Daily Meme: Ghosts of Sister Souljah Moments Past

by

  • It is a truth universally acknowledged that a politician in possession of bad fortunes must be in want of a Sister Souljah moment.
  • sister souljah moment (n): "The public repudiation of an extremist person or statement perceived to have some association with a politician or his party."
  • "Bill Clinton invented the Sister Souljah moment. Is having one still a political requirement or more a political cliche?"
  • "The sordid George Washington Bridge scandal offers Chris Christie two choices: Continue to deny, deflect and dissemble in a manner that is so common in the politics of today, and most recently exhibited by President Obama during a spate of controversies in 2013; or … pull a Super Sister Souljah."
  • "Chris Christie Steals Somebody Else's Sister Souljah Moment"
  • "Barack Obama leads a charmed life. He finally had his Sister Souljah moment and didn't even have to show up. Jesse Jackson did it for him solo."
  • "Thus the main reason Obama's severance from Wright doesn't really qualify as a Sister Souljah moment: In 1992, there was no other shoe to drop on Clinton, but Obama may yet find himself facing a hailstorm of very ugly footwear."
  • "Obama could really use a Sister Souljah moment of his own -- and he's got an opportunity for one staring him right in the face: The President should to ride to the defense of Chick-fil-A."
  • "While Mr. Obama is far from the kind of extreme and polarizing figure that Sister Souljahwas in 1992 and avoids the vitriol of MoveOn.org, his political positioning to the left of Mrs. Clinton serves a similar role-to place Mrs. Clinton in the center. Mrs. Clinton still needs to defeat the skilled and well-financed Mr. Obama, but when and if she does, her victory over him will in and of itself be important as a marker of how far to the left the party won't go."
  • "When Mitt Romney ducked the chance to rebuke Rush Limbaugh for calling a young law student a "slut" and a "prostitute," critics said he missed out on a Sister Souljah moment."
  • "At this point, even if Romney tried to do this, most people would see through the strategy as being an Etch A Sketch Moment, as opposed to a Sister Souljah moment."
  • "Sullivan, who is gay, maintains that 'there is still time for Romney to Sister Souljahelements of the far religious right.'"
  • "Mitt Romney and other Republican officials sensibly disavowed the Congressman after his recent comment that "legitimate rape" can be a contraceptive. For Mr. Romney, this was something of a Sister Souljah moment-not that he's getting much media credit for it."
  • "While Romney adopted his fair share of conservative positions to squeeze passed Santorum, he has yet to move back to the center: He hasn't discovered any new centrist positions, he hasn't attempted to co-opt any Democratic strengths, he hasn't established an independent-minded theme, and he hasn't found a Sister Souljah moment. He could use one." (If aliens came to Earth and tried to understand the 2012 presidential election and did their research on the Internet, it is likely they'd come to the conclusion that the failure to have a Sister Souljah moment did Romney in.)
  • "And here we are: Robert Bork is Bush's Sister Souljah."
  • "No one knows how she'll vote on John Roberts, so this could be her own Sister Souljah moment."
  • "Rather than seeing an opportunity for a 'Sister Souljah moment' ... Nugent has been elevated on conservative news outlets and is a sought-after guest. He's become the foul-mouthed bard of the right wing."
  • "Newt Gingrich needs a Sister Souljah moment if he wants to undo the damage of criticizing a fellow Republican."
  • "Giuliani's campaign has not been replete with Sister Souljah moments, and far from challenging the NRA, he engaged in some flip-floppery, disowning the lawsuit he filed as mayor against gun manufacturers."
  • "A clever Kerry move would be to turn Michael Moore into his Sister Souljah."
  • "This is the Sister Souljah moment of the 2004 presidential campaign. In fact, it's even better than a Sister Souljah moment."
  • "One pro-FTA business source said this was Pelosi's 'Sister Souljah' moment to demonstrate her party was not beholden to labor, and she failed."
  • "The Republican Party needs a Sister Souljah it can call its own. Or more precisely, the GOP needs a 'Sister Souljah moment.'"
  • "Ann Coulter is not African-American, does not sing and never said 'If black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?' However, she is the closest the Republicans will get to Sister Souljah."
  • "Presidential aspirant Paul Ryan gave the world a false 'Sister Souljah Moment' in publicly dissing a key portion of the legacy of Jack Kemp at the Kemp Foundation Leadership Award Dinner."
  • "Senator Cruz lost out on his 'Sister Souljah moment' this week. When he was being blasted by the Tea Party fringe House members for accidentally telling the truth he could have confronted them and maybe gained some respect from the moderates in his party."
  • "The corporate push to double immigration, double the admission of guestworkers, and amnesty millions of illegals without any meaningful steps to prevent the establishment of a new illegal population may not sound as extreme as Sister Souljah's execrable sentiments, but as a policy matter, it is far more consequential."
  • "For fun we're going to try to write a second-day story about this, 'Is This Bobby Jindal's Sister Souljah Moment?' without laughing."
  • "Beinart recommends 'a Sister Souljah moment with the U.N.,' a high-profile news event that Democrats can use to show they really don't care what France thinks."
  • "Liz could have had a Sister Souljah moment with her own sister. She still might lose, but would do so with her family intact."
  • "I'm So Sorry, Sister Souljah"
  • "'The Sista Souljah Moment' has become a cliché without peer in contemporary politics. And like any phrase that is so often used, its value is necessarily diminished over time."
  • "Please No More Sista Souljah Comparisons"
  • "The 'Sister Souljah moment' idea may be tired cliché with dubious political implications, but in this crazy new world of the 24/7 news cycle doing campaign punditry is harder than ever and we therefore need our lazy clichés more than ever. Will nobody think of the journalists? If anything, people need to try harder to more rigorously fit their discussion of all events into a handful of predetermined frames."
  • "For me, 'Sister Souljah moment' is just when you meet a powerful and intelligent and beautiful woman, and you just can't seem to forget her. People talk about it like it was yesterday. So apparently they cannot forget me, and I take it as a compliment."

There's too much at stake this November for us to quit. As we navigate another presidential election year, thoughtful independent journalism is more important than ever. We're committed to bringing you the latest news on what's really happening across the country this election season, shining a light on the stories corporate media overlooks and keeping the public informed about how power really works in America.

Quality reporting doesn't come for free, and we don't have corporate backers to rely on to fund our work. Everything we do is thanks to our incredible community of readers, who chip in a few dollars at a time to make what we do possible. This month, we're trying to raise $50,000 to help fuel our election coverage, and we've fallen behind on reaching our goal. Any amount you give today will bring us closer to making our reporting possible—and a generous donor has agreed to match all online donations, so your impact will be doubled.

You can help power this newsroom by making a donation today.