Showing posts with label criticism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label criticism. Show all posts

Friday, August 22, 2014

Media Obsession with Obama's Golf Game

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Previous Related Posts:
Optics Delusion: Twitter Erupts Over Obama Jeans
Michele Bachmann Gripes About Cost of Obama's Dog, Air Force One
Conservatives Tripping About Obama's Vacation
Obama's New Scandal Umbrellagate

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The media is obsessed with the fact that President Obama, like many of his presidential predecessors, is able to take vacations and (horrors) play golf whenever he feels like it. Because, you know, Obama can't possibly golf and THINK at the same time. Or maybe the press can't watch golf and think at the same time. Today they criticized him for taking a hike, because walking and thinking don't go hand in hand either. I think Henry David Thoreau and Gandhi might disagree with them. Surely Martin Luther King and every person who marched for Civil Rights would disagree that physical activity rules out thinking or pondering.

Anyway, it's all about "Optics" because there are BIG things going on in the world, and Obama should be solving them all NOW. How dare the President try to relax so he can deal with them when the time comes. How dare he recharge his batteries like every other President before him. Funny that no one cared when the Elder Bush was watching "Curly Sue" in the theater at the White House, or relaxing at the family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine. Funny they never said this when President W. Bush was down in Texas at the BBQ ranch or choking on Fritos and then falling asleep on the couch in front of football at the White House. How many hours of sleep did W. need a night? Something like 14?

But the Optics of Golf meme is way to fire up the right-wing, or white-wing, readers, so some media outlets keep tweeting and reporting on what the black President is doing up in (usually white) Martha's Vineyard. And after the reporters tweet about golf, the trolls jump on the bandwagon.





























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Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Benghazi Bust Turns Right-Wing Theories to Dust

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Hooray for the Obama Administration! Not only did they vanquish Osama bin Laden, now they have captured the ring-leader of the Benghazi attacks! And guess what? The suspect is saying that the whole thing went down exactly as Susan Rice said in the original CIA/Petraeus talking points - he attacked the American consulate at Benghazi because of a video he had watched that was inflaming the entire Middle East at the time, a video made in the U.S. by Egyptian Coptic Christians and funded by Jewish donors making fun of the Prophet Mohammed.

So all the Right-Wing gnashing of teeth and screaming "Benghazzzzzzzzzziii" as a battle cry should be over. But wait - last night Hillary Clinton was grilled about Benghazi on Fox News, and there are now questions from the nutjobs about how "convenient" the story is from the suspect, and is he real, or merely a false-flag actor created by the evil Obama to boost Hillary and make the GOP look f***ing bonkers?

Well, they don't need that much help from Obama or Hillary to sound bonkers. So expect more outrageous and entertaining reactions from the far-right fringe, but the real story of Benghazi is pretty much over for the rest of the world, thanks to President Obama.

But never forget the strange byzantine history of Benghazi:

Previous Related Posts:
Benghazi is Back Because it Never Left
Lindsey Graham Blames Russian Aggression on #Benghazi
 Lara Logan and the Bogus 60 Minutes Benghazi Report
The Benghazi Political Circus
Benghazi Been-There-Done-That
Hillary Kicks Butt on Benghazi
The Benghazi Witch Hunt
Wingnuts: Petraeus Being Blackmailed Over Benghazi
Romney Campaign Politicized Benghazi On Day 1

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From Washington Post:
One of the suspected ringleaders of the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi that killed four Americans, Abu Khattala is the first of the alleged perpetrators to be apprehended. He now awaits a transfer to the United States and a federal trial in the District.
U.S. officials said the joint Special Operations and FBI mission had been planned for months and was approved by President Obama on Friday. The Pentagon said that there were no civilian or other casualties and that all involved U.S. personnel had safely left Libya.
The administration provided few details about the operation itself, where Abu Khattala is being held or the timing of his first appearance in court. After news of the capture became public Tuesday morning, Obama, on a visit to Pennsylvania, said Abu Khattala “is now being transported back to the United States.” Administration officials said they expected him to appear in court here within days.

From New York Times
On the day of the attack, Islamists in Cairo had staged a demonstration outside the United States Embassy there to protest an American-made online video mocking Islam, and the protest culminated in a breach of the embassy’s walls — images that flashed through news coverage around the Arab world.
As the attack in Benghazi was unfolding a few hours later, Mr. Abu Khattala told fellow Islamist fighters and others that the assault was retaliation for the same insulting video, according to people who heard him.



