Raves for Obama Speech from Halperin's The Page

As one of the key disseminators of "Conventional Wisdom," Mark Halperin is a favorite and often-deserved target of blog scorn.  More often than not, that his posts have a pro-GOP spin (perhaps because "Drudge rules his world").  But if his framing of the Obama Speech and McCain gaffe become the CW, that's great news.

His first headline now is:

McCAIN FLUBS TERRORISM FACT ON MIDEAST TOUR

This gaffe is covered in this recommended diary

But the next headline is

OBAMA RISES TO THE OCCASION ON RACE AND THE RACE

The subheadline says Obama

BLOWS THE CHATTERING CLASS AWAY  WITH PHILADELPHIA SPEECH

Mark is a prime chatterer of the chattering classes.
Keep it up Mark!

•  Even a stopped clock

  etc.

  by Upper West on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 11:28:57 AM PDT

  •  Even a blind squirrel finds a nut... nt

    by strengthANDwisdom on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 11:32:26 AM PDT

  •  Not a wasted word.

    Hey, I'll be the first to admit your diary in not a contender for the  the all-time Most Profound Topic list.  :)

    But hell it says everything that needs saying about Mark "The Empty Suit That Talks" Halperin and does so without wsting a single keystroke.  And hey, it makes a larger point too - bonus points.  Good mojo for you.

    by Quicklund on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 12:15:21 PM PDT

    •  Thank

      Brevity is the soul of blogging. (or not.)

      by Upper West on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 12:20:31 PM PDT

•  After watching the speech

  I thought to myself that the punditry would go back to their insanity, but it will cost them.  Anyone who sees the speech will asked them if they actually saw it and was the sound on!

  by glitterscale on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 11:31:21 AM PDT

  •  Impossible to take stuff out of context . because

    Obama frames it in the context of the known Universe.

    Anything less ...looks like simple minded cartography prior to 1492.

    whooo haaa .. I luvs me some smell of wakin' up to this fresh American morning .. !

    by abarefootboy on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 11:39:33 AM PDT

    •  the context of the known Universe--

      Very nice!

      And "simple minded cartography"--

      Nice way of talking about the political landscape.

      by cultural worker on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 11:44:40 AM PDT

      •  thank you cultural worker

        yes indeed ... America will have a different map after our new President helps us to transcend the old boundries and set our compass ... towards a peaceful , prosperous future.

        by abarefootboy on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 11:58:23 AM PDT

    •  but thats what they are doing at mydd

      his comment about being there when he said things "I disagreed with," they are twisting to saying the things in the clips why he was there. And then they are asking, "why did he stay in the church for 20 years if he heard those things," and "Why didn't he get up and walk out when he heard them?"

      Its possible to take anything out of context.

      Example: "I would kill for one of my mom's hamburgers!" to "He said he would kill his mother!"

      by IowaMike on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 11:57:55 AM PDT

      •  Or Kerry's

        "we need to return to a day when terrorism is regarded as a nuisance" transmuted to "Kerry says terrorism is a nuisance."

        But -- I do think it's important that the "chattering classes" seem to be receiving the speech well.

        by Upper West on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 12:01:01 PM PDT

      •  Here's another example.

        I was having a conversation last week with 2 co-workers about the current state of professional basketball.  1 co-worker, a woman who played b-ball in high school, made the statement that, in her opinion, Michael Jordon and Kobe Bryant ruined pro-b-ball by being nothing but showboats.  Jokingly, I twisted it around and came back with:"Ohhh- so you're saying black people ruined basketball".

        It was all just being a smart ass on my part, but it shows how easily one can twist and distort whatever anyone says.

        Just to be clear:  I WAS JOKING WHEN I SAID BLACK PEOPLE RUINED BASKETBALL AND IT WAS OBVIOUS TO ALL INVOLVED THAT I WAS JOKING!!!  I don't want to start a major meltdown here, OK?

        by madmsf on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 12:11:47 PM PDT

        •  Disgusting!

          I denounce and reject your comment that Obama ruined basketball!!!

          by fxq on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 12:26:32 PM PDT

          •  You scared me just a minute.

            Nicely done.

            by madmsf on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 12:38:50 PM PDT

•  Nice - McCain doesn't know that Al Queda

  are Sunnis and therefore wouldn't get help from Shiite Iran (this was no slip of the tongue).

