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Headline: Komen retreats in face of outrage (Denver Post)
Headline: Ellen DeGeneres ... supporters fight back (Contra Costa Times)
We're used to seeing right wing partisans dressed up in powdered wigs and clutching outsized copies of the Constitution like it was a magic scarabaeus. Liberals have traditionally suffered from an unwillingness to use the same kind of off-the-wall street theater. In this season of Republican primary after primary, they get to say and do the most incredible things - "incredible" in the dictionary sense of totally lacking credibility. Our guy, President Obama - is tending to business instead of fighting back. It's ... it's just plain frustrating!
That's why Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert are getting such a response from their shows. When President Obama used the State of the Union address to disagree with the Supreme Court in their Citizens United case, a scholarly war of principled position papers in law review journals erupted. Most of us found something more interesting to read. When Colbert formed the "Making a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow" Super PAC ... well, a recent Slate article said Colbert was winning!
But most of the time, we're just taking it on the chin and we can't understand why.
Us: Serial philanderer wins South Carolina Republican Primary.
Media: Yawn! Gingrich has charged Obama with spending time with his family at Disneyland! Nation outraged!
Us: Romney would be the richest president ever, and he made his money firing American workers.
Media: Michelle Obama wears designer dress at official function. Will the corruption ever stop?
I was initially puzzled by the outsized reaction to the Komen decision to stop funding Planned Parenthood. Yeah, it was a weak and political response to a vicious right-wing pressure tactic, but that happens all the time and it didn't amount to that much money in the overall scheme of things. Sheldon Adelson has invested ten or fifteen times that much money in his bid to purchase a United States President. But after thinking about it for a while ... (My bad, I know. I should just react instead of thinking.) ... it's more understandable.
It's FRUSTRATION ... and it found an outlet.
