So the Steelers managed to somewhat salvage (congrats, Hines!) what was otherwise an awful weekend here, and by awful, I mean the entire town is just shocked, disgusted, and depressed. Going from the possibility of a National Championship to nothing just really kinda dampens the mood of the town.
Oh well.
At any rate, I see via catcalls in the comments that I am for some reason or another supposed to be eating crow over TNR no longer standing by Beauchamp, which makes me wonder about the ability of some people to read. What a moran. For the reading impaired, I never argued that Beauchamp was telling the truth, and consistently argued he could have been making it all up. My disgust centered around the stupidity of pretending that the ramblings of a diarist in a little read publication A.) mattered B.) Was a grievous insult on the dignity of our troops C.) Was proof of the liberal media D.) would have even been discussed had he stuck to the positive military stories in his first few disptaches rather than the less positive stories in Shock Troops. The vicious pile-on, calls for violence, and trashing of Beauchamp simply increased my disgust for a group of people I have already started to revile. At any rate, the entire memeorandum linkfest can be found here (I love their archive feature!), as I missed it the first time around and you might have as well. I guess my final thoughts on the matter are that while TNR should have, in retrospect, been more careful with these little anecdotes they are publishing (although I am not totally sure why they should have been more careful- it was just a diarist for Christ sakes), this whole situation is comical. I simply can not believe this was blown so out of proportion. If anything, my respect for TNR is much greater than it was at the beginning, because I appreciate the way they stood by Beauchamp until it became clear they could not. Also, the behavior of the military, with their selective leaking to friendly right-wing sources and bullying attitude, was quite illuminating.
Meanwhile, the Corner is having their own little brouhaha over their serial bullshitter, and Sullivan and company are giving them a very small dose of their own medicine. I don’t think there is anything particularly new about NRO exaggerating threats (and I agree with Yglesisas), it is essentially all they have done over the past eight years. What is noteworthy is that the truth detectors on the right have not kicked into high gear, and have not found the need to parse every past post, post personal information, or check myspace. Interesting, no?
At any rate, expect me to be in a crappy mood for a couple days. Well, crappier than normal. I guess #9 and a BCS Bowl game is not complete failure, but right now it sure feels like it. I just hope the players aren’t too hard on themselves. I am sure they did everything they could to win, and they have nothing to be ashamed about.
I guess we can consider this an open thread. I am still kinda letdown and not all that motivated to blog much, and right now wish I was John Cole, plus three.
cleek
they can read just fine.
but their screeching should make you wonder about their real motivations for screeching like they do. and it might make you question their intellectual honesty.
yet another jeff
Well, there did seem to be a choice between deciding they had a lack of “intellectual honesty” or whether they had a lack of “reading comprehension”.
One thing that bothered me about the sandbox…just because a driver can’t see what’s happening on one side of a vehicle, it doesn’t mean that a dog can’t be run over. It would be seem to be more difficult to do, but it would depend far more on the dog than it would upon the field of vision offered to the one steering the Bradley. If you can hit a mailbox, or any stationary object…or miss one…. Well, the “it’s impossible!” just sounds like absolute bullshit. Sure as hell not something that can be disproved.
Punchy
Four TD favs, at home, last game, against a team lead by the Mostest Overrated Coach Evah Wannstadt, for a chance at National glory.
There’s a lot to be ashamed about.
That said, here in flyover country, Mizzou fans just got triple-sucker punched by A)losing their game, B) losing out to a BCS game, and C) losing that game to KU. Trust me, they’re most pissed about C). Even more than A), incredibly.
College football this year has been a whoresbath.
Zifnab
It’s the Curse of the First. The top tier guys were wracking up losses left and right all year. It’s been an absolutely insane season. Don’t feel too bad, because you’ve got company in LSU – losing to Arkansas – and USC – losing to Stanford – and OU – losing to Tech – and half a dozen others I could name. It’s been brutal.
I still continue to hold a great deal of skepticism in his recanting. You can only put so much faith in, “My boss and I had a chat, and it turns out our company doesn’t do anything unethical or illegal after all” 11th hour conversions.
