Althouse: "Apparently Massa claimed that Rahm came up to him one day in the House locker room, stark naked, started screaming obscenities at him — to which I say, welcome to my world."

May 2, 2010

"Apparently Massa claimed that Rahm came up to him one day in the House locker room, stark naked, started screaming obscenities at him — to which I say, welcome to my world."

President Obama at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner.

76 comments:

Teki Setsu said...: Bill Ayers does this constantly.; 5/2/10, 8:23 PM
Ann Althouse said...: (Link fixed. Thanks for the alert.); 5/2/10, 8:26 PM
GMay said...: "We can pick and choose not only our preferred type of media, but also our preferred perspective. And while that exposes us to an unprecedented array of opinions, analysis, and points of view, it also makes it that much more important that we're all operating on a common baseline of facts. It makes it that much more important that journalists out there seek only the truth."

He just can't help tipping his hand can he?; 5/2/10, 8:40 PM
Fen said...: Michellel Obama does this constantly.

Classy.; 5/2/10, 8:43 PM
Rialby said...: Sexual harrassment is HI-larious when it's not being practiced by a Republican. Laugh riot.; 5/2/10, 8:46 PM
former law student said...: Oh, I thought Obama's standup was cute; 5/2/10, 8:48 PM
Palladian said...: "It makes it that much more important that journalists out there seek only the truth."

OUR kind of truth, of course. But all y'all bitches already know that. Just make sure it stays that way. Now, here's Jay Leno. Enjoy the arugula.; 5/2/10, 8:49 PM
As my whimsy leads me.. said...: Thank goodness I didn't have to sit through this and stay either awake or polite. You need another tag: "Obama is boring."; 5/2/10, 8:50 PM
Adam said...: Variations on that joke just never get old, do they?

But I don't think the President should call George Soros "Massa" in public. It just looks bad, I think.; 5/2/10, 8:52 PM
Fen said...: Oh, I thought Obama's standup was cute

Of course you did. He was articulate and non-hostile. For a few minutes, you even forgot he was black, Crissy.; 5/2/10, 9:02 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: "It makes it that much more important that journalists out there seek only the truth."

OUR kind of truth, of course.

(...)

You need another tag: "Obama is boring."

But facts are exciting.; 5/2/10, 9:02 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: Of course you did. He was articulate and non-hostile. For a few minutes, you even forgot he was black, Crissy.

For a few moments, Fen realized that a black man could be intelligent.; 5/2/10, 9:04 PM
gk1 said...: obama laughs it up with his favorite syncophants in the press. Yawn. This is as bad as the Burt Reynold's 'Cannon Ball Run' movies where I'm forced to watch Burt and his saggy, hollywood buddies have a good time.; 5/2/10, 9:06 PM
MadisonMan said...: That reads fairly well. It's lightyears better than Rich Little's shtick from a couple years ago.

But I question why a President would go to such a thing. It doesn't seem to serve a point. I can understand why the Press wants him there -- so the dinner is newsworthy. What's in it for the President?; 5/2/10, 9:09 PM
Fen said...: Ritmo: Fen realized that a black man could be intelligent.

No Ritmo, I already knew that from the Marines, where skin color is as relevant as hair color.

My point is that you and your ilk are the racists. You wouldn't have voted for Obama if he wasn't black.; 5/2/10, 9:12 PM
sakredkow said...: Oh my god you guys are so humor challenged. No wonder you rant and rant the way you do.; 5/2/10, 9:12 PM
Robert J. said...: "It makes it that much more important that journalists out there seek only the truth."

"Which is why I am announcing today the creation of a new Ministry of Truth that will provide journalists with all the true information they need."; 5/2/10, 9:16 PM
master cylinder said...: Way funnier than Leno-[he was]; 5/2/10, 9:20 PM
GMay said...: "I already knew that from the Marines..."

I knew there was a reason I liked you Fen.

Semper Fi; 5/2/10, 9:22 PM
Joe M. said...: Although Obama could improve his comic delivery some, it was funny overall. Some good jokes.; 5/2/10, 9:22 PM
As my whimsy leads me.. said...: Ritmo: It's a fact that Obama is boring. I'm sorry.
PHX: I quite appreciate good humor. I wish we had more Carol Burnetts, Erma Bombecks, Lewis Grizzards, Red Skeltons, Minnie Pearls, etc. Or even just good Rotary cut ups, like my dad. However, of the 12 minutes I watched of that link, it was not funny. Maybe a little, in some places, *snicker-snicker,* but no HARHARHAR! SNORT! (Oh, my bladder!) kind of humor.

