March 25, 2011

"Rave On" — a new Bloggingheads with me and Bob Wright.



Topics:
  • Ann’s family feud with liberals, Rob Farley, et al.
  • Bob defends Libyan intervention
  • Is there an Obama Doctrine?
  • Could the Supreme Court stop a war?
  • Creepy Wisconsin protester threatens Ann
  • Bob vs. Ann on the meaning of free speech

87 comments:

coketown said...

I imagined "Let's Rave On" by the Ravonettes playing when you said that. Excellent delivery :) And appropriate for your comments policy.

As far as the Obama doctrine goes (and I think this holds for his campaign doctrine as well as foreign policy), I think it's to not establish objectives to that failure isn't an option. Whatever you accomplish, it's a success. But whatever the real objectives are in Libya, and not the PR-friendly non-objectives, I hope Obama succeeds.

Alex said...

Bob Wright is a knee-jerk liberal who defends Obama with his slurpity slurp slurp if ya know what I mean.

The Crack Emcee said...

Bob defends Libyan intervention

Does it go something like this?

mesquito said...

I can't wait to hear Bad Faith Bob defend the war in Libya. It'll max out the Biden-o-meter, to be sure.

Alex said...

Librulz love Obama's Libyan action because it's done in a way that suggests "anything but the way Bush would do it". Playing games with our military people. I am SO disgusted right now you can't imagine. Cold-eyed rage I tell ya.

Alex said...

Remember - ANYTHING BUT BUSH is their mantra.

ricpic said...

Comes The Dawn

Conform, conform, don't non-conform,
If to the truth and light you're sworn;
Abjure conforming by all means
If you through the true light have seen.

coketown said...

Wright's distinction between Iraq and Libya was one of degree and not of kind: Ostensibly humanitarian interventions to take down an oppressive dictator with the aim of sowing the seeds of democracy for the future. I don't see how you can justify one without justifying the other, except that, as Ann points out, that the risk to US troops is far smaller by being so far removed.

Alex said...

For 8 years we were told that the Bush action in Iraq was the HEIGHT of horrible policy, yet Obama ostensibly is attempting the same thing in Libya and the librulz are slurping his bunghole.

Lucien said...

I thought Bob's criticism of Ann on the free speach issue was a little off in that the post he quoted to show Ann had been misleading seemed to indicate that the person posting it formed their opinion based on Bob's BHTV statments, rather than Ann's gloss on them.

Big Mike said...

44 seconds into the conversation and I had already heard all of Bob Wright I could stand.

So now you're accused of being a non-conformist? Oh! The horror!

shiloh said...

hmm, (70) minutes, but AA you do have a nice, disingenuous smile ...

Joseph said...

I'd love to hear your thoughts on Community's recent homage to My Dinner with Andre: http://www.hulu.com/watch/225304/community-critical-film-studies#play-queued-show-by-original_premiere_date-asc

Alex said...

, but AA you do have a nice, disingenuous smile ...

And thus continues the endless stream of insults.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The saying was "politics stops at the waters edge".

I know.. water doesn't have an edge.. my guess is that stopping at the shore would not sound as good as stopping at the waters edge.

traditionalguy said...

Bob Wright could not do his usual cute spin of equivalent acts in the presence of someone who KNOWS WHAT REALLY HAPPENED in Madison Wisconsin. That made Bob the thinker of thoughts angry because he had no way to handle a person who did not go along with his exaggerations. (Hint:Exaggerating is lying, Bob).

Alex said...

Maybe Bob Wright should simply shun doing Bloggingheads with Althouse because he gets to angry and incoherent.

traditionalguy said...

Alert!! Scot Walker's law got published. Damn the TRO and full speed ahead.

Bayoneteer said...

I dunno. BW is such an asshole. His debating style is quite dishonest. AA deserves someone better to spar with.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Collective bargaining law published despite court order blocking it.

oh oh..

mike said...

