December 7, 2013

This is the post where I try to understand what Andrew Sullivan means by "Meep Meep Watch."

This Sullivan post is some kind of defense of Obama that deploys a Roadrunner analogy. I know Road Runner is the source of the "meep meep," as the illustration of Roadrunner makes clear, and adding "watch" is a way Sullivan has of indicating that he's collecting things in a category.

So I understand that he's on the alert for Road-Runner-like activity. My working theory is that he's saying that Obama is like Road Runner, which would mean that he's got an enemy trying to destroy him and he keeps escaping destruction — by speed and/or extreme good luck. The enemy's efforts always backfire, and Obama/Road Runner, escaping one more time, emits a cry of glee — meep meep.

Sullivan begins:
It’s worth recalling the glee with which many hacks determined that the Obama presidency was over before the second term had really kicked in, well, only a month ago. 
So the cry of glee comes from Obama's enemies — The Hacks. Is it also worth recalling the other hacks who — a month before that — gleefully announced that the GOP had committed suicide? Sullivan notes the various troubles Obama has encountered — which were not traps set by his American political rivals at all: Healthcare.gov, Syria, Iran, the economy. He continues:
But it’s worth digesting how all these alleged disasters have settled down. 
We seem to be inside a digestive tract. It seems we've managed not to vomit. Sullivan proceeds to say things are looking better. And he ends like this:
The GOP remains utterly devoid of any constructive alternative to Obamacare, whose winners have been far less vocal – so far – than the winners. 
Is that "winners... winners" some kind of humor that escapes me — like a bird outrunning a falling rock — or just a thudding mistake?
The president is on the offensive – on economic inequality and healthcare. 
On the offensive... so he's the Coyote?
It’s far too soon to project anything certain. But what we sure can say is that a huge amount is still to play for.
What I can sure say is I'm pretty sure Obama must be the Road Runner in this analogy but... why? A huge amount is still to play for.... suggests we're at a gambling table. Road Runner, the cartoon character, doesn't even realize he's got a relentless enemy trying to destroy him. He's oblivious and lucky. You can't picture Road Runner transferring his kind of luck to, say, poker, where one squarely faces the opponent and must make decisive moves based on a known set of rules.

Sullivan's analogies and metaphors are a crazy quilt of a mixed bag of bouillabaise.

Only now will I do a "meep meep" search on Sullivan. I tried tracing the hits back to the beginning and — having opened 20+ tabs — encountered a demand to subscribe to the website. I'll stick to the tabs I've got. From September 15th, there's "Meep Meep, Motherfuckers," which has a photo of Obama looking very smug, a quote about Syria from Obama, Sullivan's exclamation "Oh, snap!" and then:
It’s been awesome to watch today as all the jerking knees quieted a little...
Do jerking knees make a noise like cracking knuckles? Can we watch quiet the way we listen to the color of our dreams?
... and all the instant judgments of the past month ceded to a deeper acknowledgment (even among Republicans) of what had actually been substantively achieved: something that, if it pans out, might be truly called a breakthrough – not just in terms of Syria, but also in terms of a better international system, and in terms of Iran.
The post ends:
So it was another treat to hear the president say, in tones that are unmistakable:
“I welcome him being involved. I welcome him saying, ‘I will take responsibility for pushing my client, the Assad regime, to deal with these chemical weapons.’ ”
Meep meep.
A treat? Sullivan feels he received a treat in hearing Obama say something that he paraphrases as the Road Runner's cry of glee at escaping another Coyote trap. But what is Road-Runneresque about Obama welcoming Putin's involvement, as if Obama is inviting Putin into an elaborate game in which we can't tell who will ultimately get played?

Here's a "Meep Meep Watch" from September 2012:
Has Obama now done to the entire GOP what he did to the Clintons, McCain and Romney? Make them somehow self-destruct? Know hope – and I haven’t said that in a while.
This one gives some clarity to what Sullivan seems to think he's seeing: a magical ability to luck into the self-destruction of one's enemies. It's like Bill Clinton's "He's Luckier Than A Dog With Two Dicks."

ADDED: Let's look at the official rules that Chuck Jones had for Road Runner, as explained in "Chuck Amuck: The Life and Times of an Animated Cartoonist."
1. The Road Runner cannot harm the coyote except by going "Beep-beep!" 
So, it's not "meep meep" at all, which just goes to show how wrong you can be.
2. No outside force can harm the coyote—only his own ineptitude or the failure of the Acme products.
3. The coyote can stop any time—if he were not a fanatic. (Repeat: "A fanatic is one who redoubles his effort when he has forgotten his aim."–George Santayana; this quote appears on a promotional poster featuring the duo; with the quote appearing in Burma Shave-style clips on signs amid the roadrunner's air wake)
4. There may be no dialogue ever, except "beep-beep!" The coyote may, however, speak to the audience through wooden signs that he holds up.
5. The Road Runner must stay on the road —otherwise, logically, he would not be called "Road Runner".
6. All action must be confined to the natural environment of the two characters—the southwest American desert.
7. All materials, tools, weapons, or mechanical conveniences must be obtained from the Acme Corporation.
8. Whenever possible, gravity should be made the coyote's greatest enemy.
9. The coyote is always more humiliated than harmed by his failures.
There was also a tenth and more unofficial rule: The sympathy of the audience must lie with the coyote.
The sympathy of the audience must lie with the coyote!

