By Michael J. Smith on Friday May 2, 2008 07:16 PM
Here's an example of the intellectual range of The Nation magazine:
Nation Poll Will the Jeremiah Wright controversy doom the Obama campaign?These folks really do live in a walnut-shell, don't they, and think themselves kings of infinite space. Quite beyond their ken to imagine that anybody would think Wright was more right than not, or that Obama ended up looking like a coward, or a fool, or both, by turning on an old friend as he did.
- No. Obama was right to disassociate himself from his former pastor. Now he can adddress the real issues
- Wright's not the biggest threat to Obama--it's how the media and the right-wing spin machine take the preacher's comments out of context.
- Real damage has been done. If Obama's campaign goes down in flames, Wright's incendiary comments will be partly to blame.
Comments (5)
Yes, it's all really silly. On a side note, if there was ever a medium that showed the insanity of our media - better than any book by Chomsky or report by FAIR - it is the Daily Show with Jon Stewart. Last week they showed the media circus surrounding Wright's remarks on Meet the Press. That inevitably led to Obama's denunciation, which in turned triggered a "oh my God, Obama threw the pastor under the bus" response. It's truly madness:
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=167429&title=festival-of-wrights
In light of that, it's hard not to sympathize with Obie Wan a little, but then again, given his duplicity and mendacity re: trade agreements, the war, MLK Jr. ("One of the forgotten aspects of Dr. King’s legacy is how he demanded personal responsibility as well as societal responsibility"), etc he seemed to have tipped the balance of karma against himself.
By the way, it's a shame that the good preacher didn't read this EPI snapshot to the press the other day:
http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_snapshots_20080430
Posted by dermokrat | May 3, 2008 6:11 AM
Posted on May 3, 2008 06:11
"Now he can adddress the _real_ issues," i.e. go back to default mode of lofting more vacuous phraseology that disguises his centrist neo-liberal/multilateral imperialist character.
If I had a subscription to The Nation, I'd cancel it. But of course I don't, owing to the steady drone of white noise such as this.
Posted by gluelicker | May 3, 2008 7:01 AM
Posted on May 3, 2008 07:01
I still sub, on the theory that it needs to survive in order to have a chance to once again mean something. Admittedly, that's poptarts in the sky, but, it how I'm rollin.
But it is a maddening little bet.
Check out the email I just got under the subject banner "Is this what heaven is like?":
Dear Nation Reader,
Imagine this...
Sunday...dinner with The Reverend Jesse Jackson.
Monday...an intimate acoustic concert with Jackson Browne.
Tuesday...Relaxing on the beach in Curacao next to Jeremy Scahill.
Wednesday Night...at the blackjack table with Victor Navasky.
Thursday...cocktails with Katrina vanden Heuvel.
What's going on here? Did you die and go to heaven?
No, that's what you'll find on this year's Nation Magazine Seminar Cruise to the Caribbean. It's the second week in December — you'll be ready for some sunshine by then — and you'll be among friends — progressive friends.
Posted by Michael Dawson | May 5, 2008 2:48 PM
Posted on May 5, 2008 14:48
I think the Nation has pretty much always been a bastion of liberalism (read: supporting a kinder, gentler imperialism and "realism" in politics), even if it hasn't always been an adjunct of the "Democratic" party (as it basically is today).
Just as supporting the Democrats doesn't serve to pull them to left, I don't think subscribing to the Nation will pull them to the left either.
But what do I know? I didn't start reading it until the early 2000's and stopped when I dumped the Democrats in 2004.
Monthly Review: now there's a venerable left-wing magazine worth a subscription.
Posted by Nicholas Hart | May 5, 2008 8:00 PM
Posted on May 5, 2008 20:00
I admit the word "again" was a highly debatable choice, but it's sharply worse than it was back in the 1980s, when it had Cockburn and a still-sane Hitchens, some good stuff on nukes and Central America, and a quasi-independent vibe. Now, we get a pack of witless dicknoses who think they're on deck as presidential advisors. Eric Alterman? Say no more...
Posted by Michael Dawson | May 6, 2008 1:43 PM
Posted on May 6, 2008 13:43