Quotes of the day
posted at 10:42 pm on October 29, 2009 by Allahpundit
“‘In many ways, he’s sent from God,’ he joked in an interview, ‘because the world’s a mess.’
“But Sting is serious in his belief that Obama is the best leader to navigate the world’s problems. In an interview on Wednesday, the former Police frontman said that he spent some time with Obama and ‘found him to be very genuine, very present, clearly super-smart, and exactly what we need in the world.’…
“‘It’s aggressive and violent and full of fear,’ he said of the [conservative] backlash against Obama. ‘They don’t want change, they want things to feel the same because they feel safe there.’”
***
“They came of age during the great abundance, circa 1980-2008 (or 1950-2008, take your pick), and they don’t have the habit of worry. They talk about their ‘concerns’—they’re big on that word. But they’re not really concerned. They think America is the goose that lays the golden egg. Why not? She laid it in their laps. She laid it in grandpa’s lap.
“They don’t feel anxious, because they never had anything to be anxious about. They grew up in an America surrounded by phrases—’strongest nation in the world,’ ‘indispensable nation,’ ‘unipolar power,’ ‘highest standard of living’—and are not bright enough, or serious enough, to imagine that they can damage that, hurt it, even fatally.
“We are governed at all levels by America’s luckiest children, sons and daughters of the abundance, and they call themselves optimists but they’re not optimists—they’re unimaginative. They don’t have faith, they’ve just never been foreclosed on. They are stupid and they are callous, and they don’t mind it when people become disheartened. They don’t even notice.”
Blowback
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I think Gordo needs a little jam session with the Nuge.
Laura in Maryland on October 29, 2009 at 11:48 PM
I agree, Ann. I can’t for the life of me figure out why the people in Hollywood, etc. are so freakin’ stupid. I don’t dislike Obama, but even I am fed up with these people acting like he is, really is, the CHICAGO JESUS! Give me a break. He’s just another typical politician. Look at his strategies, his rhetoric. He’s a typical politician. He just rides the waves of stupidity that these people spew. That being said, they’re more the problem than he is. They think he can do no wrong.
NathanG on October 29, 2009 at 11:49 PM
I’d argue you’d have to be past a pretty decent age to have even lived in an America that lined up with your ideas on freedom, liberty, and our founding principles.
ernesto on October 29, 2009 at 11:49 PM
I’m afraid it’s a bit more sinister than that, and made possible by an illusory guilt that is manipulated to the ends of the world’s biggest grifters, ever. Of course, manipulators are nothing new, but the fertile ground of illusory white guilt in the most powerful and dominant nation is something the nature of which has never been seen before. Europe started this with its attempted suicide through the whole of the 20th century, while America has only moved into it since the 70′s. It has since metastasized and has corrupted the whole body politic and society.
progressoverpeace on October 29, 2009 at 11:49 PM
Or maybe it was this guy…
Seven Percent Solution on October 29, 2009 at 11:50 PM
Here is an idea for you Sting. Go to a local college or university in disguise and argue conservative principals. You will quickly discover who is violent and full of fear.
This man proves that Zombies are very real.
RobertInLexington on October 29, 2009 at 11:51 PM
I dig Sting’s music. Disagree with him on politics.
Graybark on October 29, 2009 at 11:52 PM
LOL! He ain’t seen sh1t yet.
elduende on October 29, 2009 at 11:52 PM
I live here. I actually know a few B stars. Brains really isn’t their strong suit. They are much more on the expressive side of life.
Nice people…but easily manipulated. They are not who you’d want on your side in life if you’re watching out for sharks. I find that’s about 70% of their life problems, too. They are a bit too ready to go with the next fad flow.
AnninCA on October 29, 2009 at 11:53 PM
Count me in. I loved the Police, and Sting was okay. Hey, Eno is my favorite and he’s a total lefty nutcase. It’s a shame, really.
progressoverpeace on October 29, 2009 at 11:53 PM
And, btw, I totally agree with you on this one. I think what his real brilliance was? He knows this. He just is the first one with a tan that figured it out. LOL*
Gotta give him that one.
AnninCA on October 29, 2009 at 11:54 PM
Oh, puh-leaze!
Why do you have to have “balls,” much less ones that are “huge” to say something courageous and truthful?
That being established, Sting has no b*lls and is a complete jerk!
What he said wasn’t courageous in the least.
He knows that millions of “aggressive, violent and full of fear Conservatives”
helped make him a multi-millionaire.
He doesn’t have to worry about money for the rest of his life because he made so much, most of it being made in the U.S.A. market and yet, he’s not even American.
Any one who lauds the political opinions of a mental midget and latte-sipping Hollywood Leftist like Sting is an idiot.
Jenfidel on October 29, 2009 at 11:54 PM
I think Gordo needs a little jam session with the Nuge.
Laura in Maryland on October 29, 2009 at 11:48 PM
I think Liberace would be a better choice.
heshtesh on October 29, 2009 at 11:54 PM
No, that’s “Jozxyqk“
FloatingRock on October 29, 2009 at 11:55 PM
peggy noonan pretty much nails it:
and of course, that’s the point. if we are to become a socialist state, we must lose all hope.
we must believe that we can not make a difference…in fact that we are just one more country, in no way “special”, just a hum drum country that consumes more than it is worth.
the children that she’s talking do not know America’s worth
r keller on October 29, 2009 at 11:55 PM
REMEMBER HOUSE ATREDIES!!!! Do it for the Fremen!
*whoosh, right over everyone’s heads*
Orange Doorhinge on October 29, 2009 at 11:56 PM
LOL…well I did say “jam”!
Laura in Maryland on October 29, 2009 at 11:57 PM
The spice must FLOOOOOOW!!!
Orange Doorhinge on October 29, 2009 at 11:58 PM
???
What does that comment mean?
Our Constitution is over 200 years old and it’s still valid.
Freedom, Liberty and the principles of our Founding Fathers are timeless and are worth fighting for and returning to, if we have indeed strayed from them.
Jenfidel on October 29, 2009 at 11:58 PM
House Atreides was betrayed and brought down from within too. Hmmmm…
elduende on October 29, 2009 at 11:59 PM
What does that comment mean?
Our Constitution is over 200 years old and it’s still valid.
Freedom, Liberty and the principles of our Founding Fathers are timeless and are worth fighting for and returning to, if we have indeed strayed from them.
Jenfidel on October 29, 2009 at 11:58 PM
+100
heshtesh on October 30, 2009 at 12:01 AM
You give our ‘sinister domestic forces of illusory white guilt’ too much credit, at the risk of coming off as a bit of a nativist. Even if it were sinister and powerful, the changes you’re talking about came at 2 different times. The economic policies are longstanding, the racial politics came after.
ernesto on October 30, 2009 at 12:01 AM
The comment about “being from God” is interesting. I think the really good stuff that will be written about this candidate will involve how he engaged people on a spiritual level.
There is such a thirst. But religion is so not doing it for so many younger people.
You could see it. We all make fun, “Drink the kool-aid,” but it honestly showed a deep need.
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:01 AM
The pace of their erosion has fallen off a cliff, of late, and then the solid rocket booster kicked in.
FloatingRock on October 30, 2009 at 12:02 AM
Liar.
RobertInLexington on October 30, 2009 at 12:03 AM
It just sounds ingenuous when people put it that way here, as if the latest opposition administration ruined what was, up until his arrival, the pinnacle of that shining city on a hill (which wasn’t even a place of liberty! and freedom! and founding princples! during the period that lame phrase was getting thrown around by Presidents). Plenty of apologizing for transgressions against strict constitutional government can be found here, or at least in the archives of Bush era HA. Forgive me for feeling extra snarky about it every now and then
ernesto on October 30, 2009 at 12:04 AM
I don’t have that white guilt, but I was an intense young woman growing up in the South. omigosh* such suffering over this.
LOL*
I look back now and am glad I was such a goof. I had no ability to push it away, so I did work through it, developed a personal value system that has served me well, and I’m mostly curious about people who obviously didn’t go through that soul-searching. I’m not too curious about the racists. They are real, and they are creeps.
But the rest? I agree. It’s a bit of “unfinished business” in their own lives.
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:05 AM
My first attempt at quitting. Give it time :)
ernesto on October 30, 2009 at 12:05 AM
He who controls the spice controls the universe.
FloatingRock on October 30, 2009 at 12:08 AM
“Elite discourse”? (snort!)
