"A black sheriff?!": The Official Topic of Obama and New Era American Politics

[Oblivion]

[Phoenix Dark]

He had four small kids damn 

[benjipwns]

I only knew because he used to bring his kids (who I assume had traveled with him) on Red Eye at the end of the show.

He was pretty specific about not wanting to involve his family in his political crap. The one time I ever saw him actually get angry (instead of faux-FOX-angry) was when someone brought up a hotel or something he was staying at.

I'm dicking around a bit on GAF, but I liked the guy when he wasn't in his ALL GOP ATTENTION POLITICS mode.

[MrAngryFace]

Not a single feel was given

[Boogie]

FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Looks like Romney is gonna win, he's up 10k on Santorum with 27% reporting

Just read on Slate that in spite of Romney's "win", the breakdown of the Michigan delegates split evenly between him and Santorum.  Keep hope alive!

[MrAngryFace]

after this long a primary im pretty sure whoever wins won't have much to work with.

[MrAngryFace]

http://www.theonion.com/video/heartbroken-santorum-condemns-gay-marriage-for-two,27497/

[benjipwns]

Just read on Slate that in spite of Romney's "win", the breakdown of the Michigan delegates split evenly between him and Santorum.  Keep hope alive!

That's a lot of them, NONE of the caucuses will be known until June despite the "vote" counts.

A lot of reports say that Ron Paul at least tied if not outright won Iowa because they got all their people to stay around to become state convention delegates while everyone else bailed after doing the straw poll.

Normally this has never mattered because by the conventions there's no other candidates, and the Democrats in 2008 bound theirs (IIRC), but the Republicans don't. So you could wind up with a situation where Romney wins everything but doesn't have enough delegates to get a first ballot majority.

[Phoenix Dark]

FFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

Looks like Romney is gonna win, he's up 10k on Santorum with 27% reporting

Just read on Slate that in spite of Romney's "win", the breakdown of the Michigan delegates split evenly between him and Santorum.  Keep hope alive!

Yup, the last split I saw was 15-15. Interestingly Santorum lost a district by literally one vote; if he had won that district he'd have the delegate lead for the state.

[Brehvolution]

(Image removed from quote.)

Ice cold, but worthy.

[benjipwns]

Is getting Dem-GAF to say "you're a joke" and refusing to respond within like two posts a good sign for me or them?

spoiler (click to show/hide)

I know it's for them, since I bothered to engage.

I don't have people to troll in real life for a few months.

[close]

You guys should just become stupider to compensate.

[Stoney Mason]

Breitbart was a complete dick and an asshole. Won't pretend I have any great sympathy for his passing. Just to show its not a liberal/conservative thing, I also didn't much care for Christopher Hitchens either. The way some people over-reacted like one of the leading thinkers of our time had just passed (Looking at Huffpost) was amusing to me.

[Mupepe]

Yech.  I had to hear a RL friend go on and on about the loss of Hitchens.  STFU.  He was an abrasive prick too.  Both needed a few good lessons in humility.

[benjipwns]

I don't think you have to, I mean I think of Hitchens more of a "conservative" (aligned based on his writing being so foreign-policy focused) when he died. I liked Breitbart "personally" as mentioned above, and I liked Hitchens the same but I can separate the politics from the person and also apply the politics to the person.

I don't see any issue with thinking Breitbart is terrible or Hitchens or Kennedy or whoever. Or the reverse and liking them. Anyone sane can feel bad for a family and yet say someone was terrible separating the two.

Breitbart is hardly a favorite in politics but I liked the guy on Red Eye, and Hitchens was another guy who I liked even when I disagreed with them because he could argue well and I thought the way he held his own against anyone is something anyone should investigate.

I know you weren't relating to my bitching, but I was dicking around with people on GAF trying to get them to admit that the Admin deserved some blame for instantly buying Breitbart's bullshit rather than checking a video anyone could instantly view. I don't get how they want to blame Breitbart for it all when he couldn't do shit.

And I got the vibe they were thinking I was a Republican or something because I felt the Obama Admin deserved some blame for believing Breitbart.

It's one of those things I get academically but I hate trying to put the pieces together really. 

Yech.  I had to hear a RL friend go on and on about the loss of Hitchens.  STFU.  He was an abrasive prick too.  Both needed a few good lessons in humility.

