Comments on Obama's Speech

Are you still obsessing about that? Stop. We're sober now. Sort of.

*yawn*

I was not saying the speech was great. I was objecting to your tone: "OH MY GOD" was the title, and the bulk of it said "But yeah, blah blah blah unity One America inspire blah blah blah.", which is childish and petulant and inane. If another Slogger had posted "OH MY GOD, Clinton is such a fucking bitch, she won't shut up, blah de blah de blah blah" you would have gone ballistic, and you know it.

You are not a Slog commenter. I know that it may be difficult to remember when your boss is posting pictures and essays of his poo, but you're theoretically a journalist.

You're an expert on rambling and dull, Erica, no doubt about that.

Who now?

@3, maybe you can remind Eli that he is theoretically a journalist and shouldnt argue with idiots like me; they take you down to their level and beat you on experience.

Erica,

The biggest complaint against you has been your childish and immature antics. I hope you keep a spot open on your resume for that.

Watch and learn as Eli covers the election like an objective journalist.

You may learn something.

I don't think anyone was reacting to you saying his speech was long. I think the reaction was to you complaining about it like a valley girl that was late for a date at the food court.
"OH MY GOD! Obama is so like talking too long and stuff! He's all like blah blah blah!"

Yeah, but who listens to speeches? Only people who love speeches. The rest of us catch just the relevant sentence or two on NPR.

As far as I'm concerned, every political speech that's ever been given is a bunch of "blah blah blah." Why pick on Obama?

Can you loser commenters please stop calling ECB ugly names and dealing out offensive insults? Because not only is it lame, but it then allows her later to shove everyone who opposed her into the box of "loser commenters who call me ugly names and deal out offensive insults."

I just want to take this opportunity to highlight a little section (the FINAL section, actually) of Hillary's brilliant oratory:

"We say give us this economy to rebuild and this war to end. Give us this nation to heal, this world to lead, this moment to seize."

Ow. Way to close strong, Hill.

Like the content of your posts even matters any more.

Perhaps if you didn't bitch all damn day about... Jesus... Everything people wouldn't feel so obligated to jump down your throat. There's just only so much us Slog readers can take!

And I stand by my drunk and on the rag comment. Whether it was true or not, it was hilarious and you know it.

So when I was in second grade, I remember there was this one girl who went through this little phase where she would go up to boys at lunch and hit them and then run away saying "You can't hit me, I'm a girl!" So one of the other kids hits her back, and a bunch of other girls started yelling "Mrs. P! Mrs. P! Justin hit a girl!", and Mrs. P comes by and Justin got sent to the corner for a little while.

I just realized that Erica is basically that girl.

You're reaching.

And frankly, I'd rather listen to an hour of Obama instead of an hour of Hillary.

Is that shallow? Sure, but you brought it up, and up, and up...

Leek, I see nothing but solid criticism. That is something, along with facts, Erica seems to be oblivious to.

you're right on this one, hun...

but the gratuitous bitching does not reflect well on clinton supporters, of which you, ECB, who i do appreciate, are a very abrasive example.

STEP 1: write indignant, condescending slog post; be sure to presume inerrancy of argument

STEP 2: read through ensuing commentary; choose a broad selection of nasty, insulting comments [bonus points for references to getting laid or menses]

STEP 3: re-post nasty comments along with stern finger-wagging; miss point of angry commentary altogether

*repeat cycle until sense of moral superiority achieved

Fuck off, assholes. I made the same sort of comment about Romney and you all ignored it. You're digging on Erica because she actually reacted to it, and it's fucking stupid. Grow up and get over yourselves.

The advertisers must love ECB; she does drive up the page views.

ECB, how is it going working with ST to get light rail on the ballot? When will it happen?

The most boring, rambling and too long thing about Obama's speech is the slew of comments on the Slog about ECB's reaction to it. Yawn. If you're just complaining, keep it to youself.

@19: Perhaps I missed the part where you're a paid member of the staff posting on the main page instead of just being a douche bag in the comments.

If someone had made the post ECB made last night about Hillary she would be crying that they were a woman hater.

Don't you guys get it every criticism of Hillary is because she is a woman and they are clouded by their mysoginist judgement.

ECB please continue to post. Don't ever change cause commenting on these posts is so much fun.

Its perfectly fair for you to believe that Obama's speech was rambling and dull, but you still sounded like a petulant child for manner in which you expressed that opinion. See how that works?

I have nothing but nice things to say about ECB.

Man, ECB is worse than some trolls, for real.

i thought that perhaps obama was repeating themes and memes because this might be the first time many viewers were seeing him.

besides, how many people watched the speech end to end?

i suspect many viewers at home (like me) were flipping around among the cable and nets. I for one was looking for some halfway intelligent analysis (slim pickins, sadly - the only decent thing the silver-haired guy on cnn drilling down into returns by city and county on that big screen - loved that.)

Man you guys have lost all touch with reality, hunh?

Nah, I posted it because it's now available on the Internets.

