Many of us supported this president because he promised to bring back the constitutional balance after the theories of Yoo, Delahunty, et al put the president on a par with emperors and kings in wartime. And yet in this Libya move, what difference is there between Bush and Obama? In some ways, Bush was more respectful of the Congress, waiting for a vote of support before launching us like an angry bird into the desert.
April 1, 2011
Andrew Sullivan: "King Barack I."
Oh! The disillusionment!
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108 comments:
The maudlin. It hurts!!!
Angry bird(s)?
Does a bird need launched?
Angry birds? What are we, the United States of Farmville?
Dementia?
In some ways more respectful?
Understatement much? Of course, Bush had years of being told he was stupid and Obama has had years of being praised for his eloquence and intelligence and decision-making ability. Kind of makes you rethink the whole self-esteem rigmarole.
Knowing Sully's penchant for the gynecological, this is just wrong:
Hillary Clinton, channeling her inner Cheney...
King Barack: ...Pairs of male elephants to be released into the forests of America. There it is hoped that they will grow in number and the people can tame them and use them as beasts of burden.
Anna: But your majesty, I don't think you mean pairs of MALE elephants
Andrew Sullivan: Shut up. Leave him alone.
(King Barack and I, 2011)
What a schmuck. After Obama there will be another politician who breaks heart, then another and another...
He'll never learn.
I see I'm not the first to note this. But really, it's a surprise that it took two comments to land on this point, since it's so obviously odd.
But, I agree: the angry bird thing is hilarious.
Anna: Then how do you explain, your majesty, that many men remain faithful to only one wife?
King Barack: They are sick
Andrew Sullivan: That's right your majesity those dirty whores with their icky vaginas.
(King Barack and I, 2011)
Trooper,
Some of them are icky.
Just sayin'
King Barack: When I sit, you sit. When I kneel, you kneel. Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera
Andrew Sullivan: Yes all majestical one. When should I kneel.
King Barack:Five times a day. Oh and you should face Mecca. Just sayn'
(King Barack and I, 2011)
He's just trying to build up credibility for when he endorses Obama in 2012.
Maybe the "angry bird" thing is in reference to falconry. It was popular amongst noblemen and kings.
Which, I guess, would make Khaddafy a bunny rabbit.
It's an odd reference, and wouldn't be the first thing I'd think of as I searched for a biting metaphor.
It's hard to believe I used to read Sullivan. Aside from his manic depressive political temperament (he's either ELATED! and GUSHING! or he's in DESPAIR! BETRAYED! and uttering LAMENTATIONS!), his writing is simply cringe-inducing, full of banalities, bad metaphors and easy conclusions. It's the irritating tone of someone trying to simultaneously impress the teacher and make the kids think he's "cool".
You all may find this convenient guide of some use.
Andrew Sullivan, next year, on all the TV shows which want a "conservative" voice (to show they're balanced): "I've been a harsh critic of Obama, but candidate X is SO much worse than him I just have to vote for the Democrats."
Any girl that has had Sullivan trying to stealthily slip his Speculum of Truth past her mons veneris is, by definition, an angry bird.
Jason the commenter nailed it. Sullie will still vote for him.
And if Obama pushes same-sex marriage, all will be forgiven.
Myself, I find the manic aspects of Sullivan distasteful, even when he supported the Iraq war.
King: I do not remember such words.
Anna: I remember them. You said you would close Gitmo and not impose a single payer mandate.
King: I will do remembering!
(King Barack and I, 2011)
Oh, no. There goes support from the gay community, too.
And, today's Wa Po also had some negative articles.
What if it's like watching LBJ reading the newspapers back in 1967, watching Obama now?
Let alone Donald Trump getting a regular spot on Fox Monday's. What's the left got? Drummer boys? Andrew Sullivan just dropped his.
A woman scorned.
How do we all like the hopey-changey world of Barry???
Everyone that voted for this loser, every last one, SUCKERS!!!
y'know, i kinda liked andy way back when he was delineating all the valid reasons for bush's war in iraq and the wisdom of his middle east policies in general...but now, in retrospect, he thinks that bush was an "angry bird" ?!? whatever, dude.
