Althouse: My commenters will say "why are you talking to that horrible man?"

April 1, 2012

My commenters will say "why are you talking to that horrible man?"

"I'll kick their ass in the comments for you, okay, Bob?"

50 comments:

Mr. D said...: From what I can tell, you'll talk to anyone, so long as they are interesting.

Wright doesn't come off well in any of the clips you've posted here, but it's the nonverbal stuff that's the problem.; 4/1/12, 10:04 AM
mesquito said...: Bob thinks he's going to be bullied in these comments.

What a pussy.; 4/1/12, 10:07 AM
rcocean said...: Of course Bob and Althouse should do more DV's they're great. BTW, I don't think commentators "hate" Bob, they just find his emotionalism, self-righteous attitude , and often fact-free liberalism, annoying.

Personally, I find it entertaining.; 4/1/12, 10:11 AM
mesquito said...: Personally, I find it entertaining.

Hell yes. This is the first bloggingheads I've downloaded in weeks. I plan to listen later on my Sunday bike ride.; 4/1/12, 10:14 AM
KCFleming said...: So his Breitbart post-mortem was 'cerebral'?

Most people think 'frontal lobes' for that phrase, rather than the limbic system, which he relied on.

But hell, even reptiles accomplish that. They just don't write about it.; 4/1/12, 10:16 AM
rhhardin said...: Wright is an excellent one to talk to.

He'll accept a good reason for something eventually.

Maybe his posturing will eventually be affected too. There are more interesting approaches to public debate.

He has a basic sense of humor, which is always dangerous to posturing.; 4/1/12, 10:17 AM
Lyle said...: More diavlogs between Althouse and Bob Wright would be great.; 4/1/12, 10:18 AM
Anonymous said...: Bob needs a girl to protect him.

Or as one of the Jr. High Schoolers I knew in Korea would say:

밥 여자의 보호는 필요가 있어.; 4/1/12, 10:20 AM
rhhardin said...: Hearne's law (1985): whenever there's a stink about something in the media, it's because some politician or charity wants a stink about it in the media.

(Somewhere in Vicki Hearne's _Bandit_, which contains also the earliest historical deprecation for tendentious stupidity of Dan Rather. And Hearne was a leftist.); 4/1/12, 10:22 AM
ricpic said...: Which side of the brain is cerebral? The right side or the left side? That's right, they're both cerebral, which demolishes Bob's smug assumption that right sidedness, all that lefty sensitivity and feeling, is superior to left sided linear consequential thinking.; 4/1/12, 10:32 AM
ronalddewitt said...: I tried to watch one of the clips, but I became too annoyed by Wright's repeated interruption of you, and I gave it up. I will commend you if you are able to elicit any independent thought from what appears to be a loyal team player.; 4/1/12, 10:37 AM
David said...: Bob's ok. It's just his ideas that suck. (Hi, Bob. We don't hate you. Really.); 4/1/12, 11:02 AM
Andy said...: Was his, "so now I see where that comes from" as passive-aggressive as it seemed?

Was he insulting Ann, or is there some other read on that comment?; 4/1/12, 11:14 AM
bagoh20 said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/1/12, 11:19 AM
Moose said...: Um, OK - so why talk to him if he's that prickly?; 4/1/12, 11:33 AM
Johanna Lapp said...: Bob seems incredibly eager to presume facts not in evidence. His insistence that Treyvon's meanderings could not be anything but completely innocent, for example.

That's based entirely on after-the-fact assertions from interested parties who could not possibly know what they're claiming to know, and ignoring the contemporaneous statements of actual eyewitnesses with no obvious reason to lie.

He did not seem open to your objection- that the emotional charge drove his conclusions. I don't even think he considered the possibility that his case against Zimmerman was based substantially on nonfacts.

He is a dastardly poopyhead.; 4/1/12, 11:33 AM
bagoh20 said...: I see what you did there Althouse by highlighting this admonishment, but he's the wrong messenger, because as is pointed out above by Johanna, it is clearly demonstrated by the evidence that he is indeed a dastardly poopyhead.; 4/1/12, 11:40 AM
bagoh20 said...: I must admit that no one has ever called me "cerebral", but is there no place at the table for us too?

Please sir, could you spare just a scrap of wisdom, clearly you already have all that YOU need.

