The Atlantic - Latest Comments in The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

Adam — Sun, 02 Nov 2008 21:36:22 -0000

Shallow, frivolous comment: What's up with Goldfarb's shirts? Can't the dude find a v-neck if he's going to go all tieless with a blazer? I mean, is he wearing white tube socks, too?

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

Adam — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 17:20:09 -0000

Shallow, frivolous comment: What's up with Goldfarb's shirts? Can't the dude find a v-neck if he's going to go all tieless with a blazer? I mean, is he wearing white tube socks, too?

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

Elisabeth — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:36:56 -0000

Wow. No sense and no honor. What kind of cognitive dissonance must be going on to let someone like this think he has opinions worth listening to? I don't care whom he was referring to (I doubt even he knows), what gets me is how he can go on with his days after so thoroughly playing the fool.

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

gracchus — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:48:35 -0000

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, of all groups, was defending Khalidi. Link from Yglesias's blog, I believe.

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

Persia — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 09:21:27 -0000

This is revealing -- and maybe not just about Goldfarb -- in one very specific way: McCain said Wright was off-limits. He evidently meant it. And he has made it stick.

Is this the only time the McCain campaign has ever had message control, I wonder?

His big ideas, the only ones he really knows how to sell, are earmark reform, tax cuts, fighting preemptive wars - none of that really addresses our problems.

And that's the fault of his campaign, not the political climate. People don't vote on earmark reform.

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

ET — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 08:21:35 -0000

It occurs to me that the McCain camp is not being done any favors by this boy speaking on their behalf.

The fact that we are having the discussion about who the hell he meant by that smug "we both know" means that this it isn't nearly as obvious as he wants to make it out to be. I hate the wink, wink, nugde, nudge strategy. It reeks of weakness.

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

Nquest — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 06:01:51 -0000

What a punkass coward. And what a shame that the MSM isn't defending Khalidi.

The MSM hasn't tried to defend anybody targeted in the "guilt by association" anti-Obama smear machine. The attack on Rev. Wright, his church and theology had been going on for months before any of the YouTubes showed up.

By contrast, compare the MSM response to Imus.

Beyond that, the MSM acts like they are spectators vs. perpetrators of smears and character assassinations by proxy as the sit back and generally allow almost any kind of allegation fly/stand against people they don't know or whatever their issue is.

All I know is Charlie Rose is in danger (of much of nothing) for having Khalidi on his show(s).

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

Asher — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 02:40:10 -0000

Well, John, it's true that McCain could easily have lost this election had Bush been more popular; as he's so fond of reminding us, he's not Bush. But some of your points don't really go towards arguing that. I mean, Point 3 - "overwhelming sense of frustration, anger, and hopelessness" - if the economy were good, there wouldn't be such hopelessness. The bad economy put McCain in an awkward position. His big ideas, the only ones he really knows how to sell, are earmark reform, tax cuts, fighting preemptive wars - none of that really addresses our problems. He's uncomfortable talking about mortgages and health insurance and whatnot. I mean, he has a wage insurance proposal he mentioned in his convention speech once, and we haven't heard about it since.

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

Asher — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 02:39:42 -0000

Well, John, it's true that McCain could easily have lost this election had Bush been more popular; as he's so fond of reminding us, he's not Bush. But some of your points don't really go towards arguing that. I mean, Point 3 - "overwhelming sense of frustration, anger, and hopelessness" - if the economy were good, there wouldn't be such hopelessness. The bad economy put McCain in an awkward position. His big ideas, the only ones he really knows how to sell, are earmark reform, tax cuts, fighting preemptive wars - none of that really addresses our problems. He's uncomfortable talking about mortgages and health insurance and whatnot. I mean, he has a wage insurance proposal buried Better economy, and people might be more receptive to his small-bore issues.

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

John Henry — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 01:25:38 -0000

What's happening is that Bush was a bad President. Bush is a Republican. So is McCain. Voters don't want a Republican. They want a Democrat. That's why the vast majority of Obama voters are voting for Obama. Should the economy not improve for Obama by 2012, his campaign skills, as great as they are, won't be able to save him.

I disagree with the first part. I think McCain's abysmal performance over the past 6 months would have caused him to lose even in a year with economic growth.

1.

McCain brought nothing to the table besides offshore drilling and doing away with the gas tax for the summer. Both of which are dumb policies that don't really solve Joe the Plumber's problems.

2.

McCain did not start distancing himself from Bush until last week. He had a two month head start. He blew it.

3.

McCain did not tap into the overwhelming sense of frustration, anger, and hopelessness in the electorate as Obama did. His message in the beginning was about him: I'm a POW. I deserve to be President.

4.

No one wants Sarah Palin to the decider even in good times.

The second part. It depends on his opponent. If its Sarah Palin, he's a two term president no matter what.

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

kevin McNamara — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 00:25:47 -0000

My thought, too, TNC.

To those asking what Wright has said, you're missing the point:

IF he says Wright, he gets asked, OK what's Wright (unlike the nutjob in AK) actually said?

But if he smugs and smarms (with all the "that's Wright, we're not talking about rev. Wright, though you have every Wright to think of him and please exercise your Wright to talk about how we're not talking about Rev Wright talk) he leaves the implication.

So, to recap, he says what he can't say by loudly not saying it. See, it leaves us to "suspect," and that's the theme of the anti-O commercial du jour.

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

The Puzzled One — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 23:58:47 -0000

Major Israeli newspapers have English-language websites. Per Joe the Plumber or this Michael asshole, Israelis should be in deep panic over the prospect an Obama presidency. But the newspapers are there for your perusal, and there is no such panic -- unless you open certain columns in the Jerusalem Post which is a right-wing outlier with stronger-than-recommended ties to AIPAC and the nutty Evangelical pro-Zionist establishment.

