New York – In the snarkier precincts of the left-wing blogosphere, mainstream journalists like me are often called villagers. The reference, so far as I can tell, has to do with isolation: we live in this little village on the Potomac — actually, I don’t, but no matter — constantly intermingling over hors d’oeuvres, deciding who is “serious” (a term of derision in the blogosphere) and who is not, regurgitating spin spoon-fed by our sources or conjuring a witless conventional wisdom that has nothing to do with reality as it is lived outside the village. There is, of course, some truth to this. Washington is insular; certain local shamans are celebrated beyond all logic; some of my columnar colleagues have lost touch with everything beyond their armchairs and egos.
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But there is a great irony here: villagery is a trope more applicable to those making the accusation than to those being snarked upon. The left-wing blogosphere, at its worst, is a claustrophobic hamlet of the well educated, less interested in meaningful debate than the “village” it mocks. (At its best, it is a source of clever and well-informed anti-Establishment commentary.) Indeed, it resembles nothing so much as that other, more populous hamlet, the right-wing Fox News and Limbaugh slum. Hilariously, as we stagger from one awful decade into the next, there has been a coagulation of these extremes — a united front against the turgid ceremonies of legislative democracy, like compromise, and disdain for the politician most responsible for nudging our snarled checks and balances toward action, Barack Obama. The issue that has brought them together is opposition to the Senate’s health care–reform bill, which makes some sense on the right, but none at all on the left.
The best compromise is the one that everyone equally hates…it looks like we’ve finally got this one down exactly right.
If the Democratic Party is reduced to the kook fringe left element plus the the legions of loyal African Americans, union members, Jews, feminist women and Latinos, then the Republicans have a great chance to retake the House and Senate in ’10 and knock this Marxist/Socialist piece of dreck legislation out of existence. Long live freedom and democracy! Down with Socialism and Wealth Redistribution!
I think time magazine is looking quite hard to find some far out ‘left wing’ blogs to make their news coverage seem middle of the road. They need to find commentators who are more fringe and less interested in meaningful debate than even they are. Not an easy job!
All I can say is “HYPOCRITES!
This article is nothing but a attempt to marginalize all of Obama’s critics without any debate of the merits of the health care bill.
Btw has anyone ever seen anything in Time, ever, that is critical of Obama or complimentary of Bush? Or even on honest debate offering both sides of any major issue?
The problem is exactly that many times when a person arrives at the ER it is due to neglected health care which could have been aministered at a lower cost
A few weeks ago, I read on vos iz neias, that the average life expectancy in the U.S., is at an all time high. Why in the world would we want to tamper with a system that’s working better than ever before? (or as Obama wants to do; destroy the system, and then Marxcicize it)
My layman advice to you is watch your weight, eat less fatty kugel and cholent, avoid corned beef and cold cuts , fill up on salads with low salt dressing and exercise, limit your CALORIES
The source of socialism the American Medical Association, then a fringe element American Nursing Association of course another leftist association all indorsed the President’s health insurance changes but of course they are fringe elements. On this website some very kind souls would not want these Marxist changes which of course is based on kindness and concern for your fellow Jew/person . I admire the depth of understanding of these kind hearted people.