Liberal bloggers feel demoralized, angry, “hippie punched”
In other words, like cheap, used, exploited, and abused hook-ups.
The following insight gives pro-life bloggers and commenters all the more reason to get out there and fight with our typing fingers. The other side is down. Keep ’em down. Pin them with pro-life prose. The piece also demonstrates how valuable the other side believes blogs are to aid in ideologue evangelism.
From the Washington Post yesterday:
Top Obama adviser David Axelrod got an earful of the liberal blogosphere’s anger at the White House moments ago, when a blogger on a conference call directly called out Axelrod over WH criticism of the left, accusing the administration of “hippie punching.”
“We’re the girl you’ll take under the bleachers but you won’t be seen with in the light of day,” the blogger, Susan Madrak of Crooks and Liars, pointedly told Axelrod on the call, which was organized for liberal bloggers and progressive media.
The call seemed to perfectly capture the tense dynamic that exists between the WH and the online and organized left: Though WH advisers in the past have dumped on the left, anonymously and even on the record, Axelrod repeatedly pleaded with the bloggers on the call for help in pumping up the flagging enthusiasm of rank and file Dems.
“You play a great role in informing people about the stakes of elections,” Axelrod told the bloggers. “One of the reasons I was eager to expend time was to enlist you.”
But hovering over the call was the obvious disconnect between this plea for help and statements like those of Robert Gibbs, who recently pilloried the “professional left” for being overly critical of the WH.
That tension burst out into the open when Madrak directly asked Axelrod: “Have you ever heard of hippie punching?” That prompted a long silence from Axelrod.
“You want us to help you, the first thing I would suggest is enough of the hippie punching,” Madrak added. “We’re the girl you’ll take under the bleachers but you won’t be seen with in the light of day.”
Axelrod didn’t engage on “hippie punching,” but he said he agreed with the blogger. “To the extent that we shouldn’t get involved in intramural skirmishing, I couldn’t agree more,” Axelrod said. “We just can’t afford that. There are big things at stake here.”
Madrak replied that Axelrod was missing the point – that the criticism of the left made it tougher for bloggers like herself to motivate the base. “Don’t make our jobs harder,” she said.
“Right back at’cha. Right back at’cha,” Axelrod replied, a bit testily, an apparent reference to blogospheric criticism of the administration.
At any rate, for Axelrod to plead with liberal bloggers for their help turning out the base, only to get accused of “hippie punching,” is an iconic moment in Campaign 2010.
[HT: RedState.com; photo via Pandagon]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
I think it’s interesting that you think people who have been “punched” or are “cheap, used, exploited, and abused hook-ups” should be, in essence, hit while they’re down.
“The other side is down. Keep ‘em down.”
It’s kind of like antichoice harassers telling women terminating wanted pregnancies that they are murderers and have other options when they really don’t. It’s not quite as bad as that, but same idea.
I know you’re all about controlling women, but perhaps you should be a bit more sly about it.
KM, the pen is mightier than the sword. We’re talking about using our “pens” to expose those who advocate the use of literal pointed objects to cut apart innocent babies.
Could someone please tell me what KushielsMoon’s “you’re all about controlling women” statement is supposed to mean? I just don’t get it!
You never do seem to understand what Jill is talking about, do you Kushiel? Yes, we’re sorry for what happened to your child, but health reasons only make up about 1% of U.S. abortions – stop acting like every case is like yours! The pro-life movement is about saving children, not controlling women – if it was, why in the world would so many women be pro-life?
KushielsMoon
September 24th, 2010 at 10:21 am
I think it’s interesting that you think people who have been “punched” or are “cheap, used, exploited, and abused hook-ups” should be, in essence, hit while they’re down.
“The other side is down. Keep ‘em down.”
It sounds harsh, but what she means is that us pro-lifers keep people educated, not really punch anyone or be violent, but keep standing up for life. Keep being pro-life keep encouraging people to protect life.
It’s kind of like antichoice harassers telling women terminating wanted pregnancies that they are murderers and have other options when they really don’t. It’s not quite as bad as that, but same idea.
The reality of abortion is that it IS murder. That’s a very harsh reality, but we can’t change truth. Now, the majority of pro-lifers I know are NOT for harrassing women or calling names. We’re for education, encouragement and the link.
I know you’re all about controlling women, but perhaps you should be a bit more sly about it.
It’s not about controlling women. It’s about defending life. You totally misunderstand the pro-life position and I’m very sorry you think that way.
Amanda K said: Yes, we’re sorry for what happened to your child, but health reasons only make up about 1% of U.S. abortions – stop acting like every case is like yours
KM–I don’t know your story, but if you did have an abortion for health reasons, you must understand that is NOT the so-called “norm”. Most abortions aren’t about serious health reasons.
We supporters of unborn human rights are NOT about “controlling women” any more than anti-choice on rape people are about “controlling men”.
We are trying to stop criminal abortionists killing millions of women at the beginning of their lives. The abortion crime industry has killed FIVE HUNDRED MILLION women in the unborn stage in the last twenty years around the world.
If the abortionists were not the worst destroyers of women and men in human history and were not continuing to commit these crimes against human beings in enormous numbers, we would not have to do all that we do to try to stop this killing.
KM, Jill said they felt cheap, used, exploited, and abused. Not uncommon feelings for people to have, even if they’re not true.
What other options do women aborting wanted children really not have? I’ve met several people whose mothers were told to have abortions – because the baby would be deformed, would be retarded, the mother would die in childbirth, et cetera - and stand as living testimony to the fact that their mothers did have other options. These people are alive, healthy, and their mothers are still very much with us.
Incidentally, one of my friends’ parents were told that their child would be deformed, and she did turn out to be deformed. She’s one of the best friends I’ve ever had and one of the best people I’ve ever known. Also, not that intelligence makes a person more or less human, but she’s pretty much a genius, and that’s not a word I use lightly. We met online and I thought for a while that she had to be at least five years older than me just because of the sheer extent of things she knew – turned out she was three years younger than I was.
Some children are unable to live for long outside the womb. That doesn’t mean they should be killed before they naturally die, anymore than people with cystic fibrosis should be killed as teenagers because they live to middle age at the absolute best.
People always have choices in life. The consequences may be better, worse, harder or easier, but they always have choices.
Incidentally, one of my friends’ parents were told that their child would be deformed, and she did turn out to be deformed.
Marauder,
Someone I know was told that one of her kids would have Downs Syndrome. The kid doesn’t have Downs or any other health issue like that.
But again, like you said, those things aren’t what’s important. What’s important is that it’s a LIFE.
Kushie, take your political correctness elsewhere. I know you’re not so stupid to have missed my point.
I shall now use my e-vell anti-choice powers to control women . . . (makes hand motions while eerie music plays in the background) . . .
phillymiss
September 24th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
I shall now use my e-vell anti-choice powers to control women . . . (makes hand motions while eerie music plays in the background) . . .
Don’t forget the evil genius laugh!
Color me amused and smiling, phillymiss you are hailirious!
Well, I guess I have to comment. I have a bunch of liberal causes I care about, and no, the administration has done nothing to promote them. This group is basically just like the last group, influence peddlers who just pass the goodies to a different group of rich buddies.
Have the wars ended?
Have they passed any protections for animals?
Have the government owned coal fired power plants complied with EPA engineers’ recommendations?
Have school lunches been made to comply with minimum dietary guidelines?
Have they prosecuted those businesses abusing and exploiting undocumented workers?
Have the rich gotten richer and the poor gotten poorer under this administration?
Has anything improved?
Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.