Patterico's Pontifications

1/18/2011

Calling the First Meeting of JournoList II

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 7:35 am



Good morning, fellow JournoListers! Ezra Klein here. Welcome to our new home!

Times have been tough since Weigel exposed our e-mail list. We have spent months looking for a new way to distribute talking points, and while some of you still want to go the Twitter route, it’s a little too public for most of us. I think this blog will provide the perfect cover. Nobody reads it any more, so it’s basically as private and secure as our e-mail; perhaps more so. Better still, if we ever are exposed, I’m told that any big link shuts down the site immediately and completely, so we’ll have our embarrassing material hidden even faster than if I tried to wipe it off our servers.

Today’s agenda is, of course, Sarah Palin’s interview on Hannity last night. Joe Scarborough has the “why is she making it about her?” angle covered well at Politico (safe link here):

We get it, Sarah Palin. You’re not morally culpable for the tragic shooting in Tucson, Ariz. All of us around the “Morning Joe” table agree, even if we were stunned that you would whine about yourself on Facebook as a shattered family prepared to bury their 9-year-old girl.

Beyond that, the big story is, of course, the phrase “blood libel.” We have a choice between “she failed to address blood libel” and “she addressed blood libel badly” this morning. Which tack we choose depends, to some extent, on whether she actually addressed it or not. I can’t force myself to watch the clip, but Boehlert has volunteered to watch and let us know. The only problem is, Boehlert is kind of a liar, so do we have any other volunteers to check and see which line we should use? The clips are below:



I know Yglesias says we shouldn’t need to watch the clip to choose, but I’m with the Washington Post now, guys. We have higher standards. Which means, if you want to write things that totally ignore the facts, continue to do so as always — but just signal what you’re doing in code, so I have deniability. “Disney Channel has Wizards on!” is this week’s code phrase.

I’m a little pressed for time, but I just want to leave you with these words of encouragement. It seems to be working. John Boehner hasn’t renamed the title of the health care repeal bill, but we have gotten him to start using more innocuous terms when discussing it in public, such as “job crushing” instead of “job killing.” And a new poll shows 35% of the public is buying our line that Sarah Palin’s map is responsible. Good job!

We can’t let up, folks. Hopefully with this, our new home, our coordination can be a little better — although I am pleased to see how well we have been doing without our beloved JournoList. Maybe we really do think alike more than we realized.

44 Responses to “Calling the First Meeting of JournoList II”

  1. I don’t think the violent rhetoric meme is done yet.

    My team is busy preparing a segment to compare “job crushing” with those animal crushing videos. Title ideas anyone? “Under the Heel of John Boehner” has been suggested. It would be fun to show the Speaker in a pair of high heels, stomping on a mouse, and crying.

    Katie Couric (cfa313)

  2. I saw a list of the confirmed JournListers last night, 150+, and counting.

    JD (6e25b4)

  3. Oh, if this could only be a Palin-bashing free zone.

    Because the coordination and smearing by the Left is the real problem.

    Simon Jester (6165ed)

  4. The Times is already on the job — those Arizona teabaggers terrorize innocent Republicans!

    Even though I’ve canceled the paper they keep delivering it, and sadly, I keep looking at it. This reminds me I have to call them again.

    Kevin M (298030)

  5. It is good when the Government fears the general populace.

    “When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.” – Thomas Jefferson

    Scott Jacobs (218307)

  6. The discussion about whether or not she should have used the term “blood libel” was in the top half of The Today Show news report this morning. It is a world gone mad.

    MayBee (081489)

  7. MayBee, it is pure partisanship. That’s all. More and more voters see this. I mean, what is gas costing now? Remember how it was front and center during 2008? Or Gitmo?

    Strangely, it all seems to be about D versus R.

    So right now, the MSM has to (trying to find a non-violent word here) any threat to You Know Who’s re-election.

    After all, I don’t think the expression “blood libel” is as objectionable as “…take a gun to a knife fight…”

    Except the MSM seems to think the first is far, far worse. Funny, huh?

    Simon Jester (6165ed)

  8. Lemme guess, EPWJ secretly forwarded the Journolist II emails to you?

    SPQR (26be8b)

  9. No discussion on the wisdom of having a state dinner for Hu Jintao on the Today Show, by the way. That isn’t important like Sarah Palin’s word choice is.

    MayBee (081489)

  10. Why, MayBee, that is entirely different (snark).

    In that case, we need to rise above symbols and simplifications of complex situations (double snark, with a side of hypocrisy).

    Or so they would have you believe.

    Simon Jester (c8876d)

  11. I heard a very conservative (?Orthodox?) Jewish Rabbi talking with Dennis Prager yesterday, they both thought Palin’s use of the term was perfectly fine and disagreed with anyone giving her grief for it.

