|
||
Intermarkets' Privacy Policy Support
Donate to Ace of Spades HQ! Recent Entries
Portland School Superintendent: The Real Problem Isn't That There's a Violently Insane Boy Dressing as a Girl and Beating the Hell Out of Girls, The Problem Is That Those "External to the Community" Noticed
Insurrectionist Who Obstructed an Official Act of Congress Jamaal Bowman: I Know Who the Real Fire-Alarm Activtor Was -- "Nazi Republicans" "Journalist" Who Downplayed Violent Crime in Philadelphia Is Shot and Killed in Own Home Axios: "Some Democrats" Worry That Biden Is Wrapping the Biden Economy Around His Own Neck Poll: 52% of Country Is Done with Covid Non-Vaccinating Vaccines McCarthy Caves; No Money for Border Security in Stopgap Spending Deal THE MORNING RANT: A Couple of True Anecdotes About “Range Anxiety” – the Insurmountable Hurdle for EVs Mid-Morning Art Thread The Morning Report — 10/2/23 Daily Tech News 2 October 2023 Absent Friends
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022 Dave In Texas 2022 Jesse in D.C. 2022 OregonMuse 2022 redc1c4 2021 Tami 2021 Chavez the Hugo 2020 Ibguy 2020 Rickl 2019 Joffen 2014 AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published.
Contact OrangeEnt for info
Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups
|
« Explosions Rock Landscape as CSX Cargo Train Derails in Baltimore |
Main
| "Boob Bait for Bubbas:" The "Conservative" Con on Amnesty »
May 28, 2013
P.J. O'Rourke: Obama Is StupidI don't know if I'd say "stupid," if I were interested in being technically accurate. I'd say "not very intelligent" and certainly not very "intellectually curious." But we usually say "stupid" in politics when we mean those things. Even when we don't say it, we mean it. As far as the political lexicon, he's right, Obama's "stupid." He wonders why people won't call a not-very-intelligent man not very intelligent. Here's his guess: Maybe we pundits don’t tell President Obama, “You’re stupid,” because we are proudly showing off our sensitivity to the negative stereotypes that hurtful language engenders in a way that we didn’t feel was necessary when we were telling Ronald Reagan, George Bush and George W. Bush, “You’re stupid,” even though actors, WASPs, and Texans are burdened with their fair share of negative lamebrain stereotypes. I've been much taken lately with analysis of people's self-definitions of themselves, and the external Signs they post to advertise those internal self-definitions. Before the long weekend, Allah spotted a dopey writer in the New Yorker all but admitting the only thing that matters to her is the signage, not the reality. First, quoting Jane Meyer of the New Yorker, giving Obama a pass on drone-strike kills because he shows how anguished he is all about it, thus flattering Meyer's own self-conception as The Sort of Person Who Would Put on Shows of Anguish Over Drone Strikes (While Not Objecting To Them Terribly Much In Reality). One first impression left by President Obama’s much-anticipated speech re-casting U.S. counterterrorism policy is that of the contrast between Bush’s swagger and Obama’s anguish over the difficult trade-offs that perpetual war poses to a free society. It could scarcely be starker. While Bush frequently seemed to take action without considering the underlying questions, Obama appears somewhat unsure of exactly what actions to take. That is not a bad thing: at least he is asking the right questions. ... Note Meyer's more-or-less explicit concession that while Obama talks up a limitations to his power to order assassinations, these limitations exist only "in principle" and Obama "struggles" to actually actuate them into reality. But hey, "it's a sophisticated and nuanced moral theory," and that ought to count! Finishing up:
Again, Meyer does not seem to care much that Bush's policies are not very different from the one Obama has adopted-- just that Obama puts on shows of Anguish (flattering her Tribe of People Who Pretend to be Anguished About Any Number of Things) and that Bush, on the other hand, didn't "seem" to show Anguish (which, in contrast, flatters the Tribe of People Who Are Sort of Sick of the Tribe of People Who Pretend to be Anguished About Any Number of Things). I mention all of this because of O'Rourke's mention of the fact that Obama comes from the writerly class (well, Bill Ayers' book put Obama in that class, as far as appearances), and reporters and wordsmiths are themselves flattered when they flatter someone much like themselves. Recall David Brooks' ruminations on the impeccable crease of Obama's trousers. And note that this is actually a reflexive boast on the part of Brooks himself-- praising Obama for having a terrific crease in his pants is also praising other people who have terrific creases in their pants, and people who can appreciate a jaunty bit of pants-creasing, a group which just happens to include one David Brooks himself. When I tell you guys I appreciate you for your wit and no-bullshit attitude, think about what I'm really saying: I appreciate your wit and no-bullshit attitude because firstly I appreciate my own. Thus it really should be no large surprise to find that a soi-disant (self-proclaimed) intellectual, proudly wearing all the Warrior Plumage of that caste but actually lacking all the achievements typically bestowing the right to wear such plumage should be excessively praised by those who themselves wear the signs of the Intellectual without themselves having done much at all to warrant such a display. As they flatter him, they first flatter themselves. Consider: What are these conspicuous howls about? Are they really about the tree? Or are they really about the people howling about the tree? | Recent Comments
DaisyB:
"Fire Alarms are racist. Congressional voting proce ..."
