Paul Begala's recent comments are very crude.

[madfloridian]

From the Ethics Alarms blog. I don't like the reference "Clinton enabler", but I think his words are unacceptable. We don't need that kind of Democratic operative.

Unethical Quote Of The Month: Democratic Operative Paul Begala

“Voters do not give a shit. They do not even give a fart… Find me one persuadable voter who agrees with HRC on the issues but will vote against her because she has a non-archival-compliant email system and I’ll kiss your ass in Macy’s window and say it smells like roses.”

—Clinton enabler/mouthpiece/consultant Paul Begala, quoted in Politico’s essay by Gabriel Debendetti

More from the blogger:

Begala, just in case you’ve forgotten, was the most loathsome of Bill Clinton’s paid defenders—deceitful, smug, arrogant, Machiavellian. I’ll confess my bias: along with Karl Rove, David Axelrod, Dick Morris, James Carville and his wife, Mary Matalin, and others whose names I am mercifully unaware of so far, Begala and his species are the scourge of the political culture as well as democracy itself. Their stock in trade is misrepresentation, and their objective is to make Americans ignorant, uncritical, lazy, compliant, and gullible. The contempt they have for Americans is palpable, as in Begala’s quote.

If voters, as Begala says, don’t “give a shit,” then it is the obligation of statesmen, journalists and pundits to enlighten them about the duty of responsible citizenship, and why it matters a great deal when a potential American leader hides her actions and words in violation of reasonable and important policies of her own agency designed to ensure transparency, prevent misconduct, protect secrecy and security, and engender public trust.

I also have never forgotten when Begala condemned Dean's 50 State Strategy by saying he hired people to stand around picking their noses.

Begala had it wrong about the 50 state plan and about those "nose-pickers"

"Yes, he's in trouble, in that campaign managers, candidates, are really angry with him. He has raised $74 million and spent $64 million. He says it's a long-term strategy. But what he has spent it on, apparently, is just hiring a bunch of staff people to wander around Utah and Mississippi and pick their nose. That's not how you build a party. You win elections. That's how you build a party."
- Paul Begala on Howard Dean and the DNC's 50 State Strategy,
CNN - May 11 2006

[pinto]

1. I miss the days when Op Ed was clearly defined as such, from any side of any issue.

Editorial opinion, blog comments and 24/7 commentary on cable outlets aren't news. They are opinion. The two are increasingly getting conflated.

[madfloridian]

2. I doubt the Clintons appreciate this.

They must find it crude as well.

[roguevalley]

35. what a disgusting load he is. I am sick of people

talking like that and feeling it makes them tough and manly. He is a little shill for the 1%'s spewing. Disgusting.

[Bluenorthwest]

3. I find that bloggers rantings to be more crude than a fart joke.

A pundit's role is to speak their opinion, they are not Statesmen nor are they journalists. Begala is a political consultant, and when he appears in media he appears in that role, he does not claim to be a journalist nor a statesman. He's a political consultant. His job is not to teach the American people, dear blogger, his job is to advise his candidates what the voters will think. To suggest that pundits and strategists have any business 'enlightening' the pitiful masses as to what they should be thinking is pretty offensive to me.
The language the blogger uses is dehumanizing, hyperbolic, and in my view offensive. Axelrod and Rove are the same, a species, and Axelrod has contempt for the American people, his objective is to make them ignorant and lazy.
This is some hot rhetoric on tap and all because a political consultant says he does not think Americans care much about this email crap and the blogger thinks Americans should agree with the blogger.
If the blogger was a journalist, I might ask about that obligation to enlighten, and how that duty is served by the politics of personal destruction. If the blogger was not just a pundit, I might suggest the blogger should be explaining to readers why the blogger thinks the email crap is important, rather than trying to get readers upset that a grown man said shit. In politics.

[madfloridian]

5. Actually, I believe Begala and Carville were not good spokespersons.

There were so many who could say the same things they said without being offensive, especially to the left of the party.

They are both smart men who said a lot of things out of line IMO.

[Bluenorthwest]

6. And yet I was not really addressing Begala nor his 'species' but rather the 'blogger' as an actual

individual whose verbiage and tactics I find to be extremely nasty and unhelpful. And I don't think saying 'fart' and 'shit' offend the left of the Party, I think it offends ninnies. Americans don't give a shit about the theater either. Should I phrase that differently or lie about it? Why?

