Liberal Sad Trombone: “We are such losers”
Don’t worry, there’s always Hillary. Oh, wait.
(I’m just going to post an excerpt of this. There is nothing I could add that would make it any more satisfying to read. So I will not put my own thoughts between Thomas Frank at Salon.com playing the sad trombone and the readers.)
Thomas Frank: “We are such losers”:
….Barack Obama survived his re-election, but he is suffering a form of Jimmy Carter’s fate nevertheless. The ambiguous idealism of Carter’s first run for the presidency was precisely what set the table for his downfall later on. Being a “blank screen” or the personal object of the enthusiasm of millions—these may play well when a candidate is unknown, but they are postures impossible to maintain as president. In both cases, they led inevitably to disappointment and disillusionment.
The moral of this story is not directed at Democratic politicians; it is meant for us, the liberal rank and file. We still “yearn to believe,” as [Rick] Perlstein says. There is something about the Carter / Obama personality that appeals to us in a deep, unspoken way, and that has led Democrats to fall for a whole string of passionless centrists: John Kerry, Al Gore, Michael Dukakis, Gary Hart and Bill Clinton. Each time, Democratic voters are enchanted by a kind of intellectual idealism that (we are told) is unmoored from ideology.
We persuade ourselves that the answer to the savagery of the right—the way to trump the naked class aggression of the One Percent—is to say farewell to our own tradition and get past politics and ideology altogether. And so we focus on the person of the well-meaning, hyper-intelligent leader. We are so high-minded, we think. We are so scientific.
We are such losers.
[Photo montage credit Salon.com via AP/Al Behrman/Wikimedia/Salon)
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Wow.
Thomas Frank is crazy as a peach orchard boar.
Which is really freaking crazy. Still, the salty goodness of his demented tears are an excellent addition to my afternoon Scotch.
Alright…. what makes a peach orchard boar crazy? Backed up with peach pits?
My grandpa always said “crazy as a shit-house rat” which I believe requires no explanation.
Now, where is my bottle of Balvenie single barrel…
I’ve wondered about the derivation of that term for decades.
Texas is famous for its fine peaches. Really. There’s a Freestone County not far north of here.
Peaches fall, and they are immediately attacked by natural yeasts, which produce alcohol. The pits are also known to concentrate arsenic, which is a toxin that has effects way short of death.
I dunno. Could be one of those total “Texasisms” that make no connection to reality, but state a truth anyhow. Like “I fell ass over tea-kettle in love”, or “I’d rather be drug through a key-hole bak-ards”.
All of those Texican aphorisms make perfect sense, and some are even directly connected to our so-called “reality”; the one about the boar in the peach orchard is one of those.
Peaches that fall are usually what we would call over-ripe and they bruise badly when they hit the ground; in no time at all you have a natural peach brandy, and the wild pigs get into those. Ever seen a drunken boar hog? ‘Nuff said!
Where I grew up we also said, “Crazy as a tree full of pet coons.” Anyone who has ever ‘rescued’ and tried to ‘tame’ a baby racoon will get that one.
Losers? Why yes, yes you are.
BWHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…!!!!!!
Cannot Possibly Make This Fecal Matter Up!!
And still he manages to drag out the straw men for all to see. It’s remarkable.
Yes, Thomas… you’re a loser….but not for the reasons you think.
Centrists huh? There’s your problem laddie.
Yeah. I was scratching my head over that one. Clinton, maybe. The rest — Left, Left, Far Left, Way Out There In Commie Land, . . .
Obama is among the top four liberal presidents ever. Exactly, where he ranks is debatable. I’d probably rank them from most liberal to least liberal as: FDR, LBJ, Obama, and Nixon. But the ONLY reason why Obama is not ranked first is because a big chunk of the public threw up all over his agenda once they realized he was serious about “fundamental transformation”. We put a restraining order on him with the 2010 mid-term shellacking.
So Frank should not blame Obama for not being liberal enough. He’s plenty liberal. The problem for Frank is that about half of the country is not as liberal as Obama and Frank are.
“ savagery of the right—the way to trump the naked class aggression of the One Percent
Savagery? Naked class aggression of the One Percent? Do people really believe this?
What the lefties have never learned is how to deal with reality. They only deal in “what ifs” or “should bes.” Conservatives shrug their shoulders and say “This is the way it is. I’ll deal with it.”
In our household when life takes a chunk of you, the saying after the lament is “just build a bridge and get over it” and move on.
OK – he’s right about Dukakis being passionless. But other than that, the level of self deception here is staggering. Shouldn’t this guy be institutionalized for his own safety?
Obama Kerry Gore … can they get further left? If this guy thinks they are centrist, and that Obama has not acted for leftist causes … he must be waiting for gulags for the tea party, or public executions for global warming “skeptics”.
