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You are here: Home / Politics / Republican Stupidity / Where Are They Not Going?

Where Are They Not Going?

by John Cole|  August 13, 20089:44 am| 56 Comments

This post is in: Republican Stupidity

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I admit to not paying much attention to this while twitter revolution thing on the right, but could someone explain the meaning of the #dontgo? Where are they not going? What does it mean?

And this isn’t snark. I just don’t have the energy to wade through piles of nonsense to find out on my own.

*** Update ***

Ok, this is just silly, even considering the source:

What Does #dontgo Mean?

#dontgo is an expression of what America needs, but not where it’s heading. #dontgo is the warning bell to a nation that is hungry for change, but looking in the wrong direction. #dontgo is a message to all of America, Republicans, Democrats and Independents.

Look, I am just a guy with a website, but if I were a grassroots organizer, I would choose a slogan that is slightly less disjointed and a little easier to explain than the plot-line of Being John Malkovich or Blue Velvet.

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56Comments

  1. 1.

    cleek

    August 13, 2008 at 9:48 am

    mmm smell the astroturf.

  2. 2.

    calipygian

    August 13, 2008 at 9:49 am

    The explanation is retarded, to put it mildly.

    What Does #dontgo Mean?

    #dontgo is an expression of what America needs, but not where it’s heading. #dontgo is the warning bell to a nation that is hungry for change, but looking in the wrong direction. #dontgo is a message to all of America, Republicans, Democrats and Independents.

    The rest of the mission statement (I HATE that term) is what Republican consultants think Daily Kos is.

  3. 3.

    Darkness

    August 13, 2008 at 9:50 am

    Here’s a screenshot of a possible explanation

  4. 4.

    Xenos

    August 13, 2008 at 9:52 am

    They are standing athwart history, yelling “D’oh!”

  5. 5.

    Jon H

    August 13, 2008 at 9:58 am

    Don’t go home for the recess, and instead stay in the House of Reps ranting in the dark?

  6. 6.

    dmsilev

    August 13, 2008 at 9:59 am

    I think they mean “Congress shouldn’t go on recess, but instead should stay around and participate in the latest GOP hissy-fit”.

    It’s sort of a failed attempt to recreate the magic of the Summer of Terry Schiavo. And we all remember how well that worked out for the GOP.

    -dms

  7. 7.

    norbizness

    August 13, 2008 at 10:08 am

    I thought it was a shout-out to Yaz(oo). Alison Moyet is quite the gay icon, after all.

  8. 8.

    Incertus

    August 13, 2008 at 10:50 am

    Are you sure they weren’t talking abut this?

  9. 9.

    Zifnab

    August 13, 2008 at 10:52 am

    Here’s a screenshot of a possible explanation

    I think that’s just a general policy for when Larry Craig is in the building.

  10. 10.

    Shinobi

    August 13, 2008 at 10:53 am

    Dontgo? Like Don’t flee our rapidly failing republican party that is so out of touch with the electorate and international politics they think encouraging people not to do something about it will really inspire them?

  11. 11.

    cleek

    August 13, 2008 at 10:57 am

    OT, but too good not to post:

    “Yesterday, I heard Sen. McCain say, ‘We are all Georgians now,’” Saakashvili said on CNN’s American Morning. “Well, very nice, you know, very cheering for us to hear that, but OK, it’s time to pass from this. From words to deeds.”

  12. 12.

    Punchy

    August 13, 2008 at 11:05 am

    This means “don’t go”, in terms of their vacation?

    What’s the “#” in front of all that shit mean? If they wanted a goofy symbol in front of their slogan, since they’re Republicans, why didn’t he choose a “$” instead?

  13. 13.

    Blue Buddha

    August 13, 2008 at 11:05 am

    It reminds me of activists who shout, “Something needs to be done about [pet cause]!!!” And when someone with power and authority finally gets together with said activists and asks, “Okay, what needs to be done?” The activists shout back, “I dunno! Just do something!”

  14. 14.

    Vlad

    August 13, 2008 at 11:05 am

    “I would choose a slogan that is slightly less disjointed and a little easier to explain than the plot-line of Being John Malkovich or Blue Velvet.”

    Blue Velvet is actually pretty easy to summarize:

    ##########SPOILERS##########
    Man finds ear, subsequently tracks and slays pervert.
    ##########END SPOILERS##########

    It’s somewhat nonsensical, but not particularly complicated.

  15. 15.