I care about illegal activities. Show me some, we can go arrest Hillary. Sputter around about how David Axelrod wants to destroy America and you will not find me joining in the imagined outrage. I've seen politics before. I'm not surprised that consultants have opinions. 'Crude' to me is referring to humans you don't care for as being a 'species' that is actually intent on doing harm to others. That's McCarthyite.
I can disagree with someone without claiming they are a pernicious inhuman monster intent on making this country worse. That's right wing, John Birch shit. It makes the Third Way look downright liberal.

[madfloridian]

8. "I think it offends ninnies."

It offends me so I guess that makes me a "ninnie". I believe that to have strategists for our side talking like that is counter-productive.

The Clintons do not need people talking for them in those terms.

As to the blogger I don't agree with all of what anyone says, no matter who. But I can appreciate his observation that Begala's comments were tasteless.

[madfloridian]

13. I read several of the blogger's posts. I find I agree with him more often than not.

I do think he is esp. hard on the Clintons, and I disagree with that.

[geek tragedy]

15. He is rightwing, ergo his bashing of the Clinton's

Citing rightwing moralist scolds is really not good form here.

Here are some examples from this gem of a nut you're citing:

http://ethicsalarms.com/2015/02/23/whats-really-wrong-about-the-president-refusing-to-say-that-islamic-extremists-are-islamic-extremists/#more-25867

http://ethicsalarms.com/2015/02/21/rudys-heresy/#more-25826

2. That doesn’t mean Obama doesn’t love his country and care about it: no man who sets out on a career of public service and then subjects himself to the burdens of the Presidency could hate the country he leads, just as a parent doesn’t hate, but indeed loves, his most disappointing and troublesome child. It is hard to maintain that this isn’t Obama’s true attitude toward the United States. The woman he married has said twice that she was never proud of her country until it elected her husband. He sat for years and listened to his mentor and spiritual leader, Rev. Wright, damn the nation from his pulpit without protesting. He has expressed pointed criticism of the nation’s activities abroad throughout its history, and apologized for them on foreign soil. He doesn’t care for the way the dominant economic system and the one most consistent with the Founders’ ideals distributes wealth, income and power. He does not embrace traditional American ideals of personal accountability and responsibility.

3. Obama’s supporters and followers, many of them, are imbued with the Howard Zinn-Noam Chomsky interpretation of the U.S. as a ruthless, amoral, racist, violent nation that took North America from Native Americans through genocide, and Mexico through immoral warfare, made itself rich by enslaving Africans and has not been a force for good in the world but a force for chaos and subjugation, motivated by self-interest and greed by elite, manipulating hypocrites. Does Obama feel this way too? I wouldn’t bet against it.

4. These beliefs, however, have been gradually mainstreamed by the leftist majority in academia and scholarship for a half a century now. It is both unfair and unrealistic to characterize them as “un-American.” That’s progressivism as it has evolved from Emma Goldman, Clarence Darrow, Theodore Roosevelt, Eugene Debs, FDR. and others, like Zinn and Chomsky, as well as more amiable critics like Robert Reich. Franklin Roosevelt’s Manhattan Club speech that I quoted at length in the recent discussion of Roosevelt’s legacy is more radical than anything Obama has dared to propose. Roosevelt loved America but believed that it was in its best interests and those of its citizens for the nation to undergo an ideological overhaul. For better or worse, the ideas Obama loves are part of his country’s political culture. The fact that Giuliani and Republicans find them repulsive doesn’t make Obama an America-hater. Like FDR 80 years ago, however, he doesn’t like the United States’ predominant culture very much. Anyone who denies that isn’t being honest or is in denial.

...

9. The liberal-biased news media’s rush to defend the President once again gives us smoking gun evidence of the double standard employed by it. Did journalists rush to President Bush’s side when Al Gore thundered that he “betrayed” America? Did journalists take Kanye West to task for seizing a national TV spotlight to accuse Bush of intentionally allowing African Americans in New Orleans to suffer? (Kanye West, I would say, had and has more societal influence at this point than Rudy Giuliani.) Then there’s a junior Senator from Illinois, who was largely unscathed by the media after he said President Bush was “unpatriotic” because he (don’t laugh now!) allowed the national debt to increase so much. If Giuliani’s statement is a week-long story, then these statements should have been. If his accusation is unconscionably disrespectful of “the office,” then so were they.