  And - Obama gives a thoughtful, historically-grounded and moving speech that even the press can't diminish (although I saw Juan Williams trying on FoxNews).

  It's a good day.

  by Marinesquire on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 11:31:58 AM PDT

  •  Williams is awful

    A shill of the worst order; a Shelby Steele of the airwaves.

    by Upper West on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 11:52:46 AM PDT

    •  i think juan williams wanted to be the

      first black president and he is sooo pissed at
      barack obama....

      by maxnyc on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 11:58:22 AM PDT

    •  Juan Williams is, simply, dim.

      Though for a blind squirrel, he finds more than his share of nuts.  Look at his habitat - talk about rich foraging grounds for nuts.

      by Quicklund on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 12:18:43 PM PDT

•  It was so obviously such an important speech

  so well conceived and delivered - what else can they say?  Hah!

  by Last Best Chance on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 11:32:39 AM PDT

•  YES!

  Seriously, I fully expect the media to start fawning over Obama again.

  Wright just doesn't make for good TV. Who wants to see that old guy ranting about the world all day long? Obama's speechifying is a marked improvement.

  by jenontheshore on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 11:33:21 AM PDT

•  Let's hope

  That this starts a pattern for the next few days.  It would be great if Obama finally stopped this whole narrative in it's tracks.  It's icing on the cake if the McCain gaffe starts a cascade of piling on him for a change.

  by madmsf on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 11:34:52 AM PDT

  •  Add crazy Hagee

    garnish with Parsley, and pour in the Iraq gaffe.

    by Upper West on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 11:53:46 AM PDT

•  Mark better slow down

  or Hugh Hewitt will make him crawl again.

  by demkat620 on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 11:35:09 AM PDT

•  I've about had it with MSNBC

  why the hell was Scarborough allowed to do the follow up to the Obama speech? Between him and Buchanan I lasted a couple minutes before I turned the channel.

  by rapala on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 11:41:38 AM PDT

  •  Yeah, who staffed that time slot?

    Buchanan kept analogizing the speech to a defense of Louis Farrakhan.  I couldn't listen to it, so I turned the TV off.  

    When I turned it back on later, there he was again.  And he was still going on and on about Louis Farrakhan.  I think he just liked saying the words, like they made some sort of verbal rhythm he liked pounding out.  

    I turned the TV off again and haven't had it back on since.

    by welso on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 12:00:20 PM PDT

    •  Where was Rachel Maddow

      when we needed her.

      by Upper West on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 12:01:44 PM PDT

    •  It was deliberate

      MSNBC wanted the two people that could lather up the most controversy. Ratings are easier to get if people are upset.

      by moviemeister76 on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 12:22:12 PM PDT

  •  It only makes them look stupid...

    Seriously, it moved many people to tears.  And they come on and say stupid things, basically saying, "Those aren't real emotions you are feeling."  I bet Pat said the same things after the 'I have a dream' speech.

    by RichM on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 12:07:02 PM PDT

    •  I'll be he said a lot worse

      (e.g., commie, rabble-rousing, uppity, etc. ad nauseum)

      by Upper West on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 12:19:12 PM PDT

      •  (I meant "I'll bet")

        by Upper West on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 12:21:07 PM PDT

•  Joe is MSNBC's version of Colmes?

  by IowaMike on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 12:00:07 PM PDT

•  Obama speech, Time, Halperin blog

  Essential to follow Upper West's suggestion.

  In light of the comments by Dana Millbank in his book, Homo Politicus, Halperin is high profile and hopefully the rest of the main stream commentators will follow his lead and appreciate the Obama Philadelphia Speech.  Maybe, just maybe, they will  help shut down the "Swift Boaters" of the Atwater-Rove training camp of the truly "wicked".  (Psalm 50:17 "You have loosed your lips for evil and harnessed your tongue to a lie.")

  Unfortunately if you read the Lee Atwater biography, Bad Boy, or any of the books on Karl Rove such as Bush's Brain, you will see that it will take a massive effort to place the full responsibility for the "Swift Boating" of Obama on McCain's shoulders and see if he will be true to his sense of honor, or cave to the RNC and Rove.

  by theworksanddays on Tue Mar 18, 2008 at 12:48:40 PM PDT

  •  Great comment, the The works

    I highly recommend reading Glenn Greenwald's post and a comment to which it links.

    by Upper West on Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 06:15:42 AM PDT