The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

‘Firebagger Lefty Blogosphere’

Posted on | August 17, 2011 | 18 Comments

The reality that President Obama is seeking re-election while the left wing of his party is profoundly disillusioned hit home last week at the Iowa State Fair when I watched DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz get heckled off stage by angry progressives. And Obama’s re-election campaign staff isn’t helping their boss much.

New Mexico OFA state director Ray Sandoval sent out an e-mail to Democrats, attempting to address their “frustrations” with the debt deal and including the text of a post from liberal blogger Spandan Chakrabarti:

Paul Krugman is a political rookie. At least he is when compared to President Obama. That’s why he unleashed a screed as soon as word came about the debt ceiling compromise between President Obama and Congressional leaders – to, you know, avert an economic 9/11. Joining the ideologue spheres’ pure, fanatic, indomitable hysteria, Krugman declares the deal a disaster – both political and economic – of course providing no evidence for the latter, which I find curious for this Nobel winning economist. . . .
No, the loudest screeching noise you hear coming from Krugman and the ideologue Left is, of course, Medicare. Oh, no, the President is agreeing to a Medicare trigger!!! Oh noes!!! Everybody freak out right now! But let’s look at the deal again, shall we? . . . .
Now let’s get to the fun part: the triggers. The more than half-a-trillion in defense and security spending cut “trigger” for the Republicans will hardly earn a mention on the Firebagger Lefty blogosphere. Hell, it’s a trigger supposedly for the Republicans, and of course, there’s always It’sNotEnough-ism to cover it.

HuffPo’s Amanda Terkel explains that “Firebagger Lefty blogosphere” is probably a reference to Jane Hamsher’s Firedoglake.

To have the Obama re-election team trashing Krugman and Firedoglake ought to give you an idea of what a sense of hopeless doom the Democrats are facing as they look forward to 2012. FDL wouldn’t be trashing Obama if Obama wasn’t looking weak, and Obama’s staff wouldn’t be worried about a columnist or a blogger if the White House was generally winning the message war.

Just as nothing succeeds like success, nothing fails like failure. Ever since Obama got his ass kicked in the 2010 mid-terms, he has been covered in failure, and the negative mojo appears to be snowballing.

UPDATE: Jane Hamsher is willing to take one for the team: “If they’re doing this because they think it’s a good campaign strategy, do what you have to do.” But she adds: “This smacks more of narcissism and personal vendetta than any sound political ‘strategy.’ ”

So at least if she’s going to get beaten up like a domestic abuse victim, Jane is rational about her voluntary victimhood.


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Category: Barack Obama, Election 2012, Liberals, New Mexico

Comments

  • http://twitter.com/JamieJeffords Jamie Jeffords

    Liberalism is a religion.  The true believers go after the heretics as adamantly as they do the heathens.   

  • mojo

    “Splitters!!”

  • Anonymous

    Nothing like a little dust up between Marxists and Leninists.  Butter w/ my popcorn, please.

  • DaveO

    The Progressives have nowhere to go in terms of candidates. Yet the POTUS and his allies continue turning up the heat on his base. And why is that?

  • Anonymous

    The left is trying force Obama to vehemently push their agenda while at the same time separating the failing Obama from the progressive ideology. As far as they are concerned having the country realize it’s not just the man but the man’s ideology that’s doomed to failure. If that happens the left may never recover. In the end the FDLs, Krugmans, Dowds and the rest of the vocal left have nowhere else to go. Meanwhile if any in the middle actually pay attention to these folks are listening. When the screachers pivot to supporting Obama again their Obama’s a failure message while remain in political consciousness of at least some of the muddled middle.

  • Pingback: Moe Lane » #rsrh I welcome @janehamsher to the Obama WH Enemies’ List.

  • JeffS

    “H8ERS!!”

  • Anonymous

    Trotskyite!  I denounce you!

