To ask the question is to answer it. Frank Rich’s column came in the aftermath of the murders of the abortionist Dr. George Tiller and Stephen Johns, a guard at the Holocaust Museum in Washington.
Remember the childhood game “One of these things is not like the other one”? What Rich proceeds to do will bring it all back to you. The murders of Dr. Tiller and Stephen Johns. Then this:
A sizable minority of Americans is irrationally fearful of the fast-moving generational, cultural and racial turnover Obama embodies — indeed, of the 21st century itself. That minority is now getting angrier in inverse relationship to his popularity with the vast majority of the country. Change can be frightening and traumatic, especially if it’s not change you can believe in.
Let’s parse that, shall we? Are you worried about the Obama administration’s fiscal policies, their efforts to impose socialized medicine on all America, their contempt for the rule of law (ask the supposedly “secured bondholders” at Chrysler about that), their efforts to make government bigger and more intrusive? I am. Does that make me “irrationally fearful”? Where, in Frank Rich’s cosmology, does rational, justified fear come in — apart, I mean, from anything that can be associated with George W. Bush?
And note this association: if you are critical of Obama’s efforts to transform America into a European-style socialist state then you are “irrationally fearful” not only of all those “fast-moving” impulses Rich identifies but also “of the 21st century itself.” Gee whiz: and I thought I was trying to affirm the possibilities of the 21st century by criticizing policies that would make it less prosperous, less secure, and less free.
Which brings me to the Mantra of the Moment: “Change.” Obama campaigned on it. Many non-socialist commentators have delighted in pointing out how little change there has been from the policies of the Bush administration. Guantanamo. Secrets that must remain secret on account of national security. Etc., etc.
But those are side shows. Obama really is — no pun intended — going for broke in the change sweepstakes. As he promised his acolytes days before the election, he is out to “fundamentally transform” the United States of America. He’s made a good — by which I mean a large — start on this. Obama inherited the richest, mightiest, and freest country in the history of the world. The “fundamental transformation” he envisions will wind up changing all three of those achievements. I am fearful about that. Why should we listen to Frank Rich who tells us that such fears are “irrational”?
We shouldn’t. But we shouldn’t just leave it at that. Frank Rich is clearly a man who needs help. He is delusional, intoxicated partly by what he thinks of as his power at The New York Times, partly by his panoply of dislikes. It cannot be healthy, indulging in all that — can we use the word? — hate. Let’s start a “Save Frank Rich Society,” whose first aim would be to relieve him of a post in which he is clearly doing himself, and his newspaper, grave damage. A man of his talents should really be elsewhere — writing PR for ACORN, for example. Can’t someone find him an honest — or at least another — job?
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118 Comments
1. Chip:I do know this: the 21st Century isn’t coming at me any faster than did the 20th century. Whether or not it is “fast-moving”, I can’t say – its all I’ve every known. They both come one day at a time, and it doesn’t cause me fear.
Jun 18, 2009 - 8:14 am 2. Ryan C:My favorite line in Rich’s piece is when he claims McCain/Palin accused Obama of “palling around with terrorists” in the context of Islamic terrorism. This is a total lie. They did accuse him of doing that, but with Bill Ayers and Bernadine Doerne (sp?), not Osama Bin Laden. But, Rich new that, he just doesn’t care about the facts.
I say start a “Save Frank Rich Society” group on Facebook and make it official.
Jun 18, 2009 - 1:35 pm 3. Ashley King:Patrick Henry was a “hater,” too.
Jun 18, 2009 - 1:41 pm 4. Republidemotarian:Mr. Rich has absorbed too many of President Obama’s hyperbolic speeches. Action displays a man’s true character. Mr. Obama’s actions do not support his rhetoric. “I don’t want to run GM.” Really? Then why did you obliterate 125 years of bankruptcy law to get a strangle-hold on two car manufacturers? You didn’t have to take an equity position in either company but you did. If you don’t want to run it then you should be divesting yourself of those shares immediately. “People think I want bigger government. I don’t”. Really? Then why does everything you propose end up creating a new “czar”, committee, agency or research group? “We all have to learn to live within our means again.” Really? Then why do you propose the highest level of deficit spending in the nations history over the next 10 years? Frankly, any fear of what Obama says isn’t irrational…it’s logic supported by evidence.
Jun 18, 2009 - 1:48 pm 5. ryan:You Republicans are the jokers. A tiny racist party of fat, white, balding A**holes who wrecked the country and the army. No one gives a crap what you think now. WHY, BECAUSE YOU LOST THE ELECTION!
Jun 18, 2009 - 1:49 pm 6. neal:Frank Rich is, was, and always be a complete “outta touch” idiot!
The lone person that can make Al Gore appear at least rational!
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:09 pm 7. Instapundit » Blog Archive » ROGER KIMBALL: “I never thought it would happen. I am actually feeling sorry for Frank Rich.”…:[...] ROGER KIMBALL: “I never thought it would happen. I am actually feeling sorry for Frank Rich.” [...]
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:12 pm 8. Lord Whorfin:Tell us how you REALLY feel, ryan.
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:13 pm 9. Nom de Blog:All that hate can’t be good for you ryan.
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:20 pm 10. david:As a nasty right winger, I’ll say a prayer for you tonight that you learn to deal with your emotional outbursts.
You personify the virulent left, Ryan. When stuck without any supporting facts or contradictory evidence you reach into your empty quiver of logic and grasp the only thing left available to you – weak degradation of your opposition via belittling, ad hominen attacks.
If you are representative of Obama supporters, he’s in for a rough ride in face of actual records of performance and logical dissection of his actual and proposed policies.
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:20 pm 11. T22:Ah yes, Ryan, it is we who are the haters!
Please believe whatever you want to believe, and hopefully enough of us Republicans will still be around to offer you a job when the adults are back in charge.
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:22 pm 12. Group Think:Exhibit one of left wing lunacy and hatred?
Poster #5.. RYAN.
I rest my case.
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:22 pm 13. John:I’m thin, white, and I have a full head of hair. Does anyone give a crap about me?
Anyone?
Damn, I think I lost the election too.
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:26 pm 14. sceptic:ryan writes:
You Republicans are the jokers. A tiny racist party of fat, white, balding A**holes who wrecked the country and the army. No one gives a crap what you think now. WHY, BECAUSE YOU LOST THE ELECTION!
No hate here.
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:27 pm 15. hvs:“fast-moving generational, cultural and racial turnover….”
That’s so hip it sounds like Lennon. Or an intro on the Dick Cavett show.Or Ed Sullivan in tight pants.
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:28 pm 16. Chase:Really Ryan? You think I’m fat? That cuts deep. Not caring what I think is fine, but I’ve really been watching what I eat lately and that comment hurt. The good news is that this Administration will probably do something tomorrow that I (yet again)never thought would happen in this county. So the newest shock will wash away the memory of your well thought out attack which went straight to the soul of all those who disagree with you.
