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You are here: Home / Politics / All Hail Mike Barnicle

All Hail Mike Barnicle

by John Cole|  August 22, 20076:15 pm| 53 Comments

This post is in: Politics

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Mike Barnicle is hosting Hardball, and he had Ari Fleischer on to discuss his new ad campaign with Freedom’s Watch to “stay the course” in Iraq. They watched this commercial:

If you watch the commercial, it shows one of the planes crashing into the WTC.

Mike Barnicle’s opening question was: “Ari, how many Iraqis were on that plane that crashed into the WTC?”

Ari’s whole performance was disgraceful.

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53Comments

  1. 1.

    Dreggas

    August 22, 2007 at 6:25 pm

    To do a bit of a change up on the greatest song evah…America Fuck Yeah…

    Barnicle FUCK YEAH!

  2. 2.

    Redleg

    August 22, 2007 at 6:25 pm

    Finally- someone in the media asking the question that has needed to be asked for 5 years now. And that person happens to be the disgraced, but rehabilitated, reporter Mike Barnicle.

  3. 3.

    Jake

    August 22, 2007 at 6:25 pm

    Challenge du jour: Call the number listed at the end of the commercial (877-222-8001) and see what happens.

    Go on. It’ll be fun.

  4. 4.

    Dylan

    August 22, 2007 at 6:26 pm

    Which plane? The first one or the second? And I’d like to know how many Iraqis were on the other two planes too?

  5. 5.

    rawshark

    August 22, 2007 at 6:38 pm

    I always liked Barnicle when he wrote for the Boston Globe. Even when he was calling me a yummy (Young Urban Maggot).

  6. 6.

    Dreggas

    August 22, 2007 at 6:40 pm

    According to diaries on Kos, that wasn’t the only hit. After viewing one ad Barnicle asked the stupid fuck what the name was of the soldier in the commercial and dipshit had no idea.

  7. 7.

    demkat620

    August 22, 2007 at 6:49 pm

    Fleischer was horrible. I was waiting for him to acuse Barnicle of having a pre 9/11 mindset. He came pretty damn close.

  8. 8.

    myiq2xu

    August 22, 2007 at 6:53 pm

    Q: Why can’t you circumcise a Republican?

    A: Because there’s no end to those pricks.

  9. 9.

    semper fubar

    August 22, 2007 at 6:53 pm

    These people are a disgrace — Fleischer, the assholes who appeared in these ads, all of them.

    I can only hope that these ads help to further destroy the republican party. At least something good will have come from it.

  10. 10.

    S.W. Anderson

    August 22, 2007 at 7:19 pm

    Ari’s whole performance was disgraceful.

    And you were expecting . . ?

  11. 11.

    Tsulagi

    August 22, 2007 at 7:22 pm

    “Ari, how many Iraqis were on that plane that crashed into the WTC?”

    That line reminds me of something an Iraqi blogger wrote before his blog went dark. He started off pro-OIF. Not quite flowers and candies ecstatic, but positive. Defended it. He wrote there were hardships, but he thought on balance the sacrifice would be worth it.

    That changed. His last post went something like “Their 9/11 lasted for a few hours leaving 3,000 dead. There were no Iraqis on those planes, yet our 9/11 has lasted for two years leaving 100,000 dead.”

    Always wondered if that guy picked up a weapon.

  12. 12.

    Rudi

    August 22, 2007 at 7:24 pm

    What you also failed to mention is that Barnicle asked Fleischer about the Iraqis veteran used in the piece, his name and some backround. Fleischer didn’t have a clue on the name of the vet – they used him as a tool. It was like giving a meal to the homeless to get them off the streets of Detroit for the Superbowl. Paul Reichoff and Barnicle talked about this later. Their isn’t any concern for the troops, they are used by both sides for political gamemanship.

  13. 13.

    calipygian

    August 22, 2007 at 7:24 pm

    You are so silly. Every single person on both planes were Iraqi. Saddam was flying the first one himself and Chemical Ali was flying the secong. Tariq Aziz piloted the one that flew into the Pentagon and poor Baghdad Bob was on the botched hijacking in PA. And the luggage compartments weren’t filled with luggage, they were filled with Dubya Em Dees. Which is why we didn’t find any in Iraq. God, Mike Barnicle is stoopid.

