Patterico's Pontifications

5/24/2009

Barack Obama Disappoints Rachel Maddow

Filed under: Obama — DRJ @ 3:44 pm



[Guest post by DRJ]

Rachel Maddow on the good and bad in Obama’s recent foreign policy speech:

“How can a President speak the kind of poetry that President Obama does about the rule of law, and call for the power to indefinitely, preventively imprison people because they might commit crimes in the future? How can those two things coexist in the same man, even in the same speech?

Well that brings us to the self-consciously, awkward, embarrassing part of this speech today. After condemning the Bush Administration for what he called their ad hoc legal strategy, for trying to make things seem legal that patently weren’t, this is what President Obama proposed … “

You can see it all in the following Firedoglake-YouTube post. It includes Maddow describing Obama’s foreign policy as Bush-like and “one of the most radical proposals for defying the Constitution that we have ever heard made to the American people.”

— DRJ

35 Responses to “Barack Obama Disappoints Rachel Maddow”

  1. Photo of The Messiah, with thought bubble superimposed:
    “There’s a voter of mine born every minute!”

    Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407)

  2. At least Rachel admits that it’s Bush’s policy — and, implicitly, that therefore Obama was lying his fool ass off in the primaries to get “to the left” of Hillary et al. on these sorts of issues.

    Mitch (57b83d)

  3. When MadCow and Olbergasm turn up their vitriol towards Teh One to even 1/1000th of that which they directed at the evil Bush, then, and only then, will I pay attention to their lying mendoucheousness.

    JD (b3f947)

  4. MSNBC – land of the incoherent nutbags. Reminds me of the scene in the movie “Network,” where Faye Dunaway’s reptilian producer character changes the programming line – up to reflect every raging nutjob on the planet, each with their own show. Wonder what Paddy Chayefkski would think of his parody becoming a reality.

    Dmac (1ddf7e)

  5. Wonder what Paddy Chayefkski would think of his parody becoming a reality.

    Programming today is far beyond the parodies of programming presented in “Network.”

    Paul (creator of "Staunch Brayer") (14d6a1)

  6. I found your site on Google and read a few of your other entires. Nice Stuff. I’m looking forward to reading more from you.

    Jamie Holts (322264)

  7. So she wants Obama to try them and then shoot them instead? Be careful what you wish for, Rachel.

    It is kind of sad to see the dream die in a lefty’s eyes, though, isn’t it?

    Patricia (2183bb)

  8. It must be soul-crushing for her. The only man who has ever excited her has let her down.

    It must be like when I found out that no, that stripper doesn’t actually think I’m hot; its my money she’s hot for.

    Scott Jacobs (90ff96)

  9. I think there are two alternatives.

    The United States Constitution does not require the release of prisoners of war. So declare them prisoners of the war bin laden declared upon the United States and hold them for the duration.

    The second alternative is to release them into the cutody of people like Maddow, Hamsher et al but under strict surveillance and arrest them when they commit a crime.

    Terry Gain (6b2a64)

  10. Boo Freakin’ hoo!

    Get over it Rachel. You elected an unqualified fraud. What did you expect?

    daleyrocks (5d22c0)

  11. Kinda sucks when reality won’t be denied, doesn’t it< Rachel?

    Paul (creator of "Staunch Brayer") (14d6a1)

  12. Need I point out that it is homophobic and misogynistic to criticize MadCow? Prolly racist too, right EfP?

    JD (e7c77f)

  13. That’s a MAN baby, yeah!

    She/he should just change its name to Richie Maddow or something…

    thebronze (d8b94d)

  14. Get over it Rachel. You elected an unqualified fraud. What did you expect

    The socialist workers’ paradise

    Horatio (e2e328)

  15. What can you say? Two people, who basically agree, being so wrong about everything they say.

    First you have Rachel Maddow. Why would her opinion about anything matter to anyone more so than any nut braying on the street corner, except she’s on TV?