120 comments:

ErnieG said...

That the whole Obamacare package came in a crate labeled Acme is a dead giveaway.

Kev said...

(the other kev)

Kinda like Sully and Trig Palin's parentage?

Seriously, why does anyone listen to the man any more?

madAsHell said...

It's Critical Meep-Meep Theory.

Only Andrew can decide when Obama has said meep-meep.

khesanh0802 said...

The current line from the NYT, WAPO, Harry Reid, etc. Maybe they are right, but I doubt it.

Notice that the head of the MD state health website was fired. What does that mean if everything is just hunky-dory?

Bill Harshaw said...

Have to admire this sentence:

Sullivan's analogies and metaphors are a crazy quilt of a mixed bag of bouillabaise.

Levi Starks said...

The reason Wilie E. can never win, and R.R. can never lose is that it is scripted by clever writers...

Now lets look at the theme song....
"poor little road runner never bothers anyone"

That really sounds like Obama, don't you think?

iowan2 said...

This is leftists, statists,, setting the narrative. It is always the narrative. "where is the Republican plan?" First, I didn't know one is required. If all economic laws were suspended and the insurance plan would work as advertised....all those uninsured? By the administrations own numbers, remain the same. Remember that the leftist never claimed 100% coverage.

I have said since the first day of October that Conservatives need to focus on how this law became law. Hold Democrats that are running for election defend their own actions, defend how they voted as they were told, and derelict in their duties to read and understand the legislation.
That is were the focus must be put. On the elected people that are responsible for you losing your insurance plan that you negotiated with your insurance provider. And no, they were not junk policies. They were policies that filled your needs.
Sullivan is following orders. His 'musings' or no different than any other leftist, advancing the agenda.

STOP slamming Obama. Ignore him at all opportunities, He is no longer a viable political operative, his political capital (provided by the media) is kaput.

Force democrats at every turn to justify their vote.

m stone said...

If George Carlin were alive and a prosecutor.

Nice take-apart, Althouse.

Scott M said...

I'm still stuck on watching the quiet and listening to the color of my dreams.

MayBee said...

Road runners eat hummingbirds. I find that unacceptable.

Christopher said...

I loved Sullivan's statement in regards to Syria that this is something which "if it pans out, might truly be called a breakthrough".

Yeah a lot of things might have been breakthroughs if they panned out.

Why if just one of the many Israeli/Palestinian talks had panned out there would have been a breakthrough. Who knew that we'd had so much success over there.

It's quite easy to be successful if you simply base it upon the possibility that what you are doing may work out.


In keeping with the Looney Tunes theme I would say that Sullivan is like the Coyote after he's run off a cliff. He won't fall to his doom if he doesn't look down.

Bob Ellison said...

A better metaphor would be Tom and Jerry in "Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby".

Sullivan is Tom, singing his love non-stop to the beautiful Obama cat.

The Professor is Jerry, throwing the iron in Tom's face to make him shut up.

OK, not really that great a metaphor. I just love that cartoon.

MadisonMan said...

The implication that the Republican Party is the hapless Coyote is apt.

Big Mike said...

Maybe the Republicans in Washington finally decided to adopt the "stand back and just let it burn" strategy?

I don't know why the Republicans are supposed to come up with any sort of "constructive alternative." Every time they've tried to work across the aisle since January 2009 they've been slapped down hard and told to f*** off. Maybe instead of arrogantly demanding a "constructive alternative" that is acceptable to Obama's hard left base (e.g., Sullivan) the Democrats could tell their hard left wing base to f*** off and politely ask for some help?

Nah, never happen.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

MadisonMan said...
The implication that the Republican Party is the hapless Coyote is apt.


A big difference is that the coyote's plans usually look vaguely plausible, at least before implementation.

Conrad Bibby said...

How can the GOP be the coyote AND not have a plan? The coyote had all sorts of plans.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Libruls are panicking. Their big ideas are being mocked and discredited and soon they will be a minority party with a lame duck president.

Wince said...

Doesn't the Coyote repeatedly try to trap the Roadrunner by laying out "Free Bird Seed"?

Isn't that how Obama and the Democrats tried to lure Americans into supporting Obamacare and most of his domestic agenda, by advertising free bird seed?

And notice also the picture of the coyote's business card:

Wile E. Coyote
GENIUS
Have Brain - Will Travel

Christopher said...

