As for Anita Dunn... what's that thing she's doing with her tongue? Did she eat a lot of peanut butter before going up to do her speech? Man, that is unattractive. But as for what she said:
"And Mao Tse Tung said, 'You know, you fight your war, and I'll fight mine.' And think about that for a second. You don't have to accept the definition of how to do things, and you don't have to follow other people's choices and paths, OK?"Okay.
"It is about your choices and your path. You fight your own war. You lay out your own path. You figure out what's right for you. You don't let external definitions define how good you are internally. You fight your war. You let them fight theirs. Everybody has their own path."And if killing millions of people is right for you, don't let anyone stop you. You have your own path...
I can think of some non-nefarious reasons for saying that. Dunn is a bit of an idiot, and though she is the White House communications director, she's not too good at communicating. She doesn't seem to know that things you say can be looked at in more ways than the one you intend. I wonder how long she'll be kept around. Is there a bus coming along that path of hers?
पोस्ट्स
१५२ टिप्पण्या:
This administration really is weak at hiring good people. I agree, she is an idiot.
wv=serming.
Anita Dunn must be serming now.
Yeah, but they are good at hiring weak people.
The whole point she is making is nonsense.
She's a toidi. That's an idiot that gets things backward.
wv=hesses: The mercenary soldiers Obama thinks Washington surprised at Valley Forge after crossing the Delaware. Or Princeton. Or Boston. Yeah, Boston. Near Harvard.
One of Dunn's favorite political philosophers killed 70 million people. This is 500 times the number who died in the atom bomb attack on Hiroshima.
During Mao's mass starvation, tens of thousands of people ate human flesh to survive. Some would dig up graves. Parents killed and ate their children, children ate their grandparents, and siblings ate siblings. Some political prisoners were fed to their families as punishment.
Dunn is disgusting. What she said is no different than extolling the virtues of Hitler or Ted Bundy or Charles Manson.
I guess she believes she is fighting her own war against Fox News, and will blame them when Obama throws her under that oncoming bus.
I'm curious how the knee jerk liberals will rush to defend this one.
The history of Mao as a commander in war was that he refused totally to do an American demanded alliance with the Nationalist Army in the fight against the Japanese Army. He would not compromise with the Nationalist patriots way that favored a renamed type of Emperor system and treated peasants as peasants. Instead Mao treated peasants as equals. Mao's way worked in a big recruitment and loyalty advantage, even as the Democratic American attitude works here. Then Mao decided to finish off the Nationalists after the Japanese surrendered, and he did that by the Communist theory of winning which requires killing off all of the society's old leadership elements to prevent any attempt at a restoration of the old order. So yes,Anita Dunn admires Mao's will to kill as a good way ensure her victory over you and me. Thanks a lot Mr Smiley Face Obama for hiring and promoting people dedicated to murdering me and my family. That makes politics sort of personal.
Wow, he actually seems really smarmy there -- kind of like a chubby, right-wing Jon Stewart. Kind of funny, yes, but also kind of . . . smarmy.
That tongue chewing thing is annoying.
And she might be under-the-bus-proof, her husband, Robert Bauer is Pres. Obama's personal attorney.
Was she the commencement speaker? There's great comedy in the idea of someone quoting a mass murderer to inspire high school graduates. It boggles the mind that someone would be senseless enough to actually do it.
That this person is the communication director of Obama's administration, is somehow not surprising. But it is funny as hell.
I wish I were the president, just for the 747 and the cabinet I could assemble. I would have the best minds that I could find with a special eye out for those people who would vehemently disagree with each other. I'd let them argue it out and just listen. Well, I'm not the president so the jet doesn't take off when I tell it to and I can't hire great minds to argue.
So, I did the next best thing, I drove to the bookstore. Here is who I put on my "book cabinet": I got Alan Dershowitz. He's opinionated, obnoxious and at times-when he's not talking about the OJ Simpson case-he makes a good point. Let's see, let's put him in a room with... Adolf Hitler. I'd love to see those guys go at it.
Glenn Beck, The Real America, p. 210
So... Glenn Beck thinks Hitler was one of history's great minds????????? Glenn Beck is A NAZITITLER. WE MUST EAT HIM.
When I was in high school, I was friends with a girl who attended a small liberal arts college in upstate New York. We happened to be talking about Mao Tse-tung (because that’s how we spelled it back then), who had been dead for only a year or so. She told me about how her professors praised Mao for his massive achievement of bringing China into the modern world. She shared their admiration for him.
I wasn’t too knowledgeable about Chinese history, but I had been an avid reader of The Guinness Book of World Records, and I told my friend that Mao was in the Guinness Book as perhaps the greatest mass murderer of the 20th century. She just stared at me in disbelief. Her profs had never mentioned anything in class about him killing anybody. All she’d ever heard was that Mao was a great leader and philosopher.
I get the feeling that Anita Dunn was similarly educated. Of course, she’s tried to backpedal since this video emerged, saying that her reference to Mao was ironic, but her comments on the video don’t look particularly ironic.
I think the White House has stepped in it again, with Dunn emerging as their point person in the pathetic Fox-Is-The-Enemy campaign. And let me be the next to say that Dunn grosses me out with that weird tongue-problem she has going.
As far as Beck, I get a strong "Lonesome" Rhodes vibe off him.
Populism, whatever the political stripe, tends to get pretty scary.
It's ironic, though, the successful campaign by Color of Change (a group started by Van Jones, who got booted from the administration, in large part because of the efforts of Beck), is partly why the show is so successful.
Beck leads off the first 20-25 minutes of his show without a break. It gives him room for his theatrics. If he had more breaks, he wouldn't be able to build up the tension he does.
Presumably, even as national advertisers stay away from Beck, I suspect local advertisers still buy time, and Beck has been a huge benefit for FNC overall, even if his show doesn't pull in the revenue it should given its ratings.
The Dunn story is hilarious. Obama and the whole pundit/flack class considered here a "real pro" (David Gergen's words) and hailed her as the perfect person for Obama to send out to lead the attack on FOX News.
It turns out that she is a fool who thinks praising Mao is the appropriate message of inspiration to high school students. I think part of this is that democrats and their liberal media friends live in such a cacoon that their speech and thoughts are never subject to any significant level of critical analysis.
There is another video where she brags about controlling the media during the election campaign. Nothing wrong with flacks trying to do that, but she is such a dope that she thinks it is okay to then brag about it in public.
Could this whole anti FOX news crusade have been carried out any more incompetently?
From what I heard on the Sunday morning pundit shows, Dunn was already planning to leave at the end of the year. So don't be distracted by the sacrificial lamb.
I watched Beck once during the ACORN sting videos. Didn't make me want to watch more of his schtick. Even if I agree with what he is saying, I don't find him engaging.
Never stop your opponent from hitting himself in the face.
I love this stuff.
