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Cheering Against America
I don't really care much about the Olympics, and the fact that Obama's brief trip to Copenhagen got saturation coverage in the press this week struck me mostly as yet another testament to the modern media's fundamental unseriousness. The triumph of gossip over substance continues its inexorable march.
That said, I hopped back over to The Corner a few minutes ago, and the Olympics are by far the biggest topic of conversation there this morning. But The Corner is a gossipy place, so that's not such a big deal. What is stunning, though, is just how openly thrilled they are that America lost its bid. All because a president they don't like decided to make a direct pitch for his adopted hometown. Ditto for the Weekly Standard, apparently. It sure doesn't take much to turn these guys against their country, does it?
UPDATE: Much, much more here and here. I honestly had no idea things had gotten this deranged. Jesus.
Who
Just who do you think began the "hate America" campaign? Here's a hint: this person has gone around the world telling everyone who would listen that America really, really sucks and that any and all faults in the world are because of America. Another hint: this person is all "hopey and changey".
Jeez - exaggerate much?
The US has lost several times before in trying to win the Olympics. But no one cheered a loss like the today's wingnuts.
Really? What exactly did he
Really? What exactly did he say? And I mean EXACT WORDS IN THEIR CONTEXT, with dates and places, dumbass.
Just who do you think made
Just who do you think made America hateful? Could it have been the lying, torturing, draft-dodging crew of snakes that lied us into war with Iraq and are cake as an American city drowned?
It could be worse.
They could be cheering against their country in a war.
Who backed the Chicago Plan?
Well, it started Jan '08. Who was President? Oh yeah, that other guy.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_10/020234.php
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like their idols
Well, these guys idolized Bush and Rove, who made it clear that the success of the GOP was more important than success of the country. Now the corner folks are sticking to their previous form: content-free, policy-free discussion. They just want the GOP to be in charge.
I think you are painting
I think you are painting with a pretty broad brush. A lot of us are thrilled the Olympics are not coming to the US in the same way residents of 16th century Spain were thrilled when the army chose to quarter itself in the next town over.
If you believe the
If you believe the economists that say that all Olympics, including LA 1984, are great big money holes, than why on earth would anyone be for them?
And do I now understand it's some sort of liberal thing: if you say the Olympics lose money, you're probably a troll or concern troll, certainly not a good liberal.
Except for David Corn's post at MotherJones.... I recommend you read it.
Spontaneity can be a bitch
I'd agree that hosting the Olympics is a double-edged sword and therefore I'm not sure whether the city of Chicago and its inhabitants have won or lost with this decision. But what's ridiculous to suggest is that these conservatives cheered just to express their relief that Chicago was spared all those expenses. The psychology of their reaction was way more infantile.
And the embarrassing nature of their outburst seems to have dawned quite quickly on some of the 'defeat' enthusiasts. Why else would the crew at the Weekly Standard have decided to take down their 'Cheers' comment within a few hours. Spontaneity can really be a bitch.
Wait until they realize that Obama is still president. Tomorrow is going to be a depressing day for them.
depends on what you measure
The Olympics, like World's Fairs before them, are really great at building consensus and moving large metropolises toward a single goal and making the kinds of large, coordinated infrastructure changes that cities need to make (and that don't get made outside of cities with Metro governments).
The kinds of corridinated planning and visioning, with specific timelines and a specific end goal go along way to improving regional planning, connectivity and investment in transit and housing.
Chicago was better off after the 1893 Columbian Exhibition, SF was better off after the Panama world's fair, and LA's growth and subway construction of the last 20 years was started has it's roots in the Olympics -- similarly for Atlanta and their games and Knoxville and its world's fair.
Nothing can compete with that kind of super-regional motivation. And Chicago and Illinois, who have failed their transit systems, failed to upkeep them, and failed to improve them, expand them, and build and plan in a coordinated fashion -- would have benefited immensely from the Olympics and the eyes of the world's media.
Nothing else can get that done. That's the benefit of the Olympics.
"I honestly had no idea things had gotten this deranged. Jesus.
You obviously don't live in the south.
"I honestly had no idea things had gotten this deranged."
All he has to do is read his own comment section. The tightie-righties are out in force today, but there are always a few trolling under the bridge.
really weird
it is a new low... maybe it's time to recall the 'conservatives want Obama to fail' meme. Even when the goal is so seemingly unobjectionable. Hard to argue against that now.
Jebus. Were we this bad
Jebus.
Were we this bad during the Bush years?
Were we this bad during the Bush years?
No, we were not. I have to admit we got kind of silly over the Pretzel Incident early on, but our most negative talk was about SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES like Iraq, environmental policies, constitutional issues (wiretapping, prisoner abuse, etc.), politicizing the Justice Department, and manifest failures like Katrina and lackadaisical SEC oversight.
These people are not talking about anything REAL or MAJOR. They have nothing but petty gripes, exaggerations and invented beefs. It must be very frustrating for them, since they're trying desperately to turn the populace against Obama with what amounts to a collection of rubber swords and sucker-pointed arrows.
Were we this bad during the Bush years?
Were we this bad during the Bush years?
==================================
Nice try - but you were far, far worse
Examples?
Surely you have examples?