  14. 14.

    incontrolados

    August 22, 2007 at 7:26 pm

    zomg — I’m actually reading comments on dkos. And actually doing what one of the commenters suggested.

    What if I start reading it everyday?

    Is the Hardball segment up anywhere? (pobrecita mio, no lo tengo la cable)

  15. 15.

    Dave

    August 22, 2007 at 8:01 pm

    Look it’s the Democrats!

    (yeah I know not relevant the to the thread, and idea shamelessly stolen from this dkos diary)

  16. 16.

    srv

    August 22, 2007 at 8:02 pm

    Seems like Bush would have made his point better if we’d just reinvaded Vietnam back in 2003.

  17. 17.

    mclaren

    August 22, 2007 at 8:06 pm

    Well, DUH! Of course there were no Iraqis on that plane that crashed into the WTC on 9/11! Saddam bailed out with a parachute at the last minute. Everybody knows that.

    C’mon, you guys need to keep up with the facts. Remember that Saddam not only had stockpiles of WMDs, he used them against U.S. troops. But he aided and abetted by Democratic members of Congress, who held laser range-finders on our troops while hiding behind sand dunes to help him target our brave soldiers.

    Jeez, you guys really need to get with the program. Watch more FOX News. You’re just familiar with what’s going on in the world.

  18. 18.

    jake

    August 22, 2007 at 8:42 pm

    Well, DUH! Of course there were no Iraqis on that plane that crashed into the WTC on 9/11! Saddam bailed out with a parachute at the last minute. Everybody knows that.

    And, and, and! He landed on WTC 7 and he was so eeeevil that it collapsed!* Yeah! And, then…what else? Oh! He put some evil Ay-rab ju-ju on Guliani that made into a gibbering idiot! Then he hopped on his majickal pony and flew down to Washington, DeeCee busted through the Pentagon* and put the Stoopid Ju-Ju on Bush too. But Bush was already full up on American Stoopids so they bounced off. That’s why once Bush found out Hussein left Osama bin Laden’s tightie-whities at the Pentagon, he saw that Hussein was trying to frame bin Laden and called off the search for him and invaded Iraq. Really.

    j

    *Should not be taken as an endorsement of WTC 7 or Pentagon conspiracy theories, even ones that may be made up in the future.

  19. 19.

    The Other Steve

    August 22, 2007 at 9:50 pm

    Well, DUH! Of course there were no Iraqis on that plane that crashed into the WTC on 9/11! Saddam bailed out with a parachute at the last minute. Everybody knows that.

    What the hell are you talking about!?

    Everybody knows Saddam hide the plane in Syria!

  20. 20.

    Mutaman

    August 22, 2007 at 10:00 pm

    “And that person happens to be the disgraced, but rehabilitated, reporter Mike Barnicle.”

    Why is he rehabilitated, because he asks one decent question? once a liar, always a liar.

  21. 21.

    John Cole

    August 22, 2007 at 10:22 pm

    He isn’t disgraced, in my opinion.

    I have always liked him and always will. He gets a lot of things many of the jackasses on tv never understand.

  22. 22.

    Warren Terra

    August 22, 2007 at 10:28 pm

    Part of the Hardball episode – not the “how many Iraqis” part but the “what was the soldier’s name” part – can be seen at Think Progress.

  23. 23.

    Sirkowski

    August 22, 2007 at 10:31 pm

    I hate when people say it’s not time for politics. Every fucking thing is political. “It’s not time for politics” is just codeword for “bend over”.

  24. 24.

    DougJ

    August 22, 2007 at 10:40 pm

    I can’t see how that ad will help Republicans at all. It reminds everyone that thousands of soldiers have lost limbs in Iraq.

    I just can’t understand why they would run this ad. I live between two of the districts that are getting the ad buys.

  25. 25.

    DougJ

    August 22, 2007 at 10:43 pm

    And I agree with you, John, about Barnicle.

  26. 26.

    TenguPhule

    August 22, 2007 at 10:55 pm

    Fleischer was horrible. I was waiting for him to acuse Barnicle of having a pre 9/11 mindset.

