Our first contestant is Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic:
JEFFREY GOLDBERG: Well, the story is-- there’s one overarchingly huge story. A very big league story, as Michele might say. The-- the-- the story is-- the-- the story is the upending of American politics. The story is of the outs coming in and the ins going out. --The story is trying to explain to the American people what’s happened to their two main parties. And-- and the deeper story, also, I don’t want to forget this -- the deeper story is globalization, and technological disruption, and anxiety born of-- of rapid change, rapid, destabilizing change, the fragility of institutions. All of that is-- is there undergirding the larger, more immediate story, which is how did Donald Trump become president of the United States....Bzzz. Goldberg mentioned Donald Trump. He had a great run going — the outs coming in and the ins going out... anxiety born of-- of rapid change, rapid, destabilizing change, the fragility of institutions... Great stuff. There's overarching and undergirding — construction to go along with the destruction. It was mindbending. I was ready to give him the prize, but then he said the name. Wipe out.
Let's get the next contestant up here. Michele Norris, a journalist affiliated with something called the Race Card Project:
MICHELE NORRIS: Well, I think it’s interesting that at the end of the year Merriam Webster-- Webster told us that they chose the word ‘surreal’ as the word of the year for 2016 because it describes so much of what we’re seeing right now. I want to pick up on one of the things that-- that Jeffrey said about the technological disruption. In this country, we’ve always assumed that technology was a good thing. We embraced it. We assumed that it was propelling us forward and that it would perhaps even though it was displacing jobs, that it would make for a better society, a better flow of information. I think we’re going to start to really question that now-- on-- on a lot of levels because of what it’s done to democracy, because certainly what it’s done to the level of American discourse. And as journalists, you know, we have to learn how to operate in a world where there is no longer a common set of facts. People get their news in such a way that it usually affirms or confirms everything that they already believe. We have someone who is about to occupy the Oval Office who is dismissing many of the publications that we work or have worked for and is trying to bypass us and go directly to people. So as we try to explain this surreal universe, we find ourselves in-- in almost a room of funhouse mirrors trying to figure out how to describe what’s going on.Okay, she avoided saying "Donald Trump." She did bluntly point at him with "someone who is about to occupy the Oval Office." And I don't know that she said that much about him or if she said much at all. I felt like I was in a "funhouse." Yeah, it was "surreal." But it's Norris's answer that made me see the game that was being played here.
So let's bring up the next contestant, David Frum, a senior editor at The Atlantic:
DAVID FRUM: A neo-fascist party may win the presidency of France this year. Democratic institutions in the countries liberated in 1989 are falling apart in Hungary, and Poland, and other places -- Croatia, elsewhere. The European Union is cracking apart. And the United States has a new president-to-be who has made it clear he’s not going to be bound by traditional rules against corruption, traditional rules against foreign influence, traditional rules in just about any way, traditional rules against the president having his own private bodyguard paid for by himself rather than by the state. We are living through a crisis of democracy not-- unlike anything seen since the second World War. So that’s the story. And it’s not an American story. It’s a global story. It’s a story of American non-exceptionalism. And because what is going on in the United States is happening elsewhere, and it’s a story about globalization coming home. Because it’s-- it’s hard -- Americans are used to, as the world’s strongest power, being the country that influences others. The idea that a foreign power has reached into the United States, and tampered with American democracy, and maybe chosen for Americans a president that the larger number of Americans didn’t want for themselves... that’s an experience that other countries, weaker countries, smaller countries have had. Americans, since the great -- since the greatness of this country have arrived, have never had to worry about that. That has happened. So it is going to be a very difficult year, a year that is difficult both because of what’s happening and because it’s-- it’s not in our nature to think about it. One more thing. You know-- I-- I have the experience again and again, and many of you may have it, too, of being in a coffee shop or something. Someone I know a little bit will come up to me, and say hello, and then say, “Tell me that everything is going to be okay.” And what I realize is, I can’t give you the assurance you want. I am not sure that everything is going to be okay. But here’s what I do know. The only way that things will be okay is if we all understand how not okay they are. If we are sufficiently inflamed, we may be able to put the fire out.He said the most, that's for sure. And he didn't say "Trump." He's got the great image of becoming inflamed to put out flames.
