October 15, 2011

"Obama is a despicable man. Dishonest and heartless to the core."

That's a typical comment at Firedoglake, a big left/liberal blog. Here's another (and it's not like I'm skipping over compliments):
It is said that many Americans think that Barack Obama is a nice guy.

Barack Obama is not a nice guy, and the American people may soon realize that he is not a nice guy.

“Underdog” Obama clearly does not want a second term as President.

Perhaps he deserves another “term”, possibly ten to twenty?

And then, a taxpayer-paid visit to the Hague?
And:
Classless, cluless, cruel and corrupt.
"Classless" is a reference to the "Class Act," the voluntary long-term care insurance component of Obamacare, which the Obama administration has announced it will not — cannot — implement. (I'll write some more about that in the next post. This post is about the intensity of hatred aimed at Obama from the left.)

Another comment:
One more knife in the back for the working men and women of the country. This abomination of a president must be removed from office. He is ruining our country.
And:
Obama’s crappy healthcare overhaul is coming apart like a car put together with superglue, as it was supposed to do, of course, after it transferred everything to the insurance corpse and Big PhRMA.

Pretty soon the only thing left will be the mandate to buy skyrocketing insurance.
A commenter named "demi" says: "he’s not looking as well as he once looked. Something is taking a toll on the man." And the immediate response, from DWBartoo is: "I think he resembles Joseph Goebbels more … every single day, demi … the eyes … the eyes are dead."

Another commenter says: "I don’t understand why the right hates Obama. he is the best Republican President they’ve had in decades."

Another:
I tried to read his autobiography. Found it chock full of trite, and gave up. I knew he was full of BS. I knew he was a front for the elites.

The night he got elected, I went to an election party, had to my partner is a big dem supporter. I kid you not people were crying and hugging one another. I was horrified. had a few people shout at me for not going along with the group hysteria.
Which draws the response: "Have to confess: I fell for it."

And:
I wasn’t into the hysteria but I thought that for once I wasn’t voting for the lesser of two evils but somebody I really wanted in there. Now I don’t believe I voted for the lesser but rather the greater of the two evils. At least if McLame had come up with such an abominable plan, the Democrats would have blocked it if for no other reason than because McLame has an “R” after his name.
All right, I'm going to stop now. I've only combed through a third of the comments, but you can see what is happening: Obama has become the embodiment of their grief over the pending stillborn death of Obamacare.

I'm thinking Obama's best hope for reelection is for the Supreme Court to strike down Obamacare — find the individual mandate unconstitutional and the remainder of the law inseverable. Take the whole thing down.  Let Obama rhapsodize about the beautiful future that might have been — it's very pretty when it's not real — and blast away at that terrible Supreme Court that reaches beyond the realm of the law. Ironically, Obama would be publicly denouncing the Court for getting political and secretly grateful that the political benefit came to him.

Think about it. Obamacare is the nonviable fetus that we continue to carry to term, agonizing in anticipation of a stillborn. It's very sad. But there is the possibility of ending the existence of that misbegotten child. Do you like my metaphor? Within it, the Supreme Court is the abortionist. It can intervene right now and end the suffering.

123 comments:

Robert said...

No. I don't like your metaphor.

Big Mike said...

The reason for the intensity of hatred is that he has instituted nearly every left-wing wet dream they've ever had going back to the 1930's.

And it has a been a total failure. Unemployment is high, anyone buying gasoline for their car or shopping for groceries knows that inflation is in the double digits. This is the logical end point of the left wing's fantasies -- misery throughout the land for everyone who doesn't contribute beau coup dollars to Democrat politicians.

They can't blame themselves, so they blame Obama.

Anonymous said...

Well, we beg to disagree. Everyone loves the POTUS Obama. The amount of cash the campaign to re-elect has in totally unbelievable. My hot date pays when she goes out me. She refuses to accept mine. The polls shows that the POTUS can defeat Perry virtually everywhere - pick a place (Austin, TX). Perry loses by over 25%. We want PERRY!

Also, see the RCP polls this weekend (http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/other/generic_congressional_vote-2170.html). This was the highlight of the Happy Hour of the K-street bandits last night at the Hotel Mandarin. There was so much excitement. So many supporters, including reporters.

It now seems that in 2012, we will keep the White House, win the House (with Pelosi as our rightful Speaker), keep the Senate (with Reid as our fearless leader).

Mt. Rushmore, here comes POTUS Obama.

GOP: Bring Rick the Dinosaur Perry! Or, anyone else.

(NB: GOP, please reject Romney.)

Scott M said...

1 out of 10 on the metaphor.

AimHighHitLow said...

Agree that his best hope is the Supreme Court.

Robert Cook said...

The metaphor is strained.

Robert Cook said...

"The reason for the intensity of hatred is that he has instituted nearly every left-wing wet dream they've ever had going back to the 1930's."

List them.

Meade said...

Misbegotten? You mean like she tricked her boyfriend into getting her pregnant?

pm317 said...