I do see why you like Obama so much though, you both have sooooo much in common. Like say one thing, then do another. For example, not caring what we think, then reacting to what we think. However, the all caps at the end was a nice touch. Does that imply “shouting” or just a simple emphasis?
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:28 pm 17. jungus:5. ryan:
You Republicans are the jokers. A tiny racist party of fat, white, balding A**holes who wrecked the country and the army. No one gives a crap what you think now. WHY, BECAUSE YOU LOST THE ELECTION!
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:29 pm 18. zazulu:Thank you for that non-hateful critique of us Republicans ryan. BTW, have you ever heard of liberal projection?
ryan, how eloquent! But back to Frank, many predicted he would not know what
to write about once Bush was out, and oh how true that has proven to be…
So Save Frank by getting him a PR position with Acorn might be a good career
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:29 pm 19. tim maguire:path for him. Or promoting any of BIG GUY’s projects….because he truly does need some
direction.
ryan, your comment is self-refuting. If it were true, you wouldn’t have posted it.
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:30 pm 20. BlogDog:Ah yes, reasoned thinking from the left demonstrates itself again. Thank you ryan.
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:32 pm 21. Jack Davis:The real question is: Why bother with Frank Rich at all? He’s a marginalized hater who’s long been in the tank for Barack “Ozbama,” and he’s writing for a rag with zero credibility.
Let him preach to the amen chorus of his fellow haters. Waste not thy ink on that miscreant!
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:32 pm 22. Spencer:#5, Let’s start a save Ryan from his own so called brain society while we are at it.
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:34 pm 23. Occam's Beard:Ryan, thank you for your reasoned analysis.
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:35 pm 24. JD:Wow, Ryan. Did you write that all by your little self? I bet you’re tired now from using all your energy writing that eloquent, highly intellectual missive. Good boy. You get a gold star. I bet your mother is proud.
Now stopping eating glue, go take your afternoon nap, and leave the analyzing and commentary to the adults.
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:35 pm 25. jr565:tiny party? I think you’ll find that the republican party represents nearly half of the country. A recent poll suggested that the largest percentage of americans identify themselves as conservative. Liberals make up the smallest percentage.
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:36 pm 26. Skeptic:But regardless, it sounds like ryan forgot all about “speaking truth to power” since he’s so busy now marching in lockstep to The One and his directives.
One wonders whether people like Ryan are for real, or are actually written by conservatives who are making a joke at the liberals’ expense. God knows there are many democrats who ARE like Ryan — I know from experience — but how many of them read this web page?
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:37 pm 27. cubanbob:5. ryan:
You Republicans are the jokers. A tiny racist party of fat, white, balding A**holes who wrecked the country and the army. No one gives a crap what you think now. WHY, BECAUSE YOU LOST THE ELECTION!
Jun 18, 2009 – 1:49 pm
So you were just fine with the 2000 and 2004 elections? Hey, asshole what are you going to say when the democrats lose the house next year and get blown out alltogether in 2012? C
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:38 pm 28. NK:#5 Ryan,
you manage to be truly moronic and pitiful; a rare feat.
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:40 pm 29. MarkJ:Dear Ryan,
“No one gives a crap what you think now. WHY, BECAUSE YOU LOST THE ELECTION.”
Real sophisticated post there, Ryan. You should clinch your Hitler Youth Proficiency Badge with that one.
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:40 pm 30. pete:Hilarious! This post reminds me of that little guy in high school that told everybody he studied Kung Fu from a real Master and he was going to destroy the captain of the football team. He talks, but everybody know he’s out of his league so they laugh and continue on.
Roger Kimball, it’s adorable that you think you’re in the same league as Rich, but just admit it, you aren’t. Why? Every time I read a Frank Rich article, he presents things that are completely new. That’s why he writes for the New York Times, but hey, there might be a reader out there who doesn’t get Fox News who hasn’t heard all your talking points a hundred times before.
Hey, for your next piece why don’t you regale us with how, if you only had a chance to play Kobe Bryant one on one, you’d crush him. I could always use a laugh!
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:41 pm 31. Jonathan:We lost the last one, that’s for sure. And we’ll lose the next one if our officials keep trying to act like Democrats.
The graph above is the only tool they should need to capture the vote of anyone who still cares about the survival of our democracy. But the Senators and Representatives in office can’t be bothered to actually oppose massive, wasteful spending. They’ve been bought by earmarks, almost to a man.
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:45 pm 32. pete:One final note…
Does it bother you, Roger, that you spend days writing this piece, and more readers have responded to some idiot named Ryan, than you?
Please, Republicans, please tell me some more about what you think of Ryan. That’s the key to getting back in power…
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:49 pm 33. Hugh:Hey Ryan — What an eloquent defense of Frank Rich! C’mon he helped you with it didn’t he? But you don’t look like a hater because of the logic and measured facts in your comment. Maybe that’s what won you the election. But still, I wonder what you are planning in respect to those who disagree with you?
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:50 pm 34. pete:Thank you, Ryan. That was some of the most intelligent and thoughtful analysis I have ever heard from the left. Excellent.
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:53 pm 35. Mwalimu Daudi:The ostensible subject of Rich’s column is right-wing “haters,” a large and diverse population (according to Rich), membership in which you, too, Dear Reader, may qualify for if you deign to offer any but the mildest criticism of our Dear Leader, a.k.a. Barack Obama.
Does membership have its privileges? Like a free T-shirt, membership card and a 20% discount off of any merchandise at Vast Right-Wing Conspiracies-R-Us?
Ignore “pete”, folks. He’s just jealous ‘cuz Rich can’t get a job at Fox. (Hint for “pete” and Rich: wearing a tinfoil cap to an interview with Fox is probably a bad idea).
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:55 pm 36. Pajamas Media » Announcing the ‘Save Frank Rich’ Society:[...] Read the rest of the story here. [...]
Jun 18, 2009 - 2:58 pm 37. Ed Driscoll » “Burning Down The New York Times”:[...] possible of sign of cats, dogs, Gozer the Gozerian, and Zuul living together, he’s announcing “the Save Frank Rich Society.” Filed under: Bobos In Paradise, Liberal Fascism, Oh, That Liberal Media!, The Memory Hole, War And [...]
Jun 18, 2009 - 3:01 pm 38. kynna:I also have to ask Ryan if he was totally supportive of GW Bush after the 2000 and 2004 elections. Were you silent on the things you didn’t like about his administration just because your guys lost?
Ryan’s probably gone, but if he’s not, just wait for the “Bush never won an election! Both elections were rigged! Rigged, I tell you!!!”
But, he probably had graham cracker and milk time, so he might not get back for a bit.
Jun 18, 2009 - 3:03 pm 39. hvs:pete #30, your comment reminds me that Rich couldn’t write for the New Criterion, much less read it. But we can’t sweat the small stuff, right? Enjoy the completely new things Rich offers you every time you read it.