Of course, the wingers did have that excellent empirical study do with a Power Wheels and a stuffed Hello Kitty doll. So I guess the science is far enough against Beauchamp to warrant dismissal of claims.
Enlightened Layperson
After reading over what the New Republic actually said, it amounts to:
(1) One part of the Beauchamp story was definitely false. The disfigured woman was in Kuwait, not Iraq.
(2) These are our reasons for believing the story was true and that Beauchamp’s retractions were coerced.
(3) However, we can’t verify the rest of the story with enough certainty to meet our high journalistic standards. The full truth may never be known to anyone but the participants.
Enlightened Layperson
John,
I kind of got the impression that one reason this story had such resonance with you was that you knew that, regardless of whether Beauchamp’s details were all right, you knew from first-hand experience what everyone else knows, that soldiers say crude things and make sick jokes. (Gasp!). Pretending otherwise is ridiculous, even if it is kind of dirty for a soldier to repeat his fellow soldier’s crudities to civilians who won’t understand. (And even civilians who say they understand don’t really understand).
Am I about right?
John Cole
Why do you hate our troops? Our guys are nothing but angels, and never joke around, say disparaging things, do crude things, mistreat animals, objectify women, or even drink too much from time to time. Especially not in a combat zone, where they are too busy rescuing babies.
/wingnut
demimondian
That is so true, and I wonder if any of the 101st Frightened Chairborne understand how little they understand. I made things that people under fire use to kill other people. I, at least, understand that I don’t understand.
Cinderella Ferret
Thank you. I now have you and my mother telling the same story about my service. But, you did forget the part about buying Playboy to read the great articles. I never did figure out why my buddies didn’t tape the articles up inside their lockers. Some things will remain a mystery, I guess.
Jake
Bu-but, think of the context. And the caveats. Won’t someone think of the caveats?
The suck of it is, there are a large number of journalists who will use this to say you can’t trust anything you see on any blog. Mr. Wet Trouser Stain, Jr’s mewling that blogs are less “formal” (more truthy?) won’t help.
Wilfred
One reason that the falsity of Smith’s reporting was never noticed is because every single site concerned, including this one, never looks critically at anything that challenges the Israel first narrative put out by Bush et al. if people read anything at all that did challenge that narrative they would know that Smith was a liar.
A good site for an alternative perspective on Lebanon, Palestine and the ME in general, and things never reproted in the American press is: here
Dreggas
Bullshit we didn’t. That’s like saying cops don’t have a twisted sense of humor doing their jobs, I knew some that used to order pizza at a murder scene since they’d be there all night, I was a witness to a fatal car accident (tire blew out, driver lost control and hit a guard rail causing the truck to flip and land crushing the cab with her inside), the Highway Patrol shows up and the guy starts setting up cones and talking on his cellphone about the paperwork involved only a few days before retiring.
This wasn’t because he was a cold hearted bastard but it’s how he dealt with it. There was nothing that could be done and odds are he had seen it time and time again. My ex couldn’t understand how he could be that way, it’s what he had to do to continue keeping on keeping on so to speak otherwise it’d be too damn depressing to do the job.
demimondian
It’s kind of like animal research. You know, of course, that scientists treat the process of animal experimentation with complete seriousness. They would never tell jokes about the bizarre things their subjects do, but are always serious and somber about it. They’d never nickname a fish “spiral boy” or call a rat “crazy eddie”, nor talk about how they hated a particular rabbit. Nope. Not them. Never.
Doug H.
Well, there did seem to be a choice between deciding they had a lack of “intellectual honesty” or whether they had a lack of “reading comprehension”.
I chalk it up to “cult followers”. The Amway is strong in the right blogosphere.
Tsulagi
Give it up, you’re not going to see the Patriot Citizen Journos coming out of the comfort of their sandboxes filled with toy Bradleys. No need to, they’ve done the math.
Running over wild dogs as opposed to 4000 Hez terrorists taking over Christian East Beirut that never happened? Mocking a disfigured woman as opposed to 200 “heavily armed” Hezzies “laying siege” to the prime minister’s office exaggerated? Total equivalence. No doubt. Plus Smith’s actions proves he loves America.
