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You are here: Home / Politics / Republican Stupidity / Stupid and Proud of It

Stupid and Proud of It

by John Cole|  August 29, 200912:22 pm| 119 Comments

This post is in: Republican Stupidity, Assholes

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Stay classy, Mike Huckabee:

Conservative media figures are blasting Democrats for trying to draw political gain from the death of Senator Ted Kennedy. But on Thursday, it was one of their own — former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee — who went there.

The 2008 Republican presidential candidate suggested during his radio show, “The Huckabee Report,” on Thursday that, under President Obama’s health care plan, Kennedy would have been told to “go home to take pain pills and die” during his last year of life.

I wonder if Ben Smith will keep worrying about a “Wellstone effect?”

What is most offensive about Huckabee’s babble is that not only is he making shit up, a favorite Republican pasttime, but he clearly has no idea what Kennedy even suffered from:

And when Mr. Kennedy learned he had brain cancer last year, he became one of the millions whose fate was not much changed by the cancer war. Despite billions that have been spent, the death rate from most cancers barely budged.

Mr. Kennedy’s cancer, a glioblastoma, kills almost everyone who gets it, usually in a little over a year. Although he got the most aggressive treatment, Mr. Kennedy lived just 15 months after his diagnosis — just about the median survival for patients with his type of tumor who got the radiation and chemotherapy regimen that has become the standard of care.

“This remains just a dreadful tumor,” said Dr. Eugene S. Flamm, a neurosurgeon at Montefiore Medical Center in New York. Dr. Flamm, who was not involved with Mr. Kennedy’s treatment, added that when a patient developed glioblastoma, “there is not a hell of a lot you can do.”

Going home and taking pain pills is pretty much the only option with what Kennedy had. He knew it, as he repeatedly stated he wanted to make a good ending for himself, surrounded by friends and loved ones, sailing, and hanging out with his dogs. And so he did.

The Republicans are just pig ignorant, vicious, shameless, and they never get called on it. Ever. That is why DougJ finds it absolutely amazing that Conor would spend 22 paragraphs discussing the rantings of an unhinged lunatic. You might as well spend 22 paragraphs talking about Joe the Plumber’s deep thoughts. They are not a serious party, and they won’t be until they start calling out the hucksters, liars, and crass opportunists. Quite honestly, I don’t see that happening anytime soon, and why should it? The media never makes them pay, worthless shit peddlers like the smirking glibertarians at Reason are providing rhetorical cover for lunatics carrying guns to presidential events, an activity that would seem unthinkable to most sane people, and a lot of them have carved out a very lucrative lifestyle for themselves pushing the crazy. Gingrich raked in millions last year, Coulter and Beck and Limbaugh make a fortune, and Sarah Palin just quit her day job so she could join the wingnut welfare circuit.

Until that dynamic changes, why would they do anything differently? Every incentive is there for them to just make shit up. And so they do.

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Reader Interactions

119Comments

  1. 1.

    dmsilev

    August 29, 2009 at 12:26 pm

    Question that I would love to see asked in a GOP primary debate: “Governor Huckabee, how do you reconcile your statement about Senator Kennedy’s death with the teachings of the religion you claim to follow?”

    It’ll never happen, of course. A few pundits might ‘tut tut’ the statement, and then it will vanish into the Village’s memory hole. Maybe it will at least cure some liberals of the “Huckabee is a nice guy” fantasy.

    -dms

  2. 2.

    Davis X. Machina

    August 29, 2009 at 12:27 pm

    In a country where Velveeta™ is considered ‘cheese’, and ‘Marketing’ is an academic discipline and a university major, is it any surprise that this toxic stew is considered ‘politics’?

  3. 3.

    JK

    August 29, 2009 at 12:29 pm

    “Stay classy, Mike Huckabee”

    I can’t count the number of MSM toadies who were tripping all over themselves during the Republican primary praising Huckabee for being such an affable, likable guy with a wonderful sense of humor.

  4. 4.

    dmsilev

    August 29, 2009 at 12:30 pm

    Speaking of ‘Stupid and Proud of it’, we should all take a moment to note that today is the first anniversary of that dread day when Sarah Palin was unleashed onto an unsuspecting country.