Monty just busted Glenn Beck with a quote from his book where apparently Hitler is an admired figure!
So... Glenn Beck thinks Hitler was one of history's great minds?
Let's pretend, for the sake of argument, that your Beck example is legitimate.
That would mean that Obama's communications director is basically just a left-wing Glenn Beck. Would you want Glenn Beck working in the White House? I wouldn't, and I'm a lot closer to his political views than you are.
"Everybody has their own path."
Or maybe his or her own path. I just hate disagreements.
"Dunn is a bit of an idiot."
That is a bit of an understatement.
You know who these Obama appointees remind me of? Remember in high school there was always two or three kids who were top A students?
Remember how fucking annoying they were ... how their parents had convinced them at very early ages that they weren't like regular kids. That they were special. They never had any friends because they were insufferable assholes with out sized egos that in no way matched their achievements.
That's who these people are. They're the type of people who think they're special. That they're above it all.
But they're just well-read morons.
Beck didn't say Hitler was a great mind. Beck said Alan Dershowitz is a great mind.
Good god the Obama administation is full of idiots.
Oh yeah, let's pick a Maoist to lead our assault on Fox news. Yeah, that'll make Fox look like right wing extremists.
Interesting that FOX News & Rush L report things that the MSM obviously prefers to hide.
And that the MSM responds immediately with "Rush is a racist" & FOX is not a "real" News Channel".
And that whatever FOX or Rush reported as occurring never occurred or if it did it occur, it didn’t actually, you know, occur as FOX or Rush said that it occurred, or it wasn't as important as FOX or Rush made it sound to their déclassé audiences or it was more nuanced than FOX or Rush understood.
And Rush was against McCain (in the primaries) & Obama & they both won without his support. So there.
And he’s not even a college grad & probably doesn’t know a thesis from a theme!
Drew W
I think that you have the answer as to how a college grad could express such an absurd proposition.
As Paul H would say: And now for the rest of the story, Ms. Dunn.
Or as Ms Dunn might say “Mao made 70 million omelets!”
Man, Beck is about 1000 times more watchable and funny than O'Rielly, and about 1000000 times better TV than Hannity, who can't even argue his own points coherently.
Beck is a step up for Fox, and I'm surprised.
I am so glad that Monty and alex are already here to point out the idiocy of the brain-dead left.
As soon as the Anita Dunn Mao incident was opened up last week, the left's response boiled down to this:
So what. Lee Atwater / Newt Gingrich / other Republicans have quoted Mao.
What stupidity. The issue - which the left does not want to face and wishes to make you look away from is the key difference in every illustration that Anita and her brethren give:
Non one else made the outrageous and startling claim that Anita Dunn did -
that butcher of more humans beings than Hitler Mao is one of Anita's favorite philosophers.
See, the left will always parse the words and reassemble them in explanations to hide their meaning. Hell, more than 50% of the left wing blogs and pundits didn't even mention that she said those crucial words that set her apart from everyone else - favorite philosophers.
Even Media Matters - the go-to for imbeciles on the left who can barely wipe themselves in the bathroom - at least tries the next level up, trying to say that favorite political philosopher doe s not mean "hero" or - get this! - that she agrees with his "ideology". I actually burst out laughing at that one.
Here's a fun test:
Who of the following can you say is a favorite philosopher but you disagree with their "ideology" (hint - your philosophy compiled in a book IS your ideology):
George W Bush
Dick Cheney
Adolph Hitler
Stalin
Lenin
Marx
Stupid is as left believes it does.
Monty, that didn't take long at all. No argument is possible to defend the marxist Dunn, so attack Beck. Beck is not the issue. Dunn is the issue. Classic response.
And slow joe, you're spot on. Hannity is an idiot party hack and O'Reilly is just a jerk. Beck puts together a coherent story using the opposition's own words and just knits it all together to make their communism more obvious than it already was.
I also like how Dunn is too stupid and arrogant to stop herself from boasting about how the Obama campaign controlled the media, eg:
"...increasingly by the General Election, very rarely did we communicate through the press anything that we didn't absolutely control."
Hmmmm, wonder what this anti-Fox crusade is all about? I think you kinda just gave it away, there.
Conservatives talk about freedom but when they find it convenient they are AGAINST freedom, especially academic freedom.
There is nothing wrong with the Beck quote I listed earlier... and there's nothing wrong with what Anita Dunn said.
People are really grasping.
Endorsing an idea that Mao had is tantamount to endorsing Mao's famine and Mao's cultural revolution?
Seriously, what is wrong with some people?
Also, don't read The Prince because it condones ruthlessness. Don't read Psalms because David was tyrannical. Just don't read.
I don't know if Dunn is stupid, but she certainly is ignorant of how things can be perceived, which is remarkable for a communications director.
You have to wonder what journalists at other news organisations think about Obama people boasting about how they controlled the media.
Or that Obama people think they control them enough to drop them hints on what to do.
"And the bigger thing is that other news organisations, like yours, ought not to treat them that way [like a news organisation]"
said Axelrod on ABC.
Think that'll chafe?
Let me corroborate the sense of Drew W's story; I am acquainted with several college professors (political scientists) who have many good things to say about Mao because he "supported black people's struggles" and because he realized "Western science is in the service of middle class elites."
@MM
What, so if someone went around saying Machiavelli was their "favorite political philosopher" you wouldn't suspect they might be a bit of an amoral bastard?
Endorsing an idea that Mao had is tantamount to endorsing Mao's famine and Mao's cultural revolution?
No. Quoting the man is harmless. The quote is actually a very good one and teaches a valuable lesson: Don't fight by your enemy's terms, pick your own. Easy.
The unpardonable sin committed is not the quote, but the claim that he is her "favorite political philosopher" and her very clear admiration of him and his goals.
That's why your comment about Beck was doubly irrelevent; first because we're not discussing Beck's sins we're discussing Dunn's, and second because simply quoting someone is completely harmless. It's the claim of admiration of the political philosophy of killing tens of millions of one's own people especially while a member of our government that is anathema.
"Conservatives talk about freedom but when they find it convenient they are AGAINST freedom, especially academic freedom".
How does criticizing Anita Dunn mean that conservatives are against academic freedom? Are they pushing for a law saying Mao can't be taught in schools? Or a law to prohibit saying stupid things to HS kids? That's way too progressive an idea for conservatives.
Ms Dunn is free to say whatever she wants, and believe whatever she wants. And other people are free to criticize her beliefs and actions if they disagree. It's called freedom of expression and it goes both ways, for the speaker and the listener. Are you saying people have no right to criticize other people's beliefs or actions?
BTW- in no way do I feel she should be fired for being a Maoist. Obama can hire all the Maoists he wants. But don't be surprised if people call him a communist sympathizer and vote against him because of it. They still have that right.
