John Roberts was a steel driven man

[Uncle Joe]

http://dailyhowler.com/

JOHN ROBERTS WAS A STEEL-DRIVIN’ MAN: John Roberts was a steel-drivin’ man—and George Bush wanted the public to know it. “When Mr. Bush presented Judge Roberts...on Tuesday night, he made special mention of the judge's having worked summers in steel mills, an apparent effort to give him some working-class cachet,” Neil Lewis wrote in the New York Times (see THE DAILY HOWLER, 7/20/05). Result? In a well-reasoned column in today’s Post, E. J. Dionne handed Roberts his props:
<snip>
“It's admirable that this son of a steel executive worked some summers in a steel mill,” Dionne conceded—reminding us of the way George Bush ended up in control of this process.
<snip>
What would have happened had the roles been reversed—if the press had started a War Against Bush in 3/99, a war which helped put Gore in the White House? We suspect you know what would have happened. In fact, as we have often noted, Joe Scarborough explained what would have happened when he played Hardball in November 02. Does anyone doubt a single word of what the gentleman told us?

[Canuckistanian]

1. I heard Roberts used to bend the steel with his bare hands

While it was still red-hot. Then he would go volunteer at the local orphanage before going to church.

Then he would have lunch.

[Cocoa]

3. I heard he did his homework on the back of a shovel

and once walked 20 miles through the snow to return a library book on time.

[Moochy]

2. He was just a "Steel mill Desk jockey"

Anyone remember that Simpsons episode where Homer takes Bart to a steel mill to see real men working ?

[Kolesar]

4. That Howler article brought back memories

unpleasant memories. There was a media attack on Gore in the 2000 election. The steel-worker bullshit just reopens the issue. I am disgusted, but that is not news. Thanks for sharing, Joe.

[Uncle Joe]

11. Thanks, I should have used different title though.

The gist of the article, was how the media is so responsible for the situattion that we are in today. This Daily Howler article is comparing the way the so called liberal media waged their war against Gore and the way they enabled Bush to power. All the bad things that have happened since are a direct result of the media's war against Gore.

P.S. anyone that reads this post, please click on link to read entire article, the paragraphs that I highlighted do not do it justice.

[LittleClarkie]

15. I got the feeling that the way to get the press on your side

was to have a party on your campaign plane, wine and dine and shmooze them until they love you to death. I can only imagine things were more, shall we say, professional on the Gore and/or Kerry campaign planes. Neither strikes me as having much patience for stroking the egos of your average journalist.

But then I heard that Dubya didn't have much time for it either until he realized what it could do for him.

[Uncle Joe]

17. I wonder if that is how they met Gannon/Guckert? n/t

[madrchsod]

5. fuck that shit

i worked in a steel mill with the "summer help". they were ok but we knew they would be gone in a couple of months and we and we would be still here freezing our asses or burning up in the bowels of the mill. we knew we`d still be here long after they graduated...so anyone who thinks they have any creditabilty cause they "worked" in a mill they can go fuck themselves

[bballny]

7. He is

your typical business republican. His father was management and he has all the disdain that management has for union people. He is no blue collar guy and has zero understanding of the common man. I worked in a factory in the summer and my father was the typical union guy except he was the union representative that helped negotiate the contact for the longshoreman against CPC The children of the management people worked upstairs and not with the union workers. I wonder if it was the same at Bethlehem steel

[NoPasaran]

6. Big John

Chopped down the whole Mojave Forest, I hear tell. Just him and his great blue ox, Babe.

[gratuitous]

8. I'm not sure what Somerby's point is . . .

Should we call Roberts a big phony because he undeniably worked a couple of summers in daddy's steel mill? The late and largely unlamented Michael Kelly surely knew the facts about Al Gore's upbringing and lied about it anyway, but is that reason enough to savage Roberts in the same way?

I don't suppose that's what Somerby wants.

On the other hand, how do we know ahead of time what the right wing slime machine will decide is its talking point? The perfectly true story of Al Gore working summers on his dad's farm? The perfectly true story of John Kerry's exploits in Vietnam for which he earned three purple hearts? The perfectly true story of Paul Wellstone's life and career celebrated by his closest friends and family?

I don't know what the answer is, but I don't know that it will be found in gnawing over six year old smear jobs.

[Uncle Joe]

12. At what point in the article did he slime Roberts?

He just pointed out the MSM's two faced hypocrisy and their direct responsibility in enabling Bush to power. I do not believe this should ever be forgotten. The bad guys are still in charge and the MSM is covering for them to this day. If the dysfunctional MSM is not corrected, this pattern of slander will continue unabated. They cheated America out of one it's greatest statesmen and put an incompetent in power. I see no reason in letting anyone forget it.

[gratuitous]

13. I didn't say that Somerby slimed Roberts

And I've read the Howler long enough to repeat the War on Gore story in my sleep. Yes indeed, Michael Kelly and the media carried out an unconscionable program of smearing Gore in weird and bizarre ways, twisting truths and purposely eliding facts, and the kid-glove handling of the Roberts up-by-the-bootstraps story of working summers in a steel mill certainly harkens back to the War on Gore.

But I'm not sure what Somerby wants to DO about it. Re-counting the problem over and over again, without offering any concrete solutions seems a futile exercise in gnawing the bones of a six year old character assassination, echoes of which reverberate today, but I'd be glad to know what Somerby would like his readers to do about it.

[Uncle Joe]

14. I believe he wants us

to educate the rest of the population as best we can as to what happened during the coup of 2000, it's direct causes as well as it's current and ongoing consequences. Like the jewish people say about the holocaust "never forget". If we do just sweep it under the rug, we will have failed our children and their children's children. No real voter reform and no change of power will happen as long as the status quo remains in our dysfunctional MSM. It's is imperative that we break their monopoly up, the only way to do that is to continue to enlighten the American people as to what happened in the run up to the 2000 election. I believe that the media monopoly have more blood on their hands than the worst neocon, because I do not expect any better from the neocons but our "fourth estate watchdogs" enabled the dumb bastards to power and we have paid the price and will continue to pay a heavy price. I also believe that the internet can aid us in that endeavor. My own belief is that the real reason the MSM trashed Gore was precisely because he was the major champion of the internet. They just wanted to keep their monopoly on information so that they could keep the American People ignorant of truth, and like an enraged Zeus who chained Prometheus to a rock only to have his liver eaten every day and made whole at night for eternity. All because Prometheus felt pity on mankind huddling in the cold and dark and stole fire from heaven to give to man. It is the same thing and I will not forget Prometheus.

[hunter]

9. Coffee? Doughnut? Blowjob?

Yum, yum hot sweaty steelworkers.

:eyes:

[Fenris]

10. This is just like "Flashdance"!

[SoCalDem]

16. But was he born in a ditch?? Like O'Neill??

Remember that back and forth between him and Byrd.. "I was poorer than you..No you weren't"..

I was rolling over that exchange..Byrd even made him cry...

[VOX]

18. Son of a mill worker? The Chimp is **ripping off** John Edwards' bio!!!

Don't get me wrong, I am one of the few John Edwards boosters on DU.

I shouldn't be amazed at anything the Chimp or BushCo does, but I am flabbergasted that they're so blatently appropriating lines and situations from John Edwards' life, and slapping them onto their new SCOTUS-bound boy deity. :grr: :mad: :nuke: