Outrage looking for something to stick to.

[Arkady]

Apparently you are too young to remember the brief presidency of Gerald Ford, who spent his tenure being ridiculed as stupid and clumsy because of hitting someone with a golf ball and tripping a couple of times.

Yes, I am too young to remember that, personally, but I have seen the SNL version of Ford, so I don't doubt it. It always struck me as odd that a guy who was probably the best athlete we've ever had in the presidency was caricatured as a klutz. But, probably, he didn't much mind. There's going to be a caricature of every president, and so it's probably safer to have one settle into the endearingly irrelevant (he's a klutz), than something darker. I've seen one person, for example, argue that Will Farrell's version of GW Bush probably did the guy a big favor, because Will is so likeable, that his version of Bush (as a likeable-but-dim good-ole-boy) gave Bush a more marketable public persona than other possibilities (as a blood-thirsty warmonger, for example, or a reflexive liar, or an entitled son of old money whose daddy bought him the presidency).

 

[RickWA]

I get the distinct impression that when it comes to conservative reactions to Obama, the outrage comes first, and the nominal cause of the outrage is just whatever convenient material happens to come along. The latest example is Obama carelessly saluting his guard with a cup in his hand. Conservatives, predictably, plastered themselves to the ceiling about this... never mind similar half-hearted or encumbered salutes by various Republican presidents, or that through most of our history, presidents almost never saluted at all.

There are plenty of other examples of trivia like that being the convenient settling place of free-range conservative outrage towards Obama. Obama will forget to put his hand on his heart during the star-spangled banner, and you'd think he'd given the flag a one-fingered salute. Inevitably, people will quickly produce photos of countless Republican politicians likewise forgetting to put their hands on their hearts while everyone around them does, without it having inspired any eruption of outrage, but the conservatives will be immune to the obvious point that the outrage they're feeling is actually unconnected to the cause to which they attribute it.

Other recent examples include when Obama didn't attend the funeral of a general who was killed in action. Republicans insisted this was a break with tradition, when in fact many other generals had been killed in action, during other presidencies, with the presidents not having gone to their funerals, including modern Republican presidents. Or how about the time Obama didn't attend the D-Day memorial, and Facebook exploded with false claims that this was one of the only times a president had ever slighted the memorial, when in fact every recent president had done so at least once. The conservative apoplexy about Obama's golfing or vacations are other examples. Don't trouble them with the fact that Obama isn't actually a very avid golfer or vacationer by presidential standards. Their outrage is strongly felt and needs some sort of topic to adhere to, facts be damned! And they can't even confine it just to Obama -- his wife gets plenty of similar outrage, linked to off-the-cuff comments or questionable fashion choices that would not have had anyone bat an eyelash if it had been a Republican first lady.

Obama isn't the only Democratic president who has been on the receiving end of outrage that's supposedly about some taboo he crossed. I remember the conservative ninnies clutching their pearls and looking for the fainting couch when Clinton was photographed in the Oval Office without a tie or jacket. But with Obama, it seems a lot more frequent and even sillier, since so often the outrage is nominally directed at something where Obama is completely normal, as with the spotty D-Day attendance. Maybe it's a result of Obama being the first president since most technologically retarded conservatives first discovered social media. Maybe every Democrat will get this same treatment in the future.

To an extent this is true and characteristic of many conservatives. It was also true of many lefties When Bush was president. It's just that lefties are so uber-entitled that they seem to feel they can do whatever they want without consequence - and still remain free of the hypocrite charge.

I frankly don't care who or what Obama chooses to salute or how he does it. While I think it is telling that virtually all board lefties come running to his defense even on such non-issues as this...which "never occurred prior to Reagan", it is a very silly item.

We should be focused on matters of his performance, of course. And then, for comic relief, maybe hit his consistent eschewing of the conventions of masculinity.

 

[Arkady]

To an extent this is true and characteristic of many conservatives. It was also true of many lefties When Bush was president. It's just that lefties are so uber-entitled that they seem to feel they can do whatever they want without consequence - and still remain free of the hypocrite charge.

I frankly don't care who or what Obama chooses to salute or how he does it. While I think it is telling that virtually all board lefties come running to his defense even on such non-issues as this...which "never occurred prior to Reagan", it is a very silly item.

We should be focused on matters of his performance, of course. And then, for comic relief, maybe hit his consistent eschewing of the conventions of masculinity.

Ah yes, the conventions of masculinity.