    I think that people who loudly insist on having a post-9/11 mindset are panty wetting morons.

    Yes, a terrorist attack is bad. Yes, it deserves a response.

    No, it doesn’t involve going batshit insane and starting two wars with a third in the works and becoming a bunch of pussys who jump at noises under the bed and think of Bush as the Big Daddy who will hold you close and stick his dick up your ass to give you that warm full feeling of security.

  27. 27.

    Perry Como

    August 22, 2007 at 11:30 pm

    I have always liked him and always will. He gets a lot of things many of the jackasses on tv never understand.

    The IQ thing was weird.

  28. 28.

    Anne Laurie

    August 23, 2007 at 12:40 am

    Barnicle is an old-fashioned Irish mucker. He can be an arsehole — okay, he’s at least 50% arsehole — but he’s made a lot of the right enemies. Printing the stuff from George Carlin without attribution was just moronic. But the then-new owners of the Boston Globe, the NYT Editorial Board, told his readers Barnicle was being dumped for the crime of making up a couple of broadly-cartooned characters in a humor column. Yes, these are the same New York Times editors who were, and have ever since, let NeoCons like Fleischer make up great swathes of text in the news sections of their beloved Off-Color Lady. While they were applauding everything from Reagan’s economic perscipacity to Dubya’s political acumen to Saddam’s WMDs, they were careful to insist that columnists should not stoop to mere invention, or even friend-of-a-friend attribution. If only they’d held Judith Miller to similar standards of truthiness! They’re either fvcking stupid or plain evil, but pace Occam’s Razor, I’m going with stupid.

  29. 29.

    r€nato

    August 23, 2007 at 1:30 am

    Ari’s whole performance was disgraceful.

    he may be a mouthpiece for scum-sucking evil bastards, but he was surely far more credible than Scott McClellan or Tony Snow, and apparently he had the good sense to get the fuck out before things really went to hell (including Plamegate).

  30. 30.

    OhReally

    August 23, 2007 at 3:06 am

    It’s also no time for ignorant bullshit and grotesque propaganda. Nice job, soldier.

  31. 31.

    jake

    August 23, 2007 at 5:17 am

    Regarding the soldier in the commercial: Ari’s fibbing muscles must be flaccid. The correct answer is something along the lines of “I can’t give his name without his permission/The guy’s been through enough, we don’t want rabid anti-war protesters on his doorstep.”

    As for the vet himself [shrugs]. That’s how he feels, that’s how he feels. If I say he’s a puppet or insincere or what have you I’d have to stand in the corner with the wanks who complain about the VoteVets.Org ads. Yuck.

    Again, I invite you to call the number at the end of the ad: 877-222-8001. It is supposedly a quick way to contact your congress person.

  32. 32.

    gogiggs

    August 23, 2007 at 6:24 am

    If it’s no time for politics, then why is he in a political ad?

    Oh, it’s no time for politics with which he doesn’t agree. Well, it seldom is, is it?

  33. 33.

    Helena Montana

    August 23, 2007 at 7:49 am

    Up, up with Barnicle. Down, down with Matthews.

  34. 34.

    Otto Man

    August 23, 2007 at 8:01 am

    It’s not just Barnacle picking apart the new ads — check out what MoveOn.org has to say, courtesy of Kos:

    Dear Ari Fleischer,

    Thank you. The news today about a $15 million TV ad campaign targeting Republicans in the name of a group called “Freedom Watch” is probably the best thing we could want right now. It is a gift.

    The revival of your role as salesman-in-chief for the White House’s failed war policy is also welcome. We were looking for a way to connect this mysterious “Freedom Watch” outfit to the White House Iraq PR machine. And then it turned out that you made our job very simple—you are in charge. This is the “White House Ad campaign.”

    Our researchers tell us your ads are targeting 90% Republicans (37 out of 41). We’ve had strong fundraising but we never thought a $15 million TV buy was in the works. Every extra minute of TV time talking about Iraq is another drip, drip, drip of bad news for politicians who won’t break with Bush. So, thanks.