Also, Smith was well within the parameters of the 1% Bush Doctrine. Okay, so 200 “heavily armed” Hezbolloah siege-laying terrorists became two brown guys walking around carrying AKs seen by Smith while driving by. Do the math, moonbat. Two is what percentage of 200? Lying by a factor of 100 in the defense of America is patriotic. See Justifications, Iraq War.
Jeff Eaton
Awesome quote from NRO:
Let that one sit in comparison to the tone of the Beauchamp coverage and just savor it for a moment. Good times, friends. Good times.
yet another jeff
Wilfred, I’m sorry, but I have to fix your comment.
Every now and then, it’s NOT the “people brainwashed by the powers”, ya know?
jcricket
You want to know what’s funny? The whole takedown of the Bush National Guard memos the right-wing did was bogus. The “unable to verify authenticity” had nothing to do with the fonts, kerning, superscript, or anything else the right-wing claimed.
It had to do with chain of custody and other factors.
So, while they were right that the documents could not be authenticated (and thus cannot be the basis for claiming Bush didn’t fulfill his NG duty), they were wrong in their “armchair citizen journamalism”.
My point is that just like with the NG memos, the “investigative methods” of the right wrt to Beauchamp are total bullshit. When they’re not factually wrong, they’re just making mountains out of molehills. They do this because “deviation from the party line” about anything threatens their entire world view.
Someone else described modern-day Republicans as a tower made of glass, built on a weak foundation. I think that’s about right, except that I’d add they’ve had the shock-troops protecting the shaky tower for years. But you get a couple of pot-shots through the perimeter and the entire thing will crash to the ground.
That’s why the fight so hard to prop up their stories about Iraq, Bush, etc. If one person realizes the “emperor has no clothes”, everyone will.
Jake
Is WTS dead? Why can’t he come forward and say:
1. I didn’t see a thing and relied on sources (spun and lazy).
2. I saw a thing and misinterpreted what I saw (confused and possibly drunk).
A different Matt
Man, what a clusterfuck the BCS is this year.
Ohio State in the big game? Who did they play? Oaklahoma and LSU are the two best teams in the nation – no two ways about it.
Same with Kansas. They have no business being in a BSC game. Maybe Hawaii and Illinois, too.
And Pat White looks totally disinterested. If you were an NFL team, would you want that guy leading your team? I mean, assuming Eli Manning’s not already leading your team, as anybody would be a step up from Eli. I’d rate that as one of the five biggest shocks of the season – Pat White’s flat-affect, along with ND sucking hard, Appalachian state upsetting Michigan, USC v. Stanford, and the BCS game matchups.
dslak
Jake, Smith already copped to 1. See here.
yet another jeff
jcricket,
Absolutely…the NG documents were bad news so the bullshit had to be fast and deep to cover that they couldn’t be disproved. It’s all a longer and louder version of the Chewbacca Defense. Same deal with Beauchamp. Was it someone on here in another thread that used the anology that the GOP is a miles tall glass tower, with glass floors, and they fall through the floor due to stone throwing, it’s just taking a long long time to hit the ground due to the height of the tower?
Zifnab
Ye gods, does anyone know how many people even read the NRO? Half the time John comments on it, the story has been taken hand-over-hand through the seven layers of serious-people analysis via Hewit/Malkin/Reynolds/et al.
“By why did no one ever condemn the Smith articles!” rings about as sincere as “But why has no one properly condemned Ward Churchill?!”
LITBMueller
Translation: Its not that Smith made shit up. Its just that he’s a really bad reporter.
Okay! All better!!!
Actually, he’s really from the Fox School of Journalism: reporters just show up, allow other to spin and lie unchallenged for a while while they write it down, and then go back to the office to write it all up without fact checking.
“Fox news. They Decide. We tell you what to think.”
jcricket
Wow, that’s an complete POS cop-out on NRO’s part. Compare their response to TNR falling all over itself to actually investigate, and their final comment about “couldn’t be verified to our high levels of journalistic standards”).
Basically TNR is saying, “Unless we can independently double or triple-check it, we shouldn’t have printed it” and NRO is saying “Look, if one of our reporters uncritically accepts a statement from people, that’s no big deal if it supports what we already know to be true. What’s the big deal?”