The effects of Mao's policies are not equivalent to his writings. Nowhere did Mao write, "We must starve 50 million peasants for the good of China." That happened as a consequence of his policies, which aren't at all required to be equivalent to his stated philosophies. Why this even has to be pointed out suffers my patience. I think there are fools about.
It's McCarthyism come back as farce. Just like Marx would have put it in The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. See, I referenced Marx in a positive way. That means I'm a Marxist and that I will eat your babies, suckers.
Just Lurking-- as you are free to go on as many moronic witch hunts as you please. I won't stop you. But I expect you will also defend my right to proclaim to all and sundry that you're a damned fool who follows the lead of a blubbering rodeo clown on Fox news.
I vote for sequestering Dunn and Beck in a room together, without access to Dem pols for the former and without access to a mike or vid cam for the latter.
Or whatever. So long as they both (for example) just.go.away.
@MM
Aww come on now, answer my question.
I want hear you say with a straight face that if you heard someone describe Machiavelli as their "favorite political philosopher" you wouldn't suspect they might be an amoral bastard.
I think the lip smacking is maybe from psychotropic medication.
I don't think she's off kilter, for Obama. I think she is an efficient True Believer. It is probably a little thrilling for her to quote Mao to all those young people. Why, this almost makes her a revolutionary! Sort of. She could be if she wanted to.
First Fox, then the world. To the barricades!
The effects of Mao's policies are not equivalent to his writings. Nowhere did Mao write, "We must starve 50 million peasants for the good of China." That happened as a consequence of his policies, which aren't at all required to be equivalent to his stated philosophies. Why this even has to be pointed out suffers my patience. I think there are fools about.
It's McCarthyism come back as farce. Just like Marx would have put it in The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte. See, I referenced Marx in a positive way. That means I'm a Marxist and that I will eat your babies, suckers.
Love how liberals live in their own world. Criticize someone for picking Mao as her "favorite political philosopher", and all of a sudden, we have McCarthyism. This is, somehow, supposed to shut us up, I guess.
But the problem is that McCarthy was over a half a century ago, and, for the most part, he was right. Yes, he was a drunk at the end, but that is more ad hominem than relevant. The State Department was full of Soviet sympathizers (and even some Communists) at a time when we were starting into a Cold War with the USSR.
Personally, I would prefer having an adherent of Sen. McCarthy running this country, than one of Mao. And, I wouldn't be surprised if a majority of Americans would agree.
Yes, it is easy to pretend that there was no connection between the political philosophy of Mao and the murder of a population equivalent to the current population somewhere between that of the U.K. or France and of Germany. Yes, they were Chinks, but they are still dead by his hand.
The problem there is that this level of brutality and murder is inherent in Mao's political philosophy. It is not a coincidence that the three biggest mass murderers of the 20th century were socialists, and two of them were of the Communist brand thereof. Rather, it is a natural consequence. Pretending it is not is just plain silly, in this day and age.
There is nothing wrong with the Beck quote I listed earlier... and there's nothing wrong with what Anita Dunn said.
There's nothing wrong with saying that Mao is one of your favorite political philosophers. There's quite a lot wrong with actually considering Mao to be one of your favorite political philosophers.
In the former case you're merely saying something stupid. In the latter, you're actually an evil human being.
Personally, I'd prefer neither Mao nor McCarthy, nor the adherents or even the descendants, of either.
But that's just me, freakin' neo-fascist-idealist that I am.
I wonder what her favorite part of Maoism is? That's his political philosophy, after all.
That happened as a consequence of his policies, which aren't at all required to be equivalent to his stated philosophies.
Now THAT qualifies as the most stupid statement of the year.
That errant comma in my last comment is so, so bothersome to me. But it could be worse. I could be worse. I could actually take seriously the suggestion that our choices do, or ought, run the gamut from "A" to "B"--for example, Beck and Dunn.
***
wv: logintsm
Hey, MM, what do you think her favorite part of Maoism is?
"Just Lurking-- as you are free to go on as many moronic witch hunts as you please. I won't stop you. But I expect you will also defend my right to proclaim to all and sundry that you're a damned fool who follows the lead of a blubbering rodeo clown on Fox news."
I guess you didn't like my questions.
Nowhere did Mao write, "We must starve 50 million peasants for the good of China."
There's no written record of Hitler ordering the Final Solution, either.
Certainly particularly foolish individuals seize on that fact to argue that genocide wasn't an essential part of Hitler's agenda.
"It is probably a little thrilling for her to quote Mao to all those young people. Why, this almost makes her a revolutionary! Sort of. She could be if she wanted to."
Yes. These cafe revolutionaries! I know them well and I believe a lot of them are nerds who long to be heroes. They were the geeks in school and hated and resented the jocks, the good looking kids, the popular and cool kids, and have nurtured this grudge all their lives. They become leftoids speaking truth to power and standing up to the fucking man! Right on!
I'll bet the lion's share of academics in the humanities as well as journalists fall into this category.
Liberalism is a mental disorder.
From what I can tell, politically speaking the trend is for people--given the choice--to choose controlling people *who,further, lust for micromanaging* behind whom to rally.
Which, by my lights, is no damn choice at all.
the jocks, the good looking kids, the popular and cool kids
Which one or ones were you, Paul?
Quite separately: Paul, did you happen to read this blog and keyboard your comment via computer and other relevant technology?
Surely I can't be the only one who noted the--dare I say it? here, within the Althouse blog family?--the obvious, and found it amusing.
You're not saying it right. It's Mao Say Tongue.
wv=duralt
She said Mao was her favorite political philosopher along with Mother Theresa. The contrast is supposed to be cute, like "woah I'm quirky." It's not an endorsement of Maoism, unless you are an idiot. It was some pap for a graduation speech, for people who are supposed to be a little bit interested in exploring the ideas of historical figures, since they just went to college. It's the blandest, most benign kind of statement imaginable (the message was "follow your own path," not "kill the rich," if you can follow).
And yet here we are, taking the lead of a blubbering morning show dj who spends every day trying to whip up a new scandal to feed to his angry fans.
Just. Pathetic.
Oh, and she licks her lips and it's revolting. I guess there should be a mannerisms test for government officials. I don't think Professor Althouse is attractive, but I really don't think it bears on her opinions.
"Beck didn't say Hitler was a great mind. Beck said Alan Dershowitz is a great mind."
Thank you, Seneca. It was clear from the quoted passage that Beck was saying that Alan Dershowitz would destroy Dolph Hitler in a debate.
Mont Mont, your attempt to turn that into an endorsement of Hitler was weak even by your poor standards, as if Jeremy had plied you with roofies and taken over your keyboard.
More seriously, whether Beck is a bit of a goof or not, he is an adherent of limited government, which places him FAR away from Mao, and Hitler, and Stalin--really, all of those guys.
