Sunday, April 10, 2011

The Duffer-In-Chief Would Have You Know...

...that the reason he spends so much time golfing is that he isn't allowed to wash the car, or buy groceries, or people-watch in New York's Central Park.

Or something to that effect. Anyway, he's apparently heard all the snarky complaints about the golfing and wanted to snivel about it a bit, maybe inspire the MSM to not feature so many golfing stories and golfing pictures.

"Now watch this drive."

25 comments:

ajdshootist said...

Well its not like he has anything else he could spend his time doing!

wally said...

Wait, I don't understand--I thought the MSM was in his back pocket!

Bob said...

@wally: in the scheme of things, Obama's golf jones is neither a crime nor a peccadillo, so the MSM doesn't need to protect him from the bad publicity it generates. Clinton's scarfing of Big Macs falls into the same category.

wally said...

What crimes and peccadillos are the MSM suppressing?

Bob said...

@wally: I notice you didn't comment on this blog entry of mine, where the AP changed its story to omit a passage embarrassing to Obama. And as for crimes, how about ATF gunrunning in Mexico?

wally said...

Gosh, Bob, if I commented on every blog entry of yours, you'd start to think of me as a nuisance, and neither one of us would want that, am I right? Maybe one reason I have trouble getting exercised about this AP story is that as I read his remarks, I didn't feel like I had come across an embarrassing "gaffe", but a sensible elaboration of his point. In fact, kind of a "duh!" elaboration. But we won't get into that issue here. I take your point about the editing out of that comment, even though I don't see it as the scandalous stop the presses moment that your fevered sources do. And I'll stay mum about the odd application of the term "peccadillo" to this example, for that would seem elitist of me.

wally said...

As for the squalid ATF behavior in Mexico, calling that a crime by Obama seems a wee bit excessive to me. I wouldn't have accused Bush of criminal behavior when Blackwater contractors ran amuck in Iraq. But that's just me.

Bob said...

@wally: I knew that you, O master of nuance, would carp about my mentioning the AP story as an example of a peccadillo; it wasn't my intention, really, but more of a response to your crack about the MSM being in Obama's back pocket. It served as an example of how the MSM will protect him (or any Democrat, for that matter) from his own gaffes and mistakes, and point up those made by Republicans. If you think that the coverage of Obama's golfing and Bush's golfing are the same in tone, you're deluding yourself.

wally said...

Maybe this is the true meaning of "fair and balanced", because Fox News loses no opportunity to refer to his golfing ventures in a snide way as if any President these days could be physically out of touch. And yes, the left-slanting media did the same thing with Bush. It kind of balances out, doesn't it?

Bob said...

@wally: one right-wing network snarking on Obama, when 4 or 5 snarked on Bush? Yah, I'd say it balances out right well.

wally said...

That one network pulls in better numbers than most of the others. And since the right seems to be in lockstep these days, one voice should be plenty.

wally said...

It won't matter to you, but I've heard plenty of criticism of Obama's seeming insensitivity on the golfing front in the usual MSM outlets.

Bob said...

@wally: I addressed that in my 12:41 comment.

wally said...

So their criticism is merely a smokescreen. I see. Man,how did this entire profession become populated by sneaky unprincipled bastards? It's just like the 50's, when the commies almost took over the country. Thank God for the watchdogs of the Right! You know, this would make a great comic book!
(Oops, there I go again.)

Bob said...

@wally: Walt, even in the present case they spin the golf story so that the President is seen as a tragic figure, trapped into playing golf by his inability to people-watch at Central Park, or whatever else it is that he's missing out on because of security considerations. With Bush it was President Bush went golfing today, meanwhile 5 Marines died in Iraq...

Bob said...

@wally:

Man,how did this entire profession become populated by sneaky unprincipled bastards? It's just like the 50's, when the commies almost took over the country. Thank God for the watchdogs of the Right!

*cough*(Walter Duranty)*cough*

wally said...

So the MSM reporting, without comment, Obama's response to being chided by the MSM for golfing is your idea of SPIN? And golfing while soldiers are dying is EXACTLY what they have been accusing him of! Jeez, Robert! Stop making me use all caps!

wally said...

Yep, the mention of a guy named Walter Duranty completely demolished the point I was trying to make. Brilliant! I get the strategy. So the next time you say the MSM is left-leaning, I will slyly cough into my hand and murmur "George Will." Touché! Victory is mine! Hurrah! etc.

Bob said...

@wally: Walt, please tell me you're not going to try and make a moral equivalence between a Communist apologist/propagandist and a syndicated columnist whose reputation for honesty hasn't been questioned?

wally said...

Boy, did you miss the point! Which was that dropping a single name doesn't adequately refute a claim about a whole class of people.

Bob said...

@walt: you're the one that brought up the 50's Communism scare, in that smarmy, snarky way that leftists always do, as if it were all a nightmare dreamed up by Joe McCarthy, and that Communists in the USA were really no different than the Elks or the Optimists. And having brought up Communism in relation to journalism, I mentioned the most egregious example of such, and you immediately respond with he don't count! Well, sorry, but Communist infiltration into US media isn't my area of expertise, and I'm not doing hours of research just to score a debating point.

Not that this has anything to do with my blog entry, anyway. The President is sniveling like a child about being called out on his endless golfing, and the MSM responds with an article in which the President is painted as a suffering martyr for indulging in the game.

wally said...

No they didn't.

wally said...

As for the Communist scare, I tend to favor the view of most historians instead of the wild extremes that you perennially posit as our only choices.

Bob said...

@wally: "As for the Communist scare, I tend to favor the view of leftist historians instead of the wild extremes that you perennially posit as our only choices."

There. Fixed that up for you.

See also Antonio Gramsci, Cultural Hegemony, and March Through the Institutions.

wally said...

Arguing with straw men instead of real people is so much easier, isn't it? I'll leave you to debate Pretend Walt. Take it easy, Robert.