October 24, 2013

Politico's Todd Purdum goes on an inane rant against a statement that was apparently never made...

... but which would have been so terrible if it had. 

Purdum — referencing the TV show "The West Wing" — informs us that "the White House is a pretty awesome place." So it would really be immensely nervy if someone were to say something contemptuous to the President of the United States in the White House.
[T]he alleged dis words are so personal, so passionate, so disaffected-high-school-sweetheart in tone — “I cannot even stand to look at you” — that it’s hard to imagine any grown man saying them to another — much less to the president. 
Know what's true of many things that are hard to imagine? The way they don't happen.
It boggles the mind to think what, if anything, Obama could have said in reply....
Imagine if Boehner said X to Obama, then what would Obama say? As long as we're sojourning in Imagination Land, why aren't we imagining what Obama might have said to Boehner that would have caused Boehner to say "I cannot even stand to look at you." But Purdum's World of Imagination doesn't include concocting a context for things that weren't said that would make things that Republicans say seem any more justified. He's more about crushing comebacks that Obama could make if any GOP person had the nerve — especially in the awesome setting of the White House — to dis Barack Obama.

Purdum came up with — as a riposte to "I cannot even stand to look at you" — "Funny, I can’t even see you!" Oh, that's good, Todd. That's good. A lesser politico-journolist might have had Obama stick his fingers in his ears and say "La la, I can't hear you." But you stayed on-track with the vision trope and came up with I can’t even see you.

Purdum concedes the unlikelihood that Dick Durbin's account of the story is true:
It’s worth noting that the only face-to-face meeting between Obama and House GOP leaders was on Oct. 10, and Durbin [who reported that the remark was made] was not present.
So why are you doing this, Todd? What good are you attempting to do, for yourself or anyone else? His last paragraph is a fascinating puzzle:
But given the bitter state of relations between Obama and the House Republicans, it’s easy enough to imagine that more than one of them went into their meeting in the Roosevelt Room feeling like the distraught Aunt Em in “The Wizard of Oz,” who told the Toto-taking Miss Gulch: “For 23 years, I’ve been dying to tell you what I thought of you. And now, well, being a Christian woman, I can’t say it!"

Even in Washington — especially in Washington — it may be best to let some thoughts rest — unexpressed.
This notion of morality, impressed deeply onto the brain of Purdum in childhood — the lesson of Auntie Em — somehow is not enough to stop him from writing this column about a statement that was never made. Or is it that Todd's no Auntie Em? He doesn't repress his unkind thoughts, and one of them is that he thinks Republicans — if they fail to say the mean thing that he'd like to skewer them for saying — surely must have thought those mean things and the only reason they didn't say them was because they're a bunch of ludicrously over-virtuous Auntie Ems.

***

I was going to say what kind of grown man has "The Wizard of Oz" as his go-to reference, but damned if Instapundit didn't just whip out a "Wizard of Oz" quote. We're all Friends of Dorothy now.

29 comments:

rehajm said...

Well the jerkstore called and they're running out of you!

rehajm said...

The future doesn't include yelling!

David said...

One of the great things about Politico is that it improves the employment prospects of no talent jackasses. Not saying this guy is one on the basis of one stupid column, but he's showing potential.

cubanbob said...

Purdum is one of those progressive delusional fools who thought that once the White House was in the hands of a progressive the White House would the West Wing. Obama needs be script writers.

rhhardin said...

Imagine the columns he hasn't written.

Anonymous said...

It’s worth noting that the only face-to-face meeting between Obama and House GOP leaders was on Oct. 10, and Durbin was not present.


So Durbin is using an unnamed person, citing and unnamed person making a rude comment that everybody in the room says didn't happen?

WTF, that gets turned into a headline like:

"Trash-talking the president"

why not one like:

"Democrat Senator caught in Lies about what happened in a meeting where he wasn't present"

Anonymous said...