This is part of why me and my friends liked him, but we never thought he was a paragon of humanity. He was honest. And it was that aspect to aspire to.

IIRC, he was one of those "acts" which is why he was always more abrasive on Maher and such (aka friends) me and a friend created a facebook group that wound up with his daughter in it before we both abandoned facebook and she said as much.

[Human Snorenado]

Man, I knew the world felt less scummy when I woke up this morning.  Too bad James O'Keefe is still around.

[Oblivion]

I'm loving Mittens more and more each day:

O'REILLY: You know whenever you make a joke like you did at the NASCAR race and you said you saw some people in these cheap little rain coats and you go way to spend the big bucks. And you know you're always going to be portrayed as a rich guy who is out of touch with the folks, condescending to the folks. Am I correct? I mean that's the way you're going to be portrayed no matter what you do?

ROMNEY: Yes, you're probably right. I mean, the narrative that the - - that the Obama people want to push and that members of the mainstream media are very anxious to do for them is that anything I do, the joking around and having fun that somehow that fits their narrative.

O'REILLY: Yes, you're going to be a snob and this, that, and the other thing. So is it worth it for you even to say those things?

ROMNEY: Well you know, it's hard to imagine all the things they're going to try and turn into attacks. I mean, that -- that's the first time you've -- I've heard the one you've mentioned. Look I have worn a garbage bag for rain gear myself. And we're out there in the rain. And the rain was getting us soaked. I didn't -- I didn't have a rain coat myself. I would have liked one of those.

[Stoney Mason]

I don't think you have to, I mean I think of Hitchens more of a "conservative" (aligned based on his writing being so foreign-policy focused) when he died.

Which always struck me as weird since Huffingtonpost treated his death like the death of FDR or something.

[Human Snorenado]

Hitchens was an incredible writer, even if Muslims freaked him out and he wanted to bomb all of them into godless enlightenment or whatever.  Breitbart was just pure scum, a modern PT Barnum who used race as his 3 ring circus.  Other than some children not having a father, there is literally no reason to be sorry for his passing.  Fuck him and anyone who says otherwise.

[Oblivion]

Well, he did help set it up, and apparently was good friends with Arianna.

[Mupepe]

Yeah, I have no problem with people who liked him.  But I hate how after death people like them get lifted up onto some pedestal that somehow eradicates a lot of their douchebaggery.  And somehow I'm a huge prick if I don't care so much that they're dead.  This goes for all celebs (maybe all people?) too.  Look at GAF when any celebrity dies.  Most recently it was Whitney Houston.  For a moment I was like "Damn.  That really sucks.  She had talent" and then I moved on.  But I go on Facebook and GAF and it's a bandwagon of one-upsmanship about who cared more.  I hate it I hate it I hate it.  I'm not going to pretend I liked the person more than I did or that I somehow just realized their genius and lasting effect on my life.  STFU

Sorry about the rant and getting a bit off topic.

[Human Snorenado]

Listen, Whitney's been sober for three weeks now, this is awesome for her.

[Stoney Mason]

Yeah, I have no problem with people who liked him.  But I hate how after death people like them get lifted up onto some pedestal that somehow eradicates a lot of their douchebaggery.  And somehow I'm a huge prick if I don't care so much that they're dead.  This goes for all celebs (maybe all people?) too.  Look at GAF when any celebrity dies.  Most recently it was Whitney Houston.  For a moment I was like "Damn.  That really sucks.  She had talent" and then I moved on.  But I go on Facebook and GAF and it's a bandwagon of one-upsmanship about who cared more.  I hate it I hate it I hate it.  I'm not going to pretend I liked the person more than I did or that I somehow just realized their genius and lasting effect on my life.  STFU

Sorry about the rant and getting a bit off topic.

My problem is that there are real thinkers and real great people out there who die all the time. Yet if you were on Real Time with Bill Maher or shot your mouth off like an idiot to get in the public eye then people feel that you were somehow important or special. It's that idea that our public discourse has been hijacked by the loudest+dumbest versus the quality of what people say.

But yeah this is off topic.

[Mupepe]

Listen, Whitney's been sober for three weeks now, this is awesome for her.

