May 19, 2012

"With her attitude to the President, who was, like, a Harvard law professor, I'm like, take it down a notch, bitch."

It's Kathy Griffin, critiquing an Elisabeth Hasselbeck performance on "The View." The President had dropped in to share the couch with the ladies. The link goes to Donald Douglas's blog, where the big point is that Obama was not a Harvard law professor, and in fact, he wasn't even — technically — a law professor; he was a senior lecturer; and it wasn't Harvard, it was the University of Chicago; and so Kathy's a fine one to call Elisabeth a "stupid bitch." Video at the link.

All right. First, Kathy Griffin has a comic style. You either like it or you don't. She's all about bitchily ragging on celebrities. Second, "stupid" is not the key criticism from Griffin to Hasselbeck. It's that Hasselbeck is coming at the President with too much of a sassy, challenging edge. And Griffin is actually right about that. You need to treat the President — any President — with respect, even when you intend to give him a hard time and even when he deserves it.

Third — and here's where it gets really interesting to me — he was a Harvard law professor. Put aside the mistakes. This notion that you've got to pay special respect to law professors... as a law professor, I'm fascinated. Now, maybe it's just Harvard law professors that command this odd obeisance. Who knows how far down the U.S. News "Best Law Schools" list you go before Kathy's Etiquette of Respecting the Law Professor peters out? Maybe there's a gentle gradation of decreasing respect as you slide down through the top five, into the basement of the top 15 and beyond. I don't know if there are any shreds of servility to be strewn before those of us in the 30s. But the whole idea amuses me.

And, really, this is one of the great benefits to being a law professor. No, not that I get respect — to the extent that I do. (I mostly get haters who use the phrase "you, a law professor" somewhere in the middle of an attempted push-back.) What I like is that, as a law professor, I'm free of the awe of law professors. And yet, if any of them dropped by for a visit and sat down on my couch for a conversation, I'd be nice to them. But if that couch were really part of a TV set, and I owed my first duty to the people who were bothering to watch, I might go all Hasselbeck on them.

But the President... well, why is the President doing a show like this? Probably because everybody on that couch except Hasselbeck wanted to boost his reelection campaign — slathering the home viewers with amorphous feelings of love for the man who is so wonderful for women. He was there for a super-cushy time on the cushions. Hasselbeck was the only potential edge. Obama supporters would love to dull that edge. Show respect. They're kind of right, of course, as noted above. It's a problem built into the show, "The View." It's a view, all right, but from where? From deep in the cleavage of the mommy party.

87 comments:

Anonymous said...

The POTUS is not only the Distinguished Law Professor with most enchanting expertise in Constitutional Law. He was at Columbia, Harvard and Chicago. No one in the GOP can compete that pedigree.

It is incredibly sad that GOP are not proud of the greatest POTUS we have had since Lincoln. Just ask Gail Collins, Charles Blow, Gwen Ifill, etc. etc. and they are so proud of the POTUS. This is why it is almost a fair-gone conclusion that Romney will lose by 20% every-where in the US of A, including The RED-State South Carolina. The Obama Organizers are already in every house on every street there.

IT IS O-V-E-R. No chance for Romney. Snow on July 4 in DC is more likely than Romney winning even one small/red state.

Bob Ellison said...

You need to treat the President — any President — with respect, even when you intend to give him a hard time and even when he deserves it.

Third — and here's where it gets really interesting to me — he was a Harvard law professor. Put aside the mistakes. This notion that you've got to pay special respect to law professors...But the President... well, why is the President doing a show like this?


He's doing it because he's trying to hurdle the "respect the POTUS" requirement, showing he's a regular guy who can mix it up on a dumb show like The View. That negates your point that he deserves respect.

If the POTUS gets in a mud-wrestling match, he's gonna get dirty, and rightly so.

Automatic_Wing said...

Wait, I thought it was awesome and courageous when celebs were sassy to Presidents - Like that time that Colbert slammed Bush at the correspondent's dinner. Has something changed since then?

Bob said...