[sabrina 1]

34. I agree w ith you MF. And I agree that these operatives ARE a scourge on our political system.

If a candidate is qualified for the office s/he is running for, they need to be able to speak for themselves.

They should not need a bevy of Think Tanks, Wall St 'consultants' and the thousands of other 'pundits, predictors, managers, handlers etc that surround candidates who appear to not know what to say, until they are told by one or other or ALL of the above.

I think that's why I like people like Bernie Sanders so much. They speak THEIR minds not everyone else's.

And that rant by Begala isn't going to help Hillary.

Personally I don't see much to be all excited about. But by acting this way, they are making it seem like there is something to get excited about.

It may be something as simple as Hillary not knowing much about computers, and simply trying to stay with a system she felt more comfortable with.

[AverageJoe90]

73. Yes, agreed. Hardly a source I would trust. nt

[Major Hogwash]

4. What's Paul up to these days? Where does he work?

I haven't seen him on tv in ages.

[geek tragedy]

7. His comments are accurate. It's the people who revile all things Clinton

that are beating the drums over eGhazi, not people trying to pay their bills.

And people who lump Axelrod and Begala with Rove and Morris are pretty much idiots.

[madfloridian]

9. I am not anti "all things Clinton" but they can do better than that for a spokesman.

Good gracious, is everyone an idiot now? I may not agree with all the blogger says, but good grief he does sound intelligent.

[geek tragedy]

10. No he does not sound intelligent. He sounds hateful and spiteful.

And prone to writing really bad, overwrought prose.

Paul Begala is a hack. Hacks are necessary. Politics is not a debate between Plato and Socrates.

His main beef is that Begala does not agree with his deranged obsession with eGhazi.

This blogger is far more toxic and less helpful than Begala is.

Perusing his other blog posts, he appears to be a nut and a preening scold.

Here's his defense of Ghouliani challenging the president's patriotism:
http://ethicsalarms.com/2015/02/21/rudys-heresy/#more-25826

[madfloridian]

14. Well, he makes Rudy look very foolish.

[geek tragedy]

17. Ghouliani made Ghouliani look foolish.

This guy is a rightwinger. An Obama-hating, Clinton-hating rightwinger.

http://ethicsalarms.com/2014/03/21/embracing-orwell/

You have dragged rightwing slime here.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

16. He also arrogates to himself the power of clairvoyance.

" Obama’s supporters and followers, many of them, are imbued with the Howard Zinn-Noam Chomsky interpretation of the U.S. as a ruthless, amoral, racist, violent nation that took North America from Native Americans through genocide, and Mexico through immoral warfare, made itself rich by enslaving Africans and has not been a force for good in the world but a force for chaos and subjugation, motivated by self-interest and greed by elite, manipulating hypocrites. Does Obama feel this way too? I wouldn’t bet against it. "

[geek tragedy]

18. It gets worse. Count the rightwing talking points.

6. Not believing in American exceptionalism is an elitist, intellectual, politically correct view, not an anti-American one. A strong argument can be made that the United States is “the greatest country on Earth” on its merits, but love of country is based on emotion, not score-keeping.

7. If Giuliani chose his words carefully, then this is mighty close to the Big Lie tactic, in that it challenges its target to discuss an idea that becomes more plausible the more it is treated as worthy of discussion.

8. In that regard, Obama took the bait. The phrase “Me thinks he doth protest too much” will come to many minds. This is another example of how Obama’s narcissism and thin skin makes him appear defensive and weak. Why should a smear uttered by a Republican political consultant warrant a Presidential response? Obama loves America, but he still doesn’t have a clue about how to be President.

9. The liberal-biased news media’s rush to defend the President once again gives us smoking gun evidence of the double standard employed by it. Did journalists rush to President Bush’s side when Al Gore thundered that he “betrayed” America? Did journalists take Kanye West to task for seizing a national TV spotlight to accuse Bush of intentionally allowing African Americans in New Orleans to suffer? (Kanye West, I would say, had and has more societal influence at this point than Rudy Giuliani.) Then there’s a junior Senator from Illinois, who was largely unscathed by the media after he said President Bush was “unpatriotic” because he (don’t laugh now!) allowed the national debt to increase so much. If Giuliani’s statement is a week-long story, then these statements should have been. If his accusation is unconscionably disrespectful of “the office,” then so were they.

