I Thought It Was The Right Imploding: My Bad

Annie

Diamond Member
Nov 22, 2003
50,848
4,827
1,790
Obama Campaign Staffer Sends Out Email Bashing Paul Krugman And The 'Firebagger Lefty Blogosphere'

Obama Campaign Staffer Sends Out Email Bashing Paul Krugman And The 'Firebagger Lefty Blogosphere'


First Posted: 8/17/11 01:23 PM ET

...
Amanda Terkel
Amanda Terkel [email protected] Become a fan of this reporter
GET UPDATES FROM Amanda
Like
4K
Obama Campaign Staffer Sends Out Email Bashing Paul Krugman And The 'Firebagger Lefty Blogosphere'


First Posted: 8/17/11 01:23 PM ET Updated: 8/17/11 04:09 PM ET


WASHINGTON -- The Obama campaign's point person in New Mexico recently sent an email to supporters defending the president's position on the debt deal and bashing the Nobel Prize winning New York Times columnist Paul Krugman and the "Firebagger Lefty blogosphere."

On the evening of Aug. 1, just after Congress passed legislation to raise the debt ceiling, Obama for America (OFA) New Mexico State Director Ray Sandoval sent an email to supporters with the subject line, "Please take 5 minutes to read this, Please."

"I know many of you have raised frustrations, but please, I implore you, please take 5 minutes and read the article below. It does a great job of explaining the Debt Ceiling deal," Sandoval wrote in bold text.

The rest of the email was a blog post taken from a blog called "The People's View," run by Spandan Chakrabarti. Chakrabarti writes that he has "been participating in online and offline liberal activism since 2003, when Gov. Howard Dean ran for president."

The blog post that Sandoval thought was important enough to share with others harshly condemns Krugman and progressive bloggers who have been critical of Obama. From the 1,825-word post:

Paul Krugman is a political rookie. At least he is when compared to President Obama. That's why he unleashed a screed as soon as word came about the debt ceiling compromise between President Obama and Congressional leaders - to, you know, avert an economic 9/11. Joining the ideologue spheres' pure, fanatic, indomitable hysteria, Krugman declares the deal a disaster - both political and economic - of course providing no evidence for the latter, which I find curious for this Nobel winning economist. He rides the coattails of the simplistic argument that spending cuts - any spending cuts - are bad for a fragile economy, ignoring wholeheartedly his own revious cheerleading for cutting, say, defense spending. But that was back in the day - all the way back in April of this year. [...]

No, the loudest screeching noise you hear coming from Krugman and the ideologue Left is, of course, Medicare. Oh, no, the President is agreeing to a Medicare trigger!!! Oh noes!!! Everybody freak out right now! But let's look at the deal again, shall we? [...]

Now let's get to the fun part: the triggers. The more than half-a-trillion in defense and security spending cut "trigger" for the Republicans will hardly earn a mention on the Firebagger Lefty blogosphere. Hell, it's a trigger supposedly for the Republicans, and of course, there's always It'sNotEnough-ism to cover it.

"Firebagger" is most likely a combined reference to the liberal blog FireDogLake, founded by Jane Hamsher, and "Tea Bagger," a less-than-flattering term for Tea Party activists.

When contacted by The Huffington Post, Sandoval simply replied, "I have sent your request up to my folks. I will let you know when I hear from them."

Sandoval did not reply to a follow-up message about who his "folks" were.

"The bipartisan debt agreement put in place a balanced framework for the next phase to ensure that special interests and the wealthiest are asked to bear some of the burden of deficit reduction, rather than saddling middle class families and seniors with costs and taking extreme measures like ending Medicare as we know it," replied Katie Hogan, deputy press secretary for the Obama campaign. "The views expressed in this email do not represent the views of the campaign."

The Obama administration has, at times, had a contentious relationship with both Krugman and the progressive blogosphere.

In 2007, Krugman was a vocal critic of Obama's proposed health care plan. The Obama campaign responded with an opposition-research style document accusing the columnist of flip-flopping.