Well, if you want to talk about The View and respect, here is a side-by-side comparison of how Obama and McCain were treated in 2008.

Anonymous said...

Salesman gotta sell.

Even when everyone knows he is incompetent to run the company.

Got no sense of shame.

Deep in the box of self-deception.

Phil 314 said...

Kathy Griffin is the female Bill Maher.

edutcher said...

And she would have treated Dubya the way she bowed and scraped to Dictator Zero, when, exactly?

Mrs Hasselbeck has every right to go after Zero, that's the American way - within reason, of course.

chickelit said...

Bob said...
Well, if you want to talk about The View and respect, here is a side-by-side comparison of how Obama and McCain were treated in 2008.

Thank you Bob for that link.

It's blatantly obvious where Obama's support was coming from there on that show--the man was literally inducing hot flashes amongst those ladies.

Mogget said...

You need to treat the President — any President — with respect, even when you intend to give him a hard time and even when he deserves it.

I am not at all convinced that this is correct. In many cases I think the "duty to respect" is really just an attempt to shut down debate.

Hagar said...

"Salute the bars, not the man."

I have never bought that. If you wear the bars, it is incumbent on you to behave yourself such that I can have at least the modicum of respect for you required for me to give you a proper salute.

What the hell is the president of the United States doing on such a show as The View?

Real American said...

If Obama isn't getting the respect he deserve as president, perhaps it is because he has lowered the office of the presidency more than any of its previous holders.

Brian Brown said...

Kathy Griffin is a silly, ignorant moron.

Of course she represents the Hollywood left well.

Tim said...

No one who consistently watches "The View" warrants being taken seriously.

However, I do wonder if Elisabeth Hasselbeck pressed the least qualified man ever nominated for, and then elected president, on what's up with that cradle-to-grave social welfare state for that leech "Julia?"

Isn't Obama smart enough to figure out all he's doing is fostering dependency; isn't he smart enough to figure out the more dependency he creates, the more stress he puts on productive people to pay the bills? Isn't he smart enough to figure out some productive people, especially those at the margins, will simply respond by saying "fuck it - I quit - those assholes have been taking from me, so now I'll take from them?"

Worse yet, isn't he smart enough to know we can't continue to borrow $0.40 or more on every federal dollar spent? Or that his phantom "Buffett Rule" or equally phantom "Repeal the Bush/Obama Tax Cuts" won't make but the most imperceptible dents in the national deficit and debt? Did Hasselbeck ask any of those questions?

More importantly, why did 53% of electorate buy into this fantasy of cool intelligence, post-racial, centrist, reputation-saving "smart diplomacy" bullshit? Did Hasselbeck ask that question?

Finally, did Hasselbeck ask our affirmative-action hire, "Hey, do you think you can dupe the morons again?"

Mogget said...

If you wear the bars, it is incumbent on you to behave yourself...

Speaking as a retired Army officer, this is the correct attitude for a leader who wishes to engender genuine respect. Respect that must be "commanded" is not really respect.



What the hell is the president of the United States doing on such a show as The View?

This.

Anonymous said...

Snow on July 4 in DC is more likely than Romney winning even one small/red state.

Just curious - is Al Gore slated to speak at any kind of global warming conference in DC on the 4th?

Tim said...

Real American said...

"If Obama isn't getting the respect he deserve as president, perhaps it is because he has lowered the office of the presidency more than any of its previous holders."

Hmmm. I think the voters did that. They elected the most obviously least qualified candidate ever to the office; now we're supposed to delude ourselves into thinking the office is anything more than the holy grail at the end of the affirmative action quest?

Especially when we get affirmative action performance?

I think Obama's Tele-Prompter could do a better job.

At least it doesn't play golf, and it's wife/spouse doesn't take multimillion dollar vacations on the taxpayer's dime.

Petunia said...

Hmmm....I think G.W. Bush has an academic pedigree to rival Obama's...PLUS his grades have been released...PLUS he flew jets in the military. But of course, he's an idiot.

"If Obama isn't getting the respect he deserve as president, perhaps it is because he has lowered the office of the presidency more than any of its previous holders."