Yeah. You know things have
Yeah. You know things have become a bit deranged when they begin to haunt a little blog I read devoted to what Michelle Obama is wearing. Very weird. It's more than just "Why doesn't she ditch those belts?" and becomes "What she wore caused us to lose the Olympic bid."
I'm not paranoid, honestly, but their subtext (she's ghetto & I don't like her husband) is pretty easy to read.
Now, granted, I didn't read any sites devoted to Laura Bush & fashion (there must've been a few, right?) so I don't know who may have trolled those sites.
This from the party which
This from the party which spent six years gloating over each and every American and Iraqi death in Iraq.
This from the party which
Gee, and my friends and I all thought we were bemoaning them. Aren't we chagrined now to discover that "bemoan" and "gloat" are synonyms!
sigh
"This from the party which spent six years gloating over each and every American and Iraqi death in Iraq."
this is so tiresome. this guy can't really think this, and it's not worth explaining it to him/her in any event as there is simply nothing, nothing that will change their mind on the matter or on politics in general. typically I'm up for the sparring and spirited exchange of ideas, but combined with the parade of dishonesty and ignorant outrage we've seen from the right over the last few months, I just can't think these people are arguing in good faith anymore. it's fucking boring and tedious and I quit.
sigh
"This from the party which spent six years gloating over each and every American and Iraqi death in Iraq."
this is so tiresome. this guy can't really think this, and it's not worth explaining it to him/her in any event as there is simply nothing, nothing that will change their mind on the matter or on politics in general. typically I'm up for the sparring and spirited exchange of ideas, but combined with the parade of dishonesty and ignorant outrage we've seen from the right over the last few months, I just can't think these people are arguing in good faith anymore. it's fucking boring and tedious and I quit.
Death to America
"What she wore caused us to lose the Olympic bid."
Actually, my understanding is that what sunk the Chicago Olympics bid was the full body cavity searches that visitors to the good old U.S. of A. must now endure.
"Welcome to America! Please step into this room over here and disrobe."
OK, I'm exagerrating, but I imagine bin Laden finds this quite amusing, as do many Republicans. Egads, they must be in cahoots.
Chicago lucked out
No multibillion dollar cost overruns. No displacement of minorities. No gentrification. No white elephant monuments to civic boosterism.
The US has had four summer Olympics and four winter games since the reincarnation of the Olympics in the late 1800s.
Let someone else lose money and screw up their cities for a while.
Now if we could just shut down our professional sports teams and their taxpayer funded skybox extravaganzas, we'd be on the right track.
That 'losing money' thing
The problem I have with that is that so much of the expense part is infrastructure building. And when Chicagoans (say) get hired for all sorts of jobs, is that an expense or a benefit?
I haven't looked into the methodology, but 'Chicago' might lose money if you look at Chicago as if it were an employer. If you look at it as a population and a community, you have an upgraded transit system, repaired roads, new buildings, full hotels and restaurants, and lots of jobs--temporary jobs, but aren't they all these days?
As a long time Chicagoan, 'm happy for Rio. I don't think the city needs more sports complexes. But a lot of the stuff that goes into the expense part of the Olympics would be spending money on us. That makes the whole picture more complicated.
It's Too Bad We Lost
For purely selfish sports fan reasons, I would have loved to see the Olympics come to Illinois, regardless of how many Chicago politicians became rich.
But, apparently, the approach used by the President wasn't enough or perhaps was even counterproductive. Blair and Sula succeeded because they took days wheeling and dealing with the IOC members.
You would have thought Chicago politicians would understand pay to play.
It's too bad
Trashhauler, likely no approach would have won it for you guys. Insofar as things related to your bid, two reasons.
1. This would've been your fifth summer Olympics.
2. The entry regulations put in place but Mr. Bush are still there and there are few countries as sucky to enter as the U.S.
A third reason of my own I would give (no idea to what extent IOC members felt this) was I was so appalled by the rah, rah boosterism and dumb, dull roars of "USA, USA" at the Atlanta games. It was like the only athletes to be appreciated for their skills were those who also had a certain nationality (though maybe I'm just speaking as one who comes from an athletically inferior country; if we only cheered our own nationals we'd have no one to cheer!). Anyway, it was a crowd response that severely pissed me off. Felt the same way too when the games were in South Korea. Didn't feel very Olympic spirited.
Surely Chicago lost for a
Surely Chicago lost for a combination of reasons -- first, as my South American au pairs reminded me over the weekend, South America has never hosted an Olympic event and they are truly excited -- the one from Brazil, and the other one from a different country. I think Rio is in the same category as Seoul in 1988 -- a sign that a country has made a lot of progress culturally and economically. It's truly a fair choice.
And then -- there is the pesky issue of U.S. visa policies since 2001. We who are citizens don't have as firm a grasp of this issue as those who are not citizens do. Visiting the U.S. can be a colossal bitch now. IOC doesn't want to deal with it.
As for whether the Olympics is a good or bad thing -- Athens had a great Olympics but seems to have squandered whatever opportunity for long-term gains it might have had. Devoting that much capital to sports doesn't strike me as the best way to make forward progress, and it's certainly not a foreordained result. Chicago is a great city with or without the Olympics.
Anyway, those who are cheering Chicago's loss are like dogs scratching an itch. They are going to keep scratching until they are bleeding and oozing. Here's wishing them a really nasty secondary infection.
News flash
The U.S. is not always going to get what it wants.