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You are here: Home / Not Privy to the Code

Not Privy to the Code

by John Cole|  July 6, 20093:11 pm| 169 Comments

This post is in: Clown Shoes

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Like many of you, because of Friday’s afternoon events, I was eagerly awaiting today’s Rush Limbaugh Show. This was going to be the Super Bowl of spin and schadenfreude.

Sadly, it was not to be, as Rush is off for the week, and he had some c-list yakker in his place (and again, I am simply amazed at how deep the wingnut bench is in talk radio). The show was almost complete Palin, with the usual nonsense hauled out left and right (liberals hater her because she lives a pro-life life, etc.), but things took a turn for the weird in the third hour when the Michael Jackson funeral came up as a subject. The fill-in blabber mouth then stated (and I’m paraphrasing, because I was tying tomato plants and weeding and had nothing to write on):

“I bet 95% of the people going to the Jackson funeral are the ones taking potshots at Palin.”

What does that even mean? We’ve talked over and over again how the wingnut conversation is now nothing but disjointed imagery and codespeak that only they understand (I believe DougJ referred to it as a wingnut version of Pale Fire), but that to me is a masterpiece. I’m someone who not only trafficked wingnut talking points at one time, but to this day keep up on all of them, and I simply can’t figure out what the hell that means. Beyond being unprovable, it simply makes no sense. Is there a racial component that I am missing? Is this Breitbartian Big Hollyweird four martini lunch nonsense? Have I missed a talking point or something?

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169Comments

  1. 1.

    rafael

    July 6, 2009 at 3:15 pm

    The funeral will be attended mostly by black people; it’s them blacks that are insulting and attacking our Christian virginal pro-life mothers that hunt and use office to attack their enemies like good Christians.

    ACORN will be at the funeral, ALSO.

  2. 2.

    zmulls

    July 6, 2009 at 3:16 pm

    Hollywood liberalism.

    Rock music.

    Freak show.

    Child molester.

    All the stuff that the “not real” America is made of.

    (There’s got to be some measure of “Thriller” == “occult” in there somewhere as well)

  3. 3.

    Persia

    July 6, 2009 at 3:17 pm

    I think it goes something like this:

    1. Black people are icky.

    2. Michael Jackson was extra icky, because not only did he make more money at entertainment than any white person pretty much ever, he was mentally ill and looked funny. Also, he may have diddled little boys.

    3. Sarah Palin is exactly the opposite of Michael Jackson, because not only was she authentically white and female, she failed at lots of things and likes to quit.

    4. Also, real music is Bach and Mozart, not this crappy jungle music. And Michael Jackson was icky.

    I may have missed a step or two there.

  4. 4.

    dmsilev

    July 6, 2009 at 3:17 pm

    In the absence of a better theory, I’m going to go with “Black people”. It’s possible that it’s a “rock and roll is corrupting our youth” rant, but that sort of thing passed its sell-by date several decades ago.

    -dms

  5. 5.

    Crashman06

    July 6, 2009 at 3:18 pm

    Is this Breitbartian Big Hollyweird four martini lunch nonsense?

    My bet is this. Too many previously unbelievable things are happening too fast. Their minds are starting to break down. They are already starting to resemble crazy hobos, drunk on Night Train, and screaming nonsense at random pedestrians.

  6. 6.

    zmulls

    July 6, 2009 at 3:18 pm

    4. Also, real music is Bach and Mozart, not this crappy jungle music.

    I think you missed that one. Real music is Hank Williams and Willie Nelson and Garth Brooks.

  7. 7.

    KeithW

    July 6, 2009 at 3:19 pm

    “I don’t like those people who will be at the funeral. I don’t like the people who took potshots at Palin. They must be the same people”.

    Impeccable wingnut logic.

  8. 8.

    Ronnie Pudding

    July 6, 2009 at 3:20 pm

    That is weird. Maybe it’s suburban-urban vs. rural?

    More likely, the guy’s just going with an extreme Manicheanism, where all “bad people” are thrown together in one group. Betcha they work for ACORN too.

  9. 9.

    Louise

    July 6, 2009 at 3:21 pm

    zmulls has it just about right. It’s really as simple as “MJfans = WeirdnessTolerators = Liberals = PalinHaters.

    I saw a bumper sticker two days ago that said “Tolerance is the virtue of a man without convictions.” Lovely.

  10. 10.

    Calouste

    July 6, 2009 at 3:21 pm

    @zmulls:

    I think you missed that one. Real music is Hank Williams and Willie Nelson and Garth Brooks.

    Willie Nelson is a DFH basically, just with different music.

  11. 11.

    Ash

    July 6, 2009 at 3:21 pm

    Liking Michael Jackson = liking accused child molster = obviously hating child loving honorable pro-life mother.

    I think you missed that one. Real music is Hank Williams and Willie Nelson and Garth Brooks.

    Well, Hank Williams sure. But Willie Nelson is just a dude who’s high all the time and isn’t really claimed by anyone. Also, I like Garth Brooks. Replace with Toby Keith.

  12. 12.

    slag

    July 6, 2009 at 3:22 pm

    The code for this is the same as the code for everything else in greater wingnuttia: If it’s BAD, it’s LIBRUL! This has been the code for decades and will continue to be the code no matter what the subject matter is. That’s why it’s senseless. There’s only one point that Limbaugh and all others of his ilk want to make…liberalism is the root of all evil.

    Broken economy–liberal! Happy holidays–liberal! White supremacy–liberal! Unhealthy obsession with celebrity–liberal! Whatever the outrage du jour is–liberal!

    That’s it. Nothing else.

  13. 13.

    Ronnie Pudding

    July 6, 2009 at 3:22 pm

    @zmulls:

    Willie Nelson *is* real music. if there must be two sides to this world, he’s on mine. Jacko can sit with Palin for all I care.

  14. 14.

    fastandsloppy

    July 6, 2009 at 3:23 pm

    Come on, this isn’t that hard.

    Michael Jackson = ethnic effeminate child molestor
    All Liberals = ethnic effeminate child molestors

    And since All Liberals are Bad and Sarah Palin is Good, all people at the Michael Jackson service will be against Sarah Palin.

    John, you are keeping up with the lingo, but you are losing the ability to THINK like a conservative.

  15. 15.

    David Atkins

    July 6, 2009 at 3:25 pm

    African-American hollyweird freak show pedophile secret Muslim blah blah blah blah.

    I hate to get into university cultural studies speak, but it’s all about “othering”. You can’t get more “other” than Michael Jackson, really, so by stating that 95% of those who hate Palin are Michael Jackson worshippers, it’s just a reinforcement of the “real Americans” versus the “others”.

  16. 16.

    used to be disgusted

    July 6, 2009 at 3:25 pm

    I would vote for the zmulls theory:

    big media / sexually ambiguous / unreal America

    vs.

    homespun / heterosexually married / real America

    But even on that theory, the grammar doesn’t make sense.

  17. 17.

    Death By Mosquito Truck

    July 6, 2009 at 3:25 pm

    File this one under Who The Fuck Cares and keep weeding.

  18. 18.

    Colette

    July 6, 2009 at 3:26 pm

    “I bet 95% of the people going to the Jackson funeral are the ones taking potshots at Palin.”

    I am aware of all internet traditions, and this is a manifestation of the tradition in which you click on an innocent-looking link and it takes you to a porn site from which you cannot escape except by manually powering down your machine. Except in this case, instead of being highjacked by a hostile site, the wingnut brain has been highjacked by a hostile meme in which everything yucky = liberal and vice-versa. It’sa good thing you don’t have a link, because it might highjack us, too.

  19. 19.

    Punchy

    July 6, 2009 at 3:26 pm

    Translation–Those Scary Negros will bed your white daughter, and color up your family tree. Boogah boogah!

  20. 20.