I completely agree.

Anonymous said...

I sense that the GOP is jealous of the greatest POTUS. So sad, so very sad. Trust him. Support him.

Remember, we can only have one POTUS at a time. He will be there till January 2017. There is not a thing you can do to prevent a change any time sooner.

How do you like your apples? Green from Grandmas in WI?

D.D. Driver said...

The spirit of Article I, Section 9, is that the President is entitled to same level of respect as the rest of us. No more no less.

But even if you believe that we must respect "the office" of president, the WHOLE POINT of The View is sassy commentary. That's what they sell! It's not a program known for thoughtful insight.

I don't blame Hasselbeck for doing exactly what she is paid to do. I blame Obama for denigrating the office by appearing on The View.

TWM said...

I've worked with attorneys for three decades and some of them had been, or became law professors and I have to say, with no insult intended, that they deserve no more respect than the guy who just opened my pool this week.

As to showing respect for presidents, I agree that the Office of the President deserves it, but it's harder and harder to respect the individuals in that office when they act like children joking with the gals on The View or doing skits on late night talk shows.

As to Kathy Griffin, she's just gross in every way someone can be gross.

Roger J. said...

Re Mogget's comments--I was also a career army office. The tradition is that as a newly commissioned second lieutent you give your first saluter a dollar. My crusty old Regimental Sergant major rendered his salute and I have him a dollar. He then told me that the first salute was to respect the rank; after that salute I would have to earn all the rest--great advice from a great soldier.

Sprezzatura said...

So, on the respect meter, E. Warren seriously outranks Althouse.


Of course Althouse is only lagging behind Warren's respectability level because of affirmative action. Now Althouse can better identify w her white male readers (and husband?) who think that their shortcomings are the result of aa.

ndspinelli said...

My God Althouse, you're over"anal"yzing the words of Kathy Griffin! Get a hobby.

Steve Austin said...

When I go on the net and constantly see ads from the Obama campaign raffling off the ability to win a night at the White House or a Mothers Day shout out on Twitter from Barack, I realize the office has already been demeaned. By the occupant of the office.

This is somewhat similar to the Carter years. Carter ran the White House like a Cracker Barrell restaurant. Then the Reagan's showed up and swing the pendulum back the other way. I'm guessing Romney will do the same.

Roger J. said...

Who in the hell is this Griffin woman? never heard of heard of her--I guess the perils of not owning a TV--Her comment should have been to respect the OFFICE of the president--the is no requirement to respect the office holder--especially if he is lying scumbag--

CWJ said...

Don't go there PBandJ.

You don't want to invoke the law school ranking argument, It actually strengthens the AA-only appearance of Warren's appointment to Harvard.

Shanna said...

But the President... well, why is the President doing a show like this?

Exactly. The view is just awful and always has been. We may owe respect to a President but we don't owe him fawning. Elizabeth asked the president a real question. He's the President, he should be able to take it.

Who in the hell is this Griffin woman?

Let's see, sometime in the 90's she was on a moderately succesful sitcom, and then she did some reality tv and standup. That's pretty much it.

CWJ said...

We the people in electing a President bestow upon him both a great honor AND responsibliity.

If we the people have an obligation to accord respect to the office of the President and its occupant, the occupant has a duty to conduct himself in such a way that shows equal if not greater respect for that office.

So I agree with our hostess on the one hand. On the other, we can discuss whether appearing on The View was proper stewardship of the Ocffice by the current occupant.

Hagar said...

How about the way Griffin is disrespecting the Office of the President of the United States by the use of such vulgar language in her discussion of the incident?

Ron said...

When you go on a clown show, hey, it's not their fault if you get hit with a pie!

Sheraton said...

This is one of those clips maybe the GOP should just replay over and over--was it Groucho Marx who said "With friends like this who needs enemas?".

Kathy Griffin is famous for her "D List" rants, and I think she includes herself in the D List (I think, not having watched her all that long--the schtick gets tiresome pretty quickly).

X said...

What I like is that, as a law professor, I'm free of the awe of law professors.

welcome to the human race.

