clark stooksbury

One has to plow through acres of bullshit before getting to punchline in Today's Glenn Reynolds column in the Washington Examiner(via Memeorandum):

[A]fter a while, people who pay their bills on time start to feel like suckers. I think we’ve reached that point now:
* People who pay their mortgages - often at considerable personal sacrifice - see others who didn’t bother get special assistance.
* People who took jobs they didn’t particularly want just to pay the bills see others who didn’t getting extended unemployment benefits.
* People who took risks to build their businesses and succeeded see others, who failed, getting bailouts. It rankles at all levels.

And an important point of Sykes’ book is that moocher-culture isn’t limited to farmers or welfare queens. The moocher-vs-sucker divide isn’t between the rich and poor, but between those who support themselves and those nursing at the government teat. (emphasis added)

Only at the end does one discover that "Examiner Sunday Reflection contributor Glenn Harlan Reynolds is a University of Tennessee School of Law professor, and founder and editor of Instapundit.com." Not only does Mr. Makers v. Takers nurse at the government teat, he does so in a singularly useless capacity—law professor.

Barbara Ehrenreich's excellent book, Bright-sided shined a light on the "infantilizing" pink-ribboned culture promoted by groups like the Komen foundation:

The first thing I discovered as I waded out into the relevant sites is that not everyone views the disease with horror and dread . . . There are between two and three million American women in various stages of breast cancer treatment, who, along with anxious relatives, make up a significant market for all things breast cancer related. Bears, for example: I identified four distinct lines, or species, of these creatures, including . . . the Nick and Nora Wish Upon a Star Bear, which was available . . . at the Komen Foundation Web site's "marketplace."

And bears are only the tip, so to speak, of the cornucopia of pink-ribbon-themed breast cancer products. . . "Awareness" beats secrecy and stigma, of course, but I couldn't help noticing that the existential space in which a friend had earnestly advised me to "confront [my] mortality" bore a striking resemblance to the mall.

Rightwingers are the ultimate victims. Ted Olson(via Memeorandum), for example took to the Wall Street Journal today to whine on behalf of the Koch brothers, but his charges are exceedingly vague. He states:

Richard Nixon maintained an"enemies list" that singled out private citizens for investigation and abuse by agencies of government, including the Internal Revenue Service. When that was revealed, the press and public were outraged. That conduct will forever remain one of the indelible stains on Nixon's presidency and legacy

OK. So, has the Obama administration "singled out private citizens for investigation and abuse"? Olson is kind of sketchy. Giving utterly no specifics, Olson accuses the administration of "engag[ing] in derogatory speculative innuendo about the integrity of . . . tax returns." Obama is also guilty because his "surrogates and allies in the media" have "attacked" and "sullied" the reputation of the Kochs. Absent more specific charges of, you know, actual abuse; it seems as if the president stands accused of engaging in politics.

Reliable hack, Glenn Reynolds adds " I was talking to a CEO last year — an Obama supporter no less — who told me he was amazed at how openly Administration officials threatened to use media demonization if he didn’t play ball." So the administration will criticize those it disagrees with.

Molly Hemingway at Ricochet unwittingly (one is tempted to say "half-wittingly") explains why the comparison between the Nixon Enemies List and Obama's criticism of the Kochs is absurd: "Nixon's lists were secret. Obama is telegraphing his list in his very public rhetoric, the actions of the administration and the oversight of Congress." It was the secrecy of the first that made it so susceptible to abuse.

UPDATE: I should clarify the last line. Nixon's enemies list was secret because the purpose was abuse.

I find it odd that Glenn Reynolds is complaining (via Memeorandum) about the media's supposed failure to adequately vet candidate Obama in 2008 when a week ago he was denouncing one of Obama's harshest critics—Paul Krugman— and absurdly implying that Krugman had elevated Obama to a "messiah."

If he is going to complain about the media's coverage of Obama, Reynolds ought to at least acknowledge of the President's early liberal critics.

Via Memeorandum, I see that the latest faux controversy to emerge from right-wingers is this video of Michelle Obama supposedly dissing America. I defy anyone to interpret what the First Lady is saying in the video, especially since her mouth is obscured during part of the clip. According to James Robbins, in the Washington Times she is saying, "all this just for a flag."

Robbins has no real basis for his accusation other than in his reckoning it is what she "appears" to say. These clowns just keep becoming more jaw-droppingly ridiculous and cartoonishly stupid to the extent that I am left speechless.

I defer to Elvis Costello:

I didn't watch the White House Correspondent's Dinner, but I saw the fall out from the President's mild mockery of The Donald. Memeorandum has links from Jim Hoft who whined that "It took Obama about 10 seconds before he attacked Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner Saturday night. Of course, Donald Trump was sitting in the room and did not have an opportunity to respond."

Some Guy called the "Blogprof" sputtered that ". . .most people would agree that repeatedly punching someone in the face while your friends hold that person from responding is less than fair and amounts to bullying in the extreme."

This is what has these clowns whining:

“Donald Trump is here tonight . . .“Now, I know that he’s taken some flak lately but no one is prouder to put this birth certificate matter to rest than the Donald. And that’s because he can finally get back to focusing on the issues that matter, like, ‘Did we fake the moon landing?’ ‘What really happened on Roswell?’ And ‘Where are Biggie and Tupac?’”

I'm continuously amazed at what thin-skinned babies most rightwingers are. If anything, Obama owes an apology to Dale Gribble and Fox Mulder for putting them in the same company as Trump.

Update: I give Glenn Reynolds and Ann Althouse some credit. They are both claim that Trump wins because Obama mentioned him at all. I think it's an absurd claim, Trump is on his way to being a punchline, if not already there; but their Trump wins narrative is preferable to the crocodile tears of Jim Hoft.