Holder basically calls for a public hanging of Wilson, inspiring riots and looting, and this guy talks of “the savagery of the right”.
“We are so high-minded, we think.” OK, he is right about that, but “the hyper-intelligent leader”? He means Obama? What happens when Obama gets off his teleprompter leash?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDJSVPAx8xc
“a whole string of passionless centrists.” Well, there’s your problem Frank! You don’t know your ass from a hole in the ground so you step in it every time. Here’s one way to stop doing that: Admit you’re a flaming Socialist Marxist, lower than Whale Dung.
They’ve been cult-driven from the getgo, the Troika, Mao, Castro, Che, all the way through to today in modern liberal politics in America. It didn’t start with Obama. It goes back at least to FDR. They prefer mythical-type figures they can package and spin and romanticize the way they want. With their control of the media, Hollywood, and education they can perpetuate the romantic myth-building. They have to. They don’t dare an open and frank discussion and debate on all sides of all issues, because they lose that kind of debate.
Carter was a dud. He’s right. But they’re all duds. What makes Carter and Obama different is that in their cases it’s so obvious.
“We are so scientific.”
lol, said after everything before it was emotionalism and assumption.
I’ve been watching “Sleepy Hallow”.
It’s a HELL of a lot more scientific than that idiot.
“losers in life”…. anyone who applies themselves are said to be “lucky in life lottery”. Just as they approach the truth they go careening off into the ditch. They just can’t grasp the truth, afraid to cross over the threshold to the truth. It is there in front of their noses, but they just can’t see it. This is childhood arrested development of wanting to bring the playground with them, along with the fables and make believe world. Pretty soon all we will have left in the world are invisible make-believe friends and the real monsters won’t be reserved for under the bed.
“The moral of this story is not directed at Democratic politicians; it is meant for us, the liberal rank and file. We still “yearn to believe,” ”
This is your friendly, neighborhood Liberal throwing a big, bad, red BS flag.
Barack Obama was deliberately chosen for his appearance and skin color by a bunch of cynical people who orchestrated an amazing chorus of personal, public recommendations based on no acquaintance with candidate whatsoever.
They lied to the Democratic rank and file. They had no idea who this man was, what he stood for, or how he would perform in office.
But he was photogenic and black. So, they decided to make him Senator and then President, without any regard to how he would perform in office.
The Democratic rank and file had expectations that the Democrats at the national level would seek out good candidates for them. That did not happen.
The moral of this story is directed to Democratic politicians at the national level: people will be yellow-dog Democrats right up to the point when you a$$holes start running yellow dogs for high public office. Then, they will go to the Republican party, or the Tea Parties, or anybody else but the Democratic Party, until the jerks at the top are replaced.
“And so we focus on the person of the well-meaning, hyper-intelligent leader.” My God! What a ridiculous delusion. The liberal sees what he wants to see. I see a President who searches for thoughts while mouthing “aaaand”. Only affirmative action and more deluded liberals got him through college. Racial justice and environmental justice are not “well-meaning”, they are part of class warfare.
“Only affirmative action and more deluded liberals got him through college.”
That’s assuming he actually WENT to college. If he did, he hasn’t proven it. When you listen to him talk(off teleprompter), he sounds like a stoned idiot.
John Drew knew him at Occidental — and knew him to be a revolutionary Marxist, unlike many of his fellow Marxists who had decided that violent revolution might not be the way “forward.”
The difference is…liberals want to elect a President, and make him into a leader. Conservatives want to elect a leader, and make him into a President.
Guess which way works better.
J. William Fulbright, a former university president and Democratic U.S. senator, said, “In a democracy dissent is an act of faith. To criticize one’s country is to do it a service. Criticism . . . is an act of patriotism – a higher form of patriotism.”
“… the savagery of the right—the way to trump the naked class aggression of the One Percent …”
Wow, I didn’t even know I’m a member of the One Percent — or a naked savage.
Put some clothes on!
It is sweet to crush our enemies, see them driven before us, and to hear the lamentations of their women like Thomas Frank.
But even that is not enough to induce me to read anything at Salon. Tainted moonshine kills fewer brain cells.
Besides, you don’t want to give Salon or their like any hits. It just encourages them.
“Democratic voters are enchanted by a kind of intellectual idealism that (we are told) is unmoored from ideology.”
I’ll go there: Just like Germany back in 1933?
The reason we are such losers is that we tolerate the corrupt news/education/union/government complex. We watch their programming, we send our children to their colleges, and too many of us vote for their politicians.
Worse, we tolerate corrupt GOP Squeaker John Boehner and his equally corrupt and incompetent sidekick, Rince Prebus — two problems we actually have direct control of. That makes us the biggest losers of all.
We don’t have to remain losers, you know. There is a choice. It just takes guts and fortitude.