Steve M. Galbraith said...

I was trying to determine who first came up with the "Mommy Party and Daddy Party" metaphors.

If I recall correctly, I believe it was Chris Matthews (yeah, that Chris Matthews) in a piece in the New Republic.

Anyone have another guess/source?

Roger J. said...

Probably a commentary on modern "comedy"--growing up with I did with Red Skelton, Jack Benny, Bob Hope and Groucho Marx (a master of the double entendre) amazing to me in this age they were hilarious without ever using profanity. I did watch a Jerry Steinfeld show at the Orpheum in Memphis--he went through an hour and a half without every using profanity. And he was hilarious. Modern "comedy" as practiced seems to rely on the f bomb in every other line. Sad. Sad indeed.

WV: "numbagra." apparent viagra laced with lidocaine.

The Crack Emcee said...

You need to treat the President — any President — with respect, even when you intend to give him a hard time and even when he deserves it.

Bullshit. Bullshit. Bullshit.

After 8 years of the worst unnecessary ragging on Bush, you hippies really don't understand how much damage you've done, and distrust you've engendered, by following that ugly act by electing an out-and-out socialist, do you? The gall. Ann, save your lectures on "respect" for each other:

If you ask me, the black kewpie doll of your dreams is lucky to be alive,...

Lovernios said...

I was an enlisted soldier in the US Army 1972 - 1975. I was fortunate to be assigned to HHB 3rd Armored Division Artilery, Fire Support Element. My unit had almost as many officers as enlisted and I got to know and respect every one of them. Great Americans, great patriots, great men.

However, I do have some funny saluting stories. Once while sitting on the barracks steps in Grafenwoehr an young lieutenant was approaching the walk. I wasn't really paying attention and it just so happened that I got up and went into the barracks. Well, the fellow must have felt disrespected, so he followed me into the barracks and chewed me out pretty good.

Another time, also at Graf, I noticed two 2nd lieutenants walking along. One was smoking with his right hand. So I sauntered over and gave them a snappy, "Morning, Sir" and my best salute. Well, the fellow with the cigarette returned my salute, however his cigarette hit his hat brim sending a shower of sparks into his face and almost knocking his hat off his head. He didn't give me a dollar, either.

Last one (I promise), at home base, Huttier Kaserne in Hanau, FRG, we were in formation, but set "at ease". So, I'm in the rear row and just standing there looking about and an aviation captain came walking by the rear of the formation. Somehow we made eye contact, but I didn't think anything of it. So he pulls me out of formation and starts chewing me out for not bringing the formation to attention. I knew he was wrong for doing that because when in formation only the NCO in charge of the formation can call the formation to attention (or any other command). I told my section officer, a Lt. Colonel, about it and he called the officer into his office and chewed him out.

Kirk Parker said...

Hagar,

"What the hell is the president of the United States doing on such a show as The View?"

This is easy:

*Nixon went on Laugh In.

*The View is laughable.

*QED

Roger J. said...

Lovemios--loved the stories--the real stories, all of which ring true--I was deputy commander at Graf which was a great assignment--You ran into everyone you ever served with. The old Readers Digest use to publish a regular feature called humor in uniform--you stories could well have qualified.

virgil xenophon said...

@Petunia/

I'm too lazy to do the research, but perhaps someone in the reading Althouse blogosphere isn't. My contention is that if one took the average size studio audience of all the late-nite talk shows and factored for the avg number of Ivy-league/"Seven-Sister" graduates (ok, throw in Northwestern, Stanford, Rice, MIT, Vandy and Tulane and, say, Oberlin) statistically likely to be in the audience on any given night who also earned a post-grad degree from same PLUS successfully completed USAF or Navy pilot training (and in the years Bush went thru only 50% of the candidates were selected and the wash-out rate for the remaining 50% was 60%) one would come up with the figure of ZERO--and this doesn't EVEN include the statistical probability of, on top of it all, being twice elected as both the Governor of one of the largest states in the Union and the POTUS. Yet those self-same studio audiences yuck it up at Bush jokes as if HE's the unaccomplished, stupid one.. Simply amazing..

pst314 said...