What do you expect when he outsourced the bill to Pelosi and a whole bunch of other nuts and stomped his feet demanding they put together and pass SOMETHING, all because (wait for it) -- he wanted it to be a slap on the face to Clintons, especially Hillary who could not pass their own. Great things do not come about if your motives are stupid.

caplight said...

It's called "due diligence," and they didn't do it.

caplight said...

Oh, and all this stuff about his base staying home on election day, total hogwash. They will show up in droves.

Steve Koch said...

"Nonviable fetus"

I haven't heard that expression before. It means "An expelled or delivered fetus which, although living, cannot possibly survive to the point of sustaining life independently, even with support of the best available medical therapy."

I always thought a baby was called a fetus only while it was still inside the mother and then, after birth, was called a baby or infant once it was born. Here they are calling a living baby who has been born (but is not going to survive) a fetus. Presumably that is to dehumanize the baby.

Clyde said...

Obviously their crappy little $50 and $100 campaign contributions were not enough to get the big payoffs like the Solyndra guy and other big Democrat contributors/corporate cronies. It's "pay-to-play," Chicago-style, people. Learn it, love it, live it, as long as Obama is in office.

January 20, 2013, cannot come soon enough.

AllenS said...

He has a lot more problems then obamacare. Stimulus One didn't do anything but put us further in debt, and Son of Stimulus will do likewise. These OWS protesters, if they had an ounce of sense, would be protesting at the White House. That's where the problem is. obama sucks.

Automatic_Wing said...

Your metaphor sucks, as does Firedoglake. What a bunch of fucking loons.

Ann Althouse said...

The metaphor is actually incredibly good. If you don't like it, specify why you don't like it. Think it through. Don't knee jerk on this one.

I'll respond to your specifics. I stand by the metaphor, though I realize it's hard for people who feel very sensitive about abortion to deal with.

But let's assume you think abortion is an atrocity. What if a woman 6-months pregnant had a nonviable fetus that the doctors knew would be stillborn? Should she be required to let nature take its course and deliver the stillborn child?

What if the fetus is already dead? Surely you accept the forcible removal of the corpse.

What if the unborn child is horribly deformed and will live in pain and cause untold anguish and then die within a year? I assume if you are pro-life, you will say, then that is unfortunately what must happen.

Okay, then, in my metaphor, you would say that the Supreme Court should not intervene and strike down the law, no matter how inevitable its demise and no matter how much people will suffer in the time it takes for that to happen. Let nature (politics) take its course.

No artificial killing.

But in this metaphor, if the law is, according to some purely legal form of interpretation, genuinely void because unconstitutional, then the Court should declare that to be so and order that it not be implemented. Any overreaching, helping America out of it's political problem, is an atrocity.

pm317 said...

Let Obama rhapsodize about the beautiful future that might have been — it's very pretty when it's not real — and blast away at that terrible Supreme Court that reaches beyond the realm of the law.

What are the odds that the public will buy it this time around. I think they have woken up to Obama's shenanigans.

Fred4Pres said...

Your metaphor is a bit much.

But I agree the Supreme Court getting rid of Obamacare might be a gift to everyone, including Obama and the Dems.

The Dems could say, see, we tried, but those Justices took it away. Vote us in to get better Justices.

Everyone else would breath a sigh of relief.

As for the deep hatred of Obama, I do not see it on the left. I had a few lefty friends who promised to throw a "Close Guantanamo" party (would they serve mojitos and Cuba libres?). I said good luck to that. I haven't heard them mention it lately.

I think Obama supporters are disappointed but they do not hate him (for the most part). But that is my observation.

DADvocate said...

The metaphor's not that great.

No president could have successfully enacted the demands of the whiners at firedoglake. What they want is unworkable. That said, Obama is an incompetent, corrupt poseur, at best.

BTW - great take on the 1% and Obama HERE.

madAsHell said...

I've tried reading firedoglake, and I just can't. I get a sense of paranoia, fear and loathing every time I read something there.

Anonymous said...

Big Mike, the reason for the hatred is not because he instituted left wing policies, it's because he hasn't. He has veered more and more toward right of center and THAT is not who we voted for. Progressives would be happy to see Obamacare be aborted,it was the bastard of big Pharma and that whore Insurance Corps. The few good things in the bill could've been done separately .

Tank said...

The metaphor is fine.

And so is the President.

After all, he's the best affirmative action President we've ever had.

What a great new world we have with affirmative action firemen (and 110 pound affirmative action women too !!!), affirmative action doctors, affirmative action police officers, affirmative action law instructors, etc.

Mr Zero shows us all just how wonderful affirmative action is. If only we had this quality of performance everywhere. Whooo boy,
that would be great.

pm317 said...

What if the fetus is already dead? Surely you accept the forcible removal of the corpse.

What if the unborn child is horribly deformed and will live in pain and cause untold anguish and then die within a year?


If that were the case, how will Obama rhapsodize what a beautiful thing it would have been? Your metaphor falls apart. Or does Obama become an anti-abortionist pro-life Republican at that point. He should run on the R ticket.

Peter V. Bella said...

Obama is a fraud.

Fred4Pres said...