Toy; 5/2/10, 9:23 PM
Lincolntf said...: Obama is the angriest man to ever hold the Office. How much his pathologies will damage us is yet to be determined.; 5/2/10, 9:24 PM
sakredkow said...: Okay As My Whimsey...thanks for responding. I exclude you from my own rant.; 5/2/10, 9:28 PM
As my whimsy leads me.. said...: Phx--Thank's, sweetie!

Igrushka; 5/2/10, 9:34 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: No Ritmo, I already knew that from the Marines, where skin color is as relevant as hair color.

My point is that you and your ilk are the racists. You wouldn't have voted for Obama if he wasn't black.

Then it's a good thing that the executive forced the integration of the military over 60 years ago, since you would have doubtlessly been on the front lines fighting for the retention of segregated units, as did the rest of the rank and file, protesting as they did, (a la DADT), that such changes should not precede their widespread acceptance by the rest of society.

I'll make you a deal: You offer a competent explanation of what exactly what makes Obama unfit for office and then I'll entertain the possibility that you're not just as much a retrograde bigot as the typical serviceman or officer was in 1940, or - when it came to gays and lesbians - 1990.

But that might require you to actually think. And thinking for yourself might not come as easily to you as does fighting and simply following orders.; 5/2/10, 9:35 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: Isn't GOOGLE great?

For over a hundred years, race-based policies defined the U.S. military. But a dumbass like Fen proposes that his willingness to follow orders and inability to think for himself absolve him of bigotry. Who believes that's what he would have said 65 years ago?

Fen is a product of an inability to question things. Desegregation of the armed forces was just as politically charged as it was in the rest of society. As is Fen's obvious discomfort with Obama's race:

September 1945: Secretary of War Robert P. Patterson appoints a board of three general officers to investigate the Army's policy with respect to African-Americans and to prepare a new policy that would provide for the efficient use of African-Americans in the Army. This board is called the Gillem Board, after its chairman, General Alvan C. Gillem, Jr.

October 1, 1945: The Gillem Board holds its first meeting. Four months of investigation follow.

1946

February 1946: African-American World War II veteran Isaac Woodard is attacked and blinded by policemen in Aiken, South Carolina.

April 1946: The report of the Gillem Board, "Utilization of Negro Manpower in the Postwar Army Policy," is issued. The report concludes that the Army's future policy should be to "eliminate, at the earliest practicable moment, any special consideration based on race." The report, however, does not question that segregation would continue to underlie the Army's policy toward African-Americans. Secretary of the Army Kenneth Royall later characterized the policy recommended by the Gillem Board as "equality of opportunity on the basis of segregation."

July 1946: Two African-American veterans and their wives are taken from their car near Monroe, Georgia, by a white mob and shot to death; their bodies are found to contain 60 bullets.

July 30, 1946: Attorney General Tom Clark announces that President Truman has instructed the Justice Department to "proceed with all its resources to investigate [the Monroe, Georgia atrocity] and other crimes of oppression so as to ascertain if any Federal statute can be applied."

September 12, 1946: In a letter to the National Urban League, President Truman says that the government has "an obligation to see that the civil rights of every citizen are fully and equally protected."

December 6, 1946: President Truman appoints the President's Committee on Civil Rights.

1947

May 1947: The President's Advisory Commission on Universal Training gives a report to the President in which it concludes that "nothing could be more tragic for the future attitude of our people, and for the unity of our Nation, than a program [referring to the Truman administration's proposed Universal Military Training program] in which our Federal Government forced our young manhood to live for a period of time in an atmosphere which emphasized or bred class or racial difference."

October 29, 1947: The President\'s Committee on Civil Rights issues its landmark report, To Secure These Rights. The report condemns segregation wherever it exists and criticizes specifically segregation in the armed forces. The report recommends legislation and administrative action "to end immediately all discrimination and segregation based on race, color, creed or national origin in...all branches of the Armed Services."

November 1947: Clark Clifford presents a lengthy memorandum to President Truman which argues that the civil rights issue and the African-American vote are important elements in a winning strategy for the 1948 campaign.

November 1947: A. Philip Randolph and Grant Reynolds organize the Committee Against Jim Crow in Military Service and Training..; 5/2/10, 9:47 PM
Bob Ellison said...: The man can deliver a punchline. I enjoyed this a lot. Imagine if Nixon or Carter had had this ability to laugh at himself and poke good fun at others.; 5/2/10, 9:48 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: 1948

January 1948: President Truman decides to end segregation in the armed forces and the civil service through administrative action (executive order) rather than through legislation.

February 2, 1948: President Truman announces in a special message to Congress on civil rights issues that he has "instructed the Secretary of Defense to take steps to have the remaining instances of discrimination in the armed services eliminated as rapidly as possible."