I find the whole "We broke it why won't you fix it" notion on the left rather entertaining.

Conrad Bibby said...

So Sully thinks the Obamacare disaster has quited down to a point that it's no longer a threat to Obama. But what about all those people who are losing their policies and facing higher premiums they cannot afford? Have they gone away?

These libs don't care about helping people, they only care about the illusion of helping people.

Moose said...

So much to say, so little reason to say it.
Sully is considers himself a conservative and a rebel, and his affection for Obama to be rooted in reality. Though he doesn't trot out the racism card - to his credit - he is too apt to trumpet any Obama initiative that doesn't go down in flames as a resounding (Meep Meep) success.

Tom said...

I've read Sullivan for a long time. I usually read to check my own sanity (if I'm agreeing with with him, I need to question my premises). I saw a dramatic shift in Sullivan when Bush failed to support gay marriage. Sullivan instantly shifted with his supporting the Iraq war. Sullivan also took a fairly principled stand against torture (not a perfect stand but he's made some compelling arguments). But no doubt his turn on Bush coincided with Bush's public rejection of gay marriage.

Here's what I see as the issue with him. He's very smart. And often smart people cannot learn to challenge their underlying assumptions, briefs, and mental models. Because of that, he often charges at problems the same way. For instance, he continually reapplies this meep-meep anology to the president. But he fails to ask how one guy can get that lucky. He simply assumes Obama has some inherent, extra-strategic skill to bait and bag his enemies by temporarily seeming to fail. He fails to consider the roll the mainstream media plays in writing this Road Runner cartoon.

We don't know what's in Sullivan's mind. All we have is his behavior and writings. But what I see based on what I observe and read is a guy who desperately wants Obama to be successful (that's Sullivan's mental model of Obama) uses a correcting mental construction to maintain this belief as he's faced with Obama's mounting failures and scandals. Sullivan's mental model of Obama will not allow him to accept that Obama hasn't presented a compelling case to America on why it needs to fundamentally change, that Obama has created his own stumbling blocks and tremendous emotional resistance, and that Obama is turning to extraordinary and unconstitutional measures in order to facilitate this fundamental transformation. Sullivan cannot allow himself to see this. To do so would mean being not just wrong about some facts - it would mean being wrong at a core level. And that is emotional and it's why smart people really struggle to learn.

What's instructive in watching Sullivan is that I think he represents a lot of Americans who bought into the myth of Obama. Obama embodied their espoused theories around race, social justice, and economic justice issues. When those theories begin to crumble against reality (and a little help from incompetency) these people aren't questioning the theories, they're attacking everyone else as "not getting it". Sullivan isn't dumb even if he doesn't learn very well. That's true for a lot of smart people. But if where going to get out of this mess, we need more smart people to learn to question their theories and assumptions in a fundamentally better way. Obama is providing the consequences that may allow this learning to eventually occur.

Thanks, Althouse, for giving us a great space and some good prompts to challenges our own assumptions!!!

Unknown said...

Sullivan doesn't care about Americans. Sullivan only has eyes for his false god. It's all a game to poor Andrew, and Andrew's false god must win, no matter what.

David said...

The post in which Althouse turns a coyote into a shaggy dog.

Anonymous said...

Let me use another analogy that Sullivan might understand:

There are two reasons a body doesn't convulse at a doctor's prescriptions:

1. The prescriptions are benign.

or

2. The body is dead or near dead.

Think about it Sully. Sometimes civic knees stop jerking because of fatigue or the onset of rigamortis.

somefeller said...

The context of Sullivan's "meep meep" concept is in response to conservatives who keep on saying that they have Obama on the ropes and then Obama gets the upper hand. An example of this is this sort of thing is AJ Lynch's predictably dumb and triumphalist 9:27am comment above (remember when guys like him were confidently predicting Romney's coming preference cascade victory?).

Obama has made many mistakes, like any President. But he has been uniquely blessed in terms of his opponents. That's one of the things the history books will remember. Meep meep.

Anonymous said...

Let me make Somefeller's comments a bit more clear

"The arsonist has been uniquely blessed in terms of the firemen trying to fight the fire. That's one of the things the history books will remember. Meep meep."

The other thing history books will remember is that the house burned down. Meep meep to you Somefeller. Feel better out in the cold?

Michael K said...

"constructive alternative to Obamacare,"

Gay Marriage, of course. What else is Sullivan interested in ?

"Obama has made many mistakes, like any President. But he has been uniquely blessed in terms of his opponents. That's one of the things the history books will remember. Meep meep."

I think it was Adam Smith who said, "There is a lot of ruin in a great nation." That is Obama's secret. He hasn't run out of America's ability to survive. But he will.

garage mahal said...

" Every time they've tried to work across the aisle since January 2009 they've been slapped down hard and told to f*** off.