    -dms

  5. 5.

    matoko_chan

    August 29, 2009 at 12:33 pm

    Dude it is their death throes.
    The GOP has been being culturally disenfranchised for years, and the epic wipe on the election last year politically disenfranchised them.
    The demographic timer on old white guys is running out.
    This is their last stand, and they know it.
    Obama is doing healthcare early because he knew it would be hard…..but next up is immigration.
    He planned it like that….so right before 2010 we get to see Palin and Huck and handsome-MORMON-guy trying to do hispanic outreach while the “low information” base goes rage-ravers on the “beaners” and “wetbacks”………much hilarity will ensue.
    ;)

  6. 6.

    matoko_chan

    August 29, 2009 at 12:36 pm

    oh, sry………”wipe” is gamerspk for having your party completely killed by a boss.
    I think 365 electoral college votes to 173 is pretty much an Epic Wipe.
    ;)

  7. 7.

    asiangrrlMN

    August 29, 2009 at 12:38 pm

    Cole, I really like this post. I like to see you fired up.

    As for the Huckster, I don’t get it, either. It’s like when people said they’d love to have a beer with W. I don’t see the regular guy thing at all, for either of them. In addition, I heard Huckabee spewing his filth about gays, all the while having that congenial smile pasted on his face, and I haven’t listened to him since. He’s a fucker. W. is a fucker. McCain is a fucker. I wouldn’t want to be in the same room with any of them, let alone imbibe any kind of alcohol with them.

  8. 8.

    Mudge

    August 29, 2009 at 12:38 pm

    Ted Kennedy’s funeral, Katina, John McCain’s birthday, Sarah Palin’s debutante ball..all on August 29.

  9. 9.

    Mudge

    August 29, 2009 at 12:39 pm

    Katrina, of course.

  10. 10.

    Creamy Goodness

    August 29, 2009 at 12:42 pm

    The media never makes them pay

    Vote with your eyeballs. Make HuffPo, McClatchy, TPM, and such your first stop for news rather than the New York Times or the Washington Post.

    Punish media outlets that can’t bring themselves to hold our government accountable. Reward those that believe in real journalism.

    Any other recommendations?

  11. 11.

    JK

    August 29, 2009 at 12:42 pm

    @Mudge:

    It’s also the birthday of the late, great Charlie Parker.

  12. 12.

    r€nato

    August 29, 2009 at 12:42 pm

    It is a fact that every person who has used socialized medicine, will die.

  13. 13.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    August 29, 2009 at 12:42 pm

    Mike pHuckabee. Brought to you by the party that uses the corpses of 9/11 victims as props.

  14. 14.

    wilfred

    August 29, 2009 at 12:43 pm

    Huckabee was last seen and heard advocating ethnic cleansing in the Middle East – guess who should be cleansed. Not much comment from anyone on that.

    What I don’t get is why you continue to invest energy into any of these people. Wouldn’t it make more sense to promote positive, progressive ideas than drag out endless, stupid remarks and ridicule them.

    Sullivan himself is a self-serving asshole – who gives a shit what his substitutes have to say.

  15. 15.

    kay

    August 29, 2009 at 12:45 pm

    @asiangrrlMN:

    He’s smarmy. The creepy smile and widened eyes combined with the nasty that comes out of his mouth just does him in for me. His face is like a mask. No relation to what he’s saying, or (has to be) thinking.

  16. 16.

    kuvasz

    August 29, 2009 at 12:45 pm

    Other than using a 2X4 across their teeth the only thing to do is shame them publicly. By doing so one drags their behavior beyond the borders of the Overton Window.

  17. 17.

    Gatsby

    August 29, 2009 at 12:46 pm

    Terrific post, John!

  18. 18.

    wasabi gasp

    August 29, 2009 at 12:46 pm

    OT, but this just reminded me that Huckabee entered my dreams last night.

    Location was a wide dirt road bordered by forest with a whole bunch of Lazy Boys, two or three wide, all facing the same direction. My Lazy Boy had a balance problem and either stayed in the recline position or sat in its straight-up position, which kinda slingshot me and made a loud ruckus every time I got up. I looked to the fella on my left and there was Mike Huckabee, in full recline, lookin’ right back at me. A hostess making the rounds came upon Huckabee and asked if he’d like anything. He said “Yeah, I’d like this guy (pointing at me with his thumb) to stop going from zero to sixty in two seconds flat.”

