Yeah it's the Rachel Maddow 'check your facts before you press 'send'' syndrome. After all, it's their country too...you'd think they'd care.

"Clouded judgment" my eye. They're not bothering to check any thing because they can play politics more easily. Why not say the most outrageous thing possible? No journalist is going to bother to, you know, do his or her job and check.

It's all fun and games until one of them gets squirted in the eye.

You're presuming they care one whit about "reality" or what the President actually said.

You're wrong if you think that. A content-free criticism is actually easier to make and harder to refute.

"Obama doesn't care about terrorism" is a right-wing talking point, not a statement with any facts to support it. Thus, if you refute their talking point it's only coming back next week under a new guise.

Republicans: "the war on 'Terra' is OUR issue therefore we'll keep hammering on it at every chance, regardless of the facts."

Confirmation bias. They remember all the speeches that don't have terrorism as the main issue, forget the ones that don't prove their thesis. Happens to everybody.

As Steve says, the key is to then recognize your memory will be filtered and actually, you know, check instead of "admitting" you might not remember. That's why there's teh Google, for fuck's sake.

Why bother to check reality when doing so will both affect your paycheck for the worse and force you to admit that those pre-conceived notions you hold so dearly are based on fantasy alone?

Of course, the MSM doesn't like listening to the reality-based nation, just take the run-up to Iraq as "exhibit A".

More simply, no one should trust Peretz's memory, or his honesty either.

If you think that's bad, look at another of Dr. Krauthammer's broadsides against Obama's CT policies.

This is the Villager mindset, in all the naked glory for all to see. With some dillweed like Marty Perez, it's all about HIS perception and HIS memory of things. Never mind if this idiot bothered, just for a moment to search this, and he would have his answer.

No sir. You see, he's a really important person with really important things to say and he's just too damned busy to do his fucking job. I hope he's getting tons of emails reminding him what a lazy idiot he is, but surely, in his little world he's not at fault...you are.

"Reality takes a little more effort, but it's a lot more reliable as a standard of measurement."

Steve wins the internet today.

One of the worst insults to throw at anyone is to ignore, be oblivious to, and generally down play the legitimacy of that person until the time comes when one has a "whoa, wait a minute, now that I've paid attention for a fleeting moment, I know what's best" brain-fart!

If our brethren on on the Right would pay attention, listen to and accept our duly elected president we wouldn't have to hear them whining and moaning about things they should have taken note of earlier.

People like Peretz are the ones who no doubt will cold-cock you in the most cowardly way! -Kevo

I hope he's getting tons of emails reminding him what a lazy idiot he is, but surely, in his little world he's not at fault...you are.

Sadly, FireZone, emails of any kind, positive or negative, just convince editors that the writer in question has "struck a nerve" and is worth supporting because they get hits.

Look how many times Joe Klein has been called out for his ignorance and laziness. All he takes away from it is that a lot of people are paying attention to him.

There is no way to pop the Village bubble. They're some of the best protected people on earth, and they protect each other, too.

Wouldn't it be easier to just call Peretz what he is, a liar, and be done with it ?

I know that it isn't PC (patriotically correct) to say this, but terrorism is not a big threat in the grand scheme of things. Air pollution kills 40,000 Americans a year, while terrorism has killed only 3,000 in the past ten years. Obama should be giving ten times as many speeches about air pollution as he does about terrorism!

Peretz is just paraphrasing Groucho: Who ya gonna believe? Me, or your lying ears?

I can't prove this of course, but it wouldn't surprise if Pereta DID do a perfunctory search on Obama usage of the word, and finding that the results didn't support his point, simply opted to rely on his "memory" (read: "wishful thinking").

Sam Simple your comment was fucking awesome. Right on the money. I give it a thumbs up.

Peretz concedes that he's relying on memory -- he didn't check recent transcripts or use the search feature at WhiteHouse.gov -- and is no doubt sincere in his observation.

Well, it's not like he gets paid to write commentary. You can't expect him to actually check his facts.

Thanks, gandalf. Terrorism is not an existential threat to the United States. Pollution could be. The fearmongers like Glenn Beck, Hannity and Limbaugh play on the ignorance and racist tendencies of their viewers to lead them to accept the fact that we shovel $625 billion per year to the Pentagon, when al-Qaeda doesn't own so much as one tank or one rowboat. And we are supposed to believe that they are going to take over America?

Awesome, keep shining a light on the putz Peretz at TNR.

But everyone, including Mr. Benen, seems to be saying Marty Peretz is a Republican. He writes for TNR and is a *liberal* like every other schmuck there. Mr. Benen links to TNR, in agreement with their opinions, multiple times a day.

TNR is a liberal rag, it just has a bias towards nuking Arabs, regrettably you can be sure. Like they used to say about Lieberman, TNR liberals vote with Democrats on all but Middle East foreign policy. Actually, TNR liberals - liberal hawks - are usually MORE liberal than the average Democrat on domestic issues. Similarly, neo-cons often have big differences with Republicans.

Flubber,
TNR shilled so much for the war on Iraq that I never renewed my subscription. I'm still disgusted with them. What a bunch of war mongers with Peretz being the chief one.

Umm...

"..and is no doubt sincere in his observation."

You're a nice guy, Steve. I hope I get a chance to buy you a beer someday. The above quote, IMO, can only be the result of some good breeding (which term I do NOT use in the eugenic sense, but rather as Mr. Swift meant it: "The person who makes the fewest people uncomfortable is the most well-bred in the group." Your folks ought to be proud.

Sadly, as I'm sure you and every other commenter here is aware, Mr. Peretz is "sincere" in only one regard: His desire to kill Muslims. Or, I should say, his desire to see American & Israeli troops kill Muslims while he sits on his ass, safe in his mansion, and cheers them on.

Courtesy is the fragile glue that binds our civilization, and you always seem to remember that even in the face of silly shit like this. You're a bigger man than I am, bro.

Swift quotes, though I'm not sure if that one is in there:
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/search?commit=find+quotes&page=1&q=jonathan+swift

This is gonna be a good decade.

Why can't Marty Peretz move back to his spiritual home where he wants to be, and then he can goose-step with the rest of the Israeli fascists, just like he wants to? Why do we have to put up with this ignorant racist pig?

Actually, calling Peretz a pig is an insult to an intelligent being. Peretz is merely that stuff you have to scrape off your shoe when you don't watch where you're stepping.

Peretz isn't a pig, he's a putz.

"...and is no doubt sincere in his observation."

I don't think so. If Marty is too busy to punch a few words into Google, he has legions of interns to do it for him.

He doesn't want to know the facts, since they would interfere with his storyline.

And he knows that the people who still bother to read his stuff want to hear that storyline. And that if he and others repeat it often enough, it becomes received wisdom.

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