Jonah Goldberg Makes Me Sick

Jonah Goldberg seems like a pretty intelligent guy. He's a decent writer who's able to frame some well formed arguments that to the lay person sound academic, honest, and convincing, and this is why when he speaks I vomit a little in my mouth. Nothing is more deranged and obscene in my book than a pseudo-intellectual that prostitutes his mind for a particular ideology, and dresses up misinformation and devious opinion in clever rhetorical devices. That pseudo-intellectual is Jonah Goldberg.

Leaving his incendiary and demonizing Liberal Fascism out, let me focus on this blog entry he made yesterday in regards to Ferraro's comments on Obama:

Of course Obama is where he is in part because he's black. I find it
predictable but absurd that anyone could disagree, never mind call such an
observation racist. Colin Powell was where he was in 1996 in part because he's
black. That doesn't mean Colin Powell didn't "deserve" his stature. But it's one
of the simple facts of politics that who you are and what you've done are
inextricably bound together.

I like the 'of course' at the beginning, implicitly telling us that it's just so plainly obvious that Obama's success is due to his race. You'd have to be a fool to disagree. And while he's at it, he tosses Colin Powell underneath the bus to just to show that any black person whose prominent in America has to have gotten to where they are because of their race. He might as well have tossed Condi Rice, and Clarence Thomas in the mix there. He goes on to further confuse his argument by saying "...it's one of the simple facts of politics that who you are and what you've done are inextricably bound together." What's the implication here? That black people are nothing but the product of their skin tone. If that's not the case then why can't the focus be on Obama's gender? Or his educational background, or (Saints Preserve Us!) his white heritage? You know, it doesn't take a genius to realize that people are more than the sum of their parts--basic psychology tells us that--so why does Goldberg choose to hawk on that concept? Could it be that he's trying to convince us that everything that Obama's accomplished, everything that he stands for is meaningless and lacks substance? Sure he is, because if he wasn't--if he really wanted to do his job and analyze him as a candidate--he would actually have to look at those things. But I suppose that would be too much hard work, and (Great Caesars Ghost!) heaven help if some of those points make sense and disagree with Goldberg's conservative ideology. Best to just ignore that entirely.

Oh, but wait--Jonah's not done sliming us yet. Later he goes on to say this:

I don't see any problem with Barack Obama admitting that part of his appeal
is the hope that he might help mend the racial divide and turn a new page. But
he could also say that he's not running for the President of Black America but
of all America and that his qualifications involve more than his skin color.
He's more than eloquent enough to make that case.

Wha, wha, what! Hold on while I puke--let me pass the mic to Sully for a moment:

Hello? Anyone home? Has Jonah read Obama's books? Or even a basic profile of
the guy? He tries to rescue himself (and fails) in a p.s.:

The point I was getting at is that it would be fine to make that point while
also making the point that having a black president would amount to progress for
America. It doesn't need to be either or.

But this is exactly what Obama has been saying in public and out loud for months and months and months. It must be nice knowing what side you're on without ever even bothering to find out the most basic facts about your opponent's message.

Indeed. But see, that's exactly Jonah's bread and butter. Why bother to do the research when you can act like you did the research? Why read the book when you can read the back cover copy--or even better, pull an opinion out of thin air based on whatever particular biases your bloated-bile-filled-sac can produce. What comes out of Jonah's mouth, or Sean Hannity, or Ann Coulter, or Bill O'Reilly for that matter, is more self-psychoanalysis than actual political commentary. Goldberg's not writing about Obama or his campaign, he's writing about his thoughts on race, and what he believes is his audience's thoughts on race. In his mind, being black and successful is nothing but affirmative action at its anti-white worse and the only reason Barack (or Powell, or Rice, or you know, any black person) gets to where they are is merely a function of their dark skin tone and the liberalism that empowers it.

Barack never said he running for Black America Jonah, you just thought that because of your racist attitude and your lazy scholarship, and frankly I can't tell which one is more dangerous to America. I am SO GLAD Jon Stewart destroyed you.