    Ash Can

    July 6, 2009 at 3:26 pm

    @Persia:

    Also, real music is Bach and Mozart Pat Boone and Wayne Newton

    Those Real Uhmurrikens wouldn’t be caught dead listening to that pointy-headed elitist stuff. Besides, Bach and Mozart were a couple o’ them there pansified soshulistic Yur-pee-ans who wore girly pants and faggoty hairstyles and were probably teh ghey on top of it. And their music had too many notes. Also.

  21. 21.

    David Atkins

    July 6, 2009 at 3:27 pm

    @Persia

    4. Also, real music is Bach and Mozart, not this crappy jungle music. And Michael Jackson was icky.

    Are you kidding? That’s effete liberal elite. Real music is Ted Nugent.

  22. 22.

    ellaesther

    July 6, 2009 at 3:27 pm

    I’ve only recently started commenting in these parts, so I hesitate to throw a monkey wrench into the works, but here’s my theory:

    It’s meaningless.

    This is a slice of the American political landscape for whom the linking together of words into something resembling a series of sentences has become Good Enough (see: Sarah Palin).

    For a sizeable chunk of the American far-right, there does not seem to be any real need for “logic” — so long as the speaker appeals to my vanity and generally states opinions that mirror my own, however ill-formed.

  23. 23.

    Common Sense

    July 6, 2009 at 3:27 pm

    Personally I liked the rant where hotshot rookie was blaming the rest of the GOP for taking her down and let loose with this gem (paraphrasing):

    Sara Palin is the greatest governor in the country, possibly surpassed only by Rick Perry. Arnold, Granholm, and all the others could learn a lot from her.

    If these guys had any sense, they’d roll with Haley Barbour. No, I don’t like the guy. But he has managed to avoid diddling random people or breaking the law (that we know of) while in office. And there is a well established meme that he was the sole responsible politician during the Katrina fiasco (again, not saying I believe it, but the perception is real). And he doesn’t sound completely befuddled every time he opens his mouth.

    I have full faith that they will let these radio loons lead them over the cliff.

  24. 24.

    Comrade Stuck

    July 6, 2009 at 3:27 pm

    What does that even mean?

    In these heady days of rampant Looney Tunes, what something means is not relevant. The correct question should be. Where is the nearest teevee, and how do we get on it?

    Palin supporters just have Bizarre Jackson Coverage envy, and are projecting from the bowels of crazy, as they are wont to do..

  25. 25.

    jl

    July 6, 2009 at 3:28 pm

    because Palin is almost as weird as MJ, and his fans are jealous of the competition? I dunno.

  26. 26.

    Punchy

    July 6, 2009 at 3:30 pm

    And their music had too many notes. Also.

    This is comedy genius.

  27. 27.

    fastandsloppy

    July 6, 2009 at 3:32 pm

    @Punchy:

    Um, Wingnuts may be crazy and frequently stupid, but I don’t imagine anyone was concerned with Jacko seducing their daughter.

  28. 28.

    Bootlegger

    July 6, 2009 at 3:33 pm

    It means the Michael Jackson’s fans never quit on him like Palin quit on Alaska. Or, that Hollyliberal-Scarynegro stuff.

  29. 29.

    Ash Can

    July 6, 2009 at 3:33 pm

    @Punchy: Thank you, but I cannot claim credit. I ripped that off shamelessly from the movie Amadeus.

  30. 30.

    Keith G

    July 6, 2009 at 3:34 pm

    @Colette: Brilliant, just brilliant.

  31. 31.

    FlipYrWhig

    July 6, 2009 at 3:34 pm

    I’m pretty sure it’s not a racial thing this time. It means “homos and weirdos.”

  32. 32.

    Punchy

    July 6, 2009 at 3:35 pm

    @fastandsloppy: Debbie Rowe….white….Prisilla Pres…white. This is what I’m drawing from.

    But yeah, white sons were in the crosshairs, too……or at least some type of hairs.

  33. 33.

    Evinfuilt

    July 6, 2009 at 3:35 pm

    @zmulls:
    Agreed, Bach and such is for those filthy elites.

  34. 34.

    geg6

    July 6, 2009 at 3:36 pm

    Despite his every seeming effort, Michael Jackson was blackety, black, black, black.

    So are most of the people who will be at the Jackson tribute. That is, blackety, black, black, black.

    So is Barack Obama. That is, blackety, black, black, black.

    Easy peasy, John.

  35. 35.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    July 6, 2009 at 3:37 pm

    Slightly related the Repubs get caught with their hoods down again.

    http://wonkette.com/409676/young-republicans-leader-gal-thinks-its-super-funny-to-call-president-obama-a-coon-because-he-is-black

    How many is this now? One of these days they are gonna learn, then we’ll be in trouble.

  36. 36.

    Persia

    July 6, 2009 at 3:37 pm

    @David Atkins: I actually saw an article during the Michael Jackson stuff where someone was claiming no music could touch the beauty of Bach. Wish I could remember where because it was win.

    Ted Nugent is Pure but his music was influenced by Teh Blacks, so I’m not sure he counts. Most of the country stars these days probably qualify though.

  37. 37.

    different church-lady

    July 6, 2009 at 3:40 pm

    It’s the Chewbacca Defense, applied to everything in the universe.

    The strategy is, “Say something so nutty that all the liberal’s heads explode from trying to figure it out.”

  38. 38.

    fastandsloppy

    July 6, 2009 at 3:42 pm

    @Punchy:

    Point taken. But the conception of virginal white womanhood being under assault from the predatory black man on which so much racist hysteria is built requires… a predatory black man. Obviously M.J. got a rep for being predatory, but certainly not with ladies.

    However, virulent racism is not tightly coupled to logic so I admit you may be perfectly correct.

    I still stick to my interpretation that M.J. = black, faggy and weird = Liberals = bad.

  39. 39.

    ronin122

    July 6, 2009 at 3:42 pm

    @Persia:

    4. Also, real music is Bach and Mozart, not this crappy jungle music. And Michael Jackson was icky.

    Isn’t that “elitist” music? The kind you listen to with your arugula sandwich?

  40. 40.

    Common Sense

    July 6, 2009 at 3:42 pm

    Wingnut music is summed up in one word:

    Freebird

  41. 41.

    R.SZ

    July 6, 2009 at 3:42 pm

    I thought it was actually pretty clear for wingnuttia speak.

    “I bet 95% of the people going to the Jackson funeral are the ones taking potshots at Palin.”

    (1) Liberal elite media going gaga over the pedophile black dude’s death are similarly going gaga over Palin’s choice to resign. And oh, black people are pedophiles but if you point that out when they die people hate on you. And, ratings. (See Obama is ratings gold stories from Politico/AP)

    (2) Black folks are against Palin and for Obama, Obama’s black and we have to rally to our girl even if she did quit or else he’ll get an avalanche of support from the blacks, the browns, and liberal whites JUST as Micheal Jackson’s gotten a better shake dead than he did alive.

    (3)You’re either with Sarah and will continue to support her bid to be President or you’re against Sarah and therefore supporting the insanely popular black dude in the White House; just like you’re either going to Micheal Jackson’s funeral or you’re not.

    That’s my take.Winguttia – lit crit. for the political class. You can write a book on a sentence. It’s actually poetic in it’s density and metaphor.

  42. 42.

    Molly

    July 6, 2009 at 3:43 pm

    Yes, off-topic, but I can’t help but be amused…

    John, the Sarah Pac ad in the left-hand nav banner is PRICELESS at this time. I thought I might miss Pamela Anderson’s extra arm, but the new ad is even better.

  43. 43.

    jaime

    July 6, 2009 at 3:45 pm

    According to Freeperville :

    MJ.J. was a drug addict who paid fake doctors to anethitiese him every night to make him sleep because the painkillers he took kept him awake 24/7.

    and, also, also

    There was no hearsay nor innuendo about him grabbing his crotch in front of millions of viewers and suffering no legal consequences for public lewdness. You saw it with your own eyes as well, didn’t you? Did you not see how he perverted the natural face he was given into something grotesque?