Best line from Hils' speech: "I want to thank all my friends and family—particularly my mother, who was born before women could vote and is watching her daughter on this stage tonight."

@30 - which she practically had to read from a script, along with her thanks to bill and chelsea.

ECB is still posting on here? How about some relevance? She proved her irrelevance yesterday, didn't she?

I can't wait to see the Black Eyed Peas or Celine Dion or Karen Carpenter's corpse or The New Christie Minstrels--whoever--put Hillary's speech to music and become a viral phenom on the web.

I bet non of the haters watched the 20 minutes.

In fact, I'd guarantee it.

So two whiny posts about Obama's speech, but no thoughtful analysis on his capturing more delegates than HRC on Tuesday?

i doubt that none of the ecb haters even bothered to consider the obama speech and went directly to the usual ecb bashing.

ps: i hope that will.i.am (black eyed peas) produced pro-obama video does the same thing for the youth vote as the p diddy 'vote or die' campaign.

ZOMG! Erica you are all right.

(36)*i doubt that any

-im glad this is anonymous.

Erica, you need to stop reading comments. For your own sanity. I love you. I don't want you to end up with a mental breakdown.

Let the commenters foam at the mouth and get their own blogs. Who cares?

@34 and 36: No one is disputing the length of the speech. It's the unprofessional whining that's bugging people.

Jesus Christ, I once wrote a comment that was a mere tease of ECB, just for some light-hearted fun and I got a fucking e-mail from the Slog staff saying I"d be banned (which could never happen in a million years since it's quite easy to get around, but I'm a grown up and apologized because I enjoy this place and really didn't mean to be offensive).

But you fucks are out of control.

Any of you ever get e-mails?

20 minutes. Jeez. This is the age of the short attention span, i know. but: 20 minutes. That's shorter than an episode of American Gladiators.

Yes, he held my attention. Yes it was all inspiring.

Stay strong.

I had no problem watching the entire speech live.

Actually, at least four people I ran into in the local coffee shop were talking about what a great speech he gave last night - I didn't bring it up, it was just what they were saying.

So, on that level, it was very effective.

P.S> ~ Erica, while I disagree with you that the speech was long and boring, I still think you had a right to say it - and I thought the way you said it was funny.

Fnarf is an old fogey who sticks coins up his nose, what can you expect from him!?

I'm with Poe on this.

I've only had those emails from the Stranger staff where you have to give them all your credit card and bank account information. I mean, I have no idea why I had to tell the Stranger that much about me, but whatever. I bet I'll get a t-shirt, right?

@34 and 36: No one is disputing the length of the speech. It's the unprofessional whining that's bugging people.

@34 and 36: No one is disputing the length of the speech. It's the unprofessional whining that's bugging people.

Yes, again, it seems there are two deconstructive "narratives" here:

The quality (or lack of it) in Obama's performance in one particular speech.

The maturity (or lack of it) in ECB's several posts about it (perhaps related to her tone in previous posts of hers as well).

How about we get back to analyzing the quality of positions and electability of the Greater of Two Betters of the Democratic Candidates (historically fortunate as we are)?

Or should we all just keep nattering away about ECB's writing style?

Wow, Erica. You really hate young new-to-politcs people getting passionate don't you? I'm one of those naive people idiots who is inspired by Obama...maybe because I didn't go to college I'm not smart and sophisticated enough like you to see how long and stupid and uninspiring that speech was. Maybe because I'm not from a big city like Seattle or Austin I haven't built up enough urban jaded irony to know a hackneyed Negro Spiritual when I see it.

Why not blog about your candidate Hillary's win? Does seeing other people feeling good about a candidate's message for the first time really stick in your craw that much?

It's the condescention from Liberal Elites like you, Erica, that make my Red State parents, aunts, and uncles vote Red despite the fact its against their economic interest....they don't like being sneered at.

I don't give a shit about ECB, but she happens to be right about Obama's longwinded snoozefest of a speech. Jesus, dude, shut the hell up already.

Great speech. Thanks for posting it.

I watched every second of it from beginning to end. Can't say I felt bored for a moment.

And you know what? A 20 minute speech from the person who may very soon be the leader of this country really doesn't strike me as excessive... Regardless of who you favor, it seems to me like getting to know ALL of these candidates through something more than a sound bite or a video clip might be... Oh, I don't know... A really fucking good idea!

Just a thought!

Okay.

In the interests of balance, can we now discuss Hillary's fawningly staged "Hallmark Channel" special, especially those challenging, hard-hitting questions?

see http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2008/02/crystal-clear.html

@ 52. Wow, projecting much? Reminds me of a barber who cut my hair in a small town in the southeast while on vacation. About the second exchange was her asking me where I was from. I said "Chicago", and she said "Oh, I'm sorry."

@41, You said it perfect. This is nothing but childlike whining. And it is really unprofessional.

ECB, who just posted that ridiculous feminist rant about HRC like a week ago that was approximately 100000 lines long?

to be fair, I have no intention of watching Obama's speech. I bet it would really suck.