Did he also mention that we don't proofread well, cause that's where I could use his help? In fact, I bet all the lesser comments he's talking about were simple typos.; 4/1/12, 11:44 AM
Rialby said...: I don't think he's horrible, I think he's bereft of facts. He's filling that hole, as liberals often do, with emotion. Is that cerebral enough for you?; 4/1/12, 11:47 AM
Rialby said...: Bob Wright has a distinct love child of Alan Alda and Phil Donahue quality about him, don't you think?; 4/1/12, 11:48 AM
jacksonjay said...: I bet he got his milk money stolen in jr. high! I know, he as still carrying milk money in jr. high!; 4/1/12, 11:56 AM
Rialby said...: Why does he care what we say?; 4/1/12, 12:01 PM
William said...: I just watched the brief exchange. He did seem to get the better of Althouse, However, by thus posting it, Althouse gets the better of him. "I'm loftier and more willing to accept criticism than thou." Well played. It's like that Curb Your Enthusiasm episode where Larry David out of a sense of noblesse oblige allowed Ricky Gervais to be a bigger asshole than he.; 4/1/12, 12:29 PM
Alex said...: Is there anything more tiring then shiloh coming in any Althouse thread and going on about right-wing circle jerks?; 4/1/12, 12:55 PM
rcommal said...: I enjoy these diavlogs. More, please.; 4/1/12, 12:56 PM
Joe said...: Bob isn't horrible, he's just nutty and misguided.; 4/1/12, 12:57 PM
Alex said...: Bob's a fucking pussy and I like how Ann puts him in his place every single fucking time.

Go Ann!!!!; 4/1/12, 1:04 PM
Joe said...: Ann, this is one of your best blogging heads episodes. You made several very cogent arguments and perceptive observations.; 4/1/12, 1:09 PM
Alex said...: Of course Bob Wright doesn't see the history of the MSM like that at all. He thinks it was composed of fine, reasonable people that had no biases whatsoever.; 4/1/12, 1:10 PM
bagoh20 said...: William said:

"noblesse oblige"

Very nice.

Bob, that's freakin French talk, so take that, you poopeyhead.

And I always smell elderberries when Bob is talking.; 4/1/12, 1:29 PM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: Smug asshole. Did I just prove him right?; 4/1/12, 1:35 PM
Scott M said...: Is there anything more tiring then shiloh coming in any Althouse thread and going on about right-wing circle jerks?

Yes.; 4/1/12, 1:42 PM
Writ Small said...: Bob has at least one fan among Althouse commenters. He and Kaus have fantastic chemistry, and Ann's best Bloggingheads appearances (like this one) are with Bob. Too many BHTV people have all their ideas thought out and simply want to put those ideas out in verbal form. Unanticipated questions throw them. Bob (and Ann and Kaus) listen to the arguments made by the other person, digest it and intelligently respond.

Bob is perhaps too easily drawn into the team-sports nature of Left vs. Right. Kaus and Ann are better at pulling back and seeing how the field looks from both sides, but that's a quibble. Few on the left can keep pace with Ann and she certainly had home field advantage in a diavlog mainly about law, but Bob is a terrific matchup.; 4/1/12, 1:44 PM
traditionalguy said...: Bob was the emotional one in the video.

He was "moved."

OK, why are people moved by stories they believe about oppression women or children?

Uncle Tom's Cabin moved a nation into a Civil War in which Hans Christian Heg was moved all the way down into northern Georgia where willingly gave his life. That's emotional resolve.

Wilberforce was emotionally committed too. The Amazing Grace song writer, and the recent movie by that name were emotional stories.

IMO the men in America were all once teenagers walking to school or to friend's houses through neighborhoods.

We were all once aware that we were being watched as suspicious characters around that age.

Believe it or not, older men emotionally feel and act threatened by younger men. We may be there to take their property, especially to take their claim is dominant male claim over that territory they own.

Being a young lady, that probably was seldom experienced by the Professor, unless other females were jealous of her beauty.

As men we are aware from puberty that we are in a war zone that is momentarily at peace. That's why we like sanctioned viloence in football, and we try out boxing and train in amature wrestling, and finally we go to Law Schools and become lawyers.

