoric are the Revolution, the Civil War, and the wave of left-wing bombings and police murders associated with the Days of Rage.

I was very much alive during the latter, but I do not recall much journalistic exhortation to cool it and be more civil. My recollection is that even the New York Times brigade condemned the individual acts of arson and murder, but did not connect them in any way with the "heated rhetoric" of the times. Does anyone recall differently?

It certainly appears that calls for more civil discourse arise mainly when the left is losing, or has lost, an argument. But I am more than ready to consider contrary examples as they are put forth.

[narciso]

That was when the NYRB put a molotov cocktail on their cover, wasn't it Danube, and a leading University President, said the Black Panthers couldn't get a fair trial for killing
a fellow member, Rackley, was the name,

[sbw]

The first grafs of an editorial I'm working on called "Underlying the tone":

The tone of the dialog needs to change, according to the President and his popular media commentators, as they treat the symptom while the undetected underlying disease gets worse.
Tone will correct itself when politicians change the content of their conversation. But, don’t expect it. If politicians wanted to convince others to join them they would address opponents’ gravest concerns. Politicians do not make speeches to come to understanding. They are crafted to galvanize party regulars to rally ’round the flag. Why promote understanding when only votes counted matter.

Tone is the topic of the day. That’s this news cycle’s common message that mainstream media channels have written to fill the popular feeding trough. If the masses buy it, the underlying conversation may never improve.
Politicians want the shallow message to succeed so people won’t learn to recognize and discard the familiar political clichés used to motivate them to vote—those that comfort them but do not solve their problems.
. . .

[bgates]

I am more than ready to consider contrary examples as they are put forth.

Fascist.

ISTM that Obama's speech and the NYT's response - continuing to savage their enemies, as best as their little minds can manage - can have only two possible explanations. Either Obama wanted nice people to think he was being nice and mean people to think he was winking at their meanness; or he wanted everyone to be nice, but he lacks the rhetorical skill and strength of character to get his closest allies to do what he wants.

[daddy]

Good news,

The Doc's on FOX say that Rep Giffords is able to move both her legs. The importance is that it indicates that the shot through the left portion of her brain did not entirely cripple her ability to control the right side of her body. More cautious optimism.

[Melinda Romanoff]

sbw-

Very, very nice.

I, of course, would have twisted it into "toner" and run a riff on the same ole being fed out of the copy machine.

But, as we all know, I have a twisted view of most things...

[Thomas Collins]

Forget Obama and Palin and Christie and Maddow and Limbaugh and all other pols and media folks. Lincoln Davenport Chafee is in control. In his first of what will no doubt be many strong executive steps, Linc has banned Rhode Island state workers under his control from going on talk radio.

Although I haven't lived in Little Rhody for decades, I am still at heart a vinegar and mustard on my fries North Providence and Providence kid (North Providence and Providence being separate municipal entities for those not in the know). And as a good ethnic Rhode Islander, I realize that governance of the rabble by a Swamp Yankee is only fit and proper. And Linc is the Swampiest of the Swamps!

[Steve Diamond]

Sorry, Captain Hate, this is one that you will not be able to blame Bill Ayers for...WND/RBO research was sloppy once again. See LUN.

[Dave (in MA)]

TC, they can always go on Howie Carr's show and ask for the Voice Changer. Lincoln Sofa Chafee will never be able to tell who they are.

[Danube of Thought]

Apparently Congressman Bob Filner, discussing the matter with the ever-calm-and-collected Lawrence O'Donnell, thinks that Mr. Loughlin has fired the shot heard 'round the world:

The next day, Lawrence, and also right after Gabby’s shooting, there were blogs to say that clearly politics doesn’t work for us because Filner the sneaky Jewish guy obviously defrauded us, and we have to go to violence. And here`s some AK-47s; here`s how you do sniper work. And that was repeated a couple days ago with — when they said this is the start of the revolution, the shooting of Gabby Giffords. So this is not an isolated incident. Everybody who tries to put it off on a deranged individual I think is — that’s a political statement in and of itself, because they are absolving themselves of the responsibility of their words and their actions.”

Among other things, the time-honored phrase "not guilty" has now become a "political statement."

[Thomas Collins]

Good point, Dave(in MA). And I bet Dennis and Callahan, Dale and Michael, and The Big Show increase their following in Little Rhody.

[Jack is Back!]

Steve Diamond = party pooper:)

[daddy]

Excellent points in the opening 15 minutes this morning by Dennis Prager on his radio show.

He focuses on something he calls calls meritorious hatred versus gratuitous hatred. I am not Jewish, so I defer to him when he says the following: That the standard Jewish thought to help explain the loss of the Jewish Commonwealth in 586 BC and later in 70 AD, is the thought of "gratuitous hatred" among the populace---hatred that was engaged in but was not warranted or merited by those whom it was directed against, nor by those who felt that gratuitous hatred.

He says that the hatred of Hitler, of Pol Pot, of Stalin, is merited hatred, a hatred that is merited because of what these individuals did, said and expressed.

What baffles him today, is the hatred of Sarah Palin. He says he is befuddled. What has she done that anyone can possibly point to anywhere that "merits" hatred? He only sees "gratuitous hatred" aimed at Sarah, and he cannot understand it.

He explained it better than that, but I thought it an excellent way to think about what we are witnessing in regard to Sarah Palin. Hope he does a column on it. He is on a great roll defending Sarah Palin against this moral dishonesty and libel. Excellent first 30 minutes Dennis. He is going to spend the hour trying to figure out the reasons for this Palin hatred.

Screw Neal Boortz. Turn on Prager ASAP.

