Michael Goldfarb, lead McCain Report blogger on loan from the Weekly Standard:
Joe Klein is not impressed:
Here we have the McCain campaign’s execrable Michael Goldfarb slinging around accusations of anti-semitism–a favorite pastime, as we’ve seen this year, among Jewish neoconservatives.
Nor is Sullivan:
Michael Goldfarb, McCain spokesman, accuses Barack Obama of hanging around with anti-Semites – plural – on CNN. Asked to name one other anti-Semite other than his allegation about Rashid Khalidi, he can’t. He won’t. But he leaves it hanging, refusing to disown or retract the charge. This is pure McCarthyism. And it is the rotten core of McCain.
I know this is getting old, hearing me say it over and over again, but when I said that the McCain campaign was being run by wingnut bloggers, I was not engaging in hyperbole. I was simply describing who is running the McCain campaign- wingnut bloggers.
The GOP just needs to be destroyed.
TenguPhule
Can I get some cheese with that whine?
And when did GOP loving Politico become MSM?
Kayakr
I suppose we’ll hear that name right after we hear exactly how McCain is gonna get Bin Laden.
oops, almost forgot: My Friends.
plus C
The longer the campaign drags on, the more I wonder how some of these people have the mental capacity to operate a computer, let alone connect to the internets and type.
El Cid
We all know who the douchebag is here.
Comrade Stuck
Man. That’s the first time I’ve even seen wingnut blogger Goldfarb on the teevee. What an arrogant little shit slinger. It so seems that the Mccain campaign is being run by wingnut bloggers. No one could have foreseen that. :–).
We are working on it. It should take two weeks. Well, two weeks. It- it’s amazing. Amazing nothing. It’ll be a regular miracle.
Mord'che ben Tzvi
Here are my credentials: I’m an Ashkenazh from Ashkenazhi town. My ancestor worked as the shamus in Rashi’s synagogue.
When Republicans talk about protecting us from anti-semitism what they mean is to remind us that we have achieved house-slave status in this world, but we could be sent back to field-slave status at the snap of a finger. Marginalization is not just for gays, blacks, muslims, or whatever the convenient minority is.
Polish the Guillotines
Sad. Sure was a good dog. Until it went loco.
kth
Who was supposed to be the person we all know is Obama’s anti-semitic bff, but whose name Goldfarb was compelled not to utter? Jeremiah Wright? There’s never been a Hymietown-bomb attributed to him, afaik.
DonkeyKong
Is it me, or do GOP operatives all look like 3rd string Bond villians.
The CNN camera should have panned down to Goldfarb stroking a hairless cat.
jakester
It’s pretty clear to me who the mystery person is. What show is Barack Obama on tonight? RACHEL MADDOW! And who is Rachel’s sidekick on the show?
PAT BUCHANAN!
I just don’t know how Barack thinks he can get away with this…
MattM
kth,
No, I think they raised some stink about some material that was mildly sympathetic to Palestinians being published in the Trinity newsletter.
Joshau Norton
Sorry, but I won’t believe it until Joe/Sam says it’s so. Everyone knows you need a plumber to really stir the shit.
JasonF
So between this and Joe the Plumber’s interview with Shepherd Smith, I guess we’re now apparently expected to guess the McCain campaign talking points instead of having them actually tell us what they are. I suppose imagining my own bullshit is marginally more interesting than listening to their bullshit. I’m going to guess that Barack Obama’s anti-semitic friend is Chuck Schumer.
And memo to CNN: the proper way to close an interview like this is not "Thanks for coming on. It’s always a pleasure." It’s "Get the hell off my show, you scumbag slanderer without the courage to even try to back up his scurilous lies."
bago
GOP delenda est.
oh really
That’s a close to literal reproduction of the closing statement by the host — there may be another "really" in there, but I think this suffices.
Can someone explain to me why — when a "guest" has just made outrageous, defamatory remarks about a political candidate and refused to back the accusation up with any facts, even when pushed repeatedly to do so — the host feels it appropriate to end with such an effusive expression of appreciation instead of something more along the lines of:
Ian
My guess was he was implying some bullshit about Michelle.
