![]() IN MEMORY OF A DREAM! We Americans can choose between Fab and Tideand between two lines of blather: // link // print // previous // next //
FRIDAY, MAY 22, 2009 IN MEMORY OF A DREAM: On this holiday weekend, were supposed to remember Bloomingdales need to unload sheets and towels. Instead, lets memorialize the death of a dream. According to that dream, we liberals and progressives were better, finer, saner, brighter when it came to the public discourse. We said this about ourselves for years. We liberals would never succeed at talk radio, we saidwere just too smart, too honest, too decent. We were too inquisitive, too wonderfully nuanced to succeed at such a task. Here at THE HOWLER, we never much believed that tale. That said, even we had to marvel last night at the two-hour block by Olbermann/Maddow. Wed have to say that every segment pretty much struck us as blather or nonsense. We dont think weve ever thought that watching these programs before. Over the past twenty years, your public discourse has been undermined by a sprawling warren of pseudo-conservative news orgs. These orgs produced reams of reliable nonsense. Today, we seem to have two such empires. Our guess: This aint good for the world. How silly did it get last night? Last night, it became official: For us progressives, the leading authority on foreign affairs is the guy who helped Colin Powell assemble that UN report! Well assume that Lawrence Wilkerson is a decent person who had an admirable military career. But he isnt the brightest bulb on the tree. And Olbermann seemed to want to top him as they discussed their Dark Lord:
Set aside the talk of Orwellian insanity: Could some psychologist have a field day with Cheneys coughing fit? Maybe some cable psychologist could! Or maybe some expert in body language! You know the kind of expert we meanthe kind you see on OReilly? At any rate, KeithOs rumination was dumb beyond dumbthe kind of dumb which has ruled the pseudo-conservative world for several decades now. Now, our world is ruled that way too. It was dumb for two hours last night. To be honest, Wilkerson just isnt very sharp. It aint hard to see how he and Powell could have gotten conned in the course of preparing that UN presentationalthough we think the idea that they got conned remains extremely unconvincing. (Powell had his own intelligence agency at State, the INR. It was one of the intelligence agencies which dissented about pre-war claims. For brief review, click here.) But by some puzzling aberration, Wilkerson has now become the go-to guy on matters like thesefor us progressives, that is! Last night marked his third appearance on Maddow or Countdown in just the last eight nights. (Well offer an hypothesis herean hypothesis, not a prediction: At some point, a connection may seem to explain this oddity. The key word will be book.) We thought Keith was dumb all the way last nightbut then we got to Rachel. Is anything so dumb that she wont relay it to us stupefied rubes? We strongly suggest you watch the way she sold us the following consummate nonsense. (To do so, click here.) Things are different now, she said. Law enforcement is back:
Are you kidding? In fact, busts of silly aspirational plots occurred routinely in the days of Bush and Cheney. How do we know that? Because Keith had reminded us, a half hour earlier! He was talking out loud to Cheney again, telling him he hadnt saved anyone in the US from attacks. In the process, he recalled the aspirational plots which were foiled in the Bush-Cheney days. And uh-oh! When he did that, he lumped in this weeks silly bust:
Uh-oh! KO lumped the current bust in with all the earlier buststhe busts which occurred under Bush and Cheney! Half an hour later, Maddow announced that such earlier busts couldnt have occurred. Whats the point of this low-IQ blather? But then, we thought every segment on Maddow was dumb or odd last night. (We hate to see a bright young guy like Chris Hayes getting dragged in.) Whatever one thinks of prolonged detention, her discussion of the topic struck us as notably blinkered. (For a wider-ranging discussion, click this.) Later, NPRs Ari Shapiro reported that Alberto Gonzalez provided day-by-day approval of the interrogation techniques used against Abu Zubaydah. If true, this report is highly informative. But Maddow was just thoroughly baffled as to what this news might mean. She wondered why the White House counsel would have done such a thing, even before the OLC had prepared its famous memos. Why, Gonzalez wasnt even attorney general yet, Maddow stressed at one point. He wasnt a law enforcement officer at all. He was White House counsel. He was just the presidents lawyer. (Just the presidents lawyer!) As the segment ended, she still seemed bollixed by the conundrum: Were all left to figure out what it means that the White House Counsels office would think itself capable of authorizing this behavior. Earth to Maddow, making an obvious guess: Alberto Gonzalez, the presidents lawyer, was relaying authorization from Bush! Shapiro quoted former White House aide Bradford Berenson, basically semi-explaining this. But as she closed, Maddow still feigned (we hope) incomprehension. Later, we got to see the program continue a practice it has started this weekthe invention of a cult of personality around its intrepid reporter, the daring Ana Marie Cox. On several nights, weve been asked to marvel at the tough questions Cox has been asking in White House briefings. Last night, we sat though tape of a fairly routine Q-and-A with Robert Gibbs, a session concerning Dont ask, dont tell. The clowning came at the end of the segment, with this absurd statement by Maddow:
Oh sure! Reporters are routinely harassed by other reporters for inquiring about Dont ask, dont tell! Meanwhile, Maddow found Coxs rather routine line of questioning amazing to watch. (These questions had occurred during her latest battle with Robert Gibbs.) Question: Is there any level of pandering piffle to which we arent prepared to stoop? In this sign-off, we rubes were told that our star reporter might get harassed for her fearless questions. Could Hannity fake any better? There has been one bit of good news this weekthe world is becoming a much better place. Yesterday, the worst person in the world was Glenn Beck, so designated because he said something trivially inaccurate about poor Barbara Walters. It was the worst act committed on earth! Meanwhile, Olbermanns staff has so mis-edited the tape (for two nights) that a viewer can barely figure out what the pointless dispute is about. But these segments exist so Keith can play the fool for us rubesso he can be more like Sean. At one time, you had to go to Fox for this. Now, you have a choice. In this mornings Post, Michael Kinsley drifts back in time, remembering an earlier age for liberals. Presumably, hes banging on Keith, although hes too nice to name names. Kinsley discusses the blight of umbrage, a blight found on Countdown more than on Maddow. He also discusses our values and logic; he mentions something liberals ought to recognize. But liberals do recognize the thing he cites. Our new gang of cable hacks dont. This weekend, we can choose between Bloomingdales and Macysand between two streams of cable blather. We libs are too smart for this, we once said. Just look at us pseudo-libs now! Wilkersons chutzpah: In our view, it takes a lot of guts to say something like thisif you happen to be the guy who assembled Powells UN presentation:
The troops who have died in Iraq went there, in some part, thanks to Powells presentation. Wilkerson helped him put the mess together. But then, some people have a lot of gutsand cable bookers adore them. Within moments, Wilkerson was saying that Cheneys recent conduct borders on being treasonous in my view. But thats what he gets booked to say as he rehabs himself and Powell. Were nowhere near as bad as Cheney, the gent is allowed to convey. By the way: How did Wilkerson handle Olbermanns questions about Powells UN super-bungle? Wouldnt you know it? It happened again! Dude forgot to ask!
Who is Bill Wolff: More next week. Though yes, its already grown tedious.
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