Not the same thing
September 21, 2009 10:02 am ET by Jamison Foser
Here's the Washington Post's Anne Kornblut on MSNBC, reacting to President Obama saying ACORN is "not the biggest issue facing the country, it's not something I'm paying a lot of attention to":
Of course, that's an easy out for the President. The only problem for him is that after he's weighed in on Kanye West, saying he's not paying attention to something isn't gonna fly quite as well.
Absolute nonsense. Obama's Kanye West comments were off the record small talk, not carefully-considered policy positions. More importantly, it takes about three seconds to get up to speed on the Kanye West controversy. You don't need to do a lot of fact-finding to come to a conclusion about his behavior at the Video Music Awards. The ACORN controversy, on the other hand, is considerably more complicated. It isn't the kind of thing you can get up to speed on through cultural osmosis -- certainly not enough to make actual policy decisions.
Kornblut can't possibly think the President's off-hand comment about Kanye West has anything at all to do with whether he's given the ACORN matter sufficient consideration to have a position on it. So she was going for an amusing line, at the expense of drawing a false equivalence that suggested the president is inconsistent or even dishonest. That's the kind of behavior you might reasonably (if regrettably) expect from a partisan political operative. But why would Anne Kornblut think it's appropriate behavior for a journalist?
The other right-wing media mogul you should worry about
Palin's book and Obama's bow: a media week to forget
Media Matters: The Palin chronicles
That should be the Rallying Cry of anyone that believes in Journalistic Integrity.
Of anyone that believes the Truth & the Facts are more important than Ratings.
That Journalistic Integrity is far more important than just Skating.
Speak truth to power.
Mr. News
If they applied the same standards to the funding of all organizations, a dozen banks would be broke, there would be very few defense contractors left, FORGET Halliburton, and for that matter, forget the Republican Party!
These people disgust me. They have an such an unwavering delusion of their own inherent goodness, it allows them to simulatneously ignore the heinous wrongdoing of all those who support them, while getting whipped into a frenzy over the minor misdeeds of an organization that does a tremendous amount of DEMONSTRABLE GOOD that just happens to not be part of their agenda. (Since when was ANYTHING good part of the Right's agenda?)
The Republicans are hypcritical self-righteous scumbags, to a man, and every democrat that voted to cut Acorn's funding is a gutless, unpricipled coward, to a man.
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Pub's have no brians, Dem's have no balls, and America has no leadsership.
Rough weekend eddie? That type of rejoinder may cause some to wonder about your nom de plume.
And if that's all you got, are you saying that you can't acualy refute any of the points made in the HuffPo piece of the other link?
'Scum' was the conclusion I reached, based on the evidence as presented. You have anything to counter that?
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'Cause if you do, I'd love to dispute it!
Sure 'nough.
My comment was not about the accuracy of the Huffpo piece...or defending any of the people/groups defrauding our government.
It was in response to the bigoted "to a man" definition that you used.
While most of us fall prey to the need to vent on occasion...if you choose to stand behind your "to a man" comment you represent little more than hyperbole.
So either they are part of spreading the Right's nonsense, or they enable it by accepting it and not coming out HARD against it. Either way, I don't see how my admittedly angry oppinion is that far off the mark.
In the worse case? We're back to my old maxim:
Conservatives are either evil or stupid: One lies, the other buys.
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I've seen nothing of value being offered by the Right. Nothing at all.
I agree with the statement by Pres.Obama...clearly speaking to bloggers who make the bigoted and angry spiels that you exhibited.
-- The Republicans are hypcritical self-righteous scumbags, to a man -- eddie
In place of republicans...do you care to substitute any other class of people in your statement? Blacks, homosexuals, atheists, Latinos, or pro-choice advocates?
You can hear them on the news, read them in the papers, and find them all over the net...espousing radical views.
Respecting your avowal of anger this morning...a little introspection might prove helpful if you find truth in the president's comment...otherwise you are part of the problem identified by Pres.Obama.
Why would I want to attack the traditional VICTIMS of Right Wing vitirol?
You speak of introspection (which is always absurd, coming from a conservative) and then suggest that my attacking YOU (GUYS) for attacking [THOSE GROUPS ABOVE], is somehow the same so YOU attacking THEM in the first place? That's patently absurd, right on its face. Let me guess... You also think that Nancy Pelosi was the one threatening violence against the 9/12 protesters? Same ridiculous "logic."
Yes, you bet I'm angry. And when I see some evidence that my anger is overblown, FINE, I'll apologize and buy you a coke. (So far, you're failing.) Unless Conservatives start acting like liberals, and actually start CARING about the groups you mentioned above, in your pathetic attempt to play the victim here, I will stand by my statement. If there's a Republican voter out there who I've yet to validate my categorization of them as either evil or stupid, chances are I haven't talked politics with them yet.