[Terry Gain]

The most important thing about this speech was its hypocrisy. Everyone knew the day of the shootings that it was the work of an insane person. Obama wasn't merely silent in the days after the shootings, he was praising Sheriff Dupnik who, unreserved in his demagoguery, was blaming the political opposition. When Obama's Media picked up on this and blamed the acts of a lunatic on Palin, Beck and Limbaugh this hypocrite said nothing. As well as lacking humility, Obama lacks decency.

[NK]

To: Thomas Collins--

great snark about Linc Chaffee. John Chaffee was an American hero-- he dropped out of Yale to be a Marine grunt, and wound up as a rifleman on Guadalcanal in the First Marine Div; earned his Commission, served as a combat officer in Okinawa and Korea. he is rightly the namesake of a Navy DDG. John Chaffee had one failure in life -- spawning and raising the moronic Linc. Is Linc above 60 IQ? if yes, how could he be such a moron? I've always had a soft spot for Ro-DI-lain, spent many late nights in the late 70s finishing a pub crawl, with a crawl back up the Hill to friends' dorms/frats at Brown U climbing was only possible because of the sustenance provided by fresh baked Portugese sweet bread that was ready by 300am for fisherman and drunks. All gone now of course (the fisherman and the bakeries, the drunks remain). Those were the days.

[Extraneus]

Sarah Palin's statement wasn't a defense of herself. It was a defiant defense of vigorous opposition to the left. She's about the only mainstream Republican who has come out and basically said to the left, "No, we're not going to fall for this opportunistic effort to silence opposition." Who else has taken this tack? Pawlenty? Romney?

She said the only thing worth saying in response to this b.s. attempt to silence our side. And that's not "presidential"?

[Danube of Thought]

I am not much of a "climate" guy; I think it is pretty much a construct of journalists who are always at pains to avoid critical thinking.

But if forced a gunpoint (dangerous metaphor!) to identify today's political climate, I would reject "hate" and "fear" out of hand, and would opt instead for "anger."

And if politicians believe they can do what they did in getting a hugely unpopular healthcare bill enacted in the manner they chose, if they can bail out failed auto companies on behalf of union workers at the expense of secured creditors, and if they can waste over $800 Billion dollars on pork projects while calling it "stimulus," and all the while expect people not to become angry in very large numbers, then they need a new sport.

[Captain Hate]

I sit corrected, Prof Diamond; was that you that posted here a couple days ago.

[Janet]

Exactly right Extraneus. Who else.
and like Sandy Daze pointed out about Palin - Aside from bloggers, has there been anyone in an official (elected, current or former) capacity who has spoken in defense of her?

Where are the conservative leaders that are strong & confident (daddy's word!) & unswayed by the MFM?

[matt]

I am not going to criticize the president for his speech. It was a necessary and appropriate one. Politicians are who they are and like drunks, sometimes can't help themselves, so the peripheral events are what is to be expected.

But what bothers me still is the attempts to understand this event through the eyes of the sane and specifically through a political filter.

Madness is to a great extent the absence of rationality and has its own, Martian logic. We are often trying to explain the inexplicable. And yet most of the definitions and analyses miss this either through ignorance or mendacity. Either way, it is a false narrative. LUN

[Chubby]

Jack: ((Boortz said this morning that if you compare Palin's "blood libel" remarks on camera to Obama's remarks last night its game, set, Match = Obama.))

He's using the exact same superficial yardstick that led to Obama's being elected in the first place, on the basis of nothing more than smooth but empty, and often hyprocrical windbaggery. If weighed in a balance where "speaking from the heart" matters, Palin wins hands-down.

Ignatz: ((And your approval of that despicable tactic, which was usually even beneath Joe McCarthy, demonstrates a lot more about you than you apparently realize.))

Palin's got more courage than the whole lot of them put together.

[squaredance]

You can "parse" this all you want, but the plain truth is that they had a pre-planned and coordinated agi-prop campaign waiting on the shelf before this happened. They just took it out.

Have you forgotten the Bushing years? Have you forgotten Katrina?

The Demos won here. Obama won here (if you to not think so, just watch his numbers go up).

You do not think that this is all Kabuki theater--and that would include Krugman's excesses? All a set up for this truly hideous display of Obama. There was real disgust from the muddle of the Wellstone debacle. I see none here.

You must see that these people are truly evil.
Already they have managed to cow congress and weakened what should have been a very strong opening. Through the most outraguous guilt by association technique they have pulled this off. They do not have to pursuade the intelligent, just maniplulate the childish.

WE will see more and more of this.

Stop kidding yourselves: Obama and the Left won big here. The agi-prop campaign was adriot and hit its target. Palin lost more people around the margins.

They will be back for more.

[NK]

DOT-- "anger" I agree.

BUT, Who is angry? 1. TAXPAYERS-- 2009-2010 showed them that the Dems consider them to be patsies who can be tapped to payoff AFSCME and UAW members; 2. INDY-Voters who are TaxPayers and were suckered into voting for Dems and BHO in 2008 3. DEMs-- they are angry at INDYs for turning against the Dems in 2010, and Dems are also angry against the Teaprty for channelling the Taxpayer anger into votes against Dems.

That's who is angry today. Conservatives? we are optomistic that BHO and the Dems have screwed their own pooch.

[Rick Ballard]

SBW,

It might be stronger to lead with an observation that the President and his politburo just received the worst electoral ass kicking in 50 years and that his plea for "civility" was preceded by his "heckuva job, Duppy" call to the Sheriff (an elected Dem politician) responsible for fanning the flames.