Wow, that is one upset lib. Here's the problem Robert: you complain about Beck motivating people to commit violence and yet you don't seem to even slightly care about the 18 or so death threats leveled at the GOP legislators in Wisconsin. I guess because they are Republicans and their lives aren't worth as much as those of Democrats. And BTW, Bush had 17 UN resolutions to back up the invasion of Iraq. And Congress' approval. Also, Robert, VP Biden said that if a president fails to get Congressional approval prior to launching military action then he should be impeached. Geez, no wonder you libs are losing so badly. Seriously, this is the best you can do?

Anonymous said...

Blogger The Crack Emcee said...

Bob defends Libyan intervention

Does it go something like this?

3/25/11 6:46 PM

Exactly like that.

That video is going viral.

Trooper York said...

Rave on John Donne.

Alex said...

Of course Bob Wright doesn't care about the death threats issued against GOPers - they are garbage to him. Remember that. The left has dehumanized you.

Carol_Herman said...

Well, Sarkozy didn't want Q-Daffy to follow through with his threat, and expose the billions in transfers. I'd bet the same is true for Hillary. So, Hillary stepped forward, and tossed in a few Tomahawks.

Does it have a downside?

Isn't that always the political question?

Downside to the elder Bush president was pretty swift. But when he was running for re-election, Ross Perot stepped forward as an Independent. Got to be on the ballots of all 50-States. And, grabbed off 19% of the vote. After a paranoid episode on TV. Where Perot said he was going to quit. And, he made his Chief of Staff cry (in public).

Bill Clinton won. And, Monica didn't take him out of the running.

Bill Clinton left office, too, with high popularity ratings.

Then, of course, Bush v. Gore. Followed by Bush V. Kerry.

I'm like Casey Stengle wondering if politicians even have to know how to play the game to succeed.

Just like one of those events, where you put seeds into the ground, not knowing what they are. And, whatever grows takes over the lawn.

Anonymous said...

Oh, my God!

An hour and ten minutes of this!

Can you provide a brief synopsis?

Maybe a minute and a half of the highlights?

Writ Small said...

Can I just say that Bob's utter lack of concern over actual threats of violence stands in such contrast to his absolutely hysterical outrage over conservative speech with the most tenuous of links to the Tuscon shooting.

Think about that for a minute. A possibly distured man with the proximity to do real harm threatens to "Fuck (you) up" and incites others of like mind to participate, and Bob makes light of it.

Remember how apoplectic Bob was when Beck described Piven as one of America's most dangerous people after SHE advocated violence. Because some nut job threatened her, Bob asserted conservatives in general and Beck in particular were to blame.

Ann has never tried to spread the blame to other, non-participants the way Bob so despicably has.

shiloh said...

Ann has never tried to spread the blame ...

Indeed as everything is Obama's fault in AA's limited universe.

Mark B said...

I saw a nature show on TV once that showed a fight to the death between a lizard and a snake. I was struck by the total lack of emotion in both creatures. It horrified me. The same way Bob Wright horrifies me when he dismisses rank intimidation and thinly veiled threats.

bagoh20 said...

In listening to how poorly informed Robert Wright is (unless he's faking it), you really appreciate what Meadehouse has done on this blog over the last month. If he saw what we did, he could never make his arguments about comparisons with the Tea Party. It's like talking to someone who's been asleep for a month.

His knowledge base on the subject is what most of the country got from the MSM. Pathetic.

WV: aufol That's cool.

Writ Small said...

At the risk of incurring the wrath of your many trollish haters, Ann, that was a bravura performance. Bob may be the best debater on the left, and you were at least his equal.

P.S. I know how to spell Tucson, as I was in town on business the week after the shooting, although any other spelling mistakes are words I must not know how to spell.

@Shilo - thanks for quoting me so close to my original post, so your distortion of my meaning is clear to all.

Unknown said...

Interesting.

The passion in Ann's face as she talks about the threats to her - and Meade - is electric, but Wright can't be bothered to look her in the eye.

Clearly, the lady is concerned for her husband's safety as well as her own, but the wuss on the other side is bored. Just like The Zero

Frankly, I was waiting for her to get mad and tell him to do her the courtesy of looking her in the eye.

shiloh said...

Ann, that was a bravura performance. Bob may be the best debater on the left, and you were at least his equal.