Anna Puma: "Oppenheimer? Well we already knew he was no roc ..." Whoopie Goldberg furiously stuffing her used tampon into the vending machine coin slot: "Ok which racist Nazi Republican messed with the ta ..." Hank Johnson: "It's veruh simple. If DC capsizes, you're gonn ..." creeper : "I thought Hank Johnson had lifetime tenure as the ..." Big Penguin: "[i]Democrats get away with a lot of shit because t ..." Smell the Glove: "Just looked up Bowman on Wikipedia. He's married t ..." [/i]blaster: "Doocy asked whether Biden would pull a fire alarm ..." San Franpsycho: "Oh, Jamaal, please. ..." Count de Monet: "Bowman > Hank 'Guam' Johnson? Posted by: Anna Pum ..." G'rump928(c) : "Two of the junkies are gone, only a pair of piss p ..." Braenyard: "Are Kevin McCarthy and Joe Biden secret Nazi broth ..." Recent Entries
Portland School Superintendent: The Real Problem Isn't That There's a Violently Insane Boy Dressing as a Girl and Beating the Hell Out of Girls, The Problem Is That Those "External to the Community" Noticed
Insurrectionist Who Obstructed an Official Act of Congress Jamaal Bowman: I Know Who the Real Fire-Alarm Activtor Was -- "Nazi Republicans" "Journalist" Who Downplayed Violent Crime in Philadelphia Is Shot and Killed in Own Home Axios: "Some Democrats" Worry That Biden Is Wrapping the Biden Economy Around His Own Neck Poll: 52% of Country Is Done with Covid Non-Vaccinating Vaccines McCarthy Caves; No Money for Border Security in Stopgap Spending Deal THE MORNING RANT: A Couple of True Anecdotes About “Range Anxiety” – the Insurmountable Hurdle for EVs Mid-Morning Art Thread The Morning Report — 10/2/23 Daily Tech News 2 October 2023 Search
Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Primary Document: The Audio
Paul Anka Haiku Contest Announcement Integrity SAT's: Entrance Exam for Paul Anka's Band AllahPundit's Paul Anka 45's Collection AnkaPundit: Paul Anka Takes Over the Site for a Weekend (Continues through to Monday's postings) George Bush Slices Don Rumsfeld Like an F*ckin' Hammer Top Top Tens
Democratic Forays into Erotica New Shows On Gore's DNC/MTV Network Nicknames for Potatoes, By People Who Really Hate Potatoes Star Wars Euphemisms for Self-Abuse Signs You're at an Iraqi "Wedding Party" Signs Your Clown Has Gone Bad Signs That You, Geroge Michael, Should Probably Just Give It Up Signs of Hip-Hop Influence on John Kerry NYT Headlines Spinning Bush's Jobs Boom Things People Are More Likely to Say Than "Did You Hear What Al Franken Said Yesterday?" Signs that Paul Krugman Has Lost His Frickin' Mind All-Time Best NBA Players, According to Senator Robert Byrd Other Bad Things About the Jews, According to the Koran Signs That David Letterman Just Doesn't Care Anymore Examples of Bob Kerrey's Insufferable Racial Jackassery Signs Andy Rooney Is Going Senile Other Judgments Dick Clarke Made About Condi Rice Based on Her Appearance Collective Names for Groups of People John Kerry's Other Vietnam Super-Pets Cool Things About the XM8 Assault Rifle Media-Approved Facts About the Democrat Spy Changes to Make Christianity More "Inclusive" Secret John Kerry Senatorial Accomplishments John Edwards Campaign Excuses John Kerry Pick-Up Lines Changes Liberal Senator George Michell Will Make at Disney Torments in Dog-Hell Greatest Hitjobs
The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny More Margaret Cho Abuse Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed" Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means Wonkette's Stand-Up Act Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report! Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet The House of Love: Paul Krugman A Michael Moore Mystery (TM) The Dowd-O-Matic! Liberal Consistency and Other Myths Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate "Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long) The Donkey ("The Raven" parody) |