Political Animal
Blog
A variety of conservative media outlets, including Fox News, the New York Post, and the Daily Caller, are worked up this week about a newly-discovered White House outrage: a 2009 Halloween party.
It’s tough to pinpoint exactly what it is the right is upset about, but it seems to boil down to two main complaints: the White House (1) threw a lavish Halloween party during a recession; and (2) kept the event “secret.”
Even for conservatives, this is pretty thin. The White House did, in fact, host a Halloween party for the kids of military servicemen and women in 2009. Conservatives may have found the event needlessly showy — filmmaker Tim Burton reportedly helped decorate, and gave the party an “Alice in Wonderland” theme — but given that we’re talking about the White House doing something nice for military families, the right really shouldn’t raise such a fuss.
As for the notion of keeping this “secret,” White House spokesman Eric Schultz said yesterday, “If we wanted this event to be a secret, we probably wouldn’t have invited the press corps to cover it, release photos of it to Flickr, or post a video from it on the White House website.”
But the really funny part of this came yesterday when Dana Loesch warned that the entire story may well be a nefarious “set up” crafted by the White House. She wrote:
One could beg the question that the White House and media didn’t disclose this because they knew it was wrong. Why would it be wrong? Because of public reaction? This is where it gets sneaky. It’s a set up: The narrative will be that details weren’t released because the White House didn’t want folks freaking out over extravagances for military families provided by a Hollywood director and his actor/muse. The narrative will progress into a notion that conservatives are tight-fisted when it comes to providing military families with a nice Halloween, one that wasn’t even at the conservatives’s expense. It will reinforce the stereotype that conservatives and Hollywood will always be at odds, and can’t a film director throw a party for the military if he wants? GOSH. [emphasis in the original]
That east wing of the White House sure is sneaky isn’t it? In 2009, it looked as if officials were just doing something nice at Halloween for military families. But more than two years later, conservative media figures have gotten to the heart of the scheme — this was a “secret” and a “set up” intended to make the right look bad.
It’s increasingly difficult to understand how the right views reality.
Facebook
Twitter
Another Steve on January 10, 2012 9:40 AM:
I suspect a certain amount of code-talking to fundies is going on here.
In modern fundamentalist churches, Halloween=devil worship and Islam=devil worship. Therefore, what they're saying is secret mooslim Obama and his godless evil Hollwood pals threw a Secret Satanic Rite in the White House.
Just as they'd always expected.
martin on January 10, 2012 9:40 AM:
"One could beg the question..."?!?! WTF????
I've resigned myself to the press and everyone else misusing "begs the question," but this construction is horrible. Who lets these dolts type?
Oh my on January 10, 2012 9:41 AM:
It’s increasingly difficult to understand how the right views reality.
Paranoid Schizophrenia.
Mark-NC on January 10, 2012 9:41 AM:
"this was a “secret” and a “set up” intended to make the right look bad."
And, they DO look bad with their BS!
RepublicanPointOfView on January 10, 2012 9:41 AM:
It is all part of a conspiracy by Obama to make republicans look bad!
Other parts of the Obama conspiracy include:
- Romney, Perry, Bachmann, Paul, & Gingrich as the republican candidates
- Republicans supporting the 1% over the 99%
- Rush Limbaugh
- Fox News
Never underestimate the nefarious plannings of black, socialist, muslim Kenyans!
Danp on January 10, 2012 9:42 AM:
It's not like the kids were bobbing for tea bags, for Pete's sake. Or werrrrre they?
stormskies on January 10, 2012 9:43 AM:
By their very nature Repiglicans not only live in an entirely delusional universe, but it is also a universe in which none of them can accept the responsibility in their own actions which then creates a psychological consciousness of victimization. From there these creeps then need to create 'scapegoats' in order to deflect in sense of personal awareness that would require them to actually look in the mirror.
Thus, anyone who is not exactly like them becomes the enemy who is of course conspiring against THEM.
chopin on January 10, 2012 9:44 AM:
The plot was a pumpkin smashing success. It made the right look bad. Keep up the good work, Obama.
T2 on January 10, 2012 9:48 AM:
"It’s increasingly difficult to understand how the right views reality."
Reality is what they say it is.
c u n d gulag on January 10, 2012 9:50 AM:
Jesus H. Christ Trick-or-treating in a F'in Halloween Jason Mask!
Is EVERYTHING a conspiracy with these people?
Can't your car not start without it being Liberal agents of Obama, the UAW, and ACORN draining your battery overnight?
Or that your kid caught a cold at school, and it wasn't the FDA and the ACA planting germs in the lunchboxes of Conservative's children as some sort of a plot by that Liberal Jew, Geroge Soros, to weed out the people who stand between him and World Domination?!?!?!
Sometimes, it's that your battery just stops working, and your kid just gets sick.
And thanks, Dana Loesche-bag - you answered my question.
Yes, you CAN be as dumb as all that!!!
AND MORE!
What a prize twit!