Okay, I’ll confess that many years ago I not only subscribed to “Time” magazine but I also read it from cover to cover. After encountering the phrase “‘Time’ magazine thinks…” in article after article over a period of several months, I had my, “Who died and made you king?” epiphany, canceled my subscription and expanded my sources of information.
The “elites” can be both ignorant and wrong (as can I), so I’m not inclined to grant their opinion and “discourse” greater weight than those who aren’t part of an elite.
ya2daup on October 30, 2009 at 12:08 AM
Back when you could sleep with your doors unlocked, schools only had drive by shoutings and people could have a decent life with only one spouse working.
Yeah stuff like freedom and the constitution are pretty outdated and antiquated. But, tyranny is also antiquated but for some reason people look forward to becoming the property of the state once again. Yes, we will be your slaves, just promise to feed us.
RobertInLexington on October 30, 2009 at 12:08 AM
You helped get the ManChild elected, Peggy. Savor that in between cocktails. As much as I enjoyed the piquancy of your language, your words rang as hollow as, well, our national soul.
spmat on October 30, 2009 at 12:09 AM
My first attempt at quitting. Give it time :)
ernesto on October 30, 2009 at 12:05 AM
Appreciate your efforts anyway,keep trying.
heshtesh on October 30, 2009 at 12:10 AM
I wasn’t calling the illusory white guilt, sinister. I was just saying that it is an extremely vulnerable point for society that sinister forces prey upon. Even the non-sinister forces have to dance around it, but that is generally due to cowardice.
Meh. I’m not worried. I can fully detail the logic of my position. Sure, people make poor judgments about me, based on their misunderstandings and shortcomings, but that is inevitable. That’s just life these days.
I was just ballparking it. But, the coalition of the 60′s was white-guilt hippies and black militants (which just happens to be exactly what we have in Washington these days). Obviously, the politics came from earlier, but that was when the two really started coalescing and feeding off of each other – to go into remission for a while, but emerge now in a fatal form.
progressoverpeace on October 30, 2009 at 12:11 AM
ernesto on October 29, 2009 at 11:27 PM
You know how this has to end, don’t you? The situation you describe has been with us since Bill Clinton dispatched Bush 41. We haven’t had an incumbent President lose since then.
So, are we in a new era of politics (as Obama freaks think), or on the last throes of a tired era in politics that desperately needs to end?
BradSchwartze on October 30, 2009 at 12:12 AM
What is your fascination with Sting’s Balls? I’m sure you’ll love Sting’s newest single: TeaBaggers In The Sahara
portlandon on October 30, 2009 at 12:13 AM
Why do we care about the political opinions of celebrities? They live in a make-believe world of fantasy which isn’t subject to the same laws of cause, effect and consequence as the rest of us. So it’s only natural that they gravitate toward liberalism, an ideology which ignores things like cause, effect and consequence.
In fact virtually everyone whose life is based around make-believe and fantasy is a liberal. Isn’t that a stunning indictment of liberalism? And shouldn’t we feel justifiably righteous that our views run counter of those who do not live in the real world?
Sharke on October 30, 2009 at 12:13 AM
Don’t take it so personally. ‘Elite discourse’ with regards to public opinion and attitude formulation is something very different than the ‘elite’ tag that gets tossed around here whenever someone does or says anything perceived as slighting ‘real america’. It just basically represents the entire media, education, titans of industy, and governemnt. ‘The experts’, basically. When you look at things like the breakdown of support for the vietnam war, you’re looking at a time when elite discourse broke down, or delineated temporarily. This time, its delineated permanently. That spells something different for public attitudes, and in turn, public policy.
ernesto on October 30, 2009 at 12:14 AM
When it comes down to the vote, probably not. People loathe change.
We’ll adjust to Obama just as we did to others.
But I do think that real changes are taking place. People are starting to shed the WWII worldview.
That means, authentic change.
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:15 AM
This is the same idiot who thought the world was a mess in the 1980′s and wanted us to surrender to the Soviet Union, and whose wife just flew a hair stylist across America to get her hair done while lecturing on global warming and the evils of the oil industry.
And he thinks Obama is a genius “sent from God.” I guess Obama would look like that by someone so stupid and morally bankrupt.
Gabe on October 30, 2009 at 12:16 AM
I’m pretty liberal, and I’m also very pragmatic. I think I’m a product, in fact, of American pragmatism. We do need a lot of social support to thrive as a group. That’s the best of liberalism.