Ann, The abortion metaphor works but were just a little giddy in your enthusiasm.

Comparing Obamacare to a still born child (I have not been through that myself but I know people who have and it is trather tragic) is what is a bit much. Politically I see nothing good about Obamacare (or the expansion of any entitlements like this--federal entitlements cause harm in the long run. We would have been better off without any of them).

And some people actually find the topic of abortion used in this manner offensive.

But it is a good metaphor. You were quite clever to think it up.

David said...

Obamacare is the nonviable fetus that we continue to carry to term, agonizing in anticipation of a stillborn. It's very sad. But there is the possibility of ending the existence of that misbegotten child. Do you like my metaphor?

Quotable, that's for sure. Damn what a mess.

Meade said...

Obama is Eraserhead.

Moose said...

Who knew there were so many racists posting over at Firedoglake...

ricpic said...

Some people can't stand success. The Left should be ecstatic over the explosion in the size and scope of government's grasp under Obama. But some folks are bound and determined to be miserable. Which is really the only happiness possible for them. Talk about the damned.

Anonymous said...

Althouse I love the metaphor, yet hate abortion. Despite hating abortion it serves a purpose in our society and has for thousands of years. What is more frightening than a visit ti Firedoglake, is the misogynistic legislation that the Republicans continue to try to shove through Congress. Do conservatives really think illegal abortions are what we should go back to? How regressive of them.

garage mahal said...

Your metaphor sucks, as does Firedoglake. What a bunch of fucking loons.

They sound just like the comments here.

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Firedoglake has become the Simpson's Springfield!

Wooo hooo!

Automatic_Wing said...

Okay, then, in my metaphor, you would say that the Supreme Court should not intervene and strike down the law, no matter how inevitable its demise and no matter how much people will suffer in the time it takes for that to happen. Let nature (politics) take its course.

Here is what's wrong with your metaphor - there is nothing inevitable, or even likely, about the demise of Obamacare absent action by the Supreme Court.

If Obamacare is upheld, and I think it will be, it won't necessarily cause Obama to lose the election. And even if he does lose the election, I'm skeptical that the Republicans will actually repeal it. They'll probably go for some kind of "mend it, don't end it" compromise.

You're right that repeal would help Obama politically by energizing the base and letting them focus their hate on the Supreme Court, but I don't think it would move the needle as much as you do. Repeal won't help him with independents, who will just roll their eyes and view the whole thing as another Obama fuckup.

The outcome of the election will still hinge on the economy and the strengths and weaknesses of the Republican candidate.

Wince said...

The abortion metaphor should be saved for what will be done to the person who decides to challenge Obama from the left.

Talk about killing your own spawn in the womb.

It'd be ugly, and may be a major reason why a challenger hasn't surfaced already, despite the discontent.

Big Mike said...

@Robert, healthcare, union ownership of 2 out of the "Big 3" automakers, high gasoline prices to try to force people into mass transit and "green" cars, union dictates where and whether major corporations can build new plants, massive expansion of government regulations ...

Do I need to go on? Should I include a "stimulus" that stimulated nothing except the wallets of the fat cats and interest groups -- NOW, big unions -- that fund the Democrats?

Is there a point, Robert, where you accept that the policies that you favor mean raw misery for everyone who isn't well-connected to Democrat politicians? Or is that the point of everything you favor?

Henry said...

Friends of mine on Facebook are posting the "I've got his back 2012" poster of Obama. I keep commenting "He doesn't have yours."

Big Mike said...

@Mitochondri-Allie, you're delusional.

DADvocate said...

The metaphor is actually incredibly good. If you don't like it, specify why you don't like it. Think it through. Don't knee jerk on this one.

Puh-lease, this isn't a test. We don't need to justify to you why we don't like something. Are we going to play the "I don't like it because..." - "That's not a good enough reason to not like it, or you don't get it and if you did you'd like it" game? Why don't I like a particular color? Because I don't.

Blogger Account said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
I'm Full of Soup said...

His only hope to be elected Prez again is to not run in 2012, go out and get a real job and real experience [i.e. run a state or a business competently] then run again for Prez in 8 or 12 years. But that will never happen because his thinking is as inflexible and as unchangeable as a 70 year-old old fogey.

Anonymous said...

Maguro, exactly right. The Republican candidates have all been the flavor of the WEAK. progressives and liberals will not vote for any of the current Republican candidates. Independents might vote for Huntsman, but he has no chance, thanks to the Tea Party takeover of the GOP.

Anonymous said...

I meant to say that I love the metaphor by the distinguished professor.

I just do not agree with the implication: that the greatest POTUS is in trouble.

As I continue to report from the K-street meetings, everything is OK, peachy. We will win as expected. The problem is that the GOP does not know their own limitations: no funds, no vision, no goals, no deliverables, no diversity, no experience, etc. etc. Re-electing the POTUS is just the right thing for all voters.

garage mahal said...

The outcome of the election will still hinge on the economy and the strengths and weaknesses of the Republican candidate.

So you and Republicans want a weak economy.

bagoh20 said...

