Punditry has existed forever - I mean, depending on how you frame it, the Federalist Papers were pretty explicitly political commentary/punditry.

I think the difference is in the stances/angles/attitudes taken by those pundits. Compare somebody like old boy George Will with more current models ... and yes, I picked Will because he's boring as hell.

Yeah ... I mean, there's one obvious difference in this Presidency, and while discourse may have deteriorated over time (there's an element of "communication changing" that muddies the subjective elements), it kind of fails Occam's Razor to assume the largest changes were coincidental to inauguration, by chance.

Is Phil Knight suing Reebok? No, it would be Nike who would be suing right? But if Phil Knight is the CEO of Nike and is the one who made the call to sue and demanded his lawyers file a patent infringement lawsuit against Reebok where does the difference lay?

And since neither of us have any input or control of who the DOJ chooses to go after, no its not the same.

Saying "Obama sued ____" implies a level of control Obama doesn't have.

He can likely push for an action, and can probably kill a given action if he chooses as the guy at the 'top of the pile', but he certainly can't do any of that without the DOJ's backing and vetting of the case ... he's at 'best' a necessary, but not sufficient condition. Likely, his day-to-day interactions with the DOJ are similar to Phil Knight's over his legal department - which is to say, oversight, but not direct management.

It's not really a major issue - you're more right than wrong, but the language is a bit strong and might be taken to imply something more about Obama himself. I think it's pushing it to say it was "Obama" as if it were him and him alone.

EDIT: I just realized that the disconnect might be coming from the military ... people often say "Bush invaded Iraq" or similar, to shorthand standing as CIC, and I didn't even consider you might be making that kind of connection, so my bad. I still think that the role of the President in relation to the DOJ (as I understand it) is different, especially given the nature of the title of Commander in Chief and the ceremony and etc. that comes with it, as well as the nature of foreign policy. I well may be wrong.

I didn't mean that they were the same ... but the logic could be contorted to be similar. After all, Obama is "in charge" of the DOJ, and the DOJ represents the interests of the American people with their explicit consent to do so.

This argument is probably a win/win for both President Obama and whatshername. He gets to be seen as above the fray, elegant in confrontation and, well, presidential. And she gets to seen as confrontational, aggressive, not afraid of some black guy standing in front of her and without any need for the finer graces in her life. So they're both speaking to their base. Not that it was planned. Even I'm not that cynical.

Please tell me she's not a sorority woman.

If this situation is as negative as it's being reported, I'm not sure her affiliation (or lack thereof) is relevant.

Co-sign.

She's not. Here's what wikipedia has to say about her education:

Unless she was offered AI by an org.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Brewer

Bad manners are bad manners. Greek letters afford no protection.

Personally, I think Brewer's just another horrific Arizona politician. We have (more than) our fair share of loonies. My theory: too much sun and dust + not enough water = crazy brains. As long as I've lived here we have had nut jobs in the governor's office. I did warn AOII Angel about it before she moved here.

There'll be something else, soon, I'm sure of that. It's basically "NOW what?" when I read/listen to the news each morning.

Bullet-ridden Obama pic posted on facebook page of a Peoria, Arizona police officer, Sgt. Pat Shearer, on January 20 is being investigated by Secret Service.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46159633...news-security/

This is reprehensible.

Oh Peoria...so glad I didn't take that job out there.

Speaking of Peoria...did you see who took Bungard's place in the State Senate after stepped down to avoid an ethics inquiry for beating up his girlfriend then exerting lawmaker privilege? A woman who is all about stopping those dang "anchor babies!" Where do they find these people? Apparently in Peoria!

Don't shoot the messenger.

http://crunkfeministcollective.wordpress.com/2012/01/27/white-womens-rage-5-thoughts-on-why-jan-brewer-should-keep-her-fingers-to-herself/

http://crunkfeministcollective.files...pg?w=389&h=295

i don't know if I would have stayed cool if somebody pointed her finger at me.

On another note, the more I read about the Governor, the more I think she's insane. She lied that her father died in WWII fighting the Nazi. In reality, he died in 1955 in California.

That's just the tip of the iceberg!

It's an election year, so the media has been picking up a lot of liberal vs. conservative psychology research. One of those studies found that conservatives tended to have stronger visceral reactions to negative stimuli than liberals.

Conservative pundits and leaders seem to be capitalizing on that by expressing much more visceral and base reactions to Democratic leaders. Jan Brewer is really the tip of the iceberg. Classlessness and crassness are not just how leaders are acting, it's party policy.

I'm sure everyone has heard about that famous '94 GOPAC memo written by then Speaker Gingrich. Conservatives were directed to use very strong and colorful language to refer to their colleagues across the aisle. This was aimed at eliciting the visceral and emotional responses we're seeing today.

So as to Brewer herself, don't hate the player, hate the game.

Ugh. This reminds me of Barbara Boxer and her "Don't Call Me Ma'am" debacle.

I can almost understand why some women in positions of responsibility would want to exert themselves in what is traditionally a "Boys Club", but there is a thin, thin like between looking like a strong, principled woman and looking like a raving loon. I fear their outbursts may have relegated Ms. Brewer and Ms. Boxer forever to the loony camp.