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We had a fine discussion yesterday about Sidney Blumenthal's new book, How Bush Rules. It's an incredible book by a serious author who has played no small part both in modern politics and the discussion thereof. It was led by noted historian and scholar Rick Perlstein, who was one of those to peer-review Sidney's book, published by a University Press. Sidney himself will be here to discuss his book at the salon next week. I'm very proud not only of the exchange that ensued yesterday, but the way that it was appropriate to the tone and topic of the book.
In contrast, as Eric Boehlert points out, the New York Times assigned a lifestyle writer to review the book, a rather frothy bit of business named Jennifer Senior whose recent articles include "My Life as a Thin Person" and "Are Jews Smarter." She quickly and with little thought foxtrots right into a frenzy of right wing media canards and straight to the conclusion that Bush's critics are so blinded by hatred they're incapable of stringing a sentence together, and jeebus why can't they be funny.
Yes this would be right at the same moment that the Administration is trying to suspend habeas corpus and legitimize torture. Somebody get me my joke book, I seem to have misplaced it.
Boehlert:
Every author understands that the politics of book reviews can be complicated and infuriating, and for the most part it's every man and woman for themselves. (Disclosure: Blumenthal is a friend and former colleague of mine.) But what makes this review so irksome is it doubles as a swipe at an entire political movement; a calculated attempt to dismiss and ridicule Bush critics who time and again have been proven right about his incompetence, yet remain MSM targets. Indeed, the Times critique strains mightily to paint Bush critics as "smug," "unglued," "condescending," "berserk", and "not wholly credible" "loathers" who reside beyond the mainstream.
We've heard it before. How damned uncivil we can be. I'll just be over here coughing into a linen hankerchief on the fainting couch while our leaders ratify us into barbarism, 'kay?
Yes, getting angry about usurping the constitution, torture and sending thousands to their deaths in a losing war for inexplicable reasons among a hundred other outrages is aesthetically jarring. Please, children, use your indoor voices. There's no reason to scream.
If you think you'd enjoy a discussion of Blumenthal's book that treats the subject matter with appropriate gravitas, feel free to take a look at Rick Perlstein's post from yesterday and the conversation that he led. If you're more interested in an Us Magazine wannabe-tone and an intellect more aptly pitched to writing about the first markdown sale at Barney's, have a look at what they did at the newspaper of record.
Draw what conclusions you will.
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FDL vs NYT? Four hundred quatloos on FDL! Four hundred quatloos on the newcomers!
Wow!
Jane!
“Have You Had Enough?”
mien Gott, I really was first. Damn. At last, the precious zero was mine, and I wasted it!
Hurm. “They also serve who gets the ‘1′.”
Cleter:
Oh man, that’s a lot of quatloos!
Oops… I’m late to my Fizzbin game!
Well, perhaps I am a “loather.” My post on the previous thread about Lieberman, where I imagined a post-election Lieberman weeping about his loss amidst his own Howard Hughes-like filth, was not very nice. But “not wholly credible?” I resent that. I have a goddamned master’s degree. And there seem to be a lot of other people here who are entirely credible. Stupid New York Times.
Jane,
This post makes me love you even more. If that’s possible.
Um, let’s see now. Spinach or no spinach.
More MSM hard-hitting journalism at work:
Cover of the International version of Newsweek (Cover story - magazine cover on left margin)
Cover of the USA version of Newsweek (same deal - check the left margin)
WTF?
As I’ve murmured before, hither and yon: When Blumenthal writes; I read. When Blumenthal speaks; I listen. I am so looking forward to his visit.
i want jane and christy as the editor and publisher of the nyt - keep all the good reporters, let them do their jobs (none of this 1 year of delay over nsa warrantless spying), and put the important stuff on page one.
omg - itsn’t that sad… when i get all hot about a fantasy of who’s running the nyt.
i’m pathetic.
The great oddity in Senior’s review is that the right can be funny, while the left cannot. I can think of perhaps one person on the right with funny creds, and that’s P.J. O’Rourke, who’s become less and less funny the longer he hangs out with the likes of Jonah Goldberg.