And I love the picture of Frum at Starbucks accosted by people who just want him to say everything's going to be okay.
I love the grandiosity of insisting that whatever the hell he's trying to say is about the whole world. I love the quirky irkedness over the President paying for his own personal bodyguard.
I'm ready to give the prize to Frum, and you know he really wants to win, and I'm a little softhearted about giving something meaningless to somebody who obviously wants it embarrassingly badly.
But there's one more contestant. Hold on. It's Michael Gerson, the Washington Post columnist.
MICHAEL GERSON: Well, I think there’s a pretty much even chance that we’re going to have a constitutional crisis or have a completely incompetent presidency that doesn’t know how to exercise power, which is, I think, another possibility in this circumstance. He has a White House-- Donald Trump has a White House with almost no skill at governing....Bzzz. Wipe out. Gerson tried not to say "Trump." He said "he," and then some force of propriety required him to provide the name. He just couldn't leave that pronoun without an antecedent. I'll bet his mother taught him not to talk about people that way.
You're a good boy, Michael Gerson, but that's not how you win this game.
The winner is Frum.
And here's the song Frum — with his "tell me that everything is going to be okay" — got playing in my mind....
And even though we ain't got money
I'm so in love with ya honey
And everything will bring a chain of love
And in the mornin' when I rise
Bring a tear of joy to my eyes
And tell me everything is gonna be all right...
Posts
94 comments:
So Face the Nation establishes its credibility for 2017 by asking a profoundly stupid question to a disgusting panel.
"there’s a pretty much even chance that we’re going to have a constitutional crisis or have a completely incompetent presidency that doesn’t know how to exercise power, which is, I think, another possibility in this circumstance. He has a White House-- Donald Trump has a White House with almost no skill at governing." #NeverTrumper still at it. Don't recall Gerson et al. bitching about the O team utter lack of "skill." How long before the MSM will have actual Trump supporters on as regulars?
Ann,
Within a year from now we will all be amazed at how good a job Trump is doing as President. He proved us all wrong (except Mick) by winning the primaries, & then the election, Now, he'll prove us wrong by putting together a decent cabinet, pulling in the standard Republican political functionaries into his administration, & govern like he has a clue as to where he'd like the nation to go.
And I don't even like the man. But, I like him more than that broken record, Once Bitten.
Reminds me of Basil Fawlty's advice of "Don't Mention the War."
The idea that a foreign power has reached into the United States, and tampered with American democracy, and maybe chosen for Americans a president that the larger number of Americans didn’t want for themselves.
This seems to be the leftist theme for those who cannot move to the next stage of mourning.
I used to read Frum and even corresponded with him. He got angry that National Review did not invite him on a cruise in 2006 or 2008 and quit. Thats when he began his own shtick and his blog.
The idea that Trump is petty and thin skinned is a laugh when these people have egos as big as all outdoors.
An entire hour of televised nothing. The haven't been right in their prognostications in the near past and I don't see any of them as prescient now. I'd suggest instead they all read the Gathering Storm by Winston S Churchill and quietly reflect on the follies of governments and man.
A feeb that can cut and paste.
Butthurt much, feeb?
On Meet the Press Chuck Todd lead a discussion that was at least as stupid. Though I can't remember a thing anybody said, I noticed that Chuck Todd seemed to shrink before the camera. By the end of the show his head sat on the narrowest shoulders I've ever seen on a grown man.
The real issue for the media is how will they ever recover from the damage they did to their credibility in this election. That the NYT starts out a 6PM on Election Night with HRC having a 95% chance of victory, only to have Trump win in what amounts to an electoral blow-out, is a fail that will take years to undue, if ever.
