Nope. No Liberal Media Here.
By Mitch Berg
If, say, Ed Morrissey – my friend, radio colleague and longtime fellow Northern Alliance blogger – were to write something in incredibly dubious taste, and I wanted to do something to say “I’m not with him on this”, what would it be called?
Disavowing?
Repudiating?
Chiding?
You have a wide variety of English verbs to use for the purpose.
One of them would not be “Back Off”. To back off of something implies you’ve done something in the first place to “back off” from.
Kevin Diaz, writing at the Strib’s “Hot Dish Politics” blog, notes that Rep. Bachmann has repudiated/chided some of the people who brought some fairly inappropriate placards to her demonstration on Capitol Hill last week:
U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann, who’s been getting a lot of media attention since her starring role at a D.C. rally against the House health reform bill last week, has been distancing herself from the Holocaust imagery displayed by some of the participants in the event.
“Sadly, some individuals chose to marginalize tragic events in human history, such as the Holocaust, by invoking imagery and labels which have no purpose in a policy debate about health care,” the Minnesota Republican said in a statement she has been sending out to reporters in recent days.
Of course, whenever you go to a demonstration that is open to the general public, you’re going to draw a thin film of nutters. They turned out to all three of the Minnesota Tea Parties – a tiny few of them, anyway (although the leftymedia coverering the event did in fact focus on them to the exclusion of the 99% majority of pretty regular workadaddy hugamommy people who showed up – a dishonesty far worse than Fox News’ inflation of the Bachmann rally’s numbers in its own way). And if you’re a conservative, you get used to having to drag liberals back to the real conversation; to too many of them, the odd nutter at a conservative rally is like a shiny piece of tinfoil to a kitten.
The placard in question, the leftymedia bleated, was one showing piles of bodies at a concentration camp after World War II; it equated Obamacare to the Nazi healthcare plan applied to Jews. As I noted in this blog last week, it was pretty stupid, partly for its historical ignorance, and more for the opening it gave the leftymedia to portray the event as if every protester and Rep. Bachmann was carrying one.
(I also noted that it’s great, absolutely fabulous in fact, that the left…
…has gotten so very conscientious…
…about not wanting to cheapen the horror of the Holocaust and the Nazi regime…
…for moronic political effect.
Well played, Left!
At any rate, it was a stupid placard. And Rep. Bachmann repudiated/chided it:
“These regrettable actions negatively shift the focus of the current discussion on this issue,” her statement continues. “The American people deserve an open and honest debate to ensure the best possible solution to our health care problems, and I agree that these unfortunate instances are wholly inappropriate.”
Of course, Bachmann’s demonstration drew blood, and the left realizes it needs to marginalize it as much as possible – in this case, by trying to convince the world that a duck is not a duck, or in this case that a moron with an inappropriate placard is really an official statement by Rep. Bachmann (in the same way that the right ascribed the many, many trivializations of Naziism that became such a cottage industry on the left, to the left):
Bachmann’s statement comes after U.S. Rep. Steve Israel, a Jewish Democrat from Long Island, called on her to apologize for the offending images at the Capitol Hill rally, which she’s been largely credited with inspiring and organizing.
Yadda yadda.
At any rate, this is all background to the real point of this post. Now, with newspaper headlines in print editions, headlines are usually not the responsibility of the writer/reporter who does the actual story. It’s a copy editor who writes those.
I’m not sure who writes the headlines on the Strib’s online publications – if it was Kevin Diaz, or some minion in the copy or web department. But someone put a title on Diaz’ post:
Bachmann backs off from Holocaust images
Er, yeah. But Bachmann didn’t use any Holocaust images. She never mentioned the Holocaust, to my knowledge, in the history of the healthcare debate, much less at her demonstration. It was someone in the audience.
How can Bachmann “back off” something she, herself, never did, said or implied?
And if your answer is “the leader is responsible for the actions of even his/her most demented follower”, then I’ll await your collective apology, from President Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Barbara Boxer and Howard Dean on down, for the repeated, slanderous “Nazi” references that conservatism and conservatives have endured this past nine years.
Deal?
November 13th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Ah yes, once again, rightwing bad behavior is o.k. cause you claim the other side does the same thing. I guess Angryclown can neutralize this post by pointing out that you *always* highlight the off-message lefties – people with the Free Mumia, pro-Palestinian, human rights for cows signs – at every rally you comment on. Not to mention your comical fear of anti-RNC protesters and the legions of supposed union thug counter-teabaggers – no wonder your mom fears for your life!)
