Pink-y and the Complete Lack of a Brain

So I see the screeching, ineffectual buffoons from Code Pink -- namely the group's founder, Medea Benjamin -- were at it again today.

In case you were lucky enough to miss it, this time Benjamin managed to somehow grab the spotlight away from her biggest target yet, heckling the President of the United States. Never mind that Barack Obama was holding a press conference whose sole purpose was to explain and clarify U.S. policy on the prosecution of war overseas and to push publicly again for the closure of Guantanamo, that of course wasn't good enough for Benjamin, because DRONES!

What I loved about this moment, though, is that Obama handled it with an almost staggering level of graciousness, certainly much more than Benjamin would've gotten from a president culled from the current crop of Republicans. He let her shriek, let her rant about the CIA and Muslim-killing, even deferred to her, and then calmly continued.

In other words, he made her look like what she is: a fucking jackass.

Related: The Daily Banter: The 60's Brand of Protest Doesn't Work Anymore/2.8.13"

Sound and Fury Signifying Nothing

Today's column for the Daily Banter takes on a topic that I've written about many times and which was brought up again on this week's podcast.

Here's the opening shot:

"I’ve said this sort of thing before many times. Matt Taibbi’s said it. David Cross does an entire bit about it. But no matter how often it’s repeated, there are still those out there on the left who live in their own little epistemic bubble and don’t seem to get something: the 60s are over and continuing to protest like it’s 1967 will get you absolutely nowhere in the year 2013. Yes, it’ll grab you a little attention, but ultimately not the kind you want. It’s an ineffective model of activism in the new millennium and the predisposition to fall back on it needs to be shelved once and for all."

Read the Rest Here