The remainder on the right may make jokes, but that doesn’t mean they’re funny, unless one includes sophomoric variations on calling everyone on the left a “useful idiot.”
I ask you, when was the last time you heard a real side-splitter from David Horowitz, or a genuine knee-slapper from William Kristol (and he should have a whole file cabinet of good material after working as Dan Quayle’s chief of staff…)?
I have the very strong feeling that Senior didn’t do anything but scan the book and then called up David Brooks and asked him what he thought of it, and, since Brooks hadn’t read it, either, that made him an authority in her view.
Hope Senior’s happy with her new status as the Leni Riefenstahl of reviewing.
cleter @ 3
A quatloo reference is never a waste!
cleter @ 6
I think it’s entirely credible given his behavior since August 8th. And hysterically funny.
montag @12
Great comment. Have been thinking a lot lately about Riefenstahl and how much the right seems to be channeling her.
When I read the NYT Book Review section on Saturday night, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The review (and reviewer) was so absurd, it seemed like it must be a snark.
I was in college during Vietnam and thought that was a challenging time for our country/culture. However,the absolute cacophany of these wingnutjobs is overwhelming.
Thank you Dab from CT. I’m a firm believer that over-the-top, satirical hyperbole in pursuit of liberty is no vice. And in the case of Senior, crappy-ass reviews in pursuit of “balance” is no virtue.
Cleter at 16:
It gives you some idea of what have we have come to that we look back at Barry Goldwater with warm nostalgia. Oy.
The Boehlert quote is especially revealing about those who substitute adjectives for argument. Rather than address an issue on its merits, call the person advancing an argument “smug,” “unglued,” “condescending,” “berserk”, and then with the arrogance of ignorance suppose you are just so insightful you don’t know if you can stand it.
petedownunder @ 17
Hell, I’m even feeling nostalgic for Tricky Dicky and I never thought I would EVER say those words…
Jacqrat @
7
Jacqrat — the feeling is absolutely mutual. Thanks for all you do.
Glamored and cynical in the extreme, the NYT lost my subscription four years ago. Bumiller, Seyelle, they all type up their opinions and print them as fact. Even Gail Collins took the bait and allowed herself to be defanged for a promotion to lead the most frequently ignored editorial page in NYT’s history. I mean, who bothers with them anymore?
Marion in Savannah @ 19
Yeah, or when John Dean is a hero at FDL. Tricky was at least curious about the world and in his own paranoid bizarre way interested in effective foreign policy. W is just.. well, words fail me.
Hell, I’m even feeling nostalgic for Tricky Dicky and I never thought I would EVER say those words…
Jane Hamsher @ 20
Aww. That’s sweet.
Unhinged and berserk, my ass. Stupid New York Times.
Petedownunder,
John Dean became a hero of mine years ago during the Watergate hearings. He at least tried to tell Tricky about the “cancer growing” in the White House. God, why don’t we have men with the balls of Judge Sirica, Archibald Cox and the rest of them? Remember, back when men were men and crimes were actually called crimes, and there were actually hearings… Ah, my. Or was that just all a fever dream???
montag @
12
She doesn’t have that kind of talent. She’s more like the Squiggy Riefenstahl of reviewing.
(And can we refer to a Wonkette wannabe as a Wonkabe, or would that just sound too much like some kind of flying candy?)
Oh my.
Linen hankerchiefs? Is that a step up from “boxers or briefs?” I can’t even drop my linen and start my grinnin’ since I’m “commando” all the way.
I get so tickled at these “pretenders”.
I know tough. There are 27 tough sumbitches worldwide.
Every Christmas I get 26 Christmas cards.
These yahoos ain’t on the list.
Jane @ 15
Wonkababe???
petedownunder @
22
Nixon may have been a paranoid deranged bastard, but he took presidenting seriously, rather than some kind of reality show prize or dress-up game.
The New York Times doesn’t have the collective moral stamina to evaluate what a disaster our leaders have created over the last six years, or how poorly the New York Times served in its purported function of evaluating them.
