Chris Matthews, the center-right (if you think the 20-yard line is the "center") Goldwater Republican of his youth, waxes sublime toward Andrew Sullivan on a favorite topic of Chris's, our "pragmatic center-right president" postulated by Sullivan's Newsweek piece. It hits President Obama's critics, and all of Chris's political erogenous zones from left and right: "Okay, you're a genius," gushes Chris to a blushing Andrew. Huh?
It should be noted that the simpatico Andrew is an eccentric gay "conservative," a Brit expatriate-cum-citizen, naturellement, like his late, great compadre Chris Hitchens, who idolized Ronald Reagan and now sees President Obama as today's Reagan. In my experience, people who change horses in midstream like Matthews and Sullivan may be entertaining ideological Yo-Yos, but seldom are they grounded in reality. And the Brit righties are notorious for being in a class of their own, a type of Tea Party carpetbagger. Maybe it has something to do with their natural, cultural affinity for tea. Here's a synopsis of Andrew's triangulating article:
Matthews, of course, believes the Left's critique is "impractical." He calls Progressives "the flagellant class" dedicating his final minutes with boyfriend Andrew to dissing us. We're neither monolithic nor ideologues, which makes their little ditty surrounding ponytails, motorcycle gangs, and age groups stupid and irrelevant. If you've ever felt embarrassed for people making fools of themselves, you'll know what I mean."Andrew Sullivan has written a cover story for Newsweek Why Obama's Critics are Dumb. The right calls him a socialist, the left says he sucks up to Wall Street, and independents think he's a wimp. Andrew Sullivan on how the president may just end up outsmarting them all."
Chris's colleague, Lawrence O'Donnell, thinks we're stupid and naïve, which is rich considering his fanciful, fictitious political analyses. One word, Larry-O: T-Paw. Here's Lawrence riffing off his condescending 'adee-tude' toward the Left: "And are you one of the disappointed Obama voter, who sits there and says, hey, wait a minute, how comes he has to get Congress' approval for these things he wants to do?"
That's really cute, Larry. No, you nitwit, we're the rightfully 'disappointed' Obama voters who urged him, time and again, to stop trying to compromise with these Republican ratbastards in hopes of peeling off one or two 'Maine' senators to make his health care look bipartisan. We warned the President, I warned him in an extended e-mail to the White House, posted here, it's not gonna happen, time's a-wastin' Mr. President, strike while the iron's hot. Guess what Lawrence, we Progressives were right, you and Chris were wrong. So STFU already. It's amazing, this capacity of yours for self-delusion inside your Beltway Media bubble.
Chris keeps flogging the same "public option" carcass (speaking of "flagellant class") without, still, understanding our practical, strategic concerns. At the end of the day, Chris, how many Republican votes were there for "Obamacare" and did it pass with the filibuster-proof 60 votes? Yeah, we know: *CRICKETS*. This pushback critique of Sullivan's piece, in my view, is spot-on target:
Questions for Chris: What exactly is "dog whistle" and what is it intended to signify? Are you forbidden from saying "racism" anymore when referring to the Republican Party? Even your commentary intimated it by mentioning "race" but never attributed racism to the racists. What are you afraid of? And why bring on Ron Christie, a lying Republican Uncle Tom to speak of this, instead of Gene Robinson, who was actually at the debate? Did you miss how loathsome and vile that Republican crowd was last night, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day? Repeat after me, Chris: "This is racism." Can you say it? Or have you turned into a coward in your old age. As Martin Luther King Jr. said: “There comes a time when silence is betrayal.”"The same kind of cronyism that poisoned his health-reform also invaded his handling of the financial crisis. This led not just to bailouts but the increasing concentration of financial power in the big six banks, setting up the system for another round of bailouts in the future.
At some point, the top players in lots of sectors in the American economy, in education, finance, military-industry, or health-care are operating less and less in a free market, and more and more in government licensed cartels.
In one sense there is a reason why critics of Obama on the right and left seem to contradict each other. At times we really do seem to be getting the worst of both worlds. The middle and working classes get the heartless layoff notices of capitalism, while the richest see their losses "socialized" away.
It's a problem Obama did not invent, but one he has intensified. And it isn't "dumb" to say so."
Shame on you, Chris Matthews.
PS - E tu, Joy-Ann Reid and Michael Eric Dyson? How many adjectives for "racism" do you have to come up with? I heard 'tribal', 'dog whistle' of course, 'vitriol', 'low-down', 'this kind of [insert word 'racist' here] language', finally from Michael: 'racist Republican reactionary agenda.' All right. Finally.
Memo To MSNBC Suits: Stop insulting our intelligence. I'm thinking the on-camera commentators got the 'proverbial memo' from upstairs. Tell me I'm wrong. Al Gore was right about MSNBC.
of you have sat, and perhaps thought, with us!
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