Starting in 2006, when Dubya grew close to Condi. And, Condi danced with the French. And, others. Dubya's poll numbers tanked. By the time he left office his "popularity rating" if you want to call it that, was at 31%.
McCain was also the wrong choice.
What can the democraps do if Obama isn't interested in leaving? What if Q-Daffy Duck remains in Libya?
Well, wouldn't Donald Trump at least promise to build casinos? Libya's one long coastline.
Can Obama take the heat?
Carol Herman: Oh, no. There goes support from the gay community, too
Sullivan is not the voice of the gay community. He's not even American.
It's hard to believe I used to read Sullivan
No it's not. Sullivan is an excellent writer. After all, how many writers can launch us like an angry bird into the desert.
Obamas going to first let the EU put the boots on the ground in Libya. That way it's ok when we have to rescue the EU forces there.
http://en.rian.ru/world/20110401/163329707.html
You may also find this convenient guide of some use.
(For those unfamiliar with, as I was until my recent purchase, the term Angry Birds.)
Hell hath no fury like a silly bitch scorned.
So, does Andrew believe Obama has been corrupted by power or that he was a lying sack of shit when running for president?
Asheville is on point. Dubya went through six months of debate and soul-searching before giving the order. Andy is aggrieved because the Vacationer in Chief and the Furies didn't observe the War Powers Act, not because this is a fool's errand.
Little Zero now has us in what isn't even a civil war if reports of the 1000 rebels being all there are happen to be true.
We've taken sides in a rumble where we're backing Al Qaeda.
Christ, I don't ever want to hear the shiloh/PB&J/some phony folksys, J/Jeremys, or Alpha/franglo/Montaigne/Freders ever talk about how stupid Conservatives, Libertarians, Republicans, or Tea Partiers are or hear the usual Kos cliches and non sequiturs ever again.
This is the most idiotic performance I've ever seen or read about by any Administration.
And those "Miss Me Yet" signs with James Buchanan are going to become a lot more familiar.
King Barack? Does that mean Sullivan thinks he's Kenyan royalty?
Sullivan chooses to forget that when Obama was elected president his party had large majorities in Congress and were guaranteed even larger majorities.
How did that constitutional balance work out, hmmmm?
Always, with Obama revisionism, there's this ignoring of the obvious, topical, facts.
ed,
You're stupid and bush lied people died.
[Hopefully you read out loud. Otherwise, technically, you won't have heard the message above.]
Dubya didn't lie, so the only stupid one is you.
Sully is just scratching the surface...
We supposedly have two major political parties here in Amerika. You can choose the Republikans, who last lost the presidency because their guy in office thought he could do whatever he wanted, ignoring Congress and the law and the will of the people. Or you can choose the Democrats, who have now shown that their guy's administration will do whatever it wants, ignoring Congress and the law and the will of the people.
They're all social engineers. They're all big government. They've both put in place significant roadblocks to anyone from outside the system. They've solidified the support of the non-political aristocracy (read: lobbyists and interest groups!) They're all focused on short-term apparent wins, and secrecy, secrecy, secrecy... never let anyone on the outside see your mistakes. Like Don Corelone telling Santino:
Whatsa matter with you? I think your brain's goin' soft. … Never tell anybody outside the family what you're thinking again.
The Republicans and Democrats are the same... they're the fucking Establishment! And who is the opposition? The Paul family, Kucinich, and a few others here and there. A pretty pathetic opposition.
In this sort of environment, without any effective checks and balances, and with a two-party system that has effectively morphed into a single-party State, of course the President will act like a king... or a mob boss. Why? Because he can!
King: I will do remembering! Who is king here? I remind you, so you remember that! I do not remember any promises! I do not remember anything except that you are my servant!
(King Barack and I, 2011)
To say that excitable Andy has looongg since become a parody of himself is, as they say, a VAST understatement. Palladian is dead on tgt..
Holy Crap! You mean a politician would spout a bunch of crap just to get elected?