These media organizations just don't have deep pockets any more so that they can weather a further downturn in their market space. Understand here that it's not just the American electorate who got bad information. The country's liberal movers & shakers, who gave more than a billion dollars to the Democrats, were simply not told the facts about Hillary's campaign. That Hillary's health was in shambles. That Robby Mook sat in a corner office playing at computer & statistics geek. That the HRC campaign was a cocooned, top-down organization that wasn't listening to what the local & state Democratic Parties were telling them. If stuff like this had been reported by the NYT or the WaPo, maybe an effort could have been made in time to fix the campaign, & a billion dollars wouldn't have gone up in the bonfire for nothing.
That the media pissed off us Righties big time this time means nothing. They lost us long ago. But, that they helped fuck away a billion bucks of the bi-coastal elites' money, that means an awful lot.
I love how Dickerson uses the phrase "deploy your forces". It automatically assumes there is an enemy to be defeated (i.e. Trump).
I also found funny Norris's attempt to answer the question. She mentions that Trump "is dismissing many of the publications that we work or have worked for and is trying to bypass us and go directly to people." On its own, my reaction and I suspect most people's reaction would be "about time". But no, Norris follows this up by talking about how this is somehow surreal and confusing to her.
"On Meet the Press Chuck Todd lead a discussion that was at least as stupid. Though I can't remember a thing anybody said, I noticed that Chuck Todd seemed to shrink before the camera. By the end of the show his head sat on the narrowest shoulders I've ever seen on a grown man."
I've got notes on what to look for in the MTP transcript. Hang on. That's coming.
YoungHegelian nails it. Trump didn't keep from going broke as a developer by being an idiot. Hell keep firing advisors until he gets a team that performs.
...a completely incompetent presidency that doesn’t know how to exercise power.
Been there, done that.
If you miss the train I'm on,
you will know that I am gone.
You can hear the whistle blow
a hundred miles.
I wonder if train whistles are like dog whistles, especially if you missed the Trump train.
My wife had the show on though I don't think she was paying attention. I was working on a project on my laptop and sort of half listening. Mostly just "yadda, yadda, we're really important, yada, yadda, yadda, we are still relevant, yadda yadda yadda." nothing to make it worth giving them any attention.
But there were two things that spun my head around:
1) they said that Hilary Clinto had more experience than any other candidate ever. They talked about her almost 40 years of experience in "public office". I was like WTF?!?!? She was 8 years a do nothing Senator and 4 yrs a disaster as SoS. 4+8=12 or it used to.
2) They were all butthurt because Trump went and played golf without dragging a gaggle of shithead media types along. Fuck them. Where do they get this right?
I don't remember if it was in comments here or elsewhere but someone suggested that Trump should start accrediting other media outlets specifically Glamour, Elle, Cosmopolitan. I'd go further and accredit Sports Illustrated, Hunting and Fishing Life and the like.
Then recognize them at press briefings, answer their questions, let them do rotation in the media pool and so on.
Show those shits in the MSM how much we the American people need them.
John Henry
@Sydney,
.a completely incompetent presidency that doesn’t know how to exercise power.
Been there, done that.
And you didn't get us any tee-shirts!?
"The idea that Trump is petty and thin skinned is a laugh"
Nobody I know is laughing about it. You're 180 degrees off base as usual. We are sickened by it, and will try our best to defeat the incoming thief/creep-in-chief every step of the way. May he drown in the fetid water of his miserable marsh.
Dickerson's Mom, Nancy, was a mighty handsome woman back in the day. I think LBJ was kind of sweet on her. And she was from Wauwatosa.
And Tiger Beat for the younger voters. The 14 year olds who will vote in 2020.
John Henry
Ann, don't kid yourself; you are with the rampaging majority. Within a year from now you will bear the shame of being just another enabler.
you have to assign coverage for the year 2017. How do you deploy your forces? What’s the story?"
