Tirelessly attending one meeting after another, five nights a week, at the midnight hour he bestows praise upon his favorites, and criticism upon his enemies. Faster than a speeding Lanta Bus, all opposing comments are dismissed as non sequiturs, personal attacks or off topic... Little changes with Bernie O'Hare, aka here as Jimmy Olsen.
Someone recently asked me what is Bernie's problem? He noticed that for months Bernie had been taking cheap shots at both me and my readers. Several months ago he started deleting the signed comments I occasionally submitted to his blog. Most of the comments he receives are anonymous, and many less than profound. He started calling me mean spirited and petty. Coming from Bernie, all those insults are beyond ironic. Here's a guy who serves up one victim after another, like red meat, for his anonymous commenters to feast upon. In a blog post yesterday, I wrote that Pawlowski won with the Marion Barry vote. Washington voters re-elected Barry knowing full well that he was involved in unlawful acts. O'Hare seized upon the opportunity on facebook to pronounce my analogy as racist.
He describes himself as a bottom feeding blogger, trying to humorlessly dismiss his aggression toward others. He really does delight in painting his targets with innuendo and distortion. While most of Bernie's victims have no recourse or vehicle to defend themselves, that's not the case here.
Bernie thinks he is so smart about others when the truth is his own issues shine through in his cutting and personal commentary. It is a real stain on an otherwise much needed local asset that combines intelligence, wit, and great writing. He is one of the valley's leading purveyors of regional news and opinion, but he has become nasty to those who dare to disagree. Nasty isn't smart, it's mean. Frankly, although he complains often of the tone of his posters he too often sets the bar too low himself.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, He called me a racists repeatedly for not agreeing with him that Francis Scott Key is the cause of modern urban poverty.I don't go there anymore. That works for me.
ReplyDeleteBernie who ?
ReplyDeleteI think Bernie's blog is outstanding. He is, as you say, tireless.
ReplyDeleteI don't see your FB interactions with each other, and lately, I've just been skimming this blog and comments. So, while I'm well acquainted with the recent animosity you speak of between yourself and Bernie, I don't have all the information.
To be perfectly honest, I think the tone here at MOA has recently turned more sour than ever before. Both the blog posts and (especially) the comments seem cruel and lacking in empathy or good natured banter. That's why I am no longer able to read each blog post and consider it daily - I often find myself repelled. I think you know you're saying things that are often sexist or racist in nature, and yet you leave yourself just enough wiggle room to claim innocence when accused. I enjoy a conversation with those of varied opinions, but I do not enjoy hateful, nasty barbs. (I deliberately plucked those words from Armstrong's comment above - I find his comment astonishingly lacking in self awareness.)
You seem to be willing to have a dialogue about the current state of affairs in the blogosphere, so I hope you'll accept my criticisms as just an honest response to the topic you posted today. I do very much admire your body of work here at MOA...your consistency, depth of knowledge, succinct wit and lack of bullshit being the main attributes I usually appreciate. And, I don't have a problem with your telling things the way you see them. But, of late, you see to have moved beyond thoughtful commentary and into the territory of right wing rants. You're cantankerous. I'm sensing that your ideology is getting in the way of your usual rationality. I'm not sure why that is, but it seems to have started as a response to the presidential election. I can understand how an election like that would make a political commentator sour. I try not to judge and just stay away - hoping for better days ahead.
So while your reader may be wondering "what's Bernie's problem," I have been wondering lately what the problem is here. I'm sorry I didn't have better feedback for you, but I thought you should know.
momma@2:43, it is a fact that pawlowski was courting minority voters for this election. his parade of facebook posts testified to that reality. bernie o'hare claimed repeatedly that he considers pawlowski a criminal. the residents of washington years ago voted for marion barry, choosing to ignore his drug convictions. ( remember bernie calling heffentrager a criminal?) it was perfectly logical for me to equate pawlowski's election with that of merion barry's election. although that is not politically correct, it was unnecessarily hostile and unwarranted for o'hare to label that racist. racism is not a label to be lightly thrown around.
ReplyDeleteyour comment could have been written by bernie. even some of your words are part of his normal vocabulary. over the years some people have even suggested that you are a bernie sock puppet. regardless, understand that i employ no puppets. also understand that bernie deletes my comments and replies, even when he's writing about me. now that is petty.
