BILL MAHER: It seems like the people like that, Kennedy, they just seem to always, at the end of the day, somehow get cut out of the picture -- violently, or otherwise -- and maybe that is why Barack Obama is a little more of a centrist than we want him to be.
CHRIS MATTHEWS: You think that?
MAHER: Well, I think he knows that if he goes a little too far to the left --
MATTHEWS: Really?
MAHER: Well, yeah.
MATTHEWS: I'm just really curious that you think that.
MAHER: Well, if I were Barack --
MATTHEWS: That's an extraordinary statement.
MAHER: What? You don't think --
MATTHEWS: I'm just saying that's an extraordinary statement. I'm amazed -- I'm impressed you think that.
MAHER: Think what?
MATTHEWS: That his policies are driven by fear of assassination.
MAHER: Well, not by fear of assassination.
JAMES GLASSMAN: Is that what you said?
MATTHEWS: Then by what?
MAHER: Well, I'm saying that yeah --
MATTHEWS: I thought you just said that.
MAHER: I didn't say it in those words.
MATTHEWS: Well, I would try and clarify.
MAHER: Well, I'm saying that, yeah, I think that's something that probably [Obama] thinks about at night, yeah. Wouldn't you?
MATTHEWS: That he has to change his policies for that reason?
MAHER: No! But I think that he is a centrist. I think people saw him as what they wanted to see him. They saw a liberal, and he was never really that much of a liberal. And to call him a socialist, is completely --
CAROL ROTH, CNBC: I don't think that anybody who is in the center or at the right would think that he is a centrist. You might think that, but everybody else doesn't think that.
MAHER: I don't think that is an insult to say to somebody that he may modulate his policies because he is afraid of all the hate that he sees.
MATTHEWS: He probably gets reports constantly about threats, though. That must unnerve him.
Now you might dismiss this as simply Maher being provocative, except there was also this recent post from Andrew Sullivan:
I’ve been doing some reading about John Kennedy, and what I find startling, and even surprising, is how absolutely Wanted_for_treasonconsistent and unchanged the ideology of the extreme American right has been over the past fifty years, from father to son and now, presumably, on to son from father again. The real analogue to today’s unhinged right wing in America is yesterday’s unhinged right wing in America. This really is your grandfather’s right, if not, to be sure, your grandfather’s Republican Party. …
Reading through the literature on the hysterias of 1963, the continuity of beliefs is plain: Now, as then, there is said to be a conspiracy in the highest places to end American Constitutional rule and replace it with a Marxist dictatorship, evidenced by a plan in which your family doctor will be replaced by a federal bureaucrat—mostly for unnamable purposes, but somehow involving the gleeful killing off of the aged. There is also the conviction, in both eras, that only a handful of Congressmen and polemicists (then mostly in newspapers; now on TV) stand between honest Americans and the apocalypse, and that the man presiding over that plan is not just a dupe but personally depraved, an active collaborator with our enemies, a secret something or other, and any necessary means to bring about the end of his reign are justified and appropriate. And fifty years ago, as today, groups with these beliefs, far from being banished to the fringe of political life, were closely entangled and intertwined with Senators and Congressmen and right-wing multi-millionaires.
 |
| A famous handbill circulated on November 21, 1963 In Dallas, Texas. One day before the assassination of John F. Kennedy. |
Yes I would like to dismiss the words of Bill Maher. I just can't.
I was only a baby when Kennedy was killed but I did have an opportunity to talk with Nellie Connelly at a party. She of course was the fourth person in the car that day. Apparently it was common knowledge that coming to Dallas was very dangerous to the President. The population was very divided, much like it is today.
ReplyDeleteTEXASMEL
I think Bill Maher is right. We know for a fact Todd Palin was pimping out Secret Service agent David Chaney(to Shay). A FUCKING SECRET SERVICE AGENT! And Johnny mac and Darryl "Car Thief" Issa was all over the "Secret Service Scandal"like flies on shit.... until THAT came to light then it went Poof...
DeleteLook at what's happening now.