That's their idea of journalism today. Story first, investigate second. Determine the story first, then go out and find things that fit that pre-determined narrative.
These people are expert at absolutely nothing. They are jabbering. Just jabbering. Any commenter here is as well informed, educated and articulate as any of those yakkers. I feel stupid watching them for even a moment. Like The View on accelerants. I can't even thank Althouse for watching for me because I am totally and completely over these Sunday morning programs.
It's alright, it's okay,
It doesn't really matter if you're old and grey.
It's alright, I say, it's okay,
Listen to what I say.
It's alright, we're doing fine,
It doesn't really matter if the sun don't shine.
It's alright, I say, it's okay,
We're getting to the end of the day.
High tech, low tech, take your pick,
Cause you can't teach an old dog a brand new trick.
I don't care what anybody says (at the end of the day).
There's a place that I can't find find,
A drink or two to ease my mind.
Golden days.
It's alright, take your time,
Everybody thinks that you've passed your prime.
It's alright, it's ok,
You've still got plenty to say.
Frum said this?
traditional rules against the president having his own private bodyguard paid for by himself rather than by the state.
I had not heard that trump planned to do this but would have been more surprised if he had not than if he had.
Why the Hell can't he have his own private security? We've seen how incompetent these bozos in the Secret Service are, cavorting with hookers and such.
I think were I Trump I would want my own guys in there and would want the SS consulting with them about Trump's security not the other way round.
Did Frum expand on what his objection is? Does anyone here have any explanation why Trump should not have his own security folks?
John Henry
And Grant and Sherman did not know how to make war properly, either.
It's time to get new pundits on most of these shows. "Tell me everything is going to be ok" is embarrassing. Trump is a better golfer than Obama and W, who Gerson and Frum worked for. He'll probably be a better president.
Once, why don't just go fuck yerself, mmmkay?
I live & work in the DC area. Among my clients are conservative think tank-y kinds of organizations. I asked them back in July what they'd do if Trump won. Their answer: "Oh, no one here has any interest in serving in a Trump administration!"
And now, the Donald won. Suddenly, these guys are discovering that maybe, just maybe, it's their moral duty "to work change from the inside & bring experience into the administration". Uh-huh. And the fact that it brings these people into whole new power relationships has nothing to do with anything. It's all based on the purest motives of patriotism, you understand.
The short of it? Washington is full of Republicans drawn to power like vultures to carrion, no matter who wields it. The Trump administration will become a standard Republican administration because there are simply no other possible bodies to staff it otherwise.
The truth you & Trumpit don't want to admit: if it was Rubio, Cruz, or Bush that had won, you'd still all be pitching conniption fits. Trump is just a bigger target is all.
Oooooo, can't wait!
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/31/us/politics/donald-trump-russia-hacking.html
"WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President-elect Donald J. Trump, expressing lingering skepticism about intelligence assessments of Russian interference in the election, said on Saturday evening that he knew “things that other people don’t know” about the hacking, and that the information would be revealed “on Tuesday or Wednesday.”
Speaking to a handful of reporters outside his Palm Beach, Fla., club, Mar-a-Lago, Mr. Trump cast his declarations of doubt as an effort to seek the truth.
“I just want them to be sure because it’s a pretty serious charge,” Mr. Trump said of the intelligence agencies. “If you look at the weapons of mass destruction, that was a disaster, and they were wrong,” he added, referring to intelligence cited by the George W. Bush administration to support its march to war in 2003. “So I want them to be sure,” the president-elect said. “I think it’s unfair if they don’t know.”
He added: “And I know a lot about hacking. And hacking is a very hard thing to prove. So it could be somebody else. And I also know things that other people don’t know, and so they cannot be sure of the situation.”
When asked what he knew that others did not, Mr. Trump demurred, saying only, “You’ll find out on Tuesday or Wednesday.”"