"You need to treat the President — any President — with respect"

Obama's behavior lost him any such entitlement.

Paco Wové said...

One of the creepier things uncovered in the last four years is the extent to which many people in the chattering classes absolutely worship authority, provided it tells them what they want to hear.

somefeller said...

Althouse says:What I like is that, as a law professor, I'm free of the awe of law professors.

You don't need to be a law professor to be free of such awe. As a practicing attorney, I'm free of the awe of law professors, too. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's the case for most lawyers from about the time they finish their first year of law school if not earlier. Or as someone else suggests further above, that is the natural state of mankind.

virgil xenophon said...

PS to my comments above: One could expand the universe of potentials to include the likes of graduates of CalTech, Berekely, SMU, and a slew of exclusive pvt colleges (Lake Forest, Elmhurst and Principia in Illinois come readily to mind) I can think of and my thesis, I contend, would stillhold up.

virgil xenophon said...

@Paco Wove/

You noticed..

Bill Harshaw said...

Is the awe of "Harvard law professor" or "Harvard professor" or "law professor" or just "professor"? In my youth I think the key was "professor". In my dotage the prestige ladder seems to have changed and stretched, so "Harvard" and "law professor" both have gained relative to "professor". Perhaps it's a reflection of the vast expansion of the doctoral class? Or maybe it's US News and World's fault--the rationalization of an educational hierarchy of prestige?

dreams said...

Women want to be taken seriously yet they watch crap shows like that. I think Obama has disrespected the Presidential office and he gets no respect from me. I lose respect for people when I find out they like Obama. Actually, I have contempt for their view, feelings, whatever.

Chip Ahoy said...

ndspinelli.

ndspinelli, ndspinelli, ndspinelli, would you recognize a hobby if it jumped out from a bush and bit you?

How about if a hobby jumped up and offered you a place to snark about somebody getting a hobby? Would you recognize a hobby then?

Roger J. said...

having been a professor--an assistant professor which is pretty far down on the rung, I have a good understanding of the professoriate--it isnt favorable, and most could not function as efficient garbage men. Myself included.

Chip S. said...

Here's one who functioned quite well as a garbage man.

greenlantern said...

It's just so easy to type the words "stupid bitch" and be done with your commentary. I'm getting as tired of that as I am the general insanity of the Left. Thank you Ann, for at least, putting a little more thought into this.

Griffin is not stupid. She is one of the more intelligent comedians. The same is true for Maher and Stewart. But they are running away from their native intelligence so hard now to support a world view they know is crashing in on itself.

People who will not stop deluding themselves and who cling to Obama will end up destroying themselves. All 3 used to be funny. They just aren't anymore. The more confident you are in your intelligence, the harder it is to see plain truths. You think you can manipulate your brain and others endlessly. That's where all this sneering arrogance comes from and the elevation of Obama as the smartest POTUS evah. No one, not the smartest of all, can defend a lie, and that's what Obama and socialism are.

Roger J. said...

Chip S--thanks for the link--and when the gentlemen has had enough, he can always respond with the quakerism: "fuck thee."

Rusty said...

I'm free of the awe of law professors.

Me too. Obama pretty much cured me of that awe thing.

Bob Ellison said...
You need to treat the President — any President — with respect, even when you intend to give him a hard time and even when he deserves it


No. We treat the office with respect despite the person occupying that office.


ndspinnelli

Uh. This is where Althouse et al get their yuks. Plumbing the depths of her online commenters political sophistication.................or lack thereof.
As a hobby goes, it's a good one. Beats hell out of tagging hobos.

damikesc said...

All right. First, Kathy Griffin has a comic style

That's awful generous. I've seen her stand-up act. She follows the path of most female comedians --- she isn't funny. (I adore Ellen because she legitimately is friggin' hilarious)

What I like is that, as a law professor, I'm free of the awe of law professors.

I'll never get the awe of professors. They are usually brilliant in their own field, but mind-numbingly dumb in other fields.