BTW, I'm happy to see that you elevate little old me to the same level as THE ENTIRE RIGHT WING BLOGOSPHERE. I'd like to dream that I can one day single-handedly do as much damage as they can, but I'm afraid your flattering me at the moment. As for Mister Obama's judgment? He may say that I go to far. That's fine. I can live with that. IMHO, he hasn't gone far enough. But I'll go double or nothing on that Coke he'd still scoff at a proud Right-Winger calling ME out for "hateful blogging." (Or suggesting introspection!)
You, sir, need to make sure that your own house is clean first. My anger is in response to how I've watched my lot be treated (and let themselves be treated) for the past 15 years, never once raising an angry word in protest, while you lot slandered and smeared us all the while destroying this great country. If you are trying to call "hyposcrisy" on that... DON'T. MAKE. ME. LAUGH.
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If you live in a glass house, you shouldn't throw stones... or walk around naked!
...And you definitely should NOT try to use any imagined liberal principles as a weapon against me, because that dog just won't hunt.
Second, the suggestion of introspection was certainly optional...as you proved.
Describing "all" republicans as scumbags and liars clearly goes against the president's call for civility and marginalizes your opinions.
That type of angry, overblown rhetoric might soothe your own psyche...but does little to further the discussions.
I don't claim to be the ethics police...just simply stating the obvious when it comes to making a judgment on an entire class of people with scurrilous labels because you're angry. That's a trait ingrained in bigots.
Well eddie, this is a comments section so...que sera sera.
Disapperaing eveything the Right has ever said; disappearing all the evidence underlying my anger; Disappearing decades of racist, sexist and/or homphobic, rhetoric. Disapperaing all the violent rhetoric directed at non-funny mentalist Christians, then disappearing their years of hypocrisy, constrantly crying (crocodile ters) about being attacked themselves; Disappearing their justification for TOTURE; for unnecessary WAR; for potentially genocidal Environmental practices; for OVERT THREATS to our public figures, and most recently for destroying an organization that DARES to help the poor, as if they've ever done ANYTHING but line their own pockets...
Disappering all that, then saying, "Tsk, Tsk. Shouldn't say mean things, Eddie."
Give me a break. You want me to reply to that?
Do you want me to be honest or tactful?
Tactful?
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GET STUFFED!
Your bigotry...prompted by your anger has sent you adrift...you know it and I know it.
I haven't asked you to excuse any behavior that offends you...or any principle that you hold. And I certainly don't take offense when you target the republican party for pushing agendas that you oppose and the tactics that they use.
However...and it's a big however...calling "all" republicans scumbags certainly lacks decent sensibilities and makes no more sense than...are you ready for this...calling all blacks scumbags, all atheists scumbags, all pro-choicers scumbags or all Latinos scumbags...for the actions of some in the group.
The only "tsk tsk" that you're getting from me is your illogical and angry rhetoric about people you don't even know...which is classic bigotry.
I am a conservative republican...and guess what? I'm also offended at several of the things you mentioned above...as well as not being enamored with all of the republican party's actions or the rhetoric of media people like Hannity...and would certainly describe "some" of them as scumbags.
But I try to avoid the trap of bigotry...and I'd hope you call me out if my anger overcame my tolerance and I tried to paint all people in a certain class with the same biased brush.
Talk about knee-jerk reactions. No wonder nothing gets done.
I think that Beck and Limbaugh actually generate debate about issues. They point out how ABC, NBC, CBS, most newspapers, only defend the liberal point of view. If these companies and newspapers did their job, Beck and Limbaugh would lose popularity.
Just by looking at MediaMatters today, it is easy to see that it is also a defender of the left wing. Fox News is right wing. We know that and take what they say with a grain of salt. I happen to think the Acorn story was important, that VanJones was important. The media outside of Fox didn't do much with stories until later.
Is there any news source that is really independent they we can rely on?
maybe you guys should try a bit harder, i bet you could find a way to tie obama to a rogue asteroid that may hit the planet someday. it's amazing the things you can do when your lives are not based in reality.
He was correct. It was stupid to arrest a man inside his own home after he has already positively identified himself. Considering all charges were virtually immediately dropped, it appears the Cambridge PD agreed with Obama's assessment.
Labeling a stupid act as such isn't automatically "condemnation." I consider it an observation rather than a condemnation.
He didn't. He acted stupidly. Most of my cop friends agree that he acted stupidly.
Pffft.