BTW: Todd S. Purdum is listed as a Reporter, not an Editor or columnist.

Reporters used to report facts.

Anonymous said...

West Wing Fantasist:

From Wiki:

"he married former White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers,who served President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1994. Their relationship is the basis for the relationship between C.J. Cregg and Danny Concannon on the TV show The West Wing. Purdum and Myers have two children."

Henry said...

The crapper in the White House is a pretty awesome crapper. LBJ could tell you that. I wonder what Boehner would have said if LBJ called him to the crapper to talk?

I don't really get the double-down on prissiness. Purdum is putting himself in the league of the snuff-sniffers who complained about what color gloves Abe Lincoln wore.

MayBee said...

So if he married dee dee Myers, he must be the guy who wrote the vanity fair article about Clinton having so many affairs in the Oval Office. He wrote it in the midst of the 2008 campaign and it humiliated Hillary. I bet he can imagine a lot happening in the White House much worse than saying something mildly mean.

MayBee said...

Yes. Here's a story about it

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2008/06/bill-clinton-as/

William said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Drago said...

Purdum's purpose is to create another "legitimate" news link which discusses this "fact" which will aide in keeping the meme alive.

I predict that within days, we will have lefties on these very boards referring to this pretend "incident" as another example of republican/conservative racism (much in line with the hilariously false accusation of the dems being spit on after walking along the protestors line post-ACA passage.)

To this day, the MSNBC gang and others speak of that "incident" as proven "fact" even though there were about eleventy million cameras, camera phones and microphones which show nothing of the sort happening.

It's important for the dems to keep making up these charges so that the AA's of the world will feel more comfortable standing up to all those "ugly" republicans.

MayBee said...

WH is saying the chief of staff gave Dems including Durbin an incorrect quote

MattL said...

Hmm...maybe it was Durbin who told Harry Reid about how Romney didn't pay taxes?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Check out the Gay Patriot twist

Sam L. said...

"As long as we're sojourning in Imagination Land, why aren't we imagining what Obama might have said to Boehner that would have caused Boehner to say "I cannot even stand to look at you." "

Pretty Much Anything for $2000, Alex!

mccullough said...

References to The West Wing and The Wizard of Oz.

The President in the West Wing series is the Wizard of Oz. Full of shit.

Mary Beth said...

It boggles the mind to think what, if anything, Obama could have said in reply....

Judging from what I've seen when he doesn't have a script, it would be, "Uh...uh...."

Conserve Liberty said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Conserve Liberty said...

WH is saying the chief of staff gave Dems including Durbin an incorrect quote.

So Durbin's retelling was accurate but the quote was fake?

That's like Mary Mapes in a mirror.

cubanbob said...

No one has ever witnessed Truth and Dick Durban in close proximity. And no one ever will.

geokstr said...

Mark Levin affectionately calls him "Little Dick Durbin".

poppa india said...

I had to read the Mark Levin name for the senator twice out loud before I laughed. I must have a cleaner mind than I thought.....

poppa india said...

I had to read the Mark Levin name for the senator twice out loud before I laughed. I must have a cleaner mind than I thought.....

From Inwood said...

what kind of grown man has "The Wizard of Oz" as his go-to reference....

Right. At least our Blog Mistress uses Cole Porter:

let some thoughts rest — unexpressed.

She's the top!

me?

I'm the nominee of the G.O.P.

Or GOP!

But if, Althouse, I'm the bottom,
You're the top!

gk1 said...

So the democrats are reduced to stoking their base with nonsense like this? Are things really that bad for them? I realize the roll out of obamacare makes the Hindenburg landing at Lakehurst New Jersey look smooth by comparison, but this is surreal.

Clyde said...

He's on the road to Purdum-dition.

Matt Sablan said...

"WH is saying the chief of staff gave Dems including Durbin an incorrect quote"

-- Sounds like it is time for a new chief of staff. Bumbling this and making your own team look this bad and petty is a firing offense.