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It's the Video, Stupid!























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False Flag! Obama is Deflecting Again!















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Fox News Grills Hillary!















Home-Run for Hillary! ~ Chris Matthews on Hardball



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Monday, March 3, 2014

Armchair Chickenhawks Say Obama is "Weak and Trembling" on Russia - Updated With "Feckless"

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Previous Related Posts:
Optics Delusion: Russia Invades Ukraine and Twitter Erupts Over Obama Wearing Jeans
Palin Plays the Angry White Victim Card for M.L. King Day
New GOP Scandal: #Umbrellagate
John McCain Plays Iphone Poker During Syria Hearing
Tea Party Tantrum as Obama Shakes Hands with Castro

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Every time there is a world crisis, hysterical members of the GOP begin to war-splain that Obama is weak, I tell you, WEAK! And nowhere near scary enough to put the fear of God into tough-guys like Putin. So weak, ineffectual, non-cowboy Obama better get his act together and Declare War Now!!! Because #BENGHAZIIIIIIII!!!

Of course, people say these things knowing they will never, ever be Leader of the Free World or Commander-in-Chief of the United States Military. Chickenhawks sound brave from the comfort of their armchairs.

The worst is Squeaky Senator Lindsey Graham, R-SC, the ultimate Chickenhawk Neocon:

Well, number one, stop going on television and trying to threaten thugs and dictators. It is not your strong suit. Every time the president goes on national television and threatens Putin or anyone like Putin, everybody's eyes roll, including mine.
We have a weak and indecisive president that invites aggression.
President Obama needs to do something. How about this, suspend Russian membership in the G-8 and the G-20 at least for a year starting right now. And for every day they stay in Crimea, add to the suspension. Do something.
~ Lindsey Graham to Candy Crowley on CNN

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Then there is Graham's friend, John McCain, R-Arizona, who loves war because it gives him a reason to be head of a new committee on, well . . . war. See how that works? You'd think a guy who was tortured in Vietnam for YEARS wouldn't be anxious for the military to rush in where angels fear to tread, but he just needs to be on Meet the Press every week - don't you people understand?

Every moment that the United States and our allies fail to respond sends the signal to President Putin that he can be even more ambitious and aggressive in his military intervention in Ukraine. There is a range of serious options at our disposal at this time without the use of military force. I call on President Obama to rally our European and NATO allies to make clear what costs Russia will face for its aggression and to impose those consequences without further delay.
~ Senator John McCain's Website

Update ~ More McCain on "Feckless Obama":

This is a blatant act on the part of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin, and one that must be unacceptable to the world community," he told AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobby. "It cannot stand."
"Why do we care?" McCain asked. "Because this is the ultimate result of a feckless foreign policy where nobody believes in America's strength any more."
~ John McCain via CBS News







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Following the Chickenhawk Twins is, of course, the Queen Bee of all Neocons, Sarah Palin. She believes she now has the gift of prophecy for once suggesting that Putin would "rear his head" in Russia and invade Ukraine. Does anyone really think she came up with that idea on her own? Wherever the talking point came from, Palin couldn't be more delighted at the thought of war with Russia. Patriots and all that.*eyeroll* "Told-Ya-So"

Yes, I could see this one from Alaska. I'm usually not one to Told-Ya-So, but I did, despite my accurate prediction being derided as “an extremely far-fetched scenario” by the “high-brow” Foreign Policy magazine. Here’s what this “stupid” “insipid woman” predicted back in 2008: "After the Russian Army invaded the nation of Georgia, Senator Obama's reaction was one of indecision and moral equivalence, the kind of response that would only encourage Russia's Putin to invade Ukraine next."
~ Sarah Palin's Facebook

And actually, the person questioning Palin's theory didn't rule out an invasion, just the idea that it would turn into all-out war. He believed it would be easy for Putin to invade Ukraine, and so far, that has been the case. Does it matter that Obama has now been in office for six years and Putin just made a move AFTER the Sochi Olympics?