    That’s all. Sorry.

  19. 19.

    El Cid

    August 29, 2009 at 12:46 pm

    Do they have to be a “serious party” in order to grab power? Do they have to be something other than “lunatics” to gain the Constitutional power to destroy the Constitution and drive the nation into the ground?

    All these villains have to do is capture power. That’s it. They don’t have to be sane or responsible or make sense or contribute to the discourse or be honest or minimally in touch with reality or anything else.

    They just have to capture power and then pursue their agenda of the most venal and outright thievery, the destruction of governance, and the conversion of this nation into their fantasy version of a Brazilian junta style society from the 1970s combined with Founding Father porn.

  20. 20.

    ** Atanarjuat **

    August 29, 2009 at 12:46 pm

    Don’t be such a playa hater, John.

    Wingnuts everywhere are taking a beating in the media and and on the Web, from highlighting their freedom-loving, gun-totin’, tree of liberty-waterin’ ways to falsely portray conservatives as unhinged wackaloons to their belief that Obama is organizing ACORN shock troops to round up Real Americans in order to establish a Marxist-Islamic-Socialist Reich that will destroy America.

    What’s a patriot to do?

    Why, sign on to http://defendglenn.com/, that’s what!

    -A

  21. 21.

    kay

    August 29, 2009 at 12:48 pm

    @wilfred:

    It wasn’t reported in the US, Wilfred, from what I saw. I knew he went, and read he trashed Obama. I didn’t see text.
    I certainly may have missed it.

  22. 22.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    August 29, 2009 at 12:48 pm

    @wasabi gasp: At least he didn’t say you got a purty mouf.

  23. 23.

    James E. Powell

    August 29, 2009 at 12:49 pm

    And who is it that is supposed to call them out?

    Do we expect to see ABC News investigating Disney? Do we expect NBC News to do stories on corruption and fraud in Pentagon contracting?

    The pig ignorant, vicious, and shameless liars in the Republican Party are employed by the same corporate ruling class that employs the pig ignorant, vicious, and shameless liars who broadcast and publish what passes for news in the United States. The latter is not going to call A on the former.

    And please, don’t even think that the Democratic Party is anything like an opposition. The Democratic “leadership” gets most of its money from the same places and serves the same interests.

    There are limits to what blogs can do. The facts have been right there in front of everyone for years, the right questions have been asked, but they never reach an audience as large as the corporate press/media. They never will.

    Unless and until we develop methods of communication with similar power and pervasiveness, we will always be fighting against the great weight of ruling class propaganda.

  24. 24.

    SGEW

    August 29, 2009 at 12:51 pm

    Another keeper of a post, Mr. Cole. I don’t know how you do it.

    But seriously . . . I worry that paying all this attention to the ugliness of politics is taking a worrisome toll on your mental health.

    The academic year is starting up again, so I, for one, am going to try and ignore the ugliest partisanship for a while and focus on nice, intellectual, and above all abstract things (which means that Benen, TPM, et. al. will probably be off my daily reading list . . . memeorandum too, but that’s been off my daily round for a few months now). Maybe it’s something you should think about doing too. Although there will be many who rely on you for your insight into the madness of our political discourse who will sharply miss your blistering critiques of the monstrosity that calls itself politics, your duty to your own well being outweighs any possible “responsibility” to your readership.

    [but plz don’t pull a hilzoy and just stop blogging, plz plz plz]

    IOW: More Tunch, Lily, recipes, and beer blogging; less apocalyptic yet woefully true tidings of the death of our democracy? Just a well meaning thought.

  25. 25.

    cleek

    August 29, 2009 at 12:51 pm

    they’ve been riding this Big Lie strategy pretty hard for quite a while now (at least since the Iraq war run-up). it’s truly amazing that the media hasn’t noticed the pattern: a barrage of huge lies to get the Dems on their heels and fill the landscape with so much debris that it’s impossible to do anything without tripping over it. it’s the same every time, but the media never sees it. or, pretends not to see it, at least.

  26. 26.