 

Yeah, I have no problem with people who liked him.  But I hate how after death people like them get lifted up onto some pedestal that somehow eradicates a lot of their douchebaggery.  And somehow I'm a huge prick if I don't care so much that they're dead.  This goes for all celebs (maybe all people?) too.  Look at GAF when any celebrity dies.  Most recently it was Whitney Houston.  For a moment I was like "Damn.  That really sucks.  She had talent" and then I moved on.  But I go on Facebook and GAF and it's a bandwagon of one-upsmanship about who cared more.  I hate it I hate it I hate it.  I'm not going to pretend I liked the person more than I did or that I somehow just realized their genius and lasting effect on my life.  STFU

Sorry about the rant and getting a bit off topic.

My problem is that there are real thinkers and real great people out there who die all the time. Yet if you were on Real Time with Bill Maher or shot your mouth off like an idiot to get in the public eye then people feel that you were somehow important or special. It's that idea that our public discourse has been hijacked by the loudest+dumbest versus the quality of what people say.

But yeah this is off topic.

Agreed.  In 2012 it was the death of Breitbart and in 2020 we'll hit rock bottom with a live memorial service for Snooki.

[benjipwns]

Hitchens was an incredible writer, even if Muslims freaked him out and he wanted to bomb all of them into godless enlightenment or whatever.

THIS.

Fuck him and anyone who says otherwise.

NO FUCK YOU!!! OMG11111

Not really, but I think Breitbart did play a valuable role in showing just how fucking stupid the modern media was when he could just on a whim dictate they ran the stories he wanted. I was joking calling him a hero on GAF but the guy got someone in the government somehow fired within hours. And the government didn't check shit. And the response is to blame him, I really don't fucking get it. Shouldn't this be a lesson about who is employed by the government or something?

Instead we're whining that a blogger got some random bureaucrat fired because she is crappy at giving speeches?

Yeah, I have no problem with people who liked him.  But I hate how after death people like them get lifted up onto some pedestal that somehow eradicates a lot of their douchebaggery.  And somehow I'm a huge prick if I don't care so much that they're dead.  This goes for all celebs (maybe all people?) too.  Look at GAF when any celebrity dies.  Most recently it was Whitney Houston.  For a moment I was like "Damn.  That really sucks.  She had talent" and then I moved on.  But I go on Facebook and GAF and it's a bandwagon of one-upsmanship about who cared more.  I hate it I hate it I hate it.  I'm not going to pretend I liked the person more than I did or that I somehow just realized their genius and lasting effect on my life.  STFU

Sorry about the rant and getting a bit off topic.

This also. The celeb stuff sucks. The only part I differ is that Breitbart is getting a lot of hate (right or wrong) which as I noted above is exactly what he would wanted. Him passing and nobody noticing would have meant more than a bunch of people gloating over his death.

The shitty part is that it's only the Breitbart's and such (anyone not really "important") where you can actually discuss the persons history or role. Michael Jackson was a bloodbath on GAF for anyone making jokes that 24 hours before would have been laughed at by everyone. Then you work in the Heath Ledgers and other modern idols who did...what?

Yet if you were on Real Time with Bill Maher or shot your mouth off like an idiot to get in the public eye then people feel that you were somehow important or special. It's that idea that our public discourse has been hijacked by the loudest+dumbest versus the quality of what people say.

I've argued for a while that the role of academy should be to translate things into more common discourse. Even people I know very well are more interested in esoteric academic reviews of some subject and yet they have no grasp of why people reject the fifty studies on how coffee will kill you, save you, make you a demi-god, etc. a year.

If I agree with Santorum on anything, there is a great disconnect here. (And even among what "college educated" think a study says and what it really says.) I can get why it's perceived as "snobbery" when I spend say 15 minutes with any faculty.

[Human Snorenado]

Sorry, I have no tolerance for anyone who uses race the way Breitbart did.  Basically what you're saying is that because the administration fired Sherrod for the edited video when the full thing was online and available for anyone to watch they look stupid and Breitbart deserves some sort of "credit" for proving how reactionary and stupid they can be.  That's very nice and oh so meta, but the man was fucking scum.  It's like, sure everyone is gonna freak out if I stick my dick in the mashed potatoes, but then I've just ruined a perfectly good bowl of mashed potatoes.  Have some self-restraint and decency.  Breitbart had NONE.