WT, your conservative hyperbole and AA worship is duly noted. Too bad you couldn't recognize mine.

And you proceed from a false premise ie your continuing hyperbole, of your many trollish haters as she is at best, only worthy of amusement. One, as a rule, has to hold a position of importance to be "hated" by the opposition.

take care

Steve Burri said...

A very worthwhile listen. As a Conservative and having disagreement with a good deal of what Mr. Wright argued, I was glad to hear his points.

His statements on Libya were interesting, but there is nothing to yet show the fruit. It just may be that over time the 'winning' side will end up killing the other without boots on the ground keeping the peace.

The comparison of the Tea Party protests and the Madison protests seemed far over the top.

Very nice job.

Thanks.

coketown said...

@shiloh: Oh come on. You don't haunt AA's comment threads for "amusement." You said in response to one of my comments that your 'tension meter never goes above zero' in these threads. And we all know that's baloney. Nobody compulsively, almost obsessively, participates in activities that are banal, uninteresting, and barely pass for amusement, as you do on AA's blog. You get off on punching up at Ann and being derided by others.

Trooper York said...

I know I speak for all the regular commenters here at the evil blogger lady's place when I say to all the guys at boringheads thanks for not inviting us to participate.

Youse guys are swell.

Ann Althouse said...

"The passion in Ann's face as she talks about the threats to her - and Meade - is electric, but Wright can't be bothered to look her in the eye."

Even if he had bothered, it would have been hard, as we were talking on the telephone.

Anonymous said...

I thought it was a reasonable discussion. I myself am waiting to see what becomes of the Libya situation, while enumerating the risks and doubts. I don't support Obama domestically on most fronts but I still think he's better than McCain on foreign policy would have been.

On free speech, I'm with Ann, though I think Bob has a high standard of what it means (it's fun to poke at him, just like his commenters do ad naueseum to all outside their clique, but they will debate) to engage in journalism.

I just happen to disagree with much of what he says, and become exasperated at the mainstreaming of so many hackish Leftists on Bloggingheads (Goldberg, hamsher, Fernholz etc).

Thank you for your "civility bullshit" tag Althouse, and keeping the tent up and open. He could learn something from you.

shiloh said...

Coketown, as mentioned, I do enjoy pointing out AA's hypocrisy and "enjoy" her self-righteous certitude in all of her "opinions".

And yes, it is somewhat amusing how some of my groupies ie Fen, edutcher, Alex et al find it impossible to totally ignore me.

Speaking of hyperbole, her previous interview w/Tim Noah when she mentioned she was totally financially secure and yet still "pans for gold" at this blog and that she had the best political blog on the net was tedious at best.

But my "work" is done here to the point of redundancy, so it may be time to move on ...

Again, nothing new under the sun at political blogs.

Anonymous said...

Again, nothing new under the sun at political blogs.

And, yet, you've spent your entire day here, as usual.

Not much to do, eh shiloh?

Big Mike said...

But my "work" is done here to the point of redundancy, so it may be time to move on ...

Well don't let us keep you.

But if you really worked for a living you'd know the difference between commenting on someone else's blog and work.

Just sayin'

coketown said...

@shoutingthomas: I can relate to Shiloh. There are several Seventh Day Adventist blogs I haunt. On Saturdays, while they're in church, I load up their comment sections with youtube links to various percussion instruments. Then on Sunday, while in church, I get on my phone and comment, "Guess where I am on this fine Sabbath!"

Really quite amusing.

Anonymous said...

To put the point on our troll's self-congratulation...

Althouse's blog draws 86,000 page hits per day and it makes her a player on the state and national political scene.

Our troll... well, he gets noticed by a few people in the comments section.

A "Shotgun" Gold said...

So according to Bob Wrong, sorry... Wright, in order to be a real war there has to be ground troops and a ground invasion. It's nice to know that if Russia and the USA exchange ICBMs tonight we wouldn't be at war.

jim said...

Very entertaining! I wish there was more of this, & that it was a little better done ... but "diavlogs" are still too new to expect the smoothness or basic conventions that I might prefer.