  • http://zillablog.marezilla.com Zilla of the Resistance

    If there isn’t already a vile explicit definition for “firebagger” in the Urban Dictionary, there needs to be. Payback’s a bitch. 

  • SignPainterGuy

    This is just tooooo good !

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/EU5DQWQTTHTPO4A4ZYSL3AAV2U Adjoran

    Don’t let the wailing of the Left fool you.  They will curse Obama and threaten to sit the election out, to run a third party “progressive” or to primary him, but it’s all just wind.  In the end, they ALWAYS back the Democrat, and the one time they failed to get all their fellow-travelers in lock-step was 2000, when Nader surely cost Gore the election.

    Obama’s problem won’t be with the hard left.  He’s no longer the moderate-sounding cool cat with the reassuring promises of “hope and change” from 2008.  Independents and apostate Republicans now see him as a far-left ideologue, the most partisan President since the age of Factions.  Even some Democrats understand his performance is an Epic Fail.  And his own policies and regulations have pretty much ensured there won’t be a recovery of the size that might help him gain reelection.

    But the Left will be there for him as they go down together.

  • Pingback: Barack Obama’s Election Travails « Truth Before Dishonor

  • http://twitter.com/shekissesfrogs Iguana Keeper

    Maybe you should read a little more Hamsher, she’s no victim.  But maybe you shouldn’t take the quote out of context and give it a different meaning as well.  
    .
    “Atrios says, “politicians gotta do what they gotta do and if attacking the Jane Hamshers Of The Left and KRGTHULU is the way to get money, love, and votes, then more power to them….If.”
    I totally agree, if they’re doing this because they think it’s a good campaign strategy, do what you have to do. The qualifier, of course, is the if.”

    See there. The part you left out: “The qualifier, of course, is the if.” 
    .
    “The California Democratic Party just refused to renew the charter of the largest caucus in the party, the Progressive Caucus, after they passed a resolution calling for a primary challenge to Obama in 2012.  So this isn’t an isolated incident.  It’s clear that the the Democrats want to marginalize liberals in 2012 for basically promoting the same values and saying the same things we’ve said during every presidency since time immemorial.”
    .
    Okay Megan, this should help add more clarity if that wasn’t enough:
    .
    But if this is a brilliant political strategy on the part of OFA, someone is going to have to explain it to me.  I know the goal is to attract the much-prized Independent for 2012.  But who do they think is keeping Obama’s poll numbers afloat?”

    Do you have a reading comprehension problem, or an honesty problem, Megan?

  • http://twitter.com/shekissesfrogs Iguana Keeper

    Really?  We’d probably be much better off with Ron Paul, all of us. Both parties are hopelessly corrupt and they’ll never end these wars without an upset of some kind. I think he’s the last hope we have, of course we can try bankruptcy like England and Russia did. 

  • http://twitter.com/shekissesfrogs Iguana Keeper

    Gore cost Gore the election.  He was a terrible candidate and he chose Lieberman as VP.  Nobody polls worse than Lieberman.  Then he didn’t fight for the election recount. He gave up like a loser does, even though he actually won the vote count.  You’re basically retelling a Democratic Party myth which serves to keep voters from voting for a principled candidate.

  • http://twitter.com/shekissesfrogs Iguana Keeper

    Is that you Ann? 

  • https://plus.google.com/114041580398058374552/posts McGehee

    Paul Krugman is a political rookie … compared to President Obama.

    That made me laugh out loud, which is why I’m spelling it out, old school.

    Obama makes a newborn kitten look like Strom Thurmond.

  • https://plus.google.com/114041580398058374552/posts McGehee

    Then he didn’t fight for the election recount.

    This must be my day for laughing out loud, old school.

    Gore didn’t want a statewide recount — the Bush people challenged him on that and he insisted instead on cherry-picking counties that he thought would improve his outcome as long as other counties didn’t offset his gains.

    After the outcome was settled by SCOTUS, media organizations went in and did what Gore refused to do and they found that Bush won, not Gore.

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