March 22, 1948: African-American leaders meet with President Truman and urge him to insist on antisegregation amendments in the legislation being considered in Congress that would reinstitute the draft..

March 27, 1948: Twenty African-American organizations meeting in New York City issue the "Declaration of Negro Voters," which demands, among other things, "that every vestige of segregation and discrimination in the armed forces be forthwith abolished."

March 30, 1948: A. Philip Randolph, representing the Committee Against Jim Crow in Military Service and Training, testifies to the Senate Armed Services Committee that African-Americans would refuse to serve in the armed forces if a proposed new draft law does not forbid segregation.

April 26, 1948: Sixteen African-American leaders tell Secretary of Defense James V. Forrestal that African-Americans will react strongly unless the armed forces end segregation.

May 1948: President Truman's staff considers advising the President to create a committee to oversee the integration of the armed forces.

June 26, 1948: A. Philip Randolph announces the formation of the League for Non-Violent Civil Disobedience Against Military Segregation. Randolph informed President Truman on June 29, 1948 that unless the President issued an executive order ending segregation in the armed forces, African-American youth would resist the draft law.

July 13, 1948: The platform committee at the Democratic National Convention rejects a recommendation put forward by Mayor Hubert H. Humphrey of Minneapolis calling for abolition of segregation in the armed forces. President Truman and his advisors support and the platform committee approves a moderate platform plank on civil rights intended to placate the South.

July 14, 1948: Delegates to the Democratic National Convention vote to overrule the platform committee and the Truman administration in favor of a liberal civil rights plank, one that called for, among other things, the desegregation of the armed forces.

Immediately following July 14, 1948: While his staff is drafting an executive order that would end segregation in the armed forces, President Truman decides to include in the order the establishment of a presidential committee to implement the order.

July 26, 1948: President Truman signs Executive Order 9981, which states, "It is hereby declared to be the policy of the President that there shall be equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion, or national origin." The order also establishes the President's Committee on Equality of Treatment and opportunity in the Armed Services.

July 26, 1948: Army staff officers state anonymously to the press that Executive Order 9981 does not specifically forbid segregation in the Army.

July 27, 1948: Army Chief of Staff General Omar N. Bradley states that desegregation will come to the Army only when it becomes a fact in the rest of American society.

July 29, 1948: President Truman states in a press conference that the intent of Executive Order 9981 is to end segregation in the armed forces.

Thanks to: The Harry S. Truman Library and Museum.; 5/2/10, 9:48 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: Since Fen's reading capabilities are probably no better than his reasoning abilities, I'll make things short and sweet and post a link to the Wikipedia entry on the desegregation of the military. (Note - because Fen doesn't: It did not come from within. It was forced upon the military by executive order. Fen's excuse that serving in the military makes him immune to the bigotry he practices in civilian politics is obviously bullshit. The code makes prevents him from saying anything to the contrary, but his words betray an obvious obsession with Obama's race that he projects onto others, while strangely demonstrating no capacity whatsoever to come up with a non-race based criticism of Obama).; 5/2/10, 9:58 PM
GMay said...: Holy fuck Ritmo, you're the undisputed king of the strawman.; 5/2/10, 10:07 PM
Unknown said...: Uh, Ritmo, you do realize half the US Armed Forces were integrated until 1912 when Woody Wilson segregated the Navy? You also realize that a black infantry battalion and artillery battery in an otherwise white division isn't integration, I hope. Black units existed until Dwight Eisenhower (not my favorite WWII theater commander or President (for other things)) abolished them.

Eisenhower fully integrated the Armed Forces, not Truman. Forget Google, pick up a book.; 5/2/10, 10:08 PM
gbarto said...: I only read - didn't watch - the speech. I think the self-deprecating parts really worked. The bits about McCain, Romney and Brown were reasonably good.

I think the bit about Massa would be funny as an off-the-cuff reaction when the story first hit the news. But now that it's blown over, I can't understand bringing it up again for one cheap laugh.

The most interesting bit is the jokes about Palin and about death panels - both were lame, suggesting that the White House wanted to say something but it didn't know what. It's an interesting commentary on both the uselessness of the Republican leadership and on the poor messaging of the Obama people that a former governor with a Facebook page should wield the influence that Palin seems to wield.; 5/2/10, 10:15 PM
Rialby said...: When do the Vera Baker jokes start?

"I told them - dump her near Martinique, not on Martinique!"; 5/2/10, 10:16 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: Was the navy really more than half the armed forces, Edutcher? Especially before 1900? Methinks you're forgetting a more crucial date: 1812.