There was a incident at the WH last week. They don't publicize them much. I feel PBO will go down in History as one of the Best POTUS but b/c of 'Merican Patriots hatred of AA's his hands were/are tied.
Yes I think he is a centrist...and I don't believe its fear, he's not afraid, but he is worried for his family and THE COUNTRY IF SOMETHING HAPPENS TO HIM! These knuckledragging cretins don't get it.
And Boner is what 3 in line?BONER as POTUS? Scares the shit out of me and most likely PBO.
I'm sure when he gets "out" he will write prob several books exposing these fuckers.
I do think tho IF he had toed a hard line against stupid sarah in the beginning not protecting her hillbilly family and when joe willson screamed "you lie" he should of been censured or plain arrested.
All these baggers should be arrested for Treason including Sarah.
best comment of the day, at HUFFPO:
ReplyDeleteRIPRNC
With the tea party,
the GOP now knows how it feels to carry to term
something they should have aborted.
Agree with you.
DeleteOMG that's the best for sure! Thanks for sharing.
DeleteI'd never heard the rumor of JFK having a "previous marriage and divorce" in all these years.
ReplyDeleteFound an explanation of it online: "JFK dated a divorcee named Durie Malcolm before he married Jackie. A rumor circulated early in Kennedy's presidency that they actually got married in Palm Beach, Florida, in 1947 and that the Kennedys paid to hush it up, without a formal divorce or annulment, including the illegal removal of the marriage certificate from the courthouse. Seymour Hersch reports it as the truth in his very controversial book The Dark Side of Camelot. Hersch claims as his source Charles Spalding, supposedly a longtime Kennedy family friend. They never denied dating each other, but Kennedy denied the rumor of their marriage while he was alive, and Malcolm also denied it in a message to Hersch denying him an interview for the book. " http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=397312
Thanks, Liz
DeleteI can't dismiss his words either. I've always been on the fence with Maher but this is too much. If that fuckin pussy only could walk in my presidents shoes for one day he would shit his pants. Barack Obama, best prez ever.
ReplyDeleteI think Bill maybe didn't fully express what he meant and was clearly thrown off by Matthew's pointed assessment. What I heard in Bill's statement wasn't simply that the President would change his policies out of fear for his own life (which would be pretty cowardly), but more that he has an understanding that the level of personal threat is a reflection of the potential for nation-wide chaos if too large steps in certain directions are taken.
ReplyDeleteBill's term "modulation" I think is accurate. It's not so much about personal fear, it's about understanding that you have to move things forward slowly sometimes to avoid damage to the country. though, sometimes that just cannot be avoided and you have to let the chips fall where they may. Slavery and Civil Rights being two examples.
More likely expressed though veiled threats to his family......
DeleteAstute analysis, Boscoe.
DeleteAnd to 4:00--
The threats are not "veiled."
I went to RCP to see what the comments looked like. Maher is right. Those goons all think Obama's a far left revolutionary.
ReplyDeleteI have said since the day he was sworn in that he was pulled aside and informed just where the line is that shall not be crossed. Kennedy crossed that line. President Obama is more worried about his legacy as the first president of color than his own personal safety. If they were to take him down like Kennedy, every person of color or minority would have to give up on America. It could potentially bring the whole country down.
ReplyDeleteYou my good man is a fucking racist.
DeleteI think there would be riots in the streets if President Obama were ever killed. It is something I've feared for him because there is so much hate put upon him by the likes of Cruz, Palin, McConnell, McCain, Cantor, Boehner, etc.
DeleteAnd, I'd be one of the first ones out there - and, I'm WHITE!
I will join you. Time to bring back scarlet letters for these assholes. A great big "S" for sedition across all their foreheads. Won't be a big problem for $arah, she'll just think it's a cute monogram.
DeleteOT: Mr Poopy-Pants himself is threatening a run for President:
ReplyDeletehttp://detroit.cbslocal.com/2013/10/14/ted-nugent-cut-his-hair/
What an INSULT to President Obama you are promoting, Gryphen!