There are over 100 Republican amendments in ObamaCare. The bill started in a committee of Republicans and Democrats and was debated for over a year.

Anonymous said...

The analogy works better the other way around, with Obama the 'Super Genius' with all sorts of plans to assert his will over his opponent (RR - played the American public).

The happy-go-lucky RR never does seem to do what the coyote expects.

The Repubs in this case are the occasional truck driver who shows up the exactly the wrong time (for the coyote, that is).

somefeller said...

Your fantasy life and gift for metaphor is a wonder to us all, Quayle. But I'm pretty sure Obama will be remembered well, while his opponents will go into the historical category we use for the Know-Nothing Party, the anti-New Deal ranters and the John Birch Society. The superfluous men of history, curiosities more worthy of pity than contempt. And it's nice and warm in my house. Meep meep.

Skeptical Voter said...

Actually Obama's cry is "Sheep Sheep"---calling to the clueless twits that voted for him and still worship at his altar. As in Little Chrissy McTingles Matthews babbling a few days ago that "Obama came among us. He walked among us."

So long as folks like Chris Matthews are around, Obama will survive.

J Lee said...

Obama's actually closer to the latter Tweety -- the early version was self-reliant in battling Sylvester, but the later one relied on onside help (Granny, Hector the bulldog) to do his work for him and shield him from the Sylvester, by biting his ankle or whacking him over the head with an umbrella.

In Obama's case, it's the until-now compliant media outlets and others within the Democratic Party who've played Granny and Hector, and they'll probably be back home soon. But for the moment on the Affordable Health Care Act, the president's been more on his own than he's been in a while.

Ann Althouse said...

I wouldn't want a Road Runner or a Coyote to be President, but if they represent 2 types of politicians, I think the Coyote party has to be the one that feels compelled to rig elaborate mechanisms, which seems more like the progressives.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for writing this one Althouse.

And that's an insightful comment by Tom.

Sorun said...

Obama's approval rating is 28% among independents with no party affiliation.

Meep Meep.

Anonymous said...

The perpetually frustrated coyote, dreaming up the next scandal to catch the roadrunner.

I'm Full of Soup said...

It's actually dumb and a bit racist to see Obamacare as successful and to judge Obama as a successful president.

chickelit said...

Remember when Sullivan was exhortating about putting down elephants for a long time?

somefeller said...

Obama's approval rating is 28% among independents with no party affiliation.

He'll have to work on that to win re-election. Oh, wait, he already did that.

And AJ got to use the word "racist" in a sentence! Too bad it didn't make sense in that sentence. Golf clap.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing future Republicans claiming Obama as someone who would have been a Republican in their time, like GOPers do now with JFK. When do you think that will happen? 2032, or is that too soon? Meep meep.

chickelit said...

Maybe (in Sullivan's mind) the elephant should get electroshock therapy?

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Ann Althouse said...
I think the Coyote party has to be the one that feels compelled to rig elaborate mechanisms,


Like nation building in the middle east?

n.n said...

I thought he was lamenting the destruction of eagles and other bird (and bat) species in the windmill gauntlet. Obama is "green".

cubanbob said...

somefeller said...
Obama's approval rating is 28% among independents with no party affiliation.

He'll have to work on that to win re-election. Oh, wait, he already did that."

Except that the third Obama term-Hillay!-is now no longer such a sure thing. HillaryCare the mama of ObamaCare is the next hill for progressives to defend.

Michael McNeil said...

Note that in the old comic book the Road Runner does speak (and not just go beep-beep) — but only in rhyme.

Mary Beth said...

It's obvious the Roadrunner says, "beep beep", the show's theme song begins:
"If you're on the highway and Road Runner goes beep beep.
Just step aside or might end up in a heap.
Road Runner, Road Runner runs on the road all day.
Even the coyote can't make him change his ways."

Beaker (Sesame Street) says, "meep meep". Rather than magically escape harm, he seems to attract it.

I think the second "winners" was supposed to be "whiners/whingers".

Mary Beth said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
William Tyroler said...

The cartoonish Sullivan has used the "meep meep" conceit for years as a weird, incoherent homage to Obama regardless of context or outcome. Here Sullivan is in 2009, meep-meeping such Obama "accomplishments" as using universal health care to reduce the deficit, unraveling the war on drugs, unwinding vast executive branch powers, improving relations with Russia immensely, putting Iran on the ropes, increasing prospects of nuclear non-proliferation, and more: http://www.theatlantic.com/daily-dish/archive/2009/12/meep-meep/192597/. As Ann efficiently demonstrates, Sullivan still hasn't quite figured out what the allusive meep-meep actually means. Turns out, though, it's a pretty good contrarian indicator; whatever Sullivan places that category tag on is going to prove wrong.

somefeller said...

Except that the third Obama term-Hillay!-is now no longer such a sure thing.