But that would be to hold SitD to the standard of a blog that expresses the blogger’s actual beliefs and ideas. Not a tawdry propaganda blog for your slavering wingnut pals.
November 13th, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Good lord, it’s like chasing a greased pig.
Ah yes, once again, rightwing bad behavior is o.k. cause you claim the other side does the same thing.
Well, no, Bachmann and, for what matter, I both repudiated the bad behavior in no uncertain terms.
And y’all on the left…
{{crickets}}
November 13th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
Angryclown is opposed to all bad behavior. Except his own.
Hey insane wingnuts, Angryclown submits this link for your entertainment. Don’t say Angryclown never gave you anything.
http://snipurl.com/t7zc7
November 13th, 2009 at 2:51 pm
Ahh, flinging pooh is what you do best Asswipe. “Once again rightwing bad behavior is o.k. cause you claim the other side does the same thing.” No no, your side has bad behavior because you claim you’re morally superior and therefore you excuse yourselves from living what you preach to us. Like tolerance and embracing diversity, you know, pesky ideas like those.
November 13th, 2009 at 2:52 pm
AC wasn’t it you that said we were sexist at our core? You do know that a majority of white women haven’t voted for a democratic presidential candidate since LBJ?
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/11/13/what_white_women_want_surprisingly_the_gop_99144.html
November 13th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
It’s not so much that we’re morally superior, Ballmouth Mike. It’s that you are so morally inferior to normal people.
November 13th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
It seems like only yesterday when the likes of Peeve and AC were here a-spewing names like Nazi, BusHitler, fascist, hate, bigot, and so on and so forth.
Wait a minute… it was, wasn’t it?
What a couple of racist Nazi fascists.
November 13th, 2009 at 4:04 pm
Well, gee, Badda, why not lie about me since I’m unlikely to show up and catch you…
I never, not once, EVER used the term Bushitler, not that I don’t think the guy wasn’t a kissing cousin to a facist, I did and do.. the evidence spoke for itself – he advocated secret, illegal police-state tactics with respect to violating FISA, he suspended habeaus corpus, he created secret prisons to which he spirited away people without trial or hope of release.
However, I don’t think he was Hitler, nope, not close, not ever. I think Cheney lacked nearly all sense of compunction, but even he wasn’t a homophobic, anti-semitic lunatic who advocated state sponsored genocide as a ‘solution’ to an imaginary problem.
On the other hand, of course, Bush and Cheney were all to happy to run the debt up for an unneeded war, lining the pockets of their friends and contributors, and wreaking havoc on our economy for what likely will be decades, using a religious group (muslims) as excuse to attack the middle-class’ pay and liberties, all fairly well hallmarks of how facism was implemented…
Anyway – Mitch – on to more serious notes than the blather of Badda-
So, I’m assuming then you don’t hold Bill Clinton accountable for the what happened at our nuclear research facilities then, correct?
I also assume you don’t blame Clinton for failures in Somalia which helped lead to ‘Black Hawk Down”, and you don’t blame Clinton for the selection of targets in Iraq or a host of other things which were handled at the operational level – right?
Bachmann isn’t responsible for the nuts who show up, but she is responsible for setting a tone that encourages such conduct. Her words in the past have come damned close to calling Obama and others facists – even though the appellation is only aplicable IF you decide to use utter revisionism and essentially allege there is no such thing as a form right wing tyranny and so ALL tyranny is effectively linked (as you have so asserted in the past – Hitler used Lenin’s words, Lenin was a communists, comminists are like socialist, socialists are like liberals, ipso facto liberals are facists – yeah, and with such logic we can say that people are like pizza – which while tantelizingly good for our psyche, still isn’t true).
Bachmann is an irresponsible alarmist, the words that pass her lips seem ill-thought thru nearly every time or worse HAVE been thought about and are still uttered. She’ll be gerrymandered out of a job in a year or so, and the state will be better for her retirement.
November 13th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Mitch said: “Good lord, it’s like chasing a greased pig.”
Let’s keep swiftea’s sexual preferences out of this.
November 13th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
And yours, too. “Ballmouth Mike.” I think Bozo likes you, Plymouth.
November 13th, 2009 at 6:21 pm
Penigma, you don’t know what a fascist is.
That’s why you voted for proto-fascist Obama.