And you people voted for this doofus, Putin's useful idiot.
I have the experience again and again, and many of you may have it, too, of being in a coffee shop or something. Someone I know a little bit will come up to me, and say hello, and then say, “Tell me that everything is going to be okay."
ShitThatDidntHappen.txt
The best part of 2017 is Gerson, Frum, and those other people don't matter anymore. The only people that listen to them are retards like Once Written.
"And as journalists, you know, we have to learn how to operate in a world where there is no longer a common set of facts."
There it is, the real source of their angst; the media can no longer choose the "facts" that determine the narrative.
The media openly betrayed the public trust and there's no road back; we've tuned them out.
@Unknown,
You mean the charges of Russian hacking that the CIA refuses to give evidence of to the Senate & House Security committees? Those charges?
The charges that even hard-lefty journalists are calling utter bullshit? Those charges?
The charges that amount to no more than that the the Russians released the corporate emails of two non-governmental agencies, and that, by definition, could involve no matters of national security? Those charges?
Once written, twice... said...
Ann, don't kid yourself; you are with the rampaging majority. Within a year from now you will bear the shame of being just another enabler.
She did that in 2008 idiot.
Trumpit's sick he says, an' him an' his friends are gonna try to defeat him.
Keep us posted on your progress, O.K?
the CIA refuses to give evidence of
Evidence, hard facts -- those are so passé. It is story first, facts later (if ever). The story is the Russians hacked the election process. Period. Facts? They don't have no facts, they don't need no stinking facts. A consensus of people who know say so. So that's it.
Just like the story of human-caused, earth-destroying climate change.
Michael, Michael, Michael--we've survived 8 years of an administration that is completely incompetent, and you're worried about Trump?
These panelist as like three year old boys in a sandbox playing with their pee pee's.
"rampaging majority."
The only rampaging is coming from the sore losers on the left encouraging violence and misanthropy.
Unknown said...
Oooooo, can't wait!
You are just ignorant in every sense of the word. You don't even know what "hacking" is. You can't even explain how the Russians supposedly "hacked" the election. Podesta clicked on a Phish mail. I just deleted 3 of them. If it was the Russians, the only thing they did was help the Democrats live up to their promises to be transparent.
I am amazed that anyone that buys into this crap, like you, can remember to breathe. Fortunately for idiots it does not take conscious effort.
All of this reminds me of the time I went to a Lamaze Class even though I didn't know anybody there.
You get that many pregnant women in a room and there is a certain smell.
We're not supposed to talk about it.
I am Laslo.
It must be infuriating to have been made a fool by that vulgarian Trump. No wonder they're praying for a disaster so they don't have to admit they got it wrong.
Those excerpts are pathetic, especially David Frum's- he should have complained about Trump planning to wipe his own ass as a threat to democracy.
After Trump won in November, I have completely stopped watching the Sunday morning programs. I farm this out to Ms. Althouse.
Lol
So today the lefties are back to the Trump is Putin's lapdog meme.
Tomorrow they will return to Oh Noes! Trump is starting a new arms race with Russia meme.
Hey man, whatever makes them feel better today.
Yeah, we don't want Trumpit sick all over this blog.
Webster told us that they chose the word ‘surreal’ as the word of the year for 2016 because it describes so much of what we’re seeing right now.
ANNA
Thank you.
WILLIAM
Yes. Well. My pleasure.
He guides her towards the door.
WILLIAM
Nice to meet you. Surreal but nice.
- Notting Hill
Unknown believes that the Russians "hacked" into our voting booths and changed the outcome. The Russians, as Unknown believes, "hacked" those emails which changed the votes of only those people in swing states that HRC failed to campaign in but allowed HRC voters to win the popular vote.
Oh that Putin.
L fucking O L
Trump is like Limbaugh. They tried not saying his name too, at first. Bwahaha.
The real question is, what Trump has done this far is so fabulous, how can he possibly follow it?
