Funniest article of the year

In my blogging career, I've made a few attempts at wit. But none have had the success of this piece by James Oliphant in the National Journal...

Progressive Bloggers Are Doing the White House's Job

This administration enjoys an advantage afforded no other: a partisan media that has its back, minute-by-minute.

It's been a familiar pattern since President Obama took office in 2009: When critics attack, the White House can count on a posse of progressive writers to ride to its rescue. Pick an issue, from the Affordable Care Act to Ukraine to the economy to controversies involving the Internal Revenue Service and Benghazi, and you'll find the same voices again and again, on the Web and on Twitter, giving the president cover while savaging the opposition.

James: Stop. You're killing me. Hell, you're killing reality itself.

Be honest. Did you see any prominent right-wing critiques of George W. Bush at any time throughout his eight years? Digby recalls a particularly hilarious example of the kind of thing the right expectorated on a daily basis...

It must be very strange to be President Bush. A man of extraordinary vision and brilliance approaching to genius, he can’t get anyone to notice. He is like a great painter or musician who is ahead of his time, and who unveils one masterpiece after another to a reception that, when not bored, is hostile.

The original of that quote is here, and it goes in a similarly goofy vein. Author John Hinderaker did add a bit at the end, in which he states that dum-dum liberals never noticed his "tongue in cheek" tone. I think the tone is best described as kidding on the sly, if I may be allowed an old-fashioned phrase.

Speaking as an inhabitant of a somewhat less reputable region of the Blogosphere, I can't recall any anti-Dubya material on forums like The Free Republic or Drudge. The Bush family was considered to be unassailable; for example, when Bush's daughters were caught in a bit of underaged drinking, the right-wingers harassed the bartender who asked for ID.

You'd think that Bush's pork-filled budgets would have evinced more criticism from the libertarians on the right. In fact, one had to wade deep, deep into the Libertarian rain forest to find a single harsh word about all that.

And I've certainly seen a fair amount of anti-Obama material on Salon, Slate, Kos, ThinkProgress, Crooks and Liars and environs. Of course, liberals critique him from the left; they don't rely on right-wing talking points, which are always based on hallucinations and propaganda hand-outs. I've seen plenty of pieces in liberal cyber-publications damning Obama to hell on issues like drone warfare, invasions of privacy, escalation of the war in Afghanistan, the protection of Wall Street's "malefactors of great wealth," the lack of transparency, the assaults on FOIA, the continuing incarcerations at Gitmo...

...and don't forget Tim Effing Geithner. Does anyone like Tim Effing Geithner? I bet that even his own dog barks at him.

Visit Google and type in "Obama conti" without quotes. The moment you hit "i" you'll see the auto-completion Obama continues Bush policies. Most of the top links go to liberal websites like Huffington Post; there are also links directing you to the Washington Post and NBC. These stories are usually not favorable to Obama (or to Bush).

Salon has run some excellent correctives to this administration's Ukraine propaganda: This is a particularly good example.

You need a machete these days to whack through the thicket of misinformation, disinformation, spin, propaganda and straight-out lying that daily envelopes the Ukraine crisis like kudzu on an Alabama telephone pole.

Did you ever see a right-winger utter similar words about the misbegotten Iraq invasion? (Also see here.)

For what it's worth, this humble C-level blogger considers himself a liberal and is writing an anti-Obama book.