Yes, I understand the distinction you note. Comparative bookishness aside, I think there's a longer and more significant history you're forsaking than 1912 to whenever Eisenhower implemented what Truman had the political balls to order into law.; 5/2/10, 10:18 PM
GMay said...: Ritmo: "Which strawman?

Fen claims that his participation in the military makes him immune to racism (bigotry?) in civilian politics."

Umm, that strawman. You keep setting them up and whackin' 'em down like the king you are.

Now, unless Fen served around 1948, I'd say the only case you've made is to demonstrate your own stupidity. I could go even further into your asinine point, but really, why keep score?; 5/2/10, 10:24 PM
Charlie Martin said...: Ritmo: I'll make things short and sweet

Too late.; 5/2/10, 10:29 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: Really? So it's not stupid to assert that participation in the military makes one immune to bigotry in civilian politics - timeline of participation notwithstanding?

That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.

The history shows that the military precedes developments in putting bigotry to rest in civilian politics. But Fen claims that his participation in the military alone makes him immune to bigotry.

History and the slicing and dicing of different groups through desegregation versus the military's sluggish progress on gay civil rights (as demonstrated by DADT and the timeline on its repeal) aside, you are prepared to buy his claim? Fen's participation in an organization alone makes him immune to bigotry?

Answer that.

And then, answer this:

What explains his obsession with Obama's race and his inability to offer any criticism of Obama that excludes race as a consideration?

And why is his hatred of Obama so visceral, BTW?

There's something in all his emotionally charged vitriol that he seems incapable of explaining.

Perhaps you can articulate the meaning of this resentment for him, GMay, on behalf of your verbally challenged friend.; 5/2/10, 10:33 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: Too late.

I know, Charlie! All those (quoted) words upstream must have frightened and confused you!

But unfortunately the internet doesn't allow me to convey the grunts and whistles that are more appropriate for your form of communication.; 5/2/10, 10:35 PM
former law student said...: You wouldn't have voted for Obama if he wasn't black.

I sure as hell wasn't going to vote for Hillary!(tm). And while I voted for MeCain rev 2000 (Straight Talk Express), I sure as hell wasn't going to vote for McCain rev 2008 (Born Again Conservative! Older than ever! Now with Caribou Barbie!).; 5/2/10, 10:38 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: But that's because you're a bigot, FLS - (at least according to Fen). See you just don't understand it. He can't explain why - at least, not with words he can't. But calling you a (pro-black!) bigot helps his little mind make sense of the world and your willingness to vote for a man that he can't criticize with any other criteria in mind.

It's just easier to him if you say as much. Let's all make Fen happy and say we voted for Obama because he's black and we hate all whites (and not just stupid whites like Fen).; 5/2/10, 10:42 PM
GMay said...: Ritmo: "Really? So it's not stupid to assert that participation in the military makes one immune to bigotry in civilian politics - timeline of participation notwithstanding?

That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

You know, some of your idiotic arguments notwithstanding, I've heard many things dumber than that. But if someone had actually said in this thread that participation in the military made them immune from bigotry, I'd be right there with ya champ.

But guess what, the only person that's said it is you. And to kick that strawman's ass, you trot out events from...wait for it...194-fucking-8. Good job tiger. Good job failing to kick your own ass.

(I didn't read anything you wrote after that because you got your head too far up your ass in the opening.); 5/2/10, 10:44 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: Make that "lags" rather than "precedes" in the third paragraph of the 10:33 post.; 5/2/10, 10:44 PM
former law student said...: Obama is the angriest man to ever hold the Office

Somebody here's too young to remember Nixon.; 5/2/10, 10:44 PM
As my whimsy leads me.. said...: Gee, PHX, I see what you mean. OK, everybody, drop the rants and step away from the blog for a minute. I have a story inspired by our friend rh.

I mentioned a few days ago that finches love dandelion seeds. I found this out because my back yard became overgrown due to teen-aged son not mowing when he could, plus rain, plus son then taking off to do Civil War reenacting (in Ohio. I tell them they can't re-enact something that didn't happen, but that just makes them mad). Anyway, you may ask, "Why don't you just mow it?" Well, it was finals week and I was busy. Plus, my mother always told me, "Never mow the grass. If you mow it once, you'll always be mowing it." So, I do everything but mow. Anyway, it was getting pretty thick, bringing on the notice of dozens of finches in the back yard the other day, gorging themselves on my dandelions. But I thought, I do need to do something about it, so I thought I'd get a scythe and try out rh's method (even though technically mowing), since I thought it would be good exercise. So, on the way home the other day, I stopped at the Tractor and Farm store in Delaware, Ohio, and asked the clerk if I could get a scythe. "A scythe?" she said. "If we have one, it'd be over in tools." So I went over to the tool department, and asked the young man there, "Do you have a scythe?" "A whut?" he said. "A scythe," said I. "Whut's that?" he asked. I said, "You know that thing the Grim Reaper carries?" He said, "You mean a sickle?" "Close enough," I replied, but they did not have a sickle or a scythe. I did find a weed cutter that looks like a long golf putter, so I'm going to try that. RH, where do you get a real scythe? At an antique store?