In August 2010, then-White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs dismissed the president's progressive critics, referring to them as "the professional left."

"I hear these people saying he's like George Bush," said Gibbs. "Those people ought to be drug tested. I mean, it's crazy."...
 
Last edited:
Wait, you mean the left is pissed at Obama?

But I thought he was the most far-left President in the history of the universe! He's a MARXIST SOCIALIST COMMUNIST MUSLIM EXTREMISTS!!!!

Shouldn't those on the far left love him?




Or could it be that the left has been pissed at Obama for a long time?

What's so shocking about a OFA regional director defending Obama?
 
Wait, you mean the left is pissed at Obama?

But I thought he was the most far-left President in the history of the universe! He's a MARXIST SOCIALIST COMMUNIST MUSLIM EXTREMISTS!!!!

Shouldn't those on the far left love him?




Or could it be that the left has been pissed at Obama for a long time?

What's so shocking about a OFA regional director defending Obama?

My only observation is the lack of lock step and inter party fighting. If you are looking for some deep analysis of the left, not going to come from me.
 
Wait, you mean the left is pissed at Obama?

But I thought he was the most far-left President in the history of the universe! He's a MARXIST SOCIALIST COMMUNIST MUSLIM EXTREMISTS!!!!

Shouldn't those on the far left love him?




Or could it be that the left has been pissed at Obama for a long time?

What's so shocking about a OFA regional director defending Obama?

My only observation is the lack of lock step and inter party fighting. If you are looking for some deep analysis of the left, not going to come from me.

Perhaps that's because "the left" isn't a hive mind, and never has been.

There has always been "in-fighting" in "the left". "The left" as a whole has never walked in lock step.
 
Bwahahahahaha.....that is awesome. Some Obama supporter unleashed on Krugman and Fire Dog Lake.

Krugman is a riot. He is a flaming liberal who has not been kind to the Obama administration.
 
Wait, you mean the left is pissed at Obama?

But I thought he was the most far-left President in the history of the universe! He's a MARXIST SOCIALIST COMMUNIST MUSLIM EXTREMISTS!!!!

Shouldn't those on the far left love him?




Or could it be that the left has been pissed at Obama for a long time?

What's so shocking about a OFA regional director defending Obama?

My only observation is the lack of lock step and inter party fighting. If you are looking for some deep analysis of the left, not going to come from me.

Perhaps that's because "the left" isn't a hive mind, and never has been.

There has always been "in-fighting" in "the left". "The left" as a whole has never walked in lock step.

So now you think my post was good? LOL!
 
My only observation is the lack of lock step and inter party fighting. If you are looking for some deep analysis of the left, not going to come from me.

Perhaps that's because "the left" isn't a hive mind, and never has been.

There has always been "in-fighting" in "the left". "The left" as a whole has never walked in lock step.

So now you think my post was good? LOL!

Your post didn't make a point. So no, I don't.

You claim that "the left" is imploding. It isn't. So no, I think your post is dumb.
 
Perhaps that's because "the left" isn't a hive mind, and never has been.

There has always been "in-fighting" in "the left". "The left" as a whole has never walked in lock step.

So now you think my post was good? LOL!

Your post didn't make a point. So no, I don't.

You claim that "the left" is imploding. It isn't. So no, I think your post is dumb.
Actually it did. The dumb one would be you in this case.
 
Actually it did. The dumb one would be you in this case.

Perhaps I missed it. What was your point?

Seriously, like speaking to a wall.

lack of lock step and inter party fighting.

Seemed you were agreeing, then you said not. Which is it?

I'm disagreeing with your thread title, since "the left" has NEVER walked in lockstep.

Claiming that "the left" is imploding due to some OFA district leader bashing Krugman is about the stupidest claim I've seen today.

That would be like claiming "the right" is falling apart if a Republican state senator from Florida attacked Michael Savage.
 
Perhaps I missed it. What was your point?

Seriously, like speaking to a wall.

lack of lock step and inter party fighting.