I did not see this coming.
In some circles, "bird" is not just the word, it is a naughty word.
The Cheerleader=Nerd thesis is dubious.
When the critique of Obama is "Libya proves that he's got the Boy-King Flu just like Bush" it delegitimizes that critique.
Bush left NCLB & a Prescription Drug bailout for seniors. Obama is leaving more new Acts than you can shake a stick at - from ACA to Lily Ledbetter.
The prelude to Iraq was a frantic circus of brinksmanship & BS. The prelude to Libya was getting Arab League approval & (presumably) planning & assessment of the situation. Because of its all-air, no-ground-troops Rapid Strike Force orientation, action in Libya has been far swifter than it was in Iraq (mobilization logistics are a bitch). Nor has Obama been talking about the need to invade Libya since before his election.
PROTIP: Making existing information fit a narrative may not be as successful as making a narrative fit existing information.
Relevant critique of Obama on his real political sins (quietly expanding Bush's epic erosion of basic civil liberties & privacy, the militarization of US police forces continuing without a hiccup, his Goldman Sachs All-Stars economic team) is amazingly rare on the American Right for some reason.
IT IS STILL A MYSTERY.
Jim, not on my part.
It's how I like to tweak my friends.
All you have to do is post the stories on Facebook, and watch them not respond. (But they love pictures of my kids.)
Trooper, I'm thoroughly enjoying your reworking of The King and I. Too bad it would never go on stage here in Madison.
I was hoping that Sullivan's insistence that Sarah Palin gave birth to her own grandchild would put an end to his appearances on Althouse.
How did Sullivan regain his credibility? I missed that.
Everyone in India is so very thin.
"Many of us supported this president because he promised..."
And we knew him so well from his detailed record, long career in government and extensive experience leading organizations.
Bahhhh Ha Ha Ha. Really smart people are funny.
Everyone in India is so very thin.
No airconditioning.
Americans used to lose weight every summer because it was too hot to eat heavily.
"It's hard to believe I used to read Sullivan."
It's hard to believe I used to contribute to his blog !
Ugh !
Does anyone know how Sullivan's career is actually going since he bumped his head? Does someone like him have some kind of metric like ratings for TV or radio people; maybe Blog traffic, groupie count, condom usage, anything? I'm curious, he seems to have lost a lot of respect over the last few years, but has it hurt?
Schadenfreude. It's what's for dinner.
The Woodstock Times is having a tough time with Obama's military adventure.
When Bush was in office, the editors were all about war crimes and innocent people killed and cities reduced to rubble. Oh, the horror!
Now that Obama is doing the same thing, the editorial (written by a Pete Seeger disciple) is thoughtful and hopeful.
So, it war is really evil and murderous when waged by Republicans. Not so when waged by Democrats.
Angry birds is a game. You launch birds and try to knock down buildings.
I wonder if Sullivan meant to reference Yeats' The Second Coming, but misfired on memory. The phrase Yeats used was "indignant desert birds."
"Launching us like an angry bird into the desert" sounds like something out of Harry Potter.
@Mary Beth -- You're probably right.
Topical viral video that explains the "Angry Birds" reference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0i9acHS_zQ
"Is anyone as unsurprised as I am that he's disillusioned?"
wv: "binbus" - no, seriously.
Andrew has not been the same since Ron Paul.
This post is missing a 'tortured simile' tag.
Andrew Sullivan is the Norma Desmond of the blog world.
So Althouse, I take it you would respect Sullivan and continue to leave him alone if he continued blindly praising Obama. Right?
This is all just so cheap and predictable.
What make's Sullivan's comment doubly amusing is that, at the time, he was complaining that Bush was taking TOO LONG to go to war with Iraq.
So Althouse, I take it you would respect Sullivan and continue to leave him alone if he continued blindly praising Obama. Right?
It is hard to imagine what Sullivan could do that would earn him respect.
Perhaps a lengthy post admitting that he personally is a histrionic twit with a knack for figuring things out approximately three months after the rest of us do. That would be a start.
