February 4, 2019

"A strange sentence in this New York Times article about Democrats apologizing."

A blog post from my son John looks at this strange sentence in the NYT:
As recently as 2006, national Democrats including former President Barack Obama expressed wariness about immigrants’ ability to assimilate into American culture and did not openly embrace gay marriage — two talking points that would probably be deeply damaging for any 2020 candidate."
See the problem?

57 comments:

Geoff Matthews said...

The Democrats are lurching away from the center?

Oso Negro said...

Ummm.......Democrats who were "national" pre-2006 are disqualified from running in 2020?

gilbar said...

i don't see a problem. History (for democrats) started last midnight. That 2006 stuff never happened

Before anyone complains, i should clarify that by 'for democrats' i mean 'for approved democrats'

Nonapod said...

The writer should have used a semicolon instead of a dash?

DrewC said...

They are "talking points" not sincerely held positions. Of course, Barack Obama and many other Ds did not exactly embrace either talking point in 2008.

Ann Althouse said...

Click through if you can figure it out!

The problem is with "As recently as 2006."

Ann Althouse said...

Also at the link... a mind-blowing quote from "The Audacity of Hope."

If Northam had written it, MSNBC would say it was grounds for impeachment.

Ann Althouse said...

The link goes to a blog... not Facebook.

gilbar said...

i mean, Joe Biden is a plagiarist that used to walk around with his dick hanging out while sexually harassing secret service women; but that was before last midnight, so it never happened. He used to fondle young children, but again twblm (that was before last midnight). He said that you had to have an indian accent to get service at a convenience store, but again: twblm

gilbar said...

a mind-blowing quote from "The Audacity of Hope."

Professor Althouse; i just read the quote, and i want to say; i don't know what sort a fascist racist Republican wrote that, but i thank GOD that he never ran for President!
</sarc

seems like a LOT of their stuff happened in 2016 (or 2018)

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

If John smoked it out as I suspect he has I still don't see what the problem is. That NYT didn't do their homework looking for more recent examples? Hardly a problem for them, even if it is for us...

Owen said...

Lying is a process that, done right, requires an ever-increasing amount of Reality Editing. In fact I think it is a super-exponentially increasing amount. Each edit requires many more, and each of those in turn propagates further inconsistencies.

Much better to do, as Orwell proposed, the Memory Hole. All gone!

Here, yes, I see your point. The Lightworker himself once spoke in words that now require, urgently, a new exegesis. But His word is inviolate. And His book is a sacred text, taken down verbatim by the prophets as he spoke it. So what to do?

Carol said...

It might not have been a presidential election year but it was still a contentious election and a lot of future hot button issues were starting to pop up. I was a volunteer at the doors. That's when I noticed over-the-top hatred of Republicans and man it really got nasty. One nice woman said to me, how could you possibly be a Republican, say it isn't so, shame on you! etc.

traditionalguy said...

In 2006 Hussein would say whatever we wanted to hear. But he hinted that his Muslim Sharia Law was going to be a big issue...soon.

M Jordan said...

President Barack Obama? In 2006?

AllenS said...

There's no problem because nobody read Barry's stupid book.

Leland said...

I clicked through, and sure, I get and agree with jaltoch's point. I thought the issue is that Barack Obama isn't a candidate for 2020 and thus not included. Why should he apologize?

On a larger scale, if we can forgive Northam for something years ago; when will it be okay to forgive the rest of the country for whatever past transgression others may note?

Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...

Yeah but that was back when Obama had to deal with things like fixing his car. Today his main concern is deciding which lefty media superstar to vacation with.

Dave Begley said...

Blacks were also not no fans of SSM. They all must be reeducated. Also need to get on-board with the Green Agenda. Or else!

Lyle Smith said...

More like not until 2012 did Obama and Biden support same-sex marriage.

Bob Boyd said...

Back in those days people had to rely on books and newspapers and what not, so they got a lot of stuff wrong.
Now we have Twitter and shit, which gives us a much better, up to the minute understanding of what we're supposed to say we think, so there's no excuse for getting it wrong.

PackerBronco said...

It's easily forgiven. We all knew they said those things to appeal to racist, homophobic Americans, but they never really believed them. OTOH, if a conservative says the same thing it's evidence of their racist, homophobic intentions. You get a lot of leeway for being more flexible where the truth is concerned.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

"Two talking points that would probably be deeply damaging for any 2020 candidate", but won't be because Orange Man bad.

hombre said...