[Brehvolution]

Considering how he acted when Ted Kennedy died, he deserves no punches pulled.

[benjipwns]

No, I don't say Breitbart deserves anything, I question why the Administration should avoid blame for being the only one with the authority to do what they did and why we should pass the buck off onto a non-entity internet troll rather than demand the administration stand up for itself and review the actual tape instead of being afraid of being pushed around by a blogger and FOX News with 1/10th of a tape.

But yes, I do say because the administration fired her they look stupid. Because they do. A big bad boogey man blogger said he had a big bad video and they fired someone without checking anything. Sounds stupid to me.

[Human Snorenado]

I agree that they look stupid for doing so, but they NEVER WOULD HAVE HAD TO LOOK STUPID if some asshole wasn't out there trying to make them look stupid, and the idiot media didn't enable him at every fucking step.

[benjipwns]

But that doesn't matter, if they took an hour to look at the fucking video they could have said, look this doesn't mean shit, it's A GOOD THING! Instead they called her to pull over on the side of the road and fired her on the spot without knowing shit.

That's what matters more to me. They got fucking jacked by an internet troll. We're within a decade of Democrats claiming Bush hoodwinked them. Why the hell are we accepting them going from the fucking President pulling the sheet over the eyes of Senators to some blogger with a video of a fucking irrelevant bureaucrat giving a speech they already have the whole damn video of resulting in the executive branch bending over?

It doesn't matter if Breitbart would have or wouldn't have ever done it, someone would have in our internet age. The video was out there. Breitbart got faked, and that let everyone else get faked. Even though the video had been up for a while and was easy to check.

It's like the Van Jones stuff, you can't leave this shit lying around.

Assume your opponents are faithful and you always lose.

[Oblivion]

I agree that they look stupid for doing so, but they NEVER WOULD HAVE HAD TO LOOK STUPID if some asshole wasn't out there trying to make them look stupid, and the idiot media didn't enable him at every fucking step.

Pretty much this.

[Human Snorenado]

Sorry, you're kind of an idiot benji.

[Human Snorenado]

ANDREW BREITBART- COMPLETELY BLAMELESS SCUMFUCKER DIED TODAY

[benjipwns]

Sorry, you're kind of an idiot benji.

I have never denied this.

My point is, if you don't want this shit out there, don't leave it out there.

I just don't understand how it's Breitbart's fault for making this shit known when the Obama Admin could have easily taken care of it by ignoring an internet troll.

Just in case it's been missed, I never EVER though it was a scandal, it's just been beyond fucked up as a response which allowed the Hannity types to make it a "scandal" in retrospect.

[Human Snorenado]

Because the media, in a falling all over themselves effort to appear NOT LIBERAL, will basically just parrot anything Breitbart decides to feature in his circus.  They did, too, in the early stages of it.  So it's an issue whether the administration wants to deal with it or not, and they felt (wrongly, but whatever) the quickest way to dispense with it is to fire her and be done with it.  Is that dumb?  Sure.  Do I understand why they felt they had to do it?  Absolutely.

What you're saying is that the guy who creates a trumped up scandal is completely blameless for anything that happens as a result of it, which is completely distinguished mentally-challenged.  Also, if Sherrod had ACTUALLY said something reprehensible then Breitbart wouldn't have been a dick.  Let's remember that it was BREITBART who put together and put out there the edited video misrepresenting her.

[Oblivion]

[benjipwns]

*Wrote this a bit back but had issues sorry*

This probably makes me a dick, but I wanted to make this reply since I respect Creepy Old Guy and most everyone here.

I like Breitbart as a person from his appearances on Red Eye, I like Breitbart as someone who fucks with the media.

Beyond that I am not endorsing Breitbart.

I think, STRONGLY, that the Obama Admin fucked up the Sherrod situation by immediately firing her. 

I do not give a shit who brought it up, the Obama Admin should have found some balls and reviewed the tape, as she was in the right.

THAT is my criticism, that is my point. I simply cannot fathom why people are trying to defend this. Who gives a fucking fuck if it was Breitbart or Drudge or Beck or Hannity or whoever. Beck apparently took down Van Jones. Breitbart got Sherrod. I'm iffy on Van Jones but Sherrod should have been defended. If you're competent you can defend this, turn back the "right-wing" and get a "win" from it ffs.

