“Have you got any Grey Poupon?”
Before I go ahead with this post, I must confess to not only putting mustard on my burger but also having my fries with mayonnaise since I don’t tolerate all the sugar in ketchup (ketchup has a huge amount of sugar, in case you didn’t know). Eccentric taste? Oh yes, particularly when you realize I add not just any mayo, but Lemonaise since it has no sugar or soy oil (to which I’m allergic).
Anyway.
I wasn’t going to post on this but changed my mind when I read this post at Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, who got a lot of outrage from the Left on his original post. The trivial mustard-on-burger story illustrates a greater point:
I think the answer to why the nutroots cannot let Dijongate rest is the inherent insecurity of the left with their hold on power. While the mainstream media and left-wing blogs constantly tell us that Republicans and conservatives are dead politically, I don’t think they actually believe what they are saying.The nutroots and mainstream media understand that Obama and the corresponding Democratic majorities in Congress were elected through a unique confluence of circumstances which may never be repeated. The historic election of the first black president; an unquestioning mainstream media which embarrassed itself with its biased coverage; an economic credit crunch just weeks before the election; a Bush administration which lost its will to fight for its policies soon after the 2004 election; a Republican candidate who refused to attack Obama’s relationships with seedy characters even though Democrats showed no such restraint as to the Republicans; and a generalized discontent with the existing Republican power structure.
There is a lingering question, however, as to just who Barack Obama is, and whether we elected a blank slate who makes it up as he goes. This point is made not just by conservatives (who made this argument prior to the election), but also by Democrats and left-wing activists who openly wonder whether Obama’s election promises on terrorist detention, gay rights, and a host of other issues were “just words.” The nutroots doesn’t know who Barack Obama is anymore than I do, and anything which fills in the void in a negative way is viewed as a threat.
This void in Obama’s story leaves the Democratic hold on power vulnerable. One disastrous photo-op, open mike, or tape recorder left running, could puncture the Democratic bubble.
Which is why the mainstream media and nutroots need to protect Obama’s image. As others have noted, the late night comics have stayed away from the usual mocking given to all prior presidents, even though Obama has provided plenty of potential material through his teleprompter dependence.
Insecurity breeds anger, and nowhere is that insecurity more evident than on left-wing blogs. Some seek to impose a new commandment, “thou shall not mock Obama.” And if that means “thou shall not mock Obama’s mustard,” then so it is written, so it is done.
But not here. Updates to follow.
Go ahead, mock my mustard and mayo.
It’s a free country.
Tags: burgers, Fausta's blog
May 8th, 2009 at 3:34 am
Three left wing blogs as captured by memeorandum wrote on this story. All the rest were right wing blogs. William A. Jacobson of Legal Insurrection is moronic.
May 8th, 2009 at 3:36 am
Oh, and the left wing blogs were largely responding to the Sean Hannity criticism but William A. Jacobson thinks it is all about him.
May 8th, 2009 at 5:32 am
Isn’t mayo on french fries a Belgian thing? The over-reaction by the zampolit JournoList wannabes hissing at the good professor on the nutjob peanut gallery makes my day, especially their fake ironist take and the amnesia about their continuous rant-fest about GWB up until just a short time ago. Didn’t MoDodo even do a nanny whine about Chimpy McHitlerBurton’s early bedtime and his pillows? But that was kosher & adult, whereas MSNBC cover-ups concerning every imbecilic move this OJT POTUS makes is ignored by a cable network almost completely unwatched. I watch it only to see what everyone else is missing, except for Matthews, who is beyond even white noise for incomprehensible gibberish.
I love it when nutjob trolls miss the irony of MSNBC covering for Obama & their own outrage when a non-journalist blows Obama’s cover-up! What a collection of citizen prosecutor generals — or Walter Durantys — puffed up with their faux outrage at a professor’s audacity in pointing out a naked POTUS!
BHusseinO is a shallow superficial papier-mache surrender monkey who pre-emptively apologizes in Frogland for saving their sorry garlicky backsides from the Nazis! Dijon fits him just fine and he needs minders like O’Donnell and Mitchell do be his journo-nannies.
May 8th, 2009 at 6:44 am
The term Dijon mustard has been genericized anyway. Though there is a place in France called Dijon that is famous for its mustard, that doesn’t mean that Dijon mustard is imported. For example, Kraft manufactures the mustard known as Grey Poupon. So when Republican Senator Cunningham announced that he was taking the Grey Poupon off his shelf in 2003, he was declaring his dislike for an American product with a French name.
These Unamericans who say we shouldn’t get products, like Grey Poupon (a Kraft product) or French’s honey dijon mustard, really get on my nerves. They are American companies, guys, and is it any wonder that people don’t want to get American brands of mustard?