Liberal Gloat

[Wehrwolfen]

The Liberal Gloat​

By: Ross Douthat
November 17, 2012



WINNING an election doesn’t just offer the chance to govern the country. It offers a chance to feel morally and intellectually superior to the party you’ve just beaten. This is an inescapable aspect of democratic culture: no matter what reason tells us about the vagaries of politics, something in the American subconscious assumes that the voice of the people really is the voice of God, and that being part of a winning coalition must be a sign that you’re His chosen one as well.

This means the losing coalition must be doomed to wander east of Eden, and liberals have been having a good time with this idea of late. “Those poor, benighted Republicans!” runs the subtext of their postelection commentary. “They can’t read polls! They can’t reach Hispanics! They don’t understand women! They don’t have a team of Silicon Valley sorcerers running their turnout operations!”

Back in 2011, the Obama White House earned some mild mockery for its “win the future” slogan. But now that the president has been re-elected, the liberal conventional wisdom is that the Democrats have done just that — that Republicans are now Radio Shack to their Apple store, “The Waltons” to their “Modern Family,” a mediocre Norman Rockwell to their digital-age mosaic.

Maybe it’s too soon to pierce this cloud of postelection smugness. But in the spirit of friendly correction — or, O.K., maybe curmudgeonly annoyance — let me point out some slightly more unpleasant truths about the future that liberalism seems to be winning.

Liberals look at the Obama majority and see a coalition bound together by enlightened values — reason rather than superstition, tolerance rather than bigotry, equality rather than hierarchy. But it’s just as easy to see a coalition created by social disintegration and unified by economic fear.


(Excerpt)

Read more:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/18/opinion/sunday/douthat-The-Liberal-Gloat.html?_r=0

 

[squinch]

Ross Douthat is a poopy head.

 

[Sallow]

It's not "gloating".

It's a reminder that the United States is a liberal nation and a Democratic Republic.

Not the fascist neocon theocracy you folks want to turn it into.

 

[Cowman]

It offers a chance to feel morally and intellectually superior to the party you’ve just beaten.

We're morally and intellectually superior even if we lost.

Hey... just a note to that fucking RETARD bigrebnc... I did remove all the excess stuff from this guy's post, to focus on one single thing.

 

[editec]

Liberal optimism is unrealistic, you say?

Yeah, I'd say that's probably true for the clueless faction of partisans of Obama.

Their childish optimism is much like the right wing's carard about "American exceptionalism" in that respect.

The author is right in telling us that we're not soon going back to the halcyon economic days of the late 60s, that's for damned sure.

 

[Mac1958]

.

The Democrats haven't been doing excessive gloating, more than one whacked-out side usually does.

And holy crap, the hardcore righties in here were gloating about Romney's "win" for MONTHS before the election. As were some right wing partisan blabbers.

.

 

[jillian]

.

The Democrats haven't been doing excessive gloating, more than one whacked-out side usually does.

And holy crap, the hardcore righties in here were gloating about Romney's "win" for MONTHS before the election. As were some right wing partisan blabbers.

.

^^^^^^^^

not living in the wackadoodle bubble

 

[Dr Grump]

this thread enabler has a huge whiff of sock about him

 

[squeeze berry]

It offers a chance to feel morally and intellectually superior to the party you’ve just beaten.

We're morally and intellectually superior even if we lost.

Hey... just a note to that fucking RETARD bigrebnc... I did remove all the excess stuff from this guy's post, to focus on one single thing.

that's a big steaming pile ^

 

[Stephanie]

the thing with liberals is they don't just gloat, they want to smash your face in it..

hasn't been pretty

they are ugly when they lose and even worse when they win

 

[konradv]

the thing with liberals is they don't just gloat, they want to smash your face in it..

We learned from the best. See '94, '00, '10, etc.

 

[RosieS]

Republicants need to let go of the fiction that they can predict any day-um thing.

Wouldn't you have liked to have been a fly on the wall of the WH @ the fiscal cliff summit? "One term President? Suck it, McConnell!"

Regards from Rosie

 

[jillian]

Republicants need to let go of the fiction that they can predict any day-um thing.

Wouldn't you have liked to have been a fly on the wall of the WH @ the fiscal cliff summit? "One term President? Suck it, McConnell!"

Regards from Rosie

you actually need real information to make predictions.

 

[jillian]

this thread enabler has a huge whiff of sock about him

yep... pretty stinky.

 

[candycorn]

this thread enabler has a huge whiff of sock about him

Yeah at least he didn't feel the need to change the font face of the entire post this time.

Whoever you are dude...

It's okay. Come on back and stop acting like a 9 year old. Others who welched on their bet are already here and it confirms, once again, that conservatives by and large have no character.

 

[candycorn]

the thing with liberals is they don't just gloat, they want to smash your face in it..

hasn't been pretty

they are ugly when they lose and even worse when they win

Scoreboard.

 

[NYcarbineer]

No group in the political history of the human species has ever done more to set themselves up to be the object of ridicule than did the the right wing of America going into this election.

And that we can get you to cry about it now, well, that's the bonus round.

 

[Steelplate]

It's not "gloating".

It's a reminder that the United States is a liberal nation and a Democratic Republic.

Not the fascist neocon theocracy you folks want to turn it into.

I'll add.... a false theocracy based on wealth and greed...We, as Americans, aren't serving God..we're serving money and wealth....I used this in another thread...Matthew 6:24.

You cannot serve two masters.

 

[WillowTree]

.

The Democrats haven't been doing excessive gloating, more than one whacked-out side usually does.

And holy crap, the hardcore righties in here were gloating about Romney's "win" for MONTHS before the election. As were some right wing partisan blabbers.

.

very excessive, but then I didn't expect them to understand what magnanimity meant much less how to spell it.

 

[WillowTree]

the thing with liberals is they don't just gloat, they want to smash your face in it..

hasn't been pretty

they are ugly when they lose and even worse when they win

they won this election with "ugly" remember what they said about Mitt Romney. They didn't care that it was ugly or that it was lies. I have no admiration for obama, his political machine or his followers.