I'm not of the persuasion which believes government is capable of "solving" problems more difficult than deciding on the placement of traffic signals so your last sentence clangs a bit to my ears.

[Hank]

WashPo: As Obama urged unity, Palin brought division (LUN)

Much of what she said was proper, but not all. Michael Gerson, who was Bush's chief speechwriter and has been no fan of Palin, observed on CNN Wednesday night that her speech was "seven minutes Reagan and 30 seconds Spiro Agnew." Her careless use of the charged words "blood libel" to criticize those who she believed had unfairly attacked her and other conservatives created more controversy, not less.

Obama has proven to be a polarizing figure in office, but on Wednesday he sought to unify. Palin ended up dividing. On a day of scripted messages, presumably carefully considered, Obama made the most of his. Palin did not.

[Extraneus]

Why do these people, many of whom are professionals, feel no fear in expressing such death wishes in the open?

Because they feel protected by the pack. And don't think they wouldn't act on these impulses if they could get away with it.

[sbw]

A strategic blunder by George Bush was to give free rein to the sycophant pundits to shape the battlefield. Had his minions poked holes in the rhetoric of the opposition, more voters today would be suspicious of it.

Sarah Palin appears to recognize that and occasionally fires a trenchant message that she will not be so accommodating.

[sbw]

Anyone have a pointer to the doctor saying before yesterday that Giffords had opened eyes?

[Jack is Back!]

I am a big Palin fan. I agree with most of the sentiment here that she has more courage and moral toughness than most members of the political class. And I don't think she will be deterred by the "political, inside the belway, metro coastal" communities. That is not her base.

Of the 14K audience in Tuscon last night how many of them vote or will vote in 2012. I'll bet less than 40% maybe even 25%. Its easy for the media to get all boosted from a pep rally - same thing happended with Wellstones and we all know how that turned out.

But the people who Palin connects with and agree with are voters to a much larger percentage than the T-shirt wearing mob in Tuscon. From what I understand the only thing missing there was a Mexican wave.

[Jim Miller]

DebinNC - The rural West had similar standards back in the 1950s, and I suspect almost all the nation did if you go a little farther back.

(I am still surprised, and a little distressed, when I hear a woman curse or use vulgar language in public.)

[Danube of Thought]

Via Insty:

"Denunciations of media vitriol in the wake of the Tucson shootings look back to an age of civil media discourse. That golden age existed in living memory: the 1960s and 1970s, when the mainstream media almost universally hewed to a belief in professional, objective, neutral journalism. The news industry could enforce this line, since it was more oligopolistic than at any time before or since. Most cities had only a few dominant newspapers. Television penetrated about 90% of American homes by the late 1950s, and the classic era of network television news began in September 1963, when the Huntley-Brinkley Report on NBC and the CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite expanded from 15 minutes to 30 minutes. These newscasts rapidly became the primary news source for most Americans. No cable news, no internet.

"The result? Two decades of assassinations and assassination attempts against major political figures, starting with JFK just two months after the 30-minute newscasts started, and continuing through Martin Luther King, Robert F. Kennedy, George Wallace and Gerald Ford, until culminating with the Ronald Reagan assassination attempt in 1981. The no-vitriol news age featured widespread civil unrest, often politically motivated, including Southern white violence against African-Americans during the Civil Rights era, African-American riots destroying neighborhoods in major cities, and leftist political violence including future Barack Obama associate Bill Ayers’ Weather Underground bombing campaign.

"You could even argue that the golden age mainstream media made violence more likely by shutting out marginal voices; but it’s more likely that the tone of the media has little to do with the violent actions of radicals and crazies."

[Agent J. (formally known as "J"..]

I wonder if Sarah could give the after State of the Union address for those that do not subscribe to the Lib's agenda.

[Captain Hate]

sbw, here's a link LUN

[Ignatz]

I'm sorry for the length of this but it's in a comment section at AmSpec and wasn't sure how easy it would be to find with a link to the original, overly credulous post. It struck me as the most perceptive thing I've read on this whole sorry episode yet:

Grzmlyk| 1.13.11 @ 9:57AM

When Fox cut away to the "panel" after the pep rally, I predicted that Chris Wallace - a Democrat - would be the most clear-eyed; the increasingly cowed Brit Hume would praise Obama stolidly and of course Krauthammer would try to cut ahead of Peggy Noonan in the line to kiss Obama's ass.

And so it was.

This pep rally was a predictable political spectacle from beginning to end. The only difference between this and the Wellstone Memorial is that Democrats learned their lesson and played conservatives like a fiddle; they got exactly what they wanted, and it had nothing whatsoever to do with the events of last Saturday.

Did anyone else think that opening with Fanfare for the Common Man" was a bizarre choice? There's a deliberate flavor of a royal flourish to that piece, which is a paean to Joe Six Pack that, IMHO, eloquently makes the point that nations derive their greatness not from the aristocracy, but from the hoi polloi, the salt of the earth from whose toil and values and simple, inherent goodness great nations rise.

All well and good, but what does that have to do with this event? Who is the common man they were celebrating? And SHOULD we be celebrating ourselves in a bizarre, self-congratulatory near-orgy at this time?

And what was with the opening invocation that celebrated some bizarre, arcane, native American, distinctly non-Judeo-Christian spirituality? Forgive me my sceptical thought that this was far less about "inclusion" than it was about devaluing the traditions - and the people - that built this country. I'm surprised the guy didn't burn goat entrails right there on the dais. That would have sent liberals into rapturous orgasms.

You see, the native Americans are AUTHENTIC, and we (well, those of us who are Caucasians) are this country's usurping pretenders; Arizona, of course, is ground zero for that usurpation.