EdTheRed
Palestinians are semites. Anyone who hates on Palestinians is, by definition, anti-semitic. From what I can tell, the McCain campaign is chock full of raging anti-semites.
Jeff
What The Fuck –
Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)
So……. who is the "second name that we all know"?
El Cid
As far as I can recall, it was somehow a great sin of Trinity church to publish in its church bulletin an essay by a member of the (elected) Hamas Palestinian government which had originally been published in an Israeli Jewish newspaper.
Israeli Jewish newspapers are obviously closely linked to Palestinian terrorism, since they keep having so many quotes from Palestinians inside.
WMass
If they want to push that too far, it’s worth keeping in mind that McCain is probably not allowed to be president, since he was born in Panama.
slip
Oy, McCainia!
Leo
He clearly thought everyone watching was thinking of Rev. Wright, but the evidence that Wright is an anti-Semite is extraordinarily thin. As far as I know, just the fact that he said some nice things about Louis Farrakhan.
I do find it interesting that CNN is doing bit more stuff along these lines now. They look about like MSNBC did a few months ago–like they’re slowly waking up to what’s going on and their role in it.
It’s probably just them sensing where the wind is blowing, but still, it’s nice to see.
MikeL
Back in 1993, the print edition of The Onion ran a satirical piece about Roy the Forklift Driver. Which goes to show that you CAN make this stuff up – but only if it’s presented as farce.
Sirkowski
Palin’s witch huntin’ pastor said that the economic crisis was the result of too many Jewish bankers in Wall Street.
I bet Palin believes the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is genuine, just like she believes the Gay Agenda is an actual book.
Comrade Stuck
@Jeff:
Warren County, Ohio is probably the wingnuttiest county in one of the wingnuttiest regions in the country. It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if the Magistrate declared Obama a Kenyan terrorist marxist revolutionary and therefore not fit for to be on the ballot for dogcatcher, let alone POTUS.
Calouste
@El Cid:
And of course that Palestinian government was democratically elected, but it wasn’t kissing George W. Bush’s ass, so it wasn’t really democratically elected. Because, you know, the will of the people of any country is always to do exactly what the Republican rulers of the United States want them to do.
El Cid
@Calouste: Good thing then that Condi & George refused to listen to everyone on the ground’s warning that an election pushed for too early would lead to a Hamas government. After all, they knew what they were doing by starting to arm factions of a Palestinian civil war. What harm could come from that?
Rick Taylor
It’s true, and not at all what I expected. I never expected a strong campaign, but I thought the wingnuts hated McCain, and he’d be somewhat independent of them as a result, running to the center after the primaries. But he seems more in thrall to them than any other candidate would have been. Of course they still hate him, and when he loses it will be all his fault, and have nothing to do with his choice of Palin or leaping into the gutter. Nope, they’ll say it was all the result of those moderates compromising conservative principal, and the party had better listen to hits wingnut base to have any chance of returning to power.
Doug H. (Comrade Fausto no more)
@Rick Taylor:
It turns out that a moderate candidate was the best thing the wingnuts could ask for. He’s so desperate for their support, they say ‘Jump’ and he asks ‘From which bridge?’
Balconesfault
My God. Has McCain no shame?
If he does, Goldfarb should be instantly shit-canned. This is beyond reprehensible. In fact, any news outlet that interviews McCain should run this video and ask McCain exactly who it is that Goldfarb is referring to.
Dennis - SGMM
Gee, I wonder why Goldfarb wasn’t touting McCain’s brilliant plan to… Naw, he probably should have talked up McCain’s groundbreaking initiative to deal with the problem of… No, even better, he can talk about the way that McCain is different from Bush because he’ll, he’ll, he’ll…
Zifnab
He won the nomination in spite of wingnuts, but he recognized that this was going to be a war of voter turnout. Winning over the independents wasn’t going to save McCain’s campaign if his base didn’t turn out to vote. Bush’s ’04 GOTV effort was massive and relied heavily on the evangelicals and the rest of the base voters. McCain was in a terrible spot. He couldn’t claim the independents without losing the base and he couldn’t claim the base without losing the independents.