Breitbart tried to stick the Admin and they FUCKED IT UP.

THEY KNEW ABOUT THE VIDEO!!!

I'm an insane idiot, but this was the most obvious parry known to man. It's a not scandal they let become a scandal and fuel those fucking Hannity scumbags for weeks.

Because the media, in a falling all over themselves effort to appear NOT LIBERAL, will basically just parrot anything Breitbart decides to feature in his circus.  They did, too, in the early stages of it.  So it's an issue whether the administration wants to deal with it or not, and they felt (wrongly, but whatever) the quickest way to dispense with it is to fire her and be done with it.  Is that dumb?  Sure.  Do I understand why they felt they had to do it?  Absolutely.

What you're saying is that the guy who creates a trumped up scandal is completely blameless for anything that happens as a result of it, which is completely distinguished mentally-challenged.  Also, if Sherrod had ACTUALLY said something reprehensible then Breitbart wouldn't have been a dick.  Let's remember that it was BREITBART who put together and put out there the edited video misrepresenting her.

No, no, no, Breitbart IS to blame.

But not to blame as much as the Admin!

Breitbart is a media whore, but it was up to the admin to decide if he had legit shit or not. I agree, I know why they did it. But THEY DID IT IN THE SAME DAY, you can stall this shit. The video wasn't unknown.

Say the Obama camp lets it linger for a few hours why they talk to her and find the video, this hits and the media ignores it and in 24 hours you're off to something else.

They made it a story for a few days for FOX and like just by canning Sherrod.

I think it's worth a chance because of the time it takes to watch the video. Someone could say within an hour if they put the whole thing out or not. Instead they just canned her.

You let it linger a bit, let Hannity get out there THERE'S A RACIST IN THE WHITE HOUSE CONTROLLING YOUR MORTGAGE! And then the video comes out Sherrod saying she wants to assist everyone equally and you deflate a lot more than if you get the former but THEN fire her. You can't then do the backup with the actual video.

Apologies Creepy if I'm harping about this, I just think, it like the birth certificate crap is something you can instantly end for 95% of people and ignore the rest. But if you do it the way the Obama camp has just invites stupid speculation.

Didn't mean it to be a whole thing.











RICK SANTORUM 2012.

[Mandark]

I don't really buy the "he wanted people to be mad, so he won" thing.

Seems just as likely that he would have taken a lack of attention from the media as proof that his dangerous truths were being suppressed by a huge and powerful liberal conspiracy who feared him.  There's a certain personality that is eager to interpret just about any reaction by others as proof of their own importance and righteousness.  I never met the guy, but boy howdy does he fit the profile.

[benjipwns]

I don't really buy the "he wanted people to be mad, so he won" thing.

Seems just as likely that he would have taken a lack of attention from the media as proof that his dangerous truths were being suppressed by a huge and powerful liberal conspiracy who feared him.  There's a certain personality that is eager to interpret just about any reaction by others as proof of their own importance and righteousness.  I never met the guy, but boy howdy does he fit the profile.

That's also possible.

From my perspective, Breitbart in particular loved the "liberal" attention. It wasn't like a lot of the others, he wanted them actively coming at him. You could read the disappointment on his face when he was being ignored and had nobody to battle.

Breitbart at this "peak":

You can tell how he loves it.

[Phoenix Dark]

Breitbart had four young kids. No matter how much I disagreed with him on things, I can't help but feel horrible for his family and this situation. The shitty things he has said become irrelevant at that point, at least for me.

[Positive Touch]

the shitty things he said & did fucked people over and played into people's nasty hatreds.  i feel bad for his kids but i cant say i really give a fuck about his death.

[Stoney Mason]

You don't know him. I don't mean that in a nasty way but a real way. And thousands of people die every day leaving family behind. Because he was in the public eye people feel they have more of a connection with these kind of people than all the regular people that die in your local newspaper everyday.  You don't have to post you feel sorry for the kids. It's a given.  Everybody feels sorry for kids who lose a parent. Or for that matter who have shitty parents. It's one of those things that's a given that people feel the need to say aloud.

