alternative hippopotamus

progressive cyberdadaism from our nation’s capital

March 6, 2009

What color is your derangement syndrome?

by AltHippo @ 9:54 pm. Filed under Uncategorized

I continue to observe the machinations of those who flatter themselves into thinking they are more progressive than you or me.

There is certainly a need to critique any figure from the left, including Obama. For that matter, including Hillary Clinton. What I am observing, however, is not criticizing someone from the left. What I see is more like a series of petty outrages borne out of grievance for events now well into the past. A grievance, or list of grievances, that I would argue is largely but not entirely imaginary: that the DNC conspired to elect Obama, that Obama cheated in the primaries, or that his use of misogynistic language fooled people into voting for him. Ironically, many of the bloggers who argue this way insist that Obama supporters are under some form of narcotic influence.

Snort!

One is tempted to say they are carriers of Obama Derangement Syndrome. Here, I’ll note that Liberal Rapture refers to ODS as derangement by what he likes to call the “obots” who have “drunk the kool-aide.” I believe if he examines the etymology of the [X]DS’s, he’ll see that X refers to the object of disapproval, e.g., Bush Derangement Syndrome was what possessed critics of Bush. So, Obama Derangement Syndrome would refer to bloggers such as Liberal Rapture and Cannon Fire. They who are reflexive critics of Obama.

You’re smart people. I’m sure you get it.

Joseph Cannon provides a clear demonstration of ODS at work. Take, for instance, his post: Obama acts like Bush II, yet the Kossacks refuse to admit reality.

As evidence of the latter he quotes not a post at the Daily Kos, but comments on a post. The problem that Cannon has with the commenters is that several of them wonder out loud if the Obama administration wants to lose its case on executive authority, so that it’s not in the hands of a Republican administration. I would guess not, but it’s certainly within the realm of possibility. And this is indeed the nature of the Kos forum: to ask each other their thoughts. To put forward ideas and see if others agree. Fair enough? Yet Cannon doesn’t feel the need to say why he disagrees with the commenters. It’s sufficient for him to point and smirk.

Now let’s examine the premise, contained in the post’s title, that Obama acts like Bush II. Sorry, but that’s over the top. While I don’t think Obama should be able to assert state secrets to keep evidence out of court, I hardly think that’s the same thing as wiretapping citizens without a court order, torturing prisoners at Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib, extraordinary rendition, or assertions of executive privilege that led Scott Horton to assert that we’ve been living in a dictatorship. I think most of us rather like it that Obama will close gtmo, that he signed the Lilly Ledbetter law, that he’s stopping the federal prosecution of medical marijuana laws, and that he’s released the OLC memos supporting the existence of a Bush police state.

Will Cannon re-examine his hypothesis: i.e., that the obots have drunk kool-aid and worship The One? We’ll find out. As to his question: “By the way, he [ed: Rush Limbaugh] recently referred to Talking Points Memo as a ‘far left blog.’ Wow. What does that make Cannonfire?” I’d say that the author is wrong in thinking he’s running a lefty blog. He’s currently running a grievance blog. He’s done some good things in the past, so I’m hoping that he can do better than his recent work.

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7 Responses to “What color is your derangement syndrome?”

  1. John Cain Says:
    March 9th, 2009 at 1:13 pm

    Joe Cannon basically runs his life around DK commenters, so I don’t think he’s heading back to normalville anytime soon. I believe his political allegiances are based totally out of spite of DK commenters who were mean to him. You’re exactly right in saying Cannonfire is a grievance blog, not a political blog.

    Additionally, Cannon is not a fan of insane conspiracy theories, for all the right reasons. Except for the insane conspiracy theories he comes up with, which are of course informed and not at all irresponsible.

  2. Betty Cracker Says:
    March 12th, 2009 at 2:15 pm

    In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. Cannon is saner than most PUMA types on the Birfer issue, but that’s about it from what I’ve seen.

  3. AltHippo Says:
    March 13th, 2009 at 11:42 am

    “In the country of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.”

    Yes, I think of that quote often in the context of this time.

    At some point I came to see the birthers, riverchucky, and murphy to be too hardcore crazy to expect anything reasonable. My!q should be kept away from the public at large, preferably without a keyboard.

    Corrente, cannonfire, and other sites have potential to become “reality based.” I’m going to try to focus on potential reform, and not so much on the hardcore folks.

    But, as John Cain points out, even that’s a tough road to hoe.

  4. liberalrapture Says:
    March 27th, 2009 at 10:05 am

    Impressive delusions echo through out this post. Please tell me how Obama’s FISA stance and Bush’s differ? How does BHO’s Iraq plan truly differ from Bush’s over the last year? How is sending more troops to the front lines against the Taliban “progressive”?

    What white Obots can’t admit to themselves is that they voted for Obi because he’s black and cool. Come to grips with it. You voted based on race. BHO wasn’t even the 3rd or 4th best Democrat

    You got buffaloed. Voting based on skin color is never a good idea. Sadly, millions of dumb white liberals did just that. Now we are stuck with a mediocrity for four years, and 8 years of GOP rule after that.

    Yup I am pissed. The Obama Pod People really screwed us.

  5. AltHippo Says:
    March 27th, 2009 at 7:56 pm

    What white Obots can’t admit to themselves is that they voted for Obi because he’s black and cool. Come to grips with it. You voted based on race. BHO wasn’t even the 3rd or 4th best Democrat.

    Dude, chill out. My rule of thumb is to ignore remarks like that. I understand you’re pissed, but your rhetoric is over the line.

    And it is insulting to the very bright people who comment here. For example FISA. What Bush did is to pick an OLC who would go along with a policy that would defy existing law. Then, proceed to break that law. The worst you can say about Obama is that as Senator he voted for a FISA bill that gave immunity to ATT and other corporations who went along with the administration.

    Bush spied on ordinary Americans. Particularly those who disagreed with his policies. As I mentioned here he was using Homeland Security to spy on anti-war groups.

    Now that’s the kind of thing that pisses me off. That, and people who try to somehow make Bush = Obama.

  6. Kevin K. Says:
    March 27th, 2009 at 11:00 pm

    Now that’s the kind of thing that pisses me off. That, and people who try to somehow make Bush = Obama.

    Geez, slow down there, AltHippo. Liberal Rupture, the Rollerblader for Truth, may be onto something here. We may not be able to see WHAT’S RIGHT IN FRONT OF OUR EYES because all of that negro is clouding our vision.

  7. AltHippo Says:
    March 28th, 2009 at 10:02 am

    I guess he may have played one of those mojo tricks on us. My dumb goy brain gets easily fooled. But, it’s usually asians that hypmotize me.

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hip·po·pot·a·mus n. A notion, perhaps distinct from conventional wisdom, that needs to be verified by reality-based scrutiny.

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