I was inspired to reflect on this by paradox over at the left coaster.

However, Mr. President, I’ve heard your pronouncements and speeches before, and even though I watch television frequently I did not take on the asinine presumption of that ludicrous medium, I have a memory, I forget very little. The past is indeed relevant in evaluating your proposals, oh yes, and what I’ve repeatedly seen is a great speech to start good politics and then total failure as no leadership fight evolves to make it happen.

My minor point is-

Television and Radio are a serial medium of communication.  Even as you are processing the information they provide, new information is coming in all the time and I find myself frequently sitting there after an hour or a day of mind numbing novocaine saying to myself-

What the fuck?

What did I just see?

Seriously, I can’t remember.  It washes over me and through me with no point of reference, bobbing up and down in the middle of a vast ocean like Spalding Gray in Swimming to Cambodia.

Print on the other hand is random access.

No only can you absorb it at your own pace, but you can go back and review in light of new information and confirm what you think is true.

Blogging is kind of a hybrid.  You can review it if you can find it and good luck with that.

The perfect form is a book, condensed and easy to carry.  Indexed with page numbers.

News papers are much more messy.  Not only does the ink rub off on your hands, if you collect too many of them you’re in danger of suffocating under a collapsing pile of the past.

You know, being politicians and all, you’d think the Institutional Democratic Party could READ A FUCKING POLL!

DEMOCRATS LEARNING WRONG LESSON FROM MASSACHUSETTS?

EVEN SCOTT BROWN VOTERS WANT THE PUBLIC OPTION, WANT DEMOCRATS TO BE BOLDER

“In an election between Scott Brown and the public option, the public option would have won.”

– Charles Chamberlain, political director of Democracy for America

HEALTH CARE BILL OPPONENTS THINK IT “DOESN’T GO FAR ENOUGH”

• by 3 to 2 among Obama voters who voted for Brown
• by 6 to 1 among Obama voters who stayed home

(18% of Obama supporters who voted supported Brown.)

VOTERS OVERWHELMINGLY SUPPORT THE PUBLIC OPTION

• 82% of Obama voters who voted for Brown
• 86% of Obama voters who stayed home

OBAMA VOTERS WANT DEMOCRATS TO BE BOLDER

• 57% of Brown voters say Obama “not delivering enough” on change he promised
• 49% to 37% among voters who stayed home

PLUS: Obama voters overwhelming want bold economic populism from Democrats in 2010.

Evidently not!

Morons, assholes, or sell-outs.

Take your pick.

h/t John Amato @ C&L

Updated.

Well, what did you expect?  The best analysis I’ve read so far is from John Aravosis–

Massachusetts, that kept Ted Kennedy in office for decades because he promised to provide affordable health care to every American, thinks President Obama is going too far by passing legislation that is, at best, half a loaf of what Kennedy had been proposing. Got that?

What other “far left” agenda could Bayh be talking about? Gay rights perhaps? First off, not much of an agenda in this White House, but in any case, we’re to believe that liberal views on social issues are ticking off a state that was the first in the country to have gay marriage? Seriously? How about abortion – Kennedy was pro-choice, never hurt him, and in any case, Obama is hardly God’s gift to choicers.

So it’s not health care reform or social issues, maybe it’s economic issues. Was it the Wall Street bailout? Not very liberal there. Maybe defense issues. Perhaps the mini-surge of additional troops in Afghanistan? Again, no liberal to be found.

So what exactly is Evan Bayh talking about when he says that our government has lurched too far to the left of Massachusetts? What part of President Obama’s agenda wasn’t Massachusetts familiar with when they voted for him over John McCain last November by double digits? And the irony is that Obama has never moved farther to the left in office than he promised on the campaign trail — he’s only moved to the right.