What's the left got? Drummer boys? Andrew Sullivan just dropped his.
There's no way Sullivan dropped a Drummer Boy. He would be right up Andi's alley, so to speak.
This is all just so cheap and predictable.
You need to lighten up a bit, "Zachary Paul Sire" Have you ever done banal?
They told me if I voted for John McCain we'd get Bush's third term. They were right.
There's a definite difference between "Bush's third term" and "Bush the third's term."
Poor Zach! Being in charge is hard. And keeping up with the latest proper opinions is hard.
We are against invading oil-rich countries. No wait!
Unemployment and high gas prices are unacceptable. No wait!
Close Guantanamo. No wait!
Abu Ghraib is disgusting. Grounds for impeachment. No wait!
And then Zach died when his head exploded.
I took Andrew's portrait of King George and did it one better.
http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-kingdom-for-horse.html
"This is all just so cheap and predictable."
You write about gay porno, dude... You should be used to cheap and predictable.
This is all just so cheap and predictable.
Three problem pussies:
Kloppenberg
Sumi
Sullivan
What is it with idiot females that Wisconsinites love so much?
That's not even the half of it. That one born a British Subject (thus not natural born) is giving Orders to our military has the founders spinning in their graves.
Swinal Flew...(or understanding the Andrew Sullivan Angry Bird Cultural Reference.)
"Launched like an angry bird" is a reference to the highly addictive top ranked Finnish Designed Game App for the iPad, iPhone, (and other available platforms) in which a variety of angry birds are in sequence "slingshot launched" with a slight movement of the finger on the screen to destroy the heavily entrenched mean, nasty pigs who have stolen the egg treasures of the angry birds.
I am sure CAIR will be all over the hapless Sullivan for the clear implication that Muslims are the pigs to our angry birds. Imans will issue a fatwa calling for his death for the insensitive swine insult against the religion of peace. Oh the (in)humanity.
Well at least now we all know what "meep meep" means.
Nobel Peace Prize means war.
The Transparency Award from the "open government community" was rescheduled to a secret closed meeting.
"Closing Guantanamo" means keeping it open.
One begins to detect a pattern.
Like Clinton, raised fatherless, 'boy-prince' treatment fostered narcissism and pathological lying.
The Orwellian irony of words losing their meaning is not Machiavellian but meandering and meaningless, at least to Obama. His pragmatism is aimed at Himself only. All else is easily ignored.
I see less and less how McCain would have been worse.
Don't any Democrats remember the Bay of Pigs?
Sheesh.
WHAT WAR???????? Who is doing the fighting and dying in Libya?
HINT: NOT AMERICANS
Who is doing the fighting and dying in Libya?
Good question. Who is doing the fighting and the dying? When Americans drop bombs, is that not fighting?
Saying "Obama and Bush are the same" because Obama ordered 100 cruise missiles and a few sorties, vs. Bush's INVADING AND OCCUPYING A COUNTRY FOR A DECADE with 200,000 men-- truly, one does not have to be a genius to see that it's not the same thing.
We are not at war in Libya. It sort of makes Sullivan's argument moot.
Saying "Obama and Bush are the same" because Obama ordered 100 cruise missiles and a few sorties, vs. Bush's FREEING 50 MILLION IRAQIS FROM A DICTATOR WHO DESTABLIZED THE ENTIRE REGION WITH HIS ONGOING WARS AND USE OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS with 200,000 men-- truly, one does not have to be a genius to see that it's not the same thing.
Fixed it for you.
Titus said...
"Everyone in India is so very thin."
You clearly haven't seen my relatives there.
Franglo,
We're dropping bombs, shooting down planes, and sending in CIA operatives...but you're right, we aren't at war in Libya.
I mean, it's only been three weeks, and we have no troops on the ground...besides a few Navy SEALs as "advisors".
"We are not at war in Libya."
You can engage in any kind of semantic game you want, but weapons are being used to kill people and break things. Now you can argue if you want, that those people need killing and those things need breaking, but you can't really argue that what's happening isn't war. The targets of all that expensive military hardware certainly aren't fooled by such Newspeak.