Obama's one feature that is likeable is his apparent role as a good family man, but even that is not some sacrifice - it's what most men are.

What little history we had of him did not show a very impressive man. The way he won his first election, the rise through political positions that he never even tried to perform in, a truly affirmative action life, and financial success through the luck of selling many copies of a pair of autobiographies of an unimpressive life showed nothing of character or ability.

That's why this is such a typical leftist failure. Style over substance, and refusal to learn from the evidence of history. The hallmarks of modern liberalism.

Even with knowing all that, I'm astounded at how bad he is. I at least gave him a 50/50 chance of being decent.

It's not so much the big failures for me , but the little things like the gifts to and treatment of the British, and his tone deaf attacks on the people in the country that disagreed with him. It just shows pettiness and lack of character.

It was a huge contrast with G. W. Bush, who wouldn't even attack the press who were trashing him in a clearly partisan way. Bush did not have a glowing resume' either, but he conducted himself in the Presidency in a way that showed a man of character and strength, even if you disagreed with his policy.

Obama is simply not a man with the history, ability or personality to have much authority. He was a silly choice, even if he would have gotten lucky in office, which he didn't, which means WE didn't. That's 100% our fault, not his. I don't think McCain was a good choice, but that's our fault too.

Vote like it matters.

exhelodriver said...

Not good. If the fetus is not going to survive whether it's carried to term or not, there is no "bright future that could have been" to rhapsodize about. It would be obvious, especially after his own administration admitted the flaws of the program, that he was full of crap if he tried to blame the Supreme Court.

Steve M. Galbraith said...

To continue with Althouse's metaphor, if the Court strikes down the mandate they're not only aborting this fetus they'll be making it (nearly) impossible to have another child again.

Politically/electorally Mr. Obama may want the legislation striken; but ideologically he doesn't.

Obama wanted to conceive a baby on his wedding night instead of waiting until the couple was better situated economically.

And here he is.

Bayoneteer said...

That was pretty good post until the stillborn baby stuff. Creepy. The true sign of an ideologue is their willingness to ignore any and all feedback that their politically inspired policies don't/haven't/won't work. They blame, accuse, rant and rave, then double down and do it all again. They learn nothing and forget nothing. And they hold grudges.

J said...

Let's hope Althouse's law-lectures are better than her attempts at political writing or ethics. (rumors are, they're not)

For that matter ,what about the ethics of allowing 9 judicial mobsters decide on HC legislation...indirectly supported by millions? The real issue. Ie, it's a decision for congress and House, not Scalia-Co. The metaphor not relevant at all (actually blasphemous like most of Althouse rants).

Fen said...

So you and Republicans want a weak economy.

No. We want a strong economy. The first step in accomplishing that will be getting rid of the corrupt incompetent Obama administration.

bagoh20 said...

The problem with the metaphor is that a fetus is not designed, crafted and built by the parents. They hold no responsibility for it's defects. The responsibility is the whole thing - the reason there is a discussion at all to have. Otherwise we could just say: it's God's will. That's not gonna fly for Obama on this.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

You must really be one heck of a drama queen to think that hardcore left-wing nutters would allow themselves to see the election of a Republican over Obama, and that Obama's best hope for avoiding that would be to watch and lament the entire repeal of his signature piece of legislation.

I think applying Occam's razor to your fantasies would help you realize just how outlandish they are. In the world of possible political scenarios, there are hypotheticals and there are counterfactuals. And then there are rhapsodic Althousian dream sequences of a magnitude and depth of fantasy not seen anywhere but in the movie Inception.

exhelodriver said...

But there would be people who voted for him in 2008 who would rhapsodize about what could have been, and blame the Supreme Court. If you replace Obama with those who voted for him, it has more validity.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Obviously Fen's willing to weaken the economy for as long as it takes for him to reach his over-riding political goal, Garage.

It wouldn't be the first time he shot himself in the foot.

bagoh20 said...

The metaphor also comes from a natural liberal view point that sees the unborn child as like a law that the parents(actually just the mother) created and therefore has every right to destroy at will.

The pro-life view is that the fetus is something outside the sole authority of the mother. It has the right to be considered as more than a bad sculpture, or poorly written page that the artist simply discards at will.

You don't just repeal a child, and you don't deeply morn the loss of a piece of legislation.

Automatic_Wing said...

So you and Republicans want a weak economy.

It's got nothing to do with what I "want". It's just a fact of life that a weak economy always favors the challenger in a Presidential election. Clinton certainly benefitted from this effect in 92, does that make him a bad person?

Marica said...

I don't like the metaphor. A young couple we are close to was expecting their first child. The baby died in utero two weeks before the due date. My friend had to deliver vaginally. It was the saddest funeral I've ever been to.

Perhaps if it weren't for this... . No I'd still not like it.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Bag, when are you going to finally apologize for the wanton destruction you've visited upon billions of your sperm cells, beautiful living creatures that you've discarded out of existence, like they were nothing more than so many poorly written laws?

garage mahal said...

It's got nothing to do with what I "want". It's just a fact of life that a weak economy always favors the challenger in a Presidential election.