"She said Mao was her favorite political philosopher along with Mother Theresa. The contrast is supposed to be cute, like "woah I'm quirky." It's not an endorsement of Maoism, unless you are an idiot. It was some pap for a graduation speech, for people who are supposed to be a little bit interested in exploring the ideas of historical figures, since they just went to college. It's the blandest, most benign kind of statement imaginable (the message was "follow your own path," not "kill the rich," if you can follow)."
So, you think she's not a totalitarian, just an idiotic intellectually unserious leftist. Hmmm, yes, I agree. All too common these days, sadly.
Mont,
I guess you would condemn all the "smirking chimp" criticisms of W. then, yes?
FTR, I agree, using the superficialities is kind of bogus, though Maddow is uber-annoying.
And Monty, I find Stalin absolutely fascinating but NEVER discuss him without a disclaimer on how evil he was. If Dunn really considered Mao evil, she would have done likewise on Mao's evil, especially in the context of praising him to kids who would be unlikely to know any more of him than what she mentioned.
wv: undog -- too good to specify...
"I would have the best minds that I could find with a special eye out for those people who would vehemently disagree with each other. I'd let them argue it out and just listen. [...] let's put him [Alan Dershowitz] in a room with... Adolf Hitler. I'd love to see those guys go at it."
Yes, clearly this means... well, it means that Glenn Beck thinks that Adolf Hitler was one of the best minds he could find. I really beg you to show me how the passage could mean anything else. Where is the word "destroy" ?
It's ok though. Anita Dunn is evil. Glenn Beck really cares about you. Anita Dunn is evil. Obama is a socialist. Just keep repeating it to yourself and sleep, sleep.
"What, so if someone went around saying Machiavelli was their "favorite political philosopher" you wouldn't suspect they might be a bit of an amoral bastard?"
I know a couple of people who recommend reading "The Prince" and who find Machiavelli on their list of most *interesting* writers.
I think it would be interesting to read a variety of horrible people but I don't think it would be nearly as interesting aside from the reality of the horror.
I don't think that understanding *anything* happens until the abstract is understood as practical application. "Follow your own path" is saccharine pap. Anyone could come up with that one.
It's only *interesting* in the context of Mao's action and what he felt that meant and what he felt his philosophy justified him in doing.
the context of praising him to kids who would be unlikely to know any more of him than what she mentioned
Maybe your kids. I expect a bit more out of college graduates. High standards I guess, though Mao was discussed by Coach Dubose in my NINTH GRADE world history class.
Anita Dunn is evil. Obama is the devil. Sleep, sleep.
"It's the blandest, most benign kind of statement imaginable (the message was "follow your own path,..."
Exactly.
It's not great philosophy. It's some boring feel-good thing that anyone could come up with.
Heck... just sing a Whitney Houston song and call it good.
(The truth is... Mao is *cool*... and that's all that matters.)
"So, you think she's not a totalitarian, just an idiotic intellectually unserious leftist."
*snicker*
So an administration official gave an uncreative speech to some high school students. That's what Beck is milking for days on his show. That's what these paranoid whiners are making a stink about.
Great use of our time, Synova.
No, the reality is that they are grasping for straws because they got nothin'.
Monty...
If *any* of us used our time well, we would not be in this time-suck together.
This issue is *at least* as profoundly important as 80% of all that is blogged daily, and certainly more important than the vast majority of causes for which enormous organizations exist and fund-raise.
I mean... gawd... people waste their time whining about pet ownership being "animal slavery" when children are dying of malaria and other easily preventable diseases all over the world.
I'm a bad mommy, and worse teacher.
Only fancy!--my kid's already been exposed to parts of "The Prince" and "The Art of War." I kid you not. Also parts of Burke, Marx ... and, you know, other contradictory subversive sorts in history.
For starters. And that's just history/philosophy.
***
Whoops. Forgot to mention the exposure to Christianity.
Man, there are no END of ways in which I exploit my child, exposing him as I do to all sorts of ideas.
It's as if I was aiming to help him sharpen and equip his own brain, in order for him to evaluate stuff for himself, make up his own mind, and go on from there.
Perish the thought, by golly.
Montaigne, you persistently miss the point.
The only issue here is, how stupid is this person who is the Director of Communications for the President of the United States?
She's no Communist. She's clearly out of her depth even discussing Communism. But she should know enough to know that the Director of Communications for the President of the United States shouldn't be telling high school kids at their graduation that Chairman Mao, brutal dictator and mass murderer is one of her "two favorite political philosophers, or that he should be associated with Mother Theresa. It's just dumb. PR people aren't supposed to be dumb in that way. She's got the biggest PR job, arguably, in the world. It's ridiculous beyond words that someone so dumb would be given that job (apparently out of nepotism.)
That's what this is about. Not her political leanings. She's of the left, but not like she's given it a moment's thought. It's just what all the people she hangs around with seem to believe in, and they give her big important jobs and so she's a left-winger. She hasn't given it ten seconds more thought than that. Because she can't.
She said Mao was her favorite political philosopher along with Mother Theresa. The contrast is supposed to be cute, like "woah I'm quirky." It's not an endorsement of Maoism, unless you are an idiot.
You have a point. A few quotes don't necessarily make her a Maoist. And if you had put it that way in your response to me, I would've gotten it right away.
Sloppy wording on my part. I should have typed:
"in no way do I feel she should be fired even if she happens to be a Maoist."
But I stand by my point that criticizing her does not equate with attempting to limit academic freedom.
I'm not a witch-hunt. As I said earlier, I find this controversy funny. After the Van Jones fiasco, as Obama struggles to fight off the impression that he is a socialist, his communications director is caught saying Mao is one of her favorite philosophers at a HS commencement. They make it too easy for people like Beck.
"Which one or ones were you, Paul?"
Good looking and a good guitar player.
How about you?
"Quite separately: Paul, did you happen to read this blog and keyboard your comment via computer and other relevant technology?"
What on earth does that have to with anything?
Don't be so sensitive about being a nerd. Not all nerds become resentful leftists, just as not all resentful leftists are nerds. They just skew that way.
She does seem to view WH control of all media as this administrations Great Leap Forward.
Paul:
Hmmm. I was a mixed bag, who went on to do various things, including marrying the good-looking, very very good guitar player who also earned a rigorous engineering degree and thereafter did an array of things both nerdy and popular, if not always at the same time. As have I, as it happens; so it goes, sometimes.
***
I'm not at all sensitive about nerd-type tendencies, Paul--and I must confess that I'm not much of a leftist, either.
Nerds used to trend libertarian. Dunno what happened.
Hell, I guess the same thing that happened to all the liberals who trended libertarian.
Funny you should mention "Art of War", reader, since that's exactly what I thought of when I heard this quote: Mao cribbed from Sun-Tzu.
It think he also cribbed from Lao-Tzu, Confucius and, in later years, Louis Armstrong. One wonders if he didn't kill all the intellectuals so that no one could call him on his plagiarism.