Oilfieldguy @ 26
OFG- Much as I admire you, I don’t really think I needed to know about your commando status. I like to think that everybody who posts here is wearing a suit and a tie, or perhaps a toga, like the wise Greek sages of yore. Please don’t burst my fragile illusions.
Eli said “Nixon may have been a paranoid deranged bastard, but he took presidenting seriously, rather than some kind of reality show prize or dress-up game.”
Right. He only wanted to dress up the White House Imperial Guard…! (Does anyone else remember that debacle!?)
cleter @ 31
I’m wearing both. It makes me look super-respectable.
Perhaps Ms. Senior wants us to laugh more because the people running the ship of state aground are clowns.
But I doubt it.
Rock it out,Jane.
I would pay damn good money for a Jane v. Jennifer debate.
What a lovely way to prepare hors d’oevres for the cocktail weenie set, don’t you think?
Marion in Savannah @ 32
Well, he *was* a strange one, which was one of his most endearing qualities. Remember his bizarre photo op with Elvis? Didn’t he deputize Elvis in the War On Drugs or something like that?
Me, I’m wearing a whalebone corset and 14 petticoats… Jane, may I borrow the fainting couch?
Say what you will about Nixon, at least he won rather than stole his Presidential elections. More or less.
Marion in Savannah–Didn’t Nixon want the guards to wear crazy-ass Napoleonic War/high school marching band uniforms?
NeoJoe @ 35
Yes, I would like to see Jane Clintonize her.
Only worse, as I suspect Ms. Senior makes Chris Wallace look like Socrates.
Jane@16 I feel the same way. No matter how much things seemed to be screwed up in the 60’s,I never had the feeling that the social/political situation was out of control or that it would not eventually work out OK. The feeling today is very different and I don’tthinkitis the pessimism of advancing age. The political and social climate is evil and I don’t use that word lightly,. and I am not sure it will work out OK.
Eli @ 36
Oh, Lordy! I had forgotten that! Yup. He sure did. I think HST had something to say about it in Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail. Funny thing, though, he actually respected Nixon. Knew he was a bastard, but respected him. Loved the dedication of one of his books: “To Richard Milhouse Nixon, who never let me down.” No more HST, but Matt Taibi may be picking up that torch…
Steve @ 40
The Republicans are *openly* trying to steal the government and legitimize torture, and a very large chunk of the country seems to be perfectly okay with it.
Nixon tried to keep his dirty tricks secret; Bush *sells* his.
PASS THIS ON http://worldcantwait.net/index.php
October 5: No Work. No School. Protest in the Streets.
THIS REGIME DOES NOT REPRESENT US! AND WE WILL DRIVE IT OUT!”
I will be in S.F. on Thursday.
How about you?
http://911billofrights.blogspot.com
Bush wears his Nixonian evil as a badge of honor. Nixon at least had the decency to be furtive about it.
cleter @ 44
Well, Nixon had to be. Bush apparently doesn’t.
Although Nixon still would have been furtive, because, well, he’s Nixon.
montag @ 27
That became apparent with the rise of the likes of Rove and Lee Atwater. Add in the constant stroking of the religious right and hardball fundraising (and hardball tactics like push-polling) and you have a prescription for the worst principals in the process being adulated and reewarded for their successes.
cleter @ 38
You bet he did. I can’t find a picture of them, but I did find the following description (spew alert here):
“Upon his return from abroad, Nixon ordered up secret service uniforms replete with gold trim, white tunics and plumed black hats that came to a rounded peak. The uniforms, especially the hats, were heaped with scorn, mainly because they made their wearers look like volunteer members of the Nelson Eddy Brigade. It is perhaps significant that this same summer Nixon authorized, then rescinded, a plan to expand domestic intelligence gathering.”
http://modernuniformsmag.com/m....._crowning/
I WISH I could find a picture. They were absolutely HILARIOUS…
Marion in Savannah @ 47
Good Lord. I have no idea why I never heard about this.