Jun 18, 2009 - 3:04 pm 40. Mike Crum:I have a great idea for Mr. Rich…..He should go to the oval office and get down on his knees in front of President Obama….At that point, the president can show him how his cigar works…
Jun 18, 2009 - 3:08 pm 41. Sarge:“So you were just fine with the 2000 and 2004 elections?”
I expect Ryan was still busy crappin’ his Pampers in 2000, and quite possibly, in 2004.
Jun 18, 2009 - 3:09 pm 42. mr. c:“Every time I read a Frank Rich article, he presents things that are completely new.”
Right, “pete”! He makes them up as he goes along! BTW, do you have anything to present beside ad hominem attacks? YOU are the one making a fool of himself by trying to tug on superman’s cape!
Jun 18, 2009 - 3:10 pm 43. Roz Z:Pete state very eloquently what I was thinking when I read the title and that the author was from Pajamas Media. I heard Kimball on Potus 08 and I wondered why a second rate intellect was scheduled so frequently. I never heard an original idea. I was suckered into reading this article but it was more of the same.
What is refreshing about Mr Rich is his originality his honesty and directness. All of that is missing here.
Roger, you think readership will be impressed by the fact that he does not read the Times and I guess your audience is the “I have all the answers” type who only needs to hear opinions concordant with their own.
I have found that by reading Karl Rove’s column in the WSJ that I can find out what most of the minor intellects such as the author here will write in the future. I’ll stick with Mr Rove and Mr Rich. Nothing has changed here.
Jun 18, 2009 - 3:16 pm 44. gregson14:The hyperbole that Rich exhibits in his article is the epitome of hypocrisy and in several cases his facts are blatantly false. It demonstrates a frightening lack of journalistic integrity, a reality that has become commonplace of late, but then again as an “opinion piece”, it could never be classified as objective.
I find it curious that Rich rails that “there are Americans ‘out there in scary places…”, without considering his own position in the same context, after all his chosen craft is arguably “mightier that the sword”! But I remain steadfast in my own perception that it is our supposedly “objective” media, that is indeed “in a scary place”!
To call Glenn Beck out for “heating up the pot” while doing the same from the opposite perspective is reminiscent of schoolyard tactics at best. But to claim that the Bush Deficits are greater than OBama’s are in stark contrast to the Congressional Budget Office and White House projections through to 2019. Truly a provocative and partisan piece. Could we expect anything more from the man!
Jun 18, 2009 - 3:18 pm 45. Skydog:You people just don’t get it! Let me remind you, Frank Rich has a college degree in History and Literature and by God, he was even a theatre critic for many years. Why would you not value and give credence to his keen insight into the depths of the economic, political, and foreign policy issues that confront us. He is not just any liberal hack writer living in Manhattan, sipping wine, and gracing the masses with his wisdom. He’s Frank Rich.
Jun 18, 2009 - 3:19 pm 46. Delia:Skydog. lol
Jun 18, 2009 - 3:29 pm 47. misanthropicus:A sorry loser, this Rich dude is.
Jun 18, 2009 - 3:32 pm 48. Self-hating Boomer:For a while I thought of him of being a limo lefty of sorts, then, when this concept became obsolete I placed him in the “enfant terrible” category, a case of wildly extended infantilism, barking strictly for bringing attention to his towerring enlightenment.
Now, the tears have passesd, the caravan has passed too, and he’s still barking somewhere behind, in the dust… talking about influencing events and lives!
Oh. He’s a college guy.
Never mind.
Jun 18, 2009 - 3:33 pm 49. john samford:I think he should be sharing a cell with Sandy Burgler. Just because those two were meant for one another.
Jun 18, 2009 - 3:33 pm 50. Nor Meyer:I stopped reading “Frankie One Note” a long time ago. His diatribes are all variations on a theme—Bush bashing. He thinks he’s still writing for the Entertainment section of the Times.
Jun 18, 2009 - 3:43 pm 51. ChuckB:Re: Ryan
Seriously people, you really have to learn about trolls. He obviously got under a lot of peoples skin with very little effort.
Troll lesson 1: Ignore them and they go away. (Actually, many of them are just hit and run trolls.) But, please, don’t encourage this.
Jun 18, 2009 - 3:43 pm 52. rapchat:So does anyone here really believe the deficit under ANY other president would be that much different? The main cause of the deficit jump is a 40% loss of revenue, not Obama’s spending to jump start or at least maintain the economy. Any other president from either party would have been forced to spend like mad as well – no matter what they might say from the safe sidelines. GWB and his advisers could see the damage coming when they approved TARP, and all these so called “conservative” complaints about the deficit are basically easy attacks from political hacks who know they won’t suffer the consequences or get the blame for what they promote. I have some issues with Obama but there is more data supporting his Keynesian economics approach than some fantasy that we would all be better off if the economy were allowed to collapse.
Jun 18, 2009 - 3:46 pm 53. Jhoffa_:Ryan, you, like all left wing reactionaries, have a pat set of talking points you roll out on these occasions in lieu of an actual argument.
Rich is more than just an economist and a bore, he’s an activist-economist-bore. He’s an ideologically driven, social reform, poster child the NYT has adopted because he has a Nobel Prize.. (Even though they’re pretty much worthless now days.)
His bias taints everything he touches. I challenge anyone here to find one article that isn’t horribly slanted and, in many cases, contradictory with respect to positions he has taken previously.
Ideological blinders will do that to you – Shove you into a corner and make you perform mental aerobatics to defend the ideological orthodoxy.
Frankly, (ha-ha) in this, Rich perfectly personifies everything that is wrong with the NYT. Biased. Ideologically driven to the point of contradiction. Self important, and now left eternally trading on yesterdays tarnished accolades.
They’re made for one another. May they both swoosh down that drain to media oblivion together..
Jun 18, 2009 - 3:55 pm 54. Sebastian Shaw:Pete, Frank Rich writes for the New York Times, a paper in the red hemorrhaging readers daily; therefore, Rich, a former critic for the Times before he was an opinion writer, is hardly worth the elevated status of his own bloated ego.
Jun 18, 2009 - 4:00 pm 55. joe:it’s hysterical to read the comments here! do people really think the u.s.a. is about to lose its democracy because it’s borrowing against itself? does anyone really think china or any other holder of american debt would refuse to lend to the u.s.? on what basis? the world financial system is interdependent and any move like that would hurt them as much as, if not more than, us. how can anyone honestly say obama has destroyed america? after the crisis that led to such a huge loss of wealth last year, how can anyone not for a minute hold george bush in great contempt? how? are you people insane? what is your excuse for that? even if you blame “democratic” housing policy, wouldn’t george bush still deserve some blame for not sounding any alarm over those policies, as the leader of the country? look, this isn’t all rhetoric. the republican party is in a shambles because of the answers to these questions. until it faces up to this, it will continue to slide into irrelevance. work it out.
Jun 18, 2009 - 4:08 pm 56. Connie Boyd:The quote from Thoreau is wrong. It is “You can’t kill time without injuring eternity.”
Jun 18, 2009 - 4:14 pm 57. CaptDMO:Skydog saved me the effort.