Once again, highlighting the difference between the left and right when it comes to media criticism. The right wants the media destroyed, turned into PR outlets for Republican spin and propaganda. The left wants the media to work.
dslak
Yeah, TNR was incredibly critical of the Bush administration’s case for war with Iraq. We can think their liberal mindset, focused on the media “working” for that.
/sarcasm
eyeball
for those newly curious, this is really quite adorable:
her credentials are staggering — staggering, I say.
mrmobi
Don’t fret John. There will probably be a new war or something to cheer us all up soon.
Personally, I was mrmobi plus three a couple of times this weekend (Makers’ Mark) and am the better for it today.
On an unexpected note, John, did you know that this blog is in the blogroll of the Great Orange Satan hisself? That’s how I linked here today.
David
Am I the only one amused that John is so distraught over Pittsburgh winning a rivalry football game that the only thing that can console him is Pittsburgh winning a rivalry football game?
Svensker
Can someone ‘splain this part to me? Didn’t the wingers see the pictures from Abu Ghraib? Is all their military experience from John Wayne movies? Don’t they have any idea what happens when you put a bunch of 18-24 year old kids in a situation that is alternately stressful and boring? Why was Beauchamp’s story a big deal at all?
dslak
Putting something like this on one’s biography smacks just a bit of obsesssion. Is “feminist indoctrination” in the Girl Scouts really something that demands the dedicated focus of a journalist?
grumpy realist
As I posted elsewhere, Smith reminds me of the idiots who would show up in Tokyo, wander around Roppongi for an evening, talk with one or two handlers at the ACCJ, and then breathlessly write articles about the Japanese economy and What Was Going On.
Such articles were an immense amusement to the average English-reading Japanese and those of us gaijin who actually were working in Japan in the Japanese gov’t or Japanese corporations.
Svensker
Not sure I agree with that. If you hang out around wingers enough (Thanksgiving dinner with the family, anyone?), you start hearing crap that spewed outta NR. Even in my real life (liberal Quaker circles) I’ve never heard anyone spew Ward Churchill.
jcricket
Yep, the last thing people wanted was for Bush’s actual “military experience” to come up. It’s obvious now that the particular NG documents presented were faked by (whats-his-name) who had a pretty serious anti-Bush agenda.
That said, Bush’s ability to hand-wave away his lack of military experience, plum assignment and the high likelihood that he skipped out on his last year of NG duty is simply a stunning example of our media’s failure to investigate Republicans with the same scrutiny they apply to Democrats. Republicans use this to their advantage, by planting smears which then get reported/zombified and never die (see Al Gore invented the internet, Osama is a muslim, etc.).
If the media and Democrats ever wise up to this game, Republicans will get fucked crushed by their own parties inability to offer anything beyond smears and distortions.
Tsulagi
Ah, the defense is complete. If any have problems with the 1% Doctrine of Truthiness bar, the SOP fallback position is Not My Fault!, I am a Victim.
r€nato
pfft! my team – Arizona State – finished 10-2, tied for first in the Pac-10, and all we got was a berth in the Holiday Bowl which is played in San Diego.
Oh well, at least we’re playing Texas, beating the ‘horns will cap a season that ended much better than anyone predicted. Barring injuries (of course), ASU should be a Top 10 team going into next season since most of this year’s starters were juniors and sophomores.
r€nato
it’s really odd how rat-wingers insist that we need to ‘take the gloves off’ when dealing with insurgents and jihadis… but when someone suggests that our troops sometimes behave badly, it’s a greivous insult to our troops.
The root of this is, rat-wingers are pissed off that the rest of us refuse to join them in their doublethink.
Jake
Yeah. When I first heard about it the fRighties were ten miles across the border of Outragistan and gaining speed. I thought Oh shit, this has got to be to be Abu Gharib + Raping Girls + Random Executions. So I finally made myself read some of the stuff and thought I must be reading the wrong thing.
Punchy
And I got laid by Jessica Alba this weekend. Unless I was spun by her sources. I also may have been confused by what I saw. Either way, minor issue, eh? It’s Jessica Alba! Right?
That lede is every bulimic’s dream….