Actually I think both candidates have somewhat annoying personalities and I'm not really looking forward to having either of them on TV all the time for the next 8 years.

It boggles my mind that you assholes will absolutely pounce and tear Erica to shreds REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE CONTENT OF ANY OF HER POSTS are, yet every time any other douche at The Stranger (Savage, Schmader, Ryan, Wagner, etc), they are praised for their insightful wit, sarcasm, and commentary.

You guys are absolute bitches.

Okay, @60, you'd prefer who then to run the country? Anderson Cooper? Tyra? The hosts of Project Runway? God forbid you not be entertained by the "personalities" of our national leadership.

Give us your choice. Or are just a non-voting contrarian?

@61 Yes, some people jump on ECB with antics that are just as childish as her posts, but there are a lot of people who have valid questions or concerns, and are tired of the SOSDD. Where's ECB's thoughtful rumination on how Clinton's positions make her more electable than Obama? Or on how Clinton will counter the Republican campaign that she'll have to confront if she takes the nomination? Instead, we get, "OH MY GOD!...Blah blah blah." Hardly the hard-hitting journalism one expects from the senior news writer and member of the editorial board. How would that kind of shit fly in Austin, E?

@61

Go read the responses to Jen Graves last post. The only thing that makes ECB special is that she feeds her trolls, and everybody else ignores them. If Jen Graves attended to every idiot who said something stupid, she would also have 100+ replies to everything she said.

@61: "pounce and tear Erica to shreds REGARDLESS OF WHAT THE CONTENT OF ANY OF HER POSTS"

Drama queen much? Erica's physically intact, I'd be willing to bet, and hasn't been torn to shreds. There's quite a few people making the same reasonable critique that I did: her post was snotty in the extreme. Yes, she receives a good amount of offensive abuse; but again, she's a poster, not a commenter. A news poster. And she brings it on herself. Should they stop? Yes, of course; they're being assholes. But being an asshole is a big part of what commenting on the slog is all about. Posting on the slog doesn't make you magically immune to that -- and it's not sexism to say it.

@63

Um, last night, Slog readers and writers got together to enjoy Super Tuesday. Sometimes there was good info passed around, and sometimes people snapped off snarky comments about what was happening. It's called fun, look it up on Wikipedia. Since when has Slog been all news reporting, all the time?

You're so funny... I love it. I remember wondering if I had a little too much to drink - or he was going on a little longer than usual.

@66: Sometimes people did snap off snarky comments. But they were ok when people snarked right back. They didn't complain about it and then quote ego-boosting passages to try to prove they had valid points.

The answers are "yes" and "sure".

My wife and I both said, "Wow!" right after Obama's speech and agreed that the invitational inclusiveness of his appeal was really something. I have to confess that I missed Hillary and McCain speaking last night, so I can't compare those, but Huckabee's rambling, nonsensical speech full of scriptural codewords and Romney's bumbling, desperate and dull begging to stay with him were night and day compared to Obama's eloquent oration.

@66

NaFun, Eli bitched at me for ruining slog and kept pressing me for an answer as to why i post the crap that i do and how I have so much time to do it. He was doing what Erica is doing now, but in person. I don't think that eli had any fun after encountering me, but lord knows i had fun and am having fun retelling what happened.

Thats right, a paid reporter got on my case for my contributions to a blog.

Right on, @61.

The Stranger has always been a pain in the ass in a lot of ways, but overall, vital. But the tone of the new Slogobamarama has made me loose interest completely. Criticizing ECB's 'Oh My God' post for being sarcastic or snarky or whatever is totally disingenuous. The whole paper thrives on just that kind of humor. Get over it.

If ECB's snark is ok, then how come the rest of the snark from us rabble is unacceptable? After all, "the whole paper thrives on just that kind of humor." We're just adding to the thriveieness of the paper.

@71, the problem is when ECB then gets defensive about people making similar comments about hillary and trying to write it all off as misogyny or sexism.

Bellevue Ave @73 wins.

@10: True dat.

CONSTRUCTIVE criticism, people. It works.

Keep pounding ECB!! If I wanted "professional journalism" I wouldn't be reading the SLOG~
I voted for Bill after his 90+ minute ramble in 96 so length is not an issue for me-but then I'm gay so length is always nice....

Length totally counts. Take for example the length of the replies to Erica's silly post.

Good grief. You realize the slog editors are probably more impressed with "you got over 100 responses to your post" than "you submitted a good post".

When I'm not being misogynistic, I'm usally being misandrystic.

Or just misanthropic in general.

I will put these words in Erica's mouth:

"Constructive criticism is all very well, but personally I prefer praise."

There are two candidates running here, folks; get used to it. Each with their plusses and minuses, each with their bad and good hair days, each with passion, dedication and consideration for this country. Neither is the avenging angel of God nor Satan in satin.

That said, I still except to witness a lot of bitch-slapping on Saturday. Seattle 'nicey-niceness' is such fable.

except = expect! tihs!