Also too - which is Obama? Machiavelli, or Alfred E. Newman?
sick-n-effn-tired. on January 10, 2012 9:53 AM:
When I saw this shit on the screens at the gym I was baffled. I thought the next thing to keep Faux viewers outraged. I had no idea it was a couple of years old .
Really?
That's all you got?
I get glimpses of Faux nooze at the gym and even though the sound is off it is easy to tell the narrative .
Thing to scare and outrage you.
They went off for around three days on some city banning an unauthorized flag placement, something that somehow missed the attention of every other news outlet in the country.
This is how they roll.
You can tell a Fox News viewer by the first sentence in something they write or the first words out of their mouth.
The bubble has damaged their critical thinking skills.
The world inside the bubble is sooo different.
Explains a lot about the current crop of candidates.
c u n d gulag on January 10, 2012 9:58 AM:
sick-n-effin-tired,
I don't want to correct you, but when you speak of Republicans, it's 'the current "CRAP" of candidates.'
There!
Now it's fixed.
Anonymous on January 10, 2012 9:59 AM:
The internet. Before it, we never had the slightest inkling of how many deranged people inhabit the United States. Now we know and the number is hilarious and frighteningly huge. Of all the craziness released upon this nation of ours by the unhinged, extreme right has been this idea that, once clarity sinks in and the Outrage of the Day (OOD) is shown to be a pack of foolishness or lies or foolishness and lies, the nutjobs immediately turn to conspiracies about Obama and his 11-level chess playing. This theme has played itself out many times in two and a half years. Each time the nutjobs flare up then flame out, the whole matter becomes an exercise in the White House deliberately making the dullards look dopey. It's hilarious and frightening. Hilarious and frightening.
MattF on January 10, 2012 9:59 AM:
I gotta say, since Glenn Beck left Fox News, the quality of the paranoia has really declined. It's almost like they're just going through the motions and don't really believe it.
DRF on January 10, 2012 9:59 AM:
On the other hand, perhaps Dana Loesch is a liberal plant whose goal is to throw vigilant Republicans off the scent of the biggest scandal in years (pagan rituals! Tim Burton! Innocent young children!)by suggesting that the event was a set up to con Republicans into criticizing it.....
sick-n-effn-tired. on January 10, 2012 10:03 AM:
@ c u n d gulag I'll see you a crap and raise you a crapper full of disingenuous lying sacks of shit
RalfW on January 10, 2012 10:07 AM:
This just makes me laugh.
Romney is being pounded by fellow Republicans for being a richie-rich vulture capitalist. So the right-wing hand-wringing machine has to find something to manufacture to make Obama look "out of touch."
But indeed, what could be more out of touch than denying military families a good time?
The GOP scores another own-goal! Love it.
Mudge on January 10, 2012 10:08 AM:
So now they are digging up something from 2+ years back with which to manufacture outrage. Then, when the outrage fails to ignite the masses, they dip into their deep conspiracy well. These people are both desperate and exceedingly silly.
Ladyhawke on January 10, 2012 10:11 AM:
WHO 'REALLY' SUPPORTS THE TROOPS?
The problem for the Republican Party is that President Obama and FLOTUS have co-opted the "We love the troops more than you do" meme espoused adnauseum during the Bush administration. They have done it by word and by deed. How many times did we hear if you say anything bad about President Bush it meant you were against the troops? And how many times were the troops just used for photo ops?
The fact that they have to twist themselves into pretzels to find some nefarious plot about a Halloween Party for the troops is very telling.
Here is a perfectly good example of Obama Derangement Syndrome from Media Matters. Try not to laugh.
Daily Caller: Obama Praised The Troops Too Much
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201112150013
Raoul on January 10, 2012 10:16 AM:
In a remarkable moment of honesty, Greg Pollowitz at National Review Online (under a fact-checking headline, no less) says:
I assume we’ll hear more about this from both the White House and Kantor, but how “down-low” can a party be if Wonkette posted on it using photos from the official White House Flickr feed?
Yup. What is so deeply sad about all this is that the fracking NYT is implicated. Their reporter Jodi Kantor did the hatchet-job.
My brain may 'splode. NRO is truthful, NYT is full of crap. Ayieee!
kindness on January 10, 2012 10:22 AM:
It isn't difficult to see how the right views reality.
Just look at the comments under the linked article. These righties? They aren't just KoolAid swillers. They are insane. Look at waht they say they believe. Insanity abounds over there.
c u n d gulag on January 10, 2012 10:24 AM:
Ladyhawke,
LOL!!!
Thanks!
Jay C on January 10, 2012 10:26 AM:
But more than two years later, conservative media figures have gotten to the heart of the scheme — this was a “secret” and a “set up” intended to make the right look bad.
Well, it seems to have worked, then....
QuestionEverything on January 10, 2012 10:26 AM:
DO YOU KNOW WHAT MAKES THE 'RIGHT' LOOK BAD?