Ben
I’m with Layperson. Other than getting the setting of one story wrong (a significant mistake, but hardly a slander to our troops) it’s not clear that Beauchamp ever actually did anything wrong. Maybe, maybe not, but with the way the military handled this, we’ll never know.
Walker
Quoted for truth. I have had a fair number of conservative friends tell me (a fiscal conservative, but a social liberal) that I should “agree with X because he is a liberal”. Even Oz doesn’t have the number of straw men that inhabit their world.
Buck
What was the deal with Pat White? You don’t play in the biggest game in your schools history because you dislocated the thumb on your non-throwing hand? Are you KIDDING ME?
If that guy was able to take snaps with 4 minutes left in the game he could have taken snaps throughout.
Those guys are going to have to live with the fact for the rest of their lives that the National Championship game was being served up to them on a shining silver tray. They had a spoon and a fork in their hands and a 4-7, 28 point underdog on the table.
Unless you are Ohio State chances at a national championship are few and far between. You piss them away at your own peril.
I admire you for being able to come out of your bunker as soon as you did.
Zifnab
Dude. You’re going down.
Bombadil
Hey, when did Balloon Juice make the Great Orange Satan’s blogroll?
Chuck Butcher
The Browns were a disappointment but (Oregon)OSU won the civl war, the first away win for this game since like ’96.
Preaching to the choir is always easy work. Pissing off the choir like John has done is a bit tougher.
srv
John, uh, if someone hasn’t already linked this – see one of Smiths latest co-authored books:
OMG
Most Ironical Title EVAH!
WARNING: I am not liable for whatever you spit up on your keyboard.
h/t top of reddit.
Conservatively Liberal
I am the glass tower guy…lol! I do agree with jcricket adding the shock troops standing guard outside it and only a few potshots would bring it down. Still, I bet it is unnerving for the shock troops to be standing there guarding the perimeter of the glass tower while behind them they hear the cacophony of glass shattering as their party is breaking through one floor after another in a free fall to the bottom.
They have a long way to go until they hit bottom. Normal people would have said fuck it and given up on the party a long time ago, but these hard core members of Greater Moonie Wingnutistan are not normal. I think we can all agree on that one.
Anyone who has worked with a bunch of guys doing a dirty, difficult job knows that they can be a bunch of crude dudes. It is a way that you cope with the crap until the job is done. As someone else said, it is how they keep on keeping on.
We will never know if what Beauchamp said was true, but my guyOmeter says that I bet most of it is.
jcricket
It’s part of John’s “filthy lucre” gravy train, once he converted to liberalism/satanism/godlessness
ThymeZone
Um, so the fantasy was that WV was possibly the best team in the country, and now reality has set it?
Sorry, I just can’t get worked into a fit of pique over something like that. Outside of Morgantown, did anyone actually believe this fairy tale?
Stephen
John,
For a matter that “doesn’t matter,” you’ve written a lot about it.
One question. If not for the Wingnuts, Hewitts, Malkins, Owenses, etc. would TNR have ever fessed up?
Fearing a Cole-esque tirade of how unimportant this matter to which you have devoted a bazillion posts really is, I’ll stipulate that the facts of the original matter are inconsequential, if you insist.
Anyway, do you think TNR would have ever backed off, absent the terrible, terrible, hypocritical, maniacal, obsessive, over-the-top, cheetos-eating, attacks of the deranged Bush Right?
Svensker
A grievous insult to teh dudes!
(But I completely agree with you.)
Ed Drone
“That is so true, and I wonder if any of the 101st Frightened Chairborne understand how little they understand. I made things that people under fire use to kill other people. I, at least, understand that I don’t understand.”
Is this one of those “known unknowns,” or one of the “unknown unknowns?” Or perhaps it is the dreaded “unknown knowns?”
Enquiring readers want to know.
Ed
jcricket
Of course its true, in many many ways. You know if Beauchamp was saying the same stuff at NRO there would be a “all’s fair in war-time” attitude.
The armed forces are an enormous institution employing hundreds of thousands of people. As-of-late they’ve also had ever decreasing entrance standards. Couple that with extended deployments and the stress of war and I wouldn’t be surprised if this kind of stuff happened 100x more than we hear about it.