It's totally OK to drop bombs on helpless brown people as long as no Americans are harmed in the process.
In Mr. Sullivan's dreams
Sullivan lost me for good when he got all weird about Sarah Palin and Hillary. That man has issues with powerful women.
Sullivan lost me for good when he went all extra-histrionic and weird over Sarah Palin and Hillary. That man has issues with powerful women, which is always a giant red flag.
Bush's FREEING 50 MILLION IRAQIS FROM A DICTATOR WHO DESTABLIZED THE ENTIRE REGION WITH HIS ONGOING WARS AND USE OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS with 200,000 men-- truly, one does not have to be a genius to see that it's not the same thing.
The lack of any Iraqi popular uprising should have tipped everyone off.
I just read two of his comments...Trooper is on a roll.
Come on guys, Andy is a loon indeed, but 'launched' was fine -- do you think the word did not exist before airplanes and rockets?
Henry said...
"@Mary Beth -- You're probably right."
Wow. Wow. Wow. This blog is, as ever - a mere echo chamber.
Mary Beth isn't 'probably' right, she's completely and totally right. Angry Birds is only the most popular game on the planet right now. That's what Sullivan is referring to. His audience, at least, is hep enough to grasp the reference. All you guys can do is mock what you don't understand.
Which is no different than usual, actually.
I'm considered, in the relentlessly liberal area in which I live, a staunch conservative. Yet I'm not so clueless and tone-deaf that I have no idea what's going on - even among people I disagree with.
I actually LISTEN to the other side, and consider what they have to say on its own merits. Often I find their arguments without merit, but I don't stop listening just because I generally disagree. (This is how you LEARN.)
But the Althouse crowd? They stopped listening ages ago. They come here only to reassure each other how correct they are.
THAT, they can hear. That's what they want to hear.
Let's review:
madawaskan said...
Angry bird(s)?
Does a bird need launched?
Yes, they do. FAIL.
Ron said...
Angry birds? What are we, the United States of Farmville?
Wrong game. FAIL.
PaulV said...
Dementia?
No, he's simply more in touch with pop culture than you are. FAIL.
Pastafarian said...
Maybe the "angry bird" thing is in reference to falconry... It's an odd reference
What can I tell ya... FAIL.
Palladian said...
It's hard to believe I used to read Sullivan... his writing is simply cringe-inducing, full of... bad metaphors...
You just don't GET the metaphor. (And all you had to do was look it up. Top two searches in Google, genius.) Cringe-inducing FAIL.
el polacko said...
but now, in retrospect, he thinks that bush was an "angry bird" ?!?
OK, so you don't get it either. FAIL.
Almost Ali said...
how many writers can launch us like an angry bird into the desert.
You too, Ali. FAIL.
Then kcom, who gets it, tries to explain it. Does that stop the deluge of ignorance? No WAY!!
Sixty Grit said...
May an angry bird of paradise fly up your...
FAIL.
Matthew said...
In some circles, "bird" is not just the word, it is a naughty word.
And in other circles, there's just nothing new to leearn, is there? FAIL.
Mary Beth said...
Angry birds is a game. You launch birds and try to knock down buildings.
Yay! Mary Beth also gets it! She offers another link, and everything! Are we listening now, or do we go on mindlessly mocking Sullivan out of our own cultural ignorance?
Henry said...
I wonder if Sullivan meant to reference Yeats' The Second Coming, but misfired on memory. The phrase Yeats used was "indignant desert birds."
"Launching us like an angry bird into the desert" sounds like something out of Harry Potter.
Well, we have our answer. FAIL.
Grames shows up, tries to straighten out the local yahoos. Third try should be the charm. So... NOW, do we get it?
E.M. Davis said...
This post is missing a 'tortured simile' tag.
Nope! Sullivan-bashing in progress. Earplugs and blinders in locked position. FAIL.
Revenant said...
It is hard to imagine what Sullivan could do that would earn him respect.
Perhaps a lengthy post admitting that he personally is a histrionic twit with a knack for figuring things out approximately three months after the rest of us do.