  44. 44.

    Brick Oven Bill

    July 6, 2009 at 3:46 pm

    Hey, I like Mark Belling. He is from Milwaukee.

    The point he was probably trying to make is that if you look at the type of person who was attracted to Jim Jones’ Rainbow Family, this is the same demographic that is attracted to Michael Jackson and, by extension, the modern left specifically mentioning the Obama Administration. This demographic includes victims and apologists, among others.

    Elements of this demographic get threatened when some female who is married to a blue collar guy rises to the heights that she has, as it makes it harder to play victim or apologist. In this manner, Palin represent’s a personal threat to these people’s psyches, and they lash out at her and her family.

    On the flip side, lots of working class people see Palin as standing up to the Harvard-Yale-Stanford crowd, and really like her. This is why she is so polarizing. Not many people with engaging, productive jobs are likely to be found at Michael Jackson’s funeral though, unless they are there for their cut.

    I believe Belling to be wrong however, and predict that if there was a personal approval poll at Michael Jackson’s funeral regarding Sarah Palin it would play out as follows:

    w/ No Free Cigarettes
    I like Sarah Palin: 2%
    I do not like Sarah Palin: 35%
    Who is Sarah Palin: 45%
    No response: 18%

    w/ Five Free Cigarettes
    I like Sarah Palin: 2%
    I do not like Sarah Palin: 35%
    Who is Sarah Palin: 61%
    No response: 2%

  45. 45.

    JGabriel

    July 6, 2009 at 3:46 pm

    John Cole @ Top:

    I’m someone who not only trafficked wingnut talking points at one time, but to this day keep up on all of them, and I simply can’t figure out what the hell that means. […] Is there a racial component that I am missing?

    Given that it’s from a right-wing radioland c-lister, my guess would be that he thinks it’s just a clever way of calling Palin crititcs “n*****lovers”.

    .

  46. 46.

    KG

    July 6, 2009 at 3:47 pm

    Sorry, just have to ask, when did “Also.” become a sentence unto itself?

  47. 47.

    Zam

    July 6, 2009 at 3:47 pm

    Uhh pretty certain it’s because liberals molest children. You should be able to imagine the connections made in the wingnuts brains.

  48. 48.

    Dan

    July 6, 2009 at 3:47 pm

    There is ALWAYS a racial component. ALWAYS.

  49. 49.

    JenJen

    July 6, 2009 at 3:48 pm

    Easy.

    Michael Jackson was not a real American.

    Right? Do I win a prize?

  50. 50.

    Cris

    July 6, 2009 at 3:51 pm

    Hang on a sec, I thought Michael Jackson was a big Republican hero who could only be a product of the free market, someone ClintonObammunism and central planning could never have produced, who flourished under Republican presidencies and foundered under Democrat presidents.

    Why have they forsaken him?

  51. 51.

    Xenos

    July 6, 2009 at 3:51 pm

    @KG: I think it was used as a coda to one of Mooselini’s rambling non-answers to Charlie Gibson. Maybe it was Katie Couric. Also.

  52. 52.

    Cris

    July 6, 2009 at 3:52 pm

    @KG: Wonkette. Also.

  53. 53.

    Punchy

    July 6, 2009 at 3:52 pm

    Isn’t there also an element of: Scary Negros attending service in middle of workday =’s Scary Negros without jobs and making money =’s just a bunch of lazy welfare Negro mothers and deadbeat dads stealin hardworking tax dollars that could be spent at strip clubs…

  54. 54.

    geg6

    July 6, 2009 at 3:52 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    And, once again, BOB makes my point.

    Blackety, black, black, black.

  55. 55.

    Colette

    July 6, 2009 at 3:52 pm

    BoB@BoBSpoofWIN:
    Depends. What kind of cigarettes?

  56. 56.

    D-Chance.

    July 6, 2009 at 3:53 pm

    @zmulls: No real country music fan would ever mention the name “Garth Brooks”. Especially in the same breath as Williams and Nelson.

    Bah, no Toby Keith, either.

    Try Williams, Nelson, and George Jones.

  57. 57.

    GregB

    July 6, 2009 at 3:53 pm

    The National Re(fuse)view gets a twofer on their newest cover.

    Obama slipping on a white rubber glove.

    The white glove is pure Michael Jackson, but that evil grin says “you know what I do to white wimmen”, now bend over and watch this drive.

    -G

  58. 58.

    Brick Oven Bill

    July 6, 2009 at 3:54 pm

    Marlboro Mediums. Shorts.

  59. 59.

    David

    July 6, 2009 at 3:54 pm

    Translation:

    95% of all perverts are Liberals.

  60. 60.

    Skepticat

    July 6, 2009 at 3:55 pm

    A lot of their bizarro code does indeed belong in the privy.

  61. 61.

    JenJen

    July 6, 2009 at 3:55 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill: Ahhh. Thanks.

  62. 62.

    Common Sense

    July 6, 2009 at 3:56 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    Marlboro Mediums. Shorts.

    Shoulda gone with Newports BoB.

  63. 63.

    someguy

    July 6, 2009 at 3:57 pm

    This is pretty good analysis. I think he also made some references to the Epic of Gilgamesh in that comment, and there are traces of his grandmother’s recipe for redeye gravy.

    I mean as long as we’re imputing both deep thought and at-least-internally-consistent conspiratorial thinking to what amounts to crayon scrawl from a gnat-sized intellect…

  64. 64.

    Jennifer

    July 6, 2009 at 3:57 pm

    If 95% of the people taking potshots at Palin are going to MJ’s funeral, wtf are they planning on holding services? I’m not aware of any church that can accomodate 100 million people.

  65. 65.

    gex

    July 6, 2009 at 3:58 pm

    It’s the continual right wing “othering” of people and blaming the others. As they ramp it up in scale they will have to start using Army slogans, such as GOP: Party of One.

  66. 66.

    Ian

    July 6, 2009 at 3:58 pm

    If it’s BAD, it’s LIBRUL!

    In his own words, “You Know I’m Bad! I’m Bad. Come on, you know. And the whole world has to answer right now just to tell you once again — who’s bad.”

    Not only is he bad (Bad!), but he’s objectively fascisto-communist. There he is, telling the whole world what to do. Don’t get me started on “Black or White.”

    He could not possibly be more liberal, could he?

  67. 67.

    Crashman06

    July 6, 2009 at 4:00 pm

    @Common Sense: Or the Kools. I know it’s a monday, but you’re not trying hard enough, BOB! Turn it up a notch!

  68. 68.

    mcc

    July 6, 2009 at 4:01 pm

    Sara Palin is the greatest governor in the country, possibly surpassed only by Rick Perry. Arnold, Granholm, and all the others could learn a lot from her.

    Put in this light, I suddenly realize that Palin’s move makes a lot of sense and she is showing leadership that the entire GOP can indeed learn from. Speaking as a California resident, I speak with utmost sincerity when I say that Arnold should follow her example as soon as possible.

  69. 69.

    JGabriel

    July 6, 2009 at 4:01 pm

    Common Sense:

    Wingnut music is summed up in one word: Freebird

    That’s simplistic. Wingnut music is a diverse tradition with a great deal of variety. Sure, Lyrnyrd Skyrnyrd’s Freebird sums up one branch, but you can’t completely encompass the true multiplicity of wingnut inventiveness without also including Lyrnyrd Skyrnyrd’s Sweet Home Alabama, and its famous couplets:

    Well, I hope Neil Young will remember / A Southern man don’t need him around anyhow

    And:

    Now Watergate does not bother me / Does your conscience bother you? / Tell the truth

    .

  70. 70.