Jun 18, 2009 - 4:24 pm 58. Mrs. du Toit:Thank you.
Yes, of course. First, because the economy started to tank when it became clear that Obama was going to be the next president. Second, it got worse as soon as it became clear that he was going into “spread the wealth around” mode even more than his moderate supporters were wiling to support. When you raise taxes you get economic downturns and inflation (as well as less tax revenue). Doing so at a time when we’re already in a flat cycle only makes it worse.
Say what you will about Bush, but he never raised taxes (in fact, he lowered them, saving the economy of worse fates after 8 years of Clinton raiding and pillaging the military budget and loading up entitlement spending).
Third through ten, the Democrats have a filibuster proof majority so there is no chance that the rule of law will be enforced (such as corrupt politicians being brought to justice for interference and coercion, and the GM and Gerald Walpin firing matters, as only two recent examples), nor will any of Obama’s socialist programs have any risk of being curtailed.
These kinds of disregard for law and hatred of all things profitable makes business squeamish and investors take their money elsewhere.
That is a recipe for economic disaster from the Jimmy Carter Cookbook, but this one is/will be orders of magnitude worse.
Business knows that. This administration knows no bounds of Robin Hoodism and that has the result of making this recession worse and longer.
So, yes “any” president could do better, and a filibuster-proof majority by the Republicans (that they did not have during Bush’s administration) better still.
Jun 18, 2009 - 4:35 pm 59. Bod:Shorter rapchat:
Keynesian Economics would work, except W started it. So it’s all his fault.
Jun 18, 2009 - 4:52 pm 60. mike:Well, until conservative America can transition from criticizing to doing something in a purposeful, rational manner, I guess we’ll just have to live with Obama and Ryan’s comments. Sorry right-wing America, but it’s the truth. Your ideas have been debunked and the execution of your ideas has been less than poor, particularly by your party. Good luck and God speed. We’ll see you in twenty.
Jun 18, 2009 - 4:57 pm 61. Dave:Ryan, your mom is calling. Your hot pockets are ready.
Jun 18, 2009 - 4:58 pm 62. Everyman:An outcry from Bizzaro Land.
Normally, I wouldn’t suggest such a thing as it cheapens the debate. However, it’s time that we all realize — especially the conservatives — that they are out of touch. They are ceasing to be the Party of No and becoming the Party of Bizarro.
Jun 18, 2009 - 4:59 pm 63. Victor Erimita:What we call the MSM is hopelessly, irrecoverably corrupt, and unfortunately obviou8sly still extremely influential, despite its collapsing business model. We all know this, and it seems to me to do little good to parse the latest replay of Frank Rich’s endless tape loop of Upper West Side condescension and contempt. The real question is how to unseat the power of the corrupt media. These people, like their ghero The One, have become very, very good at fooling the moderate American public into believeing they are not trying to destroy America. They have seized control of the “narrative.”
This, of course,is the result of the Left’s highly successful long march through the American institutions of influence: schools, universities, “news,” entertainment and fashion. These people are the 7th grade cool kids who exist only to pour contempt on all those they deem not like them. Yes, thank you, we know this. But it doesn’t help to endlessly complain about these people. It’s like complaining that the dog next door won’t stop barking. The challenge is what to do about. How can conservatives and moderates build new institutions of influence to seize the narrative back from the revolutionaries?
They control the battlefield, in fact they own the battlefield. Throwing darts isn’t having any effect. We need to redefine the battlefield, not play on theirs.
Jun 18, 2009 - 5:24 pm 64. chris in Toronto:#52 said Keynesian with a straight face! Bwahahahahah!
Jun 18, 2009 - 5:44 pm 65. Fenster Moop:I’ll grant you that there is lots of principled opposition to Obama and I’ll grant you that Rich paints with too broad a brush. But put aside for a moment the rhetorical score settling, which we have seen too much of from both left and right. It strikes me that whether the right is now getting as angry as the left used to be is a perfectly appropriate one–indeed a much more important one than the excesses of Frank Rich’s prose style. It may be that Shep Smith is wrong and that there is nothing to this thought. But it would be wise to maintain an open mind rather than foreclose debate with cheap shots. After all, the angry right has killed and bombed in the recent past while the angry left just fumed.
Jun 18, 2009 - 5:59 pm 66. Seattle Green:You GOP slime are irrelevant. The GOP has exploded and what remains is a hard kernel of old white racist reactionaries. You are losers. You are stupid. You are anti-science Christian Jesus-freaks who believe an invisible man lives in the sky and will let you live in his big house after you die as long as you keep the colored man down. Superstitious fools and hypocrites is what you are.
Jun 18, 2009 - 6:11 pm 67. gregson14:Joe: I would expect that China, while dependent on the USA as a large market for its goods, is more concerned with the increasing amount of American debt it will be asked to buy in the future. What’s more problematic is that debt will have to be secured by more than just America’s ability to pay, because that ability is quickly declining under the massive debt and monetary policy the current administration is pursuing. China is resource hungry and what better way to secure their future and the American debt load than to gain leverage on the American Oil fields that Congress currently has placed off-limits or the broader resource base in general.
The question is – will this administration begin the wholesale auction of American Resources to foreign interests in pursuit of leveraging the massive debt the current spending policies presage.
Jun 18, 2009 - 6:12 pm 68. Typos_R_us:52. Rapchat, you are not just wrong but clueless. If The Usurper has declared a tax holiday and NOT bailed out anyone, the economy would be well on it’s way to recovery. Instead we are in one of the lulls that ALWAYS happen in a depression;
http://history1900s.about.com/od/1930s/p/greatdepression.htm
FDR tried an alphabet soup of government agencies, as did the European nations, It didn’t work. Some of the better textbooks on the subject have timelines with economic indicators showing what effect the varios programs tried had. It isn’t unusual for an economy that is crashing to have upturns. Sort of like a paper airplne. It will go up for a little ways before diving toward the ground. Each uptick is smaller and shorter then the one before, each dive is longer and deeper.
Jun 18, 2009 - 6:49 pm 69. Insufficiently Sensitive:Learn a little history.
What hasn’t been tried is a tax holiday. The theory is that if the government stops taxing AND spending, the people will just ‘naturally’ get he economy back on track. Pure Adan Smith.
Not sure it will work. Positive that the big government plan won’t work, since it has been tried dozens of times and didn’t work once.
What has been proven to work is a short victorious war.
Many Socialist nations have chosen to end a bad economy this way. It doesn’t work out that well, unless you win.
So the Usurper has about 4 months to get the economy going or start a war.
May unemployment will be over 10%, no matter how hot they cook the books. You have all those college grads out looking for work. You have the summer jobs scene (Tourist driven) going belly up because nobody can afford a normal vacation. So things will get MUCH MUCH worse over the summer.
Jobs programs pretend to pay people for pretending to work. Once that program ends, so do the pretenses.
Jobs programs will not generate revenue. They don’t create wealth. They are not self sustaining.