That's why everybody was whooping it up for that guy; those children in the audience were rejoicing the fact that, finally, the tables are turning on Joe Six Pack and our whole rotten, white, male, oil-addicted way of life; and now, finally, we will soon regress to a pristine world where Christianity is expunged and capitalism is outlawed and industry is shut down and peace-loving, pure, endlessly good native Americans can once again roam the pristine land, and we can all spend our days doing native American dances praising mother earth and excoriating white America.

Well, as long as the "New Americans" - which look suspiciously like old communists - can keep their iphones. And their ipads. And their Escalades. And their big screen TVs. And their yearly vacations. And their townhouses. And their laptops. And their wine cellars. And their internet connections. And their cable TV. And their sexualized lifestyles. And their wardrobes. And their unprecedented ability to fly around the country thanks to cheap airline tickets and the industrial/capitalist legacy they are so eager to urinate all over.

Yippee. Fanfare for the common man indeed.

The 20-year old kid was ok, but everybody had to talk not about the kid whose cool head might have saved Gifford's life, but about the HISPANIC kid whose cool head might have saved Gifford's life. Even conservative pundits line up to pay obeisance to the racial balkanization that is draining this country of its cohesion. If you are Hispanic or black, you are a "noble savage" and inherently GOOD; if you are of white European heritage, you are inherently EVIL.

And forgive me if, when Obama was brought up, I was convinced that we had been transported back in time to the last Beatles concert at Shea Stadium in 1965. The adolescent adoration that showered him was a wall of hormone-enhanced sound; the applause a staircase to the stars that Obama ascended effortlessly, without ever having to lower his Mussolini chin to gaze upon the little people with anything approaching humility.

The libs are all very fond right now of talking about "grown-up" conversations. Where were the grown-ups in the room last night? Not the college kids; not the Party Apparatchiks oohing and aahing at Obama's dandy new set of non-partisan clothes. Not the first lady, who looked like she'd been involved in some kind of explosion involving purple jell-o. Not the lineup of political hacks all jockeying to bask in the warm media glow of "let's all jerk ourselves off now." Not the media in attendance, who were vying to get close to The One.

Gee, I'm glad Krauthammer was impressed with Obama's great healing powers. What the hell did he think Obama was going to do? Hell, his thugs have already beaten the crap out of Palin and the Tea Party and conservative for five consecutive news cycles. It took no genius, no Gandhi, no Christ, to walk across the corpse-strewn battlefield in pristine white long after the battle was over.

And of course Obama draped himself in holy oils and the sack cloth of religious language; think for a minute the reaction among the media if Obama had been a white Republican - like, oh, say George Bush and injected so much biblical talk into his speech. He'd be excoriated from coast to coast for shoving his provincial religion down the throats of secular and new-age saturated Americans held hostage to his bully pulpit.

But we all know the double standard when it comes to Democrats - and black democrats in particular - doing that old time religion. Sure, our popular culture loathes All Things Christian, but, hey, there's nothing like a good old-fashioned revival meeting to distract the punditry from the self-worshiping atheists who were a-clappin their hands and a-stompin' their feet just as zealously as if they really believed there was something of value beyond their own sybaritic desires and resentments.

I literally couldn't watch this cynical theater at some points. The whole phonied up, bizarre party was out of place and inappropriate - not the least of which was Krauthammer's favorite moment, when The Great God Obama assured us all (in case there were any doubters left!) that Jesus has nothing on our president; Christ raised Lazarus, but Obama got Gabby to open her eyes.

Praise be to Obama! Krauthammer loved that Obama repeated "Gabby opened her eyes for the first time." I thought this narcissistic clown was wringing every last bit of tawdry messianism he could out of the moment - knowing that pundits from the right - like Krauthammer - would fall for it hook, line and sinker - as they do every single time. And so it came to pass.

Maybe the media will release a brand new poster of Obama from this pep rally in preparation for his re-election campaign. If so, I know what I'm getting Krauthammer for his birthday.

[Rick Ballard]

SBW,

I believe the Tucson Sentinel link within CH's link is the original report. The reporters name is given should you wish to chase him down.

I doubt that the President has the intelligence to have ascertained that he wasn't the cause of Giffords' opening her eyes for the "first time" prior to his suggestion to that effect. I'll chalk that one up to stupidity rather than mendacity.

[(Another) Barbara]

Sarah Palin could give a Gettysburg Address or a Sermon on the Mount while Obama recited Humpty Dumpty, and the reviews wouldn't be much different from what we're hearing today. The effect that mainstream media has on voters is huge, we must not kid ourselves about that. Squaredance is pretty durned correct. This entire series of events since last weekend will be a win for the Dems and we'll see that in better numbers for Obama, worse ones for Palin and other conservatives, and a humble retreat by the scared Republicans in Congress. Betcha.

[squaredance]

Well, if the GOP were smart,,they would let Palin give the State of the Union Rebuttal for the GOP, and here she could come squarely out against Socialism, the propaganda tactics and bring up the last election as well.

She might just say what is really going on. It would work.

Fat Chance of that happening.

[bgates]

sbw, the hospital website still has this in an entry for Jan 9:

“Gabrielle Giffords can follow simple commands this morning, but we know that brain swelling can take a turn, so we remain cautiously optimistic,” said Dr. Lemole. He described simple commands as: “can you open your eyes” or “can you raise two fingers.”

The Stalinists have realized that didn't go down the memory hole quick enough, so they've now altered their narrative to this from the Arizona Republic:
She had previously opened her eyes on Sunday, but doctors said that was a response to forced stimulation. She opened her eyes Wednesday afternoon in response to friends and Congressional colleagues addressing her following the visit of President Barack Obama by her bedside.