Sure it does. You want Obama to lose. Which means you want a weak economy. It's what Republicans in Congress want as well, which means they are doing everything they can to make sure the economy is as weak as possible. Not exactly a secret, they've admitted as much.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

The genocide that Bag has visited on his own sperm cells truly shocks and horrifies me.

Since he is so willing to carry those precious morsels of life to their ultimate purpose, I suggest he follow an example from the animal kingdom. Certain species of frog carry their eggs in their mouth, in order to protect them from predators and the elements.

I suggest that other men use Bag's mouth and face as a carrying receptacle for the preservation of their own beautiful specimens of living progeny-in-the-making!

bagoh20 said...

Ritmo, I've donated every sperm cell I ever created since puberty to sperm banks. Eventually, my spawn will control the planet. Look around, half the people you see are my offspring. The rest voted for Obama, but we are growing in numbers in 2012 we will begin to take power.

bagoh20 said...

Ritmo, it's been a long time, I thought you had forgotten about my testicles. I'm touched by you, as are they.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

That's lovely, Bag.

But surely you wouldn't object to other men using your face and mouth as a beautiful, well-designed carrying receptacles for their spawn, as well, would you? I mean, the goal is preservation of all potentially living entities, isn't it?

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Don't let a few tawdry porn scenes disrupt your intent to preserve the spawn of the human race, Bag.

I mean, there's a genocide to stop and stuff.

pm317 said...

Marica said...

I don't like the metaphor. A young couple we are close to was expecting their first child. The baby died in utero two weeks before the due date. My friend had to deliver vaginally. It was the saddest funeral I've ever been to.
-----------

Althouse prides herself as the provocateur, you know pushing the envelop, going where others dare not go for fear of offending someone's sensibilities. That is her brand.

pm317 said...

Obama wanted to conceive a baby on his wedding night instead of waiting until the couple was better situated economically.

And here he is.

----

I like this metaphor better.. but economy good or bad, he never had it in him to produce a viable fetus.

bagoh20 said...

Ritmo, you sure do wake up horny in the morning, or is it just me and my incredible sex appeal. I'm truly flattered. Do you man a glory hole somewhere I could visit? I rarely have someone come on to me like this. It's very exciting.

bagoh20 said...

"going where others dare not go for fear of offending someone's sensibilities. That is her brand."

Careful Althouse, Ritmo is gonna steal your brand. It's so unique.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

I just want to save them all, Bag. Nothing more.

I'm like the Holden Caufield of the unborn.

wv: ovicavi

Richard Dolan said...

"The metaphor is actually incredibly good. If you don't like it, specify why you don't like it."

OK. As metaphors go, yours focuses in the wrong place. The 'stillborn child' idea has, at its heart, the notion of an emotional yearning for all that the child could have been. The SCOTUS as abortionist idea offers a villian who steals the future away. I don't think that's the source of the discontent on the left with O.

The lefty comments you highlight use ObamaCare more generally, as an example of how everything should be wonderful and free if only we wished it hard enough. Think of Judy tapping her ruby slippers together. At base, it's almost a Biblical idea -- we were promised a land overflowing with milk and honey, it's our God-given right to live in the Garden of Eden!, and O was our Messiah who would lead us there. So why aren't we there?

That's a fractured fairy-tale version of a millenial theme that has surfaced thoughout American history. The lefties, at some level, seem to believe in it. Certainly the idea of earning what you get in life doesn't figure highly in their world-view. Since economics is plainly something none of those lefties have ever heard of, it may be that Max Weber was left off their reading lists for the class in Feel-Good 101 at whatever college overcharged them for the antithesis of an education.

Your stillborn/abortionist metaphor misses all that. It substitutes an emotional yearning rooted in personal loss, for the more general disconnect between millenial expectations and gritty reality that (I think) is closer to the mark.

Mark Steyn does a nice job with this kind of thing -- his piece on OWS as a manifestation of the disappearance of the American middle class (available at NRO) strikes me as a better metaphor for what's going on in the lefto-sphere.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Lol @ 10:50.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Althouse is the Holden Caufield of nearly aborted bad ideas.

The Holden Caufield of intellectual abortions, as it were.

J said...

Ritmo, "bagoh" is one of Byro the acid-head sockpuppet's names--you know ..half the names on here and Trooper. male, female (deborah, others), gay (titus), macho ("spinelli"--hah), left and right, depending on its psychosis. Right now its in right-wing schtick (he is right wing, actually-- whitesupremacist). He's like a first year nursing flunkie--mitochondria! whoa. Byro the nazi male nurse.

Althouse's metaphor has nothing to do with the issue.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Ann Althouse said...

"Comparing Obamacare to a still born child (I have not been through that myself but I know people who have and it is trather tragic) is what is a bit much."

People compare laws to dead bodies all the time. For example: The jobs bill was dead on arrival.

Law is often compared to a living being. The classic example is from Justice Holmes, referring to the law that is the Constitution:

[W]e must realize that they have called into life a being the development of which could not have been foreseen completely by the most gifted of its begetters. It was enough for them to realize or to hope that they had created an organism...