Never was. The history of modern presidencies favors the GOP in 2016, as it did in 2000 and the Democrats in 2008. It's rare for a party to keep the White House for three terms in a row. But if Hillary wins, that would be the cherry on the sundae! And meep meep.

Saint Croix said...

The implication that the Republican Party is the hapless Coyote is apt

Apt in 2012, maybe.

Wile E. Coyote, frozen in shock, in mid-air, is like Obama looking at his poll numbers.

I think the Coyote party has to be the one that feels compelled to rig elaborate mechanisms, which seems more like the progressives.

heh

Wile E. Coyote
GENIUS
Have Brain - Will Travel


Yes the arrogance and the failure, failure, failure makes Wile E. Coyote the perfect Obama metaphor.

Marty Keller said...

Nice to see that Andy's alter egos have time to post his trademark snarky and logic-free comments here. But I'm with Kev: serious people don't read or listen to Andy except, as Tom said, to do a bit of droll reality checking.

Tim said...


Obama has made many mistakes, like any President. But he has been uniquely blessed in terms of his opponents. That's one of the things the history books will remember. Meep meep.
He also has the most slavishly fawnibg press of anyone on par with Kim Jong-(mentally Ill)il

Illuninati said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Illuninati said...

In a way, the Roadrunner cartoons are a splendid analogy of Obama's presidency. In the cartoons the laws of nature are suspended as needed to carry the narrative. In the Obama presidency the Constitution and the duly passed laws of the nation are suspended as needed for Obama's narrative.

In the Roadrunner we expect the coyote to win because we know that in the real world when the laws of nature are operative the coyote does win again and again. In the Obama presidency we expect those who respect the constitution and the rule of law to win because that is what has happened in the past before they were effectively repealed.

Yes indeed, the Obama presidency is the Meep Meep regime. Unfortunately the laws of nature have not been suspended and the entire country will suffer dearly for the Meep Meep presidency.

Titus said...

We used to love Andrew. He was are first go to blog....and by a gay conservative tooo...bonus points!!!!!

And he broke up with us....depression....all because GWB and his winning 2004 election revolving around gay marriage amendments.

Wow, times have really changed!

gay and tits. gay tits.

Titus said...

chicks limp cock got a semi reading this post.

I think you can, I think you can Chick.....get a full woody you Sullivanist. And maybe one day experience Ejaculation!!!!!!!!

love ya chick, you wimp with a limp dick.

tits and have a super day!

Tom said...

Per my earlier comment... The other reason that I read Sullivan because he is a great example of a smart person trapped in single-loop leading (see Chris Argylis Double-Loop Learning). The great thing about Sullivan is he's so damn public about it. But he can't see the flawed mental model he has of Obama. And that's how mental models work - our mind makes then seemless in order to help us interpret reality. And a way to tell he's trapped in single loop thinking is to watch how he responds with anger (fight or flight) when he's challenged on Obama. My hope is that because he's so public, he'll also be public when he finally reexamine his underlying mental models, assumptions, and theories regarding the nature of Obama. If that happens (and it's not guaranteed), it should be very interesting to watch. Since we can all be blinded by our own mental models, that's why I find Sullivan instructive as a very public case study. Does that make sense to anyone?

Tom said...

Single loop learning, not leading. I'm not good at phone typing apparently.

CWJ said...

ARM@11:18

No need to resort to squirrels.

But if you must, Libya is technically North Africa rather than the Middle East.

You must be thinking of either Egypt or Syria, though they more appear to be unnecessary meddling rather than nation building.

Anonymous said...

Tom,

Sullivan also makes a living being very public about what he's doing. He's a bit of a showman.

Some of it's calculated, as he's been trolling eager progressives and hipsters for a while now as they're paying his rent.

His team STILL puts together a lot of good content, even if he's living in a 'mental-model' of his own making.

Unknown said...

Obama promised, over and over, "If you like your health insurance, you can keep your health insurance. Period.”
and “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. Period”.
Lies.
Sullivan celebrates. Meep meep.

According to the collective left, it's all meep meep, all the time. Obama pulled another one over the rubes. HAA HAAAA. Meep meep.
Btw- When Some idiot on the bad faith brigade mentions the John Birch Society – you know they have lost the argument. Meep meep.
Everyone knows the media are in the tank to protect Obama. Benghazi was a monumental screw up by a monumentally inept administration. So was killing Muammar Gaddafi and thus letting Al Qaeda take over Libya – but hey – the media let it slide. No biggie! HAAA HAAAA MEEP MEEP.
And on and on.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

CWJ said...
No need to resort to squirrels.


Remind me again what the total cost of the Iraq war was, round trillions will be close enough.

And the Libyan intervention? The EU did the heavy lifting and our cost didn't register above our military's daily operating budget.