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:17 AM
What’s fatal about it? The economic policies?
ernesto on October 30, 2009 at 12:17 AM
A humiliating kick in the crotch.
Artists.
Pffffft.
juanito on October 30, 2009 at 12:17 AM
“Never been foreclosed on”
Speak for yourself. I like how you can use the word “violent” on a movement that contains around a million people who knew what decorum was and didn’t need the cops keeping them in line–who chatted cordially with the cops. And Comrade Obama is best buddies with a guy who made bombs.
How imaginative is it to decide that this one way is the future, and you need to go in that direction.
You use words funny, Sting.
Axeman on October 30, 2009 at 12:18 AM
My late husband was on the Enterprise when they had the big fire during the Viet Nam era. He told me how you never get over the smell of burning flesh…Too bad Sting forgot how much he respected Bush in his (Bush’s) campaign to end AIDS in Africa. What a hypocrit…
lovingmyUSA on October 30, 2009 at 12:19 AM
What are you talking about?
Do you even know?
Jenfidel on October 30, 2009 at 12:20 AM
I don’t think Obama supports bombing Americans. I think that was just his own political path up through Black American politics.
But I do agree with you that the reaction to the signs (and I do believe it’s just that simple) was over-the-top. People who oppose him aren’t really violent.
They are, ironically, as expressive as Hollywood types. :)
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:22 AM
A WWII viewpoint is that we are responsible for the entire world.
A lot of the rub today is that people honestly don’t like this role anymore.
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:23 AM
Sting
+ the amount of easy millions he’s made in US$ by simply singing songs
= typical, spoiled, arrogant, Gulfstream liberal
Sting
- all the money he’s made in US$
= a guy singing songs on street corners with a cup in his hand
PoodleSkirt on October 30, 2009 at 12:25 AM
You’re babbling almost as incoherently as AnninCa, but what you’re talking about is the Leftist infiltration of the Media and our Universities and Schools.
That’s what brought about the “breakdown of support for the Vietnam war” and that’s what is leaking the Marxist/Communist/Socialist poison into our attitudes and public policy via “climate change,” health care, homosexual marriage and other areas of PC and “multi-culturalism.”
Jenfidel on October 30, 2009 at 12:25 AM
Not true. The people who know how to get us out of this mess are being ignored by people like Peggy Nooner.
I lived for a year in the back of a broken down pick up truck parked out in the deserts of Arizona. I know how you end up there, and I know how you get out of that situation.
Have a nice day.
Skandia Recluse on October 30, 2009 at 12:26 AM
They are, ironically, as expressive as Hollywood types. :)
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:22 AM
Ya i always go about expressing myself just like Sean Penn to express my rational side./s
heshtesh on October 30, 2009 at 12:26 AM
Except when you wind up finding that phenomena show up regardless of the ideology that comes out on top, you begin to realize that it functions independent that ideology you hold so personally dear. You’ve got all this rationalization for what’s happened, all leading back to the same sinister conspiracy, it simply not all true.
ernesto on October 30, 2009 at 12:28 AM
The message is really not that hard to decipher. Jenfidel seems to have trouble, but it’s not that complicated.
A lot of middle-class people DO feel that being the World military presence has cost us dearly in terms of helping our own citizens.
They are tired of war, they are tired of military budgets, they are tired of being told we can’t afford this or that.
It nearly always comes back to how to spend our own tax dollars.
I think a LOT of the change going on is about this debate.
It’s also a very legitimate debate.
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:28 AM
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:15 AM
One of the most liberating things about in-depth study of WW2 was when I found out that certain people were as opposed to fighting the Nazi’s/Japanese as today’s opponents are about Af-Pak. It’s when I realized that I should not be so hard on the folks who ran Vietnam the way they did, though I still seethe at the Boomers who gave off this attitude that because they had a TV camera pointed at them, that their opposition was sui generis.
So yes, we ARE nearing the end of a certain ethos in politics and society. And the person who kills it once-and-for-all is going to come from as unlikely a source as you’ll find.
BradSchwartze on October 30, 2009 at 12:29 AM
Interesting. :)
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:29 AM
I believe you. I do know that the notion that we’re controlling through political vote is plain ole’ silly.
The most unlikely types……etc.
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:31 AM
Uh, no.