But the other reason I stopped there was to get a magazine about goats, which I thought would be an even better solution to my back yard mowing issue. I have a wire haired fox terrier that looks like a goat, and I'm looking for a pygmy goat that looks like a wire haired fox terrier, because livestock is not allowed in the city limits.Maybe no one will notice, unless the goat starts "barking." Does anyone in Althouse land know anything about goats, and will they eat my rhododendrons and hostas?

But on the present subject, goats, I hear, are quite humorous, and are said to be natural comedians.

The goat-thinking was inspired by a sermon about sheep, and I'm sure the pastor would be surprised at the tangent I took with his sermon.

And maybe a little mention of something got Ritmo to thinking, and providing us with the history lesson, (and any exploration of history is appreciated, Ritmo). I have found, in digging into history, that one thing always leads to another, and nothing is as black and white as on the page. Even these Civil War re-enactors that I know, who have all of the techniques down, and wouldn't dream of using the 1863 rifle in an 1862 battle, or wearing the wrong kind of hat, etc, can't re-enact the hunger, pain, loneliness, and fear of the real thing. Not even the guy who killed one civilian re-enactor's pig a few years ago. That wasn't fair to the civilian or the pig, and she argued that in the real rules of scavenging food, they wouldn't have taken all she had to feed her children, but in reality, who knows? If they would steal the china, who says they wouldn't steal a pig, too? And does it have anything to do with today? Of course it does, but what?; 5/2/10, 10:49 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: At 9:12 PM, Fen said:

Ritmo: Fen realized that a black man could be intelligent.

No Ritmo, I already knew that from the Marines, where skin color is as relevant as hair color.

And GMay responds:

Ritmo: "Really? So it's not stupid to assert that participation in the military makes one immune to bigotry in civilian politics - timeline of participation notwithstanding?

That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard."

You know, some of your idiotic arguments notwithstanding, I've heard many things dumber than that. But if someone had actually said in this thread that participation in the military made them immune from bigotry, I'd be right there with ya champ.

It sounds like not reading things is more of a problem for you than you realize, GMay.

The civilian branch orders the military to desegregate, the civilian branch orders the military to commission its discriminatory, bigoted DADT policy (which was, in turn, a civilian order to make the military less egregious in its anti-gay bigotry than it was previously) and you deny that civilian politics can be effective at exposing and combating bigotry in the ranks?

That's a general point, bub. No date needed as I showed that such was the case on multiple occasions throughout history.

You go ahead and keep obsessing on that number of 1948, GMay. Whatever keeps you from reading what invalidates your argument. Or the argument made by that idiotic dipshit Fen that you unwittingly fail to identify, let alone determine your stance on.; 5/2/10, 10:52 PM
As my whimsy leads me.. said...: FLS--Andrew Jackson was a pretty angry man, too. Fought 13 duels, he did. Personally, I'd love to see Reagan replace him on the $20 bill.

Toy; 5/2/10, 10:57 PM
former law student said...: where do you get a real scythe?

I got mine at one of the last of the real hardware stores around here. They used to be fairly common up to the last few years, but no more. Years ago I saw one of my elderly female relatives use one to cut her lawn in the old country, and I decided it would be then or never. I can recommend a Fux.

for upper Midwesterners, teh googel suggests a scythe specialist.

Mystic Prairie Eco-Farm & Scythe Shop; 5/2/10, 11:00 PM
former law student said...: I'd love to see Reagan replace him on the $20 bill.

Jackson was a hard money man, while Reagan started growing the deficit(as a percent of GDP) for the first time since FDR. The appropriate financial instrument for Reagan's pic would be an IOU.

Or because we became more dependent on foreign oil than ever under Reagan, put his pic on the Saudi Riyal.; 5/2/10, 11:07 PM
jeff said...: Fen's point is in the military you rely on the man, not on the skin color. I doubt if he served 60 years ago and anyone who thinks someone who serves in the military is someone who only follows orders and doesnt think for themselves is someone of epic stupidity. Which I guess we already knew. Careful with matches. You've thrown a hell of a lot of straw around there.; 5/2/10, 11:10 PM
As my whimsy leads me.. said...: Thanks, FLS. I'm not going into any hardware store asking for a Fux scythe, though. I'm sure you'll understand. I'll see if I can order one, but I don't know if I'd even want the box it came in to be seen in my recycling!

