Jennifer Loven of the Associated Press did a piece on Barack Obama’s attempted dash for the center that made poor Josh Marshall’s eyes bleed. And a bunch of Marshall’s fellow travelers bleed with him.
What really sets Marshall off is that Loven had the audacity to characterize Obama’s position that withdrawing combat troops could take as long as 16 months as “recent,” when in fact, he has been saying it for months. What Marshall overlooks is that before this “awfulness,” Loven wrote:
Obama’s problem on Iraq isn’t that he is changing his position drastically, because he isn’t.
Obama has always said his promise to end the war would require consultations with military commanders and, possibly, flexibility. This, in fact, is the only reasonable stance for a U.S. commander in chief to take.
Loven’s gaffe is not in characterizing Obama’s position as recent, as he has held that position recently. Rather, Loven’s gaffe is suggesting that this position is somehow centrist, when 16 months would be about the minimum time it would take for the US to get out of Iraq, considering the logistics of the task.
Marshall has also managed to miss that Loven has a long history of exhibiting Bush Derangement Syndrome on the job — here, here, here, here, here, here, here and here, to note just a few examples. Marshall apparently does not know that Loven is married to Roger Ballentine — a former Clinton adminsitration official and vocal supporter of John F. Kerry’s presidential campaign.
Instead of accusing Loven of spinning for John McCain, Marshall might want to pursue the Clintonite angle. Indeed, if Marshall got himself on the Google, he might discover that Ballentine is now an energy and environmental advisor to a Peruvian sugar cane ethanol company — which he might find interesting in light of Obama’s stance against sugar cane ethanol and the fact that Obama was conveniently absent from voting on the free-trade agreement with Peru.
For an award-winning journalist, Marshall still seems really averse to using the Google.
Update: Marshall has now renewed his attack on the AP because Steven Hurst used the same quote from the RNC’s Alex Conant that Loven used in a prior anlysis piece. Marshall has either not heard of a “sound bite” or thinks that it is illegitimate for the establishment press to quote them now that Barack Obama has ushered in the New Politics.
Her name’s McLoven.
Curiouser and curiouser, just like Alice said.
I’m trying to square this Barack Obama circle: How is a hard deadline for removal of US Troops withing “16 months” of Barack taking office and His statement: There is no military solution in Iraq, and there never was flexible?
–
Also, Karl or Dan might recall during one of the Dem debates a moment when Barack was asked about his position should the miltiary commanders recommend staying in Iraq beyond the schedule proposed by Barack. Would Barack go with the military’s recommendation. He said, quite clearly, that the principle of civilian control was paramount and that the military would be told (paraphrased) to suck it and get the troops out.
I’m failing to see where Obama has any wiggle room in this.
Sorry guys I have already started seeing the proggressive side of this and they are starting to come back around to felating Obama with the ease of a 16 year old Philipino prostitute. The Obama voters that are OK with this are using arguments that somehow he never changed stances, or that he will still be better than McSame (which is another way for saying the guy could come out on stage and strangle a puppy and they would still vote for him).
Same as how you guys are voting for McCain as he will be better from your standpoint than Obama. I expect us proggressive voters to take this one on the face and still blow the guy. We just all need to come up with some funny ways to rhyme Obama with bush and we will at least be entertained.
It’s weird Marshall doesn’t appreciate that maintaining a continuous propaganda narrative is hard. The narrative is there to provide guidance, but there’s still all sorts of choices that have to be made with respect to *how* something fits the narrative. Jennifer Loven is a skilled propagandist, and Marshall needs to step back and look at the entire corpus of her work before judging her I think. She’s really giving it her all I think, and, frankly, Marshall’s attack smacks of more than a little misogyny.
Google? Oh, that’s cyber-stalking.
There is no military solution in Iraq, and there never was
It’s not like juxtaposition of that remark and his current ones would have any effect. Savvy fake-outs in either direction are seen as a virtue by his assorted flocks, and excused as necessary for the win, and never appraised as suggestive of a low-information or absent character candidate.
[…] AND the power of Google. Plus, possible ethanol […]
We need to give Iraq back to the Iraqi’s Sarah. There is no “military” solution for it.
I really appreciate your dedication in reading Marshall so I don’t have to. It’s nearly as bad as reading Andrew Sullivan. Endless pantie knots that even the Victoria’s Secret staff could not unwind. Abu Ghraib pales in comparison.
Comment by ProggressiveHero on 7/6 @ 8:53 am #
We need to give Iraq back to the Iraqi’s Sarah. There is no “military†solution for it.
Maybe we should let the Iraqis vote for their own government, write their own constituition, and keep the oil revenue first.