ReplyDeleteAfter all this time you project FEAR on our president? After all this time you don't KNOW that he does NOT respond to fear that way. After all this time you give credence to such cockamamie bullshit that comes out of Maher's mouth? Out of Chris Matthews mouth? What the fuck Gryphen? WTF?
How insulting and degrading and disloyal are you to suggest that there's any validity to what the pundits are promoting? If you think for one second that this man's heart and soul that drives his choices and actions are crippled by that fear, then you don't have a FUCKING CLUE to who this man is.
What a shame that you would succumb to this nonsense and then trumpet it on your blog. What has President Obama EVER DONE, SAID or SUGGESTED that he is fearful of assassination to the point of neutering his own vision for this country? Really? Seriously? How can you even TOY with such fear based nonsense?
Barack Obama has seen his share of racism and has lived his life dealing with this sort of garbage. It's part of what has shaped him.
For you to dismiss his personal courage with such an accusation is disgusting, I'd have to say. Yep, it really pisses me off! Projecting your fears on our president is a HUGE disservice to the man. STOP IT.
Oh take a deep breath 3:58--and then see Boscoe's comment at 3:04.
DeleteI have no doubt that the threats against the President are one factor how weighs as he decides how to proceed. Not because he's fearful or cowardly but because he's intelligent enough to recognize that his assassination would cripple his agenda. Especially since we no longer have Republicans like Senator Dirksen, who are statesmen and public servants, and who want to pass legislation that will help the country and it's citizens.
President Obama is a pragmatist. He values the possible and he values consensus in accomplishing that. The level of hatred toward him is a political factor that must always be gauged as he "modulates his policies" (as Maher put it) and weighs alternative courses of actions.
Okay take a deep breath. Better?
DeleteLook I am not at all suggesting that the President is curled up in the fetal position terrified that at any minute a bullet with his name on it will end his Presidency and his life.
What I am saying is that considering the incredible anger coming his way every day of the week, and the bloody history of this country that HE well knows, it has to have some impact on his policy decisions.
And it is not only a concern about his own safety that must enter into the equation it is also the fear that the country will rip itself a asunder and that there will be an actual civil war. That is a thought that not too long ago I would have dismissed entirely, but no more.
Do you not think that the President has seriously considered the fact that he may not see the end of his second term? Do you think his wife has not also felt that icy fear creep up her spine?
Of course they have. And it stands to reason that there are great pains taken to protect him from such a terrible outcome but also great pains taken to not unnecessary agitate the crazies.
Hundreds of threats against the President and his family for the past five years say you are way off base.
DeleteBill Maher is not a pundit, he's a political humorist and is as entitled to an 'opinion' about the relative safety of the President as you are to call Uncle G names. Maher is a big supporter of President Obama and like many of us is simply expressing fear about those who are just waiting for an opportunity to take him down. Save your vitriol and name-calling for those who truly deserve it. Those radical extremists in the GOP/TP who have used nearly every trick in the book to destroy this presidency. Start with Palin and Beck, they are the direct voice to the craziest in their pack.
It's like not letting the pot boil over.
DeleteYes, Bill Maher has a more than occasional brainfart (don't we all?), and the “Left" have their silly mythologies too (prime example: St Jack Kennedy). The 44th President is an artist of "the possible" and I'm both proud and glad of it. Y
DeleteA stretch it is not......the right is not above anything.......after all,they have already assassinated his character........
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the ideology of the right, George HW Bush had some pretty good assassination insurance: Dan Quayle. W had Dick Cheney, an even better choice. Could it be that John McCain picked Sarah P as a guarantee that he would not/could not win, with such a dingbat?
ReplyDeleteMy republican friend who voted for Obama twice has told me she fears that Obama will get assassinated. She thinks he's the right man for the country but because of his skin color it'll drive a racist to do the unthinkable.
ReplyDeleteI think Barack Obama has been ready to lay down his life from the day he announced. That's what I think.