So it’s a tax holiday or we pick a country to invade.
We either go for the OIL , or pick one with nice beaches and lovely women of negotiable virtue.
You personify the virulent left, Ryan.
No, he doesn’t. He personifies his unaccomplished parents. When he reaches his 18th birthday, let’s ask him for a new opinion.
Jun 18, 2009 - 6:53 pm 70. The Shadow:Do I detect a note of jealousy from Mr Kimball. Mr Rich has a very visible platform and poor Mr. Kimball is stuck on PJM
Jun 18, 2009 - 6:56 pm 71. Darren:@rapchat: The loss of revenue does not help. Neither does a bogus $787 billion stimulus bill or a $410 billion omnibus spending bill that raises the budget baseline for all future federal budgets. Bush was no penny-pincher, but those two alone are about a third of his largest budget, and this is before a $600-odd billion “downpayment” on healthcare reform, which is a “downpayment” because the CBO estimates it is a trillion or so light. Don’t allow the decreased revenue to distract you from the bright, shiny and exceptionally expensive progressive toys that are being purchased on the national credit card.
@Joe: Some of us have read about Weimar Germany, and the precarious fiscal status of postwar Italy in the 1920s. Now, the US has a longer contiguous history with democracy than either of those countries, and we didn’t simultaneously lose a war and suffer a devastating plague like Germany, but it wasn’t that long ago our chief executive was telling us this was the worst economy since the Great Depression. I guess you can argue that since fascists were elected in Italy and then Germany that they didn’t “lose their democracy”, but I wouldn’t want to.
Besides, is a democracy still a democracy as long as there is voting, or is there more than that? When a bloated bill like the ineffectual “stimulus” of over 1000 pages is written by a committee and approved unread, do you consider that complying with having to have a vote is equivalent to having a democracy? Without debate, or time for consideration by our representatives? Without time for citizens so-inclined to read the bills and comment to their representatives? If that is to be the form of future legislation, a document dump followed by immediate rubber-stamping, then I submit that our democracy is indeed slipping away.
@Mr. Kimball: I agree re: Frank Rich. Would not at all surprise me to find out the theater critic passed away years ago and the political column has been penned pseudonymously by Joe Biden all along, given the facility with confabulation if facts are not conveniently at hand.
@All: Conservative and GOP are not the same thing. Don’t mistake a flailing national party for a worldview. Barack Obama has been a godsend for the firearms and ammunition industries despite his long-expressed loathing for both, I believe that given enough freedom to act he will make conservatives out of independants much as his apparent role model Jimmy Carter did, and faster than argumentation on it’s own. Don’t mistake the flint and steel at the base of our current economic conflagration, trillions of dollars in off-track betting in the form of credit-default swaps and government-inspired subprime lending as “conservative policy”. You will find neither in Friedman or Hayek. Conservative economic policy hasn’t failed, other than tax cuts (which, predictably, led to the highest tax receipts in history, you can look it up) it hasn’t even been tried.
For the lefties, I agree with you that greed for money has failed in terms of an economic system. What I find frightening is your belief that greed for power is therefore a great basis for a governmental AND economic system.
Jun 18, 2009 - 6:56 pm 72. william patterson:My, my, my — are we a bit bitter?
The stench of sour grapes is nearly toxic.
Best of luck to the GOP in 2012 — you’ll need it.
Jun 18, 2009 - 7:11 pm 73. Chad:Bottom line? Obama’s deficit in his first year is nearly 5 times the enormous deficit bequeathed us by the Bush administration
Wrong. You cannot “bequeath” a deficit. You can bequeath a debt, or a failing economy, and the distinction is critical.
The correct question to ask is whether the 2009 deficit is bigger or smaller under Obama than it would have been if Bush had remained in office (or McCain had won, which is essentially equivalent). The answer is that the deficit would be similar. The economy would still have tanked, driving down revenues, while major stimulus (containing more tax cuts but less spending) would have been passed. Therefore, it is irrational to blame the deficit on Bush or Obama. Rather, we should blame ourselves. WE have created this situation, and bequeathed it to both major political parties.
Jun 18, 2009 - 7:28 pm 74. Yehudit:Ryan, every Senator and Representative on the GOP side of the aisle won an election or they wouldn’t be there. And 48% of the electorate did not vote for Obama.
But a bigger problem with your sneer is that like most leftists you do not understand how the American system of government works, or you share a totalitarian streak with Obama.
We have multiple parties so that they are in tension with each other and check each others’ grabs for power. You want a one-party system, as long as your own guys are in power. you don’t have the imagination to consider that sets a precedent so that when your enemies come to power they can oppress you just like you want to oppress the people who “LOST the ELECTION!” Or maybe you think once your guy gets a lock on the system there will never be a reckoning. But the former and current dictators of eastern Europe and Iran and Argentina could tell you otherwise.
Jun 18, 2009 - 7:36 pm 75. Dave Surls:“A man of his talents should really be elsewhere”
The question is is should it be Neptune or Pluto?
Jun 18, 2009 - 7:36 pm 76. Yehudit:We’re not irrantionally fearful of the 21st cent. We’re rationally fearful of Obama’s replay of the 1930s. He’s the one who has problems with the 21st century.
Jun 18, 2009 - 7:38 pm 77. Vinny Boombots:Bush put us in such a deep depression enriching Big Oil and Haliburton, Obama is forced to spend trillions to get us out of it. This depression is all Bush’s fault. Stop trying to change history.
Jun 18, 2009 - 7:38 pm 78. Judy, NYC:frank rich was a fine drama critic. now, he is just a stooge, which despite its monetary rewards is not yet considered a profession. it can, however, prepare him to join the girls on the view, a popular dumping ground for stooges and the imbeciles who love them.
Jun 18, 2009 - 7:43 pm 79. Jim:Hmm… I’m not fat, but I am white, and I am a complete, flaming a-hole.
So maybe Ryan (who left out the adjective “anti-Semitic,” since the Left doesn’t even consider that a bad thing anymore) is onto something.
Jun 18, 2009 - 8:03 pm 80. GlennO:What is Obama really up to? And is he alone. remember he is from the school of Alinsky and the other domestic terrorists he has as neighbors in Chicago.
Consider this in light of the mountains of historical economic data pointing in the opposite direction – toward economic liberty – against where this POTUS is steering us at breakneck speed.
Is he stupid, ignorant or full of malice?
Why the rush? To push the nation over a cliff before he is caught?
And then he declares martial law, abrogation of civil rights including Habeus Corpus.
It has happened at other times in other lands.
“out of chaos comes control”…
It happened very quickly, so quickly it was over and people woke up to watch the results marching down their streets, goose stepping…
The whole world is watching this unfold and does nothing…
Alinsky is smiling in his grave.
