Ben Smith/Politico talks about Obama online supporters

[ruggerson]

"Obama's online enthusiasm is a marvel, and has gotten him a lot of justifiably good press; the venom from his supporters across the blogosphere has the opposite effect. As with Dean in 2004, it freaks out people in the middle."

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0208/Commenting_comment.html#comments


I guess here at DU, we're not the only ones to notice this phenomenon.

[blogslut]

1. We're all just big meanies

We will take your candy and leave you crying!

[SaveOurDemocracy]

2. You'd have to be in a coma not to notice. n/t

[lligrd]

3. Definitely Been Some Freaking Out Here

You'd think progressives would welcome change.

[Hydra]

14. What change would that be? n/t

[MethuenProgressive]

4. "the venom from his supporters"

I hate what Obama's supporters have done to DU.

[chimpymustgo]

6. Really. It's been quite a search and destroy mission.

Mission accomplished.

[Straight Shooter]

19. It isn't just DU.

It's on talking points memo, crooks & liars, ABC blog, WaPo blog, anywhere people have a forum to post their opinions. Wherever you go, you can tell within the first few words which candidate the poster supports.

If Barack is supposedly a phenomenon, the phenomenon of his supporters is one for the history books, as well. Bobby Kennedy's fans never were this way, nor were Martin Luther King's. More than anything else, Barack will be remembered for his supporters, just as george w. bush will be remembered for his.

[MethuenProgressive]

33. You make excellent points. Unfortunately for our party, that is...

If Barack is supposedly a phenomenon, the phenomenon of his supporters is one for the history books, as well. Bobby Kennedy's fans never were this way, nor were Martin Luther King's. More than anything else, Barack will be remembered for his supporters, just as george w. bush will be remembered for his.

[paulk]

40. it was that way at our precinct caucus

it was like the Obama folks were a club the rest of us couldn't be a part of...

it was very uncomfortable

[FVZA_Colonel]

22. Self-Delete.

Never mind.

[MadBadger]

5. Guess its time to go find some more Hillaryis44 and Taylor Marsh shit

I mean you cant even post pro-Obama stuff at Taylor Marsh.

[ruggerson]

8. Difference is

Ben Smith is a neutral observer.

And he's not alone in seeing this.

[tyne]

9. Taylor "the Drudge" Marsh

has gone nuts.

[blm]

7. Taylor Marsh and Hill44 upped the venom long ago. Obama supporters retaliated in kind

and NOW the whining from TeamClinton, the biggest backstabbers in the party, is almost comical.

[NJmaverick]

10. Wow! There is no low Hillary's hounds wont stoop to

I am impressed

[ruggerson]

11. Ben Smith is a "Hillary hound"?

I don't think so.

[MadBadger]

18. I think that comment may have been directed at you

Dong agree with it btw.

[ruggerson]

27. Ah

well, he's, err, barking up the wrong tree. For the record, I don't call Obama supporters by juvenile names nor have I participated in the "cult" narrative bashing of Obama supporters.

[NJmaverick]

20. Well that doesn't mean it's not true

It just that you don't WANT to believe it.

[ruggerson]

28. I think you kind of just proved Ben Smith's point

"Hillary hounds"?

[NJmaverick]

32. Would your rather I use Rove's second generation minions?

I have serious problems with Hillary and her supporters, because they use all the tactics that Rove perfected. I can't say they were wrong and immoral, when Rove used them for Bush and the Republicans, only to turn around and say they are OK when Democrats use them. It would be wrong and hypocritical.

[ruggerson]

36. It's all subjective

One can make the very credible argument that Obama's team planted the "race" meme in NH and SC when neither Bill nor Hillary had said anything racially tinged. Sounds pretty Rovian to me.

[murielm99]

21. That is not what the OP was about.

Are you in the right thread?

[AtomicKitten]

12. And many think the ClintonCo bulldozer machine tactics suck ass.

I won't bother posting them for your perusal because you apparently think despising the opposition is isolated to one side of the equation.

[chimpymustgo]

15. Not exactly raising the level of discourse. Geez.

[ruggerson]

16. If you have neutral observers posting about the ugliness of Clinton supporters online

by all means, I'd like to see it.

[ShortnFiery]

13. LOL, you mean the Politico.com that Bush shamelessly promoted during a Presser last year?

That Politico.com would NOT EVER try to unduly sway opinion. :eyes:

[Madam Mossfern]

17. I'm not venomous

or mean or snarky. That article is an insult to me and other Obama supporters. I demand that Ben Smith be fired!

[JVS]

24. Me neither, I'm just snarkaliciously sassy.

:-)

[gateley]

26. That's a good reminder. Not all of O's or Hillary's supporters are rabid. We

have to remember that and not clump all their supporters into that category.

I feel badly for supporters of both, when certain members of their group display despicable behavior.