We were already involved in Egypt to the tune of billions per year and when he threatened to reduce it he was overwhelmed by the predictable voices.

Our involvement in Syria was what exactly? Rhetoric that forced them to give up the poison gas stocks.

CWJ said...

Hit a nerve, did I?

First rule of golf, when you tee it up, make sure you're not the ball.

Illuninati said...

AReasonableMan said...
CWJ said...
"Remind me again what the total cost of the Iraq war was...
And the Libyan intervention?...
We were already involved in Egypt to the tune of billions per year and when he threatened to reduce it he was overwhelmed by the predictable voices...Our involvement in Syria was what exactly? Rhetoric that forced them to give up the poison gas stocks.

By the same logic, how much did it cost Neville Chamberlain to obtain "peace in our time?"

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

You didn't answer the question. It should be simple enough to get that number. Don't forget the medical and retirement costs.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Many people are grading Obamacare and Obama on an affirmative action curve. That is racism. Get it now Somefeller.

Illuninati said...

AReasonableMan said...
"You didn't answer the question. It should be simple enough to get that number. Don't forget the medical and retirement costs."

I'm not sure if you were responding to my post. If you were you obviously missed the point.

jr565 said...

Somefeller wrote:
"But if Hillary wins, that would be the cherry on the sundae! And meep meep."
And if not.... meep meep to you.
And by the way, defeating an incumbent president is also a hard thing to do especially the first black president, so dems thinking that reelecting Obama was some mandate on democratic governance was severly misguided.

Unknown said...

ARM - How much debt has Obama added? Hint: No, the answer is not the BS lie the administration is pushing on their Thanksgiving table talking points propaganda prog-army cheat sheet.

somefeller said...

Many people are grading Obamacare and Obama on an affirmative action curve.

Not me, nor anyone you can cite, I suspect.

That is racism.

No, but people always bringing up the term "affirmative action" when talking about Obama surely is. But that's no surprise, given the nature of many of Obama's opponents. Note my comment above about the superfluous men of history.

Get it now Somefeller.

Oh, I got it the first time when I discussed your initial comment. And your response is as dumb and predictable as expected.

mgarbowski said...

Althouse is correct that the Roadrunner says Beep, not Meep. There's only one cartoon meep, and it's actually spelled "meap", in Phineas and Ferb. Don't think I can embed in a comment but here's a link:
http://youtu.be/BgkoJz5qOv4

Chris Arabia said...

"I saw a dramatic shift in Sullivan when Bush failed to support gay marriage."

Tom for the win -- Secretariat-sized.

mccullough said...

Another Brit who can't get American cultural references straight. It's beep beep. Also, Obama is more comparable to Mr. Magoo than the Roadrunner.

Scott said...

Lovely post, Ann.

Scott said...

I think Obama is more like Stewie on Family Guy. So well spoken and smart for a toddler.

Michael said...

ARM. Should have voted against invasion. Got caught up in the patriotism and it backfired. Realize you wont do that again.

Michael said...

Somefeller. With respect to Obama, I have a question that might pertain to the afirmative action allegation. How does a man who writes two autobiographies before he is fifty gather the modesty to keep his academic record a secret? Is it something along the lines of hard data regarding the results of ACA sign-ups? They don't like to brag?

Michael said...

ARM. Should have voted against invasion. Got caught up in the patriotism and it backfired. Realize you wont do that again.

Drago said...

ARM: "Rhetoric that forced them to give up the poison gas stocks."

LOL

Notice how ARM speaks as if this actually happened!

Quadruple LOL.

Not only will Syria not give up it's chemical weapons stocks (save for a few bones they will throw at some UN group), the Russians will be happy to resupply them at any time in whatever quantity Assad can afford.

Putin's entire ploy, which played out predictably, is that the US is not a player in any real capacity in that area any longer and Russians have an even stronger position and Assad has been given his breathing room.

And, oh yeah, they still have the chemical weapons.

It really is true: For ARM and his pals, speeches and signed documents actually constitute "Reality" in their minds.

Anonymous said...

Sullivan's got to know that if he kept using the phrase "rope-a-dope" to express the same concept, someone would be bound to remind him how often he used it on behalf of George W. Bush. How the memory must scald!

wildswan said...

Tom said:
because he's so public, he'll also be public when he finally reexamine his underlying mental models, assumptions, and theories regarding the nature of Obama. If that happens (and it's not guaranteed), it should be very interesting to watch. Since we can all be blinded by our own mental models, that's why I find Sullivan instructive as a very public case study. Does that make sense to anyone?"

I think Althouse thought something like that when she noticed the "meep, meep watch" post this time. Roadrunner watch in the past feels like Obama outrunning racism whereas Roadrunner in the present feels like Sullivan's deep intuition that Obama truly is not what he seemed to liberals and that Obama is further more doomed. Sullivan says Obama will outrun the coyote but Sullivan means that he has thought that Obama will not - that Obama will not get away with taking away insurance from cancer patients and will not be able to blame Sebelius.