ReplyDeleteI think you're absolutely right. Remember that during the Kennedy years, the John Birch Society was in full flight. Then it went slightly underground after the Civil Rights Act because the majority of the country despised the Birchers and all they stood for. I suggest that the TPers, funded by the Kochs, whose father was the major supporter of the Birchers, are actually the Birchers with a new name. The last thing they want is a black man in "their" White House. And they absolutely cannot stand the fact that the President keeps his cool, is highly respected around the world and by a majority of American citizens, and is, above all, honourable and upright.
DeleteAnd WHO brought it back up? Sitting in her Gov office posing with Bircher shit? Why the teabag queen herself!
DeleteShe needs to be tarred and feathered.
Maple . . . Amen to that!
Delete
ReplyDeleteThe common idiots are not the threat, they can't get close enough to assassinate a president now. When JFK was assassinated they had the population all worked up about communists, now it's socialists and a regression to the racism of that period of time. There were oil men back in the 1960s who were severely right wing and racist who had the money to do whatever they wanted and they did. When JFK was killed my mother said, "They killed him". When I asked her who "they" were she said that he wanted to give the blacks civil rights and the racists in the south would not allow it. There was more than one reason JFK was assassinated which is why solving that conundrum is so complex, but racism, distorted fear about communism, socialism, revenge, those evil others who might come here and take our jobs, etc. always comes from the same subset of people and in the same kind of crazy package no matter what the time period is. We have a similar theme now, with the Koch brothers and others having almost all the money and controlling the legislators, but we have more chaos and idiotic legislators now which creates fear and when things are not going well, the idiotic find a scapegoat rather than look for the real cause, because they are idiots. An assassination would be done by very high paid, very skilled shooters or bombers, a large number of people would have to be involved to set it up. This makes it much less likely to happen now than in the 1960s. The population is fed propaganda to get them to hate, so at least a portion would accept the assassination. This is why the cluster at the Secret Service is so disturbing.
Very good comment Celia! Thank you.
DeletePeople should read Family of Secrets about the oil cartel and the Bushes. Some VERY interesting info on JFK death. Written by respected investigative journalist. I din't agree with maher but good discussion gryphen. Thanks.
DeleteThe danger is real. Has Pres. Obama moderated his policy agenda in response? Absolutely not.
ReplyDeleteI think Maher was looking for a way to explain away his own mistaken expectation that Pres. Obama was more to the left than he is or ever was or that he could have passed a more progressive agenda if he'd only tried.
It's not President Obama's job to keep himself safe it's the Secret Service's! And with the likes of David Chaney working in the Secret Service it's a miracle the POTUS is still alive. And as much as I loathe Dumbya Bush I never wanted him dead.
ReplyDeleteIf those right wing assholes that think pieces of shit like Sarah Palin are smart and right about her vitriol she constantly spews touch the president, there will be holy hell to pay and we will erupt into a civil war. Sarah Palin, Ted Cruz and theri ilk work hard to try to whip idiots into a frenzy and they'd like nothing better thatn to literally cause something to happen to the president, then they'd play innocent. I hate thse treasonous bastards.
ReplyDeleteThe thought of the threats has often crossed my mind. President Obama's greatest asset is how he's handled himself in office, how he's thought things through before putting them in motion. I don't think Bill Maher meant he's paralyzed by fear and it's affected his leadership style. I read it as something that must be on the mind of the President, especially because he's African American and the level of vitriol, obstruction and hate have been so ramped up since day 1.
ReplyDeleteI feel President Obama has done a fine job, against all odds, of doing the work of the people and progressing us forward on many issues.
Agreed . . . as a frightful President wouldn't put himself in harms way by walking the streets of DC to go get lunch ~ or continue to give speeches in public forums. Yes, being a shrewd thinker and a realist, I'm certain the chilling notion has entered his mind (and his wife's). Even so, I pray for the vigilance and integrity of the Secret Service, who have a tremendous charge. In my view, SS needs to make "examples" out of a few encroachers from the rabid peanut gallery to tamp down the foolishness of the noisy minority.
Delete