So what did he do? He lied to his base. He lied to his independents. He flip-flopped on ever issue imaginable. He was desperate to appeal to as many voters as physically possible. And every time he leaned right he lost a batch of independents and every time he leaned center he lost his nuts.
If he wasn’t such a douchebag, I’d feel really sorry for him. No Republican was going to win this election, but McCain picked the absolute worst way to salvage his defeat.
Punchy
yeah, but if stays moderate, he keeps the media. and the evangellys r votin him no matter how much they pretend they won’t. he wins if he doesn’t go batshit. shoulda coulda woulda…..
srv
We are all anti-semites now. Given a choice between believing anything that comes out of Goldfarbs mouth or skin-head covered with swastika tattoos, it would be a pretty tough call.
Sad that the neocons have taken what was once a meaningful epithet and turned it into something tossed around so tritely. I’m sure the victims of The Holocaust appreciate it.
Joe Max
I don’t understand the chyron bleow: "ATTACKING OBAMA – MACCAIN’S NEW GAMBIT"
New?
When has he done ANYTHING in this campaign OTHER than attack Obama?
The GOP needs to boiled in poisoned oil.
jenniebee
Anybody who plays the guessing game about who Goldfarb had in mind is falling into Goldfarb’s desperate and highly stupid trap. He doesn’t have a name, or anybody in particular in mind. He was hoping the reporter would suggest somebody and get him off the hook. And if the reporter doesn’t, maybe the viewer will think somebody up.
Eval Kineval could not jump as many shark tanks as the GOP is doing this year.
gbear
Self-inflicted destruction is acceptable.
A couple weeks ago, right before Michelle Bachmann went postal on Hardball, I took a scooter ride thru Bachmann’s district and then wrote a comment about my dismay at all the Bachmann signs everywhere along the route.
Happy to report that I rode that same route again this evening and 2/3 to 3/4 of her signs have been take down. I was expecting to see less of them but it was a startling defection of support. There weren’t many more Tinklenberg signs, but it’s good to see that people in her district are so embarassed that they pulled up her signs.
Just Some Fuckhead
These motherfuckers oughta be thrilled it’s someone as affable as Obama about to lead us, cuz I’d already be building coliseums and filling ’em with lions.
LiberalTarian
Nick Anderson hits one out of the park.
Comrade Stuck
Naw, That’d be like a bubble bath for wingnuts. Wooden stakes is the ticket, lots of wooden stakes, and an odd Priest or two.
gbear
How long do you think it would take to reduce Warren County to a charred ember? We may find out.
Far Left American Hater Incertus
@Jeff: Hold on. I need to go get a beer so I can spit it all over my computer. I’ll be right back.
I fucking hate these people.
gbear
At least the skin-heads believe what they’re saying. Doesn’t mean they’re not wrong, but a douche like Goldfarb doesn’t even believe in anything.
Jay B.
MikeL:
Great catch on that Onion article. I’ve come to see them less as a satirical magazine and more of a collection of oracles.
Like this for instance. It’s a little off, and not as funny as the reality, but it’s close.
LiberalTarian
Ok, I know John asked us not to double post cuz of the spam filter, but this cartoon by Nick Anderson is spot on.
Genine
I swear if these people spent half as much effort thinking as they do hating, they could cure cure cancer and bring peace to the Middle East.
But as it stands now… they’re just sad.
Notorious P.A.T.
Michael Goldfarb is not a smart person.
Jim
Goldfarb is from NRO, so no one should be surprised that he is a pile of steaming shit. I just hadn’t realized he looks like a complete dork as well.
TenguPhule
No.
SATSQ.
POW!
Comrade Jake
He looks like a jerkwad fratboy if you ask me.
boonagain
I have to admit that he looks like my brother-in-law who also is a wing nut.