    Brother Flaming Taser of Warm Reason

    August 13, 2008 at 11:09 am

    cleek Says:

    OT, but too good not to post:

    “Yesterday, I heard Sen. McCain say, ‘We are all Georgians now,’” Saakashvili said on CNN’s American Morning. “Well, very nice, you know, very cheering for us to hear that, but OK, it’s time to pass from this. From words to deeds.”

    I am sure McCain remembers the Charge of The Light Brigade, perhaps he can re-enact it and help the Georgians considering about all we have left is mounted calvary.

  16. 16.

    Tom

    August 13, 2008 at 11:09 am

    Plotline to Blue Velvet is easy:

    Kyle McGlaughlin find a severed ear. This leads him to beating and f*cking Isabella Rosellini (much to the dismay of Laura Dern, especially when Rosellini ends up naked in her parent’s living room)

    Dennis Hopper has kidnapped Rosellini’s kid and doesn’t like McGlaughlin hanging around with Rosellini, so he takes him out on a joy ride and threatens him:

    I’ll send you a love letter straight from my heart, f–ker. Do you know what a love letter is? It’s a bullet from a f–kin’ gun, f–ker. If you receive a love letter from me, you are f–ked forever. Do you understand, f–k? I’ll send ya straight to Hell, f–ker!

    He also does a bunch of nitrous and watches Dean Stockwell lip-synch Roy Orbison.

    Dern’s dad raids Hoppers how and kills him (i think), then a bird dies.

    Simple, really.

  17. 17.

    Brother Flaming Taser of Warm Reason

    August 13, 2008 at 11:10 am

    sorry that should have been cavalry.

  18. 18.

    yet another jeff

    August 13, 2008 at 11:12 am

    I prefer “do not.” It covers all situations, a generic protest. I want it on tshirts…and generic protest signs, suitable for crashing any type of protest. Also suitable are “No!”, “Yes!”, “Not in My Back Yard!” and “Honk if you Agree/Disagree!”

  19. 19.

    harlana pepper

    August 13, 2008 at 11:15 am

    I loves me some TBogg. Don’t read him enough. The video was unwatchable. Whiny guy who can’t even read his cue cards properly. My only regret I have about this is that it will now get a bunch more hits now that it’s on a progblog.

    Trying to repackage Republican bullshit into something cool is just going to confuse the base.

  20. 20.

    Ninerdave

    August 13, 2008 at 11:17 am

    I’m getting old. I don’t get social networking sites and I don’t get twitter. There are even apps for the new iPhone that will work with GPS so you can see where your friends are at all times.

    Me personally, I don’t want my friends to know where I am at all times. That’s why I have voicemail. If I don’t want to talk to you, leave a message, then I can decide when I want to talk to you.

  21. 21.

    harlana pepper

    August 13, 2008 at 11:20 am

    Anyhoo, I get it now. Don’t go on recess. I just can’t keep my yap shut long enough to read the comments before I spew. Astroturf, indeed.

  22. 22.

    calipygian

    August 13, 2008 at 11:26 am

    #dontgo is a Republican’s idea of clever snark.

    MoveOn. DontGo.

    Get it? GET IT?

  23. 23.

    calipygian

    August 13, 2008 at 11:28 am

    Plotline to Blue Velvet is easy:

    Kyle McGlaughlin find a severed ear. This leads him to beating and f*cking Isabella Rosellini (much to the dismay of Laura Dern, especially when Rosellini ends up naked in her parent’s living room)

    Dennis Hopper has kidnapped Rosellini’s kid and doesn’t like McGlaughlin hanging around with Rosellini, so he takes him out on a joy ride and threatens him:

    I’ll send you a love letter straight from my heart, f—ker. Do you know what a love letter is? It’s a bullet from a f—kin’ gun, f—ker. If you receive a love letter from me, you are f—ked forever. Do you understand, f—k? I’ll send ya straight to Hell, f—ker!

    He also does a bunch of nitrous and watches Dean Stockwell lip-synch Roy Orbison.

    Dern’s dad raids Hoppers how and kills him (i think), then a bird dies.

    Simple, really.

    You forgot:

    Dennis Hopper expresses his preference for Pabst Blue Ribbon over foreign beer in an articulate manner.

  24. 24.

    Tom

    August 13, 2008 at 11:32 am

    #dontgo is the warning bell to a nation that is hungry for change, but looking in the wrong direction.

    Translated: Everyone who supports Obama, look over here! We have a catchy slogan! Now, let’s drill in ANWAR!

  25. 25.

    rawshark

    August 13, 2008 at 11:33 am

    What’s the “#” in front of all that shit mean? If they wanted a goofy symbol in front of their slogan, since they’re Republicans, why didn’t he choose a “$” instead?