We need a NEA chairman who agrees with Hitler on modern art.
Well Reader you didn't really answer either question.
You described your spouse but avoided characterizing yourself, other than the vague mixed bag reference. You ought to be prepared to answer the question that you saw fit to ask me, no?
Also you didn't explain what your non sequitur about my using a computer to post a comment had to do with my point about nerds nurturing resentments, etc.
Also I might add, since I'm sensing a tone of one-ups-manship, that I was a good enough musician to not have to get an engineering degree, as my grandfather did from Cornell, or a PHD in chemistry from Princeton, as my father did. Rather I was able to play well enough to make my living as a musician my entire adult life.
"The effects of Mao's policies are not equivalent to his writings. Nowhere did Mao write, "We must starve 50 million peasants for the good of China." That happened as a consequence of his policies, which aren't at all required to be equivalent to his stated philosophies."
"When your actions describe a system of evil consequences, you should be judged by those consequences and not by your explanations." Frank Herbert
"She said Mao was her favorite political philosopher along with Mother Theresa. The contrast is supposed to be cute, like "woah I'm quirky." It's not an endorsement of Maoism, unless you are an idiot."
Herbert's my favorite author, but I sure as Hell don't endorse him.
"Montaigne, you persistently miss the point."
"Missing the point" is the entire point of his argument.
from a pr standpoint, obama is allowing idiots like dunn to distract from the overall agenda of the administration (thank god)
Obama isnt going to win his war against fox, and if he cant win against fox how is going to deal with the norks, iranians, al queda and the taliban--we have an empty suit, and apparently a stupid suit, sitting in the oval office
I've seen people do that weird thing with their mouth before. Their dentures aren't fitting right and they're constantly trying to push them into place with their tongue.
Obama has some real wackos on staff. I expected it to be the Clinton crew rather than this group of doe-eyed nuts.
I'm curious how the knee jerk liberals will rush to defend this one.
Skyler, knee jerk liberals have been defending communists for decades, I would be shocked, shocked if they actually denounced her.
Mother Theresa and Mao. Good lord. This is where "Jane you ignorant slut" should have been shouted out from some sane person in the audience.
"Obama has some real wackos on staff. I expected it to be the Clinton crew rather than this group of doe-eyed nuts."
We should be thankful for the doe-eyed nuts. Imagine the harm O could do if his staffers were as skillful and ruthless as the Clintonites.
My path involves a high-deductible health plan. I'm apparently not going to be allowed to follow it much longer.
"This is where "Jane you ignorant slut" should have been shouted out from some sane person in the audience"
Except that the next line after "Jane you ignorant slut" is "Who did you sleep with to get this job," and in Dunn's case that concept would be grotesque enough to spoil the joke.
The effects of Mao's policies are not equivalent to his writings. Nowhere did Mao write, "We must starve 50 million peasants for the good of China." That happened as a consequence of his policies, which aren't at all required to be equivalent to his stated philosophies.
Monty I want to extend my thanks to you. In that one paragraph alone, you have demonstrated that there is no limit, none at all, to the degree of complete stupidity that the human brain can attain. I find it amazing to say that you even make Jeremy look sage like.
Congratulations Monty. You are an example to stupid people worldwide. They should make a bobblehead of you.
A neighbor of mine wrote a memoir about being a teenager in the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s.
(Gang of One: Memoirs of a Red Guard ")
It was a harrowing time, and the story is well-told, if at times horrific. The destruction of family that Mao fostered by itself warrants his time in hell.
Dunn's favorite philosopher gathered up all the western books and burned them, all over the country. There were so many such books however, and so much else to destroy, that they gathered some in old warehouses. The young man snuck into one and stole several books from the US to read, and hid them in the ground in the woods nearby.
He knew he would be killed and his family imprisoned for the crime of reading, but he did it anyway.
I cannot voice how disgusting I find people like Dunn. How she came to be in Obama's administration ("No, we're not socialists!") would be news if his pet Pravdas weren't so busy looking for a bail-out.
She is, what, 55-60 years old? When she was in college Che and Mao were probably considered 'hip.' Does she know history? Sounds as if she hasn't much evolved in her political thinking or spiritual being.
Do current student know who these people are and what horrors Mao unleashed?
BTW, re: Joe the Plumber, Fox not-News, Tea party protests, the WH seems to act contrary to Mao's dictate to follow your own path.
Monty has attempted to polish a turd with predictable adults. Please wash thoroughly, monty and use hand sanitizer.
as you are free to go on as many moronic witch hunts as you please. I won't stop you.
And yet here we are, taking the lead of a blubbering morning show dj who spends every day trying to whip up a new scandal to feed to his angry fans.
post some more of those rush quotes montague
The Left will defend anyone in the Obama administration. As long as they don't say or do anything that can be considered right-wing in an American context, everyone will be defended.
The Left will defend anyone in the Obama administration.
Well I think its telling when the only liberal manning the barricades on this thread is Monty.
And where be the left-of-left Robert Cook?
Surely he has wisdom to impart, like the idea that socialsim isn't evil per se; the fact that its adherents killed 100 million last century is because it just wasn't done right.
So let's let Obama give it the old college try.
It's a funny old thing isn't it? If you had told me months ago that a Mao approving Obama official would be attacking a news organisation I would have thought you were going off the deep end, but here we all are.
If you had told me months ago that a Mao approving Obama official would be attacking a news organisation I would have thought you were going off the deep end, but here we all are.
Well anyone who read his book, looked at who he surrounds himself with and actually listened to the words that come out of his mouth, really shouldn't be surprised. I mean I'm not.
About six months ago, Glenn Beck said he felt Acorn was more of a financial scam than a vaunted political movement. He thought it should be investigated using the RICO organized crimes laws.
When I hear about the big dollars Acorn has gotten from the govt, I think events have proven him to be astute in this case.
Oh don't get me wrong, I wasn't naive enough to believe Obama was anything other than leftist.
I just didn't expect it to be this obvious and clumsy.
That is why the Obama admin is attacking Fox News. So far, Fox and Brietbart have taken several scalps including Van Jones, Rev Wright, Bill Ayers, Acorn staff and will get a few more by year end like Anita Dunn and maybe Rahm Emanuel and Jennings.
The syrupy self-help rhetoric attached to a communist dictator could only be uttered in America.
It's already been pointed out, but it bears repeating so it doesn't get lost as the main thrust of this whole affair.
The COMMUNICATIONS director for the POTUS should not be this incompetent at her job. There's right and wrong...and then there's political reality. The political reality is that this White House has either done a historically horrible job at vetting their appointees, or, worse, are so inured to their ideology that they didn't care what people were going to think when they appoint people with serious political weaknesses.
This is not a free speech issue. It's a political liability issue. I suppose you could believe it's a free speech issue if you also believe that 100% of the time legal=justice or law=fair.