Remember. the Dr Spocks have to have Captain Kirks along with him to be complete. And how is Captain Meade doing today?; 4/1/12, 1:51 PM
Paul Kirchner said...: It's Bob's voice that's horrible, not him personally. Either there's a lack of balance in Blogging Heads' audio, or Bob screeches while his opponent merely talks. That made me stop watching them.

I wonder if he watches himself and notices that he sounds shrill and overwrought compared to anyone he's debating?; 4/1/12, 1:59 PM
bagoh20 said...: Does a left-wing circle jerk produce a winner or does everyone get trophy?; 4/1/12, 2:08 PM
edutcher said...: You'd destroy their pitiful self-esteem if you had winners and losers.

So Wright needs to stand behind a girl who will do his fighting for him.; 4/1/12, 2:31 PM
Ron Nelson said...: Traditionalguy makes a valid point if I am understanding correctly: There are valid and necessary uses of emotion to mobilize large scale action. It is a technique and a device that is utilitarian without regard to the "rightness" of the cause in which it is employed. Ann objected to it because it interferes with the analysis of the underlying matter. Bob's observation was that the conservative version is "extremism in the cause of liberty is not extreme". Both Bob's and Ann's points were correct. The problem is not who should or would use the technique but when can it be employed for good rather than harm.; 4/1/12, 3:02 PM
n.n said...: Bob should reconsider representing himself.

It's becoming quite clear what Meade sees in you, Professor Althouse. You act like a wife, mother, and judge (or at least you should be).; 4/1/12, 3:03 PM
Tarzan said...: Robert Wright was excellent in "Stop Making Sense". That man can sing.; 4/1/12, 3:18 PM
Synova said...: He does have a whiny voice, but it's not his fault. I suppose he could try for a lower pitch. I think that *probably* Althouse pitches her voice lower for these, just a little. Hillary Clinton does it, for certain.

I was watching "Missing" and Ashley Judd pitched her voice *so* low I got the giggles trying demonstrate to my husband how she was talking.; 4/1/12, 3:22 PM
Synova said...: As far as "talking to that horrible man" goes... what fun is it talking to someone who simply agrees with everything? What is there to talk about then?; 4/1/12, 3:23 PM
Synova said...: To be fair, Glenn and Helen (both of them!) Reynolds have voices that I pretty much grit my teeth to listen to.

And *I* sound sort of like a chipmunk on recordings. It's horrific.; 4/1/12, 3:26 PM
Revenant said...: Eh, "horrible" is too much. My reaction is more along the lines of "why does ANYONE debate with such a mediocre intellect".

Honestly, he compares poorly to Ritmo.; 4/1/12, 4:52 PM
Pastafarian said...: Bob Wright always seemed like a decent enough guy to me; I don't remember him being attacked with personal insults in the Althouse comments section.

However: I'm not nearly as cerebral as him, so I'm probably wrong; but isn't his "junior high" "non-cerebral" quip that he lobs at us itself the same sort of "ad hominish" insult that he's whining about?; 4/1/12, 5:21 PM
Em said...: Bob Wright is really smart and writes execellent books. He is also very witty and a good interviewer. Unfortunately he is willing to lie to promote his cause as he repeately does about the inspections prior to the Iraq war. I enjoyed this bloging heads.; 4/1/12, 6:26 PM
MadisonMan said...: I really like your conversations with that horrible man, and hope to see more of them.

I wish his voice was about an octave lower. Maybe he should only blog after shouting himself hoarse at a football game while drinking whiskey and smoking.; 4/1/12, 7:22 PM
traditionalguy said...: @ Revenant...How about we set up a Bloggingheads between you and Ritmo. That would be a WWIII, and an all time most watched.; 4/1/12, 10:39 PM
Fen said...: Ah geez, okay, I listened to Bob for awhile. I was too hard on him, he is actually trying to understand the issues and explain where he's coming from.

He just needs to broaden his network of information brokers.

Sorry I was an ass, Bob.; 4/2/12, 1:42 AM
Anonymous said...: Well, I like the bloggingheads concept and have enjoyed many shows, but of course, being Bob, they often have a Leftist tilt. And Bob himself comes across as a guy who has a lot of hostility toward what we euphemistically call "Middle America".

Bob strikes me as hostile to most Americans - I have actually heard him express delight over the demographic decline of White Americans, which strikes me as a vulgar.

Also, as for crude comments, he should check in at Huffington Post sometime. It gets very rough there.; 4/3/12, 5:30 AM