Here's an observation...Prof.Gates was arrested "outside" is own home for "loud and tumultuous behavior in a public space".
The officer was on a power trip and acted stupidly. He was the irritant in the situation . . . all he had to do to diffuse it was LEAVE.
BTW, you are aware that the cop's report had several false statements on it, right?
Does that make the officers' behavior any less stupid?
He indeed was arrested on his own property...not in his own house...glad we got that cleared up.
thanks for playing
When he gets hold of a juicy mouthful like the difference between "in his home" or "on his property", let him thrash around with it for a while.
I think it's adorable.
If it were a righty posting here, caught in a mistake like this, we'd see them come back tomorrow, the next week and the next year spouting the same false premise that we'd already debunked!
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And that dog won't hunt.
As if that was some killer point, anyway.
The conversation could have continued with the Professor physically inside his home. The cop demanded that he leave the interior of his home for what I see as nefarious purposes. And the DA apparently saw the purposes the same way I did, and thats why he dismissed all charges!
In much the same way as Kayne West's was a simple story, relative to the complexity of the Acorn Story, the Cambridge incident was also relatively simple. It involved only two people, one going to jail after being investiagted for breaking into his own house. Those comments were made on the record and the case involves SOME legal/race issues but, aside from that, it's about as simple as the West story.
No matter how you slice it, the Acornd story is complicated. 1200 Offices; 100's of emplyees; funduing issues; b*llsh!t ambush journalism, inditing only, what? FOUR PEOPLE?!; the GOOD they do, versus the MONEY the get; the actions taken; investigations pending; The list of factors goes on and on.
You make the same mistake Kornblut does: naming an example which is closer to the Kanye West story than to the Acorn story in terms of complexity.
The Democrats blew this one, BIG TIME. They're gutless cowards.
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But you blew it too! Big time!
Which proves the point of the blog entry.
The part in bold is purely speculation on your part.
They've been so well trained to follow the shiny object, and miss the point, it's almost impossible to carry on a conversation.
Really? Even if they thought they were talking to ridiculous cub reporters who were pulling a prank, and had no intention of committing fraud, the ACorn people were attempting to commit a fraud?
You're about as discriminating as the propaganda filmmakers.
Because The Constitution isn't just something to scream about at teabagger rallies.
Thank you for disproving your own point, and reiterating mine.
BTW, if it's that cut and dry, why don't YOU let mw know what you think of THIS.
That's a bit more than a few low-level grunts doing something that goes against company policy.
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You guys always make it so easy....
Wow, really! What a surprise that right wing Kentucky Democrat, who has never lacked a reason to hate the president, doesn't now believe him. By the way, the president admitted he should not have said what he did about the Gates case. On the ACORN case, he spoke wisely.
Quit dealing in reality, and play along.
Well played, pres, well played!
- His name: He's a muslim.
- He grew up in Indonesia - Claiming his birth certificate is fake.
- Bill Ayers and him served on the same teaching committee - Oh he is a terrorist.
- He represented ACORN as a lawyer and community organizer 10+ years ago - Oh he had something to do with this (small) disaster over at ACORN.
- He wants to fix the healthcare system - Oh he is a socialist, HITLER, or a marxist.
- He gave money to businesses for reestablishment of the financial sector - Oh he is a socialist, marxist, HITLER!
Do your research before commenting on this president and his policy decisions or life history. Just do not rely on FOX SNOOZE and far-right radio. LOL!
Half of the voters in this country have such low self-esteem that they think people that make more in a day or two than they make all year are employing them out of some altruistic idea of "giving them a job".
And you're obviously not up on the news (old news at that) if you don't know about Obama's campaign giving $800K to an ACORN "affiliate." Obama's campaign initially stated on FEC reports that the money was for polling and staging when it was in fact for get out the vote projects. They were forced to amend their reports when it became known. I think that donating a large sum of money to get out the vote to an organization that has numerous complaints of voter registration fraud against it is suspicious on its face. Here's a link so you can educate yourself:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/election/s_584284.html
Second, why not the RIGHT talk about the scandal their or YOUR people were involved in with voter fraud. Here is the name for you if you do not know:
American Center for Voting Rights Now once a full investigation gets submitted and reviewed on ACORN then everyone can give their final opinion, but until then these distortions need not be fabricated to take away from the RIGHT'S own foul-ups like the one that was shut down in 2007 due to what is now charged on ACORN.
You and other people who believe in lies and fearmongering about healthcare need to do adequate research. This country is overdue for universal healthcare, but you will never except that because you are too stuck on the healthcare industry being for profit and making doctors and employees of health insurance companies rich denying people adequate care. Join the croud! OOPS you won't!