Perhaps AA can show everyone the Madison "union thug rent-a-mob" massing together openly armed & applauding the need to water a certain important metaphorical tree with real human blood. If anything that overtly hateful & terroristic has happened yet there, both I & everyone else watching seem to have missed it.

+1 as to Puritanism on the left. Not exactly a news-flash: the problem predates Marx & was presciently skewered by Bakunin.

Obama's obtaining Arab League approval to attack a North African nation is a minor political miracle - yet the right continues to jeer at how "incoherent" or "dithering" this hawkish judicial heavyweight is.

The consternation of the GOP trying to throw "he's a socialist" FUD at a center-right Teflon POTUS in 2011 is a fascinating echo of liberals' failure to bring down Reagan (PBUH) despite his epic public record of criminality back in the 80s.

Even more fascinating is that Republicans have a big fat story hanging over the plate for an easy optics home-run: in reaction to Wikileaks, Obama is now initiating the harshest judicial & procedural crackdown on whistleblowers in decades. Sadly, both ideological incompatibility & manifold Republican concerns over its own 2002-2007 hijinx in this matter guarantee this disgrace a home in the belly of the Memory Hole.

Writ Small said...

Reflecting further on that debate, there was a kind of stunning admission from Bob.

He drew a comparison between the MSM coverage of the Tea Party and Meade & Ann's coverage of the Wisconsin protest. He argued that both sides focused largely on the worst of the participants they covered, since that was the more interesting story and that it reflected the biases of those doing the covering.

Accepting the premise of his argument (which I don't as much of this blog's early coverage cast the movement in a favorable light), Bob is ceding the point that the MSM went out of its way to paint the Tea Party negatively and the Wisconsin protesters favorably.

I don't know too many who would argue that point, but it is a sign of how much conservatives have won that debate that men of the left like Mr. Wright use the assumption of liberal media bias as a basis of their arguments.

shiloh said...

Add shoutingthomas to my groupie list.

Althouse's blog draws 86,000 page hits per day

Again, WWE RAW has (5+) million nightly viewers.

Huffington Compost has (40+) million monthly hits.

The Beverly Hillbillies was the #1 rated show 1962/1963.

ok, Jed and his family were quite entertaining :)

Anonymous said...

Add shoutingthomas to my groupie list.

Silly man awarding himself imaginary victories.

You'll be here again all day tomorrow with declaring yourself incredibly important.

You still have nothing to say.

You are nothing. Except an irritant. Which seems to thrill you no end.

Anonymous said...

Again, WWE RAW has (5+) million nightly viewers.

shiloh has none.

Huffington Compost has (40+) million monthly hits.

shiloh has none

The Beverly Hillbillies was the #1 rated show 1962/1963.

shiloh has no successes.

shiloh manages to irritate 4 people on a blog that isn't his. Congratulations on this tremendous victory!

shiloh said...

shoutingthomas said...

You're a waste of bytes and time.