To be clear, I do not find your Merion Barry comparison "racist." It's a very apt comparison, one I've used myself in conversations, and it goes to show that real deprivation and corruption can be on full display (as is the case in Allentown and in DC) and some voters will still pull the lever for their guy.
ReplyDeleteOf course, popular convicted white politicians have also been returned to office, most notably years ago in Boston and in the deep south. Those felonies, for bribery/mail fraud/election fraud/yadda yadda actually could have been said to injure the public. However, the electorate presumably forgave the pols because they were perceived as being for the "little" man. In the north, such politicians lived all their life in Irish & Italian neighborhoods and were not perceived as "going uptown" and the voters looked past the larceny & corruption & kickbacks. Allentown's Mayor may represent that type of "Last Hurrah" politician.
ReplyDeleteMany urban voters did not view Barry's sins as hurting the public; rather personal cocaine usage was seen as a personal issue, and the resources of federal law enforcement repeatedly spent to set him up in "honey pot" entrapments definitely was viewed in the black community as racist. With the exception of the John DeLoran sting operation (who, of course, was acquitted with the enormous resources available to him as a millionaire)white politicians rarely are set up for drug arrests; rather, law enforcement targets mail fraud & bribery and such offenses the public will view as criminal. And, even in the DeLoren case, he was not indicted for personal consumption, but, rather for intent to distribute. Barry, on the other hand, was always being arrested while toking with a female girlfriend, who in most cases was a user turned informant, promised a pass by law enforcement.
Comments such as: " the comments seem cruel and lacking in empathy" and
ReplyDelete"moved beyond thoughtful commentary and into the territory of right wing rants" and
" I think you know you're saying things that are often sexist or racist in nature"
It's sad for several reasons, mainly when you state facts, you are a 'mean' person. I'll take it apart. "Lacking empathy" this is a code word for paying people entitlements for making really bad decisions, and continue to make bad decisions.
Right wing rants: Listing the facts that are ignored by the MSM. There are 49,000,000 people on SNAP - more than the population of Spain! There are over 13,000,000 people on SSDI - more than the population of Spain. SSDI is broke - the government 'borrows' money to support this program.
Lastly we have the two favorite words of the left: sexists and racist. This is what you 'pull out' when everything else fails. Please look up Joseph McCarthy, he had the witch trials in the mid 50's.
If logical thinking people don't push back, we will never get our country back. Call me what you may, I'm not going to sanitize my speech. I will keep it polite - I have manners - more than I can say for the leftists.
Correction - 13,000,000 on SSDI - more than the population of Greece.
ReplyDeleteIt is worth considering that the reason commentary is negative is because that is the zeitgeist of the time. Should anyone be happy about the mood of the city or the country?By the way, what exactly is a "right wing rant? Is it when anyone complains about the latest ugliness, anger, and violence of the left? Is it any perplexed commentary on the hysterical reaction to the loss of a presidential election many mistakenly assumed was in the bag?
ReplyDeleteThere is a lot of talk about tolerance, but precious little is ever demonstrated.
Being a sentimental sap, I can't bring myself to comment on this festering Hatfield/McCoy feud; I like BOTH of youse guys too much (for different reasons though) to take sides. I appropriately took the name Whethervain to highlight the fact that I'm usually influenced by the last articulate post I see. I wish I had the solid foundation of logic, understanding, and recall that folks like Scott A. have to be so confident in one's opinion - and be able to defend it. But this is the way I came from the factory.
ReplyDeleteI'm about to leave Allentown for points west (Denver) and I just hope that things come around for both of you.
Most important is definitions. For instance "right wing" - does that mean people who pay a boat load of taxes, and are not opposed to giving people a helping hand? But those people don't take the 'helping hand' - they just stay where they are - receiving benefits - all the while they supply nothing to the productivity to this country.
ReplyDeleteToday, is my 68th birthday. I've been working since I'm 15. Paid a huge amount of taxes, expect others to contribute.
Is this too much to ask?
It is the inclination of the left to label any disagreement as bigoted and racist, especially when they are losing the argument. Do not display facts that do not support their ideology, it will make them uncomfortable and will lead to negative labels to shut down the debate, it is the same type of behavior as seen on college campuses, the left will do everything including violence to shut down the debate that they sense they are losing.
ReplyDelete