Seemed you were agreeing, then you said not. Which is it?

I'm disagreeing with your thread title, since "the left" has NEVER walked in lockstep.

Claiming that "the left" is imploding due to some OFA district leader bashing Krugman is about the stupidest claim I've seen today.

That would be like claiming "the right" is falling apart if a Republican state senator from Florida attacked Michael Savage.

LOL! I do understand. Who the hell is Michael Savage? How does he pertain to my points that you were having a problem with, well excepting those moments you were agreeing.
 
Seriously, like speaking to a wall.

lack of lock step and inter party fighting.

Seemed you were agreeing, then you said not. Which is it?

I'm disagreeing with your thread title, since "the left" has NEVER walked in lockstep.

Claiming that "the left" is imploding due to some OFA district leader bashing Krugman is about the stupidest claim I've seen today.

That would be like claiming "the right" is falling apart if a Republican state senator from Florida attacked Michael Savage.

LOL! I do understand.
Do you?
Who the hell is Michael Savage?
A far-right radio host from San Francisco
How does he pertain to my points that you were having a problem with, well excepting those moments you were agreeing.
It was an analogy. As in A is to B as X is to Y.
 
I'm disagreeing with your thread title, since "the left" has NEVER walked in lockstep.

Claiming that "the left" is imploding due to some OFA district leader bashing Krugman is about the stupidest claim I've seen today.

That would be like claiming "the right" is falling apart if a Republican state senator from Florida attacked Michael Savage.

LOL! I do understand.
Do you?
Who the hell is Michael Savage?
A far-right radio host from San Francisco
How does he pertain to my points that you were having a problem with, well excepting those moments you were agreeing.
It was an analogy. As in A is to B as X is to Y.

Ok, so you bring up some far right wing host from the left coast, that has zero to do with y points. Give you a bye on that. Why? Cause I can't figure out what he has to do with anything.

Your analogy matrix, again it's relevance?

Now to complicate things a bit further, i ran across this:

Column: Obama, be a sharp-elbowed centrist - USATODAY.com

Good old Lanny, 'C'mon Barack, let's get to it':

...This could be President Obama's moment to show that kind of fighting centrist leadership. Not tacking to the far left to shore up his base, but becoming a president of the people, politics be damned.

By being proactive, for example, on the national debt and jobs creation issues, he can manage a triangulation message that isolates the extremes on the left and the right: those Democrats who say "no way" on entitlement reform, and those Republicans who say "not a chance" on tax increases. In doing so, he'd place himself — as Reagan and Clinton did so well — in the great center, where the majority of the American people are.

On the debt and deficit issue, he should endorse, at long last, all the specific recommendations of the Simpson-Bowles Commission on fiscal responsibility. Call it the Obama Mulligan, since he ignored the commission last time around. As the 65-page report states at the outset, the recommendations were meant to be taken all together or not at all, and they included substantial cuts, new revenue and tax changes to spur economic growth. It also tackled Social Security and Medicare. If enacted, the result would be a $4 trillion debt reduction over 10 years, not just the $1.2 trillion that the upcoming "supercommittee" of Congress is supposed to achieve...
He took the pass on them because of the 'recommendations being meant to be taken all together or not at all.'

What part of that does Davis not get? The president, regardless of his rhetoric is not into compromise of any sort. He didn't want the 1.2T in cuts, never mind the 4T...
 
LOL! I do understand.
Do you?

A far-right radio host from San Francisco

It was an analogy. As in A is to B as X is to Y.

Ok, so you bring up some far right wing host from the left coast, that has zero to do with y points. Give you a bye on that. Why? Cause I can't figure out what he has to do with anything.

Your analogy matrix, again it's relevance?
I'll try to break my analogy down for you, but I think it's not that hard to understand.

Claiming that "the left" is falling apart because some OFA district leader (A) said mean things about Krugman (B) is as stupid as claiming that "the right" is falling apart because some random local republican (X) said mean things about Michael Savage (Y).

A is to B as X is to Y. As in, none of those people that I mentioned matter in any way at all.