3/25/11 4:50 PM
~~~~~


Indeed!

Anonymous said...

Indeed!

Yet another imaginary victory for our hero!

You are still nothing, shiloh. But, somebody noticed you. Yes, three people noticed your existence today. Quite a victory.

To move on to something of substance, here's a news article hinting at yet another racism hoax in academia.

Yes, another racist sign found on the door. This is a recurring theme.

shiloh said...

Again, the prosecution rests ...

vbspurs said...

Davida!

Just came home, and listening/live commenting as the video goes.

vbspurs said...

"The Right looks for converts. The Left looks for heretics."

To which Ann squealed:

"Why is the Left so DUMB?!"

It's not dumb. Leftism is just another religion, whilst the Right is merely looking for sinners.

Cheers,
Victoria

Shouting Thomas said...

Again, the prosecution rests ...

Yet another imaginary victory!

shiloh, are you aware that there are people who achieve things the real world? Not just in their imaginations?

What are you smoking?

A particularly amusing self-proclaimed victory in that you're always making your triumphant statements about your superior wisdom vis a vis Althouse.

Althouse actually has the credentials to be a prosecutor in the real world.

And you... you are nothing.

Anonymous said...

So, Mr. Nothing, will you be back again all day tomorrow to proclaim your own brilliance and your great victories?

vbspurs said...

What is Ann drinking? Looks like iced coffee. Or maybe Meade made his wife a frapuccino?

vbspurs said...

"No more Althouse for you. (heh heh heh) (raises iced coffee to salute the now delinked blogger who banned Meade)".

Sure, Ann is laughing. But it's pure passive-aggression. Hoo-ey! That's a Nixonian laugh.

vbspurs said...

Yeesh, Bob sounds very bad in talking about how it's a humanitarian mission, when we are raining bombs on them.

And how do you not have an Atlas or notes to help you jog your memory about Benghazi?

vbspurs said...

[19:00]

Ann: "Brazil has backed out of supporting us."

Bob: "Yeah, I know, but who cares."

Jesus, Mr Wright. You say that some countries are justified in their resentment towards America. You're implying that this country is guilty of doing them wrong in the past, no doubt.

But look no further than your little dismissive tone when speaking about them, to know why they gave Obama, a fellow Leftist, the cold shoulder.

vbspurs said...

So, to be clear:

The Obama Doctrine is the intervention by US forces, solely by air, in a country whose leader is attacking his people.

I take it Obama would've fully supported armed US intervention in Iraq, after Saddam gassed his own people, yes?

vbspurs said...

[27:00]

Bob Wright: "I didn't say it was a national security EMERGENCY. I said you could make a national security ARGUMENT."

Well, shoot, any clever diplomat and politico can make a bloody argument about anything. Some of them are very good and convincing, too.

But this is hardly justification for dramatic interventions in sovereign nations, as formulated by the anti-war Left.

The onus today is Barack Obama and his supporters.

To paraphrase General Petraeus, tell me why this started, and then tell me how it ends.

AND DO SO BEFORE SENDING US TROOPS INTO COMBAT.

Anga2010 said...

I kind of liked that, but I think it would have been better if you (Althouse) would have been in dialogue with someone more informed on the issues. I was embarrased for Bob.

YoungHegelian said...

What Anga2010 Said.

BW just blithly throwing out the comparison between the TP'ers mouthing off at their congresscritters as somehow equivalent to the scale and scope of the Madison protests was painful to hear.

Ya live in a cave, Bob?

vbspurs said...

[41:00]

Mr Wright, you know how racism is often defined by the person who feels racially insulted? Well, when the lady who received a DEATH THREAT says it's a DEATH THREAT, then it is.

Heavens to Murgatroyd666.

Where is the compassion?

vbspurs said...

Althouse launches a Cheney f-bomb. Where is my 9 second delay??

vbspurs said...

This is really bad. Bob Wright is not even deigning to feel bad for what happened to Ann and Meade. He's smirking, pausing to restrain his laughter, and rolling his eyes.

Let's see his reaction to having such a letter levelled at his and his wife's head, and then getting Ann to dismiss it, to see how he'd feel.

vbspurs said...

[43:00]

That's exactly right, Professor. The hate rhetoric against you is due to the cocooning of these far-Left types who rarely have to defend their positions to those who do not share their specific philosophy. Call it the Pauline Kael Doctrine, if you will.

vbspurs said...

[45:00]

Ann says "surround" just like Joe Biden pronounces it, with that Delaware intonation. Heh.

vbspurs said...

[47:03]

"CAN I FINISH CAN I FINISH CAN I FINISH!"

Teehee. Ann, you do talk a lot in your interviews, but in this particular case, it was merited. He was way too dismissive of everything you and Meade went through.

Also, did you catch how Bob Wright insinuated you felt you "had to" blog about the less savoury aspects of the Madison protests?