10. This was not the stupidest or most offensive thing Republicans have said lately, but boy, they have sure been saying a lot of gratuitously stupid things—statements that viscerally involve cognitive dissonance and alienate potential supporters. It may well be that the party has a critical mass of such kamikazes who will once again keep the GOP from inflicting a defeat on the feckless, cynical, Orwellian Democrats that that party richly deserves.

11. Predictably, since this has been the pattern and the strategy of the past six years, many of Obama’s furious supporters in the media and the party are calling Giuliani’s words “racist.” According to the draft Ethics Alarms Race-Baiting Scale, this is a clear #10., Manufactured Outrage: Accusations of racism based on criticism of a black public figure for conduct that a white public figure would be and has been criticized for in exactly the same manner.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

19. This clown is too much.

"Obama loves America, but he still doesn’t have a clue about how to be President."

[geek tragedy]

21. Here he bashes Christianr Amanpour for her disrespecting Netanyahu.

http://ethicsalarms.com/2015/03/03/ethics-quote-of-the-week-christiane-amanpour/#more-26001

[DemocratSinceBirth]

24. It makes sense now. From the About section.

" His (the author) commentary on topics ranging from leadership to ethics to popular culture have appeared in O Magazine, The Virginia Monthly, The Weekly Standard, Trial, and numerous state bar publications.

[geek tragedy]

25. When a person nods their assent to vitriolic attacks from the right wing,

introspection is appropriate.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

26. I am willing to give midfloridian a pass...He or she seems earnest.

Oh, the seven recommenders make me chuckle.

[geek tragedy]

30. I'll give a pass when there is a self-delete and repudiation of this asshole rightwing scold.

MF said they read that blog and agree with most of its content. Since that blog is primarily about anti-Democratic hate, one has to wonder what parts of it fostered agreement.

People blushing at the word "fart"--too much.

[madfloridian]

37. I appreciate the Pass. But there are many varied ideas on Twitter, blogs, and the world beyond DU.

I posted one blogger whose comments on Begala were right IMO. I made it clear I agreed with some of his posts and not with others.

And believe it or not there are lots of intelligent people and bloggers who see two sides of most things.

It's a whole other world out there. Again thanks for the pass.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

40. That guy is obviously very bright...and very right wing.

It reminds me of when Dick Nixon criticized Harry Truman for his colorful language and put John Kennedy in the position of having to defend it and JFK deflected it by saying that's a problem for Mrs. Truman...


Oh, and then some ten years later it was discovered on the Watergate tapes Nixon had the mother of all potty mouths.

[AverageJoe90]

65. I can pretty much tell that she is.

But yeah, probably might not be a bad idea for her to delete this OP.....just IMO.

[JoePhilly]

28. Awesome assessment!!!

[DemocratSinceBirth]

31. This board is entertaining but not in the way it was intended to be./NT

[geek tragedy]

33. This guy borders on being an explicit racist

http://ethicsalarms.com/2014/12/21/president-obamas-unexpected-legacy-the-deadly-deterioration-of-racial-reconciliation-and-trust/#more-24792

President Obama, elected on the promise that he would bring the races together, lit the long fuse for this unfolding disaster for our democracy in July of 2009, less than a year into his first term. A prominent African American professor, Henry Lewis Gates, Jr., acted like a jerk to a white Cambridge, Mass. police officer responding to a call, and was arrested for disturbing the peace. Obama, in the first of his many unethical pronouncements that interfered with local matters completely unrelated to his job, made public comments suggesting that Gates was treated unjustly because of his race. The facts indicated that Obama had impugned the character of not only a model police officer, but one recognized for extraordinary sensitivity in the area of black community relations. There was no public apology from Obama, however, and the fuse was lit.As Obama’s star-crossed journey through his presidency continued and the gaffes, botches, failures, and examples of non-feasance, malfeasance and misfeasance under his leadership proliferated, he allowed his surrogates to resort to race-baiting as the main line of defense. Republicans were racist, conservatives were racist, the Tea Party was racist, and whites were racist: whatever problems Barack Obama had presiding over the government, they weren’t due to the fact that he had no governing experience and skill whatsoever, or that he refused to get his hands dirty in the rough quid pro quos of politics, they were all due to racis

And this is the filth that is being dragged here to attack Clinton.

[geek tragedy]

20. Here is his "intelligent" support for Netanyahu, because he hates Obama.

http://ethicsalarms.com/2015/03/03/the-ethics-of-netanyahus-speech-and-the-consequences-of-lost-trust/#more-25994

You should self-delete this trash. It is far stinkier than a fart in the wind.

[Beausoir]

86. Exactly!

[bigdarryl]

11. Well he has a valid point

[DemocratSinceBirth]

12. Ha/NT

[Jim Beard]

22. Without trying to hurt anyones feelings

People like Begula and Carville were what was needed during the impeachment fiasco. We need fighters and am glad we have them.

[geek tragedy]

23. Your idiot blogger claimed vetoing Keystone pipeline as unethical and

proof President Obama is stupid and incompetent.

http://ethicsalarms.com/2015/01/10/ethics-quote-of-the-week-senator-joe-manchin-d-wv/

President’s Obama’s supporters should pay attention to this episode: even if the President has a flat learning curve, perhaps they are more teachable. Manchin is right. Anyone with a passing familiarity of how Presidential leadership has worked in the past, is supposed to work, and is well understood by both scholars and practitioners to work, recognizes that this is a sparkling example of the obtuse refusal of Barack Obama not merely to master the skills of his job, but even to acknowledge them.

I really don’t care a fig about the pipeline. I think the President’s opposition is foolish—this is a bone thrown to the most extreme climate change activists, for there is no reliable research that shows that the pipeline will “accelerate global warming”—but my understanding of all the factors involved is an inch deep. I really don’t care about it. I do care that the President doesn’t know how to do his job, and would prefer to make sure that Democrats can keep saying that he would have accomplished so much if Republicans hadn’t blocked his every brilliant plan.

A veto is a bargaining tool. Only Obama, of all of our Chief Executives, has failed to grasp that. The opposoition wants something. This means that you, as President, have an opportunity to get something you want. You negotiate. You horse trade. You bluff. Maybe you can’t come to an agreement. Maybe you can’t trade the pipeline, with some further limitations, for, say, your extravagant plan to make community college free for all, which otherwise has no chance whatsoever of ever happening. But you try. it’s called “being President.” It’s called “leadership.” It’s called “competence.”

[geek tragedy]

27. You'll love what he wrote about Obama and Trayvon Martin.

http://ethicsalarms.com/2014/12/23/just-a-reminder-i-said-this-was-dangerous-from-the-start/

The Ferguson Ethics Train Wreck, which encompasses the shooting of two police officers in New York City, is just the second section of the Trayvon Martin-George Zimmerman Ethics Train Wreck. The coordinated effort to represent the American justice system as hostile to blacks, and white society as determined to harm them, was launched in Florida in early 2012, nearly three years ago. It might have failed then, as it deserved to since there was no genuine racial element in the actual Martin-Zimmerman episode, had not the President of the United States used his bully pulpit, credibility with black Americans and the power and influence of his office to declare the local incident as emblematic of societal hostility to African-Americans, and Obama personally. This, as I wrote earlier this week, lit the fuse that exploded into racial violence against police this past week.

[BainsBane]

29. "Unethnical" daring to disagree with the people who despise Clinton

What he said is obviously true. The only reason the issue is even being discussed is because people, including a sizable number here, have made defeating Clinton their sole priority. Now we see that some are so unable to distinguish their own egos from truth, that they call someone unethnical because he has the nerve to disagree with them. When I see people so unable to be honest even with themselves, I see no reason to pay any attention to what they think.

[geek tragedy]

32. The Clinton haters on the left and the right are forming an alliance.

Hence posting this kind of rightwing swill at DU.

[madfloridian]

39. You need to stop using such labels. I am no "Clinton hater"...

but they really do need to get rid of some of their spokespersons from the last few elections.

[geek tragedy]

41. You are promoting a rightwing racist blog and praising its author

as someone with whom you agree more than you disagree.

If you don't hate the Clintons and President Obama, there is nothing at that racist rightwing shitstain of a blog to agree with.

Check out what your lovely asshole rw blogger has to say about NYC's Mayor.

http://ethicsalarms.com/tag/mayor-bill-de-blasio/

Or his bashing of John Lewis as a lying race-baiter.

http://ethicsalarms.com/tag/rep-john-lewis/

[DemocratSinceBirth]

44. You mean this brickbat:

"Unethical Quote Of The Month: Rep. John Lewis."

