A Democrat's view of the world

Journalist Nicholas D. Kristof is a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and currently writes for the New York Times. A few days ago, after some zoo animals escaped, Kristof tweeted:
To which, the inimitable Glenn Reynolds replied:

MESSAGE TO NICK KRISTOF: Boehner would pull out a gun and make a rug. As would many millions of other Americans.

Liberals live in an imagined state of helplessness. No wonder they are so angry.

In the future, everyone will be a racist

Duncan Hines is under fire for an ad promoting chocolate frosting. The NY Daily News reports:

Cupcakes aren't tasting so sweet for some Duncan Hines marketing execs who were forced to pull a video for their "Amazing Glazes" frosting line after viewers and bloggers complained the dancing cupcakes were racist.

Here is the commercial itself:

What makes the commercial racist? The Vancouver Sun cites, for example, the accusation that the chocolate-faced cupcakes "aren't even rapping." In fact, the music in the commercial is "instrumental electronic and beatbox" not genuine hip-hop. I was not aware that chocolate frosting had to be so limited in its musical preferences in order to qualify as non-racist.

Duncan Hines obviously intended for the commercial to sell its chocolate. One can criticize their musical choices but it is clear that they wanted to make the chocolate look good, not bad. The racism exists only in the minds of the commercial's critics.

Hat tip: Legal Insurrection.

PREVIOUSLY on racism:
•Is witch doctor image racist?
•Obama ally: "I hate white people...."
•“You can’t vote against healthcare and call yourself a black man.”
•"The city wasn't ready to hire a white police chief."
•A prominent black politician says the white incumbent cannot properly represent black voters.
•San Franciscans discriminate against blacks.
•"He's not black and he can't represent me, that's just the bottom line."

Rep. Hinchey: Bush 'intentionally let bin Laden get away'

On MSNBC, Rep. Hinchey (D-NY) says the Bush administration "intentionally let bin Laden get away.... That was done by the previous administration because they knew very well if they would capture Al Qaeda there would be no justification for an invasion in Iraq":
The MSNBC host challenges Rep. Hinchey's theory. I wonder if that will cause a backlash by the netroots against the network.

Rep. Hinchey was one of the 11 co-sponsors of the Kucinich resolution to impeach Pres. Geo. W. Bush.

The NY Times as a fever swamp

To see what passes for wisdom at the New York Times, once known as the paper of record, check out this Frank Rich column:So, why does he thinks that the GOP is full of extreme Marxists ("Stalinists")? Well, that never becomes clear. He does claim that the contest between Republican Dede Scazzafava and Conservative Party nominee Hoffman in the special election for New York's 23rd district was "riotous and bloody national G.O.P. civil war." That might be true except that there were no riots and there was no blood. He continues:

The battle for upstate New York confirms just how swiftly the right has devolved into a wacky, paranoid cult that is as eager to eat its own as it is to destroy Obama. ....

And Scozzafava is a mainstream conservative by New York standards; one statistical measure found her voting record slightly to the right of her fellow Republicans in the Assembly. .... [Emph. added]

So, Frank Rich wants to claim that Scozzafava is a "mainstream conservative" but that "the right," which is a "wacky paranoid cult," is attacking her because they want "to eat their own." However, today, former candidate Dede Scozzafava has endorsed the Democrat in the race. That makes Rich's claim that she is a "mainstream conservative" absurd. Further, it shows that "the right" had correctly figured out that she was a liberal. The only person in the story who appears "wacky" and "paranoid" would be Frank Rich.

Hat tip: B. Daniel Blatt

The possibilities are endless

On Air America, Randi Rhodes proposes that maybe Blackwater is behind the San Diego arson. She is not alone in this belief.

Those who love to hate, II

Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) comments on Pres. Bush's support of funding for the military:

But you’re going to spend it to blow up innocent people if he can get enough kids to grow old enough for you to send to Iraq to get their heads blown off for the President’s amusement....

The truth is that Bush just likes to blow things up in Iraq, ....

The idea that US soldiers are killed in Iraq "for the President’s amusement" is pure fantasy. The psychology of it seems strikingly similar to Tuesday's outburst by Air America host Jon Elliott who invented a fantasy about his co-host being attacked and injured by "right-wing, hate machine" muggers. I submit that imagining/fantasizing that their political opponents to be pure evil makes liberals, such as Stark and Elliott, feel better about themselves. In such a fantasy world, the liberal's cause is just and he need have no self-doubts. This makes him free to ignore all the complicated issues and nagging questions that occur when issues are addressed in a serious adult manner.

Those who love to hate

Air America host Randi Rhodes didn't show up for work today:

Fellow host Jon Elliott claimed on the liberal radio network that Rhodes had been mugged while walking her dog, Simon, on Sunday night. Elliot, who said Rhodes lost several teeth in the attack, waxed about a possible conspiracy.

"Is this an attempt by the right-wing, hate machine to silence one of our own?" he asked on the air, according to Talking Radio, a blog. "Are we threatening them? Are they afraid that we’re winning? Are they trying to silence intimidate us?"

The problem with Elliott's story is that Ms. Rhodes was not mugged: she fell:

Rhodes' lawyer told the Daily News she was injured in a fall while walking her dog. He said she's not sure what happened, and only knows that she fell down and is in a lot of pain. The lawyer said Rhodes expects to be back on the air Thursday. He stressed there is no indication she was targeted or that she was the victim of a "hate crime."

So what explains Mr. Elliott's outburst? He was not alone in his paranoid fantasies of persecution. Liberals across the internet had the same reaction.

One explanation is projection. Throwing pies at conservative speakers is a popular way for liberals to express themselves. Just last Thursday, Barnes and Noble reportedly had to call security because the intellectuals on New York's Upper West Side couldn't handle listening to a neo-conservative talk. It is natural for them to imagine (`project') that conservatives would express themselves the same way.

Having watched the faces of people who express such fantasies, an additional factor appears to me to be more important. When they imagine their opponents as pure evil, they feel better about themselves. It improves their self-esteem to believe that the other half of America is filled with hate.

PREVIOUSLY, we have discussed psychological projection in relation to Islamism, The New Republic, Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), and Alec Baldwin. The comfort that liberals derive from imagining the worst in those who disagree with them was discussed previously here.

UPDATE: Reportedly, Randi Rhodes, initially uncertain about what happened, told Air America that she was mugged. Elliott still appears to be the author of the fantasy about the right-wing hate-machine attack. Ms. Rhodes statement is quite interesting, worth a listen.

TNR's Projector-in-chief

Marty Peretz of Editor-in-Chief of The New Republic comments on Al Gore's Nobel:

Yes, the prize is rightly his. No one has devoted himself with such dedication and intellectual probity to a cause as important as this one. No one. So he deserves the Nobel. And the country deserves Al Gore to make another run at the presidency, he having lost his last try through chicanery and the arrogance of a party for which lying is second nature. Or maybe first.

It was The New Republic which published dishonest stories by Stephen Glass and Scott Beauchamp. When Editor-in-Chief Peretz talks of parties for whom lying is second or first nature, it appears to be a case of psychological projection.