Hmmm....I think G.W. Bush has an academic pedigree to rival Obama's...PLUS his grades have been released...PLUS he flew jets in the military. But of course, he's an idiot.

Remember that he was dumber than Kerry and Gore in spite of outperforming both in school.

virgil xenophon said...

@greenlantern/

The absence of ANY snark on the John Stewart show re commenting on the Liz Warren Fauxahontas affair--a subj RICH for satire--is telling, is it not?

MB said...

The mental image of a Harvard law professor = John Houseman as Charles W. Kingsfield Jr. in "The Paper Chase". (For anyone old enough to remember the '70s.)Dignity, authority, and wit.

William said...

There's a certain amount of ambiguity in the phrase "Harvard professor". Obama was a professor (kind of--anyway he does nothing but profess) and he went to Harvard. In the same way one can say that Althouse is an NYU professor......I think it's very important to respect the office of the President, but his appearance on The View highlights several moral ambiguities.. If, for instance, the President should frequent a strip club, should he be offered admission to the VIP lounge without paying the customary cover charge. What about the strippers? Should he tip extra or should they perform their services gratis out of respect for the office? Should their moves be a little funkier or, out of respect for the office, should the girls behave with more modesty?

Sunslut7 said...

Ann,
I seem to recall that Presidents Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, Grant, Wilson, Roosevelt, Nixon, Ford, Carter and Reagan were mercilessly mocked, jeered, skewered, made sport of,critized and ridiculed by their contemporaries during their respective terms of office. Why should I and others give Obama a pass?

William said...

Further thoughts on strip club etiquette: The owner of the club, as a matter of courtesy, should offer the President access to the VIP room. However, the President, as a man of the people, should decline such preferential treatment. In the matter of professional decorum: the strippers should remember that the President has sworn to uphold the constitution and laws of the United States. They should do nothing to violate the ordinances of their localities. Those strippers with Joy Behar's political feelings would undoubtetdly like to perform unthinkable acts of depravity with the President, but respect must be shown for the law. So far as reimbursement goes: I would recommend that the President pay the customary charges and that the strippers donate the money to his re-election campaign. Win win for everybody.

jacksonjay said...

I seem to recall an "awe"some law professor at UW who was smitten by the "hope" and "change" of Chicago Jesus!

I get the idea that the thrill is gone!

Joe said...

You need to treat the President — any President — with respect, even when you intend to give him a hard time and even when he deserves it.

No you don't; he's not the king. Like anyone else, if he must earn any respect granted him.

Now, if you meant that you should treat the president with civility, I would agree, though even then what I consider civil means you don't punch him in the face and if you verbally attack him, you give him a chance to defend himself. Being civil does not mean kissing ass.

Joe said...

Kathy Griffin is the female Bill Maher.

Not even; she's not smart or clever enough and not remotely funny. Bill Maher can be extremely funny.

Anonymous said...

The problem with the respect sentiment is it automatically implies that there are people you don't need to treat with "respect" or "civility" because of their place, and it's just a question of drawing the line.

Once you've decided you don't need to treat A, B, and C with respect, then any respect D garners merely because of position will be (rightfully IMO) resented.

It's pretty much all or nothing. Either there is an obligation to treat everyone with civility because they are fellow citizens/humans, or no obligation.

I don't watch "The View" or Kathy Griffith, so I don't have a dog in this race.

Anonymous said...

@Joe

Bill Maher isn't that funny any more . I have a memory of him being fun a long, long time ago.,, way before 911.

Currently, LouisCK and Dylan Moran are really good...though not all that terribly political.

I like a lot of females that probably would not be popular on this board, but Kathy Griffith isn't one of them. I see someone working whatever shtick they have to get paid. It incites the same feelings as seeing a single mother working the night shift at Dennys... not hatred, but rather an irrational mixture of pity (even though she gets paid) and respect that she goes out there every day and flogs whatever she has anyway.

FKACato said...

Easy rejoinder to anyone touting Obama's superlative intellect based on his academic legal career:

"So please tell me, what aspect of his published legal scholarship impresses you?"