Pretty quick work. At this rate, they'll be able to manufacture eyewitnesses to Palin instructing Loughner to kill in time to provide a poignant counterpoint to the plea for civility in the middle section of the State of the Union.

[cathyf]

It certainly appears that calls for more civil discourse arise mainly when the left is losing, or has lost, an argument.

Don't you lawyers have a saying? "If you have the facts on your side, argue the facts. If you have the law on your side, argue the law. If you have neither the facts nor the law, pound the table, and then when the grownups tell you to calm down, lecture them about their appalling incivility."

[centralcal]

Ignatz - thank you for sharing that. BRAVO to whomever wrote it!!!! Actually, I think he/she should probably start a blog - I certainly would read it.

[Frau Schande]

Hello, Soylent and Sandy Daze!

Some in SF did not get the message. Shouldn't Pelosi get the blame for continued ueber-hatred after the call for civility? LUN for latest Palin smearing. It has to be done, for the sake of the Democrat's Party children.

[Thomas Collins]

I agree with you on John Chafee, NK.

Ever hang out at Jimmy's Pizzeria on the East Side in your RI days, NK? Although on the East Side, its clientele included "connected" Providence folks involved in the vending machine and strip club businesses. Fine place.

My favorite haunt, however, was Bradley's Cafe, near PC. The Narragansett Lager Beer was cheap and plentiful.

And of course there was the Gemini Lounge, part of a building with a motel that rented rooms by the hour. I believe a former North Providence mayor broke an ankle jumping from one of the rooms onto the street to avoid being caught in a room with one of the Gemini Lounge's dancers who also served as a "lady of the evening" (and morning and afternoon, too). Ah, the good old days!

[Dave (in MA)]

I doubt that the President has the intelligence to have ascertained that he wasn't the cause of Giffords' opening her eyes for the "first time" prior to his suggestion to that effect.

Behold, his mighty hand!

[MarkO]

DoT,

That appears to have been written by someone not alive or not watching TV and listening to radio in those halcyon days. I remember serious vitriol regarding the MLK, LBJ, Goldwater, the draft, but mostly about race in the South. Although I originally saw these things on a black and white set with as much snow on the screen as hit NYC, I can remember images of screaming, chanting, burned out churches, long-haired hippy freaks burning flags, before it was just another silly act. Because I lived up in the tops of the Rockies and at night could get only KOMA and some other 50,000 watt radios, I heard not only “The Kissing Tone,” but “Lifeline,” with Melvin Munn from Dallas brought to me by HLH non-hallucinogenic drugs. He was so far to the right he came all the way around passed go and then right again. When I think of wild vitriol on the radio, I think kindly of him.

The writer of the piece seems to have a post hoc problem. It’s like saying that the Fairness Doctrine killed MLK. But, worse, he seems not to know what things were really like in those happy days.

[glenda]

Well, #1, the bitterness shown Palin is because she's a woman,#2, a conservative,#3,nobody's puppet,i.e. handled by K Street or the provincial "good ole boys", which all former candidates previously, have bent to their will, faked-it, and not had one original thought or courage to lead the country in a long time.

The RINO's are more in number than we thought and are showing their "horn"--they really want the majority, but they want to govern the "do as I say-not as I do"way.

The democrats absolutely fear her to the point everything they try to reinforce people to "come home" to them, is tempered and reasoned by that fear. After all, the democrats used populism to their advantage for years..until the Elephants realized "what's good for the Donkey...."

Anyhoo, I like her because she is more like me or the people I admire, than anyone else in the political arena. She will not let personal derision lay, but she can move on to her ideas of governance, when asked.
She is, so far, not going to be told what to say, what to wear, how to be "above the fray".

I don't know about the Beltway elites and their sheep, but I am tired of an orator who only reads words, doesn't have an original idea, talks down America, guards his academic grades or how he paid for such, whether nefarious or with blueblood money--has any other President's life been so unavailable? Palin, to some's ire, is an open book.

We have to remember where the hate in the last week is coming from: democrats who have lost their power base in Congress, Newspapers and news-outlets that are failing financially and viewership--a culture whom think regular, middle-income folk who want less government are stupid--it's either welfare recipients or uber-rich business folk who get the outrageous "wink and nod" for tax dollars and union appeasement that matter to them.

I say Pox on the scare-d-cats, who will not(cannot) debate someone on ideas because they are biased and continue to throw trash--they have a lot of practice in getting it to stick.

[matt]

the vitriol, and the denunciations, go back to the founding of the Republic. Read Washington and his opinion of "factions" or the broadsheet press during the John Adams and Jefferson administrations.

I read a book a while back called "the bloody shirt" about how said item was a symbol for the reconstructionists during the rise of the Klan in the South. I'm sure there are many more on our rowdy and abrasive political culture.

Know nothingism has a long and distinguished history in this country as does hyperbole.

[Theo]

The President's job last night was to set the right tone and to help bring closure. He did a good job of that with his speech, although the pep rally he delivered it to was jarring. But he showed us the man who the country voted for in 2008 -- articulate spokesman for post partisan unity and civil discourse. Will the country ignore the incompetent leftist hack who we saw the last two years? There is a danger that it will. He is freed from the pull of his party to aggressively push bold initiatives. He can now accomplish almost nothing, but he can appear above the fray and a centrist check on the wild notions of the Tea Party and its adherents.
The reality here is that the stage is set for his re election. The country does not want the lefty hack, but they do want the post partisan orator. Just when will they see the former in the next two years?