Toy; 5/2/10, 11:14 PM
Unknown said...: Never said more than, you did.

In any case, there were only 2 armed forces and a Democrat segregated one which had been integrated since its inception.

If you want to quibble about numbers, the Army had about 85,000 men in the days leading up to WWI and the Navy had 40 capital ships (battlewagons and cruisers) running between 1000 and 1500 men per ship's company plus the usual auxiliaries and shore installations. Close enough.; 5/2/10, 11:16 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: So where is the proof that Fen thinks for himself? Where is his criticism of Obama that doesn't incorporate race into the equation?

Oh, and thanks for the epic stupidity of asserting how interested the military is in relying on the man, when they discharge people for not preferring to sleep with others of the opposite sex.

I suppose my refusal to accept red herrings and arguments by assertion at face value translates into "straw man" for the rationally impaired.

Civilian politics opens the way for combating discrimination and bigotry in the military. Anyone want to follow the lead of the newest recruit, jeff, to the cause of refusing to see that point?

Fen still hasn't spoken up since making the opposite point - which is ridiculous on its face (as even GMay would agree to if only he didn't hate me too much to see that).

Guess he's just busy "thinking for himself" to figure out how to respond.; 5/2/10, 11:20 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: Wiki says the navy was more integrated from its inception due to the chronic problems in attracting manpower. That's not exactly an endorsement of integration for the sake of the principle of the matter. But whatever. You want to go ahead and bash Democrats for including Wilson in their party 98 years ago, that's fine. Presentism and all that. I'll go ahead and continue to point out how stupid Fen is for claiming that his service makes him immune to injecting bigotry into civilian politics - especially when he is incapable of articulating a single criticism of Obama that isn't based on his race.

If the military is indeed a bastion of tolerance (well, at least when it comes to race, if not sexual orientation), then I fail to see how Fen measures up to being the ideal spokesperson on that score.; 5/2/10, 11:28 PM
Largo said...: Ritmo: "Really? So it's not stupid to assert that participation in the military makes one immune to bigotry in civilian politics - timeline of participation notwithstanding?"

The point here, Ritmo, is that there is dispute over whether Fen actually asserted that, or whether such an assertion can be reasonably inferred from what he said.

And you are arguing in bad faith.

wv: consolli. [I wish I knew how to say something more consolliatory.]; 5/3/10, 12:09 AM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: And you are arguing in bad faith.

It's a good thing that faith and reason are two separate things then, as my ability to reason allows me deduce that Fen not only doesn't argue in good faith, but that he may be wholly incapable of making decent arguments.

Of course, you can reason differently, but I'd have to see your reasoning for coming to such a conclusion.

Fen has a long history of saying nothing here but curt, stupid things regarding Obama and "libtards".

If you lack either the access to or the will to access that information, let me know and I will oblige your good faith attempt to determine who is indeed arguing based in reason and fact and who is in fact merely giving faith (or the benefit of a wasted doubt) to someone who has long ago proved that he doesn't deserve or even desire it.; 5/3/10, 12:56 AM
Largo said...: Ritmo:

I say nothing about Fen.

But you are arguing in bad faith.; 5/3/10, 1:28 AM
Jason (the commenter) said...: The Daily Show should get a tag, since the people there are the ones who wrote the jokes the President chose to repeat.; 5/3/10, 4:18 AM
Opus One Media said...: The thought of Massa, bareassed naked in a steam room....would make me scream too.

Ohhh wait..it was Rahm who was bareassed naked.

Nevermind.; 5/3/10, 5:35 AM
Anonymous said...: "it also makes it that much more important that we're all operating on a common baseline of facts. It makes it that much more important that journalists out there seek only the truth."

Yeah, whatever, Urkel. Tell it to Dan Rather.; 5/3/10, 5:56 AM
KCFleming said...: Yeah, it's hard to take the press and now even comedians seriously when they actually work for Obama.

'Obama—aided (as presidential political guru David Axelrod acknowledged to me when the show was over) by the razor-sharp jokesters from The Daily Show'

How much closer can the press and TV land get than on the payroll?; 5/3/10, 6:28 AM
Largo said...: """
I have a wire haired fox terrier that looks like a goat, and I'm looking for a pygmy goat that looks like a wire haired fox terrier, because livestock is not allowed in the city limits.Maybe no one will notice, unless the goat starts "barking."
"""

Some stories make me laugh out loud. Others make me chuckle softly.