    Second, you have the President. His only point ever seems to be that the previous administration was bad, but I’ll do more of the things I said were bad, but those things will be good now, because, now, I said so.

    A person on TV is a person on TV saying things. A person on the radio is a person on the radio saying things.

    And you have his top political adviser on the radio saying that he should have named the White House dog “Miss California.”

    A person in the White House means something.

    Good God, is there a grown-up anywhere around?

    Ag80 (425b0a)

  16. Obama is so inconsiderate.

    He should have telegraphed his intentions sooner, so they could gracefully have backed away from their phony outrage about Gitmo and water boarding as torture.
    As it is, he’s left them no choice but to sputter against him lest they look like complete hypocrites.

    MayBee (c50b9d)

  17. Taking heart in the small victories; watching the big smiles on the faces of those on the far left slowly fade away. The realization that their messiah will not be granting them carte blanche in their lightning speed rush to euro-socialism. Welcome to reality. And why is that guy named Rachel?

    Marty Farty (73baad)

  18. JD’a holging back again – whew what restraint 🙂

    EricPWJohnson (063bfa)

  19. […] Obama: Patterico’s Pontifications, Preston Falls Review, Frankie Sturm, Loud and Clear, Right Pundits, Salmon and Grits, Hyscience, […]

    5/24-PCW on P-SPAN « Political Championship Wrestling (661794)

  20. I wonder what Maddow would be willing to sacrifice in the cause of freedom? I wonder what inconvenience, no matter how great or small, she would willingly undergo for the country she resides in?

    Therein lies the problem. People like her make me wonder. I wonder what value she places on living in this great country and what price she would pay to help perpetuate it’s promise and greatness. There is little valor in enjoying the benefits of our rights as a citizenry if we treat those who ensure it’s continuation by risking all that others may carry the flag.

    I still wonder…and that is a problem!

    vet66 (57dc68)

  21. DRJ,
    Nice to see you back here, although I don’t envy you your concurrent responsibility for reading Firedog Lake and monitoring “Mad Rachel” Maddow.

    The operative word here is obviously “crime.” We don’t hold terrorist prisoners captured overseas for crimes that they might commit in the future… (wasn’t that turned into an especially bad Tom Cruise movie?.

    No, but we do hold prisoners of war, as has always been done, until the war is concluded. We did not start this war, and we did not cause its Islamist enlistees to begin it.

    This is a real war (ask anyone who’s been involved in this one, or any other), not an “overseas contingency operation,” and the enemy’s “crimes” are truly war crimes, not “human-caused disasters,” or whatever term of art the supposedly articulate but definitely loquacious Lord Obama is now employing.

    I just finished watching Obama’s speech at Arlington Cemetery. It was a good one. He has great promise as a presidential press secretary, but the very idea that this quasi-academic cipher is the current POTUS remains the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen in politics in my lifetime.

    driver (56cdca)

  22. That is the problem of the left. They do not understand war. As driver previously stated. We are not holding them because of crimes. They are enemy combatants who were captured not arrested. They are being held because of who they are and where they were not what they did. German army cooks who were captured in WWII were held to the end of the war not released because they committed no crime. You just cannot cure stupid.

    Zelsdorf Ragshaft III (883df0)

  23. LBJ, responding to newscoverage of the Tet Offensive, 1968: “My God, if I have lost Cronkite then I have lost middle America.”

    Dear Leader, responding to “newscoverage” of his War on Terror policies, 2009: “My God, if I have lost Maddow then I have lost DailyKos.”

    JVW (fdc303)

  24. DRJ, driver’s mention at #22 above of “the most ridiculous thing I’ve seen in politics in my lifetime” opens the issue for differing opinions and suggests a great topic for a new post. What say you?

    Ropelight (e36d4f)

  25. Ropelight,

    Good idea. I like threads where we all get to offer our perspectives, and that sounds like a good one.