Jun 18, 2009 - 8:09 pm 81. Randy:Ms. Rich:
Jun 18, 2009 - 8:14 pm 82. Paul of Alexandria:Perpetual anger taxes the immune system. You need to keep that T-cell number up,so take a deep breath and hve some more quiche.
rapchat (52):
Wrong. The best thing to have do would be to lower taxes, remove as many restrictions on small business as possible, and ride it out. As others have pointed out: unless governments make things worse recessions only last about a year and a half.
The problem is that Obama and company aren’t trying to fix the economy, they’re trying to gain control of it. Everything that Obama is doing is right out of Juan Peron’s handbook for Argentinian Corporatism. Obama didn’t act to help the car companies, the banks, or AIG – he acted so as to nationalize and gain control of them. (Blatently illegally too, I might add). He isn’t acting to reform our health insurance system (which isn’t broken – he’s been citing false numbers), he’s been acting to nationalize it.
Take a look at everything that Obama and the Democrats are doing. There’s always a better and proven way that will actually do what they are claiming to be doing – but this will not be the way that they follow. They will be acting so as to centralize control and aggrandize power.
Jun 18, 2009 - 8:36 pm 83. baseballguy2001:Here’s the truth: Bush and Obama combined made the deficit. The first boondoggle was the 150B ’stimulus’ package in the spring. The next shoe that dropped was the 700B Tarp Program. Then Obama was sworn in. The 787B porkulus bill was the final nail in the 1.8T shortfall. They both are on the hook. Congress wrote and passed the bills, the Presidents signed them into law. Next year, the deficit is 100% Obama. The Congress and the executive negotiate the budget, the bills get passed, and he signs them into law. Class dismissed.
Jun 18, 2009 - 8:39 pm 84. LardGoadOmatey:66. Seattle Green: that was some funny stuff. Not accurate, since you don’t stop to hurl epithets at people you think are irrelevant, but I chuckled.
Jun 18, 2009 - 8:52 pm 85. mothermary:Jhoffa:
As proof of the depth of your analysis, you have confused Frank Rich and Paul Krugman. Both write for the NYT, but only one has a Nobel Prize in economics. The devaluing of both a Nobel Prize and a college education within the posts here also shows the depth of the analysis on this site. As for my man, Frank Rich, and the column in question, it was an eye opener for me, very well thought out, very well documented, and had nothing to do with economics. The person who wrote this column took one sentence from the column Frank Rich wrote and responded to that one sentence. That one sentence was decidedly NOT the topic of Frank Rich’s column. I feel sorry for most of the posters here. They have missed the boat, and cannot follow complex arguments. Go back to Frank Rich’s column, the original, and see if this column is even remotely connected to it. And quit trying act like you are all such adults by ripping on Ryan. There is a major plank that needs to be addressed, and Frank Rich was trying to address it. Ryan is a sliver in comparison.
Jun 18, 2009 - 8:56 pm 86. GlennO:Where can I get a copy for file of the graph in this article???
I want to frame it right next to my worthless money in about 9 months.
Jun 18, 2009 - 8:58 pm 87. Fong:Ryan,
Hey there buddy! Do you need a lolipop? Or maybe some chill pills? Look you little piece of trash. I’m Asian, a Republican, a U.S. Marine, in my 20s, and was born in a socialist country. I don’t want this country to be destroyed by trash like you. People like you ignorant and want the goverment to live your life for you like every other liberal who don’t want to work for a living. Grow up and take your mouth off the goverment tits.
Jun 18, 2009 - 9:12 pm 88. harry:The only redeeming value the NY Times has is David Brooks. Everyone else can take a long walk off a short pier including Thomas Friedman.
Jun 18, 2009 - 9:20 pm 89. sheesh:Love Frank Rich. Love him!
Jun 18, 2009 - 9:32 pm 90. Dude:http://www.redstate.com/dan_perrin/2009/06/16/health-care-reform-as-the-spending-canary-in-the-mineshaft/
Wait till Rich, of the New York City elite, gets a load of the crash of the U.S. dollar he helped cause because of his constant agitation for government run health care.
Jun 18, 2009 - 9:41 pm 91. MBSS:you people are cute.
how does it feel to have your party go the way of the whigs? i know you all would be bashing mccain for the deficits he would be running if he were pres. oh no you wouldnt you hypocritical fecks.
characterizing rich as a “wine sipper?” objecting to ryan’s characterization as “A tiny racist party of fat, white, balding A**holes?”
take a look at your boy kimball. bullseye.
neoliberalism, social darwinism, hypocritical social conservatives, cognitive dissonance, fear, xenophobia and hatred. check check check check check check check.
keep trying guys. dont worry too much about the demographics. im sure latinos will come around to see your POV. after all you offer them so much, lols.
kisses.
Jun 18, 2009 - 11:08 pm 92. Hey chris in toronto::the IMF still uses keneysian economics. its called google champ. use it.
oh yeah, you’ll also need a brain.
Jun 18, 2009 - 11:16 pm 93. sah:what a piece of crappy article. so amateurish and emotional. know idea who mr rich is or who the author of this piece is, but all i can say is that mr. rich seems more brainy and logical.
Jun 19, 2009 - 1:11 am 94. riddy_d:Is it me, or does Frank Rich appear a little light-in-the-loafers? Maybe its just the low testosterone level of upper west-side “men”. Remember after 9/11, they were literally hiding under their desks. Manhattan had to import normal people from the outer boroughs (i.e. firemen, construction workers, etc) to clean up the mess. Frand Rich et.al. could only be found on a therapist’s couch.
Jun 19, 2009 - 4:06 am 95. fidel:To put things in their proper context [in a way even Frank Rich might understand].
Frank Rich is a no talent theater critic in love with, Obama, a no talent actor mouthing someone else’s lines in a self-indulgent one-act play that will close on opening night.
Jun 19, 2009 - 4:49 am 96. Roger Godby:I like Ryan and Pete because they’re comedians worth laughing at, just like Frank Rich, whose vein of targets (Bush only, apparently) is notably poor; his drivel isn’t as Kerryesque in its nuance or multipliicity of content as it ought to be (why, that makes Rich like Bush, but poorer). But I’m sure all three are full of Hope that 0bama will part with some spendorama Change to buy the NYT for the PublicGood™ so they can have something to which–as Alger Hiss essentially put it–to “mentally masturbate.” Yet another crude lefty, and confirmed Communist, though he lied about it to the end.
Jun 19, 2009 - 4:58 am 97. chris in Toronto:#92: nice one. you sure told me.
Jun 19, 2009 - 5:07 am 98. Aureliano:MBSS,
FYI, it’s called capitalization. By not deploying this fine tradition, you telegraph your age. Only kiddies do the text-message commentary.
As to the rest of your post …
… how does it feel to have your party go the way of the whigs?
Let’s see: 22% of the voting age electorate are registered Republicans. How many are registered Democrats? 30%. While clearly the GOP is doing worse, the Democrats are hardly everyone’s favorite party. In point of fact, BOTH parties are doing poorly. Additionally, 40% of the general populace describes itself as conservative, while only 20% of the populace defines itself as liberal.