And then there are those that simply put a permanent grin on my face all day. Well done!; 5/3/10, 6:35 AM
As my whimsy leads me.. said...: Thank, Largo!

Toy; 5/3/10, 7:16 AM
MadisonMan said...: aided (as presidential political guru David Axelrod acknowledged to me when the show was over) by the razor-sharp jokesters from The Daily Show'

I kind of expect that someone will hire joke-writers for a Dinner like this where one is expected to be funny.; 5/3/10, 7:31 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: What do Ritmo, Gordon Brown, Glenn Reynolds, and Ann have in common?

Bigots, bigots, everywhere,...; 5/3/10, 7:36 AM
g2loq said...: -A common baseline of facts:-
What the rocket scientists on the left want to toss down the memory hole is the proud history of the Confedocrat Party:

• Six Democrat Party platforms from 1840 to 1860 supported slavery.

• Seven Democrat presidents owned slaves from 1800 to 1861.

• From 1868 through 1948, twenty (20) Democrat Party platforms supported outright segregation or purposefully omitted equal rights for the races.

• For 52 years in a row, Democrats supported "Jim Crow laws", that segregated public schools, public transportation, restaurants, rest rooms and public places such as water coolers and beaches. Rosa Parks became famous because she dared to set in the "whites only" section of a bus, which was the creation of Democrats.

• The Ku Klux Klan, according to Columbia University historian Eric Foner, was the military wing of the Democrat Party. UNC historian Allen Trelease called the KKK the "terrorist arm of the Democratic Party."

• Democrats opposed the 13th Amendment (which banned slavery), the 14th Amendment (which overturned the infamous Dred Scott decision, authored by pro-slavery Democrat Supreme Court justices, that guaranteed due process and equal protection to former slaves) and the 15th Amendment (which guaranteed blacks the right to vote).

• Democrats opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which guaranteed blacks the right to own private property, sign contracts and serve as witnesses in legal proceedings.

• Democrats opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1875 that outlawed racial discrimination in public places.

• Democrat platforms from 1908-1920 omitted any mention of black lynchings, voting rights and segregation, all of which were expressly addressed by the GOP platforms of the era.

• The Democrat convention of 1924 included hundreds of KKK members and an event across the river hosted 10,000 hooded Klansmen pledging violence against blacks and Catholics [JSK likes a lot! Wish I'd been there and watch the nitwits proceed!]

• Nearly 80% of the opposition to the 1964 Civil Rights Act came from Democrats, led by former KKK member Robert Byrd (D-WV) and Albert Gore Sr. (D-TN).

• Birmingham, AL "Public Safety Commissioner" Bull Connor was a member of both the Democrat National Committee and the KKK.

Yes, the Confedocrats have a proud history of racial divisiveness.

No wonder they don't want anyone bringing it up.

Least of all, the party of Lincoln, liberty and Martin Luther King, Jr.: the Republican Party.

http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2010/04/confedocrat-party-objects-to-virginia.html

Watch them sing and sing along for old times sake: HurraH!
Confederate Chickenhawk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0_8dnMIg5I; 5/3/10, 7:38 AM
As my whimsy leads me.. said...: g2loq: Absolutely! The Democrats even segregated schools in Kentucky that were not originally segregated, such as in my mother's home in
Rockcastle County.

The "Dixiecrats" were a 3rd party because those bolting Democrats did not want to be associated with Republicans, who, in the South, included most of the black people.

I don't know why Republicans don't fight this "racist" slander more forcefully, in public and in advertisements. The Democratic Party has been the party of racism for more than a century, and acts like it has a lock on virtue by smearing Republicans.

Not just the official party, but party supporters such as unions have been notoriously prejudiced against blacks.

I'm not claiming halos for Republicans. People of all persuasions just tended to be racially prejudiced in the past. But, historically, and on the whole, Republicans have been much more fair-minded than Democrats when it comes to race. And I am sure Ritmo can find even more material on that issue.

Toy; 5/3/10, 8:07 AM
Dear corrupt left, go F yourselves said...: Obama comedy material written by Daily Show writers.; 5/3/10, 8:16 AM
X said...: apparently ritmo has never served. than you ritmo for your lack of service.; 5/3/10, 8:24 AM
Salamandyr said...: I was just impressed Obama actually was able to make a few self-deprecatory jokes. Overall, pretty funny stuff for a guy who is not expected to be funny.; 5/3/10, 8:59 AM
former law student said...: Obama comedy material written by Daily Show writers.

If Obama keeps it up, he could be as big a fraud as that Bob Hope guy.