    DRJ (2901e6)

  26. Oh well Rachel, deal wit it.you just mad…lmfao..

    maddnuz (e7b858)

  27. Driver,

    I agree it’s important that Maddow treats this as a law-and-order issue rather than a war-terrorism issue. That’s the partisan deal-breaker on this issue, and it’s not unlike the similar divide in the abortion debate in which there is really no common ground.

    It’s good to see you, too, driver. FWIW, I sense a frustration in your comments that I’ve noticed in mine. I’m not depressed about today’s politics because I have faith in the American system and its people, but I’m frustrated at the wasteful and indulgent path this Administration is leading us on.

    DRJ (2901e6)

  28. Wasteful and indulgent? I do not have the same amount of tact as you 😉

    JD (8e9826)

  29. We each have our strengths, JD. I may be tactful but you know how to speak forcefully. There is value in both.

    DRJ (2901e6)

  30. “I’m not depressed about today’s politics because I have faith in the American system and its people,”

    I am sorry to say that I have completely lost that faith. After decades of observing the public very repeatedly make the same stupid errors and fall for the same stupid lies, I do not believe that they are capable of adult responsibility and self-governance. They want to regress to self-indulgent adolescence, and they want the state to play mommy and daddy.

    And they are looking to Obama, who is still in his own playpen, to be daddy.

    Federal Dog (8cd1b8)

  31. Sometimes we all have to learn lessons the hard way, Federal Dog. This will be a hard lesson for a lot of folks.

    DRJ (2901e6)

  32. DRJ,
    I wish I could share your “the glass is half-full, not half-empty” optimism; that was once my default position. I think that it is possible that we will once more dodge the socialist bullet, but the emphasis should be on “possible,” and “once more.” If we screw this one last chance up, we will never get another shot at staving off government-enforced collectivism. So says I.

    If we dodge this one, this time, it will due to sheer, dumb luck, emphasis on “dumb,” and “luck.” Right now, I am on my knees praying for dumb luck, and that is not a position I ever envisioned for myself.

    driver (56cdca)

  33. Who the heck thinks that the parodies of NETWORK were not already crossed the day MSNBC was founded in 1996 when Ann Coulter, Niger Innis, Laura Ingraham were on every day pontificating all day on issues they had not a clue about. It was MSNBC that made this entire mess possible and by the time Fox News came along and snapped up the format, mixed it with a hard right agenda and then started inviting every Moonie(Tony Blankley) and Evangelical nutbag (Tony Snow and all the smiling robots who host throughout the mornings and weekends) and later on when O’Reilly and Hannitty(two beer swilling nits from Long Island) started kneeling before Dick Morris like he was the oracle at Delphi… all that was needed was for them to hire Sybil the Soothsayer herself to show up for daily pontifications.. and then they DID hire HIM from CNN in the form of Glen Beck.

    The Damage to America has already been done. In the form of Reagan-Bush-clinton(Reagan Lite a la DLC)-Bush II.. that’s 30 years of tearing apart the social contract the New Deal and the Great Society and replacing it with a lot of hot air! And you know what they say about hot air.. it makes Orrin Hatch’s wig slide off his head. These clowns have melted the glue off the wheels while we’re speeding down the highway at 100 miles an hour. Then Obama comes in and in 15 weeks it’s all HIS fault. Hey.. if you guys can stick Obama with YOUR mess then you’ll go down in history as the greatest fascist liars since Goebbels(a record I’m ALREADY ready to award you TODAY!)!

    Obama2012 (9bae6a)

  34. I wonder what the people thought of when they were in the twin towers on 9-11-01. They either had to burn up in the jet fuel fire or jump to their death and that was a very sad site to see on t.v. that day.

    I often wondered if the people that day was thinking of forsite or fear.

    Some one needs to get a hold of this country and do it fast.

    God bless George Bush and this used to be a great country and it’s going to hell real fast.

    comment by a person in layman terms, 6-1-9 5:53 pm

    bill sensabaugh (6e595e)


Powered by WordPress.

Page loaded in: 0.0843 secs.