We need to give Iraq back to the Iraqi’s Sarah. There is no “military†solution for it.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article4276486.ece
I guess we could have sent milliners to remove Saddam and take his yellowcake to Canada. A silk covered china flat with grograin ribbon would have been my choice.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25546334/
How many times do I have to tell you, Saddam didn’t have any yellowcake.
“#Comment by ProggressiveHero on 7/6 @ 8:53 am #
There is no “military†solution for it.”
YES WE CAN
Iraqis lead final purge of Al-Qaeda
Marie Colvin in Mosul
American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.
Iraq will never be free until we stop OCCUPYING their country. I am sure the presence of 150 thousand American troops does wonders for them.
Yes. Baracky has ever been concerned for the freedom of the Iraqi people. Let my people go says he.
“Comment by ProggressiveHero on 7/6 @ 9:20 am #
Iraq will never be free until we stop OCCUPYING their country”
Same with Germany, Japan, S Korea?
As I recall, Loven is one of the AP journalists very famous for gratuitous Bush bashing – I think she’s the one that did the “bunch of hicks at NASCAR” story and the “fans booed John Kerry when President Bush announced his illness” story that both turned out to be false and stupid.
““Comment by ProggressiveHero on 7/6 @ 9:20 am #
Iraq will never be free until we stop OCCUPYING their countryâ€Â
Hey anybody know what happen to the goal posts?
Hey anybody know what happen to the goal posts?
Same shit, different thread!
Proggressive Hero,
Nice comments, but aren’t you getting just a wee bit tired of being a cell-block bitch for Obama and his “Principled Position of the Moment” shtick?
Comment by MarkJ on 7/6 @ 9:39 am #
Proggressive Hero,
Nice comments, but aren’t you getting just a wee bit tired of being a cell-block bitch for Obama and his “Principled Position of the Moment†shtick?
MarkJ, Ph has already answered that question upthread:
Comment #4-I expect us proggressive voters to take this one on the face and still blow the guy.
Yellow cake in Iraq? Perish the thought. Saddam was an innocent man framed by Bushitler so that Halliburton and Exxon Mobil could still his oil. I mean the Iraqis’ oil…same difference.
PH,
Since you’re relatively new here, note that our host Jeff is kinda famous for declaring he won’t vote for Maverick. And he pretty much reaffirmed that to me at lunch on June 30.
ohnoes ohnoes. It’s heritable.
AP tip #16 for more better propaganda: Read our own propaganda. Take notes. Consistency is key.
Jan 9 2008
Jul 6 2008
“Comment by ProggressiveHero on 7/6 @ 9:20 am #
Iraq will never be free until we stop OCCUPYING their country. I am sure the presence of 150 thousand American troops does wonders for them.”
You moronic asshole, we liberated them from Saddam, and they are liberating themselves from al Quaida and the Mookster.
Oh, btw, you’re a moron.
Repost:
Oh, and this is just too precious not to share (via Lucianne):
AP Exclusive: US removes uranium from Iraq
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1107ap_iraq_yellowcake_mission.html
“The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein’s nuclear program – a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium – reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.
The removal of 550 metric tons of “yellowcake†– the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment – was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam’s nuclear legacy.â€Â
And FascistZero is still a moron.
Well I will vote for McCain whether Jeff does or not. Besides what does that have to do with the fact that Obama is tap dancing all over the place?
happyfeet:
Isn’t that just darling? Obama and his girls campaigning together. Remember when people were wondering Bush would force his daughters to serve in the military in Iraq when they had the temerity to stand by their father? Maybe Obama will force his kids to live without health insurance or go to a public school or live in a regular house vs a mansion. You know, just like the little people he claims to represent.
Besides what does that have to do with the fact that Obama is tap dancing all over the place?
Nothing. PH likes to threadjack, and I believe he enjoys being called a “parody”. He feels relevent(even if his comments aren’t), and probably has something to talk to his therapist about during his weekly session(other than prescription dosage).
– 550 tons of yellowcake removed from Iraq – impossible….It had to be a CIA plant by evil McChimpyBush and the NeoCons.
They just don’t make these internet detectives on the left like they used to.
dalerocks: They used to? When?
[…] How bad is Obama’s flip-flopping? It’s so bad that Bush-Deranged Associated Press reporter Jennifer Loven (link is to BizzyBlog search on her name) can’t carry Obama’s water and keep up with him, and is making lefties mad. […]
[…] a “free ride,” which appears to be a theme that Waldman, ThinkProgress, TPM’s Josh Marshall and others in the proggosphere are carrying into the current campaign, claiming that the establishment […]