When I get to that in conlaw class, I like to do my Dr. Frankenstein interpretation: "It's alive!"

Justice Scalia likes to riff on that, saying he prefers dead.

People do joke about life and death, you know.

(I realize that abortion feels different, because it's not the kind of death that is inevitable, and you may feel that it's important to stop the killing or at least act somber about it.)

somefeller said...

It would have been a better metaphor if you spelled the central word as foetus. That's how all the cool people spell it.

Roger J. said...

Professor--as a poster above pointed out, this isnt your con law class where the students have to suck up to you. So spare us the admonitions. Your judgment has been suspect since the last election.

Its a cold day in hell when I agree with J and Ritmo, but I just put a jacket on.

Like most academics you really dont like being challenged. Your 60s feminist schtick is so trite.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

So are we in agreement, then? The ability of the law to connect with the living is less important than saving a few spare sperm cells?

Do I hear a second?

All in favor say "Aye".

ricpic said...

"Why do you jack off, bagoh?"

"The future Mr. Gittes, the future!"

Anonymous said...

What sort of life form is J? What is his purpose?

Jacob Asplund said...

President Obama is, like many politicians, a leader in the cult promise.

sorepaw said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
sorepaw said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
sorepaw said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
J said...

That's called logic, Mito-Byro the neo-nazi pretending to be liberal (or female, teabug, mormon, et)--and actually a critique of judicial review--the real issue. . Scary huh. You're no scientist, Byro--not even an AA. Passing Bedpan 101 at Tuscon JC doesn't mean jack. You're... tee-shirt sales!

sorepaw said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
J said...

Cook is disappointed.

you mean...you, dumbass? Yr little wannabe Limbaugh schtick-- "sorepaw" , bagoh, Fred4pres,--is as nauseating and stupid as yr leftist schtick is. Stick to titus, puto. .Thats the real you, puto. Or "Deborah"--the real you, post op! Ah yeah collection for Miss Bellami 's Big Op.

Almost Ali said...

It's still not too late to impeach the jive turkey.

Carol_Herman said...

You know, I've been to fairs, where for a quarter, you can buy a wet sponge to throw at the college president. (He's in it for the money. The funds that get raised.)

And, you've seen this stuff.

Obama is running as an underdog.

This is coming out, now, particularly heavily ... because the democraps want the GOP to get so light hearted ... they'll believe they could nominate a dog ... and the dog doesn't bark, but wins.

2012 bespeaks a two man competition.

Imagine, instead, if a man with ideas told the truth:

We are in tough times.

The depression is global.

Soon China's "10 elders" face the music. (Of their real estate bubble. And, their propensity to lend money to countries, now in Europe, who won't be able to pay them back.)

That until you see it ... you don't realize how DEFAULTING on debt clears the decks.

But it's pennies on the dollar.

No wonder no one is out there speaking truth to the "faithful."

Truth doesn't raise money.

William said...

Your foetus metaphor is viable, but it is too ugly to be brought to light. I would recommend using Occam's razor to perform a C-section and then put the ugly foetus in a government sponsored, sheltered workshop for homely metaphors. There it can play with the money shots and verbal diarrhea and grow to its full potential.

Bart Hall (Kansas, USA) said...

The DSM -- Diagnostic and Statistical Manual -- defines NARCISSISTIC PERSONALITY DISORDER (in Axis II Cluster B) as:

A pervasive pattern of grandiosity (in fantasy or behavior), need for admiration, and lack of empathy, beginning by early adulthood and present in a variety of contexts, as indicated by five (or more) of the following:

* Has a grandiose sense of self-importance (e.g., exaggerates achievements and talents, expects to be recognized as superior without commensurate achievements)

* Is preoccupied with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love

* Believes that he or she is "special" and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)

* Requires excessive admiration

* Has a sense of entitlement, i.e., unreasonable expectations
of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations

* Is interpersonally exploitative, i.e., takes advantage of others to achieve his or her own ends

* Lacks empathy: is unwilling to recognize or identify with the feelings and needs of others

* Is often envious of others or believes others are envious of him or her

* Shows arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes.

Roger J. said...

J: good to see you remain an idiot. Nice job dude--you have all the charm, grace, and intellect of a wounded warthog.

do carry on dude

ricpic said...

Carol Herman told me that "Anyone plays with verbal diarrhea, I get a kickback, see?!"

G Joubert said...

Ironically, Obama would be publicly denouncing the Court for getting political and secretly grateful that the political benefit came to him.

Sorry, that's not irony, it's disingenuousness and deceit. It's the hallmark of the modern liberal politician, who can't reveal their real motives or real objectives, because they'd never be elected to anything.

The metaphor only works as you later amended it in your 9:23 comment, to that of a deformed fetus, but even then it works only somewhat. In a real-life abortion most certainly the mother would be consulting and working with her physicians to arrive at the termination decision, but in Obama's case, he's not consulting or working with the SCOTUS to scuttle ACA, and he'd want the world to believe he was opposed what SCOTUS did.