Perhaps Bush will make the Secret Service start wearing those uniforms Emperor Palpatine’s guards wore in the Star Wars movies.
I read Jennifer Senior’s “Are Jews Smarter” when it came out. The article isn’t as bad as the title might suggest when intermixed with her seemingly pop assignments. She cherry-picks Ashkenazi history rather dreadfully, though.
But the Blumenthal review is atrocious, and Jane’s take once again illustrates how challenged for humor or originality the lockstep right is as they complain the left has no humor. Jane - Yes this would be right at the same moment that the Administration is trying to suspend habeas corpus and legitimize torture. Somebody get me my joke book, I seem to have misplaced it.
Just stopping in between work tasks. I called Anchorage’s nuttiest AM-radio wingnut this afternoon. He was praising Chris Wallace for putting up with Bill Clinton as Clinton hijacked the nice Chris. Dan Fagan claimed Clinton was “screaming and frothing at the mouth. “It’s just scarey that this guy was the most powerful man in the world for eight years.”
Anyway, I was courteous, slipped in mention of Clinton’s statements about the Battle of Mogadishu. Fagan repeated his assertion he made last Friday that Clinton left Somalia within days against the urgings of all the GOP congressional leadership. Then I let him have it. Nicely.
At first he said he’d let me read the quotes. But when he figured out I was going to read terse quotes by Kay Bailey Hutchinson, Bob Dole, Trent Lott, John McCain and a couple others, he started screaming (frothing at the mouth? I wonder…), cut me off and went to the next caller. Who proceeded to criticize Fagan for “cutting and running” and backed me up.
First time I’ve ever been cut off like that….no. sense. of. humor…
Looking forward to Blumenthal this weekend. I’ll lurk. No time to read his book. I’m reading _Podcasting and Blogging with Garage Band and IWeb_, by Robin Williams. The OTHER Robin Williams.
cleter @ 49
Emperor Whelpatine.
the reason these idiots think the right is funny is because they’re a big friggin joke… they’re the only ones who can laugh at the things that are going on right now…
competence and honesty or hilarity and corruption.
and in response to no humor- all i need to do is point to jon stewart and stephen colbert… who do they have? g.dub. an unintended joke. so funny you want to cry
Eli,
Those uniforms cropped up and were shot down so quickly… They had the glide angle of car keys and the howls of laughter made even Nixon blush. By the way, did you notice the last sentence in the quote? Where the writer notes that even NIXON rescinded a plan to expand domestic intelligence gathering? No wonder we’re all feeling nostalgic for the old bastard…
Eli–Imagine a bad Broadway musical about Napoleon. Something that would be called “Naploleon!” or perhaps “Waterloo!” Then imagine a sort of wretched road-show production of that musical. Imagine the costumes from such an atrocity. That’s what the Nixon uniforms looked like.
Rarely a day passes observing this crazed president and his enablers that I don’t miss HST and wonder aloud what he’d be writing about today. Billmon probably comes closest to the good doctor’s unique worldview….
dachoste @ 52
Or maybe they just assume creatures like Coulter and Limbaugh and Hannity are amusing personae, like Andrew Dice Clay or (I think) pro wrestlers.
And maybe to some extent they are, but most of their followers take everything they say as the gospel truth, which is fooking *terrifying*.
There are three differences between Nixon and Bush
1) The composition of the House of Representatives
2) The composition of the Senate
3) The composition of the U.S. Supreme Court
If Watergate happened in 2004, Nixon would have gotten away with it. Hell, Congress probably would have passed a statute making burglary and wiretapping legal, if the president did it.
I’m getting all misty. I was in college when JFK left us and Camelot did, too; I was a young married traveling through Rapid City, SD, on June 6, 1968, when it was gone forever. For all of the history of we who were there and remember, this eight years is going to be one big blank of nothing good to report. Lord knows we’re all trying here to fix that! No more dreaming - I have work to do and so do we all! I’m proud of everyone who’s fighting in whatever way they can.
McGee @ 55
Rarely a day passes observing this crazed president and his enablers that I don’t miss HST and wonder aloud what he’d be writing about today. Billmon probably comes closest to the good doctor’s unique worldview….