    There was a movie sometime back in the black and white days about a fellow who was an FBI plant among Communists, and about the embarrassment it was to him and his family (I think) of being identified as a “Commie”. I’m sure somebody here will remember the name of it. I’m thinking some poor sap will have to go deep undercover as a raving left lunatic to infiltrate JournoList Jr. and its descendents. No, I’m not volunteering, I have a wife and children.

    BTW, as of yesterday Glenn Beck (as well as Sean Hannity-though I don’t listen to him) are no longer on the talk radio station here in Philly. Comments to the station were about 200:1 saying it was a bad idea and they wouldn’t be listening to the station anymore. I didn’t hear any discussion about it, they just announced the “new lineup” with local hosts.

    Anything similar happen elsewhere?

    First Monday night football goes off broadcast TV, then college bowl games, then Beck from the radio- is Soros buying up media corporations, or is there a new “czar” appointed over in the FCC?

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  12. Is this like Fox News telling it’s employees what to say, like “Government Health Care” instead of “public option”?

    How is the Death Panel-ee stuff workin’ out for ya Sarah?

    Earl T (7c85b9)

  13. Hush, William Yelverton. Yer an idiot.

    JD (306f5d)

  14. Pattrico nailed it. The Journolist’s most pernicious effect is to compel opponents to organize themselves to oppose it.

    ropelight (8cc49c)

  15. No, the same one, Mark Lloyd, the ‘fan of that wonderful Democratic revolution’ that was nearly derailed by private broadcasting. I don’t know how that explains the moves in Philly and NYC.

    narciso (6075d0)

  16. Democrats got a historic beating in November in the House, and a far more historic beating in state legislatures – losing an unprecedented number of state houses.

    And Yelverton gives us:
    How is the Death Panel-ee stuff workin’ out for ya Sarah?

    Worked pretty good for all of us, Yelverton. Her ideas are the topic of the nation, and your ideas are the topic of ridicule and rejection nationwide.

    Good job.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  17. Why don’t you compare Palin’s approval with Obama’s?

    “I think that she’s got to slow down and be more careful and think through what she’s saying and how’s she’s saying it. There’s no question that she’s become more controversial.”
    –Newt Gingrich, this morning on ABC

    Earl T (df6252)

  18. That’s some serious humor there, from Newt, oh you mean he’s not kidding.

    narciso (6075d0)

  19. Comment by SPQR — 1/18/2011 @ 9:24 am

    She’s not even a public servant right now and yet her ideas and comments are the topic of the day, all day, every day. She invents new words that make it into dictionaries at the end of the year. She coins a turn of phrase and the MSM can’t stop talking about it.

    It’s got to make them boil with rage, which may explain some of their vitriol. Either that or they’re terrified of her. (I think it’s both, actually.) After over two years it shouldn’t be amazing anymore, but it is.

    no one you know (325a59)

  20. Strong women really bother earl, I mean William Yelverton, Prof of Asshattery @ MTSU.. Pathetic.

    JD (109425)

  21. The enthusiasm of the Tea Partiers helped propel incredible R victories, not just R, but often Conservative R.

    So what’s a lib/Dem to do? Marginalize and delegitimize the driving force, both in the eyes of the public at large and even “established” Repubs who are not in front of Obama opposition.

    The story was not that web sites with “Bullseye” symbols caused the crime, but that Palin’s website with Bullseyes did. (I wonder how many “Bullseyes” could have been found, on other Repub sites as well?)

    “Everyone” likes to go with the crowd, so if you say the crowd blames Palin and loves Obama, it must be true!! Just like 1/3 of Dems are 9/11 truthers. How civil is that, accusing your President of mass murder?

    Look at the methadology of the polls before believing them.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  22. “Oh, if this could only be a Palin-bashing free zone.”

    – Simon Jester

    A beautiful sentiment, Comrade. I too long for the day when all dissent and insufficient obeisance may be purged from the intra-conservative discourse once and for all.

    /sarc

    Leviticus (fedc00)

  23. (I think it’s both, actually.)

    Agreed. Tell me, maybe Palin is an unelectable candidate, but who captures the attention of people in “fly-over, gun-totin’, religion clingin’ country more than Palin? Who is a voice that challenges Obama on the national scale that they can’t make go away, no matter how hard they try? They have to discredit her, or split Repubs over her, or get her to discredit herself, as in, “Oh, why did she have to make it about her? Why did she have to use anti-Semitic language? Why can’t she just go back to Alaska and shut-up?”

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  24. Strong women really bother earl, I mean William Yelverton, Prof of Asshattery @ MTSU.. Pathetic.

    Comment by JD — 1/18/2011 @ 9:58 am

    Strong conservative women do both an awful lot of far-leftists. And Palin is esp. offensive to them. Gee,I wonder why. The hatred goes so far beyond any reasonable discourse on her pros and cons that it’s shocking, actually.