Does that help a little?

Now to complicate things a bit further, i ran across this:

Column: Obama, be a sharp-elbowed centrist - USATODAY.com

Good old Lanny, 'C'mon Barack, let's get to it':

...This could be President Obama's moment to show that kind of fighting centrist leadership. Not tacking to the far left to shore up his base, but becoming a president of the people, politics be damned.

By being proactive, for example, on the national debt and jobs creation issues, he can manage a triangulation message that isolates the extremes on the left and the right: those Democrats who say "no way" on entitlement reform, and those Republicans who say "not a chance" on tax increases. In doing so, he'd place himself — as Reagan and Clinton did so well — in the great center, where the majority of the American people are.

On the debt and deficit issue, he should endorse, at long last, all the specific recommendations of the Simpson-Bowles Commission on fiscal responsibility. Call it the Obama Mulligan, since he ignored the commission last time around. As the 65-page report states at the outset, the recommendations were meant to be taken all together or not at all, and they included substantial cuts, new revenue and tax changes to spur economic growth. It also tackled Social Security and Medicare. If enacted, the result would be a $4 trillion debt reduction over 10 years, not just the $1.2 trillion that the upcoming "supercommittee" of Congress is supposed to achieve...
He took the pass on them because of the 'recommendations being meant to be taken all together or not at all.'

What part of that does Davis not get? The president, regardless of his rhetoric is not into compromise of any sort. He didn't want the 1.2T in cuts, never mind the 4T...

Once again, I'm not sure what you're point is here... are you claiming that the far left should love Obama?
 
Wait, you mean the left is pissed at Obama?

But I thought he was the most far-left President in the history of the universe! He's a MARXIST SOCIALIST COMMUNIST MUSLIM EXTREMISTS!!!!

Shouldn't those on the far left love him?




Or could it be that the left has been pissed at Obama for a long time?

What's so shocking about a OFA regional director defending Obama?

There's a lot of that out there. I was not an Obama man. I voted for Hilary. But a lot of liberals are disappointed in him. I find myself defending him to the same people who blasted me for not supporting him in the primaries.

I think they're just expecting too much. We live in the real world. The President is not a dictator. He was handed the worst economy since... well, probably the Great Depression. The right is angrier than ever, and absolutely united in their hatred of him. I'm not sure they understand what he's up against.

As far as the budget deal... yeah, it sucked. But did it suck worse than if the country had defaulted? It's hard to make that argument.
 
Perhaps I missed it. What was your point?

Seriously, like speaking to a wall.

lack of lock step and inter party fighting.

Seemed you were agreeing, then you said not. Which is it?

I'm disagreeing with your thread title, since "the left" has NEVER walked in lockstep.

Claiming that "the left" is imploding due to some OFA district leader bashing Krugman is about the stupidest claim I've seen today.

That would be like claiming "the right" is falling apart if a Republican state senator from Florida attacked Michael Savage.
So, I suppose that since the left suppoosedly doesn't walk lock step, and the fact that Obama has not only failed both this country and the left miserably (good thing, the left agenda failing is always a good thing, for obvious reasons btw), the left will now mount a challenge against Obama, since they don't walk lock step, correct?

Or, are they just going to continue to follow along like blind lil' sheep (walk lock step) as he takes this country further down the toilet, 'cause he is nothing even near a leader in any way?
 
Last edited:
Do you?

A far-right radio host from San Francisco

It was an analogy. As in A is to B as X is to Y.

Ok, so you bring up some far right wing host from the left coast, that has zero to do with y points. Give you a bye on that. Why? Cause I can't figure out what he has to do with anything.

Your analogy matrix, again it's relevance?
I'll try to break my analogy down for you, but I think it's not that hard to understand.

Claiming that "the left" is falling apart because some OFA district leader (A) said mean things about Krugman (B) is as stupid as claiming that "the right" is falling apart because some random local republican (X) said mean things about Michael Savage (Y).

A is to B as X is to Y. As in, none of those people that I mentioned matter in any way at all.