    Andy K

    July 6, 2009 at 4:04 pm

    @Jennifer:

    I agree. Math IS dumb.

  71. 71.

    gnomedad

    July 6, 2009 at 4:07 pm

    @GregB:

    Obama slipping on a white rubber glove.

    For a moment I parsed this like “slipping on a banana peel.”

  72. 72.

    JGabriel

    July 6, 2009 at 4:07 pm

    KG:

    Sorry, just have to ask, when did “Also.” become a sentence unto itself?

    During Sarah Palin’s interview with Katie Couric.

    .

  73. 73.

    Common Sense

    July 6, 2009 at 4:08 pm

    @JGabriel:

    While I would never deny the value of “Sweet Home, Alabama” in the wingnut musical pantheon (or the love of common easy life so often imitated in “Simple Man”), it is hard to say they are anywhere near the level of Freebird when the entire audience spends the performance cheering for another song.

  74. 74.

    fastandsloppy

    July 6, 2009 at 4:09 pm

    @jaime:

    So grabbing your crotch publicly is suppose to be a criminal offense now in wingnuttia?

    Goodbye professional baseball. You shan’t be missed.

  75. 75.

    Alyson

    July 6, 2009 at 4:09 pm

    I think the freak-out here is with white people who admire non-white people. Sick love of the other = sick hate of your own. Ties to the confusion with women who don’t admire Palin.

  76. 76.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    July 6, 2009 at 4:10 pm

    Okay. This is amazing.

    Some at TPM were saying it’s similar to this.

    Anyone want a crack at why it’s not?

    Wait let me rephrase that.

    I think the difference between the Economist cover and the National Review cover is pretty clear. It’s a question of rectitude.

    @GregB: Just scrolled up and saw you had mentioned this (gotta stop reading this thing from the bottom up backwards) and yes, that’s exactly what it means. Or else just the old fashioned fear of having it done to them by “one of them”. Amazing.

  77. 77.

    me

    July 6, 2009 at 4:11 pm

    Hey, I like Mark Belling. He is from Milwaukee.

    Belling, really? Rush is trolling the bottom for fill in hosts. AFAICT, Belling has never said (much less done) anything useful.

  78. 78.

    geg6

    July 6, 2009 at 4:11 pm

    @fastandsloppy:

    o grabbing your crotch publicly is suppose to be a criminal offense now in wingnuttia? Goodbye professional baseball. You shan’t be missed.

    Not to mention, 90% of the entire male population of the United States at any given time.

  79. 79.

    gnomedad

    July 6, 2009 at 4:15 pm

    Not Privvy to the Code

    They’re more like guidelines.

  80. 80.

    Cris

    July 6, 2009 at 4:16 pm

    @gnomedad:

    Obama slipping on a white rubber glove.

    For a moment I parsed this like “slipping on a banana peel.”

    Aaargh, now I’m interpreting the banana peel phrase in reverse, and imagining slipping a banana peel on… never mind.

  81. 81.

    gnomedad

    July 6, 2009 at 4:17 pm

    @Bill E Pilgrim:
    Hee-hee, you said “rectitude”.

  82. 82.

    bago

    July 6, 2009 at 4:18 pm

    Also. Also.

  83. 83.

    Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)

    July 6, 2009 at 4:19 pm

    @Ash:

    Well, Hank Williams sure. But Willie Nelson is just a dude who’s high all the time and isn’t really claimed by anyone. Also, I like Garth Brooks. Replace with Toby Keith.

    Fail. As it turns out, Toby Keith is a lifelong Dem and possible closet DFH. He writes those songs because it pays well.

  84. 84.

    Alan

    July 6, 2009 at 4:21 pm

    You should watch the latest bloggingheads. It features Ann Althouse who seems to be tuned not only the RW dog whistle but also offers analysis of Rush Limbaugh. Whom she seems to respect a lot.

  85. 85.

    You Don't Say

    July 6, 2009 at 4:24 pm

    I think the code is Big City Pedophile Lovers vs. Real America Family Values Icon.

  86. 86.

    bayville

    July 6, 2009 at 4:24 pm

    I think the code is anyone w/rhythm hates Palin and loves Thriller .
    I could be wrong though, since I am new to the Wingnut secret-handshake society.

  87. 87.

    geg6

    July 6, 2009 at 4:24 pm

    I always forget that you were one of them, John. And I saw something the other day that I found much more difficult to parse than this Michael Jackson stuff (which is still just about blackety, black, black, black).

    Here is one of Peter Ferrara’s ideas of things Sarah Palin could be talking about as her higher calling:

    She should also lead the nation’s mothers to oppose mandating replacement of incandescent light bulbs with the new mercury poison gas bulbs.

    I honestly didn’t know that there is a wingnut campaign against CFLs. I mean, I know they don’t believe in global warming or protecting the environment and all that crunchy granola stuff. However, the benefits of CFLs are not limited to the green benefits. So I can only conclude that they have a thing about saving money on their electricity bills and by not having to replace their bulbs so often. Really?

  88. 88.

    bago

    July 6, 2009 at 4:28 pm

    @geg6: Well, Compact Flourescent is obsolete anyways. 100 watts for an incandescant, then 20 watts for a CFL, and almost 2 watts for an LCD. Because I live in a cool city, we’re using LED’s all over.

  89. 89.

    Cris

    July 6, 2009 at 4:30 pm

    @Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon): As someone who likes to surprise people with the “Toby Keith is a Democrat” revelation, let’s recognize that the real lesson here is that party affiliation tells you very little about a person’s values. And it’s certainly no contradiction that a lifelong Democrat would also be a cheerleader for war.

  90. 90.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    July 6, 2009 at 4:32 pm

    @bayville: I think they just fear a huge fairly undifferentiated mass, be they black, be they muslim, be they black and muslim, or people who listen to people who are black, and so on.

    I remember my uncle used to think that “hippies” were dangerous. I mean all of them, he saw no difference between long haired peaceniks and street thugs, they didn’t wear suits so they were violent and dangerous, if you picked one up hitchiking you’d end up dead for sure. He was a very sweet guy too, actually. He just thought that anyone not dressed the way he was must be a dangerous low life.

  91. 91.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    July 6, 2009 at 4:34 pm

    I saw a bumper sticker two days ago that said “Tolerance is the virtue of a man without convictions.” Lovely.

    I guess that makes Dick Cheney a mighty tolerant man, seeing as how he hasn’t been convicted of anything yet. I wonder what is the word for the virtue of a man who doesn’t have any indictments either?

  92. 92.

    gnomedad

    July 6, 2009 at 4:35 pm

    @bago:

    Because I live in a cool city, we’re using LED’s all over.

    Really? Where is that? What uses are you seeing? I live in the Chicago ‘burbs, and a lot of traffic signals use LEDs, but that’s about it. Some consumer lighting products are just starting to appear at non-insane prices.
    /LED geek

  93. 93.

    GambitRF

    July 6, 2009 at 4:35 pm

    ACORN will be at the funeral, ALSO.

    Does that mean Glenn Beck has to break out his Barbie dolls again?

  94. 94.

    gbear

    July 6, 2009 at 4:36 pm

    @geg6:

    I honestly didn’t know that there is a wingnut campaign against CFLs.

    This is one of Michelle Bachmann’s big issues, to the point where she introduced a bill to protect ‘freedom of choice’ regarding which light bulbs we can buy. I am so ashamed that I know about this…

  95. 95.

    Brachiator

    July 6, 2009 at 4:39 pm

    @jaime:

    RE: According to Freeperville :

    MJ.J. was a drug addict who paid fake doctors to anethitiese him every night to make him sleep because the painkillers he took kept him awake 24/7.

    Uh, Elvis.

    RE: and, also, also

    There was no hearsay nor innuendo about him grabbing his crotch in front of millions of viewers and suffering no legal consequences for public lewdness. You saw it with your own eyes as well, didn’t you?