@Althouse, let me know when one of these clowns admits that 2016 was the year that the mainstream media forfeited their right to play the role of gatekeeper. Bonus points if they admit that they fid it to themselves, and for the benefit of a the most corrupt presidential candidate since the 19th century.
Laslo
I went to Lamaze classes and met a guy that said until then he thought Lamaze was a resort in Mexico.
That was funny. And Frum deserves to win your non existent prize
The real issue for the media is how will they ever recover from the damage they did to their credibility in this election.
I threw out the TV in 1971. I'm an early adopter.
I want to know Amanda's take on this.
Swish.
Here's a question I would ask:
This phenomenon we saw in 2016, this nationalism - is it nationalism as in lead-up-to-World-War-I-nationalism or is this nationalism as in anti-imperialism, anti colonialism as in lead-up-to-independence-for-colonies-after-World-War-II nationalism?
Was globalism in relation to Chinese mercantilism a pacifist or a colonialist enterprise?
Should there be a Palestinian nation and if so, why shouldn't there be an American nation?
Free trade led directly to the Irish potato famine - is free trade always good? When is it bad? Looking at the statistics on unemployment among blacks in Milwaukee, should we say that free trade has been a disaster for this minority? Do black lives matter more than the careers of the bi-coastal-elite? Or less?
On election night Hillary Clinton sent John Podesta out to say that no concession speech would be made before the morning. Then twenty-five minutes later, even as the media talking heads explained why this was right and good, she called Trump and conceded. This made them all look like Bagdad Bob. But they've forgiven her and they are crowded around the empty throne saying how great she is like dogs about their feeding bowl. Is this why they feel disoriented?
Or is it Trump's fault for winning and Trump's fault for forcing Hillary to concede on his schedule, not hers and Trump's fault they didn't know what was going on. And Trump's fault for appointing a great cabinet. And, in general, Trump's fault for making the media look like Mariah Carey in New Year's Eve wandering the stage, trying to catch the beat and sing. Or at least lip-synch their masters' voices in a convincing way
You're 180 degrees off base as usual. We are sickened by it, and will try our best to defeat the incoming thief/creep-in-chief every step of the way. May he drown in the fetid water of his miserable marsh.
Dopey, you should get your own TV show with funny bits like that. I understand Air America is looking for material with a snappy tone to it.
I'd call them, wherever they are these days, and ask for an audition.
You might also look into Grief counseling.
You seem to be stuck at "Anger" and "Denial." Maybe a mild pharmacology preparation. I hear dope is good for what ails you.
Of course, maybe that IS what ails you.
wildswan may have wrapped up the analogy of the year prize with the media-as-Mariah quip. Fine work!
How can the old British Corn Laws be considered any kind of "free trade"?
El Leader did tell his enemies to hang on to the chain of love and it would all be OK.
But the best rumor/story I saw today was that DJT came across an arrogant Koch brother playing golf at Trump International with a foursome that included a writer of a Slander Special Expose book about Trump's first divorce. President Love kicked their asses off his course and told them not to come back.
Of course Putin read that too.
The JournoLists will never forgive Deep Plunger -- Obama, perhaps -- for scooping the Clinton WaterCloset story.
Meanwhile, Russia consolidates power with Assad in Syria; Islamic State in Iraq; a left-wing regime in Ukraine; and what difference does it make that Gaddafi was assassinated, Libyans were mass aborted, and Obama et al forced a refugee crisis (a.k.a. immigration reform) and global humanitarian disaster.
There's a video on YouTube showing David Frum interacting with Milton Friedman. Friedman, very politely and with perfect pleasantness, undresses Frum of his verbose pretensions, leaving Frum naked. It's not a pretty sight. Unfortunately, Frum didn't learn anything from the encounter.