Does that help a little?

Now to complicate things a bit further, i ran across this:

Column: Obama, be a sharp-elbowed centrist - USATODAY.com

Good old Lanny, 'C'mon Barack, let's get to it':

...This could be President Obama's moment to show that kind of fighting centrist leadership. Not tacking to the far left to shore up his base, but becoming a president of the people, politics be damned.

By being proactive, for example, on the national debt and jobs creation issues, he can manage a triangulation message that isolates the extremes on the left and the right: those Democrats who say "no way" on entitlement reform, and those Republicans who say "not a chance" on tax increases. In doing so, he'd place himself — as Reagan and Clinton did so well — in the great center, where the majority of the American people are.

On the debt and deficit issue, he should endorse, at long last, all the specific recommendations of the Simpson-Bowles Commission on fiscal responsibility. Call it the Obama Mulligan, since he ignored the commission last time around. As the 65-page report states at the outset, the recommendations were meant to be taken all together or not at all, and they included substantial cuts, new revenue and tax changes to spur economic growth. It also tackled Social Security and Medicare. If enacted, the result would be a $4 trillion debt reduction over 10 years, not just the $1.2 trillion that the upcoming "supercommittee" of Congress is supposed to achieve...
He took the pass on them because of the 'recommendations being meant to be taken all together or not at all.'

What part of that does Davis not get? The president, regardless of his rhetoric is not into compromise of any sort. He didn't want the 1.2T in cuts, never mind the 4T...

Once again, I'm not sure what you're point is here... are you claiming that the far left should love Obama?

No surprise to me, but your analogy explained is worse than leaving it out there, for folks to interpret. Thanks for that. Again. Still playing relevance towards Krugman and Savage. One is a has been economist, that seems to have lost all his lessons; the other is a left coast conservative that most haven't ever heard of. Yet your entire analogy revolves around these dudes. :cuckoo:

My bottom line and it seems a huge portion of the American electorate is that Obama has failed. Maybe, after his rest at the Vineyard, he'll have something to present that may send tingles up our legs, but color me skeptical.
 
Wait, you mean the left is pissed at Obama?

But I thought he was the most far-left President in the history of the universe! He's a MARXIST SOCIALIST COMMUNIST MUSLIM EXTREMISTS!!!!

Shouldn't those on the far left love him?

Or could it be that the left has been pissed at Obama for a long time?

What's so shocking about a OFA regional director defending Obama?

My only observation is the lack of lock step and inter party fighting. If you are looking for some deep analysis of the left, not going to come from me.

Hey Annie,
I'm going to respond to this quote, because I can't stand it when I have to wade through the 'quote, quote, quote, quote' replies.

Perhaps the word(s) 'Dem' or 'Obama's Campaign' should have been used so your thread wouldn't have been taken to the extreme and hopefully would have stayed on topic.
This could have been a GREAT thread for awesome conversation had it not been hi-jacked.

*I am not inferring the topic of your thread was a bad choice.
 
Wait, you mean the left is pissed at Obama?

But I thought he was the most far-left President in the history of the universe! He's a MARXIST SOCIALIST COMMUNIST MUSLIM EXTREMISTS!!!!

Shouldn't those on the far left love him?

Or could it be that the left has been pissed at Obama for a long time?

What's so shocking about a OFA regional director defending Obama?

My only observation is the lack of lock step and inter party fighting. If you are looking for some deep analysis of the left, not going to come from me.

Hey Annie,
I'm going to respond to this quote, because I can't stand it when I have to wade through the 'quote, quote, quote, quote' replies.

Perhaps the word(s) 'Dem' or 'Obama's Campaign' should have been used so your thread wouldn't have been taken to the extreme and hopefully would have stayed on topic.
This could have been a GREAT thread for awesome conversation had it not been hi-jacked.

*I am not inferring the topic of your thread was a bad choice.

Where were you when I really needed someone to put words in my posts? Thanks anyways.
 

New Topics

Forum List

Back
Top