However, those unfortunate incidents are very different from enacting an official torture policy. What Bush, Yoo, etc. have done is far worse than a bunch of under-trained, unsupervised, stressed-out privates running over a dog or a house. But you’ll never see the righties worried about that, because everyone we round up is guilty (b/c Bush says so) and even if they aren’t, they want “revenge”.
Fucking fucks.
Julie
Cookies = feminism?
So does that mean that every women’s organization that claims to attempt to promote positive role female models and leadership is a secret hotbed of subversive, hairy-legged feminist indoctrination? (Not to mention subversively delicious Thin Mints and Samoas?) This is going to come as quite a shock to the National Panhellenic Conference and the Junior League…
John S.
Yes.
This has been another round of simple answers to simple questions – good journalism = fact-checking edition.
RSA
Nice Lopez bio. I liked this line:
Me, when I stand athwart, it’s to aid in the accuracy of my pissing–hey, we have something in common!
Wilfred
Not to change the subject but here is something worth blogging about: Iran halted its nuclear weapons program in 2003
srv
These people are dumber than doornails, John.
John didn’t make a bazillion posts about the matter. The vast majority of the posts relevant to the details of the ‘matter’ were to re-explain (for the bazillionth time) that he didn’t care about the details of the matter.
The posts were all about the Fluffersphere’s response.
Who here FUCKING cares? Nobody here. Roast a pro-war journal all you want. Run out in the streets and scream, go to the TNR headquarters and throw some rocks. Shit, I’ll look up the addresses and send them to you.
I’ve never read any of these stupid diaries. Neither have 99.999% of liberals.
CLUE.
Buck
In division one college football the best team in the country is always a matter of opinion. It is not something that is settled on the field of play.
That being said I can assure you that WVU would have given OSU all they could handle.
And LSU will stir fry the bastards.
Jake
If we assume that “become aware of the problem and issued corrections” = “backed off” (because it isn’t about mistakes its about BEATING THE OTHER GUY) then the question becomes:
Would TNR have looked into the matter issued and corrections (or added context and caveats) without the shriekfest?
or
Would the TNR have responded to anything less than OMGHEZALIARUCANTRUNOVERADOGWITHABRADLEY?
Well we can’t say in this instance because instead of a measured response we got LIES DAMNED LIES ALL OF IT!1 but considering that journals have and still do issue corrections and retractions without the This Goes to 11 howling, I’m going to say Yes.
Grumpy Code Monkey
Fixed.
Either institute a real playoff system like every other division in college sports, or give up on the idea of an undisputed national champion in 1-A football.
The BCS is what I like to call an “engineering” solution; an obnoxious, poorly-thought-out hack ginned up to work around a problem without really fixing it.
cleek
a·thwart (ə-thwôrt’) pronunciation
adv.
1. From side to side; crosswise or transversely.
2. So as to thwart, obstruct, or oppose; perversely.
i bet that requires a pretty wide stance.
Bubblegum Tate
Well, this leaves the wingnuts with two potential responses:
1) “Nuh-uh! You can’t trust the New York Slimes! Librul media bias! Iran is about to nuke us! Must invade!”
2) “Well, this just proves that the War on Terra is working. Those crazy Iranians saw what happened to Iraq, and they don’t want none, so they gave up their WMD programs. Great success for Glorious George Bush!”
I wonder what the split is going to be. My guess is about 30 percent the first choice and 70 percent the second choice, but I might be underestimating how numerous (and loud) the “nuke Iran!” contingent is.
Dreggas
So does Larry Craig…or so he says *wink wink*
John Cole
I thought I was the new democrat here. You guys haven’t learned anything. The response will be two-fold:
1.) Go after the leak/person responsible for making this public. Question their motives- disgruntled employee, book to sell. Use it as justification for purges in whatever office. Use it as proof there is a fifth column at State/CIA/wherever out to undermine Bush/Cheney foreign policy aims.
2.) Twist the findings to show that it confirms (even though it clearly doesn’t) precisely what the Administration has been saying for years. Despite it says nothing of the sort, use it as evidence that the administration was pursuing the right policy, and go even further and state the findings show that clear and immediate action is needed. As a failsafe, point to situatuions where intelligence has been wrong in the past (Saddam pre- first Gulf War).
