{"id":2707,"date":"2010-01-20T18:15:37","date_gmt":"2010-01-20T18:15:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/?p=2707"},"modified":"2010-01-21T00:50:16","modified_gmt":"2010-01-21T00:50:16","slug":"andrew-sullivan-still-cant-get-past-his-nose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/?p=2707","title":{"rendered":"Andrew Sullivan &#8211; Still Can&#8217;t Get Past His Nose&#8230;. UPDATE"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Andrew%20Sullivan%20-%20Still%20Can%27t%20Get%20Past%20His%20Nose....%20UPDATE\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>[Welcome Insta-P readers. It&#8217;s always nice to have company &#8217;round here]<\/p>\n<p>Up until today, he had featured this George Orwell Quote as the tagline of his blog: &#8220;To see what is in front of one&#8217;s <em>nose<\/em> needs a constant struggle.&#8221; It seems to still be quite a struggle.<\/p>\n<p>In light of the Scott Brown victory, here are a few snips of his latest posts:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"http:\/\/andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com\/the_daily_dish\/2010\/01\/the-big-lie.html#more\">Mort Zuckerman pronounces:<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com\/the_daily_dish\/2010\/01\/the-big-lie.html#more\">He didn\u2019t address the main issue.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com\/the_daily_dish\/2010\/01\/the-big-lie.html#more\">He means the economy. How anyone who has been sentient this past year can say such a thing merely reveals how effective the propaganda has been. Let&#8217;s review: a stimulus package that has clearly helped turn the economy around and was skilfully structured to ensure that it didn&#8217;t entirely fade away when the second year came around, a third of which was <em>tax cuts<\/em>; a bank bailout that is now being paid back; a lifeline to the car industry; major investment in infrastructure; extension of unemployment benefits; avoidance of a second great depression and a return to fragile but real growth after the financial and economic abyss of a year ago &#8230; I mean <em>he didn&#8217;t address the main issue??<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com\/the_daily_dish\/2010\/01\/the-big-lie.html#more\"><em>What the fuck is he talking about?<\/em><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><!--more-->He&#8217;s talking about the fact that the stimulus has done little to bolster the economy or turn back the tide of unemployment. The majority of the stimulus was a collection of political bribes and kick-backs desired by the Pelosi \/ Reid apparatchiks, pent up by the Republican firewall for the last eight years, and did nothing to improve infrastructure or economic growth. The 1\/3&#8217;rd of the stimulus that did go to the right places was not nearly enough to do much of anything. Though I don&#8217;t disagree with the auto and bank bailouts (they stink, but I think they were the right thing to do) it remains to be seen whether the auto bailouts will result in the survival of GM (probably) or Chrysler (doubtful), and the bank bail-outs are a continuation of policies set forth by the hated Bush administration. The thing that hurt Obama and the congress most is the almost universal predictions by economists that the current recovery will be a jobless one. Obama has indeed not only not absorbed this, but instead of pursuing policy that might change this prospect, he and congress are pursuing policies such as the botched Health Care Deformed, which will only increase the bureaucratic paperwork needed to operate a health care facility and not much else, and cap-and-trade, which will along with HCD increase the costs of everything through tax increases. And Speaking of&#8230;.. Obama&#8230;. <em>tax cuts<\/em>? You&#8217;re kidding right?<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"http:\/\/andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com\/the_daily_dish\/2010\/01\/pen-pals-on-the-hill.html#more\">Those of us who want Obama to succeed in tackling this country&#8217;s deepest problems are bummed enough. But healthcare reform was never my reason for supporting him. I was much more invested in getting past the cynicism and laziness of the red-blue divide, restoring the rule of law and the constitutional balance, ending the unwinnable wars in\u00a0 Iraq and Afghanistan, stopping torture, and so on. But for those progressives who have fought for wider access to health insurance for their entire lives, this must be an excruciating, devastating moment.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com\/the_daily_dish\/2010\/01\/pen-pals-on-the-hill.html#more\">It is, of course, heightened by the almost unimaginable irony of Ted Kennedy&#8217;s seat being the death-knell for insurance reform&#8230;<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Obama has stuck with most of the policies on spying that the Bush administration put into place, and I don&#8217;t see much change in restoring the rule of law. Oh, and I must have missed it, but when did it change from <em>Health Care Reform<\/em> to <em>Insurance Reform<\/em>? Is this like the time the press and political hand wringers lowered the bar from Global Warming, to Climate Change, after it stopped warming? Or are we in the processes of changing it, now that the bar of possible accomplishment has been lowered.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"http:\/\/andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com\/the_daily_dish\/2010\/01\/scott-brown-wins-mass-race-giving-gop-4159-majority-in-the-senate.html\">I know now more than ever before why I could never be a Democrat and feel it vital to defeat the current Republican nihilism. Which leaves me with Obama. This is a critical moment. How he responds will be everything. I think there is a response and that, oddly enough, his chances of re-election in 2012 just rose.<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>His chances of re-election just rose????? Based on what exactly?<\/p>\n<p>Strange how every single failure during the Bush administration alway went to the top, but somehow, Obama has no responsibilities in the myriad of policy failures in his first year in office. Face. Nose. and beyond.<\/p>\n<p>UPDATE: Here&#8217;s a newer post.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com\/the_daily_dish\/2010\/01\/now-call-the-gops-bluff.html\">Because Obama has been so &#8220;partisan&#8221; in framing healthcare reform &#8211; even as he junked single payer, included cost controls, made it budget neutral, and won over the drug and insurance companies &#8211; his proposal is apparently in tatters.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The government funded insurance pool is like the public option, except the insurance companies would still be able to raise rates. How on Earth can something control costs \/ be budget neutral it it take a massive set of massive tax increases to pay for it? Here is a little advise, from someone who actually runs a business &#8211; charging the customer more to purchase a product IS NOT in any way shape or form called &#8220;cost controls&#8221;. And, as far as winning over the drug and insurance companies&#8230; Of course they are on board, because, in the end, the current version of the bill doesn&#8217;t affect them at all, except give them even more power to influence medical cost in their favor. The current Obamacare plan is probably worse than doing nothing at all.<\/p>\n<p>PS. And just so no one accuses me of being an &#8220;Andrew Hater&#8221;, let me point out that <a href=\"http:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/?p=2683\">I defended him earlier this week<\/a>. I very much like and respect him, but his love and blindness toward the failure that is the Obama presidency boggles my mind. Perhaps Sullivan is still latching on to the concept of Obama vs the reality of him. Not unusual in politics, as it took many years for the Republican dissolusionment of Goerge W Bush to set in.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"StumbleUpon\",\"Digg\",\"Reddit\",\"Bebo\",\"Delicious\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"Andrew%20Sullivan%20-%20Still%20Can%27t%20Get%20Past%20His%20Nose....%20UPDATE\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div><p>[Welcome Insta-P readers. It&#8217;s always nice to have company &#8217;round here] Up until today, he had featured this George Orwell Quote as the tagline of his blog: &#8220;To see what is in front of one&#8217;s nose needs a constant struggle.&#8221; It seems to still be quite a struggle. In light of the Scott Brown victory, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[37,7,27],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2707"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2707"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2709,"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2707\/revisions\/2709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonicfrog.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}