[Extraneus]

It's likely that Sarah Palin is going to start attacking Barack Obama pretty soon in the run-up to 2012, and she's shown that she can do it in ways that sting him but good. They've been trying all week to prepare the battlefield with this "civility" schtick, aimed squarely at her and for the reason I mentioned, and she replied with a middle finger. Game, set, match Obama? We'll see.

[Danube of Thought]

Blue Demons toppled by gutty little Seminoles. I blame a climate of fear.

[Chubby]

to Sandy Daze

Rudy Guiliani: Sarah Palin has what it takes LUN

[bgates]

Her careless use of the charged words "blood libel"

-A term which should never be used outside the context of the ancient anti-Semitic myth that Jews eat children.

Or in book review titles in the New Yorker. Or when describing Republican attacks on homosexuality.

The important thing about the blood libel is that it "is not wrongfully assigning guilt to an individual for murder, but rather assigning guilt collectively to an entire group of people and then using it to justify violence against them".

Like how for a long time Jews were blamed for the death of Jesus, when really he was killed by Pontius Pilate who was a governor like Sarah Palin.

[Janet]

Thanks for that post Ignatz.

Obama in a rally forum with adoring fans all around...at the scene & on the TV...is scary to me. I am uncomfortable watching people follow a charismatic leader.
I am more comfortable with conservatives who are more individual. Live & let live. Some of the same beliefs, but some differences too, with the conservative standing next to me. It seems healthier than marching in lock step like the left. Maybe that's why conservatives were not protest rally people before the Tea Parties.
Anyway, having an "event" on TV for a crime in Arizona seems inappropriate & contrived.

[NK]

Thomas Collins--

Honestly, am glad to hear a Rhody confirm my view of John Chaffee. Local haunts? I reled on locals to get around Providence, so I don't remember specific spots -- the whole drunken stupor thing from $1.50 pitchers of Narragansett Lager-- have clearer recollections near the Brown U campus where the Sweetbread did its sobering up magic.
My daughter spent 4 weeks at Brown U last summer doing a pre-college course. Oi vey, the Town is so sterile now. Pity.

[Janet]

Obama & Dupnik before the rally -

[Melinda Romanoff]

Kay Bailey throws in towel.

Will Perry please push someone to the front of the line?

Now?

Pretty please?

[Chubby]

((The most important thing about this speech was its hypocrisy))

EXACTLY.

[Janet]

"An overflow crowd in Arizona Stadium reacts to news that Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., had opened her eyes after a hospital visit by the President,..."

It's just scary....

[Chubby]

Extraneus 12:40 EST

That was great post. She well deserves the nick Mama Grizzly.

[Thomas Collins]

More sterile but still with some hot spots, NK. I hope your daughter enjoyed the Brown campus. I graduated from Brown in '76 (one year after Linc, I believe, although we travelled in decidedly different circles), and I enjoyed walking down to RISD and over to Fox Point, and down Hope Street to Tortilla Flats. I liked the fact that the campus was interspersed with the city. Andreas, a Greek restaurant on Thayer Street, is still going strong. On the Pembroke campus, there were two tenpin bowling alleys without a pinsetter, so you had to clear the wood and reset the pins yourself. You could still smoke indoors, and a lady friend and I used to take pipe smoking breaks from studying at the library on the Pembroke campus right in the library building (legal pipe tobacco, believe it or not). I imagine we'd be sent to the U's Health Center for educational sessions if we were students now and did that.

[sbw]

Thanks all for the "eye-opening" references. I just tweaked our AP bureau chief for yesterday's 'miracle' that actually happened Sunday. Subject: "One manufactured miracle away from sainthood."

[NK]

TC-- the Greek diner on Thayer did come in handy on my visits-- my recollection was a full meal for $3 plus tip. Oddly enough my daughter wasn't a fan of Brown U.and isn't applying. Why? she thought the school culture was Tooooo left-wing and feminized. I take NO credit for her right-wing sensibilities. She goes to a small new england all girls boarding school and is surrounded by mindless liberals deadset on indoctrinating the kids; as a contrarian little spitfire, she became a Righty in order to fight the power. Ah-- the law of unintended consequences!

[Captain Hate]

Just to be clear on this, Tammy Bruce is now saying that doctors are claiming that Giffords' eye opening on Sunday was in response to artificial stimulus and that what was reported by Toonces last night is being considered as a significant step in her recovery. My bullshit detectors are telling me to be suspicious of this distinction being brought up after a speech was scrutinized but that's what is being put out. Thank God he's probably maxed out as far as upward mobility.

Btw, could Boehner please stop crying every fucking day. It's really getting embarrassing and there's important work to be done that requires an unemotional grounding that I'm not sure he has.

[Bill in AZ sez it's time for Zero to resign]

It wasn't Zero who caused her to open her eyes. It was Pelosi. Hell, I would have opened my eyes in abject terror if I was strapped to a hospital bed and that witch crawled into the room somehow.

[Captain Hate]

Goddammit; the last sentence of the first paragraph should be the last sentence of the second paragraph.

[Thomas Collins]

Brown certainly tends to hew to the PC prog line, NK. For example, I think Brown is one of the schools that renamed Columbus Day. Wherever your daughter ends up applying, I hope you enjoy the process. My youngest is now a college senior, but when my kids were in high school, I enjoyed the road trips to the campuses and the tours, even though the questions and answers became somewhat predictable at times.

[Extraneus]

How about he gets back to work on passing the repeal bill that was supposed to be voted on yesterday while he's at it.

[Stephanie]

even though the questions and answers became somewhat predictable at times.