Well, Mr Wright, if media were doing their job as fairly and impartial as they claim, there would be less need for New Media Meade to do it for us.

vbspurs said...

As Ann emphasises that she has been blogging both the positives and negatives of the Madison protests, I am reminded of why we in the Right, say that media tilt Left.

It's not that they do not show the less positive moments of these protests. It's that their collective world view says judgementalism is wrong, most especially with underdogs.

Since they perceive Republicans to be white, moneyed, and more powerful than the traditional base which makes up Democrats, they don't think it is wrong to have more scrutiny levelled at them (such as Tea Party protests).

To all intents and purposes, this makes them have a left-leaning bias, but their bias is not exactly towards conservatism, per se.

vbspurs said...

[49:07]

Hearing Ann tell Wright how much she loves blogging about the Madison protests actually is very important for me, and I suspect for her readers.

See, AS MUCH AS I APPRECIATE THE COVERAGE, like Trooper, I miss old Althouse. Frivolous posts makes interaction between we the commentariat, more sparkling, and sometimes we disagree quite vehemently with each other regarding silly topics!

But hearing her speak about the coverage, well, you know what -- go right ahead (as if you need mine or anyone else's consent).

It's amongst the most thorough coverage around.

Alex said...

You know what I noticed right off the bat was after Ann said she and Meade had to do the citizen journalism "army of davids", Wright had to immediately issue a snark. Aren't libs just a bunch of assholes?

vbspurs said...

[63:19]

OMG, Bob Wright quotes one of the readers' comments about him, after a Blogginghead video!

Own up. Who was it?

Alex said...

It's amongst the most thorough coverage around.

and Bob Wright, Ritmo, Shiloh, AL, garage HATE her for it.

vbspurs said...

Snap, Ann hears her own echo in her headset. Now you know how you sound to the rest of us, Mrs Meade!

vbspurs said...

As the video ends, Bob Wright challenges Ann to define her idea of free speech, because he contends he misled us, her readership, about something he said.

Not only did I like her explanation of how she intreprets free speech, she explains at length how she would redress any mistakes committed by her, should they be brought to her attention.

Bob Wright then reveals that he has tried to get her to correct it, but she prevaricated in emails.

You know, Mr Wright, you sound like spurned acolyte. The lack of discretion when emailing you is noted.

Well, that's me done listening to this Blogginghead video. It was my first in nearly 3 years. How time flies, yes?

Cheers,
Victoria

Alex said...

Bob Wright at the end is hysteria about Althouse "misleading" one commenter. He's a fucking disgrace.

Unknown said...

Ann Althouse said...

"The passion in Ann's face as she talks about the threats to her - and Meade - is electric, but Wright can't be bothered to look her in the eye."

Even if he had bothered, it would have been hard, as we were talking on the telephone.


Ooops.

Thought you both had webcams and could see each other.

I stand corrected.

vbspurs said...

Hearing Ann tell Wright how much she loves blogging about the Madison protests actually is very important for me, and I suspect for her readers.

See, AS MUCH AS I APPRECIATE THE COVERAGE, like Trooper, I miss old Althouse. Frivolous posts makes interaction between we the commentariat, more sparkling, and sometimes we disagree quite vehemently with each other regarding silly topics!


Between conlawproffing and going over Meade(Clark Kent)'s latest scoop, I doubt there's much time for scouting out frivolity, but your point is not without merit, mum.

(I have a feeling Ann would like to devote a few days to silliness)

Bottom line is that Ann, as she says here (thank you for the insight, Madame), finally feels she is in the thick of it, rather than standing on the sidelines in her ivory tower.

vb, I'm fairly certain as literate a lady as you knows the play "Mr Roberts". Ann has finally gotten her transfer off the Reluctant. I think we can all appreciate her exhilaration.

We all pray the good ship Meadhouse has clear sailing.

WV "andsm" When someone wants a side of whips and chains.

Moneyrunner said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Moneyrunner said...

Ann, I like what you and your husband have done to bring the reality of the demonstrations and riots in Madison to the national attention. Great job. But after watching this video, I have to conclude that you’re no friend of either Conservatives or Moderates. Here’s part of what I wrote after seeing the video dealing with Libya (it’s too long to post here, but here’s an excerpt)