GOP = 22%. Liberal=20%. If the GOP is going the way of the Whig party, then so is liberalism. And technically, liberalism is doing WORSE than the GOP.
By the way, a huge portion of what remains of the Donkey party are black and Hispanic. Blacks and Hispanics are NOT liberals. Never have been, and never will be. Liberalism is a white thing, an urban thing, a female and metrosexual weenie thing. And it won’t last.
In short, the same demographic trends that work againist the GOP work against effete liberalism, as well. The Democrat party will not remain liberal for long.
i know you all would be bashing mccain for the deficits he would be running if he were pres. oh no you wouldnt you hypocritical fecks.
Yeah right. Cuz McCain, as a somewhat moderate Republican, NEVER got any grief from conservatives. Nope. Never happened.
… neoliberalism …
You don’t really know what that terms means, do you?
… social darwinism …
Funny, the progressives of the early 20th century — socialists all — LOVED the idea of social darwinism and eugenics. Did they not teach that to you in your women’s studies courses? Looks like you don’t even know the history of your own political ideology.
… hypocritical social conservatives …
As if the hypocritical social progressives aren’t legion. You know the type. They wax multicultural when it comes to Muslims, Hindus, or Buddhists, then indulge rancid anti-Christian bigotry masquerading as anti-religious commentary. Or … oh hell, the list is nearly endless when dealing with ‘tolerant’ liberals, who are by far the most prudish, intolerant buttinskis in the electorate.
… cognitive dissonance …
You mean like so-called liberals trying to sabotage a nascent democracy in Iraq for pedestrian partisan domestic reasons? It’s tough to paint oneself as transcendant morally and intellectually when you work so hard to put 25 million people back under a brutal dictatorship, all because the president is a Christian who went to church (and don’t speak too good).
fear, xenophobia and hatred.
Fear? Like all the idiot wailing about the Patriot Act? Or all the scare-mongering about global warming? Xenophobia? Xenophobia includes fear of the strange. Would that be like fear of Christianity and Christians, with which liberals have almost no real contact (watching movies and television don’t count)? Hatred? Like that you harbor against anybody who disagrees with you or challenges you politically?
keep trying guys. dont worry too much about the demographics. im sure latinos will come around to see your POV. after all you offer them so much, lols.
See my response above. Honey, in the long term liberalism is dead in the water. Lest ye forget, Obama is not a liberal. He’s a Leftist, and Leftists are all about power. Liberals are tools only. You, honey, can’t win in the kind of society Obama wants to create. Only corrupt, debased, achievatron deal-makers thrive in a society dominated by an intrusive government, and you’re just not smart enough to make it.
It’s that social darwinism thing ….
Jun 19, 2009 - 6:06 am 99. cici:Frank Rich, MODO, & Bob Herbert were the reasons I stopped reading the Times over a year and a half ago. He’s completely deranged, living in a world surrounded by people who fancy themselves enlightened and superior. The rest of us are just poor, ignorant rubes that need to be told what to do for our own best interest. BTW: I voted Dem most of my life, and am now an Independent, so the commenters here who rail against “all Republicans” can stuff it. I know dishonesty and arrogance when I see it, regardless of Party. Roger, you are more generous than I am–I have absolutely no desire to save Rich in any form. Isn’t it ironic that they can’t quite figure out why the “news” business is dying? Good riddance.
Jun 19, 2009 - 7:05 am 100. Fragmentarian:Okay, I read it and, as usual, am convinced that Frank Rich is insane. Bad taste on the right jokes about shooting Pelosi and the left about raping Palin’s daughters. Rich sees a pattern. He sees hate. He only sees in on one side, however. He sees the seething masses as little people, pulled by invisible strings, that he can look down upon and speculate about while attempting to pull their strings. They’re never individuals with individual motivations. He’s an imbecile.
Jun 19, 2009 - 7:07 am 101. cici:p.s. It’s the economy that’s going to take Obama down. I read that he’s losing sleep over the deficit. Well, he should be, but it’s a little late for that now. He is creating something that they will not be able to control, and the more that hits people, the lower his numbers will go.
Jun 19, 2009 - 7:07 am 102. trangbang68:Dang, Ryan nailed it. I could probably lose 15 pounds; my hair isn’t as dense as it used to be and sadly I was born a cracker. Ryan’s cogent words will one day stand alongside other great political thinkers like Hobbes, Rousseau and Thomas Paine; hell, Marx even (at least Groucho or Harpo).
Jun 19, 2009 - 7:18 am 103. MarkD:Commentator #66 came up with a very clever screen name, the type of dope he was smoking when he wrote it. I’ve been out of the life for a long time but I never heard of Seattle Green. I wonder if we’ll hear from Panama Red or Acupulco Gold or Thai Sticks. Who knows maybe Sheesh is a street name for PCP. That would explain a lot.
Where is the Times Select when we need it?
Seriously, we have an intellectually and morally bankrupt writer for a fiscally and factually bankrupt newspaper. What’s to be upset about? Rich is irrelevant. Leave him be.
Jun 19, 2009 - 7:29 am 104. COL. SEBASTIAN MORAN:SEATTLE
Jun 19, 2009 - 7:38 am 105. Francis W. Porretto:#66
MY. MY, MY ! What a truly enlightened, intelligent, uplifting argument you make !!!
77/88
S.M.
“Where, in Frank Rich’s cosmology, does rational, justified fear come in — apart, I mean, from anything that can be associated with George W. Bush?”
This is a key question with a critical answer.
Left-liberals believe themselves morally and intellectually superior to the rest of us (cf. Thomas Sowell, The Vision of the Anointed.) Therefore, for us to fear them is a fundamental insult: they’re our betters, and they deserve our unconditional trust and allegiance. This is especially the case for elected left-liberals, whom we are to presume incapable of error — or at least, incapable of as much error, or as dramatic, as we would make without their tender-hearted supervision.
Note that the rule of law, as classically stated, is utterly incompatible with this left-liberal posture. If the law is to stand supreme over the preferences of rulers, then the rulers’ moral and intellectual superiority is nullified — idled — wasted! They simply can’t have that. Unless, of course, the ruler is someone other than a left-liberal…say, someone like George W. Bush.
Barack Hussein Obama (”sort of a god” — Evan Thomas) has imbibed this attitude with his mother’s milk. It’s at the core of him; he would be impotent without it. The objective thinness of his resume is irrelevant; like a multitude of aspiring actors, he was awaiting his Big Chance. Now that we’ve allowed him onstage, we cannot expect him to show respect for any law that hinders him in his agenda…even if it’s a law he voted for, or co-sponsored. After all, “he won,” right?
The great question is whether the nation can survive four years with him on our backs.
Jun 19, 2009 - 9:04 am 106. Mary Grabar:Sadly, the email lists of the dreadlocked and tie-dyed are full of the same irrationality that Rich spews out. I believe that the Homeland Defense memo was no accident. It was something that the ignorant, hysterical masses would turn to for justification. Napolitano, Emmanuel, Obama, et al planned this.