Bah, Frumbug!
wildswan: Here's a question I would ask:
This phenomenon we saw in 2016, this nationalism - is it nationalism as in lead-up-to-World-War-I-nationalism or is this nationalism as in anti-imperialism, anti colonialism as in lead-up-to-independence-for-colonies-after-World-War-II nationalism?
Good question, ws. Much deeper and more interesting than some might think at first glance. What are we really seeing here? Unfortunately the people complaining about the "resurgence of nationalism" aren't very deep or interesting people, and would be incapable of considering or answering your question outside of the stalest clichés.
Neo-fascist eh.
"Definition of neofascism. : a political movement arising in Europe after World War II and characterized by policies designed to incorporate the basic principles of fascism (as nationalism and opposition to democracy) into existing political systems."
I freaking doubt it. Put it sounds almost as good as alt-right.
@Unknown (not Vance), if the Democrats didn't want Trump elected then they should have put up a competent candidate. I suspect that over half of Trump voters did so not because we thought he would make one of the all time great presidents, but because we didn't want someone who started wars for no good reason.
wrong unknown.
@Trumpit, I certainly hope the Secret Service has visited you to discuss your desire that Trump's lifespan be short. I think you are incompletely sane.
@Jon, you sure?
Anglelyne:
It is the nationalism that is a rejection of the one-world, big government, citizen of the world nonsense that the self-proclaimed elites have attempted to foist on First World countries globally.
That is new and different. It is nationalism as a rejection of non-nationhood.
Seems to be in IT, I've seen him post before.
I love that Kenny Loggins song. It reminds me of those early married years in our 20s, pre-kids, when we lived in a small apartment, and had no money. It was blissful. We just knew that everything was gonna be alright. We'd take long walks together, go to the library, try to limit weekend excursions to 20 dollars - for the whole weekend. This meant tuna sandwiches in the park, a cheap bottle of wine, and maybe a rented video.
I look back fondly on those times and that song?
As for Face the Nation? I say meh. Those folks live and breath politics, but only at a superficial, emotional level. They should read a history book and move away from the Coastal cities.
Very condescending of you, Althouse. Journalism as Primary School. Absolutely perfect.
How do they cover Trump? If they have any sense that they treated Obama properly, they should treat Trump in exactly the same way. If they don't, they're making a mockery of their careers and any sense of professionalism.
Birkel: That is new and different. It is nationalism as a rejection of non-nationhood.
Yup. And that's a nice succinct way of putting it, too.
(The "anti-nationalism" of contemporary Western political elites is an inconsistent if not downright nonsensical stance. They appeal to the historically and culturally contingent "values" of voters while denying that the same voters have any historical or cultural validity as the inheritors, holders, and transmitters of those values.)
My local small town paper rotates between four regular syndicated columnists on the opinion page: Krugman, Milbank, Kathleen Parker and George Will. Krugman and Milbank are Democrats. Parker is supposedly moderate-right (though she voted for Obama at least once). Will is supposed to be the Reaganite conservative. All of them are rabidly against Trump, a man who received 46% of the national vote and a comfortable majority of the electoral college.
If you think the people of the United States are capable of electing president a man who is a cross between Hitler and a bond villain, you need to move to another country. I would, if I believed such a thing were true or even possible.
Goldberg's remarks that people are frightened of change is a comforting cop out for progressives.
No one is against "change." People are against change that makes them feel less secure, witness the words of Goldberg himself. Nothing would have said "continuance" like a Hillary Clinton victory. Goldberg sounds like a CEO assuring himself that the workers he is laying off are only afraid of change, not of seeing their income disappear.
The problem with Frum is that he is a Canadian. Trump is a very typical American type, there have even been politicians in high office (though not presidents) like Trump.
Frum is concerned about foreign nations injecting themselves into American presidential politics? JFK was killed by a communist who had defected to the USSR. Frum is acting like a little girl.
As Nixon said "Only the amateurs stay mad."
The news media is amateurs top to bottom.
Althouse, that was just precious!