[Hoof Hearted]

23. I'm curious to know where else this is being noticed, it's certainly rife here.

[ProSense]

25. He is criticizing the "cult members"? What about the people telling Obama supporters that they

belong to a cult and have their "heads up their asses"? What about the people swiftboating every and anybody who endorses Obama as drunk, gang banging, sexist, windsurfing jokers who should be driven out of the party?

Ben must have gotten an e-mail and decided to use his column to make a sweeping generalization.

He should apologize to Obama supporters.

[hayu_lol]

30. It is not ALL the Obama/Hillary supporters who are making problems for the rest...

but there are more Obama Freepertypes than there are Hillary supporters in the same vein.

You can of course, deny this, but your denial does not make it so.

[ProSense]

35. You are making stuff up, the claims are made by or supported by some here. n/t

[Blue State Bandit]

29. There are no clean camps in this forum

[stevenleser]

31. This is a joke. By polling here, Obama supporters outnumber Hillary supporters by over 2-1, yet...

attacks by Hillary supporters against Obama and his supporters (i.e. cultists) are at least 50% if not more of the overall attacks. This suggests to me that Hillary's supporters are all attack, all the time.

[juajen]

45. Not really. We didn't get mean until we couldn't stand

you glitterbabies any more. You were taking advantage of our good nature, and we just decided not to take it any more. I will say that I've noticed a difference lately. I assume because some of you have started thinking and realize you might need Hillary supporters if your guy wins. Too bad it's too late. You cannot believe how much you offended us and how mad you have made us.

Honest, we have had no problems like this before. Even in the lead up to the 2004 primary. It got divisive some, but not anything like this. Certainly not to the point where we didn't feel we could support the other candidate because of the venom expressed by you.

[stevenleser]

46. What a load of crap. Reality is, you guys and your candidate went with negative attacks when HRC

started to lose. That is the bottom line.

[Blue-Jay]

34. Venom! Hate! Cult! Booga booga booga!

[Sapphocrat]

37. One correction.

It freaks out people on the Left, too.

Otherwise, amen. And no, the phenomenon is not limited to DU. Not at all.

[madfloridian]

38. Obama cult, Dean cult..........I said it was continuing pattern. Came from Hillary campaign.

Meant to hurt both. It is along the same lines as the meme that Dean does not have the ability to control the situation.

Turns out a lot of the cult stuff was coming from Sidney Blumenthal...former Salon writer and present Hillary advisor.

Clinton’s camp has been circulating stories criticising the “cult” of Obama in the hope of portraying “Obamania” as a mass delusion. Media Matters, a watchdog organisation sympathetic to Clinton, compiled a report headlined, “Media figures call Obama supporters’ behaviour ‘creepy’, compare them to Hare Krishna and Charles Manson followers”.

It was forwarded by Sidney Blumenthal, a top Clinton adviser, to select reporters. The campaign entered a nasty phase last week with the determination of Clinton’s team to revive delegates from the “ghost” primaries of Michigan and Florida, by legal action if necessary.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/us_elections/article3382295.ece

Note the pattern and don't fall for this crap. There is no cult, there was no cult with Dean....it is geared to marginalize our own. She must be getting desperate.

On edit, I do not think Media Matters supports Hillary. I think it is neutral. But the letter was sent from Blumenthal...

[hedda_foil]

39. Did ANYBODY notice that this was a COMMENT???

This is not Ben Smith or Politico's opinion. It's a comment. The OP obviously figured he could start a flame war with a misleading title and nobody would notice. It's disappointing to see how close he/she was to the reactions above.

[burythehatchet]

44. WHAT? s/he posted a comment from another message board?????

OK, that is as lame a move as I have seen here.

[Bluebear]

48. No, it was a direct quote from Smith, as the OP stated. What was lame was the message you answered

[ruggerson]

51. You'll notice neither Hedda_foil nor burythehatchet is adult enough to admit error

[Bluebear]

52. But of course.

[ruggerson]

54. sad, but not unexpected

[Bluebear]

49. It is EXACTLY Ben Smith's comment/opinion. What flame war are YOU starting by lying?

[ruggerson]

50. No, it wasn't a comment, it was from Ben Smith

I don't expect that you'll backtrack though, as your type never does. You'll just run off to another thread and tell more lies there.

[QC]

41. We all suffer from faux outrage. That's all. And cynicism.

And I, I was informed, am an extreme leftist who hates my fellow Americans.

[in_cog_ni_to]

42. Hopefully that venom will come back to bite them all in the ass before it's too late.

I've never seen a more hateful group of people in my life...anywhere. They make the freaks at Free Republic.com look NORMAL forcryingoutloud.

[Caro]

43. The venom is proof ...

... that there ain't no "unity" coming.

Carolyn Kay
MakeThemAccountable.com

[chimpymustgo]

53. You do have to wonder about that "unity". From what will it flow? From where?

It surely won't come from this campaign.

[HeraldSquare212]

47. Jeez, I thought Smith was an anti-Hillary shill

at least that's what I hear every time I quote something he's said about the Clinton campaign.