Notice we didn’t even get into WWII until we were attacked.
It was the shake out from WWII that made us “responsible for the entire world.”
We were the lone major power left that not only wasn’t devastated by the war but that was a force for Good.
You Liberals are always all about feelings.
It doesn’t matter if people don’t like it.
The U.S.A. is the world’s lone superpower, Parent and Designated Driver.
As NObama continues to chip away at this image and role, watch things deteriorate and go to hell in a Neiman-Marcus handbasket around the world.
We have been blessed with so much–is benign leadership of the world so much to give back?
And many of us do like and appreciate America having this role: our fathers and grandfathers in the Greatest Generation paid for it in blood.
Jenfidel on October 30, 2009 at 12:31 AM
All things change.
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:33 AM
Capitalism has done nothing for Sting.
My vote is ‘Stink’. Rumor has it, he doesn’t shower much.
Methinks this washed up putz who was once voted the “worst lyricist in rock” has spent too much time eating funky brownies and “Walking on the Moon”.
Left Coast Right Mind on October 30, 2009 at 12:33 AM
That wasn’t the WWII view. The WWII view was that we were better off helping the few allies we had left fight them off over their rather than sitting around waiting to fight them off over here without any allies.
FloatingRock on October 30, 2009 at 12:33 AM
What a sickening twisted version of reality he lives in. Everyone knows it was the Democrat Community Restoration Act that is largely to blame for this whole housing/financial mess.
Note to Sting: Stop pretending you have any clue you pretentious egotist.
scotash on October 30, 2009 at 12:33 AM
Didn’t his daughter just have a sex change operation? Bono, Sting, Stingbo, Boasting, whatevah – so marginal I get ‘em confused. The Ramones live!
BHO Jonestown on October 30, 2009 at 12:33 AM
Nah*…..The CRA forced a few loans. Nothing like what went on that fueled this collapse.
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:35 AM
Good night all much enjoyed,keep up the good fight Jenfidel.
heshtesh on October 30, 2009 at 12:35 AM
No, none of the middle-class people I know of do feel that way.
That view is on the part of the welfare recipients and lower class.
War and the military are legitimate expenses of our federal government.
Education, welfare, health care and food stamps are not.
I
It’s a legitimate debate because the Welfare State government is out of control and Karl Marx’s pupil is in the White House while Marx’s minions run Congress.
The Federal Government is close to becoming King George III while “we, the people” are back to throwing tea bags in Boston Harbor.
Something’s gotta give.
Jenfidel on October 30, 2009 at 12:36 AM
“Simply put, we cannot afford to give another vote to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid we cannot afford another vote for higher taxes, we cannot afford another vote for government run health care and we absolutely cannot afford another vote to take away from hard working men and women the right to secret ballot.”–Pataki
This is huge! You all should read the comments there at Red State! The snowball has achieved ginormous dimensions.
THANKS KSgop!
lovingmyUSA on October 30, 2009 at 12:36 AM
What’s fatal about it is that it is going to kill this nation. That will come as a result of all of the policies, but the clearest death blows will come from destruction of the monetary system and/or the absolute death of the Constitution to be used for any considerations other than for inventing new “rights” for people that require more and more government.
As I have written many times, the Constitution has been the domesticating constraint on the federal government; not that it was followed closely, but that it was at least feared by the legislature and Executive. That has now totally disappeared and the federal government has returned to a totally savage state of nature, the likes of which this nation has NEVER seen. The feral government and its barbaric and unrestrained expansion will certainly spell the end, if the monetary disaster doesn’t get us first.
progressoverpeace on October 30, 2009 at 12:37 AM
I agree. And I think the mood is to get out from under that.
It may take another couple of big hard recessions.
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:37 AM
Cheers, heshtesh, and Good Night!
These Leftist Libs make me nauseous. Seriously.
Jenfidel on October 30, 2009 at 12:38 AM
I do agree. The pushback from progressives is so not a solution.
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:38 AM
Who the hell does this GORDON SUMNER (aka sting) guy think he is, and what the hell are his geo-political/economic credentials anyway?
bannedbyhuffpo on October 30, 2009 at 12:38 AM
Social support from whom?
You know what we need to survive as a group? Complete individual freedom within the context of a rational rule of law which prohibits physical force, theft and fraud.