You folks have a lot to learn about these brazen motherfuckers.
Peter Johnson
There are a lot of differences between this and the Beauchamp story. For one, the Beauchamp story was completely debunked, while this hasn’t been, as of yet. For another, NR’s response has been swift while TNR stonewalled.
Finally a lot of the issue with Beauchamp was that it seemed like an anti-war guy with an ax to grind. Smith doesn’t have any clear agenda, even if he’s wrong.
So, no, I don’t see the similarities, beyond the superficial ones.
Svensker
Hahhahhahhahhahahhha.
Blinders much?
cleek
if it means Bush isn’t going to invade Iran, he can have all the credit he wants.
Jake
I’d pick BT’s 1 and JC’s 2. Both became much more likely because the fRighties now know Iran doesn’t have a nuke.
Dreggas
You really do have shit for brains don’t you?
David Hunt
Is this guy a parody or perfomance artist? I thought he was sincere, but now I’m not sure.
heywood jablome
Ah good old Peter Johnson, back with the pitchfork and manure truck.
Um, no, the Beauchamp story has not been completely debunked.
Um, Smith debunking has just begun – so are you clairvoyant or just a spittle-licking ideologue? Don’t bother. We know which.
And the topper:
DId you read your hero K-lo’s memo? She knew of this at least prior to Thanksgiving. She had emails on the guy 6 weeks back. That’s already on the record. That’s “swift”?
Peter, if you’re going to drive down the lane please don’t, as they say, bring that pussy stuff in here.
cleek
parody. this place is lousy with em.
PatricioMas
Yeah, #9 sucks, but try being in Georgia’s shoes: Ranked fourth, and the BCS, to avoid choosing no teams that they didn’t pre-ordain at the beginning of the season, bumps you DOWN to #5 and the Sugar Bowl after 1 and 2 both lose.
heywood jablome
John, we’ve known all about these brazen fuckers since before you were suckling at the Pajamas teat. You left out the first rule: “It’s Clinton’s fault.”
Dreggas
it’s our gallows humor…
Tax Analyst
BCS? They should leave the #1 Ranking vacant this year. Whoever gets it will be the beneficiary of a general default by every major college football program in the country. EVERYBODY had a shot at it this year…NOBODY was really good enough…but SOMEBODY has to get it…and somebody (lower case) will. OSU and/or LSU just happened to have their losses at the “right” time to back into positions #1 & #2. If they had to play another game against any decent team before the Championship game I’d wager that at least one of them would lose.
But at least it’s something to talk about that doesn’t fuck us all over for the next decade or so.
Zifnab
Wow. Dude. Wtf. Way over the line. Insulting a man’s alma matar football team is like trying to kick him in the junk. Low blow. Unless its a team from Oklahoma. Freak’n packa cheaters.
For the record, WV’s got my full support this Fiesta Bowl. Give’m hell.
Peter Johnson
It’s funny how the same people who say “b-b-but there were no WMD, the NIE was wrong” are now happy to embrace the NIE when it says what they want to hear.
Ben
That the NIE says the Iranians are not pursuing nuclear weapons does not necessarily mean that it is true. However, the burden of proof, when deciding if military action is appropriate, is unquestionably on those who want to fight. Unless you’re pretty damned sure they are near a nuclear weapon, you lay off (and even if they are, air strikes or an invasion are not necessarily the way to go).
Svensker
It’s funny how all the same people who said that Iraq was not a threat and invading it would cause a colossal clusterf*ck were RIGHT.
It’s funny how all the same people who said that the Iraq invasion would pay for itself and we would be greeted as liberators were WRONG are still around, saying we have to blow up more Muslims to make the world safe for….cockroaches? Who knows what the f*ck you think.
Just go down in the basement and play with Cheetoh crumbs, would ya? When you’ve learned how to play nice, not make a big mess, and can wash behind your ears and apologize to the rest of us, then you can come back upstairs with the grownups. In the meantime, STFU.