    Political Pragmatist

    August 29, 2009 at 12:53 pm

    John, how different things would be were ClusterFux not using News as cover for Propaganda.

    The problem is Fox News. They are the ones who continually push the shit on the below average, which is a rather large portion of their voting bloc, if not all now.

  27. 27.

    smiley

    August 29, 2009 at 12:54 pm

    I don’t know about you all but I didn’t see the “Wellstone memorial on steroids” last night. But then again, I wasn’t prepared to.

    In a country where Velveeta™ is considered ‘cheese’,

    Melt a brick of Velveeta in a crockpot and stir in a can of Ro-tel tomatoes and chillies. That, my friends is some good dippin’.

  28. 28.

    arguingwithsignposts

    August 29, 2009 at 12:56 pm

    @Creamy Goodness:

    No offense, but I wouldn’t put HuffPo in the same precinct with the McClatchy folks, or TPM. A lot of HuffPo is aggregation and celebrity blogging (just like the op-ed pages of wapo, nyt and wsj), just with a liberal slant. The OfftheBus and investigative project, and nico pitney perhaps, are worthwhile, but on the whole, not so much.

  29. 29.

    wilfred

    August 29, 2009 at 12:58 pm

    @kay:

    In the blog solar system that this blog exists in only Matt Yglesias had anything to say:

    http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/huckabee-calls-for-ethnic-cleansing-of-palestinian-territories.php

  30. 30.

    Zifnab25

    August 29, 2009 at 12:59 pm

    If you want some quality coverage, turn over to the Kennedy funneral. This is about as graceful, reverent, and patriotic a funneral as you could ask for. Classy through and through.

  31. 31.

    MattF

    August 29, 2009 at 12:59 pm

    Is the set “Republican politicians with a brain” empty? How about “Republican politicians who may sometimes suspect that crazy-white-Southern-elderly-male is not a majority”? Ahh… I give up.

  32. 32.

    Indylib

    August 29, 2009 at 12:59 pm

    I like the fact that the females in the family help carry the casket.

  33. 33.

    arguingwithsignposts

    August 29, 2009 at 1:02 pm

    Arrrggghh. Now MSNBC is getting Andrea Mitchell’s opinion about whether an era is over. This post-game stuff drives me crazy.

  34. 34.

    Amanda in the South Bay

    August 29, 2009 at 1:05 pm

    Didn’t certain liberal bloggers (Ezra, Matt) have a little crush on Huckabee during the GOP primaries? At the very least, he had more positive coverage from progressive bloggers than any other GOP candidate.

  35. 35.

    JGabriel

    August 29, 2009 at 1:05 pm

    John Cole @ Top:

    … worthless shit peddlers like the smirking glibertarians at Reason are providing rhetorical cover for lunatics carrying guns to presidential events, an activity that would seem unthinkable to most sane people, and a lot of them have carved out a very lucrative lifestyle for themselves pushing the crazy. Gingrich raked in millions last year, Coulter and Beck and Limbaugh make a fortune, and Sarah Palin just quit her day job so she could join the wingnut welfare circuit.

    John, do you ever think, “Damn, I could rich by now if only I’d stayed a wingnut”?

    .

  36. 36.

    JK

    August 29, 2009 at 1:06 pm

    @Creamy Goodness:

    Some alternatives to the nailbiters and bedwetters in the MSM

    Democracy Now http://www.democracynow.org
    Free Speech Radio News http://www.fsrn.org
    GRITTV http://lauraflanders.firedoglake.com
    http://www.alternet.org
    http://www.commondreams.org
    Pacifica Radio Stations http://www.pacifica.org
    http://www.wbai.org
    http://www.kpfa.org
    http://www.kpfk.org
    http://www.wpfw.org
    http://www.kpft.org
    Center for Independent Media http://newjournalist.org
    Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting http://www.fair.org/index.php
    Consortium for Independent Journalismhttp://www.consortiumnews.com
    Media Consortium http://www.themediaconsortium.org
    http://www.truthout.org
    http://www.truthdig.com
    http://www.tomdispatch.com
    http://www.tompaine.com
    http://www.opendemocracy.net
    http://www.afterdowningstreet.org
    http://www.freepress.net

  37. 37.

    kay

    August 29, 2009 at 1:07 pm

    @wilfred:

    Thanks. Quasi-religious fanatics interest me, in a defensive way. They drive a lot of our discourse, and policy, and I’m an outsider. I try to keep up with whatever they’re selling.
    This is shallow and mean-spirited, but I dislike and distrust Huckabee, so go to your link and look at the photo.
    He’s gained weight since the campaign. Part of his spiel is to crow about his massive weight loss. Sad, isn’t it?