I’m not a big fan of the philosophical concept of pragmatism. It can be summed up by the phrase “the ends justify the means.” It dispenses with absolute principles and redefines truth, as Ayn Rand put it, as “that which works.” An example of pragmatism would be enforcing a strict curfew at night and thereby virtually eliminating violent street crime. The pragmatic might argue that dispensing with the principle of the right to individual freedom is a justifiable price to pay in order to save so many lives. And this is the problem I have with modern liberalism and also certain aspects of modern conservatism. Statist liberals believe for instance that it’s morally OK to abrogate the right to property if the end result is that more people have access to health care. That’s pragmatism. And it’s a threat to the Constitution.
The biggest danger of pragmatism is that it’s at the core of collectivist thought and its logical end is either Marxism or fascism.
This is why capitalism and individual freedom need to be defended first and foremost from a moral/philosophical standpoint. A society needs rock solid, rational premises to survive, not a shifting quicksand of pragmatic non-values.
Sharke on October 30, 2009 at 12:39 AM
Nah*…..The CRA forced a few loans. Nothing like what went on that fueled this collapse.
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:35 AM
Try looking it in terms of a foundation.
heshtesh on October 30, 2009 at 12:39 AM
I personally don’t think we’ve seen a real legitimate “Door # 3″ yet.
Obama is the opposite of Bush. I get that.
I’m just not sure any real solution has yet emerged.
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:40 AM
No, we cannot “get out from under that.”
It is our destiny and our responsibility because that’s the kind of country we are.
The time for us to have removed ourselves from the world fray was back before WWI.
And if not us, who? Russia?
Jenfidel on October 30, 2009 at 12:40 AM
So says Stig. What does Nasty have to say?
bbhack on October 30, 2009 at 12:40 AM
Did I miss the sun coming up in the west this morning?
As for Sting, if your name is a verb you should probably keep your opinions to yourself.
TugboatPhil on October 30, 2009 at 12:40 AM
No, historically, we aren’t defined by this. In fact, we were defined for years by isolationism.
We’ll be fine, in my opinion, whether we’re taking on that mantle or not. The basic bones?
They are very solid and good.
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:41 AM
Ok that’s just ridiculous. The “WW2 Viewpoint” is called the international system and it has a set of Hobbesian laws that have an unfortunate (but amusing) way of raping the effete leftists.
It is a zero sum game. Either we benevolently sit astride the planet or some other power with its own hegemonic interests will.
Leftists can cry about reality all they want but ultimately in balance of power games the score is kept in blood.
Oh BS; those are pathetic leftist parasites that have never worn a uniform, have no conception of how the international system operates, and will be the first to run for the hills the day the US is no longer top dog. These are the same cowards that ran in fear of their lives and could not understand how buildings fell on top of them on 9/11 after years of advocating disarmament and “engagement”.
elduende on October 30, 2009 at 12:42 AM
Heck, I’m still waiting on my fave show on Thursday! :)
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:42 AM
Then, why do you, Nancy Pelosi and Maobama keep pushing back because you are all clearly “progressives,” a term I find offensive by the way, because it means nothing but “progressing” from Liberty to Communist tyranny.
Jenfidel on October 30, 2009 at 12:43 AM
The QOTD that you quoted was written by Peggy Noonan, not Sting. I’m not trying to single you out, though. I wanted to mention it because several other people have made the same mistake.
FloatingRock on October 30, 2009 at 12:43 AM
You think soldiers somehow understand international operations?
OK.
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:44 AM
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:37 AM
Nope. All it would take, should we come to something approaching consensus that this is the right road, is the right President (along with the right domestic and foreign allies) to understand that we’re on this road, and is will to articulate that to the American people.
And no, I don’t think Barack Obama understands the road he’s going to end up putting this nation on, nor do I think he has the capability to explain it.
BradSchwartze on October 30, 2009 at 12:44 AM
For “what went on” you might be interested to read this post by the superb economist George Reisman, in fact his entire blog should be required reading for liberals.
http://georgereisman.com/blog/2008/10/myth-that-laissez-faire-is-responsible.html
Sharke on October 30, 2009 at 12:44 AM
Your uninformed and leftist opinion is less than worthless, its dangerous, because it leads to cultural weakness which inevitably costs more lives and treasure when the crap hits the fan.
elduende on October 30, 2009 at 12:45 AM
We weren’t defined by this…until the 20th Century, starting with the Spanish-American war right at the very beginning.