JAL said...

When some of us get email from Barack and his wife, Michelle, telling us that "Barack" wants our $3 so we might could have a meal with "Barack," and all those other call-me-by-nmy-first-name-I'm just the guy-next-door promotions out there, the respect for the office by the present holder and his wife has gone to hell in a handbasket.

Regrettably recently I got an email "from" Ann Romney about a drawing for a meal with Mitt.

I would hope after Mitt is elected (if not before) we forgo the phake coziness.


I didn't listen to the whole exchange with Hasselbeck, but what was the issue? (Unless the brief clip played at the beginning of the Kathy show was it.) She is surrounded by obamabots and has to be strong. Was she edgy? What does that mean? Did she say something wrong? As in incorrect factually?

i did listen to Kathy Griffin is so overrated there is no word for it. I find her and her ilk and her laughing audience disturbingly mindless. Do these people have cogent thoughts which following real informationl or do they think in sterorypes and degtrading labels and language all the time.

I can't think of a better example of sheep being fed and led. (Not to mention the desire to label and dsimiss them as foul mouthed destructive bigots.)

Tyrone Slothrop said...

Kirk Parker said...


*Nixon went on Laugh In


Perhaps you are unaware of the fact that Nixon was a candidate for president when he appeared on Laugh In. Big difference.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

I can't stompach the view. Even with Hasselbeck as the lone voice of reason.

AP said:
"I sense that the GOP is jealous of the greatest POTUS. So sad, so very sad. Trust him. Support him."...
Worship him blindly.

No thanks. I prefer to think for myself.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Stompach = stomach. But I kind of like stompach.

bgates said...

I never saw the phrase "you, a law professor" used "somewhere in the middle of an attempted push-back". Usually it's a stand-alone phrase which successfully conveys an amused contempt for something stupid you've written.

Does anyone have a quote of the supposedly offensive thing Hasselbeck said to the grotesquely incompetent, anti-American piece of shit our host (a law professor) voted for?

Robert Cook said...

"Wait, I thought it was awesome and courageous when celebs were sassy to Presidents - Like that time that Colbert slammed Bush at the correspondent's dinner. Has something changed since then?"

Nope! Kudos to Colbert for his evisceration of Bush and--more to the point--the Washington Press Corps assembled before him--and Kudos also to Ms. Hasselbeck for challenging Obama.

I didn't see it, and I don't know if the objection some might have is the questions she asked him or the tone of her challenges. It doesn't matter...fuck this idea that we owe the President de facto deference! Although he really works for the financial elites--who own the country, and thus invites our de facto skepticism, if not scorn--he purportedly works for we, the people, and thus we have every right to challenge the President in word and tone if we are unhappy with his performance or feel he is dissembling...which, virtually all of the time, he is, (whoever the "he" is at any given time, or "she," when a female becomes president). The fact of life is: our Presidents lie to us.

Hagar said...

Stompach is good.

Also as I remember it, Laugh-in really was funny and not political, and button-down Richard Nixon just made that cameo quip of "Sock it to me?" to show that he was not quite humorless; he did not sit down with Goldie Hawn on the show to discuss policy.

Gahrie said...

My God Althouse, you're over"anal"yzing the words of Kathy Griffin! Get a hobby.

This is her hobby......

Gahrie said...

Richard Nixon just made that cameo quip of "Sock it to me?" to show that he was not quite humorless; he did not sit down with Goldie Hawn on the show to discuss policy.

But deep down inside, don't you secretly wish he had? I do.

Steven said...

You need to treat the President — any President — with respect

No, you don't. The POTUS is just a fellow citizen doing a job, like any random baker, farmer, or actor.

(Unless you're in the military, where it's a matter of military discipline and the chaon of command, which is a necessary component of military effectiveness.)

Hagar said...

Chaon - Chaos + chain, is also good.

Freeman Hunt said...

While the President debases his office by appearing on The View, one can say to him whatever one wants.

walter said...