He told us that he (a guy in middle management) wasn’t ‘rich’ enough to be a Democrat. Where do you go from there?
nabalzbbfr
He’s talking about this guy, who happens to be Michelle’s cousin and recipient of Obama’s earmark largess.
robertdsc
Regarding Goldfarb getting schooled on this, Yglesias gives us a new way of expressing political ownage:
Ha.
Shibby
Saw Elie Wiesel tonight and he talked at length about faith, learning and a moral society. The most profound thing he said was the problem with fundamentalists and political zealots are that they have absolutely no questions, only answers. When you have no questions, you get bored and then you must go out and prove that you are superior. Amazing insight that I think explains a large portion of the pathosis that is the modern Republican party and the Religious Right.
Just Some Fuckhead
Rebuttal here.
jcricket
This interview was great, in the same way the Couric/Palin interviews were. The interviewer didn’t particularly demagogue, just asked follow-up questions and generally refused to let go.
The bit at the end was obsequious and over-the-top, but otherwise, this is basically how the press should function. I wouldn’t want him to end with "Fuck you Goldfarb" but something like " I’m disappointed you wouldn’t answer my question, but thank you for coming on the show."
If follow-up questions cause the GOP to self-destruct, fine by me. Immolation is always preferable to having to do the dirty work ourselves.
Notorious P.A.T.
I just re-watched that interview. That Goldfarb dude looks like the moron brother on "My Name Is Earl" only without the redeeming sweetness. And when the anchorman thanks him for the interview, it sounds totally sarcastic to me.
eyeball
John, I guess I didn’t really think to take it literally when you said:
But now i realize you are quite literally right. These people
– troll the internet for crazy-person vomit.
– spread it around amongst themselves via email and hotlink.
– tell the candidates to repeat it.
– call the media biased for laughing at it.
What does this tell us?
1) The McCain-GOP-Rightist camp must believe that if this stuff is linked on Drudge and huffed by talk radio and the corner, then there must be "a silent majority" of people who truly feel this way.
2) This level of stupidity alone disqualifies them from public office.
3) McCain cannot run anything and has no filter and no common sense. How on earth can this man be a serious contender for president.
John
Ga. No. This is not what "anti-semitic" means. Anti-semitism means "prejudice against Jews." This is what the term was coined to mean, and what it has always meant. That Arabs speak a Semitic language does not mean that prejudice against Arabs is "anti-semitic," because "anti-semitic" does not mean "prejudice against Semites." It means "prejudice against Jews." You can’t just look at a word’s roots and determine the meaning from that.
Roger Moore
@Jay B.:
Nah. If you want to see the true genius of the Onion’s predictions, you have to see this classic.
Denice
John, you’ve clearly been fooled by the Joos.
End Jewish Supremacism. End anti-Gentilism.
If you want me to go Talmud on your ass then End anti-Goyism.
Hart Williams
Just in the interest of historical accuracy, Michael Goldfarb — blogmeister at Bill Kristol’s Weekly Standard — called for, coordinated and delivered the persecution and assassination of Private Scott Thomas Beauchamp as performed by the Inmates of Greater Wingnuttia under the direction of the Bedwetter de Kristol in July of 2007.
Kind of seems like poetic justice, don’t it?
Or else smells like teen spirit. One or the other.
Bilby
The video over at TPM starts with the caption:
Apparently that’s who they think he didn’t want to mention.
Joe Bourgeois
@Jeff:
Doesn’t surprise me in the least. This is one of the legacies of eight years of Bushism, eight years of wingnut full-court-press on Clinton before that, and talk radio: the political landscape has been poisoned by so much consistent lying that, for all practical purposes, fact no longer exists. Thus, Goldfarb can come on this show, perform as noted, and be thanked by the host rather than publicly shamed.
W. Kiernan
oh really quotes teevee host:
and asks
Usually liars try to conceal the fact that they’re lying, and it’s a lot of hard, tricky work for teevee interviewers to pin them down, if they can at all. I’ve got to say if I were the interviewer and I had just got a guy to voluntarily reveal so perfectly clearly that he was straight-up talking out his ass, I’d have been surprised and delighted and I’d thank him for his candor too. It’s like being in a duel against a guy who proceeds to shoot himself in the head.