Bob Hope's joke writers:

Paul Abeyta
Howard Albrecht
Buddy Arnold
Bob Arnott
Jeffrey Barron
Ruth Batchlor
Harvey Berger
Bryan Blackburn
Al Boasberg
Martha Bolton
Monte Brice
Jim Carson
Chester Castellaw
Stan Davis
Jack Donahue
Marty Farrell
Marvin Fisher
Marshall Flaum
Fred S. Fox
Melvin Frank
Doug Gamble
Larry Gelbart
Kathy Green
Lee Hale
Jack Haley, Jr.
Chris Hart
Stan Hart
Edmund Hartmann
Gig Henry
Thurston Howard Charles Isaacs
Seaman Jacobs
Milt Josefsberg
Hal Kanter
Bo Kaprall
Bob Keane
Casey Keller
Sheldon Keller
Paul Keyes
Larry Klein
Buz Kohan
Mort Lachman
Bill Larkin
Gail Lawrence
Charles Lee
James Lipton
Wilke Mahoney
Packy Markham
Larry Marks
Robert L. Mills
Gordon Mitchell
Gene Moss
Ira Nickerson
Robert O'Brien
Norman Panama
Ray Parker
Stephan Perani
Gene Perret
Linda Perret
Pat Proft
Paul Pumpian
Martin Ragaway
Johnny Rapp
Larry Rhine
Peter Rich
Jack Rose
Sy Rose
Ed Scharlach
Sherwood Schwartz
Tom Shadyac
Mel Shavelson
John Shea
Raymond Siller
Ben Starr
Charles Stewart
Strawther & Williger
Norman Sullivan
James Thurman
Mel Tolkin
Leon Topple
Lloyd Turner
Ed Weinberger
Sol Weinstein
Harvey Weitzman
Ken & Mitzie Welch
Glenn Wheaton
Lester White
Steven White; 5/3/10, 9:14 AM
As my whimsy leads me.. said...: FLS, it wasn't so much the jokes as the delivery that was the problem. Blah. Anyone can read a joke. The timing, the drawing in, the humility that comes with many of the best comedians--those were what was lacking.

Toy; 5/3/10, 9:24 AM
Jason said...: Would somebody take a pin and go over there and pop Ritmo? He's getting inflated again.; 5/3/10, 10:19 AM
Rich B said...: Obama - the master of self-deprecation!; 5/3/10, 10:52 AM
GMay said...: Ritmo Ritmo Ritmo: "It sounds like not reading things is more of a problem for you than you realize, GMay."

I read things just fine. You're reading your own fantasies into what someone else said and making asinine comentary on it. Fen didn't say or even imply the military made him immune to a thing. Go ahead and quote him again and break it down for me, even in the context of the conversation. Teach me, oh educated idiot.

Then you bring up DADT, which has precisely squat to do with the original comment. Since you don't know what a strawman is, do you actually know what a red herring is? That's pretty basic terminology, but you get this shit wrong so often, I have to ask.

At this point, you'll usually try to retort with some more complex logical fallacy here to mask your own intellectual ineptitude, but it's really just the simple stuff you fuck up.

"That's a general point, bub. No date needed as I showed that such was the case on multiple occasions throughout history."

Actually, the date is sort of relevant ya know? Well, actually you don't know. What *do* you know about the military? Probably read some books and turn to Wikipedia and google from time to time to hone your expertise don't ya?

Trudging up something from 1948 doesn't cut it. It's funny that you think it does. Got something more modern? I'll wait. Reminder, the subject was race, not sexual orientation. Focus Champ. Focus.

"You go ahead and keep obsessing on that number of 1948, GMay. Whatever keeps you from reading what invalidates your argument. Or the argument made by that idiotic dipshit Fen that you unwittingly fail to identify, let alone determine your stance on."

Obsessing. I don't think that word means what you think it means. Maybe a vocabulary lesson is what you need since logic seems to fail you at the most basic of levels.

When you can stay upright after you leave the starting blocks, I'll start reading the rest of your crap. When the foundation is hopelessly flawed however, I'm not going to waste my time.

Now, that's as far as I'm going to bother breaking it down for you. I'll not waste anymore of my or anyone else's time until you're able to get the basics right.

By the way, what's with the gotcha attitude on my failure to "identify" Fen. It's fairly obvious as it's all right here for you to reference. Is your memory that poor?; 5/3/10, 10:59 AM
JAL said...: Heh. Old post and comments, but @ g2log 7:38 am -- your stuff should be forwarded to that "liberal" teacher in Texas who was indoctrinating her Social Studies students about the lovely liberals and the awful conservatives.

She needs a history lesson.; 5/3/10, 11:32 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: You jumped the shark when you compare Obama's comdeic skills to Bob Hope.; 5/3/10, 4:47 PM

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