    Its a C thang. #dontgo is a function which enables Crimestop.

  26. 26.

    NonyNony

    August 13, 2008 at 11:33 am

    I find it funny that when a bunch of moderate libs came up with a two-word slogan for their movement it was “Move On”, while these guys decide that the two-word slogan “Don’t Go” really sums up who they are and what they believe in.

    That really kind of sums up the whole liberal/conservative division in this country at the moment, doesn’t it? One group seems like it wants to move forward while the other wants to hang back (or, for some of them, regress).

    (I’m still not sure why “Don’t Go” is supposed to be inspiring me to do anything but, you know, not go. Somewhere. Or anywhere, really. It’s like the “Voter Apathy Party” from Futurama or something.)

  27. 27.

    joeyess

    August 13, 2008 at 11:34 am

    What Does #dontgo Mean?
    #dontgo is an expression of what America needs, but not where it’s heading. #dontgo is the warning bell to a nation that is hungry for change, but looking in the wrong direction. #dontgo is a message to all of America, Republicans, Democrats and Independents.

    Why didn’t they just stay with their tried and true policy of plagiarism?

    Let’s face it: Unlike Vienna, it seems altogether possible that did NATIONAL REVIEW not exist, no one would have invented it. The launching of a conservative weekly journal of opinion in a country widely assumed to be a bastion of conservatism at first glance looks like a work of supererogation, rather like publishing a royalist weekly within the walls of Buckingham Palace. It is not that, of course; if NATIONAL REVIEW is superfluous, it is so for very different reasons: It stands athwart history, yelling Stop, at a time when no one is inclined to do so, or to have much patience with those who so urge it.

    It stands athwart history, yelling Stop

    What will these poor fuckers do without Bill Buckley writing copy for them?

  28. 28.

    Michael

    August 13, 2008 at 11:36 am

    I think they should just call their movement “Stay.”

    That covers all the specific details of its genesis, as well as alluding to the “inertial” side of “conservative.”

  29. 29.

    cleek

    August 13, 2008 at 11:43 am

    i assume #reactionary and #mossback were taken ?

  30. 30.

    Original Lee

    August 13, 2008 at 11:44 am

    I think they should just call their movement “Stay.”

    That covers all the specific details of its genesis, as well as alluding to the “inertial” side of “conservative.”

    Plus the added benefit of being usable to train their attack dogs.

  31. 31.

    4tehlulz

    August 13, 2008 at 11:48 am

    J01N US 0N OUR #dontgo 1RC CH4NNEL 2 CH4T 4BOU+ o1l AND 2D0WNL0D W4R3Z & PR0NZ

  32. 32.

    Tom65

    August 13, 2008 at 12:02 pm

    Looks like the GOP found out about IRC. We’re doomed.

  33. 33.

    Shinobi

    August 13, 2008 at 12:06 pm

    Ninerdave, I’m with ya. I also do not get twitter. I think maybe it is a useful tool for people who believe that other people really care about their lives. It gives them a sense of importance to know that every bowel movement is recorded in their “Status” on their facebook page or sent out via twitter message to everyone they have a passing acquaintance with.

    The question no one asks. If everyone you know is sending these messages, is anyone actually reading them?

    No.

  34. 34.

    Ripley

    August 13, 2008 at 12:09 pm

    But what of the Congressmen who’ve already left? Wait, I’ve got it!

    Join me, intrepid activist group joiners, and we shall make #babycomeback the most feared and respected activist group on the internets!

    Now, we need a theme song…

  35. 35.

    skippy

    August 13, 2008 at 12:17 pm

    #dontgothere

  36. 36.

    yet another jeff

    August 13, 2008 at 12:36 pm

    The question no one asks. If everyone you know is sending these messages, is anyone actually reading them?

    No.

    That’s why it’s called Twitter.

  37. 37.

    PC

    August 13, 2008 at 12:38 pm

    Why does it not surprise me that the GOP embraces a platform full of LOSE and FAIL?

    “Twitter, which is widely accepted as the drum major of the Web 2.0 failure parade”

  38. 38.

    A.Political

    August 13, 2008 at 12:49 pm

    Please Dont Go, I bring you

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7od-eyQaIY4

  39. 39.

    cleek

    August 13, 2008 at 1:22 pm

    Baby, Please Don’t Go.

  40. 40.

    dbrown

    August 13, 2008 at 1:43 pm

    Real GOP message:

    #Wide stance and swallow Crag ; Prostitutes R family values Vitter ; Trophy Wife with Money McCain

  41. 41.