    I think her success despite lack of Harvard/NYT/chatterati/pick-a-term credentials (hence the “tundra bunny” and “chillbilly” slams) partly explains it, but this article IMO explains the hatred of the far-left better than anything I’ve ever seen:

    The Wilding of Sarah Palin
    (sorry, linkscript not working for me)
    http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/11/the_wilding_of_sarah_palin.html

    no one you know (325a59)

  25. noyk – It might also be because Earl T has a small dick.

    daleyrocks (e7bc4f)

  26. I recall reading a poll awhile back that suggested that about 1/3rd of Dems are Truthers. Now we have half of the Dems targeting Palin as the cause of the nutjob killer. The Dems live off of low information voters. And they know it.

    The right has their low information voters too, of course. But the Dems seem to be increasing their proportion within the party. Good tactics if the goal is to keep your folks on the Democratic reservation. Bad tactics if you care about our Democracy.

    East Bay Jay (2fd7f7)

  27. From the wilding link…

    “My other epiphanies: those ponytailed guys were marching for abortion rights not because they cherished women’s reproductive freedom, but to keep women available for free and easy sex.”

    You’ll have another little epiphany somewhere down the road, when you find out that a primary motive for making abortion both legal and socially acceptable is because lefties intend for the state to control reproduction the same way lefties control human reproduction in the PRC.

    You’ll find out, in the long run, that it won’t be you deciding whether to have an abortion or not, it will be the state making the decision.

    It’s all about a woman’s right to choose today, but it will be all about the state’s power to decide (and force) one of these days.

    Mark my words.

    Dave Surls (07a487)

  28. Look at what the liberal Journolist Klein is saying about Palin now:

    “Palin is right to feel aggrieved. As Chait says, many have blamed her for a killing rampage that she had nothing to do with. A lot of Palin’s rhetoric is over the top, and her gun metaphors (“RELOAD!”) and her target sights looked unsettling in light of subsequent events, but those subsequent events were not her fault. Too many were too quick to imply she had a significant role in them.”

    Its a liberal media conspiracy. Look how they slander her.

    Its amazing how he can get “35% of the public…buying our line that Sarah Palin’s map is responsible.” when saying things like that.

    http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2011/01/sarah_palins_missed_opportunit.html

    DeanofProgress (57ccdb)

  29. Why are progressives lying dicks?

    JD (109425)

  30. Do we have any graphic artists out there? Seems to me the new JournolistII team members are going to need specially designed lunchboxes for to carry their juice boxes and sammiches around in.

    elissa (2e9154)

  31. Dave,

    I remember reading that American Thinker article – I sent the link to friends and family (I have 4 sisters). I agree with with you and I do mark your words.

    Felipe (02954a)

  32. DeanofProgress unsurprisingly is mendoucheous in how he portrays Klein’s piece. Klein says Palin was not at fault … but should have admitted fault anyway.

    To show “leadership.”

    Because there is no greater expert on the subject of “leadership” than Ezra Klein.

    Patterico (dfc842)

  33. People admitting to have such poor reasoning skills, they probably they think the card game on
    Times Square, isn’t rigged either

    narciso (6075d0)

  34. http://iowahawk typepad/iowahawk/2011/01/csi-tucson.html

    narciso (6075d0)

  35. Patterico – it left out ther part where Chait was a butmonkey too.

    JD (d56362)

  36. How many names have you used here, noyoudint?

    JD (d4bbf1)

  37. NoYouDidnt, Earl T, DFL, and Tory are all imdw. Who didn’t like waiting in moderation and tried to get around it with new logins and IP addresses, and thus got banned again.

    Patterico (c218bd)

  38. They just cannot quit you, Pat.

    JD (d4bbf1)

  39. How odd.

    Simon Jester (c8876d)

  40. What was odd was how imdw’s behavior was mimicking a different crazy multi-nick blogroach.

    SPQR (26be8b)

  41. Patterico:

    That’s really sad in a way about imdw. I had no idea he or she was that far gone. Too bad in a humane sense.

    Ag80 (e03e7a)

  42. Tory was imdw?

    Wow. I thought that was the ukulele guy.

    Oh well… they are clearly fellow travelers. We have the Hooten, EPWJ level of guy, and then the guys who are itching to get ugly, like imdw.

    How do they find this blog attractive, anyway? It’s like nut-flypaper.

    Dustin (b54cdc)

  43. imdw is just a very angry person. I hope she doesn’t go Loughner on somebody.

    daleyrocks (e7bc4f)

  44. I am a dimwit is just another very angry lefty. I hope she does not go full Loughner on somebody. Help is available.

    daleyrocks (e7bc4f)


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