...instead of dwelling on specifics, he laced the crowning speech of his long campaign with the type of rhetorical flourishes that Republicans mock and the attacks on John McCain that Democrats cheer. The country saw a candidate confident in his existing campaign formula: tie McCain tightly to President Bush, and remind voters why they are unhappy with the incumbent.
The Beautiful Struggle: A Father, Two Sons, and an Unlikely Road to Manhood 
Copyright © 2009 by The Atlantic Monthly Group. All rights reserved.
What does "sonned" mean? I've never heard that word (expression?).
What does Monsignor Babington consider to be "specifics?"
Would a reading of every single policy paper have sufficed?
Does sonned mean give a youngin' a tongue lashing? Because I can't interpret it otherwise.
It means owned. I missed it. I hope someone posts the video.
WTF does Sonned mean? Owned? Really?!
God dammit, Coates! At least have the decency to write "pwned!"
Actually, sonned means just like it sounds treating someone like their your son or a kid, east coast rap parlance. I guess some folks are going to have to tighten up on there hip hop jargon to hang here in depth.
I think the count was 29 specific policy proposals he outlined in this speech. That's almost one policy proposal per minute, in a speech to 80,000 people.
What the hell does this guy want?
Please visit this, son:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=sonned&defid=398120
Damn, I'm missing a lot not having a TV these days.
You guys are hilarious. To "son" someone is, as someone mentioned, to treat them like a child whose out of line. It's a great word.
I don't know what has happened to Olbermann but the man is starting to believe his own hype; and that isn't pretty to watch.
Crowley at TNR
This statement of supreme idiocy needs to be kicked in the nuts, and I nominate Ta-Nehisi Coates to do it.
The only person who Olbermann ever sonned is himself - every time he opens his mouth.
But on another note, I agree with the above commenter that Crowley was insanely off on that. King's as safe a shoutout as they come.
C'mon TNC, you're dealing with Atlantic readers here. Atlantic readers that spend a lot of time at their computers. Unless we've heard it on The Wire, we probably haven't heard it at all.
Can you son a woman? I just need to get the details straight for future use around the water cooler.
Deleted....dawg
If you don't know like the slang, cool. But don't mock it, because you don't understand it.
Just saw a few minutes of Tavis Smiley with Cornel West and Julianne Malveaux expressing disappointment with BO's speech. He didn't even mention MLK by name! etc.
Asher andCasey,
You guys are delusional. That AP report is so out of tune with the speech Obama game that any response other than Olberman's is absurd.
Obama laid out far more specific policy porposals than you ever see in this type of speech. That report by the AP reads like it was written yesterday.
Sheesh, Pat Freakin Buchanan is gushing about the speech.
I think that Charles Babington is Scott Tempelton.
Pat Freakin Buchanan gives non-partisanship an honest try. And when he is partisan, he's generally pretty honest about it. I actually like him more than most of the folks at MSNBC. But the fact that he liked the speech says a lot.
I can think of no better response to Babington's screed than to quote innumerable urban sages (excuse my potty mouth):
"Fuck the dumb shit!"
It should be obvious I prefer and relate far more to Matt's l33t 5p3ak and Lol Catz style.
And Ceiling Cat sez: "Oh Hai! I was going to make rainz on ur preznit but instead I ated and had napz!"
Say what you will about Olberman but at least he's honest. He is so deep in the bag for Obama he hasnt seen daylight in months but he dosent hide that, he dosent pretend to be objective.
What burns my a$$ is the guys like Brokaw or Tavis Smiley or Mike Murphy who is now writting RNC press releases and calling it objectivity in TIME Mag. They have their agenda and just pretend to be calling it like they see it.
Everyone picks a side, and so they should stop pretending they dont.