    I hope we can meet in person. Perhaps your schedule is clear now that you are no longer a witness in the Libby trial or a spokesperson for the White House. (Have you thought about writing a fiction novel about yellowcake and Niger?)

    Also, how do you define “progress” in Iraq? This is now the bloodiest summer since the war began. Already 243 Americans have been killed in June, July and August. Last year 169. In 2005, 217 were killed. 162 in in 2003 and 113 in 2003. The Iraqi parliament is on vacation. Nearly half the Iraqi cabinet is boycotting the government. The surge has failed.

    Now, for the first time, we’re not the only campaign on Iraq making Susan Collins, Norm Coleman, Mitch McConnell and others look over their shoulders. If I were you I wouldn’t answer phone calls from the NRSC, the NRCC or the RNC. I don’t think they’re too happy about these ads.

    Thanks again.

    -Tom Matzzie
    Washington Director, MoveOn.org Political Action
    campaign manager, Americans Against Escalation in Iraq

  35. 35.

    Otto Man

    August 23, 2007 at 8:05 am

    Wouldn’t it be cheaper just to run an ad that repeated “9/11” over and over again for the full spot?

    Maybe not. Guiliani probably has that copyrighted.

  36. 36.

    norbizness

    August 23, 2007 at 8:06 am

    It could have been worse:

    BARNICLE: How many Iraqis were on the planes that destroyed the WTC?

    FLEISCHER: Planes? Phhffftt. That was a controlled demolition. Whoops.

  37. 37.

    True Blue Merican

    August 23, 2007 at 8:10 am

    Me no like Meester Barnicle. No ask Ari about his shiny bald pate. Nothing about his shoulders. His Manly odors, nada. Bring back Meester Tweety!

  38. 38.

    LITBMueller

    August 23, 2007 at 8:31 am

    Aris Fleischer, 2003:

    By all accounts, it was Fleischer’s decision to leave. He married recently, and said he looks forward first to “having time to relax a little and spend some time with my wife.”

    Clearly, Ari has already found his wife boring…

  39. 39.

    ConservativelyLiberal

    August 23, 2007 at 8:34 am

    Of course no Iraqis were on the planes! Duh! Saddam was controlling the planes by remote control from one of his comfy palaces while sitting on his throne of WMDs and soaking his feet in OUR oil!

    This episode of Republicans spending $15 million to shoot themselves in both feet and the head was brought to you by Ari Fleischer.

    Didn’t even know the soldiers name? What an open display of arrogant stupidity. If anything, this ‘commercial’ is just another example of the planning that the right is incapable of doing.

    Must have forgotten his notes, yeah, thats the ticket!

  40. 40.

    Georgette Orwell

    August 23, 2007 at 9:15 am

    That “solider” sounds just the tinest bit too professional, too much like an actor. (Cynical? Who, me? ) Until there’s some information on name, rank, and serial number, I’ll find it difficult to believe that it wasn’t an actor and doctored video footage.

    And of course it isn’t time for politics–unless they fall along the R party line.

  41. 41.

    DougJ

    August 23, 2007 at 9:26 am

    Anne Laurie, you’ve summarize Barnicle perfectly.

  42. 42.

    Pb

    August 23, 2007 at 9:51 am

    Wouldn’t it be cheaper just to run an ad that repeated “9/11” over and over again for the full spot?

    [Cut To Lady Liberty Hitting Herself In The Head With Her Torch]

    “9/11: Apply Directly To The Forehead!”
    “9/11: Apply Directly To The Forehead!”
    “9/11: Apply Directly To The Forehead!”
    “9/11: Apply Directly To The Forehead!”

  43. 43.

    Davis X. Machina

    August 23, 2007 at 10:03 am

    Wouldn’t it be cheaper just to run an ad that repeated “9/11” over and over again for the full spot?

    Then what video do you run just before the keynote at the 2008 GOP nominating convention?

  44. 44.

    John Cole

    August 23, 2007 at 10:14 am

    The thing I like about Barnicle is that unlike the other folks who are on the shows frequently, Barnicle clearly lives on the same planet as the rest of us. While they are in their beltway cocoon, Barnicle actually experiences things the rest of them apparently do not. Like, for example, life.