  38. 38.

    steve s

    August 29, 2009 at 1:07 pm

    My main problem with Huckabee in particular, and the right in general, is that they have really, really shitty values. Fortunately the kids growing up these days tend to have much better values than some previous generations.

    Another example is this kind of stuff: http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2009/08/holmes-on-caldwell.php

  39. 39.

    shelley matheis

    August 29, 2009 at 1:08 pm

    I wonder if Ben Smith will keep worrying about a “Wellstone effect?”

    Yes, until the phrase is beaten to a pulp and squeezed dry. How many times did we have to hear the worries about the supposed ‘Bradley Effect’ during the election, til we wanted to scream.

  40. 40.

    wormtown

    August 29, 2009 at 1:10 pm

    I’ve been watching the funeral on c-span. It’s great…no commentary.

  41. 41.

    Tim P.

    August 29, 2009 at 1:11 pm

    What is the responsible thing to do if lunatics gain power? What should our response be if people with no regard for discernible reality once again gain the majority? Are we to just sit and watch the country burn? I don’t really have an answer that doesn’t involve extra-democratic action.

  42. 42.

    PeakVT

    August 29, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    Until that dynamic changes, why would they do anything differently?

    How does the dynamic get changed? We’ve been in this rut since the mid-90s. If anything, it’s getting worse because the major newspapers have finally buckled.

    Will entities like TPM and HuffPo and Voice of San Diego and Current TV grow enough to compete with the SCLM for actual reporting?

  43. 43.

    The Main Gauche of Mild Reason

    August 29, 2009 at 1:12 pm

    @Amanda in the South Bay:

    Yglesias was mildly favorable on Huckabee, but mostly to point out the fact that his affability made him actually very dangerous, since his views were still batshit crazy.

  44. 44.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    August 29, 2009 at 1:13 pm

    At the top of this post I’m getting the [context sensitive] Google ad:

    Chemo Vomiting
    Stomachache, Nausea, Vomiting Learn How to Avoid Chemo’s Side Effects

    Why yes, the GOP does have that effect on me, now that you mention it.

  45. 45.

    Max

    August 29, 2009 at 1:13 pm

    Something I learned on The Twitter last night about the Huckabee family….

    http://www.snopes.com/politics/huckabee/dog.asp

    The Huckster’s son likes to kill dogs. Nice family values.

  46. 46.

    steve s

    August 29, 2009 at 1:15 pm

    August 29th, 2009 at 12:51 pm Reply to this comment
    cleek
    they’ve been riding this Big Lie strategy pretty hard for quite a while now (at least since the Iraq war run-up). it’s truly amazing that the media hasn’t noticed the pattern: a barrage of huge lies to get the Dems on their heels and fill the landscape with so much debris that it’s impossible to do anything without tripping over it. it’s the same every time, but the media never sees it. or, pretends not to see it, at least.

    If I were a media exec seeking to maximize my profits, and therefore keep my job and maybe even get bonuses, I would actively seek out TeaBaggers, Death Panel people, armed town hallers, etc. Excitement==ratings. And then when liberals got angry and pissed off about that, I’d invite them on too. More fireworks!

  47. 47.

    BP in MN

    August 29, 2009 at 1:16 pm

    @Amanda in the South Bay:

    I think that they spent a lot of time saying “He’s a fun guy” but also did a pretty decent job of pointing out that all of his policy proposals were insane, making the point that even the superficially appealing Republican politicians are deeply disturbed. But c’mon, how could you not have like his ad with Chuck Norris (who is, of course, himself way off the deep end).

  48. 48.

    ppcli

    August 29, 2009 at 1:16 pm

    Huckabee’s got a point. If Kennedy had lived in England, he would have met the same fate that Stephen Hawking would have met if he had lived in England.