    Elvis! Elvis! Elvis!

    Did you not see how he perverted the natural face he was given into something grotesque?

    Uh, Kenny Rogers.

    These Freeperville folk are comically delusional.

    John Cole asked whether there was a racial component to this. And the answer is, yes, with a disconnect from both reality and history.

  96. 96.

    Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)

    July 6, 2009 at 4:40 pm

    @Cris:

    let’s recognize that the real lesson here is that party affiliation tells you very little about a person’s values.

    That’s why the rightwing caterwauling is so perplexing. Save for a couple of hot-button social issues, there’s not a dime’s worth of difference between many/most Repubs and Dems. Sure, you have outliers like Bachman and Kucinich, but for the most part they’re all rich, middle-of-the-road white dudes.

  97. 97.

    scav

    July 6, 2009 at 4:41 pm

    @Ash: WHICH Hank Williams?! I’m willing to abandon #2 but not Senior, no way, no how. I think they won’t want #3, but I’m not sure – don’t much care either. Just hands off Senior.

  98. 98.

    geg6

    July 6, 2009 at 4:42 pm

    @gbear:

    Well. I guess I missed that. But what’s the problem? We have freedom of choice on that. I still see the stores around here stocking more incandescents than CFLs, so they are still on sale. And if she’s against saving money, well, hey. Nobody’s stopping her from blowing her cash any way she wishes.

    I haven’t seen LEDs sold for consumer use. All the traffic signals are being changed over to save municipalities money. But I haven’t seen them for home use yet. That is perhaps because, since I changed all my bulbs over to CFLs about two years ago, I haven’t really had much need to spend time perusing the choices in the lighting aisle.

  99. 99.

    Xenos

    July 6, 2009 at 4:42 pm

    On the subject of Palin, is she out in public any more? How do we know she is not, for example, in rehab right now?

  100. 100.

    Wile E. Quixote

    July 6, 2009 at 4:43 pm

    @John Cole

    What does that even mean? We’ve talked over and over again how the wingnut conversation is now nothing but disjointed imagery and codespeak that only they understand (I believe DougJ referred to it as a wingnut version of Pale Fire), but that to me is a masterpiece. I’m someone who not only trafficked wingnut talking points at one time, but to this day keep up on all of them, and I simply can’t figure out what the hell that means. Beyond being unprovable, it simply makes no sense. Is there a racial component that I am missing? Is this Breitbartian Big Hollyweird four martini lunch nonsense? Have I missed a talking point or something?

    Battle not with wingnuts lest ye become a wingnut and if ye gaze into the wingnut the wingnut gazes also into you.

    Alan Moore Friedrich Nietzsche.

  101. 101.

    Indylib

    July 6, 2009 at 4:45 pm

    @Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon):

    As it turns out, Toby Keith is a lifelong Dem and possible closet DFH

    So is Garth Brooks. Have you ever paid attention to the lyrics of “We Shall Be Free“?

    When the last child cries for the crust of bread
    When the last man dies for just words that he said
    When there’s shelter over the poorest head…..
    Then we shall be free

    When the last thing we notice is the color of skin
    And the first thing we look for is the beauty within
    When the skys and the oceans are clean again
    Then we shall be free

    If that’s not DFH I don’t know what is.

  102. 102.

    Joe

    July 6, 2009 at 4:45 pm

    Haley Barbour sounds like Foghorn Leghorn, I just can’t take him seriously as President saying “Ah sed boh……”

  103. 103.

    Loneoak

    July 6, 2009 at 4:49 pm

    @Ash:

    Liking Michael Jackson = liking accused child molster = obviously hating child loving honorable pro-life mother.

    I’ll offer this amendment to the syllogism:

    1) Liking Michael Jackson = liking child molester
    2) Liking a child molester = liking David Lettermen
    3) Liking David Lettermen = hating Sarah Palin

    4) Therefore, liking Michael Jackson = hating Sarah Palin

  104. 104.

    b-psycho

    July 6, 2009 at 4:50 pm

    I’m a “Palin-hater” & my 1st reaction to hearing about Michael was “y’know, that isn’t as shocking as it’s portrayed”. Hell, I thought his music was ridiculously overrated.

    Where’s my cookie?

  105. 105.

    Wile E. Quixote

    July 6, 2009 at 4:51 pm

    @Bill E. Pilgrim

    I think the difference between the Economist cover and the National Review cover is pretty clear. It’s a question of rectitude.

    I think the difference between the Economist cover and the National Review cover is pretty clear, conservatives are power bottoms who crave being fisted.

  106. 106.

    Beeb

    July 6, 2009 at 4:53 pm

    Of course it’s about race. Two words: Al Sharpton. And I thought everyone knew that real music is Guy Lombardo.

  107. 107.

    gypsy howell

    July 6, 2009 at 4:56 pm

    Let’s ask Mika. She seems to have cracked the code on what real americans think.

  108. 108.

    gbear

    July 6, 2009 at 4:56 pm

    @geg6:

    what’s the problem?

    Bacmann was afraid/paranoid that people were going to be forced by the government!! to use only government approved!! light bulbs. That’s why she introduced the bill. She’s full of whack.

  109. 109.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    July 6, 2009 at 4:58 pm

    @Wile E. Quixote: “Rectitude” was actually on purpose. Meaning: yes, I agree.

  110. 110.

    Jim-Bob

    July 6, 2009 at 5:00 pm

    Since we’re playing the “suppose it happened” game, I think it’d be AWESOME if Limbaugh were raped like Marcellus Wallace.

    “Rush, you gonna be okay.”

    “Naw, man I am pretty fucking FAR from okay.”

  111. 111.

    Demo Woman

    July 6, 2009 at 5:02 pm

    Lawrence O’Donnell is filling in for Chris on MSNBC.

  112. 112.

    Jager

    July 6, 2009 at 5:04 pm

    Maybe its just me but everytime I see Haley Barbour I imagine him at an all white Country Club, whiskey in hand talking about some “good Nigra” he knows…I hope we are finished with national level politicians with fucking southern accents!

  113. 113.

    DanSmoot'sGhost

    July 6, 2009 at 5:06 pm

    What does that even mean?

    Sounds like classic spoof. And pretty good spoof at that.

    DougJ-quality work.

  114. 114.

    Zuzu's Petals

    July 6, 2009 at 5:06 pm

    Actually, as I mentioned on another thread, Limbaugh has already phoned in his take on the Palin resignation. He said about three different times that she hasn’t explained her reasons.

  115. 115.

    Zuzu's Petals

    July 6, 2009 at 5:11 pm

    @ThatLeftTurnInABQ:

    Mahatma Ghandi … no convictions.

  116. 116.

    bago

    July 6, 2009 at 5:12 pm

    @gnomedad: They’re using LED street lights up on Cap Hill for ten blocks around Aloha street. This would be Seattle.

  117. 117.

    Brachiator

    July 6, 2009 at 5:12 pm

    @b-psycho:

    I’m a “Palin-hater” & my 1st reaction to hearing about Michael was “y’know, that isn’t as shocking as it’s portrayed”. Hell, I thought his music was ridiculously overrated.

    Yawwn… Everybody’s music is ridiculously overrated.

    No cookie for you!

  118. 118.

    patrick

    July 6, 2009 at 5:17 pm

    This one is actually pretty easy.

    1. Michael Jackson was a certifiable freak.

    2. Michael Jackson fans – expecially those who are going to his funeral, by extension, are freaks.

    3. Only freaks hate Sarah Palin.

  119. 119.

    anonevent

    July 6, 2009 at 5:17 pm

    @ellaesther: @geg6: Around North Texas it is getting harder and harder to buy incandescent bulbs. CFLs are everywhere, and Wal-Mart has started selling LEDs. You can buy both LED inside lights and floodlights from them.