'cause unlike Sullivan, the Althouse crowd is right on top of things. Yessir! FAIL.
King: Because it is natural. It is like old Siamese saying. A girl is like a blossom, with honey for just one man. A man is like a honey bee and gather all he can. To fly from blossom to blossom a honey must be free. But blossom must not ever fly from bee to bee to bee.
Anna: Hee hee. Oh your majesty in England we have a far different attitude. We believe for a man to be truly happy he must love one woman and one woman only.
King: This idea was invented by woman.
Andrew Sullivan: Yes, dirty smelly nasty icky women. Can I show you my stinger your Majesty?
(King Barack and I, 2011)
What both jim (who I'm still not sure isn't some sort of sarcastic parody of an avid Sullivan reader) and others keep missing in their timelines is the decade (give or take a few months) that we spend patrolling a no-fly zone in Iraq and periodically bombing Saddam's infrastructure to try to force him into compliance with various UN resolutions. They are also missing the two weeks of dithering of the Obama administation when the rebels were winning and a Lybian no-fly zone that might have actually toppled Kahdaffi. Instead Obama (Hillary, really) went from zero to kinetic miltary action in about 24 hours when it looked like the whole movement would be snuffed out.
"We are not at war in Libya."
However, we have always been at war with Eastasia.
At this rate, Andrew will be the biggest supporter of Donald Trump and his "I want to see Obama's birth certificate" crusade by around the Fourth of July.
Zachary Paul Sire said, "This is all just so cheap and predictable."
Yes, Sullivan and you are indeed cheap and predictable.
For those without smartphones, here's a browser version of Angry Birds. http://jayisgames.com/games/angry-birds-flash/
I gather that the real coolness is only on your smartphone where you control the game by touch.
wv: doozing
sj mart:
I think you are onto the real story with an upcoming worldwide fatwa:
"the heavily entrenched mean, nasty pigs?"
You could have said "mean, green, nasty pigs."
I played Angry Birds and the pigs' strange color stands out. There must be a reason they made them green. The imams will notice. Poor Andrew.
Is it wrong to suggest the Sully's support of Obama appears more flaccid than it did before?
That the little soldier Sully is not standing at attention like he did when The One first ran?
That Obama doesn't put the shine on his knob anymore?
That The One We've been Waiting For doesn't give Andrew Sullivan an full-fledged erection any longer? (ok, that went too far)
It's BS. When 2012 comes around, the justifications will spew out and he'll have a million reasons why Obama is still better than the Republican, whoever he is.
He'll still vote D. Obama could do anything, personally or politically, and still have his vote.
At this point, people should start asking Sully and his ilk what exactly it would take for them to NOT vote D. Is there anything? Anything at all?
Oh.
Was Sullivan actually referencing the android app "angry birds?"
Best game ever, btw.
Almost as good as fruit ninja.
"fruit ninja"
Funny in this context, but you probably already knew that.
Ninja please!!!!
Trooper must complete this epic work. I, for one, will download it proudly from Amazon for my Kindle!
Effing hilarious!
His Imperious Majesty Barack the First, President of America, Protector of the People as Long As They Know Their Place and Belong to The Right Unions, Defender of the Privileges Accrued by Attending the Right University, and Scourge of the Rich If They Don't Contribute To The Democratic Party
vs.
Her Divine Majesty Queen Mary Jane Milky Loads, Sultana of Sodom, Governess of Gomorrah, and Empress of All Urania
in a cage match
to the death.
former law student said...
Bush's FREEING 50 MILLION IRAQIS FROM A DICTATOR WHO DESTABLIZED THE ENTIRE REGION WITH HIS ONGOING WARS AND USE OF CHEMICAL WEAPONS with 200,000 men-- truly, one does not have to be a genius to see that it's not the same thing.
The lack of any Iraqi popular uprising should have tipped everyone off.
Yeah they were afraid of being gassed.
Actually Crack, I have a pure heart.
That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
Don't you have to be a natural-born citizen to be King? Mick?
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