The two main Israeli papers' websites in English are:

http://www.ynetnews.com

http://www.haaretz.com/

(The second-largest Hebrew newspaper has an Hebrew website at nrg.co.il but the English version was closed down)

Since Israelis are not in any kind of panic, and actually people like Biden are highly regarded in Israel, what is this shyte about? Why people do not go out and inform themselves? It's so effing easy these days! People taking that for granted would be bad enough (I would have killed to have Internet in my college days) but this is worse: having the resource at zero cost and ignoring it! Yikes.

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

Joel — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 23:49:51 -0000

Rick Sanchez's sarcasm at the end really made that clip.

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

Peter — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 23:38:23 -0000

What a punkass coward. And what a shame that the MSM isn't defending Khalidi.

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

Deborah — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:42:47 -0000

I know people on your side would like to think that you really handed a drubbing to the Republicans this time around, but that isn't what's happening.

My point was that McCain (and other Republicans, e.g. Bachmann) are handing themselves a drubbing--they take a bad situation and rather than attempting to channel Hagel and a positive vision of the future they double down on the worst excesses of the most virulent part of the base.

Just as even the most brilliant of Republican campaigns couldn't have elected McCain.

These polls for all levels of office that ask "who do you like, Dem or Rep" always go to the Dems until the question switches to "who do you like, Smith or Jones;" then suddenly it's real people and the Republicans' enviable ability to win elections boosts them up, or boosts the Dem candidate down. I brilliant Republican campaign could, I think, have gotten him close. A few points, enough for the photo finish the media wants, enough for any last minute gaffe from Obama or an outside event (economy brilliantly recovers!!) to tip things over. McCain needed to take some risks, but he would have been much better served taking carefully weighed, strategic risks. Instead he took Palin. And was so comically clueless on the economy--Will today excoriates him for having a bored briefing with an expert that finished up, to the expert's dismay, with "so who's the villain?"

I want Obama to win, so I'm happy to watch McCain make bizarre decisions that end badly. (Unless Palin actually winds up in the White House, which terrifies me.) But in terms of my team--I'm an independent. I voted for McCain in 2000 (largely anti-Bush; I was prescient) and until sometime late spring--the torture flip--thought that was the guy running this time around. I sanguinely envisioned a McCain presidency as a not-at-all-bad second choice.

I've voted for Weld (who just endorsed Obama, and could still get elected tomorrow in MA). I want the Republicans to emerge from the wilderness as a better, stronger party without the wingnuts, anti-intellectuals, Christianists, neo cons, etc. But if they take over, maybe there will be a new party of the libertarians, fiscal conservatives, and small government types.

I'm happy to heap blame on Dems in general (the summer's "I don't agree with 2 of Obama's positions, I don't know, maybe I don't like him" whining was particularly irritating). But Obama's campaign has been 95% brilliant (seal of roadkill excepted) and Dean's 50-state strategy is paying off. Those two things I'll praise. McCain has not been 95% brilliant. (And if he had been and Palin was the 5%, she'd still count for more than 50% unbrilliant.)

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:40:52 -0000

"If you don't know about Wright by now, you must have been the Gov of Alaska for the past year."

-giggles like school girl (after recovering from jaw dropping stupidity of the above video clip)

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

DB Cooper — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:36:24 -0000

What strikes me is just how third-rate and pathetic the McCain surrogate crew is: Goldfarb, Ptofenhaour, Michelle Bachman, Carly Fiorino, and of course Miss Alaska herself. Would you let any of those fools even order lunch for you?

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

CJ — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:20:39 -0000

I didn't think they could find someone worse than Tucker Bounds, but low and behold they did. I guess some people just aren't cut out to defend outright lies.

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

Andrew — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:20:35 -0000

By disparaging Khalidi, is Goldfarb himself not being anti-Semitic? After all, both Israelites and Arabs are Semitic people.

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

matoko_chan — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 22:00:31 -0000

Behold, Ta-nehisi!

Even the guyz at The American Scene are starting to get it.

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

Watson — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:53:09 -0000

Farrakhan's primary subject is injustice and wrongdoing, and 95% of what he says is true - except when he gets to causation, which he says is numerology, Dr. Yacub, and 'the Jews'. His demonization by the corrupt, racist establishment tends to persuade his flock that he's right about that stuff too.

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

James F. Elliott — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:11:45 -0000

I would very publicly like to punch Michael Goldfarb in the face. He can bring Jonah Goldberg for backup; I'll kick his ass too, just on general principle.

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

Remone — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:08:54 -0000

The reason the McCain people don't mention Wright is because they can generate media coverage merely by mentioning that they're not gonna talk about Wright. Video images of the pastor's work is burned into most minds. They know it's a dead story and they'll be branded hypocrites for resurrecting it. But by constantly inferring Wright - they increase the dark emotional resonance and keep the story alive.

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

Tony Comstock — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:53:12 -0000

""Michael, if you ever manage to summon the courage to back up your slander, we'll gladly have you on again. Until then, you've forfeited your seat at the grownups table."

Nice thought, but that's not how it works. For better or worse the proliferation of news outlets means that they are forever in need of people to put in the chair Goldfarb is sitting in. I've been asked to be a "expert" on all sorts of things that barely relate to anything I actually know about (if at all). The first time I said "No" I thought I'd never hear from anybody again. Then the day comes when the seat needs filling and sure enough, the phone rings. It's just the way it is.

Re: The town deserves a better class of McCarthyite

Eric — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 20:50:52 -0000

I agree with Skyhook. And I wasn't thinking Wright. Goldfarb makes it seem like it's some big behind the scene's story that people know about, but the liberal media won't discuss (kinda like McCain's temper). It could be anyone, even Biden, except it's really not anyone.