Maybe you think the commies in soviet Russia were fascists? They fit your description much, much better than Bush does.
November 13th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
I find it funny how not only penisma uses the term fascism wrong, but he can’t even spell it right.
November 13th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
Angry Clown has discovered that it’s no fun to be a partisan democrat when it turns out he elected a moron.
The new ‘independent’ Angry Clown. ROFLMAO!
November 14th, 2009 at 8:57 am
Mitch:
Thanks for locating and posting the “artwork.” Of course there were many more viscious examples, but your subscribers, literate or not, get the picture. And speaking of the latter, you have a significant troll population here. Not that there’s anything wrong with trolls. Kept in a humidity controlled and safe environment, they can rant for years without ever confronting the illogic of their arguments, or worse, travelling to a human rights-free zone where they would encounter practitioners of the repressive and lethal techniques they falsely ascribe to the democratically elected and constitutional government at home that in fact protects their rights to be trolls.
November 14th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Lest we forget:
The Gallery of ‘Bush = Hitler’ Allusions
November 14th, 2009 at 11:11 am
Penigma,
So, I’m assuming then you don’t hold Bill Clinton accountable for the what happened at our nuclear research facilities then, correct?
Bill Clinton was the Chief Executive.
The NRC is in the Executive Branch.
He is their boss.
While he wasn’t directly reponsible, and accountability was diffused through many ranks of the bureaucracy, being accountable for the executive branch was his job and responsibility.
I also assume you don’t blame Clinton for failures in Somalia which helped lead to ‘Black Hawk Down”, and you don’t blame Clinton for the selection of targets in Iraq or a host of other things which were handled at the operational level – right?<'/i>
Blame? I think in Somalia he was more driven by politics than anything, and that he erred, but it was an error any President could have made.
But all of those are non-sequiturs, because Bachmann doesn’t have a civil service or military chain of command with the protesters who show up.
Bachmann isn’t responsible for the nuts who show up, but she is responsible for setting a tone that encourages such conduct.
‘
And that is subjective to the point of meaninglessness. “Tone” is in the mind of the beholder, and Bachmann’s beholders have taken their interpretation of her “tone” as grounds to accuse her of murder.
November 14th, 2009 at 1:51 pm
This is an overall, generalized observation, but…
We have not conducted operations at the Operational level since before Vietnam.
As network centricity becomes more a part of military operations, strategic level decision makers spend increasing amounts of time all the way down at the tactical level (eg. the ‘strategic implications of tactical actions require…..blah, blah, blah’)–great if you’re selling comm software!
Classic example would be the targeting VTCs during Kosovo (not too different from Johnson’s targeting teas)
The level of ‘cleared to drop’ required for the bro’s to employ in this conflict is amazing….just saying
November 14th, 2009 at 5:04 pm
Fingers,
Just so I make sure I know our definitions are straight – wouldn’t the clearance of Fallujah have been conducted on the operational level, for one example?
November 14th, 2009 at 5:29 pm
Mitch said: “Good lord, it’s like chasing a greased pig.”
AssClown blurted: “Let’s keep swiftea’s sexual preferences out of this.”
Swiftee kindly responds: “I’m going to say this once more. I never had sexual relations with that woman; Mrs. AssClown.”
November 14th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
“guess Angryclown can neutralize this post by pointing out that you *always* highlight the off-message lefties – people with the Free Mumia, pro-Palestinian, human rights for cows signs – at every rally you comment on.”
Actually, Angry Clown, your comment could be nuetralized by pointing out that you frequently label commenters on SITD as nazi’s, fascists, etc, etc.
It’s kind of funny to see you whine about incivilty, tho.
Ha.
Done laughing now.
November 15th, 2009 at 4:14 am
Mitch,
It would be a stretch to place Fallujah at the operational level, though it certainly required theater level planning and asset employment. I realize it was called an operation, but I would say it is a decent example of identifying a mission, planning for, and carrying it out without the inevitable ‘strategic pauses’ (political off-ramps??) which can hamper so many of our ops (Missions planned to use speed and information to knock the enemy off balance and never let him reacquire it).
I would qualify it as a tactical level operation with operational and strategic impact. For Operational level, think MNF-I vice 1st Marines.
In the end, at least a dozen arm-chair Patton’s will probably argue for each label.
November 15th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Gotcha. I was never really sure where the cutoffs between “tactical”, “operational” and “strategic” were.