"Good lord, these guys really need to grow up. This is just pathetic."

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_01/027528.php

MUST WE PARSE THE MEANING OF THE WORD 'OPEN'?.... To the delight of the audience at last night's memorial service, President Obama told attendees last night that he'd just come from Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' (D-Ariz.) bedside. "And I want to tell you -- her husband Mark is here and he allows me to share this with you -- right after we went to visit, a few minutes after we left her room and some of her colleagues in Congress were in the room, Gabby opened her eyes for the first time," the president said.

In yet another disheartening display, some on the right would have us believe Obama wasn't telling the truth. He was, but the accusation itself is a reminder of just what's become of our discourse.

In one of the most cynical displays in recent memory, following the lead of Gateway Pundit Jim Hoft, several conservative websites -- including Fox Nation and MRC arm CNS News -- suggested that President Obama lied last night when he said that Rep. Giffords had opened her eyes for the first time shortly after his Wednesday night visit to the hospital.

In a recently-completed press conference, Giffords' doctor Peter Rhee explained that what Obama said last night about Giffords opening her eyes was "true."

Apparently, Giffords had previously opened her eyes in response to "stimulus" from physicians, but last night was the first time the congresswoman had done so voluntarily and spontaneously. In other words, Giffords opened her eyes on her own last night -- it was a development her neurosurgeon described today as "a major milestone."

The "lie" the right had uncovered wasn't a lie at all.

But stepping back, it's worth realizing how truly ridiculous the criticism from the right is even at face value. Obama had heartening news about a congresswoman who very nearly died, and that news happened to be true. For some conservatives, however, this was not only an opportunity to catch the president in some kind of "gotcha" moment -- an effort that proved wrong anyway -- but also to parse the meaning of the word "open."

Is the right really this desperate? Do they hang on the president's every word, wondering how to manipulate his every remark into some kind of cheap attack?

Good lord, these guys really need to grow up. This is just pathetic.

—Steve Benen

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. The cheering was also explained on Stephanie Miller this morning

A caller who had been there called to say Gifford's doctors walked in just as the event was beginning and the crowd cheered. That set the tone for the evening.

[justiceischeap]

2. As I said in another thread relating to this topic, the lie will be repeated

Until it is the truth for them. It won't matter that the doctor's confirmed what the President said last, it will only matter that the lie become the truth.

[arcane1]

4. Indeed, the doctors will be dimissed as librul partisans

who cannot be trusted to tell the truth.

[cyndensco]

3. Someone on the Today Show this morning said Rep. Giffords opened her EYE.

My initial thought was the right would jump on President Obama because he said she had opened her EYES.

I expect the worst from the other side. They seldom disappoint....

[catgirl]

6. Her other eye was covered with a bandage

These people are sickening.

[jimlup]

5. Yeah, some rightwing idiot tried to run with this today on a mainstream site I visit

He was fairly roundly denounced. It didn't fly even slightly.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

7. Bonemarrow didn't even bother to show up he was at a fundraiser

[mtnsnake]

8. The silly rightwing fucks are grasping at straws because Obama gave them nothing to criticize

They are just besides themselves that their experts in the RW think tanks can't find anything in the speech to pick apart, so out of desperation they're gonna simply make shit up.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

10. they probably arranged the shooting

[jillan]

13. Nooo - you are joking, right?

[jillan]

12. Yep - this and the fake hysteria about the t-shirts. That's all they have.

Obama gave them nothing.

[fishwax]

9. one thing about Obama's right-wing critics: they've never let the truth get in the way of their hate

[CakeGrrl]

11. The answer to Benen's question? "YES!"

They are that desperate.

They're down to looking for any and every trite, insignificant excuse to try to attack him.

[Tsiyu]

14. You know they're getting desperate when....

I think it's sad but amusing the way the hardcore asses on the Right are spinning everything about this tragedy into a reason to further demonize Dems and Obama.

They are really, really stupid.

A) Only a small percentage of people are teabaggers who want to eat this crap up and

B) those who are centrists don't like bullshit, pettiness or mudslinging, especially at a time like this

They are going to lose in 2012 because of their behavior, because they cannot extend an olive branch even during a time of national mourning, because their greed trumps any decency they may have been once raised to exhibit.

I thought some of them might try to fake some reflection and peace-making, but their desperation for MORE MORE MORE $$$$$$$$$$ is too ingrained of a habit now.

Too bad, so sad. This will cost them dearly come election time.