Regarding Glenn Beck, I've only watched him a few times and for the life of me I don't get all the weeping and gnashing of teeth by the other side. I like that description Ann, that "he's a good TV character."
I guess I'm one of these high-strung guys like him and Rush, and I quite enjoy men and women who are passionate with their beliefs and their defense of the American vision. They do their homework. And that's a good thing.
To the degreed and Pulitzered journalists and Emmy and Murrowed telenistas, class has begun. Take notes.
Beck is a step up for Fox, and I'm surprised
Opinion show hosts and special assignment investigators:
Beck used to have a show on CNN and is now on FOX
John Stossel used to be on ABC and is now on FOX
Tucker Carlson was on MSNBC and is now on FOX
Gretta Van Sustren used to be on CNN and is now on FOX
Shannon Bream used to work for NBC and now works for FOX News Channel
Many many others who are not the "big names" have also switched channels.
Hmmmmmm is there a trend?
Re: Montague:
The effects of Mao's policies are not equivalent to his writings. Nowhere did Mao write, "We must starve 50 million peasants for the good of China." That happened as a consequence of his policies, which aren't at all required to be equivalent to his stated philosophies.
Yeah, I dunno. I think if my favourite philosopher turned out to be a bloodthirsty tyrant who caused tens of millions of deaths, I'd think twice about his being my favourite philosopher. It's also not clear to me that Mao's policies are actually in any way incompatible with his philosophy -- it's not like the Little Red Book doesn't contain passages about wiping out the counterrevoluntionary enemy and so on.
The problem in the administration "vetting" is that any liberal administration appoints from a pool of people who are out of touch with the rest of the country.
They have to draw from the liberal elite, who are mostly academics and lawyers. They've been educated a certain way by elite universities. Guess what? All the things about higher education that conservatives bitch about-- multiculturalism, anti-American perspectives, and lax scholarship-- have consequences.
They produce people like Dunn who have no idea that what they are saying is wrong. What they heard in school was far more radical, after all.
There's nothing wrong with the "vetting" process. There's nowhere else for a liberal administration to go. The problem is the stunning ignorance and moral cluelessness of our elites.
Just in from Leno via Lucianne; "President Obama has committed another 40,000 troops to the war on Fox News."
I guess the fair point that is emerging out of this thread is that Dunn is, quite simply, a shallow moron, and has no clue what Mao's philosophy was. She just heard a quote she liked, and decided that was his "philosophy."
The political reality is that this White House has either done a historically horrible job at vetting their appointees, or, worse, are so inured to their ideology that they didn't care what people were going to think when they appoint people with serious political weaknesses.
Well its only a political weakness when people actually understand and grasp the concept that communism sucks? I mean the fact that there weren't gasps (at least I didn't hear any) when this nimrod said one of her favorite political philosophers was Mao speaks volumes.
Then there are just those that either whitewash what Mao and his ilk had done or simply accept it as necessary in order to achieve the goal of a communist society. I listened to this apologist bullshit for 4 years in college and it hasn't changed much over the years.
Guys, the man is a Marxist. He admitted in his book he was drawn to them in college. Look at who he surrounds himself with. The man sat in a church for twenty fucking years listening to Black Liberation Theology and goddam Amerikka. It absolutely boggles my mind that any clear thinking person would vote for this man unless they subscribed to the same philosophy or were so deeply in denial that they just couldn't see past his halo and soothing speaking voice.
Beck didn't say Hitler was a great mind. Beck said Alan Dershowitz is a great mind.
Yeah, it sounded to me like he wanted to watch Alan Dershowitz completely demolish Hitler in an argument.
Also, it occurs to me that the “right” quotes goebbles all the time, but it is very obviously as more of a “watch out for what bad people might do” rather than “let’s talk about how awesome he is”. I’m a little concerned that Ms. Dunn trends towards the latter, although I saw the clip with her saying Mao and Mother Teresa and she just struck me as someone who was trying to make these very shocking sort of mash-up. Which just seemed like something a very young person would do, but also kind of indicates that she knew Mao was bad, as compared to Mother Teresa? So I’m not sure what she was doing here. I am sure she is kind of an idiot.
Mao's philosophy was all about how to be the political winner in a large country in a crisis from war and poverty(Ie.,"All Power comes out of the muzzel of a gun"). Anita Dunn plans to be a winner in a large country in a crisis from war and poverty too. She is ready as soon as Obama's policies finish preparing the battle space for them...a large country in a crisis from war and poverty. The day Obama and Reid finish surrendering us to a world treaty requiring us to go into poverty from a hoax war against the sun, then Anita is ready and has her great mentor's thoughts handy in a red book to guide her in the massive necessary killings of the Bourgeoisie. Other than that she is a sweet person just trying to help out where she can.
Also, it occurs to me that the “right” quotes goebbles all the time, but it is very obviously as more of a “watch out for what bad people might do” rather than “let’s talk about how awesome he is”.
For the life of me, I can't think of many Goebbels quotes off the top of my head.
The interesting question is why she likes Mao. Successful? Sure, but how and why?
Mao beat the nationalists because he considered them his primary enemy, not the Japanese. Chiang Kai-shek initially felt the same, until a group of his officers considering the Japanese the primary enemy kidnapped him and forced him to sign a truce with the communists. Thereafter the nationalists fought the Japanese while the communists undermined the nationalists and saved their strength waiting for the civil war to resume.
So what lesson is there to take from this? If you want to win, let your true enemy spend his strength fighting someone else while you stab them in the back. The Obama administration isn't interested in fighting terrorism (or defending against the Iranians or Russians). That threat serves to keep Republicans busy when they're powerful. No, the Obama administration spends its effort on the war against Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. These are who lefties perceive as their real enemies.
This was also true during the Bush administration, where Republicans fought terrorists and their supporters while the leftist Democratic leadership undermined their efforts.
I understand perfectly why lefties like Mao, they use his playbook. The question is: when are the rest of the Democrats going to learn how they're being led around by the nose by people who consider their political opponents worse than terrorists?
I understand perfectly why lefties like Mao, they use his playbook. The question is: when are the rest of the Democrats going to learn how they're being led around by the nose by people who consider their political opponents worse than terrorists?
Or more precisely,can they learn? One wonders if the world view of the left is penetrable by even reality, much less truth?
It is hard to not believe that Anita Dunn is a set-up from the White House:
"Aw, give her something to do!"
" We could make her WHCD. By the time she surely screws that up, we'll have our real guy. Then we can blame it all on her and - whooosh - abort her from the job."
"I like it! let's put it into play today!"
WV: cater. What the Obama Administration does to the American left.
Honestly, to say what Mrs. Dunn did would give me a queasy, sick feeling in my stomach. Whether she was serious or trying to be "cute" or not, the fact remains that she trivializes one of the 20th Century's greatest murderers.
I imagine, Mrs. Dunn had heard someone make a laughing comparison between Mother Teresa, and say, Pinochet, she would have recoiled in horror. But Mao, he's "cute".
Mao's philosophy was all about how to be the political winner in a large country in a crisis from war and poverty(Ie.,"All Power comes out of the muzzel of a gun")
Sorry, but that line has already been quoted by another Obama administration official. Watch it here:
http://blip.tv/play/hJNRgajKGQI%2Em4v
Haha.
I thought I was the only person who's seen this video who'd noticed that annoying tongue action and other tics in her face.
But I think comedians have a name for that kind of detail that gives punctuation to what they intend to be taken as humor.
For example, Jason Alexander, as George Costanza, licks his lips after a punchline.
I have no love for Anita Dunn, and I agree that she's a bit of a dim bulb.
But I believe her when she says she was attempting to be funny.
Wait a minute, though. That does not let her off the hook for these egregious remarks. Tragically, the Left thinks that Mao and Che are cool icons and that the stark realities of their murderous history can be overlooked in lieu of their cultural stature of cool.
Perhaps it was just a quirky ironic comment. But it was entirely inappropriate at the time.
Whenever I see one of these impassioned leftists, I think of Tom Courtenay in Doctor Zhivago. The true believers always end up killing lots and lots of people.
My wife, a nurse, looked at the Dunn video and the first words out of her mouth were "tardive dyskinesia".
Apparently tongue thrusting and chewing of that nature are a side effect that she has seen in some people who take powerful antipsychotic drugs like Haldol.
Not that I am suggesting anything about Ms. Dunn mind you...
WV:douse
Many many others who are not the "big names" have also switched channels.
Hmmmmmm is there a trend?
(RE FOX) Follow the money?
For the life of me, I can't think of many Goebbels quotes off the top of my head.
Hossier, this is the one I was thinking of. It’s only the one that I hear quoted a lot.
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” ~ Goebbles
.,"All Power comes out of the muzzel of a gun")
With an administration going around quoting THAT, is anyone surprised at there has been a run on bullets?
As to her "ironic" explanation, I am with Nathan Fillion's "Rick Castle" character - ever since the Alanis song, everyone seems to confuse irony with mere coincidence.
I remember being at the Dow Corning museum in upstate NY - they have this room with various "commemorative" corning plates - when I saw the ones Mao and Stalin, I asked the nice guide where I could find the ones for Hitler and Mussolini. I don't think she got the joke.
If you want to see libs defend these comments, to the consternation of conservative and moderates, go here:
http://meganmcardle.theatlantic.com/archives/2009/10/radical_chic.php
I was thinking she had dentures. She's of an age where those would be likely, and they do tend to cause drymouth, from what I've heard.
Perhaps it was just a quirky ironic comment.
She read from a prepared text.
Hoosier Daddy:
How about these quotes from Dr.Gobbels:
“Think of the press as a great keyboard on which the government can play.”
or
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
The American Left's lack of revulsion at Mao makes me wonder whether the fact that Mao's victims were Chinese mitigates, in the subconscious minds of the Left, the magnitude of his crimes.
There are plenty of Chinese, after all. And they're so inscrutable. What's another hundred million of them, more or less? He just helped the overpopulation problem, and reduced China's carbon footprint.
There are plenty of Chinese, after all. And they're so inscrutable. What's another hundred million of them, more or less? He just helped the overpopulation problem, and reduced China's carbon footprint.
Heh. That reminds me of a scene from Braveheart.
ROYAL ADVISOR: But my Lord, the Princess may be taken captive, or killed.
LONGSHANKS: Oh and that would distress my son no doubt. But if she were killed, we would find a valuable ally in the King of France. (smirks) You see, as King, you must be able to find the good in any situation.
Beck is easier to listen to than to watch. He mugs too much for the camera.
Re: Hoosier:
For the life of me, I can't think of many Goebbels quotes off the top of my head.
TOTALER KRIEG!
A~nd, that's about it. Can't think of any others, and the LarryTheOlder quotes seem a little suspect to me. Would the "keyboard" metaphor have been current back in the 30s? And while Goebbels is famous for his use of the "Big Lie" (e.g. that victory is imminent in the East), I think his writings contain more fulmination about Jews lying. Which they would of course, given that he was a 200% fanatical Nazi.
The "Big Lie" article at wikipedia gives and sources a Goebbel's quote about British big lies. And there are a number of pieces available online -- Goebbels' speeches to the Nazi faithful -- which outline his view of propaganda, which doesn't really match Larry's quotes. E.g., from 1934:
Good propaganda does not need to lie, indeed it may not lie. It has no reason to fear the truth. It is a mistake to believe that the people cannot take the truth. They can. It is only a matter of presenting the truth to people in a way that they will be able to understand. A propaganda that lies proves that it has a bad cause. It cannot be successful in the long run.
Of course, that's what he's saying in public, albeit to a Nazi audience. Perhaps he expressed other sentiments in his diary.
Go back and re-watch the video of Dunn. Take note of the fact that she says that she keeps going back to Mao (and Ms Theresa).
Keeps going back. Keeps going back.
Now, you don't say that you keep going back to a moral monster when you're being sarcastic. Or ironic.
When you say you keep going back, you pretty much put your lizard tongue in the poo poo.
The amazing thing to me is that good education teaches us to think for ourselves all thru life. The willingness of the educated progressives and envionmentalists to leave their brains outside of the arena of politics, and to only follow the line demanded from them by a strongman lead organisation convinces me that we are dealing with a new religion of followers with absolute faith in Collectivist Strength (which we used to call Communist Doctrine). That is scary because this Religion believes in human sacrifice by killing off the Bourgeoisie middle class. If you are a elite democrat with Billions in inherited wealth, or if you are dirt poor, then the Maoists among us are no threat to you. But if you are middleclass, then they are coming for you with murder on their mind. The smile of Barak Obama is a false smile when he talks to the Joe the Plumbers and the Tea Party goers. He hates them. Fox News does not hate the midleclass and they are his enemies because of that.
For the life of me, I can't think of many Goebbels quotes off the top of my head.
"Magda, you did what to the kids?"
Beck has always been engaging, insightful and humorous. That a lot of highbrow conservatives profess not to listen to him is exactly the same sort of 'reaching across the aisle' nonsense we get from John McCain. Like the people who spout conservative ideal but always feel they have to end it with, "But yeah, Bush sucked."
(derisive snort)
Beck is actually backing up his claims with video AKA "hard to refute evidence". That is refreshing.
Stephen Snell said: "Mont Mont, your attempt to turn that into an endorsement of Hitler was weak even by your poor standards, as if Jeremy had plied you with roofies and taken over your keyboard."
To be fair to Montagne, this was actually an improvement for him- at least he was posting a real quote this time.