[geek tragedy]

46. Or this defense of the SCOTUS gutting the voting rights act.

http://ethicsalarms.com/2013/06/26/shelby-county-v-holder-inflammatory-rhetoric-biased-reporting-irresponsible-hyperbole/#more-17911

media’s hysteria was nothing, however, compared to Democrats and the left’s columnists. “The Supreme Court has stuck a dagger into the heart of the Voting Rights Act,” wrote Rep. John Lewis. Irresponsible and dishonest. Nothing in the decision diminishes voting rights in any way. MSNBC’s Al Sharpton, predictably, engaged in outright misrepresentation, saying, “This is a devastating blow to Americans, particularly African-Americans, who are now at the mercy of state governments. Given last year’s attempts by states to change voting rules, it is absurd to say that we do not need these protections.” “At the mercy of state governments, “ says Al, as if blacks don’t have exactly the same legal remedies available as I do. And those efforts to change voting rules were the dastardly attempts to require voters to prove who they were before voting—a requirement that is neither unreasonable nor presumptively biased.

This blogger accuses John Lewis of being "irresponsible and dishonest" on the subject of civil rights, and finds the word "fart" offensive.

Great contribution to DU.

[AverageJoe90]

50. I don't like this blogger, either, but I'm not so sure they're actually a solid RWer.

For one, they do link to a few progressive sites-namely, AmpToons(who comes rather close to SJW territory, in fact), Guernica Magazine, and Democratic Thinker.....so, I bet they're just *radical*, period, more than anything else.

He's not exactly a fan of Dubya for one-

http://ethicsalarms.com/2010/11/14/bushs-torture-admission-absolutism-and-americas-survival/

Hell, this guy even *praised* Obama for something-

http://ethicsalarms.com/2011/02/19/good-bye-and-good-riddance-to-bushs-unethical-conscience-clause/

So, what else can I say? I disagree with pretty much everything the guy writes, but from appearences, it's unlikely that he's a solid RWer.

[geek tragedy]

54. He called Michelle Obama "an anti-white bigot." nt

[AverageJoe90]

61. Well, okay.

That doesn't necessarily have an affect on the info I've put out, however. People are only rarely terribly complex in real life, but this guy may be an exception to the rule, as unfortunate as some of his beliefs may be(such as what you've pointed out).

If I had to venture a wild guess, he might, possibly, be one of those disaffected "Libertarian" types, and some of those guys actually do tend to bounce around all over the place.

[geek tragedy]

64. Read this post and tell us this guy isn't a straight-up right wing asshole

http://ethicsalarms.com/2011/02/18/unethical-quote-of-the-week-president-obama/

[AverageJoe90]

67. Not something I'd at all agree with, for sure.

But even so, the mere fact that he links to a fair number of progressive sites, including AmpToons which is pretty far to the left, does raise some interesting questions about this guy; we can at least say that.

[geek tragedy]

69. Not really. He's a racist crackpot.

I do not care about the perspective of racist crackpots.

[AverageJoe90]

71. I don't care for this blogger, either.

But I can say this: regardless of whatever disagreements you may have with madfloridian, I have no doubts that she is genuine.

However, I personally, am rather more careful regarding my sources, on anything, and it does seem that some folks may be a little too willing to overlook serious flaws in a source just so they can prove their side of the story right with this whole Hillary shebang.....but then again, this is far from limited to Hillary, and we *do* have to deal with the ramblings of some fringe-left crackpots as well-whether it be guys like Chauncey De Vega with an axe to grind against white people(ain't just him, though), or hardcore climate doomers like John Greer and Guy McPherson who absolutely insist that humanity is doomed to permanent decline and/or extinction, that the IPCC is hiding the full extent of the severity of possible future and/or currently happening climate change, etc.(now, to be fair, even De Vega and his cohorts may not be quite as nasty personally, and nowhere near as politically influential as many of the rightist wingnuts, but they still do need to be called out as well, regardless)-but they aren't often as criticized or called out as they need to be. And that hurts us all, as a whole.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

36. I'm watching the recommends grow.

"Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing'

[Autumn]

38. I was rec #11, also on the jury for the OP 0-7 to LEAVE IT.

Tell your father it's all good. I neither need or ask for forgiveness

[DemocratSinceBirth]

42. I especially enjoyed this tidbit from our/the/his esteemed blogger

"Obama loves America, but he still doesn’t have a clue about how to be President."

And I didn't alert on it... There's comic gold on the blogger for The Weekly Standard's site.