AP NEW YEAR'S POLL: AMERICANS ENTER 2017 ON OPTIMISTIC NOTE
Fifty-five percent said they believe things will be better for them in 2017. That's a 12-point improvement from a year earlier.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_AP_POLL_NEW_YEARS_HOPES?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-01-01-11-27-22
I am not making any prediction about 2017, merely noting that the elite commentariat (all the D's and a good number of the R's) should consider themselves out of the mainstream. Presumably, in 2016 no American was afraid that Trump's Sturmabteilung was going to murder them or haul them off to a concentration camp.
She can do it if she tries.
It almost sounds like they're trying to justify a coup.
All of them are rabidly against Trump, a man who received 46% of the national vote and a comfortable majority of the electoral college.
A very good point. I was really disappointed in Will and in Goldberg who should know what happens when people get really frustrated.
Reagan was hated nearly as much as Trump. He was a better actor and played it cool. Will was a big Reagan fan.
You'd think he'd see the parallels. He doesn't.
I subscribed to Ricochet, a supposed conservative web site. It is full of NeverTrumpers.
Why ?
Money talks, you might get a stuck gas pedal or something.
Or a "robbery" where nothing is taken.
"anything can happen if you're not careful"
"I know you love your aunt Myrtle, but"
Early to bed, early to rise,
makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
Generally speaking, "Face the Nation" is unwatchable but this Sunday's edition was like a five car pileup on I-95, replete with metal, glass and bloody bodies strewn on the highway: you don't want to slow down but are powerless to avert your gaze.
As usual, I have no idea which planet David Frum calls home or WTF he's talking about.
"We have someone who is about to occupy the Oval Office who is dismissing many of the publications that we work or have worked for and is trying to bypass us and go directly to people. So as we try to explain this surreal universe, we find ourselves in-- in almost a room of funhouse mirrors trying to figure out how to describe what’s going on."
This is narcissistic even by Obama's standards. The whole universe is upside down simply because the new president chooses to talk to the people directly, and not through NYT or Washington Post? Who the hell are these guys? By all signs, these "hombres" cannot chew gum and fart at the same time. Why would any president with an IQ above room temperature (in Celcius) would rely on them?
OMG. I had the same thought about Chuck Todd - "he's so small!" It reminds me of when I saw John Chancellor walking up 6th Avenue one day in the '60s, someone who always looked average to me, and realized, "Wow, he's tall!" I would say he was 6'3 or 6'4, not the 5'9 I would have guessed.
"The real issue for the media is how will they ever recover from the damage they did to their credibility in this election."
Well, The Atlantic" is not a newspaper; one expects magazines to have and express a point of view. Although the Atlantic's anti-Trump hysteria has been so over-the-top that it's hard to see how even anti-Trump partisans can take it seriously.
But that's also the problem at the New York Times, WaPo, et. al., isn't it- even readers who are sympathetic to their worldview realize they've lost any pretensions they might once have had for objectivity. Except there's no sign that the editors and publishers at the NYT, etc., see this as a "problem," is there?
So- no problem, no need to recover, "waist deep in the big muddy and the big fool says to keep on"?
Oh, and dear readers, "lead" is not like "read." The past tense of "lead" is "led," not "lead."
And while I'm at it, "boggle" is not a transitive verb: it's like "stumble." So, "the mind boggles," but not, "it boggles the mind."
"trying to bypass us and go directly to people."
That's what they're really concerned about...the concern over lack of U.S. influence being projection. They figure if they whine loud enough about others, the issue of the media caught manipulating/colluding on the election will fade away.
It's working so far.
My first laughter in the new year-- thank you, Dr Althouse. This prompted me to try to remember when last I saw one of these Sunday television programs; '90 or '91, I believe.
"moderator John Dickerson"
There is nothing moderate about John Dickerson.
David Frum is sufficiently inflamed, using apt language to describe his hemorrhoidal consciousness.
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