I’m afraid that the newest Right-wing darling, Ann Althouse, is also destined to go back to her Liberal roots. She and her husband are famous for their “Army of Davids” photos and videos of the union protests and riots in Madison, Wisconsin. By showing what the MSM is “spiking,” the Right has adopted her as one their own. But she’s not. Anyone who voted for Obama - and before him a long list of Democrats - is a Liberal at heart. She is, after all, a law professor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison; a position and a location that virtually guarantees that you will be a Liberal.


I was brought back to reality by this exchange she had a Bloggingheads video discussion with Robert Wright. In their discussion of the Libyan war this is what Wright said (my transcript begins at 12:00 minutes)


“This intervention was authorized by the UN security council which as a lawyer… you know … in terms of international law is actually lawful … whereas Bush’s was the opposite. The Security Council did not go along. It was .. it was … a … technically in my view an illegal war he was launching. I hope given these two facts alone the magnitude and the illegality he would have a word with the American people …” [Wright then goes on about the Arab League, an assembly of Middle Eastern dictators, asking for the UN to intervene as a way of enhancing the “legality” of Obama’s War.]

Here’s my “aha” moment: Althouse – who frequently interrupts Wright in this discussion – raises no objections. Wright is stating that the American President gets his legal authority to wage war from the United Nations Security Council, not from the American Constitution, Congress or the American people … and Althouse raises no objection.


Althouse implies in the video exchange that she voted for Obama because she approves of his international orientation. Later on in the exchange she said that she voted for Obama because she wanted to draw the Democrats into the things that needed to be done to protect the country. In effect what she’s saying that she figured that Obama was lying when he denounced Bush for the so-called “War on Terror,” Guantanamo, military tribunals, etc. Or, if he was not lying but deluded, becoming President would make him face reality. This is a species of logic that appears to be previously undiscovered. It reveals someone who really, really wanted Obama to be President but is unwilling to admit the underlying reason to herself.

Anonymous said...

Wright compared the Madison protestors to the Tea Party (4:55), then claimed he didn’t know enough about the Tea Party to make an accurate assessment of their tactics (6:00). Right…

Wright is a perfect idiot on Libya. It would have cost too much to cancel the South American trip (17:47) for Obama to stay here and function as Commander-in-Chief? The density of that statement approaches that of black holes.

(41:33) "That (we will fuck you up) can mean a lot of things." Yet he doesn’t allow that that sentiment qualifies as a death threat. Mental midget. Dishonest, slimy mental midget.

Wright hasn’t looked at the death threats sent to Wisconsin Republican politicians (43:08). How can this guy get on camera to discuss issues this ill-prepared? Wow.

section9 said...

Actually, moneyrunner, that's why a LOT of moderates like Althouse voted for Obama.

As long as the Democrats were out of power, they didn't have to take foreign policy seriously. They could ignore the fact that we live in the world described to us by Thucydides, with very few changes.

Obama has been hit by the Reality Freight Train. Not that he has responded well to it, but he isn't quite the same Marxist radical he was at Columbia.

He's merely Jimmy Carter on steroids. I mean, his idea of intervening in Libya is to back the rebel faction that turns out to be run by people associated with....wait for it....Al Qaeda.

The Egyptian Revolution that we supported? Being taken over by the Muslim Brotherhood as we speak.

Yup. The Radiant Future we were promised back in 2008 looked attractive to everyone. Even Althouse. But it's always the Same old Same old.

Nothing changes in human affairs because the Human Condition doesn't change. Only liberals believe that, and they voted for Obama in droves, of course. Which only proves my last point...

That P.T. Barnum was right.

Anonymous said...

The Obama Doctrine is the intervention by US forces, solely by air, in a country whose leader is attacking his people.

No, the Obama Doctrine is to do whatever is politically feasible, short of triggering impeachment, that will weaken the U.S. economy, impair the integrity of the U.S. political system, or reduce the stature and power of the U.S. in international relations.

Don't go by his promises, judge him by his deeds.

Heavens to Murgatroyd666.

Hey! I resemble that!

richard mcenroe said...

I wonder if Wright still defends the Libyan action now that it turns out the leadership of the "people's" revolution is not the plucky humanities majors of Benghazi U and their PEU allies but AL-Qaeda and its associates?

vanderleun said...

Bob Wright called. He'd like his testosterone storage units back.

If returned, can we also get him some media training so that his voice doesn't go from shill to shrill in a nanosecond?

Christy said...

Congrats, Althouse! You cranked Bob Wright up to the point of hysteria. What fun!