  120. 120.

    bago

    July 6, 2009 at 5:20 pm

    Not to get too geek here, but what kind of idiot would not love LED’s? They last for decades, sip power, don’t have the 60 hz problem of flourescents, and are completely programmable because they have no boot time. Unless you have a Barbie bake oven there is no point in having any other light source.

  121. 121.

    freelancer

    July 6, 2009 at 5:21 pm

    My LORD,

    I’m working in an area where CNN has been on the last 2.5 hours, and it has been nothing, and I mean Nothing but MJ.

    Who watches that? I mean, as someone who aspires to have an audience one day, who the hell are they trying to GET with this kind of relentless stupid coverage?

    “We’ll have an interview with someone who won the lottery ticket to attend Jackson’s memorial”.

    I’m wondering why there isn’t a mob with torches and pitchforks surrounding them in Atlanta right now. I know Cable News is inane, but they’re going for some kind of Dada-esqe execution of tabloid meta-journalism.

  122. 122.

    MikeJ

    July 6, 2009 at 5:23 pm

    I wish we got CNN International here. They seem to be a lot more sane.

  123. 123.

    Origuy

    July 6, 2009 at 5:29 pm

    One aspect that no one’s mentioned is that the memorial service (not funeral, that was private) will be in Los Angeles, which, being in wacky leftwing California, is the nexus of liberal fascism.

  124. 124.

    Comrade Stuck

    July 6, 2009 at 5:32 pm

    Do-twat is on Hardball prattling about all the phony ethics complaints Sarah couldn’t handle. In a state where ethics is a four letter word and a small army of FBI agents patrol the ship of state.

    She has fired half the state workers for paranoia of disloyalty, and the other half live in constant fear for their jobs. Who then, is left to objectively investigate?

  125. 125.

    Cat G

    July 6, 2009 at 5:35 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill: You know, I can’t figure out when the Republican Party and it’s opinion makers just went collectively stupid and signed some kind of mutual suicide pact. Is this some kind of late onset autism? (look it up) Some people prattle on about victimization and don’t notice that Sarah Palin has just anointed herself as the poster child of victimization. She has repeatedly embarrassed herself and then quits in an historically memorable manner and blames others. And the response of the R Party is to treat her as martyr after she self immolated Friday. WTF? She is no longer a threat to the nation, thank Allah, but she is a huge threat to the R Party. Did you see the beating that Jonah Goldberg took last week when he wrote a reasonable column about the things she might do to improve her chances? He had the crap beat out of him, in a classic case of shooting the messenger. She is a very loose cannon, and if R’s don’t figure out how to deal with her and her fan base, R’s are going to be in the desert for a long, long, time. You have got to stop enabling the crazy.

  126. 126.

    Montysano (All Hail Marx & Lennon)

    July 6, 2009 at 5:36 pm

    @bago:

    Not to get too geek here, but what kind of idiot would not love LED’s?

    As someone who is in the lighting business, I’m someone who doesn’t care for LED lighting.

    They last for decades

    Trust me, they don’t.

  127. 127.

    ironranger

    July 6, 2009 at 5:41 pm

    @geg6: Michele Bachmann has ranted on CFL’s, also. I think they are really sisters who were separated at birth.
    On Pawlenty, I have watched his pressers & I swear the guy gets animated & excited when he talks about cutting health care & education. Creepy. As my local Dem rep said when we were talking about this, he can think of a lot of better ways to have fun.

  128. 128.

    Redshirt

    July 6, 2009 at 5:41 pm

    Yeah! I have an expertise I can use!

    Re: LED lights. Folks here have it generally right. Traffic lights are well under way for replacements; street lights are starting, especially in Europe; you can go into Wal Mart and Home Depot and buy cabinet LED lighting today, and the cheapo adhesive type LED’s as well.

    BUT! For office, and home, believe me, it’s going to take a while. I would expect offices to be converted first, because of the efficiencies of scale, but home… it might be a while.

    My company made an LED Bulb, but it was more of a novelty. Cost is pretty much the sole limitation — even though an LED lightbulb could be made today, and last ten years, I doubt many folks would pay 20-40 dollars for that bulb.

    So, prices need to come down. But it will happen soon enough. The CFL lightbulb will quickly be a thing of the past.

    Also. Palin something or rather.

  129. 129.

    Cris

    July 6, 2009 at 5:47 pm

    @anonevent: Around North Texas it is getting harder and harder to buy incandescent bulbs. CFLs are everywhere, and Wal-Mart has started selling LEDs. You can buy both LED inside lights and floodlights from them.

    Sounds like the free market at work. No wonder loyal Republican Bachmann is opposed to it.

  130. 130.

    jenniebee

    July 6, 2009 at 5:53 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill: Um, personally, I don’t like it when someone takes an “everything I need to know, I learned playing varsity basketball” philosophy and applies it to high political office. If Sarah Palin was everything else you think liberals like – I dunno, let’s say she went to Bryn Mawr or something, and she couldn’t name a current events magazine she reads, I’d be embarrassed for her. I’d be doubly embarrassed for her if she’d, you know, recently been on the cover of some major current events magazines. You’d think she’d at least have skimmed the articles about herself…

    And if she was really awful, say somebody who complained about these awful “gotcha” questions when an interviewer asked her “you said x. What did you mean by that?” or if she complained when late night comedians told jokes about her, or if she was forever whining about how the press was just out to get her and it was so unfair, well, I’d want her put out of sight as quickly as possible, because you know how quickly the right is to jump on anybody with a victim mentality…

  131. 131.

    dr. luba

    July 6, 2009 at 6:03 pm

    @KeithW:

    “I don’t like those people who will be at the funeral. I don’t like the people who took potshots at Palin. They must be the same people”.
    Impeccable wingnut logic.

    A wingnut Venn diagram?

  132. 132.

    Tonal Crow

    July 6, 2009 at 6:09 pm

    A wingnut Venn diagram?

    Don’t go all elitist on us. If you don’t watch out, pretty soon you’ll be promoting “standard deviations” and other, even-worse kinds of preversion.

  133. 133.

    Nutella

    July 6, 2009 at 6:15 pm

    Sorry I don’t have the link, but someone on a ThinkProgress thread said that feminists don’t like Palin because she’s a working mother. I think that’s even nuttier.

  134. 134.

    Demo Woman

    July 6, 2009 at 6:23 pm

    @gypsy howell: If real Americans are able to understand Sarah’s gibberish, then I’m not a real American. According to Mika, real Americans must live in the south cuz that’s Sarah’s base. They also tend to fly the confederate flag.

  135. 135.

    Jay Severin Has A Small Pen1s

    July 6, 2009 at 6:26 pm

    It was refreshing to have right-wing talk radio take a break from bashing Obama to talk about how unfairly Palin has been treated by the left-wing media.

    Also, she messed up the basketball metaphor. In a full court press you want your point-guard to bring the ball up and not pass it. The point guard is typically your best dribbler. Why pass off to a center or forward?

    Parnell 2012

  136. 136.

    Martin

    July 6, 2009 at 6:27 pm

    More appealing to the southern base.

    Only the south broadly likes Palin and relatively few from the south would come to L.A. to attend a Michael Jackson event.

    Pretty much any wingnut statement should first be translated into mid-19th century terminology and then put it the context of a South Carolinian speaking it on the dawn of the Civil War. That’s the most likely process to make sense out of most of this crap.

    Shorter wingnuts: Palin is the misunderstood slave owner running a productive plantation, and Yankees hate her because of it.

  137. 137.

    Tonal Crow

    July 6, 2009 at 6:34 pm

    @Nutella:

    Sorry I don’t have the link, but someone on a ThinkProgress thread said that feminists don’t like Palin because she’s a working mother. I think that’s even nuttier.

    Modern GOPers are giving The Big Lie a bad name.

