Politics makes strange bedfellows

[hfojvt]

Once upon a time I would look forward to the Gene Lyons column in my local paper. Now his latest column bashes Obama and Obama's speech on race in much the same way Krauthammer did.

On the other hand, I am apparently on the side of Dowd and Russert in opposing Hillary's nomination. This in spite of the fact that I was a strong Gore supporter while those two were awarded several silver stars in the media's "War on Gore".

Here's Lyons' latest

http://www.unitedfeatures.com/ufsapp/viewFeature.do?id=160

Playing dumb helps no one

In 2000, Democrats were outraged that, due to the Supreme Court's ruling in Bush v. Gore, not all of Florida's presidential votes counted. In 2008, advanced thinkers supporting Sen. Barack Obama have persuaded themselves that fairness dictates none of them should count. Nor Michigan's, either. Better that the voters of two critical swing states comprising close to 10 percent of the electorate be disenfranchised than Obama's inevitable nomination be delayed.

Except the fact is, if Hillary withdrew from the race there'd be no reason for anybody to object to seating both Michigan and Florida. Instead she wants to claim them as victories, when she was on the ballot in Michigan and Obama was not, and when a no-campaign rule in Florida is bound to help the candidate with the highest name recognition. This she wants to pass off as "respecting the will of the voters". Sorry, I'm not buying it.

Finally, he closes with several broadsides against both Wright and Obama.

"Cosseted and protected all his life, Obama's speech shows he understands the Wrights of this world do as much to keep blacks down as white racism does. All this self-pitying obsessing over the sorrows of history leads nowhere. So how come he's been sitting there for 20 years pretending he doesn't get it?"

Which seems to me as ridiculous a statement as anything Wright ever said. "The Wrights of this world do as much to keep blacks down as white racism does." Say what? I don't see a "self-pitying obsession" as much as a call to action and demand for justice.

It's quite sad when a Hillary supporter who makes his living as a writer can not seem to write about Hillary's positives, but instead hyperbolically attacks Obama and Wright with RNC talking points. What's next? Is he gonna join Rush Limbaugh in calling Wright and Jesse Jackson 'poverty pimps' or 'racism pimps'? Does he really think it will strengthen the party if he tears down black leaders? In this case, playing Clinton attack dog does not help no one - it helps the RNC.

[democracy1st]

1. K & R

good points

[murielm99]

2. He's no different from the Obama supporters on DU,

Kos or elsewhere who post one diatribe after another bashing Clinton.

How are they helping their candidate? How are they helping anyone but the RNC?

Grow a thicker skin or find something else to read.

[hfojvt]

4. are you talking about yourself

in regard to Obama supporters on DU?

At least on Kos or DU, the readership is there not just to read, but also ready to argue with, and often in an ad hominem kind of way, the author.

[goldcanyonaz]

11. Bravo!

[FrenchieCat]

3. Gene Lyons has always loved the Clintons. I believe that he is from Arkansas as well.

Gene Lyons is a political columnist and co-author with Joe Conason of The Hunting of the President.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Lyons

[hfojvt]

5. except that why does love for the Clintons

so quickly get translated into hatred/contempt for Obama?

It would seem that Lyons' contempt is really for the left. Wright, and by extension Obama, is just too radically left for Lyons, who, like the Clintons, is far closer to being a moderate Republican than he is to the "Democratic Wing of the Democratic Party".

[FrenchieCat]

6. I Agree with you.....

But his love for all things Clinton may mean that he doesn't want us to "get" the speech on Race, because that doesn't help the Clinton, and this was their last big push to take Obama out of the game, IMO.

[Rageneau]

7. You're seeing goblins that are not there.

There is nothing in this Lyon's article that could POSSIBLY be construed as hatred or contempt or Obama. If there is, kindly cite it in specific.

It seems some Obama supporters are so sensitive that they interpret any statement about him that is not high praise to be low slander. Not true.

All Lyons did in this article, so far as I can see, is tell the truth -- from a point of view other than that of an Obama fanatic.

That isn't hate, it is legitimate criticism. And if THAT will no longer be allowed under Obama, we'll be better off if McCain wins.

[hfojvt]

8. "cosseted and protected all his life"

Okay there's no hatred there, Obama REALLY WAS a spoiled rich kid, in your opinion.

"Second, what do the Obamas, Harvard Law graduates, tell their two little girls about Wright's downright delusional contention that the U.S. government created the AIDS virus to exterminate African-Americans? Anybody named Clinton or Gore who sat still for something like that would be derided as an inauthentic phony patronizing black folk for political gain -- a faker, a conman."

Okay, there's no hatred there, Obama REALLY IS an inauthentic, phony who is patronizing black folk for political gain, a faker and a conman.

"Putting aside the fact that Obama's first reaction to videotapes of Wright's crackpot rants was to go on TV denying he'd ever heard them, what was Mr. Hope doing sitting in a Chicago pew listening to this rubbish?"

Okay, there's no hatred there, Obama REALLY IS a liar, and it's not hatred to mock him as "Mr. Hope".

And who said anything about "not allowed"? I am sure that when Obama is President that Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, and Bill O'Reilly et. al. will still be trowelling out their putrid sludge. The question is, will Lyons be right there with them, as he is now?

I guess nothing will be seen as slander if you really believe Obama IS a scumbag. Do I really need to point out how the above list of Lyons' insults are not TRUTH from any perspective but a warped, frustrated one that sees hyperbole and caricatures to be true.

[redqueen]

13. Well done!

:applause:

[rodeodance]

9. You come across very weak when you demand HRC get out. Can't take the heat??

Except the fact is, if Hillary withdrew from the race there'd be no reason for anybody to object to seating both Michigan and Florida. Instead she wants to claim them as victories, when she was on the ballot in Michigan and Obama was not, and when a no-campaign rule in Florida is bound to help the candidate with the highest name recognition. This she wants to pass off as "respecting the will of the voters". Sorry, I'm not buying it.

[hfojvt]

12. No, it's always very helpful for one Democrat to fly around the country

and bash another Democrat, one which will hopefully be our nominee. And it's also very helpful for that person to try to take advantage of a situation which might alienate Michigan voters.

[rodeodance]

10. i feel your pain-Its how I feel about a good journalist KO crossing over to shrill for Obama

[Usrename]

15. Of course Clinton should stay in the race.

There's still a whole lot of damage she can do.

And there's also a lot more money that can be wasted trashing herself and Obama.

Much better than working together to win all those down-ballot races.

:thumbsup:

[KaptBunnyPants]

14. Arguments by Clinton supporters are so self-refuting that it hurts just to read them.

It's like how every time it gets cold outside some idiot says "This proves Al Gore is a liar". Now Hillary herself claims that there must be a double standard because she's the only one being asked to concede. As if the fact that she is far behind her opponent has totally escaped her attention. I know she's not that dumb, and I know her supporters aren't that dumb, so it has to be that they think everyone else is dumb to resort to such arguments,

[Usrename]

16. The fact that she's a loser shouldn't enter into it.

That's not very democratic.

:crazy: