Spider Power

Say, is this about Hillary? Because, well ,uh…http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/25/report-clinton-camp-fabri_n_146489.htmlNot sure why I’m supposed to be supporting putting these people in charge of anything past Parking and Vending.

>>> carefully pick our battlesBingo. The blogosphere is in danger of becoming a joke like the Palin-right, even to the president who rode in partly because of it. I think some major slack should be afforded in most somewhat-negotiable areas. He seems to have things under control and I trust him to use good judgment. So even if I disagree with someone I’m trying to leave it alone for now. I hope the voices who are heard will do the same through this process.And FTW–on 2nd login to post this. Oh, I just heard from Cminri. She is reading but is having such a problem posting that she’s rarely trying.

Couldn’t agree more, Bob. It’s sort of like the nagging wife syndrome – when all she does is bitch all day about every little thing, the husband stops hearing her complaints, even though some may be valid. We need to carefully choose what to bitch about, so when we do, it won’t be tossed in the circular file.And about the nagging wife thing – that’s just something I’ve heard about. I have no personal experience with it. It could just be an urban myth.

Man, it sure is “follow blindly” in here.

>>Man, it sure is “follow blindly” in here.That’s ridiculous, Travis. You realize that “picking your battles” means actually having some battles, right? You also realize that many of us here are applauding the withdrawal of Brennan, right? Sheesh.

Bob, I think you’ve got a mosquito problem around here. I’m gonna start commenting with a can of Off! next to me.

I’m not following blindly, Travis. I’m just being realistic. We aren’t going to have a total liberal administration, and Obama never promised one. Part of the deal was having people around him from “both sides”. And he does listen to the public, so far, more than any president (elect or otherwise) in my rather long memory. Yipping about every little thing takes the sting out of the big ones, as Bob just pointed out with Brennan.

I agree, Bob, and it seems that most of us are in tune and not acting like Chicken Little with every announcement. Calling wolf too much will just get us ignored.

And I can’t wait to hear what Travis has to say a month into the new administration. You gotta take a step back and take a dep breath, dude.

Correction: “Deep breath.”

Wait. Travis – what do you mean by that? Who is it that you are accusing of following blindly?QT

Sorry, I meant that the commenters were sure sounding sheepish, not Bob himself.I’d argue that (to continue borrowing from Stan Lee) if indeed the blogosphere has Great Responsibility, it’s their job to hold Obama accountable for EVERY bad choice (see: HRC) rather than just the really, really shitty ones. I think there definitely should be a line, but I don’t think it should be drawn as low as some people are proposing.Brennan withdrawing was a good first step, and I’m on the same page as everyone else (except Digby) in counting it as a victory for the left. Now if someone can prevent Clinton as SoS either through the same kind of public pressure or actually enforcement of the Sinecure Clause…that’d be something.

Ok, I actually thought that’s what you meant. And – I’m going to argue with you.It’s actually something I’ve been protesting for a while now – and one of the reasons I’m a member here and at OpenLeft – the advent of blogs has created a tendency of self-selection for information. People aren’t being sheepish – people are here because they agree with Bob, by and large. Including me. I started following Bob sometime after he put out a call to other bloggers to get behind Obama – I hadn’t realized yet that Bob was Bob, but over time, I started paying more attention to him because I agreed with him more. And that led me from the Huffington Post to here. I’ve read a few members here saying something similar. Nothing wrong with this, but it seems to me that we need to shake up our worlds a bit – the right is “too far right” and the left is “too far left” because they are only talking to each other. In this – pure “Obama supporters” (even liberal ones like Bob!) are on the vanguard. But more needs to be done.QT

Clinton may be safer in SOS (did I just say that?). There are rumblings that she does not plan to cooperate in the Senate on the health care issue. State gets her out of that whole deal. I don’t like it but with all the posturing, drama and bullshit, her possible nomination may be part of a larger plan that we don’t know about. And you don’t need the state of NY’s permission to drop her from your cabinet if things don’t work, do you?So if agreeing with Bob’s post makes me a sheep, baaa fucking baa.

I think you misunderstand- I was more referring to people’s tendency to blindly go along with whatever Obama throws out there.Also, I’d again propose that there isn’t really such a condition as “too far left”.

>her possible nomination may be part of a larger plan that we don’t know about.A secret plan, you say?http://openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=10122

I said “larger”. Including other possibilities that I’m not privy to. You’re trying to put words in my mouth and just be generally oppositional at this point. One of my kids was like that. Now I go stir the soup and stop playing your game.

It’s the same premise as discussed in the linked article- people rushing to assign some as-yet-unseen progressive agenda to the act of appointing right-wingers to cabinet posts. I’m not being oppositional, I’m raising a direct counterpoint to the premise you put forward.

I’m all for whatever the O wants to do if he agrees to wear an awesome Spiderman outfit. He can nominate Dick Cheney to Department of Homeland Nut Crushing for all I care, just get the Prez-elect into a leotard.

The right wing nutbags don’t need to do anything but sit back and watch the left wing nutbags’ infighting. See the wailing, gnashing, and drama-creating over the Clinton pick. The right has something the left will never have: a lemming mentality where they all do and say what they’re told.

On the picking battles topic, Well duh. There are battles you can win and those you can’t. If you don’t choose when and where to engage you are on defense and soon will be out of resources. There are, of course, battles you know you can’t win that you have to fight on principle. Problem with most liberals is, they tend to think everything they are passionate about is fits that principle concept.

Clinton is a right winger? Gates? (Note – he’s not. Gates is an independent – registered independent).I think Nano has a crush. I mean…I sympathize. I don’t think I’d mind seeing the Prez-elect do a GQ spread. And, I’m very eager to see Bob in cycling gear.QT

>>Clinton is a right winger?Yes, yes she is.

On a side note, QT, your DVDs are on the way. Just dropped them in the mail. Enjoy.

Carl, thank you! Look forward to receiving them! QT