Why it's like they all went to the same seminar or something...

BTW did the last few days have a Logan's Run quality about them or is that just me? All that was missing last night was Richard Dawson.

[Ignatz]

--Just to be clear on this, Tammy Bruce is now saying that doctors are claiming that Giffords' eye opening on Sunday was in response to artificial stimulus--

At the time they said it was in response to a verbal prompt. Is that now considered artificial stimulus?

[bgates]

At the time they said it was in response to a verbal prompt. Is that now considered artificial stimulus?

Well, they're also saying that when she opened her eyes on Sunday 800 people in the hospital room got jobs, which is what happens with stimulus.

[Jane (sit on the couch or save your country)]

TC, Dave,

Howie Carr says Deval fired teh Parole Board today - the head of which used to be Deval's driver - and Patrice Tierney got a month in prison for her money laundering after the Feds asked for no jail time. (This is rep Tierney's wife)

[Captain Hate]

I agree with TC on the college road tour situation. Because Mrs H was indisposed I ended up taking Hatette #1 on hers. Listening to Leon Botstein at Bard College give his opinion of other schools which parents would request was quite informative and entertaining. Goucher College in Baltimore was extremely effective in promoting their school to me; so much so that I wrote them a letter, after the choice was Bard, that if were up to me she'd have chosen otherwise.

[Captain Hate]

Dunno Iggy on what they consider artificial stimulation. My BS detector is so pegged it might be useless for the future.

[bgates]

Blue Demons toppled by gutty little Seminoles.

Final score Florida State 66, Duke 61, Sarah Palin 0, a humiliating non-effort by the faded star player who wants to be President even though she almost certainly couldn't name the Pakistani Foreign Minister's wife off the top of her head.

[Thomas Collins]

See LUN for a story on the Mass. Parole Board shake-up Jane mentioned.

CH, my youngest and I laugh about a fight we had on one of the trips. I decided to stay at a Motel Six to save money, but it didn't have wireless internet in the rooms. She stormed out of the room to use the wireless in the reception area. It all worked out for the best. I got to watch my sports on TV and she got to Facebook away in the motel reception area!

[Captain Hate]

Btw, courtesy of Miss Marple at AoS:

Time of George Bush's speech to Virginia Tech: 6 minutes
Time of Castro'sObama's speech at University of Arizona: 36 minutes

Interruptions of Bush's speech with cheers and applause: 0
Interruptions of Obama's speech with cheers and applause: 52

Dress code at Bush's Virginia Tech speech: coat and tie, collared shirts and slacks for students
Dress code at UA: t-shirts (including those handed out), flip-flops, shorts

Concession stands open at Bush's speech: No
Concession stands open at Obama's speech: yes

Time elapsed between VT shootings and Bush's speech: ONE day
Time elapsed between Tucson shootings and Obama's speech: FIVE days

[Thomas Collins]

Another LUN for a story on the Congressman's wife Jane mentioned above.

[Captain Hate]

TC, as my Hatettes and Mrs H will readily tell anybody, I'm the king of the el cheapo motels (we once stayed in a dive in Hagerstown, Md that was *quite* an experience). Coming back from Bard I "splurged" on a Red Roof Inn; I remember it well because I watched "The Ref" with Denis Leary and laughed like a kid throughout it.

[squaredance]

Rational comparison of things is really not the point. The point is to squarely denounce it and point it out for what it is. And get things back to normal ASAP. That would mean that the GOP on The Hill would vociferously object and turn right around and without pause start dismantling the Left's legislative and regulatory agenda. Period.

Nothing is gained by wading into a "debate", if on can call it that, with these people, their propagandists, their agent provocateurs or, above all, their useful idiots. This is exactly what they want.

Here, Palin is to be lauded, though sooner or later we will have to start calling people by their real names.

This is all stacked against rational discussion. That is the whole point. If it were otherwise then they could not get away with this (and they have gotten away with it, they have slipped in a complete national Left wing pep rally on this. Face it.)

In the end, it is our own fault: We have allowed the Left to get away with nonsense like this for generations.

It is time to stop it. It should start on the house floor.

[NK]

TC/Capt--

TC congrats on you youngest finishing college-- soon you will breath the fresh air of not writing tuition checks. My son did his college apps basically on his own with the school advisor. My daughter did visits last spring and summer. I did one 4 day road trip with her-- it was fun for me and she seemed to endure. With the girl I followed one iron law- never, ever ask a question on a school tour with her present. A teenage girl may explode from the public humiliation.

[Chubby]

Cap, what is he crying about now?

[Captain Hate]

Tammy Bruce is stating that ABC news showed more curiosity in vetting Gateway Pundit's reporting on the "eye opening" timeline than they have on checking out any of Sheriff Fuzznuts' ass covering stories.

[NK]

TC/Capt.-- did you stay in those lodging establishments with a daughter? wow. you have more guts than me.

[sbw]

There is the possibility that the Tucson paper got it wrong and that the reports got more accurate as time went on. We'll see.

[sbw]

If reports did get more accurate, standard journalistic practice is to acknowledge earlier reports and then refine them... but their ain't no law says you have to.

[Captain Hate]

Chubby, I don't know what stimulated it this time.

[Thomas Collins]

I always have fun, NK, whether it's one or two of my daughters, son, wife, or some combination. I love road trips, and am always looking for an excuse for a road trip. Like CH, I am viewed by my family as not always stopping off at the most exclusive establihments (there was a place in Delaware that my family swore was a drug motel, but the sheets seemed clean and devoid of needles to me). My favorite trips are ones with I-Hops along the way. Denny's, Perkinses and Waffle Houses are fine, but I-Hops are my favorite.