I thought I saw the clip where O came onto the set and 'liz gave him a big ole smooch. For proper respect she has to kiss his ass too? But yes..going on a show like that lowers the bar. Did anyone ask him whether he was on track to skyrocket electricity costs?

Rick Lee said...

"No one in the GOP can compete that pedigree."

Condoleeza Rice was frickin' provost of Stanford (dean of deans) but all the lefties don't have any trouble disrespecting her.

JohnBoy said...

Eh, I'm glad Liz didn't fawn all over O. Since O doesn't do press conferences, who is the last person, other than maybe Jake Tapper, to challenge him? Joe the Plumber?

JohnBoy said...

Also, I was at a New Year's Eve soirée where the host had Kathy Griffin and Anderson Cooper on. Trying to watch a D list skank and a humorless, closeted homosexual make forced banter made me want to duct tape my ears shut.

Lovernios said...

Roger J,

I loved going to Graf. It was quite a haul from Hanau to Graf so it was a long beautiful drive on the Autobahn. I either drove one of the jeeps or the 5-ton van depending on what we going to do there. If we were going to be conducting the annual artillery testing of the 3rd Armored DivArty we didn’t bring the 5-ton. Duty was great for me as I was one of the gophers, go fer this, go fer that. And since I was the smallest guy in the unit I held the special honor of being the Baby Gopher.

So I’d shuttle officers and VIPs from the barracks to the airfield, or into Graf center. I once picked up a Congressman. I’d make mail runs or pick up supplies. But what I enjoyed most was being out on the tank trails. One of my main duties was taking hot chow out to the field to our artillery spotters. Everyone was glad to see me, with the container from the mess hall and the hot coffee, particularly in winter. We had several observation posts around the impact zone staffed by the members of the Survey squad. These guys sat up there staring into their theodolites spotting the rounds as they landed. They would yell out, “Short 50!” or “Long 25!” or “Left 50!” and another solder would record the notation. Sometimes I’d take out a pair of binoculars, sit on top of the bunker and test my skill at spotting the rounds. A theodolite was mounted on a tripod and leveled by a plumb. I’d be squatting on my haunches steadying the binoculars on my knees. I got pretty good at it.

The tank trails were something else. In dry weather when you came up behind a convoy of tanks it was like you were in a Saharan sand storm. In wet weather they were rivers of mud causing a lot of slipping and sliding. And always they were heavily pitted and bumpy. I loved driving the jeep (HQ 11) on those trails, dodging pot holes, passing slower vehicles, day or night alone with my thoughts. I’d turned the jeep on its side more than once. But these vehicles were so light you’d get a few guys to set it right up and off you’d go.

Nate Whilk said...

Althouse wrote, "It's that Hasselbeck is coming at the President with too much of a sassy, challenging edge. And Griffin is actually right about that. You need to treat the President — any President — with respect, even when you intend to give him a hard time and even when he deserves it."

Oh, get real. Hasselbeck and the rest of the right have treated Obama FAR better than the left treated Bush. Isn't there a law-related word relating to that? Precedent, perhaps?

Ann Althouse said...

I should have made it clear that the respect I'm saying should be shown the President is in his personal presence. In speaking and writing elsewhere, no delicate treatment is needed.

Xmas said...

Did someone say mention Goldie Hawn on Laugh-In?

Yeah, I'd have loved an interview with Nixon done by Goldie...

Humperdink said...

Ann said "I should have made it clear that the respect I'm saying should be shown the President is in his personal presence. In speaking and writing elsewhere, no delicate treatment is needed."

I am surprised no one has mentioned the face to face scolding Owebama bestowed upon the SCOTUS during the State of the Union address a few years. This clown is a street punk and has demeaned the office similar to Bill "give me one more Lewinsky" Clinton.

DCS said...

Kathy Griffin: quintessential "D" lister. Soon to be making the rounds at your local casino theater.

MarkD said...

Awe? You have to be kidding unless you are talking about Gretzky or Jordan in their primes.

Obama hasn't shown much respect for anyone who disagrees with him, or for that matter his supporters when it's convenient for him to toss them under that very crowded bus.

I return his disdain in full measure.