  138. 138.

    Colette

    July 6, 2009 at 6:45 pm

    @Martin:

    Shorter wingnuts: Palin is the misunderstood slave owner running a productive plantation, and Yankees hate her because of it.

    Frankly, wingnuts, I don’t give a damn.

  139. 139.

    Lettuce

    July 6, 2009 at 6:59 pm

    You know, Mark Belling is from Milwaukee, and he goes to the Bucks games (and apparently the Brewers as well), but he’s:

    a) From Kaukauna
    b) Went to UW-La Crosse
    and
    c) His show which is advertised as “standing up for…” is apparently standing up for Waukesha County and its residents.

    The previous writer can “like him” if he wants, but it’s apparently rare in Milwaukee. He may have the hot drive-time show, but Steve “the Homer” True on ESPN radio here, considers Mark Belling even further right than he is, and Steve True (who lives in Wauwatosa) is further right than nearly anyone around here… And you’d have to be far to the right to be that far right. Belling apparently has many listeners in Waukesha, Washington and Ozaukee counties, people who drive in the the city and work downtown, plus their “homebodies”.

    He’s as much a “real” Milwaukeean as Santa Claus.

  140. 140.

    rs

    July 6, 2009 at 7:07 pm

    Hank Williams sang soul music. He was more Steve Earle than Toby Keith.

  141. 141.

    Betsy

    July 6, 2009 at 7:10 pm

    @Nutella:

    Sorry I don’t have the link, but someone on a ThinkProgress thread said that feminists don’t like Palin because she’s a working mother. I think that’s even nuttier.

    Wait…what?? I thought feminists hated housewives! Now we hate working mothers too? I can’t keep straight all the women that I, as a feminist, hate. Because that’s what feminists do: hate on women.

  142. 142.

    DonnaInMichigan

    July 6, 2009 at 7:13 pm

    This is as ridiculous as saying those people that support Palin, are probably thinking McNair deserved to get snuffed, because he was screwing a white woman……

  143. 143.

    JGabriel

    July 6, 2009 at 7:32 pm

    Redshirt:

    My company made an LED Bulb, but it was more of a novelty. Cost is pretty much the sole limitation—even though an LED lightbulb could be made today, and last ten years, I doubt many folks would pay 20-40 dollars for that bulb.

    Yep. They cost about 5-15 times as much as a flourescent bulb, and even the $50 home use bulbs put out about 1/4 as many lumens as a 23 watt CFL (1600 lumens).

    LED’s will have to become 5 times brighter while dropping 80%-90% in cost before coming into everyday home use. I think that’s gonna take about 5-10 years.

    .

  144. 144.

    cliff

    July 6, 2009 at 7:42 pm

    @dmsilev:

    Sadly, No.

    I distinctly remember staying at a beach house in SC and seeing on tv some preacher freak flipping out about how rock and roll was devil music or something like that. It was no more than 10 years ago I think.

  145. 145.

    Mike in NC

    July 6, 2009 at 8:05 pm

    I distinctly remember staying at a beach house in SC and seeing on tv some preacher freak flipping out about how rock and roll was devil music or something like that. It was no more than 10 years ago I think.

    Trust me, coulda been last week.

  146. 146.

    Jennifer

    July 6, 2009 at 8:24 pm

    @Tonal Crow:

    I described the wingnut Venn diagram here within the last week or so but can’t be arsed to find the comment and link it, so, it went something like this:

    In the Venn diagram for Stupid, the circle for “wingnuts” is entirely surrounded by “stupid”, while the circles for “liberals” and “conservatives” overlap with “stupid” (by varying degrees, of course…though in all fairness, conservatives have a much larger overlap with “dishonesty” in the Venn diagram for Dishonesty than they have in the diagram for Stupid).

  147. 147.

    bryan

    July 6, 2009 at 9:05 pm

    well I remember when MJ was accused of being a homosexual, so I gotta figure it’s:

    pedophile
    black
    if not pedophile
    queer
    dresses queer
    his sister said he had sex with the chimp

    can we put weird religion in – no? ok.

    drugs,
    came out recently,
    that explains why he was black – it was the drugs done it.
    high voice, queer.
    danced.
    danced queer.

    asexual, maybe virgin. not real man. queer.
    queer pedophile virgin, is there anything more disgusting I ask you.

    owes lots of money. not financially responsible. black. probably on welfare. I am going galt and not supporting michael jackson anymore.

    people were sad at the funeral they cried. cried people are weak. liberals. queer pedophile liberals in line after their god who dressed like sgt. peppers queer hearts club band.

    he wrote beat it. heh heh.
    Billie Jean.

    step 1: Billie is a little boys name.
    step 2: underpants half off.
    step 3: ?
    step 4: profit.

    bad family values in his family. They are all black.

    Have you listened to some of those people’s names.
    Jermaine, LaToya, Barack Obama Jackson. Weird family, weird names, might not be americans.

    Damn. I could go on, but you get the wingnutty points in highlights.

  148. 148.

    gypsy howell

    July 6, 2009 at 9:09 pm

    @Jennifer:

    This wingnut Venn diagram?

  149. 149.

    cliff

    July 6, 2009 at 9:12 pm

    oh and BTW, I bought my first CFL in 1999 and its been on over 8 hours a day ever since ..

    I only had one cfl burn out and it was in the first month and was replaced free.

    that first generation one has now migrated to my bedroom cause it now takes a min or so to get up to full brightness which is really nice.

    well over 29000 hours on that one!!! (it spent the first 5 years on nearly 24/7) I’m still amazed every morning that it still comes on. (phillips 14w earthlight, made in china – why don’t we make these here again?!)

  150. 150.

    cliff

    July 6, 2009 at 9:18 pm

    oh geez, my bad on the math – over 40,000 hours in that first 5 years + 4-8hrs a day since then .. WOW.

  151. 151.

    binzinerator

    July 6, 2009 at 9:21 pm

    @bago:

    Unless you have a Barbie bake oven there is no point in having any other light source.

    What about the color of the light (spectrum)? The 60hz flicker of a fluorescent isn’t the only thing that makes that light crappy for people. (try this trick — turn on incandescents in one room, fluorescents in an adjoining one. From the doorway of the fluorsecent room stare out at the incandescent light on a bright surface for a minute or so. Then quickly turn around and look that what you have in the room behind you. A lovely greenish-yellow. It lasts for a second or two before your brain automatically adjusts the color balance. But it’s there and it affects everything from colors to a person’s mood. (Which is why it sucks to pick your wall paints from the chip samples in the store — paint stores typically have fluorescent lights. You need to take them home to really see what you get and the relationships between it and the other colors in the room.)

    The ‘full’ spectrum fluorescents are better but not really full spectrum.

    I’ve never seen the LEDs other than in flashlights. The light seems shifted toward blue to me and is often either too intense or too weak. (intensity comes from having the surface area of the source of light the size of a tic-tac). Sometimes super efficient is not very human-eye friendly.

  152. 152.

    priscianus jr

    July 6, 2009 at 9:51 pm

    I find something off-kilter about this thread. I think it’s because there seems to be an underlying assumption that if the wingnuts hate Michael Jackson, then we all have to love Michael Jackson. That if they attack him, that just confirms he was some kind of lefty cultural hero. If that’s your opinion, I don’t share it. Actually, I liked the Jackson Five very much, early solo MJ progressively less and less, and have paid almost no attention to him since about 1983, except when mass exposure of scandals has made it virtually impossible not to. I don’t know whether he was a pedophile or not, I still can’t stand him. Now of course we see his bizarre mug everywhere, and I, for one, can’t even look at it. In addition, MJ pretty much sums up everything that has gone wrong with the music industry since — well, since MJ became the world’s greatest pop icon. For weirdness, Michael Jackson and the wingnuts give each other a good run for the money.

  153. 153.