  49. 49.

    kay

    August 29, 2009 at 1:17 pm

    @wilfred:

    “The question is should the Palestinians have a place to call their own? Yes, I have no problem with that.”

    Can you imagine the arrogance? From a former governor and FOX chat show host. He has “no problem” with people having homes, half a world away.
    You really have to wonder what they’re finding in that Bible. I was a summer Bible school wash-out, admittedly, but I have a good memory. I missed the part where people worldwide needed the Arkansas charlatan preacher’s permission.

  50. 50.

    arguingwithsignposts

    August 29, 2009 at 1:18 pm

    @Tim P.:

    What is the responsible thing to do if lunatics gain power? What should our response be if people with no regard for discernible reality once again gain the majority? Are we to just sit and watch the country burn? I don’t really have an answer that doesn’t involve extra-democratic action.

    Move to a sane country? I realize that’s not an option for many of us, but I can’t say that I haven’t surfed the Canadian immigration site.

  51. 51.

    geg6

    August 29, 2009 at 1:20 pm

    Ah, a fine John Cole rant. I need a cigarette. I don’t know exactly how the country got this far down into the weeds, but my frustration about our inability to get out of them is always articulated perfectly by a fed up Mr. Cole.

  52. 52.

    PeakVT

    August 29, 2009 at 1:21 pm

    Mebbee I shoulda hit reload before posting.

    What Creamy Goodness said.

  53. 53.

    Stephen1947

    August 29, 2009 at 1:22 pm

    I just jumped back in the archives to January 2002 (is there more before that?) to see if you were as hard on the Democrats back in the day as you are on the Publicans now – other than a cringe-inducing reference to the Coultergeist as a “goddesspundit,” your view of the world-as-it-really-is doesn’t seem to have changed that much.

    Can you give me a rough estimate of when you made the switch to the Dem side of the spectrum? I vaguely recall that it’s post-Iraq invasion and pre-Katrina. I don’t read blogs enough already, so I’d like to devote several more hours per week to historical rooting around…

  54. 54.

    steve s

    August 29, 2009 at 1:22 pm

    ‘course, I’d have no respect for anyone who was dumb enough to watch my show and think they were being informed in any intelligent way.

  55. 55.

    kay

    August 29, 2009 at 1:23 pm

    It feels hopeless right now. The media are blithely reporting polling that shows no one knows what a public option is, and everyone believes in death panels.
    Any other agency or entity would just recoil in horror at that, and, perhaps, look at how well they’re doing the job.
    Not media. Instead they’re all reporting the poll numbers.
    We’re missing a step. They report the lies, then they report the polls that reflect the reporting of the lies.
    I guess they’ll do a half-ass mea culpa, like after Iraq, or after the financial implosion, but the damage is done, right?

  56. 56.

    JK

    August 29, 2009 at 1:23 pm

    @Creamy Goodness:

    A few more alternatives to the MSM

    Fixed link from last post

    Consortium for Independent Journalism http://www.consortiumnews.com

    World War 4 Report http://ww4report.com

    Independent Media Center http://www.indymedia.org/en/index.shtml

    Media Channel 2.0 http://mediachannel.org

  57. 57.

    Creamy Goodness

    August 29, 2009 at 1:24 pm

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    Maybe so, but the terms under which Froomkin was hired sound promising — apparently, he’s not primarily going to be blogging so much as heading the HuffPo Washington news bureau. If they can offer up more stuff like what Pitney threw at Obama, I’ll be rewarding them with eyeballs.

  58. 58.

    DougJ

    August 29, 2009 at 1:24 pm

    Huckabee’s got a point. If Kennedy had lived in England, he would have met the same fate that Stephen Hawking would have met if he had lived in England.

    Quote of the day.

  59. 59.

    geg6

    August 29, 2009 at 1:26 pm

    Stephen1947: I believe it was Schiavo that finally did it for him. I tried to find it once in the archives but I’m not very patient about such searches. Laura W is the goddess of the archives. Perhaps she’ll come along and post a link.

