Proving Freddie’s Point

Mark of New Jersey

Mark is a Founding Editor of The League of Ordinary Gentlemen, the predecessor of Ordinary Times.

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19 Responses

  1. Mike Farmer says:

    Why do you think liberals are reluctant to proudly proclaim their liberalism? In the media, in univerisities and in hollywood, in just about all of popular culture, it’s more uncool to be a conservative than liberal, so, it appears all liberals would wear pins on their shirts advertising their liberalness.Report

    • Koz in reply to Mike Farmer says:

      Because liberals know or inherently sense that most of their ideas are devoid of principle (in fact that’s the point of most of them). Therefore they look to provide some reassurance that what they are suggesting is not recklessly radical.Report

      • North in reply to Koz says:

        /eyerollReport

      • Bob in reply to Koz says:

        @Koz, that ranks up there with your comment of a few days ago,

        “Paul Krugman is Exhibit A for the proposition that liberalism is a mechanism for turning otherwise intelligent people into drooling idiots.”

        I’m getting the picture.

        BTW, do you also post under the name Bob Cheeks?Report

        • North in reply to Bob says:

          @Bob, Bob, don’t go slandering Brother Cheek with association with Koz. Bob is at least creative with his polemics. Koz only has like four lines. Wait until he pulls out his “Republicans are the last best hope for the future of the country.” line on you.Report

          • Koz in reply to North says:

            Right. When you’re dealing with dim bulbs you don’t take chances with bad memories if you can avoid it.Report

          • Bob in reply to North says:

            @North, oh I gotta disagree. A lot of “commie” “dem” god stuff with BC. Pretty one note in my book.Report

            • Rufus in reply to Bob says:

              @Bob, Cheeks has his moments of unexpectedness. I was impressed by his knowledge of vintage R&B records not too long ago.Report

            • North in reply to Bob says:

              @Bob, Bob is deeply knowledgeable about a lot of interesting things, and his polemics are so over the top it’s hard to believe that he seriously believes what he says. It always sounds cheerful and somewhat tongue in cheek. Koz in contrast sounds deadly earnest. He seems to genuinely believe that the entire history and edifice of liberalism is utterly without principle. Plus Br. Cheeks is venerable and therefore irascible and eccentric. I have no idea what age Koz is but he sounds like a true dogmatic believer and they’re not typically old.Report

    • Aaron in reply to Mike Farmer says:

      @Mike Farmer, Old white people are conservative. Young people, the poor and minorities are liberal. Old white people vote. Young people, the poor and minorities don’t. Add to this the fact that young people, the poor and minorities tend to be more transient than old white people, and I imagine that the mailer money flows towards knocking liberals.

      Add to this that I think your framing is radically skewed. From where I’m sitting, the media isn’t liberal and hasn’t been for a long, long time. From where I’m sitting, acceptable discourse in the mainstream media in the US runs from the moderate, squishy left-of-center to wild-eyed, gold standard crazies.Report

    • JosephFM in reply to Mike Farmer says:

      @Mike Farmer,

      Because strong, proud liberalism requires two things even less cool than conservatism: earnestness and sincerity.

      That’s why being a libertarian is the coolest thing of all.Report

  2. North says:

    Perhaps it’s a hold over from the days when the genuine threat of communism lurked beyond the leftward border of leftwing discourse in America.Report

  3. Rufus says:

    Another thing that made me think of Freddie’s comment was the Democratic politicians coming down hard on Michael Steele for his comments on the war. Okay, I get that they’re pissed at the suggestion that Obama started the war, and that’s fine. But listening to a bunch of Democrats pulling the I’m-hawkier-than-thou-and-if-you-don’t-support-this-war-as-much-as-I-do,-you-hate-America crap was pretty revolting, especially since- aside from the fact that Obama didn’t start the war- most of what he was saying was true. I don’t know; maybe we could call this Freddie’s Rule.Report

  4. gregiank says:

    Sadly the “pulling the I’m-hawkier-than-thou-and-if-you-don’t-support-this-war-as-much-as-I-do,-you-hate-America crap ” hasn’t ever seemed to lead a pol to lose an election. I used to blame repub’s for that and while they have perfected that art form, to many independents and Dem’s seem to go for it. The sad truth seems to be that a lot of american’s go for it.Report

  5. Trumwill says:

    (with the notable and obvious exception of some pro-Nader ads in the 2000 elections… )

    They’re actually funding the Green Party in Texas as we speak. They’re not running ads, but I doubt it’s due to a love of the Green Party platform.Report

    • Mark Thompson in reply to Trumwill says:

      @Trumwill, This may or may not be a good distinction, but for me there’s a big difference between funding of ideologically opposite fringe parties and active running of advertisements (with your side’s name attached to them). The former, to me, is basically an “enemy of my enemy is my friend” sort of thing, whereas the latter has a tendency to actively distance yourself from what you are theoretically supposed to represent.Report