@georgeob1,
georgeob1 wrote:
The credulity of the Democrat apoloigists here is truly remarkable.
Sadly for them, indignation is all they've got left.
You were probably referring to the apologists here at A2K but, if not, I wouldn't call Jennifer Rubin an apologist for any Democrat, at least not historically. She's allowed her seething hatred for Trump to poison her brain to the point that I wouldn't be surprised if she was writing admiringly of Chuck Schumer, Al Franken or Tom Perez for standing up to the Neo-Fascist in Chief, but I can't say with certainty she's cross that bridge yet.
I've been reading Rubin's columns in the Washington Post, on and off, for years now, but not because I've enjoyed or appreciated them all that much. She's never been a particularly skilled writer and her columns always contained what I thought was a strident edge to them, even before she got on board the
Anti-Trump Bat **** Train and thought she might actually take over the locomotive.
I read her columns because of the bizarre phenomenon that attended them. For some reason a dedicated group of left-wing readers of WaPo on line have for years been steadfastly following Rubin's tenure there and coming together in the Comments section, like a bunch of friends and neighbors at a backyard Sunday barbecue. It was clear that many recognized one another by screen name and would sometimes engage in side conversations asking after one's another health and activities, but the main reason they were all there was quite simple, to incessantly harass and mock Rubin.
It rarely mattered what she actually wrote because to the gang, whatever she wrote was clearly stupid and I doubt that more than one in ten of those commenting actually addressed the specific points she was making. Those that did were likely not part of the Jennifer Rubin Mockery Club (JRMC).
Almost all of them would address their comments directly to Rubin; referring to her as "Jen" or "Jenny," or to each other and referring to her as "Our Jen."
As I wrote, it was like a social gathering and they had little interest in debating the issues raised by Rubin, with other readers. Every once in a while I would add a comment pointing our how bizarre and childish their behavior was; how similar to a HS cafeteria table of
Cool Girls, making fun of the nerds they seemed, but few ever engaged. For the most part, I and the few other visitors who noted how juvenile their behavior was, were simply ignored.
I stopped reading her columns for a while because I reduced my consumption at the site overall, because the antics of the JRMC became, frankly, boring, like listening to a bunch of seventh graders point out what a geek
that guy is and agree how cool (and witty) they all were with their undecipherable "in-jokes"...and because she too was pretty boring.
Just after Trump was elected, I took another look at her columns (maybe because blatham had become a big fan of hers and was quoting her wisdom on a daily basis, but I think not) In any case what I found was a reinvented Jennifer Rubin who seemed to be on a mission from God to educate the American people about what a truly horrible and indeed dangerous man Trump was.
Previously I wouldn't have considered her to be, necessarily, a supporter of the GOP Establishment Class, in part because it seemed clear that she wasn't a member and I had the admittedly unsubstantiated feeling that she might hold some measure of resentment for not having ever been invited in. She often gave me the impression that she had served in the foreign policy apparatus of one president or another but that was never the case. If I had to categorize her views I would say she was most like a neo-con, largely a foreign policy hawk, an absolutely staunch defender of Israel and a near vicious critic of the Palestinians. The latter may explain why she initially attracted the attention and ire of left-wing WaPo readers, but it wasn't what sustained it.
Nevertheless, American Exceptionalism, spreading democracy throughout the world, defending Israel of all charges has now taken a back seat to over-the-top Trump bashing, and guess what? A large contingent of the JRMC has changed it's collective mind about her. Surprise, surprise! I know! Now there are as many, if not more, comments that rather than starting off with
"There's our Jenny, doubling down on her idiotic claims about (fill in the blank)" begin with
"You know, I used to think Ms Rubin was a complete horse's ass, but I have to admire her for breaking ranks with GOP boot-lickers and standing up to Trump!
Before the Reinvention of Jenny, I used to wonder if she ever read the comments sections attached to her columns and, if so, how she reacted to the relentless mockery. I concluded that she must, at least at one time, have wanted to see how her opinions were being received, but eventually she made a wise decision to no longer bother. It wasn't like WaPo columnists could engage the folks commenting on what they wrote and it probably would have been a huge mistake to try, just as it was a huge mistake for Sebastian Venable to attempt to engage the urchins who infested the Spanish beaches of Tennessee Williams and Gore Vidal's fevered fantasies.
Now I'm wondering if she reads the new and current waves of admiring comments and if they are somehow comforting to her as if they signify that she has finally found a place called
"home." It could be a sort of very sad situation.
I've no idea why she has become such a vociferous critic of Trump. She never seemed to be particularly anti-populist or, for that matter, much of a feminist. She, of course, could have been both for ages, but such sentiments were never blatantly evident in her columns.
It's quite possible that at some point she wrote something mildly critical of Trump, maybe in defense of his idiotic comments about John McCain not being a hero because he was captured, and in typical Trump fashion, he took umbrage and countered with a personally nasty tweet. (Could be because we can see what Trump's sometimes petty and nasty big mouth and twitter feed has done in terms of the support of Senators McCain and Lindsay Graham) Don't know, but I think it would be a stretch to suggest that she became a
Trump Hater because she saw that in that role she might finally garner the love and admiration of her readers. A stretch, but outside the realm of possibility?
If it is at all possible that relief from the constant harassment of the JRMC has been a motivating force in her transformation, I'm sure that if she was aware of the high esteem in which blatham now holds her, it would spur her on to new heights of hysteria.