I'm Full of Soup said...

I wasn't referring to college grades when I said he was being graded on the affirmative action curve. I was referring to the passes his dumb programs, dumb ideas and his poor record get because he is viewed, by some, in many ways, as an affirmative action hire.

chickelit said...

Tom wrote:I saw a dramatic shift in Sullivan when Bush failed to support gay marriage.

This is a hallmark of sullivanism. It manifests as a litmus test for every candidate under any and all conditions.

somefeller said...

he is viewed, by some, in many ways, as an affirmative action hire.

Those "some" being racists. If you want to criticize his policies, go ahead. The fact you have to racialize the critique says it all. And I notice you don't have citations of people saying his performance should be judged on a easier level based on his race.

somefeller said...

And his policies have put America in a better place today than it was when he took office. But I can understand that all this bothers you. Obama exemplifies an America that many conservatives can't even aspire to and they know the future of America looks like him and his supporters. That naturally makes them even more bitter and resentful than they were before he was elected. But America will move on, past the superfluous men.

Rusty said...

somefeller said...
And his policies have put America in a better place today than it was when he took office.

Uh huh.
Sure he has.
If you can part with 5 grand I can hook you up with some sweet Nigerian government bonds.

Bob Ellison said...

somefeller, I am worse off than when Obama took office. I lost my health insurance. A few people out there are whispering that there might be more people without health insurance on 1/1/14 than before. Let me assure you that that is indeed likely.

And come, let us be honest. Obama was indeed an affirmative-action hire. He would never have been elected without the dark skin. We don't have to argue all of the issues here, do we? Just face them.

Patrick Henry was right! said...

Somefeller, is that because brown and black people are morally superior to white people? What other basis do you have for this assertion? Do countries improve when they go from white to brown or black majority control? Please name one such country.

somefeller said...

Basil, I'm not making that assertion. So the rest of your comment is both irrelevant and telling.

I'm Full of Soup said...

Obama's work experience barely qualifies him to competently run a small town or a large school district. His performance as president is proof of that.

chickelit said...

somefeller flatly denies the possibility of affirmative action enhancing Obama's career. And yet the objective indicia -- the very proof against such a notion -- lies hidden in his grade transcripts. How can somefeller deny the possibility of AA playing a role without factual evidence? This casts a serious serious doubt on somefeller's reasoning abilities.

What other opinions does he hold as factual without evidence?

Earnest Prole said...

To paraphrase the French, Sullivan is a hack so corrupt that he would willingly pay for the pleasure of selling himself.

somefeller said...

The little chicken lacks reading comprehension skills. But he has a rich inner fantasy life. Can you share one of your wonderful stories with us? Maybe one with Sarah Palin defending freedom whilst playing a winter sport of some sort?

Drago said...

somefeller said...
And his policies have put America in a better place today than it was when he took office. But I can understand that all this bothers you

By all means, present your evidence.

Wince said...

So, it's not "meep meep" at all, which just goes to show how wrong you can be.

I prefer the Tasmanian Alarm Bird, Ricky Racket, from the "False Alarm" episode of Wally Gator.

Fweep, fweep, fweep, fweep... FWEEP!

"Now, wouldn't that shatter your bifocals?"

About one minute in.

chickelit said...

somefeller said...
The little chicken lacks reading comprehension skills.

I'll take that as a nolo contendere regarding your disregard for facts not in evidence.

jr565 said...

somefeller wrote:
somefeller said...
"And his policies have put America in a better place today than it was when he took office. But I can understand that all this bothers you"

The policies are working! They just need more time! And more money! And more time! Shovel ready jobs!If you like your doctor you can keep him! Period!
It doesn't bother us because it's not remotely true. From foreign to domestic his policies have been one large steaming pile. How are you finding a success story there?

Paco Wové said...

It's pretty common for politicians' fanboys to marvel at the fantastic, almost diabolical, cunning that the objects of their affection display in the face of the dastardly enemy -- I seem to remember similar sorts of drivel written about GWBush back in the day (sorry, can't be arsed to look it up). Rope-a-dope! Wheels within wheels!

I don't understand why people idolize politicians, at all.

chickelit said...

I think the Sullivans and the somefellers of America are heavily invested in Obama succeeding. And it's now become a too-big-to-fail endeavor. Where they fail is their seemingly absolute faith in his character, hence the willingness to carry the water until the end and to turn a blind eye that others might call corruption or crony capitalism. They are not all alarmed or even concerned with growing executive power: instead, Congress and SCOTUS are lambasted for not going along with the progressive agenda. It's very easy to see this in them, and becoming easier for others, yet it remains impossible for them to even see the nose in front of their face.

somefeller said...

I'll take that as a nolo contendere regarding your disregard for facts not in evidence.