I love Billmon too, but Matt Taibi has a certain “skating REALLY close to the edge” lunacy that HST had. He did a great piece on following Joementum’s campaign around in the last days before the primary…
neurophius @ 57
Absolutely. Specter would have expressed his horror and dismay at the president’s disregard for the law, then introduced a bill to retroactively fix the law, thus eliminating the problem.
neurophius @ 57
And Nixon’s dad wasn’t a rich-ass ex-President with a Golden Rolodex. Wasn’t Nixon’s dad a lemon farmer or somesuch?
God, I can’t believe we have a preznit so ghastly we long for the good old straight-up perfidy of Nixon.
MarchDancer @ 58
MarchDancer, I think one of the reasons we’re doing a bit of yukking it up here is because the only other response is to weep. Bobby must be spinning in his grave… Remember? An AG who didn’t approve of torture? Damn…
I guess the bottom line for me is that, for all his little faults and peccadillos, Nixon was at least a grown-up.
I think it was Reagan who established the basic Republican principle that the president does not need to be in any way grounded in reality, and even Reagan had some occasional lapses into pragmatism.
Someone with a better knowledge of American history can correct me, but I think Bush is closer to Woodrow Wilson than Nixon with respect to civil liberties in time of “war”. Wilson was a racist, had a severe distrust of hyphenated Americans, pushed the Espionage and Sedition Acts and established the Committee on Public Information. A spy on your neighbor network was also implemented. The country was spared a third term by strokes.
Steve @ 64
Somehow I suspect strokes would not save us this time…
The truth is like holy water to these fucking vampires. Good on you Ed*ard.
As to Senior, she’s too busy playing Sex and the City wannabe. What these idiots don’t get is that if it was an honest criticism based on fact, that they would be left alone. We might disagree, but to just take a lazy approach and turn out a piece of shit is inexcusable.
At least the reviewer didn’t use the latest rhetorical trickery advanced by Shotgun Dick Cheney…
“I haven’t read the book”.
-GSD
GSD @ 67
They can’t all be avid readers like Dubya.
At least they didn’t get Farhad Manjoo from Salon to review it. I just learned that his personal blog is entitled: OFFICIAL SPEW ALERT:
“What I Learned From Wikipedia.”
Honestly. You can’t make this shit up, you know….
Doesn’t everybody pretty much know that both the WaPo and NYT book reviews of anything to the left of Bay Buchanan are always dumbass hit-pieces for some years now.
I must say, they do keep outdoing themselves. Why Ms. Senior, anyway? Was Michael Savage unavailable? What about Carrot Top?
Glad to see The Jane with a few choice words on this nonetheless.
Oh, and I can usually only lurk during the day lately, but damn, Citizen Hardin Smith was en fuego today.
(Peanut: “Mommy, why is smoke coming out of your ears?”)
Marion in Savannah @ 69
Damn shame, too. I had 400 quatloos on Manjoo.
Dubya is 60. I read Camus “The Stranger” at 16 and discussed it with my friends. We did it for fun!
ralphbon @ 71
He gives the rest of us man-Jews a bad name.
cleter @
31
Clete, I guess I shouldn’t tell you that I always post while wearing a jock strap and thigh-high gladiator boots?
Well what were you expecting? It’s the New York Times!
Didn’t I just explain this all to you yesterday?
DO try and keep up!!!!
And makes us dyke shiksas cry, too.
More good news! Earth temperature is now the highest it has been in thousands of years.(NO SHIT) James Hansen,(the NASA climate guy who was gaged by the christo-fascist NASA PR punk) stated that the temp has increased .36 degrees per decade over the past 30 years. If the temp increases another degree, it will be hottest period in the past million years.
Sharkbabe @ 76
Or sharksas, as the case may be…
Sharkbabe @ 76
And us straight goyishe goddesses…
Way up at #9, Jacqurat notes the difference between the covers of the international (Losing Afghanistan) and the US editions (My Life in Pictures) of Newsweek. We occasionally see the Aust-NZ editions of Time and are startled at the editorial tone…critical and analytical of US insanity. Of course, that would never fly back in the US, but it does show that those news organizations have enough of a grip on reality to know that US Happy Talk will not sell overseas.