LIES
NONSENSE / NON NEWS STORIES (like this one)
BAD POLICIES
BAD GOVERNANCE / POOR LEADERSHIP
WORKING AGAINST AMERICANS / WORKING AGAINST NON-WORKING AMERICANS
(but only if you're not idealogically indoctrinated to accept this BS as anything other than a waste of Americans time)
DAY on January 10, 2012 10:40 AM:
This merely part of an ongoing attempt to distract the public from the increasingly DISASTROUS Republican presidential campaign.
biggerbox on January 10, 2012 10:59 AM:
No, you're all MISSING THE POINT!!!
It's yet another(!) case where the crafty Socialist used his time machine technology! Just like the way he went back in time to plant the fake birth certificate and take out birth notices in Hawaii newspapers! Obama operatives traveled back to 2009 in two teams, one to plant extensive public media coverage, including on the White House Flickr feed, and a second to make sure their conservative critics were distracted so they didn't notice!! All to make his present-day critics look like stupid idiots. Will he stop at NOTHING??
You all just don't understand what an existential threat this man and his nefarious control of time itself is to Our American Way of Life! Another Obama term will certainly lead to fire and brimstone, huge cracks appearing in the earth surface, cats sleeping with dogs, etc. Be afraid!
Sgt. Gym Bunny on January 10, 2012 11:02 AM:
You know what I think is a liberal conspiracy the Right should be protesting: the MSM's tendacy to give all the attention in the world to right-wing anti-Obama conspiracy theories.
Seriously, any right-thinking body on the right, would have to think that all the media outlets are just trying to paint the right as crazed conspiracy theorists with the way they let Fox News outrage headlines dominate the news cycle. If I were a right wing anti-Obama conspiracy theorists, I'd be demanding that those supposedly "liberal" outlets be coming up with valid counter-arguments to all the right's craziest theories and even interview some sane talking heads of the right rather than let the far-right crazies run free like a bunch of naked babies in the wind. That way, the craziest of the conspiracy theories would be properly invalidated as complete BS, but the mildly crazy/fringe of conspiracy theories will at least have the appearance of being thoroughly evaluated as kinda-legitate by a fair and balanced media...
jcricket on January 10, 2012 11:05 AM:
Poe's law just keeps getting reaffirmed over and over again.
Marc on January 10, 2012 11:09 AM:
They understand reality thusly:
Whatever Obama does is an evil attempt to take over the minds and bodies of good wholesome Americans, and to turn them into whimpering dependent socialists who steal from the rich and give what they take to undeserving poor people who are simply too lazy to go out and get a job cleaning toilets.
Unless of course, you can show that it is what you suggested. Like Romney is now saying about the GM bailout. It was just a structured bankruptcy that he called for before Obama. See, it is simple.
Zorro on January 10, 2012 11:30 AM:
It’s increasingly difficult to understand how the right views reality.
Reality has a well-known liberal bias. Hence, conservatives ignore it.
And can we stop calling the right wing "conservative?" Shouldn't conservatives want to, I dunno, actually conserve something? This gang of maniacs wants to blow up virtually everything that made the post-WWII US economy the strongest in human history- that's not conservative, that's radical.
And stupid,
-Z
Peter C on January 10, 2012 11:56 AM:
This is merely book promotion. Some idiot right-winger wrote a screed and FOX and Murdoch are rewarding her with exposure so that she gets rich from their base of idiots. This has the added benefit of keeping their base poor (having bought useless books) and thus angry with the administration for not improving their lives.
citizen_pain on January 10, 2012 12:05 PM:
Silly republicans, you're no match for.... "THE BROWN HORNET!!!!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wjNeRUyoyY
noncarb on January 10, 2012 12:47 PM:
****
Not to mention "conservatives's". I've nearly given up hoping to see plural possessives done right, but it's not often you see one done this wrong.
noncarb on January 10, 2012 12:50 PM:
****
Hawkeye Pierce: "We're helping you look foolish, Frank."
Frank Burns: "I don't need your help!"
Texas Aggie on January 10, 2012 2:32 PM:
I think maybe Another Steve may be onto something when he said that it's an attempt to dog whistle the right wing religionists.
But even so, if it were a dastardly attempt to make the right wing look like a bunch of dorks, they didn't have to cooperate so much in the effort. They could have avoided looking so stupid by not looking so stupid.
Daniel Kim on January 10, 2012 3:42 PM:
I know it's late, but it has to be said:
"It's a Trap!"
mishanti2 on January 10, 2012 5:55 PM:
GOD forbid the President and his wife actually support the troops and their families and do more than just keep sending them into Iraq oe Afghanistan 4-5-6 times.
cc423 on January 11, 2012 3:33 PM:
Are Republicans determined to destroy their party? Sure seems that way. What American citizen would side with them over this silly fight they have picked? they are pathetic and getting even more so every day.
iamme73 on January 12, 2012 12:33 PM:
As human beings we have the power of our imaginations. The ability of human beings to imagine and to create what didn't previously exist, has been important to our survival and progression.
The downside is that people can use their imaginations to believe whatever they want to believe objective reality not withstanding.