Drew C (9:44) and Char Char B (10:22) have it just right. More important than the timing.

JAORE said...

Problem? Feh.

Don't youse guys believe in evolution?

tim maguire said...

The problem is "2006"? Oh, I thought the problem, as Drew points out, is "talking points." But, of course, that's just an accidental truth slipping through.

Fernandinande said...

I don't want apologies, I want excuses.

WintersTale said...

"Two talking points that would probably be deeply damaging for any 2020 candidate." Make sure you keep these 'talking points' handy. Just in case Obama is running for POTUS in 2020.

Wilbur said...

"Immigrants are entering as a result of a porous border rather than any systematic government policy. . . . Native-born Americans suspect that it is they, and not the immigrant, who are being forced to adapt. . . ."

MAKE HIM STOP!!!!MAKE HIM STOP!!!! I'm dissolving into tears of anguish …

O tempora! O Mores!

Bay Area Guy said...

@Owen,


"Much better to do, as Orwell proposed, the Memory Hole. All gone!"

The Memory Hole is exactly right -- the Left has not a sense of history or tradition or, dare I say, allegiance to any of their past notable positions.

Pretty soon, Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson will be dumped into the Democrat Memory Hole.

Sebastian said...

Yeah, I see the problem. Some voters thought the talking points made O sound very "pragmatic." Bamboozling works.

Those same voters will think of a different way to rationalize their vote in the next election, regardless of what talking points are trotted out.

Anyway, you'd think progs would realize that history shows they aren't on the right side of history. But that won't do, so history must be erased. Just as they take a blank-slate approach to human nature, they take a blank-slate approach to history and society--except, history and society are actually there, so they much be actively erased to create blankness. By any means necessary.

rcocean said...

Talking points?

The 2006 position or the 2020 one?

Now is the winter of our discontent made glorious summer by this son of New York said...

Just remember, it's the Republicans who lurched to the right.

rcocean said...

It all gets down to the voters. IF they don't want to hold the D's accountable, they'll continue to act crazy and lurch further and further Left.

Bill, Republic of Texas said...

I can't wait until Trump quotes Obama at the State Of The Union speech.

Seriously click over to the blog. The Obama quote is excellent or devastating depending on your position.

daskol said...

This expression gets used a lot in certain quarters, but man is it true: progressives have really dropped the mask lately. Sentiments expressed a mere 10 years ago are incongruous with today's positions. One the plus side, Obama was prevaricating and patronizing when he wrote that in his book, trying to conceal his actual beliefs by appealing to mainstream American sentiment on immigration and nationalism. Nowadays, they're being honest. It may not have made our discourse more civil, but it's clarifying.

Earnest Prole said...

Obama explicitly opposed same-sex marriage in August 2008, famously saying it was because “God is in the mix.” He did not reverse that stance until 2012, which by my count would be six years beyond “as recently as 2006.”

bagoh20 said...

"Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. recently lamented his role in crafting the tough-on-crime drug legislation of the 1980s and 1990s."

Those were two of the most crime ridden and deadly decades in our history. Most crimes, especially violent ones, today are a fraction of their levels back then.

Is there a word for when you do something correct, but are too stupid to realize it, and then take the wrong path becuase you don't realize you were right in the first place? There should be one. It's like that thing where you are walking towards someone and you begin to handle it correctly by vering right and then correct yourself only to start that silly dance with the other person until you bump into each other.

daskol said...

bagoh20, google "Fox Butterfield effect." Taranto is missed.

Trumpit said...

I think that for your own sake, you should try to learn English if you live here. The American culture is shallow, and not worth assimilating.

narciso said...

Who writes the newspaper stories
Which make their way into the histories.

Meade said...

John wrote on his blog:

"Maybe the writers were thinking of what Obama wrote in his 2006 book The Audacity of Hope (pp. 263-64, 266, 268):"

And quoted Obama:

"[T]here's no denying that many blacks share the same anxieties as many whites about the wave of illegal immigration flooding our Southern border — a sense that what's happening now is fundamentally different from what has gone on before. Not all these fears are irrational. . . . If this huge influx of mostly low-skill workers provides some benefits to the economy as a whole . . . it also threatens to depress further the wages of blue-collar Americans and puts strains on an already overburdened safety net. . . .