Marion in Savannah @ 79
And gay, goldfish-owning 60ft. theropods.
KO…
“My special comment and THE END OF GEORGE BUSH’S FREE PASS!!!!”
Hoo boy!!~!~
707
NZ Expat @ 80
And vice versa. God forbid anyone should present us Americans with Bad News. I mean, look how that’s worked out for the Democrats.
Steve @ 77
I hope I did this right! Y’all will tell me if I didn’t - I trust you that way! The Pacific Northwest is in a Drought. It’s not raining where it’s supposed to rain. No more.
LOS ANGELES - Mel Gibson criticized the war in Iraq while recently promoting his new film “Apocalypto” at a Texas film festival.
Gibson, 50, drew parallels between the collapsing Mayan civilization depicted in the movie and the United States at a screening Friday at the Fantastic Fest in Austin, the Hollywood Reporter said Monday.
“The precursors to a civilization that’s going under are the same, time and time again,”…
What to make of this?
Cozumel @ 82
Let’s hope Georgie’s free pass was thrown by George Allen (now there’s a pair made for each other). :) “W’all, shit, we’re drugstore cowboys and wanna run the world. Vote fer us, wimps!”
It’s been grand, but my dinner is ready. I’ll see y’all later.
TRex, I firmly expect you to polish up those thigh-high theropod gladiator boots and stomp on something or someone later… We rely on you to make it all better before we put on our jammies and go nighty-night… Please??
News alert:
GOVERNMENT CAVES, SAYS “EGREGIOUS IS RIGHT”;
MASCARA IS NOT A THREAT TO THE NATIONAL SECURITY
About friggin’ time. I was beginning to feel slightly less than gorgeous.
Time stamp 5:50pm at the Washington Post.
At last some good news. As of 4:00am tomorrow, tiny amounts of liquid are permitted.
The New York Times . . .
Is it one of those entertainment books that one purchases for a quid to get half-off when they eat at the worst restaurant in town?
I suppose I’d rather engaqe in a serious debate. I know, is it better to be half-on, or half-off?
Cozumel @
82
Heard this and had to log into FDL. Can’t watch this without y’all
TRex @ 74
Thigh-high on a tyrannosaurus is what, 25-30 feet?
About friggin’ time. I was beginning to feel slightly less than gorgeous.
egorgeous?
Swopa @ 92
I like big boots and I cannot lie!
Enjoyed every minute. ‘nite all.
WTF is Alter doing?
And why Annie Leibowitz, Newsweek? Don’t you know she kept godless kissy-face company with that murka-hata commie Sontag?
Eli @ 93
Well, yes actually :D
Eli you funny.
Just PR. A noxious anti-semite trying to pull a fast one on a blinkered public and a credulous press.
Marion in Savannah @ 88
We’re having a special invitation to lurkers to de-lurk tonight! We thought it would be nice to start the week off meeting some new faces.
Hey Eveningdogs!,
throwing in my quatloos with Twisted Martini above -
Ms. Senior has visions of Wonkette dancing in her head - My Life As A Thin Person Taking It In The Ass
waving to “noted Film Historian David Ehrenstein”
loved seeing you get that Vanity Fair love
OT- but wasnt feingold supposed to give a speech today? anyone hear about it? i was so hoping for a rousing anti-torture anti bush home run to rally the dems
Marion in Savannah @ 37
I was wondering why you looked a bit red in the face. With that corset, I don’t see how you can faint gracefully. (::envisions a falling log::)
cbl @
101
Um, yeah, I was going to make that kind of comparison (replete with “ass” quote) but I figured I’d leave a little something for people in the comments.
Thanks for picking up the baton.
cbl @ 101
But are thin people smarter?
lurkers’r'us @ 102
I was just at MyDD, and Bowers said he was going.
TRex @ 100