[AverageJoe90]

43. I can't say I'm a fan of Begala, either, but, as a friendly warning-

The site you linked to does seem a tad dubious(not necessarily of a solidly right-wing bent, though-they DO link to AmpToons, and Democratic Thinker, both of which seem to be progressive, as well as Guernica magazine, also progressive.).

[DemocratSinceBirth]

48. They aren't hiring you or I to work for The Weekly Standard./NT

[AverageJoe90]

52. Not sure what you're getting at here.....nt

[DemocratSinceBirth]

55. The cited blogger has written for The Weekly Standard./NT

[madfloridian]

49. Well it was quickly alerted on and 7 said leave it.

He seems to be a mixed bag of opinions....a lot of people are. See my post below on a few I agree with.

[madfloridian]

45. Links to 5 of his recent posts I agree with, plus the Begala one.

http://ethicsalarms.com/2015/03/05/the-petraeus-deal-and-justice-in-america/

http://ethicsalarms.com/2015/03/01/time-for-ethical-people-to-boycott-fox-news/

http://ethicsalarms.com/2015/02/24/ethics-dunces-the-republican-base/

http://ethicsalarms.com/2015/02/19/note-to-dr-vesna-roi-homophobes-cant-be-doctors-ethical-ones-anyway/

http://ethicsalarms.com/2015/02/08/maybe-republicans-should-just-keep-their-mouths-shut-whenever-rape-is-being-discussed-cont/

[geek tragedy]

47. He called John Lewis "irresponsible and dishonest" on the

subject of the Voting Rights Act.

http://ethicsalarms.com/2013/06/26/shelby-county-v-holder-inflammatory-rhetoric-biased-reporting-irresponsible-hyperbole/#more-17911

Shame on you for defending that racist asshole here. Shame on you.

[madfloridian]

51. Did you bother to read the ones I just listed that I thought were okay?

No shame on me. I do not defend his racism, but I do agree with some of his posts.

[geek tragedy]

53. I'm sure I agree with David Duke on some random subjects

like whether Balrogs have wings but you won't catch me citing the miserable bastard when he attacks Democrats, or anyone for that matter.

[madfloridian]

56. Oh, Lordy. The world is not that narrow. There are many views that we can partly agree with...

or leave alone.

[geek tragedy]

57. Do you think it would be okay to post David Duke articles attacking

President Obama or Hillary Clinton here?

This guy called Michelle Obama an "anti-white bigot."

http://ethicsalarms.com/2014/12/19/comment-of-the-day-what-michelle-obama-calls-racismtoday-anyway/

This guy is a crank, a racist, and a rw piece of feces.

[madfloridian]

58. Geez, you win I guess.

I am not that good at responding to that much anger, I will just back away. You go ahead.

[geek tragedy]

63. Here's another gem from your self-appointed ethicist and defender

of the oppressed race of white people:

He gave Obama the "unethical quote of the week" for . . . disagreeing with Scott Walker's union busting.


http://ethicsalarms.com/2011/02/18/unethical-quote-of-the-week-president-obama/

Assuming that you won't make the mistake of citing rightwing racist pond scum again.

Cheers.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

66. I want to say it again...I think you are a good guy or gal...

I just find it funny that any thread linking to an article that is critical of the Clintons will get a myriad of recommends regardless of the genesis of it.

[AverageJoe90]

72. Unfortunate, but sadly very true.

I actually had considered reccing it myself, but then I saw for myself just how much of a wacko this guy, Jack Marshall's his name, really is.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

74. He writes well...He's obviously a smart guy...

He writes well...He's obviously a smart guy...who believes he has the world all figured out and relishes lampooning anybody that doesn't see the world through the same lens he does...

[AverageJoe90]

59. Sadly, some folks see something, and then they tend to jump to the worst possible conclusions.

Of course, I can't entirely blame them-we have had a fair number of deep-cover trolls on this site, from all I've heard & noticed, but it *is* still kinda problematic to just totally dismiss somebody altogether just because they may link to a dubious source, not without a good reason, anyway-I mean, for leftist examples of such, I don't have a lot of respect for Chauncey De Vega, Ta-Nehisi Coates, or Brittney Cooper, but I honestly wouldn't cuss out a fellow DUer out just for posting one of their op-eds out of curiosity.