We assumed that mantle around 1917.
It’s way too late to yap about “taking it on.”
I have no idea why you’re babbling about “bones.”
Do this mean you don’t have osteoporosis or what?
Jenfidel on October 30, 2009 at 12:46 AM
I’m so not progressive. LOL*
I didn’t even vote for Obama, dear.
I would say I’m liberal voting conservative because I just see us as a society is terrific stress and change. I’d like to see people survive.
I also do see terrific changes coming and happening today.
It’s just inevitable. I actually was predicting it 20 years ago. But you know how it goes.
Nobody was remotely interested.
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:46 AM
Jenfidel on October 30, 2009 at 12:31 AM
I empathize with what you’re saying, but this “Greatest Generation” fetish has been undercutting this current generation of leaders for far too long.
BradSchwartze on October 30, 2009 at 12:46 AM
OK, you haven’t heard that common term?
OK. You live where? Have a computer, I see, but obviously very unschooled in common talk.
So share!
I’m curious where you’re logging in from.
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:48 AM
Well, I confess that even as some type of conservative, I’ve been touched or inspired by a lyric or a performance as an insight into the human condition. So we’re impressed by them, to some degree we like them, but then they show themselves to be a normal human being.
Sting wrote a song about you can pore over every one of his lyrics and “still know nothin’ about” him. However, he somehow knows that I’ve never had a home foreclosed (he’s wrong) because I don’t like Obama’s crypto-marxism.
It would be nice if people were consistent. If stalwart defenders against the status quo weren’t such unthinking defenders of the prevailing winds. They give us glimpses of greater things–especially Sting’s “faith” (I’m not sure what it is, but it sounds pretty close to Christian), only to learn that they can be big, presumptuous jerks.
So, Mr. Sumner, can we call non-violent people “violent”, can we know the heart of people by their politics? Really?
Axeman on October 30, 2009 at 12:49 AM
You have no idea what you’re talking about. The government forced the misvaluation of debt (which was to be arbbed throughout the huge debt market) and used Fannie and Freddie to push trillions in bad debt through and to keep cleaning sh!t loans off the books of lenders and send them out to do more. The CRA was the key to all of this. Private lenders decided, that since the government was threatening them and forcing them to make sh!t loans, which they then sold to off to the government (having no risk) at a healthy profit, why not dive in, as people rationally do. All of the losses that were accumulating, due to the perverted value of the government demanded debt (and the arb of that perversion through the debt markets) parked itself in the CDS, also at the urging and pleasure of the government, and that’s how it all happened.
progressoverpeace on October 30, 2009 at 12:49 AM
Another moronic “artist” who actually thinks somebody gives a shit about he thinks.
Dopenstrange on October 30, 2009 at 12:50 AM
You think soldiers somehow understand international operations?
OK.
AnninCA on October 30, 2009 at 12:44 AM
You think Officers understand international operations? Truly Good night.
heshtesh on October 30, 2009 at 12:50 AM
Meaning what?
The United States came in and saved Western Europe at an enormous cost of blood and treasure.
The war in Europe wasn’t even our war, but we ended it.
Same situation for WWI.
50-60 million people died.
And the U.S.A. became the protector and defender of Democracy and Freedom.
I don’t have a problem with this, nor do I have a problem treasuring the price paid by the Greatest Generation and in fact, I’m proud to be the daughter of one of them.
Jenfidel on October 30, 2009 at 12:51 AM
Most of the rub today is that we now have a huge population in this country who have, since the mid-1970s, been indoctrinated in high school and college to think only one way – towards socialism and against capitalism.
My niece at Barnard learned only Marxist theory in her Intro to Econ class. She had no idea who Smith, Hayek or Friedman even were when I asked her. A friend who went back to college to finally get her degree in sociology is appalled at how the subject is now taught. Her recent mid-term was wall-to-wall Marxism.
Actually, maybe that’s the whole rub.
PoodleSkirt on October 30, 2009 at 12:51 AM
Incorrect. We wanted to do business with the world (which helped everyone we did do business with) and we projected power to make the world safe for us to do business in. Everybody benefitted, which is why there are 7 billion people on Earth, now.
progressoverpeace on October 30, 2009 at 12:52 AM
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