Zifnab
Ah, Pettie. You should go on the road. Your material is knee-slappingly hilarious. “What’s a Curveball? Who is Douglas Feith? Valerie Saddam Hussien Wilson used her far-left liberal activist husband as a plant to discredit the President! All knowledge is relative and the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence! Why won’t you let me make Tehran glow in the dark?! Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
Dreggas
Yep…just plain ‘tarded.
heywood jablome
Hello Peter. You are really going to keep trying to dunk over seven-footers? It was been categorically established that the 2002 NIE was sent back and COOKED by the Bushists to state that Saddam had WMD after initially stating this was doubtful. Further established is this:
So the logical outcome of your “point” would be that the ones who cooked up the Iraq war are now … uncooking the Iran war?
Nanoo nanoo.
ThymeZone
In what universe? When did WV fans, along with all Republicans and apparently most of the Democrats in Minneapolis, become nervous high school girls?
And, suggesting that a team shouldn’t go to the BCS championship game is called “insulting” them?
Wow. Welcome to the brave new world where cops get scared and have to taser people for asking why they were pulled over. Im glad BJ is standing up for Emotionally Sensitive Victims’ Rights this way. The horror of being scared or getting our feelings hurt! Save us! Save us!
Dreggas
the answer might suprise you, then again you’re a pretty smart individual so I won’t bore you with the details of string theory, the very VERY large rift discovered in the universe and/or the Many Worlds Theory. :D
bud
Hail to Pitt, Hail to Pitt, da-da-dut-da-dah… etc, etc, etc. (Don’t ask me the words, I was in the Band).
Sorry, couldn’t resist gloating.
Ranger3
Actually, I paid em 20 bucks to throw the game.
db
Following up on Renato’s ASU feelings also shared by me – the loss by WV was probably felt most indirectly (i.e., outside of Morgantown) by the fans in Tempe who felt confident about a Fiesta trip and were holding on to slim hopes of even a Rose trip (with a UCLA upset over USC).
Was ASU deserving of a Fiesta trip? …Well, just as deserving as Ohio State being in the title game (c’mon!). Is WV more deserving right now – probably. And it seems like ASU fans are taking it in stride, though, and not too upset at WV. Seems like most recognize it was the old farts at the Rose who are really to blame for allowing Illinois to sneak into one of the BCS games, which produced the ripple effects (they’re going to pick Illinois over West Virginia or Georgia?!??! just for tradition!?!?). Two Big10 teams in the BCS games??? – here’s rooting for a complete Big10 smackdown.
So Mr. Cole, feel good that an OU-WV will produce an awesome game…. and here’s a little thing to keep your football love up – this could be the year in which your teams cap off their seasons in the same stadium.
The Other Steve
Just got back from New York City.
Someone should take whoever is in charge of transit(subway, rails, airport) and teach them how to make signs that mean something.
Send them to London and learn how a transit system should be operated.
John Cole
I simply can not believe that my own commenters would so openly threaten me with violence. Seriously, you all are honestly suggesting a vicious assault on my junk?
For shame.
Ted
It’s hilarious how some people still think Bush is doing a good job.
jcricket
If we are suggesting a vicious assault on your junk, at least we’re doing so in “good faith”. That’s the important thing, right?
ThymeZone
Heh. For all you know, I am ten people. That’s the fun of being a persona.
Wilfred
For anyone with the stomach to read more try:here
ThymeZone
Just a little something for you warmongers out there.
I’m sorry to throw water on your Parade of Xmas Lights. You’ve been kicked in the junk.
Tax Analyst
Well, I can see you didn’t wear your flag lapel pin today, Wilfred. What about all the schools we’ve been building and candy we’ve been handing out?
…That’s enough, I’ll let Peter Johnson, et al., do the rest of the spoofing.
Tax Analyst
WOW! Whatta surprise! Dubyah & Dick have just been funnin’ us all along about that. They’re such a pair of cards, those two…
Jesus, to be rid of those assholes. Still another year + a little till that happens.
Wilfred
Not today, no. I’ve reading things like this from the Arabs for years and was wondering when the cries for absolution would start. This is the tip of the iceberg about what was done in Iraq, to the great shame of what’s left of America.
If some heroes think it’s necessary to murder little girls in pretty dresses in order to protect me, I’d rather they shoot me first.
bob
I am a thwart. History.