I didn't read the whole list of comments but tried to skim, and noticed that no one brought up The Shining Path, which also seems to echo Ms. Dumb's comments.
Since no one brought it up, I thought that I would bring it up.
The Shining Path were a Maoist group in South America -- I don't know if they are still killing people down there. What country was it? The one just north of Ecuador. Peru, I think!
Does she really mean that she's a member of the Shining Path that somehow got separated from her gorilla unit?
Media Matters apparently used a quote from Karl Rove about the book reading contest between President Bush and Rove, where among other things suggested Bush recommends a Mao Bio to Rove, as some sort of proof that Dunn is not an idiot. Excellent reasoning skills over there.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/200910150036
Monty purposely misses a rather large point; Beck is a talk show host, he cannot create governmental policy.
While Dunn is a high level White House appointee responsible for WH Communication policy. Thus Dunn's words carry the imprimatur of the Executive Branch and should be held to a higher standard.
fwiw- I just returned from a trip to Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic; Obama's European honeymoon is over. Anti-Americanism is alive and well, with a heaping of mockery thrown on for good measure.
The European media establishment is annoyed that Obama isn't fulfilling his campaign promises on hard left issues, while the tabloids are in the throes of schadenfreude over our economic woes.
While most Poles and Czechs were against the missile shield they are uneasy over Russia's renewed militarism re the situation in Georgia and aggressive policy stance on Ukraine.
As usual, Europe is schizophrenic about US military power, if we project it they feel bullied, if we retreat they feel betrayed.
This July opinion piece from the right-of-center Telegraph pretty much sums up the attitude I encountered among many people with whom I spoke last week.
I've finally got time to listen to the clip.
If Anita Dunn was "joking" about Mao, was she also "joking" about Mother Theresa?
I once remarked out loud to my (Chinese) wife that "Chairman Mau was an idiot." This was on a bus in Hong Kong, less than about ten years ago. (I was reading a book on the cultural revolution at the time.
My wife shushed me, saying that I did not know who on the bus might be listening.
I hoped she was being paranoid, but she is the one who grew up in Hong Kong. :(
Liberals,
Why would waste any political capital defending Anita Dunn? Sure, she was speaking off the cuff and no serious person things she defends Mao's actions he did after stating the quote Dunn used. However, your typical American who has actually studied history knows that Mao was a very bad man and you just don't go there. Her judgement is extremely poor and she makes the administration a laughing stock as she is the face of the isolate FNC strategy. Are there any professionals in this administration who are interested in actual governence of the nation, or are they only interested in playing partisan, creating enemies list and letting their ideology take over all sense of rational thought.
If I was a liberal, I would want the Anita Dunns, Van Jones and all these other third-string dullards out since all they do is make it harder for my agenda to get done. I would never waste my time defending these jokers. Not only would I not defend these folks, I would be upset that they were hired in the first place.
Tosa,
She wasn't speaking off the cuff! It was a commencement speech!
It's not a matter of "defending Mao's actions", it's a matter of blithely parroting a quote (that he ripped off Sun-Tzu IMO) without a little aside about "democide champion" as if Mao is someone who should be spoken about in polite company.
You couldn't do that with Hitler. You sure shouldn't be able to do that with Stalin or Mao.
Looks like Politico got the WH memo, they're blaming Drudge for the falling dollar.
Mis-direct much?
I guess they didn't see Robert Fisk's Oct 6th column in the Independent.
Anyone who reads Asian and European newspapers would have known about the alledged deal to decouple the dollar from oil in favor of the Euro. As Fisk notes, Iran has already done so.
There is also an international debate over the IMF currency reserve that may also blindside Politico.
Dollar been declining since 2002 - chart
Oil purchases in favor of euro rather than dollars has been discussed for a while.
Dennis Prager had a stunning interview with liberal writer, Michael Tomasky today. In it, Tomasky stated that he had no idea about Anita Dunn's Mao comment.
As Prager said afterwards, this doesn't make Tomasky a dummy but does illustrate how deep in their own bubble those on the Left truly are.
Blake: Yes. Thanks for noticing, but far more for the noting.
***
Paul:
Well Reader you didn't really answer either question.
You described your spouse but avoided characterizing yourself, other than the vague mixed bag reference. You ought to be prepared to answer the question that you saw fit to ask me, no?
I did answer it. You didn't get it. But see later.
Also you didn't explain what your non sequitur about my using a computer to post a comment had to do with my point about nerds nurturing resentments, etc.
It had to do with your tone about nerds, who, in terms of technology, back in my day in up-to 12th grade schools, were far less ubiquitous, and so they got busted on a lot, both gratuitously and ridiculously. So many of them deserve the last laugh they earned.
Also I might add, since I'm sensing a tone of one-ups-manship
I quite deliberately adopted that tone, Paul, precisely due to having detected that tone you. In fact, that's a good chunk of what inspired me to respond specifically to you. You've got that vibe going.
that I was a good enough musician to not have to get an engineering degree, as my grandfather did from Cornell, or a PHD in chemistry from Princeton, as my father did. Rather I was able to play well enough to make my living as a musician my entire adult life.
1) I think music, math and engineering are beyond kissing cousins.
2) My parents met as music majors. I am the daughter of not just one, but two, musicians, both in the sense of being *musicians*, but also in the sense of making livings. Also, my father spent some decades as a university music prof. My mom took the rather riskier route. Being their kid, I saw lots.
3) I told you I was a mixed bag. That was far from being a duck: In fact, in went far further toward telling more truth than what you wrote in the comment to which I responded to begin with. But if you like:
I was mostly not good looking (except for one particular stretch, which unfortunately is connected to one of the worst periods of my life); I was not popular, in one sense, even most senses, though I was involved in an extraordinary number of activities, in which people wanted me to be, including those popular; and I was right up there, academically, even though I essentially abandoned my senior year in high school in favor of more hours to work and to take classes at the local university.
4) My husband was, and is, a musician.
5) And, last--just cuz I think wicked humor (especially humor based in reality) is always a good thing to bring in to particular sorts of situations--
Betcha we have a much larger and better collection of guitars than you do.
For example, and all that jazz.
Or maybe not. Who, really, gives an f' about all that high-school stuff, anyhow?
Re #4: ... in addition to being an engineer; if he can be considered a musician in the eyes of my father--a harsh taskmaster, merciless teacher, strict judge, and person of muscular, unbudgeable opinion, if ever there was one--then I'd suspect most others would consider DH rather more able than your average off-hours plinker.
The true believers always end up killing lots and lots of people.
On that, I think, we all ought to be able to agree, viewing the truly vast span of history.
Beck is at who's Beck and call.
Dude, I like Althouse, I do – no, I really do. I like her blog, I’ve read it for years etc. I don’t comment there, which weakens any cred I have, because Althouse has a serious posse of commenters.
phlebotomy training DE
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