I also don't agree with the idea of "rape culture", but I wouldn't have that much of a problem unless it was also accompanied by something like "All men are potential rapists", or something similarly extreme(such as TERFing, etc.). Even "white privilege" doesn't really raise any red flags by itself, unless said poster is also writing something like "All white people are racist/minorities can't be racist", etc., and/or has had a history of being an extremist.

What else can I say?

[elfin]

60. Sounds to me like he wants attention in order to..

get a significant post in the Hillary camp. May be past his use date, even tho still smart, but must be less connected now than in the past.

Too bad - I usually like him, but in the recent times I have viewed him (mainly on MSNBC), he does not seem as effective as he used to be. A bit more forced in his rhetoric, as if he wasn't getting the inside talking points on which to layer his expertise.

Hillary needs to find some Begalas 2.0 IMO.

Seeing him and Lanny Davis etc. speaking on her behalf just reminds media of the past, and elections are about the future.

[AverageJoe90]

62. This seems plausible to me, too. nt

[madfloridian]

68. Yes, Lanny Davis brings back memories.

I like your description Begalas 2.0

[DemocratSinceBirth]

70. She will have new folks out there. She learned her lesson in 2008.

Begala just offered his opinion.

[elfin]

75. I really hope she has a lean, sharp, and current team

She has, or will have, so much $, that there may be too many funded hangers on leading to mixed messages. The key will be the overall manager and how well s(he) is connected to the 2015/16 zeitgeist.

Bring nimble in quick and thoroughly documented responses will be crucial to her success. A tweet does not cut it.

I am crazy about her, but I worry, because she has many more formidable (mainly media) hurdles to clear than she may judge she has to clear.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

77. If I can figure out that her detractors are going to try to paint her as a relic of the past ...

If I can figure out that her detractors are going to try to paint her as a relic of the past I am certain she is alert enough to realize that too...

For better or worse she is a brand but brands have their positives too...When people look for a soft drink they don't look for Faygo Cola but Coca Cola (Coke) or Pepsi.

[hrmjustin]

76. Good for him!

[madfloridian]

78. Getting unpleasant around here for those whose thinking differs from the norm.

It should be a place for various points of view....trust me there ARE varied views within the party.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

81. I defended you twice and would defend you again...

Several posters are just saying the blogger has made some incendiary remarks about race and deeply offensive and patronizing comments about the Obamas and consequently has no standing being cited on a progressive board.

I believe you weren't aware of them when you started the thread but would be in a pickle if you deleted the whole thread now.

Because I believe you are one of the good guys or gals on this board I empathize with your position. If I thought you were a "Hilary Hater" i would be a lot more vituperative.

PEACE
DSB

[madfloridian]

82. Appreciated. But there are some very good posts there, he goes after the GOP as well.

http://ethicsalarms.com/2015/03/05/the-petraeus-deal-and-justice-in-america/

http://ethicsalarms.com/2015/03/01/time-for-ethical-people-to-boycott-fox-news/

http://ethicsalarms.com/2015/02/24/ethics-dunces-the-republican-base/

http://ethicsalarms.com/2015/02/19/note-to-dr-vesna-roi-homophobes-cant-be-doctors-ethical-ones-anyway/

http://ethicsalarms.com/2015/02/08/maybe-republicans-should-just-keep-their-mouths-shut-whenever-rape-is-being-discussed-cont/

[geek tragedy]

84. There is no place in this party or this forum for explicit racists

who call Michelle Obama "an anti-white bigot" and who accuse JOHN LEWIS of being "irresponsible and dishonest" on the subject of civil rights. Who view advocacy on behalf of labor unions "an abuse of power."

His kind is and will remain the enemy.

[DonCoquixote]

79. one of the problems that Hillary could fix

is to draw a fine line and make sure the mor eobnoxious types stay the hell away, like the Emmanuels, or the Begalas.

[PassingFair]

80. So Ethics Alarms blog is a disreputable place, but Paul Begala is still an *sshole.....

As are James Carville and Dick Morris.

I do not want them representing MY views, as they do NOT represent my views.

[msanthrope]

83. You know, madflo, I recently PM'd you about being "racially insensitive."

Given that you've been shown many, many examples of the utter racism of your source, have you considered self-deleting?

[octoberlib]

85. She REALLY needs to distance herself from misogynist Larry Summers, too.

[tishaLA]

87. What a deplorable, racist blog

Surely more reputable people have criticized Begala and Carville. I'm shocked this site permits such racist sources