News Roundup for 3/30/09

Typical liberal comments on a blog

-Headline of the day-
"Dear blog commenters: Why do you hate America?"

In an op-ed for the Washington Times, conservative pundit and former Drudge Report editor Andrew Breitbart reveals the greatest single threat to American democracy today -- liberals who comment on conservative blog posts.

"A digital war has broken out, and the conservative movement is losing. Read the comment sections of right-leaning blogs, news sites and social forums, and the evidence is there in ugly abundance. Internet hooligans are spewing their talking points to thwart the dissent of the newly-out-of-power," Andy writes. "We must not let that go unanswered."

"Uninvited Democratic activists are on a mission to demoralize" conservatives, he says. Turns out that liberals "want to ensure that President Obama is not subject to the same coordinated, facts-be-damned, multimedia takedown they employed over eight long years to destroy the presidency - and the humanity - of George W. Bush."

Yeah, it goes on like that -- hysterical, hyperbolic, and goofy. Who's behind all this internet hooliganism? Barack Obama himself. "Much of Mr. Obama's vaunted online strategy involved utilizing "'internet trolls' to invade enemy lines under false names and trying to derail discussion," he writes.

But it gets really fun when Breitbart explains that conservatives don't leave nasty comments on blogs they don't like -- because they're too nice and too religious.

Seriously.

"The right, for the most part, embraces basic Judeo-Christian ideals and would not promote nor defend the propaganda techniques that were perfected in godless communist and socialist regimes," he writes. As someone who's been called a communist, an America-hater, a terrorist-lover, and a follower of the Antichrist, I can vouch for the nastiness of your average conservative commenter. There aren't any commenters of any political persuasion who mix anger, ignorance, and plain stupidity quite so well as the average right wing nutjob. They really are talented at making asses of themselves.

You know what's really funny? Andy probably really believes his own bullshit. (Salon's War Room)


-Cartoon time with Mark Fiore-
Hey kids, the economy got you down? Try leveraging!


Click for animation

Remember, as long as it's someone else's money, you can't go wrong! (MarkFiore.com)


-A word from the failure expert-
In the New Yorker, journalist Seymour Hersh writes that then president-elect Obama worked hard at ending the conflict in Gaza before he was even sworn in. Denizens of the White House at the time who happened to be named "Dick Cheney" didn't like that much. So Dick worked against Obama, warning Israeli officials that the new president was a "pro-Palestinian" shill who wouldn't represent their interests well.

Cheney, according to Hersh, "disparaged Obama, referring to him at one point as someone who would 'never make it in the major leagues.'"

Like Dick "made it in the major leagues." He's one of the most unpopular figures from the Bush administration, both at home and abroad. If he were young enough to entertain a continuing future in politics, he'd find himself completely unelectable and unemployable. Dick Cheney is, quite simply, a washed up old failure of a vice president. Getting criticism from him is like getting parenting advice from Britney Spears' mom -- you can ignore it without a whole lot of consequence. (New Yorker)