Lest We Forget: George W. Bush Thinks We Should Lay Off Obama's Golfing

I'm resurrecting a feature I used to run called Lest We Forget. In this day and age of very surfacy, very superficial news, memes become leading news stories. Falsehoods become conventional wisdom. So, from time to time, it's my intention to remind everyone of the real facts behind the erroneous things that pass for facts, especially in Right Wing World.



Boehner and the Prez.

One of many is the "President Obama Golfs Too Much" meme. Usually, it's made to sound as though he's playing instead of attending to important business, and that he does so when bad news is happening. This disregards the fact that there are always bad things happening, that the President deserves a diversion, that he's constantly in touch, and surrounded by aides, and that he's never truly "off the clock." Beyond that, he's far from the only presidential golfer, and doesn't do it more than many of them. Dwight Eisenhower had a putting green at the White House and played over 1,000 rounds during his terms. I don't recall this being a scandal.

But let's just let our most recent Duffer-in-Chief (who allegedly quit golfing some time in 2003, but shhhh! didn't really). George W. Bush said last year to lay off, you're being silly. Lest we forget.

[Excerpt]

George W. Bush: Obama doesn't deserve criticism for golf outings

Former President George W. Bush, who quit playing golf shortly after the Iraq war began in 2003, said critics of President Obama's zeal for the sport are off-base. "I see our president criticized for playing golf. I don't. I think he ought to play golf," Bush said in an interview to air Monday night on the Golf Channel. . .

Read more at: CBS News

So, Is it Still the "Blame Game" When Nobody is Blaming?

Much of this blog over the last week has been focused on the Arizona assassination attempt of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and the offshoot discussions it generated. While there of course has been discussion about gun control (a topic which oddly is widely believed to be futile), the bulk of the chatter has been about political rhetoric, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Sharron Angle, and other tangents. The right wing in particular has been in hyper-defensive mode, vociferously denying that their rhetoric could incite violence, while simultaneously advocating their right to use violent rhetoric (and don't forget, the left does it too! and just as much!).

But more than that, they've also nattered on about how the left "blamed" Sarah Palin for the shootings. And blamed the right and everything about it, and that's just wrong, it was too soon, and it isn't true! Well, it isn't true. I've been saying this for a while now. Pointing out that Palin said and did incendiary stuff, or that the political air is toxic isn't the same as "blaming." I'd say the furthest most mainstream pundits or politicians went was to say it could have contributed to a climate that could lead to such actions. And it could.

[Excerpt]

NYT: No widespread blame of the right for Arizona shooting

Conservatives are outraged -- outraged! -- that the traditional media has spent the last week blaming them and their violent rhetoric for the shooting in Arizona.

Just one problem: it's not true. . .

Read more at: DailyKos

The Difference Between Oil Seepage and BP's Disaster

Image from source, Bear Market Investments

A lot of conservatives (even a friend of mine) have tried to make light of the massive BP Deep Water Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. They say that the ocean has many natural underwater oil and gas leaks, and that nature just takes care of it on its own.  This to me seems incredibly naive, and something akin to denial.  But I'll confess that I had no idea just how much does leak naturally.  So they'd seem to have a point, right?

Sort of, but not really. There's a big difference between a slow seepage, and a massive geyser.  And the stuff that's starting to wash up on the Gulf coast would belie their denials.  So, I found this nifty site that explains the difference.

[Excerpt]

Natural Oil Seeps and the Deepwater Horizon Disaster: A Comparison of Magnitudes

Some reports in the media attempt to downplay the significance of the release of oil from the Deepwater Horizon accident by arguing that natural oil seeps release large volumes of oil to the ocean, so why worry? Lets look at the numbers.



Natural seeps can be thought of as natural springs from which liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons (hydrogen-carbon compounds) leak out of the ground. Oil seeps are fed by natural underground accumulations of oil and natural gas. Satellite images have identified hundreds of areas where oil is likely to seep from the Earth’s crust into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. . .

Read more at: Bear Market Investments

Conventional Wisdom on the Presidential Race

Let me see if I get this straight. John McCain and/or Republicans in general honestly believe that:

• Barack Obama hates America, for various reasons

• Michelle Obama hates America and isn't proud of it

• Obama hates the troops

• Obama wants to lose the war

• Obama wants to kill babies

• Obama is scary

• Obama used to be a drug user, and we can't trust that he's stopped

• Obama was born in the US, to a US parent, but he's not a citizen

• We don't know anything about Obama (despite more than one autobiographical book)

• Obama is simultaneously a covert Muslim, and a scary Afro-centric Christian

• John McCain's status as a war hero and POW absolves him from questions about virtually everything

• Bad stuff done by McCain or his wife are "old news" or "in the past"

• McCain's 25-year legislative history (the good parts) absolve him of any current gaffes

• Obama flip flops

• McCain "changes position according to conditions on the ground"

• UPDATED TO ADD: You honestly believe that Obama doesn't know how many states there are. But McCain not knowing how many houses he owns is not newsworthy.

Did I miss anything?

Oh, and a word on the polls. Apparently, McCain has nudged up a bit today, and the political world is all atwitter. Calm down, everybody. I don't like it either, but the VP choices, conventions and debates have not yet even begun. Comparing the current timeline to previous years doesn't hold much water either. People who put a lot of stock into that line of thinking are ignoring other historical facts, namely, when a hugely unpopular President exits his term--particularly when times are tough--the opposing party almost always wins.

Right-wing vs. Left-wing Media Bias

Image from source, LTR

Even with the rise in the ratings of Countdown with Keith Olbermann, I still think the "conventional wisdom" of a liberal media is a load of hooey. And I'm not the only one who thinks so. Take a look at this article, and see if you don't come around to my way of thinking.

[Excerpt]

O'Reilly Says Media "Raped the President Verbally"

. . .Because DailyKos is critical of Republicans, Markos Moulitsas is equated with a KKK grand wizard. Hillary Clinton is called a murderer and baby killer. Barack Obama is repeatedly equated with Hitler. Even Bush compared Obama to a Nazi appeaser.

These are not statements dredged from the comments sections of blog posts. This is the accepted language of the right wing as spoken by its superstars and most popular, best-selling personalities: Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, William Kristol, Jonah Goldberg, Michelle Malkin, Pat Buchanan, Michael Savage, etc. etc., and even the f***ing President of the US. If you want to claim that the "liberal media" or the left is "just as bad," tell me the last time Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, Katie Couric, Brian Williams, Arianna Huffington, Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, any Democratic politician, or anyone writing for the New York Times said anything even approaching this. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post