Hopefully his conservative friends whom he carried water for kick in and help out the family since he did enough dirt and mudslinging for a lifetime for them.

He was still a complete and utter asshole. Even shitty people leave behind nice people in their wake. It doesn't excuse their shittiness.

And with that I'm through talking about Breitbart. Too many actual decent human beings left behind for me to pretend about him. And yeah I know I'm being an a-hole here but that's how I really feel. Real Talk.

[Positive Touch]

  Everybody feels sorry for kids who lose a parent. Or for that matter who have shitty parents. It's one of those things that's a given that people feel the need to say aloud.

i say it (and i assume lots of people do this also) because people tend to jump on you when you're not sympathetic to someone's passing.  saying i feel bad for his kids is a way of showing that i'm not completely unsympathetic to his death but that i'm also not exactly sad because he made his living doing really shitty things.


when dick cheney dies though, i'm throwing a fucking party.

[Great Rumbler]

when dick cheney dies though, i'm throwing a fucking party.

Well, first Dick Cheney would have to be physically capable of dying and I'm not so sure he is.

[Phoenix Dark]

holy shit, the president of Ireland is a boss 

A US president could never get away with this type of rant, or calling someone a wanker

[TakingBackSunday]

Wow that's amazing.  Makes me so happy to be a young American.  I love how our country is perceived by Europe sometimes at the moment!

[Joe Molotov]

That was pretty awesome.

[Oblivion]

No jerb numbers this week.

[Brehvolution]

THey took er jerb numbers!

[Oblivion]

holy shit, the president of Ireland is a boss 

A US president could never get away with this type of rant, or calling someone a wanker

Full clip here:

http://www.newstalk.ie/2010/news-blog/the-right-hook-michael-graham-and-michael-d-higgins/

[Great Rumbler]

Remember back when Republicans were slapping themselves on the back over the "mess" that the Democratic nomination was in with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama? Yeah...

[Phoenix Dark]

And yet they changed their primary season so it would look like the democrat one in 08, enthusing the base over a long hard fought but healthy process. Whoops. Turns out none of their candidates inspire enthusiasm or love from supporters, outside of Ron Paul or course. And instead of creating healthy competition among impressive candidates, all this has done is create a poisonous environment where each candidate attempts to rip the other to shreds - making them all unelectable in the process as they attempt to out-extreme each other.

How does Romney pivot to the center after this disasterous primary season? He just came out in support of the ridiculous contraception bill that would allow all health insurance providers to not cover contraception on the grounds of religious freedom. He's argued all illegal immigrants should go through a "self deportation" process. He wants to attack Iran asap.

It seems like if Europe doesn't explode, the economy doesn't implode again, and Bibi doesn't start a war with Iran than Obama is set

[Joe Molotov]

How does Romney pivot to the center after this disasterous primary season? He just came out in support of the ridiculous contraception bill that would allow all health insurance providers to not cover contraception on the grounds of religious freedom. He's argued all illegal immigrants should go through a "self deportation" process. He wants to attack Iran asap.

I'm predicting lots of flipping, with a healthy dash of flopping.

[Phoenix Dark]

[Phoenix Dark]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Problem_We_All_Live_With

That cartoon is probably one of the most ridiculous false equivalencies I've ever seen.

[Joe Molotov]

I used Tineye to try to find other people talking about it to figure out what it was trying to say, no luck.

I did find this, though.

[Great Rumbler]

Japan?  Is he suggesting we attack Japan?

And South Korea.

[Boogie]

God, editorial cartoons are such a blight on civilization.

[Mandark]

I can't possibly understand what that comic is trying to say.  Why are the guards Rush's enemies.  WTF.

Yep.  Maybe the real message is that large mainstream organizations like the NFL and liberal media actually protect Limbaugh from the criticism he deserves, and so wind up unwittingly allied with "true racism."  Or maybe he was trying to make the comparison less offensive by rendering it completely incomprehensible.

God, editorial cartoons are such a blight on civilization.

If you posted this on Reddit, I'd upvote it.

If I had a Reddit account.

[Phoenix Dark]

I'd upvote it on Reddit if I knew what Reddit was

[AdmiralViscen]

Didn't the state department recently make progress with north Korea and their nukes? Did I dream that? I remember reading about it butnit wasn't big news apparently.