    Redshirt

    July 6, 2009 at 9:52 pm

    LEDs are bright enough, and if you if add a color mix, you can achieve almost any color you wish. A light yellow or green can be nice. Or a very bright white. LED’s are ready for prime time, right now; it’s only cost which prevents them breaking out. That barrier may last several years.

  154. 154.

    Brachiator

    July 6, 2009 at 10:02 pm

    @priscianus jr:

    I find something off-kilter about this thread. I think it’s because there seems to be an underlying assumption that if the wingnuts hate Michael Jackson, then we all have to love Michael Jackson. That if they attack him, that just confirms he was some kind of lefty cultural hero.

    No it’s more that one of the wingnut quotes that led off this thread, “I bet 95% of the people going to the Jackson funeral are the ones taking potshots at Palin,” is patently absurd. It is also evidence of a strange, crabbed, paranoid, and navel-gazing world view.

    I don’t get much of a sense that the people hot to attend the Jackson memorial care much about politics, but there is no evidence at all that are either pro or anti-Palin.

    But the wingnuts have a deep need to always look for signs of who might be real Americans, and to fabricate evidence when necessary. And because the Jackson memorial is being held in Los Angeles, there is a desire to make sure that the city is derided as the left coast, a suburb of France.

    Jackson is irrelevant to politics, left or right, except in the wingnut imagination.

  155. 155.

    Kilkee

    July 6, 2009 at 10:37 pm

    @bryan: Just brilliant.

  156. 156.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    July 6, 2009 at 11:20 pm

    Hmmm. All the dogs in the neighborhood started barking as I read this post. Whatever could it mean?

  157. 157.

    Barbar

    July 6, 2009 at 11:27 pm

    You can’t get more “other” than Michael Jackson, really

    Not really true; the guy had literally hundreds of millions of fans around the world.

    The truth of course is that the sentence is just nonsense.

  158. 158.

    grumpy realist

    July 6, 2009 at 11:28 pm

    Cost of LEDs will come down quite a bit in the next few years. There’s been several breakthroughs using nanostructured materials–now we’re just finessing the details.

    Any new light technology will first be seen in Japan because of the cost of energy there. Compact fluorescents were everywhere before the US even started thinking about using them.

  159. 159.

    DaBomb

    July 6, 2009 at 11:39 pm

    Wingnut logic somehow has equated that only teh blackity black people probably hate Palin. Because only blackity black people loved the ex blackity black Michael Jackson. Let’s throw that blanket generalization out there and forget about all of the whites and other races who are seen crying over MJ.

    And according to BOB, they don’t care who Palin is even if you give them Marlboros? Huh?

    It would be more like Kools, Newports, and Swisher Sweets.

    As for MJ’s influence on music, IMHO, he was hugely influential. Regardless of the crazy life he led you can’t deny his influence on music. I have always said that.

  160. 160.

    drumwolf

    July 6, 2009 at 11:48 pm

    A lot of you are seeing a racial subtext, and that may very well be part of it. But that’s not the only thing to consider and it’s not the thing that stands out the most for me personally. Wingnuts also have a tendency to tar weirdo and/or vapid celebrities with the “liberal” brush. And they conveniently ignore the fact that it’s the very same predatory capitalist system they support that causes the schlock pop culture that they decry.

    That hilariously backfired on them when they tried to run that commercial linking Obama with Paris Hilton and it turned out Hilton’s family are Republicans.

    Side note: I was never a Michael Jackson fan, but I did have sympathy for the guy – he seemed to be a prisoner of his megastardom (not to mention a victim of his scumbag dad).

  161. 161.

    cliff

    July 7, 2009 at 12:01 am

    @binzinerator:

    actually mine are very warm .. nowhere near a tube fluorescent. they are warmer than (most standard) halogens too.

    also as someone who gets headaches from flicker of standard tubes, I’ve got zero issues with flicker on my bulbs.

    I remember a few of the very first ones way back flickered a bit and were cooler ..

    also, as they age they get a bit warmer in color.

  162. 162.

    mapaghimagsik

    July 7, 2009 at 12:50 am

    Meanwhile, Alaska is doomed.

  163. 163.

    Ecks

    July 7, 2009 at 1:26 am

    @Ash Can: No no no, you didn’t rip it off from Amadeus, you made a witty reference to Amadeus.

    That’s how the pros do it ya know :)

    (and it was a funny witty reference to boot, BTW).

  164. 164.

    Tax Analyst

    July 7, 2009 at 6:23 am

    I remember my uncle used to think that “hippies” were dangerous. I mean all of them, he saw no difference between long haired peaceniks and street thugs, they didn’t wear suits so they were violent and dangerous, if you picked one up hitchiking you’d end up dead for sure. He was a very sweet guy too, actually. He just thought that anyone not dressed the way he was must be a dangerous low life.

    I was working at a Termite Company sometime around 1976 and one day I happened to be wearing a Grateful Dead t-shirt. One of the inspectors there – a real nice guy, who was maybe between 55 and 60 said this to me in all complete sincere seriousness, “I don’t understand. Can you explain to me why someone would be grateful if they were dead?”. He had heard OF the Grateful Dead but did not know that they were a band. I had to think that one over for a minute – “No, Joe, I honestly cannot.” If I had tried I might still be standing there trying to explain it to him.

  165. 165.

    chrome agnomen

    July 7, 2009 at 6:57 am

    WWJD? (what would jesco do)

  166. 166.

    bellatrys

    July 7, 2009 at 7:22 am

    I suspect it’s equally from column A, equally from column B – that is to say, there is both dogwhistling at the Black!LibrulMedia!HeathenHedonistWorldlyUngodlyPopCulture auditory nerve endings going on, AND the Conflation of Enemies that constantly goes on (and has at least since the mid-Seventies) among right-wing pundits that we saw illustrated rather strikingly when Dr. Mary “Ravished Virgins” Grabar argued so cogently that the same kids who picked on her in grammar school because her mother was a cleaning lady had – obviously! – grown up to all be Obama voters today…

    It’s a form of logical argument that makes perfect sense if you believe a) yes, the world really DOES revolve around you, and b) everyone really IS out to get you – if you don’t like A (in this case, Michael Jackson/MJ fans), and you don’t like B (Democrats/Liberals/Sarah Palin opponents), then A & B simply MUST be the same thing! because they couldn’t be unconnected Venn sets, that’s inconceivable. QED &c &c.

  167. 167.

    bellatrys

    July 7, 2009 at 8:56 am

    Addendum: obviously this “I hate A, I hate B, ergo B=A” schema isn’t limited to the right – q.v. Sadly, No! and their pathetic persistent conviction that fandom=wingnutteria, without exceptions (no matter how much debunking has been attempted in the past, providing yet another example of how these sorts of thought patterns are human problems, not party-specific ones.)

  168. 168.

    priscianus jr

    July 7, 2009 at 9:33 am

    bellatrys,
    The logical fallacy you refer to is different from, but akin to, the one I talk about above (152). I agree with you, these automatic fallacious thought-habits are rife at all points on the poltical spectrum.

  169. 169.

    Joel

    July 9, 2009 at 7:35 pm

    MICHAEL THE NARC-ANGEL

    Millions of little members of the worldwide F.F.A. (Future Followers of the Antichrist) have finally learned how to find a certain part of their lower anatomy and quickly touch it while dancing – thanks to Michael Jackson, the highest paid Lower Anatomy Toucher of all time! Special thanks also go to the Jesus-bashing, Hell-bound Hollywood moguls who were just as quick to see higher profits in lower anatomies! [Just saw this opinion on the web. Other grabby items on MSN, Google, etc. include “Separation of Raunch and State,” “David Letterman’s Hate, Etc.,” “Tribulation Index becomes Rapture Index,” and “Bible Verses Obama Avoids.” – something for everyone!]

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