For most Americans, though, concerns over illegal immigration go deeper than worries about economic displacement and are more subtle than simple racism. In the past, immigration occurred on America's terms; the welcome mat could be extended selectively, on the basis of the immigrant's skills. . . . The laborer, whether Chinese or Russian or Greek, found himself a stranger in a strange land, severed from his home country, subject to often harsh constrains, forced to adapt to rules not of his own making.

Today, it seems those terms no longer apply. Immigrants are entering as a result of a porous border rather than any systematic government policy. . . . Native-born Americans suspect that it is they, and not the immigrant, who are being forced to adapt. . . .

I'm not entirely immune to such nativist sentiments. When I see Mexican flags waved at proimmigration demonstrations, I sometimes feel a flush of patriotic resentment. When I’m forced to use a translator to communicate with the guy fixing my car, I feel a certain frustration. . . .

We have a right and duty to protect our borders. We can insist to those already here that with citizenship come obligations — to a common language, common loyalties, a common purpose, a common destiny."


I'd like to take this opportunity here and now to apologize... for voting for McCain in 2008.

bleh said...

The Democratic position on illegal immigration is purely a reaction to Trump. Trump is bad and therefore enforcing our national borders is bad. If Trump had declared he wanted to dismantle all existing fences and walls along the border, Democrats would denounce it as a ploy by Trump the billionaire fat cat to enrich other billionaires and depress blue collar wages. And Democrats would say it would disproportionately harm black people and therefore the intent was racist.

Democrats are hard to take seriously.

Tommy Duncan said...

Blogger Trumpit said...

"The American culture is shallow, and not worth
assimilating."


You mean that shallow culture that produced Hemingway, Eugene O'Neill and Sinclair Lewis? The culture that produced Dwight Eisenhower, George Patton and US Grant? The culture that defeated the Nazis and the Soviets? That put a man on the moon and put a personal computer in every cell phone? The culture that revolutionized manufacturing and agriculture? I digress...

bagoh20 said...

"You mean that shallow culture that produced...".

Maybe it's talking about the new American culture that produces an Ocasio-Cortez, microaggressions, and 102 genders. If so, then I agree. Who wants to assimilate into that pile of shit.

daskol said...

Our superficial, highly commercial popular culture is still pretty effective at assimilating immigrants, however it may be lacking in other charms. Even VDH, no fan of hip hop, in Mexifornia--good read--talks about how our degraded popular culture is at least still helpful in that regard. To answer your question, the children of Latin American immigrants, among others, that's who.

WintersTale said...

You mean that shallow culture that produced Hemingway, Eugene O'Neill and Sinclair Lewis? The culture that produced Dwight Eisenhower, George Patton and US Grant? The culture that defeated the Nazis and the Soviets? That put a man on the moon and put a personal computer in every cell phone? The culture that revolutionized manufacturing and agriculture? I digress...

Excellent counterpoint. Treasures. Seems to me that television and advertising killed all that. What are the MAGAtards creating? What's their cultural legacy going to be? Whiney victimization, no effort to create solutions for everyone. Talk about piles of shit.

Sam L. said...

Barack was not an ex-president in 2006, not was he a national figure then.

Gimme a tougher question!

WintersTale said...

"If only we could run against Barack Obama. We'd beat him for sure this time."

Daniel Jackson said...

Nothing good will come of this transparent opportunistic lefty bullshit.

Ken B said...

Bagoh20:
Indeed.

Amadeus 48 said...

That’s how the Dems took Congress in 2006 and BO won in 2008. The Memory Hole is working overtime, but the driver here is DJT. He has completely shifted the Democratic agenda. Will it work for him in 2020? In 2018 DJT drove the opposition to the polls.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Time starts over every day for Dems. Republican misdeeds, real or imagined, are always present; no matter how long ago they happened, they will always HAVE happened.

Drago said...

Not even LLR Chuck on his best day could effectively "obfuscate away" those obama quotes.

But he will still try..

Howard said...

Drago's favorite movie must be Punch C(h)uck Love

SweatBee said...

There is more than one problem with it. To start, "did not openly embrace gay marriage" is not a talking point.