Blake Hounshell on Foreign Policy Mag about Palin's Invasion Theory:
As we've said before, this is an extremely far-fetched scenario. And given how Russia has been able to unsettle Ukraine's pro-Western government without firing a shot, I don't see why violence would be necessary to bring Kiev to heel. Watch the upcoming parliamentary elections in December to see if Moscow gets the pliable new government it wants.

And she wasn't finished!

Look, the perception of Obama, of him and his potency across the world is one of such weakness. People are looking at Putin as one who wrestles bears and drills for oil. They look at our president as one who wears mom jeans and equivocates and bloviates.
~ Sarah Palin on Fox News









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And Obama will start WWIII!!! OMG!

The disarming of America over the past five years limits our options in Ukraine today. I just returned from Georgia in January, and they fear Russia will further invade their territory next. Throughout this administration, I have also warned that if the United States does not maintain a ready and capable military, we would surrender our global influence and leave a vacuum that will be filled by Russia. I warned this day was coming, and it is here.
~ Senator Jim Inhofe, R-Oklahoma

The world does not expect the United States just ‘to stand with the international community,’ as the president said,” They expect the United States to lead. Weak statements, history has proven, only invite aggression.
~ Former Senator Jim DeMint, now head of the conservative Heritage Foundation




Emboldened by President Obama's trembling inaction, Vladimir Putin has invaded the Crimea region of Ukraine. Senior U.S. officials have reportedly called Russia's actions in Crimea an ‘uncontested arrival,’ not an invasion; the same was said about the Anschluss. The hours ahead will decide whether this invasion of Crimea is repelled or expanded to the whole of Ukraine, and whether the West finally confronts Putin or again blinks in disgrace.
At a minimum, President Obama should revoke travel visas and freeze assets of senior Russian officials and Putin cronies, freeze assets of Ukrainian oligarchs who assist the Russian invasion, stop transfers of assets out of Ukraine, support the Ukrainian transitional government and military as it defends Ukraine's territorial integrity, recall our ambassador to Russia, reschedule the upcoming G-8 meeting from Russia to Western Europe or the U.S., and suspend Russia from the G-8. Putin must be punished for his outlaw actions and the Russian people and elites must recognize they will pay a price for them.
~ Representative Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas

Ex-NY Mayor Rudy GIULIANI: Putin decides what he wants to do and he does it in half a day, right? He decided he had to go to their parliament. He went to their parliament. He got permission in 15 minutes.
Neil CAVUTO: Well, that was kind of like perfunctory.
GIULIANI: But he makes a decision and he executes it, quickly. Then everybody reacts. That's what you call a leader. President Obama, he's got to think about it. He's got to go over it again. He's got to talk to more people about it.
~ Fox News/Neil Cavuto - Via Esquire: Rudy Giuliani's Mancrush On Putin

Obama’s whole theory on international relations was: If i’m nice to Iran, if I offer them all kinds of goodies, if I’m nice to the North Koreans, if I’m nice to any adversaries anywhere… He wanted to show the Russians that he was willing to bury the hatchet on all the past and then he wanted cooperation in other areas,” Krauthammer said.
Putin looks at this guy and says I’m dealing with an adolescent, this is a community organizer, he doesn’t understand how the world works. What Putin did, a KGB agent and a thug, he pockets all the things Obama offers him for nothing, he walks away and then he struts the world stage knowing he has an adversary in the White House who will do nothing. And he has done nothing.
~ Fox News Pundit, Charles Krauthammer























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Thursday, September 19, 2013

Chuck Todd Admits that Truth Isn't Part of His Job Description

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On ACA Obamacare:
Republicans have successfully messaged against it. They don't repeat the other stuff because they haven't even heard the Democratic message.
What I always love is people say, ‘Well, it’s your folks’ fault in the media.’ No, it’s the President of the United States’ fault for not selling it.
~ Chuck Todd of MSNBC on Morning Joe

Chuck Todd: It's Not Media's Job To Correct GOP's Obamacare Falsehoods
. . . During a segment on "Morning Joe," former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell (D) speculated that most opponents of the Affordable Care Act have been fed erroneous information about the law. Todd said that Republicans "have successfully messaged against it" but he disagrees with those who argue that the media should educate the public on the law. According to Todd, that's President Barack Obama's job.
~ Talking Points Memo

Walter Cronkite, Chet Huntley and Edward R Murrow turn in their graves.
~ JosephE. on TPM