Jun 19, 2009 - 9:20 am 107. Fragmentarian:Remember Seattle Green’s big brother, Seattle Slew? Another fine horse’s a$$.
Jun 19, 2009 - 9:50 am 108. Matt:Frank Rich suffers from a common ailment among D.C./NYC journo-media hacks; congnitive myopia. The main cause of this condition is continued lack of exposure to any vestige of opinion to which one does not agree, and lack of travel and/or exposure to places, people, literature and journalism other than that directly consistent with one’s own convictions.
Mr. Rich, not unlike many of his colleagues and cohorts, works, plays, dines and cavorts with what is surely, a homogenous and startly non-diverse point of view. He would hard-pressed to name one person he knows, much less with whom he has spoken in the last 19 years, who doesn’t:
(1) despise everything associated with George W. Bush;
(2) savor every word out of President Obama’s teleprompter, in addition to doubting that President Obama puts his pants on one leg at a time;
(3) firmly believe NYC is the center of the universe, and that those poor, uneducated, uncultured masses living in darkness (i.e. anywhere NOT in NYC) would be much better people if they could only experience life in the five burroughs; and lastly,
(4) consider the NYT as the definitive source of information on all topics, everywhere and for everyone.
Rich would be well-served to take a trip to Anywhere, USA and sit in a diner and listen to what those living outside of NYC sound like.
Jun 19, 2009 - 10:44 am 109. Bizzaro-ryan:You Demonrats are the jokers. A queer racist party of fat, libtard, balding A**holes who wrecked the country and the army. No one gives a crap what you think now. WHY, BECAUSE YOU RIGGED THE ELECTION!
Jun 19, 2009 - 11:46 am 110. Bizzaro-Seattle Green:You Demonrat slime are irrelevant. The DNC has exploded and what remains is a hard kernel of queer racist reactionaries. You are losers. You are stupid. You are anti-Christian dope smoking-freaks who believe OsamaHusseinIslamObama will let you live in his big house after you die as long as you keep the white man down. Superstitious fools and hypocrites is what you are.
Jun 19, 2009 - 11:53 am 111. IP 727:Vinny Boombots:
“Bush put us in such a deep depression enriching Big Oil and Haliburton, Obama is forced to spend trillions to get us out of it. This depression is all Bush’s fault. Stop trying to change history.”
Your appalling economic ignorance would be comical, if it weren’t so pathetic.You might want to consider suing your former “educators” ASAP, for breach of contract.Useful idiots can only be useful to other idiots.
Jun 19, 2009 - 2:04 pm 112. Dave Surls:‘objecting to ryan’s characterization as “A tiny racist party of fat, white, balding A**holes?”’
Laughing at it is more like it. The supporters of the party that defended slavery, implemented Jim Crow and issued Executive Order 9066 are accusing the opposition party of being racist?
Too funny.
As for Rich, Frank Rich is a liar, a hypocrite and a Goebbels-like propagandist for a political party who’s members and supporters lie somewhere between maggot and slime mold on the evolutionary ladder.
Rich, and the liberal Democrat scum he whores for, are the sort of folks who one day incinerate 100,000 innocent civilians at Tokyo or Hiroshima, and the next day squeal in faux-outrage, like the pigs that they are, when some terrorists are roughed up in Gitmo. If a Dem president burns 100,000 innocent people alive, he’s a great president and a nobler defender of human rights, but if a Republican president has some terrorist murderers slapped around, it’s a terrible atrocity, and he’s a war criminal.
The bottom line is is that liberal Dems would betray their country, serve as propagandists for America’s enemies (as Rich did, during the eight years of Bush II’s presidency) or sell their mother’s souls to gain political power, and their ratlike followers would do the same, if someone waved a welfare check under their noses.
Do I hate Frank Rich, lil’ Barry O and the party they’re associated with?
Damn straight, I hate them.
Don’t like the fact that I loathe Democrats and their mouthpieces in the media?
Too bad, so sad. Deal with it.
Jun 19, 2009 - 3:14 pm 113. Steynian 365 « Free Canuckistan!:[...] DINO-MEDIA WATCH– “Announcing the Save Frank Rich Society”, by Roger Kimball …. [...]
Jun 19, 2009 - 4:26 pm 114. ptsargent:Unfortunately there is no saving liberals, they are too far gone. Unmoored, uprooted, they have no standards, no belief system other than some vague notion (Obama’s favorite word) about equality of outcomes. Ah yes, Chairman Sero believes it’s better to “spread wealth around” so every body has more. Let’s see. the last time this was tried with a vengeance, the government took from the producers and gave to the non-producers and got what? Oh yes, the USSR, a country run by thugs, for thugs which eventually imploded from all the corruption and misallocation of resources. Great system that socialism. I’ve got an idea. Why don’t we send Obama and all his enablers in the media over to Russia and see if they can’t get that country back on track. They might be able to find a few left over commies to work with them. At leas we’d be rid of these foolish sophomores.
Jun 20, 2009 - 2:01 pm 115. Elaine B:If one can stomach reading anything written in the New York Times, their articles reveal how the enemy of the U.S., of freedom, and of truth think.
Know thine enemy!
The bottom line is this. People will say and do anything to enrich themselves. The NYT pays Rich to spout off his vitrol against the enemies of the NYT, i.e., anyone who is not a Communist sympathizer and hater of truth, common sense, our Constitution, the rule of law, morality, character, responsibility and of course, Christianity and Israel.
Jun 20, 2009 - 7:20 pm 116. Thalpy:If ever there were a true waste of time on planet earth, saving Frank Rich from anything would be it. Had the Right been half as evil as he has claimed, Frank Rich would not be alive to write about it. As the old saying goes, Frank Rich isn’t worth the powder to blow him up.
Jun 21, 2009 - 7:21 am 117. Carlos Watson:Interesting. We just wrote a piece about Frank Rich today. For my money, he’s one of the smartest guys working in media. One might argue, given the fever pitch of this dialogue, that Rich is anything but irrelevant: http://bit.ly/Owzb.
Jun 23, 2009 - 11:17 am 118. joe:Let’s point out a couple of things here. If you disagree with Republican policies, fine. But the racist trope really is tiresome. It was Southern Dems that opposed Johnson’s civil rights legislation, and they fought it vehemently, Robert Byrd prominent among them. I’m also tired of the Christian bashing among Dems. I go to an evangelical church in a small city and I’ll bet more than 90 percent of the congregation voted for Obama and consistently votes Democratic. Frank Rich is among the writers who pushes the stereotype that Republicans are knuckle dragging, racist Christians and for that he deserves criticism. It’s not just Republicans he’s trying to slam–his message is that if you are a Christian (I mean one who actually believes all that divinity of Christ stuff, and please note that he never critices any other form of religious belief), then you are a moron. His ideas are very fashionable and very hateful. It’s just that his particular form of bigotry is acceptable to the educated class. His leaden prose style is just one more thing to dislike about him.
Jun 24, 2009 - 7:25 am