The more honorable thing for Obama to do is get out the coat hanger and do his own back-alley job on ACA. Now that's irony.

blake said...

If Obamacare is a fetus, the mother was raped.

J said...

Roger the Tennessee teabug, you just don't know shit about it--whether Althouse's alarmist rhetoric, or the right-wing deviant ala Byro using multiple accounts here ..

Like you the s.pup's white supremacist,anti-statist, Romney fan. Log cabin GOP homies, Roger & Byro. (now getting its phony psych. act on too, like CPA,scientists, etc)

Chip Ahoy said...

It is a very good metaphor, a damn good metaphor. I shall use it.

I thought at first it went too far. But upon rereading it I find myself agreeing, "Yeah, because in some dire cases the delivery can harmful to the woman and can possibly even kill her."

And then if the Supreme Court is abortionist then the clinic staff is Congress who scurry to legislatively assist and clean up.

Then we the population in the metaphor are the same population as outside the metaphor where we're all going all at once but for different reasons, "That was most unfortunate."

Then there's a burial of some sort or another. And it is very sad.

(The paragraph before the metaphor is a thing of real beauty)

J said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
J said...

Althouse just simply forgets millons of Americans need affordable health care--not all ghetto-dwellers. Middle class as well. The HCR bill was not great, but maybe some help to them. Forget them, says Lord Althouse--Scalia & Co need to make another irrational egotistic Pronouncement.

Callous, narcissistic, superficial,crypto-racist . The AA usual.

doofus said...

How about an alternate metaphor? Obamacare is a malignant cancer that is going to sicken and weaken the host, but is now in remission. The Supreme Court is the surgeon who has the opportunity to remove the killer tumor before it has a chance to spread and do even more damage.

I think it is the best metaphor ever! And if you don't agree with me, please post a 700 word essay explaining why. Be specific, I don't give partial credit.

jaf said...

roger J is right on about Althouse - another observation: AA never responds to a smart takedown of her observations - just ignore the responses that destroy her argument - it only makes her seem weak and not very sure of herself

Roger J. said...

J man--see you are in your usual spittle flecked form--I think you tried to insult me in you post above, but it was incomprehensible I couldnt tell

you must have missed your mid afternoon nappy and your lithium hit.

an insult thats incomprehensible isnt much good as an insult.

Please try harder.

Nate Whilk said...

garage mahal said, It's what Republicans in Congress want as well, which means they are doing everything they can to make sure the economy is as weak as possible.

What a joke. What do you call Obamacare, EPA regs which will cause skyrocketing energy costs, not restarting drilling in the Gulf, and spending twice as much as Bush? If you Dems were in fact trying your best to actually DESTROY the economy, how much differently would you be acting?

As to the abortion metaphor, I don't think it goes far enough. Obamacare is more like the Alien movie. The alien has been implanted and is bursting out and will kill its host. Perhaps we can remove it, butthe host may die eventually anyway. Some damage is irreparable. For example, the insurance companies aren't going to lower their rates.

wv: cometic

MadisonMan said...

How is this different from conservative viewpoints on W?

(Needs the Obama is like Bush tag)

Ralph L said...

The Firedoglakers forgot that Obamacare was designed to fail: it would make private insurance so expensive, normally-sensible people would demand single-payer. It wouldn't be an immaculate conception, however. They did too good a job making it unworkable.

It's called "due diligence," and they didn't do it.

Diddy did it.

WV judencil - C4's Progressive cabal

Ralph L said...

MM, we knew from the beginning that W was a part-time conservative, so there wasn't quite as much a sense of betrayal. And he presevered in Iraq and won, despite the Dems' hopes and screams to the contrary.

Garage, if our side hopes and believes the economy stays flat another year, your side wanted the US to lose a war for partisan gain, so eat shit.

Synova said...

"Althouse just simply forgets millons of Americans need affordable health care--not all ghetto-dwellers."

I like how liberals believe that the federal government is an omnipotent god.

Americans *need* affordable health care... the only reason for opposing simply *having* it, is because people hate "ghetto-dwellers." So, uh, maybe if I try to tell them that it's not just "ghetto-dwellers" that need it, but middle class white racists TOO, then they will decide to simply *have* it and stop obstructing the omnipotent federal government from declaring it so.

It's like being a parent.

Synova said...

"Do conservatives really think illegal abortions are what we should go back to? How regressive of them."

Well, firstly, protecting babies is not misogynic.

And I don't think that conservatives "really think" that we should go back to illegal abortions.

However... lets just go with that for a moment and see where it leads.

Are a relative handful of illegal abortions worse than millions of legal ones?

Since birth control and choice and the ability to control reproduction is so readily available is attaching public shame to abortion really worse than millions of legal and often *celebrated* terminations?

What we were told, of course, is that illegal abortions and back-alley abortions are so tragic and so bad that we must make abortion legal in order to protect the desperate.

The number of desperate women seems to have increased by magnitudes, since we're still forbidden from questioning any woman's choice that she has obviously taken so very seriously.