    I know it is cliched to state it, but Barnicle does seem to understand “the people” far better than most others. I remember during the 2000 election Barnicle quipped that Al Gore’s speaking style and speech delivery is “so boring it makes my hair hurt.”

    Now that may not be a valid reason to not vote for someone or to vote against them (and it really isn’t) but it was an exceptionally accurate and fair way to summarize how many people felt when listening to Gore, myself included.

    Additionally, there are just things he “gets.” I am struggling for examples right now, but there have been multiple times when he was on with a panel, and I felt like everyone the panel lived on a different planet, and Barnicle was the only one whose life experiences and perceptions mirrored mine. It wasn;t that I agreed with him, but we were clearing observing the same things, while the others were just “missing” it. Whatever it may be.

    I like the guy. I think he is good for cable tv.

  45. 45.

    Jake

    August 23, 2007 at 10:27 am

    [Cut To Lady Liberty Hitting Herself In The Head With Her Torch]

    Paper towels! Apply directly to the monitor!

    I guess the follow for that spot would be a Haliburton exec. holding a sack of cash. “9/11! I hate your commercials! But I looooove your product.”

  46. 46.

    Andrew

    August 23, 2007 at 10:43 am

    Yeah, why the fuck doesn’t Soros put out some spoof commercials? Hell, he’s got the writing staff for free, right here.

  47. 47.

    Andrew

    August 23, 2007 at 10:45 am

    Also, I watched Magnolia for the first time last night. Interesting movie, with some fatal flaws, but every time Cruise yelled “Respect the cock!” I couldn’t help but realize that is the most eloquent summary of neoconservatism that I have ever heard.

  48. 48.

    blogenfreude

    August 23, 2007 at 10:49 am

    Remember that Saddam not only had stockpiles of WMDs, he used them against U.S. troops.

    And the WMDs are buried in Syria. And right before we attacked, Saddam sold his entire nuke program to Kim Jong Il at a deep discount.

  49. 49.

    Gus

    August 23, 2007 at 12:06 pm

    Regarding MoveOn’s reaction to this, there’s a group called Veterans for Freedom that’s running an ad thanking Norm Coleman for his support of the war here in MN. I can’t believe that’s really going to be helpful for him. I’m loving it. Senator Franken sounds pretty good, as does Senator Ciresi.

  50. 50.

    Mutaman

    August 23, 2007 at 1:02 pm

    I dislike Barnicle because he is a a liar.

    He’s also one of Imus’ todies who kept his eyes closed to Imus’ racism over the years and then hid under the covers when it finally blew up in Imus’ face.

    He’s also one of Jack Welch’s boys.

    Also, a few years ago Barnicle was telling us:

    “Unlike the guy who sat in the White House before him, Bush isn’t relying on some focus group or a pollster to chart his course. He’s got genuine beliefs. He decided his mission was to take it to the terrorists—no matter where they were—and start killing them before they come back to kill us.”

    Its because of guys like this that Bush has been in charge for the last eight years.

  51. 51.

    Mutaman

    August 23, 2007 at 1:10 pm

    “I remember during the 2000 election Barnicle quipped that Al Gore’s speaking style and speech delivery is “so boring it makes my hair hurt.”

    That was a line fed to Barnicle by Jack Welch. Its this kind of nonsence that got Bush elected.

  52. 52.

    gogiggs

    August 23, 2007 at 4:00 pm

    Yeah, that was the real problem with the 2000 election, there just weren’t enough writers with the guts to tell us Al Gore was boring.

  53. 53.

    BLAINE KINSEY

    August 26, 2007 at 3:05 pm

    So, Mike Barnicle just “gets it”. Ari Fleischer was promoting an ad showing a jet flying into the World Trade Center, and Mike Barnicle let Ari upbraid him about being in a 2001-2002 debate mode regarding Iraq. Ari Fleischer argues that he makes a personal sacrifice by allowing others to die for him in Iraq, and Mike Barnicle let him get away with it. Ari Fleischer argues that invading Iraq was somehow equivalent to the United States invading Germany in WWII, and Mike Barnicle failed to correct Ari’s perversion of the sequence of historical events following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. If Mike Barnicle “gets it”, “it” must be a serving of his own testicles.

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