    Ricky

    August 13, 2008 at 1:57 pm

    I am sorry. I took this stright from their website:

    “This is no ordinary online gathering of the right. Indeed, the #dontgo push has been proclaimed by many in the free-market realm to be an official movement.

    And unlike most organizations on the left, this one is genuine.”

    So there you have it. What could be more simple and self explanatory. If you haven’t travelled in the free market realm very often, it is easy to miss what many there proclaim.

    I, having often gone to free market realm, know the “push” part of any movement is more proctology than scientology.

  42. 42.

    David Robinson

    August 13, 2008 at 2:01 pm

    #Don’tGoAwayMadJustGoAway!

  43. 43.

    Walker

    August 13, 2008 at 2:02 pm

    Ninerdave, I’m with ya. I also do not get twitter. I think maybe it is a useful tool for people who believe that other people really care about their lives.

    Trust me, gentleman, when I say that this is a generational thing that demonstrates just how old we are getting. Thinking of twitter as a “tool” just shows how unhip we are.

    Today’s youth are all about social networks. These are as real and important to them as the close friends we had when growing up. We think about Twitter as a “tool” because our social circles and self-identities developed without these tools. But for them, Twitter is their social environment. For a young kid to stop twittering would be the same as if we gave a close friend the silent treatment.

  44. 44.

    Delia

    August 13, 2008 at 2:22 pm

    If they’re not going to go, could we please just lock them all in a room somewhere so the rest of us can go on with our lives and forget about them?

  45. 45.

    Grumpy Code Monkey

    August 13, 2008 at 2:23 pm

    “Twitter, which is widely accepted as the drum major of the Web 2.0 failure parade”

    Ted Dziuba is my new hero.

  46. 46.

    The Other Steve

    August 13, 2008 at 2:23 pm

    BWAAA HAHAHAHAAAA!!!! That site is funny.

    Once more, Republican consultants come up with a top-down approach to creating a grassroots movement.

    Anyway, twitter is interesting, but I haven’t figured out what it is for yet.

  47. 47.

    cleek

    August 13, 2008 at 2:29 pm

    the best use i’ve seen for Twitter is : Matthew Baldwin’s one-liners.

  48. 48.

    Tax Analyst

    August 13, 2008 at 2:33 pm

    #dontgo is an expression of what America needs, but not where it’s heading. #dontgo is the warning bell to a nation that is hungry for change, but looking in the wrong direction. #dontgo is a message to all of America, Republicans, Democrats and Independents.

    My reply? #kissmyass

    Wonder if they will be able to figure it out.

  49. 49.

    bad dad

    August 13, 2008 at 2:49 pm

    It is meant to POUND that flipping Yaz song from 25 years ago into your head.

    Do, de, do, de, de, dit, dit, di do do.
    Do, de, do, de, de, di, di, do dit dit.

  50. 50.

    Shinobi

    August 13, 2008 at 2:51 pm

    Trust me, gentleman, when I say that this is a generational thing that demonstrates just how old we are getting.

    For the record Walker, I’m not that old, and I’m a chick.

    I guess it would have been cool to tell all of my friends about the guy I saw panhandling who was holding a sign that said “My girlfriend has been kidnapped by Ninjas. Please Help.”

    Fortunately I only have 2 friends, so I can tell them individually without too much inconvenience. Maybe it isn’t that we are getting old, maybe we are just unpopular.

  51. 51.

    bago

    August 13, 2008 at 3:14 pm

    #ifdef LOSE
    Twitter.Tweet(“#dontgo”);
    #endif

  52. 52.

    craig

    August 13, 2008 at 4:32 pm

    if they’d chosen a communication platform that wasn’t notoriously fallible, i might be worried. ps: twitter, your homework tonight is to read everything you can about friendster.

  53. 53.

    Hob

    August 13, 2008 at 8:20 pm

    It’s not a preprocessor macro; it’s a shell script comment. In other words, the text that follows the “#” is simply ignored and does not cause anything to happen. It’s rare to see such an extreme demonstration of humility and self-abnegation in a Republican movement.

    See also //TODO:IHAVEADREAM and <!– si se puede! –>.

    </geek>

  54. 54.

    Ed Marshall

    August 13, 2008 at 8:40 pm

    Goddamit, Hob, I was gonna go for the bash referrence.

  55. 55.

    Jinchi

    August 14, 2008 at 12:34 am

    Where are they not going?

    They’re not going to Iraq. As in:

    #dontgo to Iraq. We’ve got a culture war to win here!

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