Even the ones who have a party and buy a t-shirt or refuse to use condoms and would rather get Plan B since she hasn't got a steady boy-friend, than be on the pill just in case she gets laid.

Would making abortion illegal again really be worse than what making it legal has done?

Meade said...

Ralph L said...

"Garage, if our side hopes and believes the economy stays flat another year, your side wanted the US to lose a war for partisan gain, so eat shit."

True. Besides, our side doesn't want the economy to stay flat for another year or even another day. We just want voters to think it is flat and continue to dump Obama next year.

Meade said...

Abort the Obama reelection.

Does that make me pro-abortion? Okay. I suppose it does.

dbp said...

I think a better metaphor is of the Supreme Court as nature. A law which violates the constitution should be struck down. Similarly, a misbegotten fetus will die due to whatever problem it has. Which is to say that it and nature are not compatible with it remaining alive.

Abortion, on the other hand is (usually) the killing of a perfectly healthy fetus. If the health care law was perfectly good and the supremes struck it down due to political convenience, then the analogy would be sound.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

How naive you must be, Meade, to believe that you and "your side" get to decide the ways in which John Boehner, Eric Cantor and their much wealthier patrons will choose to wield their power.

Also, a lost war might hurt your patriotism, if you define it that narrowly - but it can save lives and prestige if avoiding quagmire matters. A broken economy OTOH causes actual pain, and not the kind that patriotism can assuage.

Was that the best you could come up with? Apparently the blog's milder critics and stronger fans think this thread's in need of better salvaging efforts than that.

Anonymous said...

You may be right, Althouse, about Obama's best reelection chances. But I don't think it will be nearly enough to get it done. Still, what a sad comment that is about today's voters in this country. That some folks would actually buy that bill of goods proffered by the Democratic Party. How many times will a mark pay to purchase the Brooklyn Bridge?

Meade said...

Yes, Ritmo Re, that was the best I could come up with. Sorry to disappoint you.

Ritmo Re-Animated said...

Oh well, at least you were a good sport about it.

Sometimes I'm amazed at how much guys like you and Bag'O will put up with. I actually admire it.

Veritable men of internet steel, ye are.

It's why I love ya. Well, that and a blog devoted to sweet potatoes. No one said you weren't a creative and eclectic type.

Plus, you're not afraid to get your hands dirty.

A man of the earth with a spine of steel. No wonder The Legal Priestess loves you.

TartanMarine said...

I am hardly an Obama fan; in 2008 I thought he'd be another Carter and voted for McCain. But to be fair, anyone elected President in 2008 or who is elected in 2012 or 2016 (assuming we are still having elections) will be loathed and vilified. So many promises have been made and so much money borrowed to buy votes by both parties, that it can never be redeemed. The National Center for Policy Analysis estimates the unfunded liabilities of government in the US at $211 Trillion. That can never be paid. So OWS is just the start of the entitlement riots as people demand what they were promised, that cannot be delivered. (Never mind OWS's demands to cancel all debts, thus wiping out all savings and retirement funds!) Things are going to get much worse. They will be very painful if we pull together to fix things--or incredibly painful involving violence and bloodshed if we do not. I will link to this from my Old Jarhead blog


Robert A. Hall
Author: The Coming Collapse of the American Republic
(All royalties go to a charity to help wounded veterans)
For a free PDF of the book, write tartanmarine(at)gmail.com

Simon said...

"Which draws the response: 'Have to confess: I fell for it.'"

Would that more Obama voters were as honest.

WV: Worogi, a Japanese hard cheese.

a psychiatrist who learned from veterans said...

Abortion may be chosen by some. To create a metaphor which demands that those seeking what might reasonably seem to be a good personally prefer it is unfortunate.

Fred4Pres said...

I am not that offended by the abortion/stillborn comment. It is more a cliche than a great analogy. I do not disagree that Obama would benefit by the Supremes striking Obamacare down. Even though I am not an Obama fan, I hope they do. Obamacare is really that bad. Destroying the fiscal vitality of this country is a devestating thing to do.

Ann, I am tired of J's crap. He is offensive. He has said foul things about my children and other good commentators at this site. Anywhere else his behavior would result in an immediate ban. I am not against free speech. J can have his own blog and spew to his heart's content. But I would prefer not to be around it anymore.

J said...

ObamaCare is a non-viable fetus and Obama is a retarded one.

Unknown said...

bagoh20 --

"Obama's one feature that is likeable is his apparent role as a good family man, but even that is not some sacrifice - it's what most men are."

"I've never been to jail."
"What do you want, a cookie?!"

Unknown said...

Ann Althouse --

"People do joke about life and death, you know."

The only people I know who answer "What do you think of the president" with "Two scoops of dead baby" are douches.

Your metaphor comes close.

Joe Schmoe said...

My hot date pays when she goes out me.

Ouch America's Politico! That's gotta hurt!

wv: submate

Joe Schmoe said...

Re: Firedoglake commenters, I love the smell of mutiny in the morning. Although there's no way in hell Obama supporters will pull the R lever in 2012. At best some may not vote.