Declaring victory on the Internet is always convincing. And often the only sort of victory in life experienced by the one doing the declaring.

Brando said...

This is all just three dimensional chess. Obama is just two steps ahead of everyone else. Economy on the toilet? Health care more a mess than ever? Incoherent foreign policy that has to be bailed out by Moscow? That's just his genius, and if we don't appreciate it then we are the ones who failed him.

Sullivan I just suffers from the problem that he forms an early impression of a person, and it takes heaven and earth to change it. So he decided Obama dips this angel sent down from on high to save us all. So if he trips on a stair, then it was only to show us the foolishness of stairs, because no way could Obama make a mistake. Even Syria, where Sullivan was appalled by Obamas plan to attack, turned out to be a brilliant strategic victory, a way to show us our own folly, rather than an incompetent bailed out by Putin.

The shame is Sullivan has intelligent things to say, but his blind spot fails him repeatedly.

gk1 said...

Its sad to see the house lefties trying to pitch obama's "accomplishments". Can they name one? Just one that everyone can get on board with that is a result of his wise polices? If Libya and Syria are his big foreign policy coups and Obamacare and economic stimulus are his domestic triumphs, I just feel pity for them at this point.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

gk1 said...
Can they name one? Just one that everyone can get on board with


Killing Osama.

Chris Lopes said...

ARM
That was the CIA and SEAL Team 6, but thanks for playing.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

Chris Lopes said...
That was the CIA and SEAL Team 6,


This is a silly response. Bush and Cheney tried for seven years and didn't even get close.

Chris Lopes said...

And no ARM, one does not get credit for something just because it happened on one's watch. Saying yes to the question "should we kill our country's most hated enemy?" does not require any kind of effort at all. The hard part was done by the people who found him and killed him.

Chris Lopes said...

In case you don't get it, saying Obama got Osama is like saying Nixon got us to the Moon. Both men were around when the efforts of others finally got results.

I'm Full of Soup said...

I thought Obama was playing card with Reggie Love when they got OBL?

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

So, by this same reckoning, Obama has no responsibility for the health care web site. Can't have it both ways. If the mission had been a failure, like Carter's rescue in Iran, then it would have been all Obama' fault.

Chris Lopes said...

Except that the law and its enactment all happened under Obama. The CIA was created in the late 1940's and SEAL Team 6 was created in the early 1980's. The hunt for Osama actually predates 911 with the Clinton administration. So I'd say a lot of people not named Obama probably deserve the credit for that one.

Chris Lopes said...

ARM
If the mission had been a failure Obama (and the media) would have just blamed George Bush.

Rusty said...

AReasonableMan said...
gk1 said...
Can they name one? Just one that everyone can get on board with

Killing Osama.


Don't forget record unemployment and less than 2% economic growth.

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...

The inability to acknowledge any good in Obama undermines your credibility in criticizing him. It's just a partisan knee-jerk reaction rather than something considered.

Rusty said...

AReasonableMan said...
The inability to acknowledge any good in Obama undermines your credibility in criticizing him. It's just a partisan knee-jerk reaction rather than something considered.


You got any thing else besides Ben Laden?

My credibility in his criticism has always been top notch. I told you before he was elected that he wasn't the only virgin in the Illinois whorehouse.

You ignore the obvious flaws not because of partisanship but because you gleefully want to fuck over everyone that doesn't agree with you.

chickelit said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

"The Republicans have no alternative to Obamacare" illustrates very well the actual game the Democrats are playing. If the public can be gotten to accept that the opposite of a policy solution to a problem one party cares about is simply a different solution to it, that party wins. Getting the public and the party's opponents to buy into the proffered dichotomy is the Democrats' real goal.

gk1 said...

Wow, Obama personally got Bin Laden by himself. That's all you got? Kind of like Nixon taking full credit for the moon landings, doncha' think?

Chris Lopes said...

ARM
I have no problem accepting the idea that not everything Obama has done is bad. In fact I think his original space policy (that was destroyed by bipartisan pork hounds in congress) was actually a good idea. What I object to is his claiming credit for the work that 2 other administrations laid the ground work for.

ErnieG said...

@Michael said...

"Somefeller. With respect to Obama, I have a question that might pertain to the affirmative action allegation. How does a man who writes two autobiographies before he is fifty gather the modesty to keep his academic record a secret?"

As Churchill said of Clement Atlee, "He is a modest little person, with much to be modest about."

chickelit said...

AReasonableMan said...
The inability to acknowledge any good in Obama undermines your credibility in criticizing him. It's just a partisan knee-jerk reaction rather than something considered.

There's no denying that Obama has vastly increased the good fortunes and material prosperity of people in the Washington, D.C. metro area as reflected in salaries, employment and housing prices. The thinking is, why can't the rest of the country follow suit. There's a reason why it can't, though.