Obama:

Bush:

 

[RickWA]

Ah yes, the conventions of masculinity.

Obama:

Bush:

Sorry, dude. I played D1 hoops. Obama has no game whatsoever - and there's no question that he's pretty comparably chickish...from weird, wrist-flitting affectations to tiny, 5 lb chromed weights - the guy is odd.

Secondly, Boooosh!!

(The desperate cry of the Internet lefty).

 

[Sunset Rose]

I've never been much of a Facebook poster but -- if you'll excuse me being crass for a moment -- I sometimes scroll through it on my phone while at the urinal. It's a good way to pass the time when you have a very short period with nothing else to do. So, although I might only post something every other month or so, I actually get a sampling of what my hundred or so "friends" are posting on a regular basis, and have for six or seven years. Over that time, the change has been huge. When I started, mostly it was young, liberal people posting about concerts and social events and the latest video games, with occasional excitement about Obama or Hillary Clinton. Now, it's dominated by older aunties sharing jokes that made the rounds years before they joined (along with lots of family pictures), "mommy blogger" types, and angry middle-aged dudes spouting off about how horrible Obama, kids, immigrants, and Muslims are these days.

Be careful you don't drop your phone while using the urinal.

 

[RickWA]

Be careful you don't drop your phone while using the urinal.

I often get the urge to do exactly that.

 

[Arkady]

Be careful you don't drop your phone while using the urinal.

Hehe. My brother has dropped his in the toilet.. twice! Now he uses a "Lifeproof" case, in case it happens again. I accidentally had mine in a swimming suit pocket once, and surprisingly it survived a dunk in the lake. I realized it almost immediately, shut it down, and let it dry, and it was fine when I rebooted it. Fortunately, it was fresh water. Apparently, if they get submerged briefly in fresh water, they have a chance, but salt water will fry them.

 

[Addy]

"Fox News" IS the most viewed cable-only news show. 3% of America views "Fox News" routinely. THREE PERCENT! Why then, do the others feel so compelled to comment on what Fox has to say?

Trying to discredit them should be their motive, not really sure it turns out that way though!

 

[bdtex]

I get the distinct impression that when it comes to conservative reactions to Obama, the outrage comes first, and the nominal cause of the outrage is just whatever convenient material happens to come along. The latest example is Obama carelessly saluting his guard with a cup in his hand. Conservatives, predictably, plastered themselves to the ceiling about this... never mind similar half-hearted or encumbered salutes by various Republican presidents, or that through most of our history, presidents almost never saluted at all.

There are plenty of other examples of trivia like that being the convenient settling place of free-range conservative outrage towards Obama. Obama will forget to put his hand on his heart during the star-spangled banner, and you'd think he'd given the flag a one-fingered salute. Inevitably, people will quickly produce photos of countless Republican politicians likewise forgetting to put their hands on their hearts while everyone around them does, without it having inspired any eruption of outrage, but the conservatives will be immune to the obvious point that the outrage they're feeling is actually unconnected to the cause to which they attribute it.

Other recent examples include when Obama didn't attend the funeral of a general who was killed in action. Republicans insisted this was a break with tradition, when in fact many other generals had been killed in action, during other presidencies, with the presidents not having gone to their funerals, including modern Republican presidents. Or how about the time Obama didn't attend the D-Day memorial, and Facebook exploded with false claims that this was one of the only times a president had ever slighted the memorial, when in fact every recent president had done so at least once. The conservative apoplexy about Obama's golfing or vacations are other examples. Don't trouble them with the fact that Obama isn't actually a very avid golfer or vacationer by presidential standards. Their outrage is strongly felt and needs some sort of topic to adhere to, facts be damned! And they can't even confine it just to Obama -- his wife gets plenty of similar outrage, linked to off-the-cuff comments or questionable fashion choices that would not have had anyone bat an eyelash if it had been a Republican first lady.

Obama isn't the only Democratic president who has been on the receiving end of outrage that's supposedly about some taboo he crossed. I remember the conservative ninnies clutching their pearls and looking for the fainting couch when Clinton was photographed in the Oval Office without a tie or jacket. But with Obama, it seems a lot more frequent and even sillier, since so often the outrage is nominally directed at something where Obama is completely normal, as with the spotty D-Day attendance. Maybe it's a result of Obama being the first president since most technologically retarded conservatives first discovered social media. Maybe every Democrat will get this same treatment in the future.

I love conservative outrage. It's so genuine.