[Threadkiller]

A long comment, but I put a lot of work into it.

In 1966 it was “Charles Joseph Whitman, a 25-year-old ex-Marine, had killed at least 14 people, including his wife and mother, and wounded 29 others. (The final toll was 15 and 31.)”

This article from July of 2001 still called him “Deranged”. I guess pre 9/11 people could still be labeled what they were.

">http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/first100/962149.html"> Deranged tower sniper rained death on UT campus

How did the Police Chief describe Whitman?

Austin Police Chief Bob Miles said two notes found near the wife’s body showed Whitman was “very definitely mentally disturbed.”

I can’t find where society was labeled at fault. I can’t fine any comments from LBJ, not that they don’t exist. I did find that LBJ, not letting a crisis go to waste, waited 45 days and then asked congress for stricter gun control laws.
">http://www.takepart.com/news/2010/09/15/september-15-1966-lbj-appeals-for-gun-control"> September 15, 1966 : LBJ Appeals for Gun Control

But ">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Connally"> John_Connally , Governor of Texas did his part.

After Charles Joseph Whitman, on August 1, 1966, went onto the University of Texas Tower in Austin and fired at people on the grounds and the surrounding community for over an hour and a half, Connally put together a Commission of experts who determined that Whitman had been suffering from a glioblastoma brain tumor, amphetamine abuse and had family troubles. All of the preceding issues contributed to the killing of sixteen on the campus and the wounding of many others, as well as the killing of his wife and mother in the early morning hours of August 1. Whitman himself was killed by ex-APD Officer Houston McCoy.

No tee shirts or bumperstickers on that one. Just facts about a man gone nuts.

Almost a year later LBJ gave a">http://millercenter.org/scripps/archive/speeches/detail/4040"> Speech to the Nation on Civil Disorders (July 27, 1967)

My fellow Americans: We have endured a week such as no nation should live through: a time of violence and tragedy. For a few minutes tonight, I want to talk about that tragedy—and I want to talk about the deeper questions it raises for us all. I am tonight appointing a special Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders.

But even before the Commission begins its work, and even before all the evidence is in, there are some things that we can tell about the outbreaks of this summer.

First—let there be no mistake about it-the looting, arson, plunder, and pillage which have occurred are not part of the civil rights protest. There is no American right to loot stores, or to burn buildings, or to fire rifles from the rooftops. That is crime—and crime must be dealt with forcefully, and swiftly, and certainly—under law.
The criminals who committed these acts of violence against the people deserve to be punished—and they must be punished. Explanations may be offered, but nothing can excuse what they have done There will be attempts to interpret the events of the past few days. But when violence strikes, then those in public responsibility have an immediate and a very different job: not to analyze, but to end disorder.

What a good start. I was worried about that “before the evidence is” talk. LBJ is looking gooood!

Oh, oh no!!

The only genuine, long-range solution for what has happened lies in an attack— mounted at every level—upon the conditions that breed despair and violence. All of us know what those conditions are: ignorance, discrimination, slums, poverty, disease, not enough jobs. We should attack these conditions—not because we are frightened by conflict, but because we are fired by conscience. We should attack them because there is simply no other way to achieve a decent and orderly society in America.

It was society after all. Not so "Great."

[david fystrom]

If Palin were Giffords The New York Times
Editorial Board would blame?

DRF

[Extraneus]

Gee, how old was Rahm in those days? He's a wunderkind at any age!

[Theo]

DRF --

The lone nut who was suffering from some mental illness. Nothing more to see here, just move on.

[Minimalist Poster]

It’s difficult to grade “The Speech” since there are so many elements that need graded separately.

1) I didn’t watch the event, so I have no grade for delivery (many thanks to those who endured it so I didn’t have to). I leave that to others. I read the speech and thought that it was adequate. It did what needed done, but no more. It’s for the archives, nit to be taken out & read again. It’s not an inspiring speech that people will study or look to for inspiration ever again. It wasn’t deeply flawed (as I was expecting). I was tempted to give it a B, at first, but that’s because it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I’ll give it a C. We got Obama the candidate, not President “Please Go.”

2) That was not a memorial service; that was a campaign rally. D here. It wasn’t Full Wellstone, but it was inappropriate. You don’t talk about civility and using events like this to make political points by turning a memorial service into a campaign rally. Obama could’ve controlled the applause easily. One early comment that the applause were inappropriate would’ve been sufficient. As would skipping the t-shirts and logo. I saw that Obama got a (very slight) bump in the polls. That will fade as the speech is forgotten and only the t-shirts remain.

3) I think timing is a D, though I could easily be persuaded it’s an F. Civility wouldn’t have been an issue if Obama had made any sort of comment earlier. He waited until it was obvious that the attempts to blame Palin and the Tea Party had already played out.

4) Effectiveness is also an F. I saw that the Twitter feed immediately after the speech was right back to Palin and the Tea Party. Maybe that’s just the MSM grading Obama’s speech. As for follow through, I suspect it’s just words someone else wrote that Obama spoke one night at another campaign event. Maybe I’m wrong.

I saw Boortz on Palin. She was fantastic. Obama is President. Palin is not President (yet). She was personally attacked; Obama wasn’t. Of course her speech was different. People will look back to hers.

[Sara (Pal2Pal)]

Has noone on the left ever, ever, ever taken a civics class? There is no correlation between those who want smaller government with more personal responsibility and lower taxes and being anti-government, which is no government at all, or also known as anarchy i.e. No rulership or enforced authority.

[narciso]

I can't assume anymore that they know anything of civics, or history, or economics, Sara