So, Rocky the Flying Squirrel believes he should just repeat whatever the Teabaggers tell him. Got it.
~ Trippin on TPM

What a disgusting and scathing indictment of the Press by Chuck Todd. The media has no intention of ever doing their job, let alone reporting on the truth! Yet we knew all this already. That's why the media's number's are just slightly above those of Congress.
~ DocRock on TPM

It's sad that NBC's White House correspondent thinks his job is merely to convey politicians pronouncements, with no care about whether they are true or false. In fact, scrutinize claims, particularly those from powerful officials, is an essential part of journalism. It's embarrassing to have to cite elementary principles to one the nation's most influential reporters, but Todd should consider reviewing the Society of Professional Journalists' Code of Ethics, where, under the heading "Seek Truth and Report It," the very first tenet implores journalists to "test the accuracy of information from all sources."
~ Steve Rendall on Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting

Truly: Todd’s quote reads to these eyes like a resignation letter. If you can’t rouse yourself to meet the minimum requirement of a cub reporter covering a school council meeting — ask if that thing Councilmember Doe just said, was, you know, actually true? — then perhaps you should take a bit more time with your family.
Or rather:
Yo! Chuck: you’re stealing paychecks from the Peacock and wasting everyone else’s time. Go home.
~ Tom Levenson on Balloon Juice

Todd’s point is that he is only here to let each side put their message out there, and the best message wins. What Todd described isn’t journalistic neutrality. It’s laziness and indifference to factual reporting.
. . . Todd is the political director for NBC News. His attitude about the letting Republican lies slide guides the political coverage at NBC News.
~ Jason Easley on PoliticusUSA

It’s true that it’s not the press’s job to “sell” White House initiatives, but it absolutely is the job of the press to separate fact from fiction and communicate the truth of any matter as opposed to simply being a dutiful stenographer who reports, word-for-word, each side’s spin and calls it objectivity.
~Chez Pazienza on The Daily Banter

Holy mother of mercy, is my man Chuck Todd really saying if a lie is unusually successful, it must eventually be accepted as something like the truth, and that the job of journalism is to stand by and let that happen? (Someone should write a book.) If he is actually saying that, then my man Chuck Todd should be fired because he doesn't know sweet fk-all about journalism....
~ Charles P. Pierce on Esquire

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Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Obama Wins on Syria ~ with Media Derp and Sour Grapes - Updated!

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Related Posts:
Obama Speaks to the World On Syria

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War Weary Public is Tired of Weary Cliches











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Just Dumb Luck and Nintendo Games













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Give Putin and Russia Get All the Credit








It’s tempting to enjoy the moment, that is, the humiliation of President Obama and the short-circuiting of his war push by a brilliant coup conducted by Vladimir Putin, that sly old dog and ju-jitsu expert, along with Russia’s ally, Syria.
President Obama might as well not bother giving his Oval Office speech tonight, because the chances that Congress will approve Obama’s Authorization to Use Military Force are zero, and the possibility that the United States will go to war against Syria without congressional support are now less than zero.
~ Bob Dreyfuss on The Nation

The administration’s policy in Syria is ad hoc. The president implied this was all in the works, that at the G20 he and President Putin worked this out. That’s ludicrous. They’re making this up as they go along and that’s obvious, I think. The second thing that is clear is that this strengthens Russia and humiliates the United States. Putin is riding to President Obama’s rescue. He is entirely dependent upon the goodwill of Vladimir Putin, who does not [have] our interests at heart.
~ Tucker Carlson of Fox quoted by The Nation as back-up

What happened was Kerry went off message and, as has been his wont as Secretary of State, off the reservation, and violated the cardinal rule of official press conferences: He answered a hypothetical question in a hypothetical way. He blurted out a pie-in-the-sky, hyperbolic idea—getting rid of "every single bit" of the chemical weapons scattered across Syria "in the next week"—but everyone seized on it as a realistic proposal. It's not.
. . . here are two clear winners in this slow-motion train wreck, and they are not Obama or Kerry. They are Assad and Putin. Both wanted, for their own reasons, to avert a military strike, and a military strike was averted. Putin insisted on a diplomatic solution while doing everything to make a diplomatic solution impossible, and now he gets his phony, unenforceable diplomatic solution. Assad wanted to go on killing his opposition, and he will continue to do so.
~ Julia Ioffe on The New Republic




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It Just Won't Work ~ Obama has Pre-Failed














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Friday, September 6, 2013

Obama's Red Line in Syria Draws Criticism Left and Right

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Previous Related Posts:
Obama Disturbes GOP Vacation Time with Syria Vote
Obama Baffles Media by Ordering Vote on Syria

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President's Remarks from Joint Press Conference with Swedish Prime Minister
Q Thank you, Mr. President. Thank you, sir. Have you made up your mind whether to take action against Syria whether or not you have a congressional resolution approved? Is a strike needed in order to preserve your credibility for when you set these sort of red lines? And were you able to enlist the support of the Prime Minister here for support in Syria?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Let me unpack the question. First of all, I didn’t set a red line; the world set a red line. The world set a red line when governments representing 98 percent of the world’s population said the use of chemical weapons are abhorrent and passed a treaty forbidding their use even when countries are engaged in war.

Congress set a red line when it ratified that treaty. Congress set a red line when it indicated that -- in a piece of legislation titled the Syria Accountability Act -- that some of the horrendous things that are happening on the ground there need to be answered for.

And so when I said in a press conference that my calculus about what’s happening in Syria would be altered by the use of the chemical weapons, which the overwhelming consensus of humanity says is wrong, that wasn’t something I just kind of made up. I didn’t pluck it out of thin air. There’s a reason for it. That’s point number one.

Point number two -- my credibility is not on the line. The international community’s credibility is on the line. And America and Congress’s credibility is on the line because we give lip service to the notion that these international norms are important.
And when those videos first broke and you saw images of over 400 children subjected to gas, everybody expressed outrage: How can this happen in this modern world? Well, it happened because a government chose to deploy these deadly weapons on civilian populations. And so the question is, how credible is the international community when it says this is an international norm that has to be observed? The question is, how credible is Congress when it passes a treaty saying we have to forbid the use of chemical weapons?



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Well now the president is saying he never used the term red line. He's saying that the world used the term red line. So, it's taken him five years, but finally the guy has learned how to bullshit.
~ David Letterman, via Real Clear Politics

President Obama lied. Syrian kids have died. So is it a Red Line or not?
This President and his minions are rank amateurs. They’ve never looked more inept.
- Melissa Clouthier on Gateway Pundit

He did say it. . . . This President has tried to find a way to blame anybody or everybody for everything. And leadership requires that you stand up, take a position, provide clarity and take responsibility. I can't imagine him saying he didn't draw the red line. But he did draw the red line. We have ears.
. . . There's no question that the leadership, or lack of leadership has driven the country into a cul-de-sac. And that's not a good place to be.
~ Donald Rumsfeld in Fox News Interview with Greta Van Susteren



Ah! See? The red line! You can't use chemicals to kill your own people! You have to do it organically. America and the world want to make sure Assad only uses locally sourced free long range land ordinance.
...Oh right, we have to bomb Syria because we're in 7th grade. And the red line that they crossed is actually dick-measuring ribbon.
~ Jon Stewart on the Daily Show, via About.com



So, it doesn't matter. He didn't set the red line. (interruption) It is. It's hilarious, it's absurd, and it typifies exactly what we know. It's a Limbaugh theorem. It is the Limbaugh theorem. (Obama impression) "Well, I didn't do that! You didn't build it! I didn't set the red line; the world did." Believe me, if he could have blamed Bush for it, he would have. But I think even he knew that that might not fly. So blame it on the world.
~ Rush Limbaugh

Obama never should have set a red line in Syria in the first place, and once he did he should simply have found a way to weasel out of it. It's not that hard. Sure, the forever-hawks would have squealed, but they were going to squeal about anything short of Iraq 2.0 no matter what. So who cares what they think?
As near as I can tell, after five years Obama has been entirely captured by the national security establishment. It's a damn shame.
~ Kevin Drum on Mother Jones

What it says to me is that the president gets lost when he doesn't have a teleprompter in front of him, which he obviously didn't last year. It's somewhat mystifying.
Maybe the president needs to go back and look at what he said a year ago,’ but he was very clear. It was not Congress that was drawing a red line. 'I have a red line.’ So I don’t know that he’s necessarily thrown Congress under the bus, but he sure punted the ball to Congress as opposed to go taking the type of leadership that we normally see out of a Commander in Chief.
~ Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia



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