  60. 60.

    arguingwithsignposts

    August 29, 2009 at 1:27 pm

    @Stephen1947:

    Someone actually sent a link in a previous thread where I asked the same question – it was Terry Schiavo. Search the archives around that time, or search her name. I have cleared my browsing history since then, but it was pretty clear that was the Straw/Camel thing.

  61. 61.

    arguingwithsignposts

    August 29, 2009 at 1:30 pm

    @Creamy Goodness:

    The froomkin hiring was good. their work with jay rosen has been good, the pitney question was good. I sense that they’re trying to become more of a “legitimate” media outlet (whatever that means), but the aggregation and the soft pr0n crap still shows a tendency toward just becoming a new MSM. But that’s my take, anyway.

  62. 62.

    JHF

    August 29, 2009 at 1:31 pm

    The Republicans are just pig ignorant, vicious, shameless, and they never get called on it. Ever.

    Nothing will change in this country until the GODDAMN DEMOCRATS call them liars. They have to counter the torrent of bullshit. They have to attack the enemy, which is the Republican party.

    Oddly, they do not. Obama looks like a fool, the Senate majority leader is cowed, and no one of importance speaks the truth that’s obvious to all.

  63. 63.

    wilfred

    August 29, 2009 at 1:31 pm

    @kay:

    He knows he’s on safe ground, you see. Advocating ethnic cleansing of Palestinians is within the realm of American political discourse. We know that because it goes by unnoticed.

    Is he a bigger scumbag for that, or because of his remarks about Kennedy?

    And yes, he did get fat again; I hadn’t noticed.

  64. 64.

    Laura W

    August 29, 2009 at 1:36 pm

    @geg6:
    ;-)

    https://balloon-juice.com/?p=7551

  65. 65.

    Creamy Goodness

    August 29, 2009 at 1:37 pm

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    Here’s an excerpt from Froomkin describing his new role at HuffPo:

    Starting today, I hope to write fairly often – but that won’t be my main job anymore. I’ll also be working with a team of reporters…

    We’ll be putting a premium on accountability journalism, focusing relentlessly on the corrupting effect of lobbyists and money on our government, and calling out those people in the national discourse who traffic in misinformation and know-nothingism rather than argue in good faith.

    the aggregation and the soft pr0n crap still shows a tendency toward just becoming a new MSM.

    That bothers me less than Politico’s business model of publishing Drudge-bait.

  66. 66.

    Montysano

    August 29, 2009 at 1:41 pm

    @Stephen1947:

    Can you give me a rough estimate of when you made the switch to the Dem side of the spectrum?

    Back when I was blogging, I noticed it in Nov. 1, 2006.

  67. 67.

    jurassicpork

    August 29, 2009 at 1:43 pm

    “All things considered, I’d say that Ted Kennedy throwing himself on the mercy of the American people, without whining about victimization and without offering excuses, qualifies him as being the standard bearer for the true Party of Personal Responsibility.” – – – The One Vs. The Many

  68. 68.

    arguingwithsignposts

    August 29, 2009 at 1:47 pm

    @Creamy Goodness:

    That bothers me less than Politico’s business model of publishing Drudge-bait.

    Well, who said I wasn’t bothered by Politico? I look at where the founders came from and it is little more than MSM with a little more internet savvy.

    I hope HuffPo lives up to what Froomkin says. I really do. But I also remember how HuffPo got started, and the fact that they aggregate AP and other MSM outlets on their front page as link-bait too. It’s not quite MSM, but it’s treading into that territory. TPM has been a better example, IMHO, of outside-the-MSM reporting, but I notice they’re aggregating some stuff too now.

    The links JK provided above are good ones to check out too.

  69. 69.

    Montysano

    August 29, 2009 at 1:48 pm

    @JHF:

    They have to attack the enemy, which is the Republican party….. Oddly, they do not.

    When it shows up on Youtube, check out Bill Maher’s extraordinary interview last night with Bill Moyers. Moyers will lay it out for you: The Dems don’t attack because they’re part of the same corporatist movement. It’s essentially the same party; there is no Democrat vs. Republican.

  70. 70.

    BruceFromOhio

    August 29, 2009 at 1:48 pm

    @Stephen1947:

    Read and revel.

  71. 71.

    John Cole

    August 29, 2009 at 1:52 pm

    God. Not another one of these threads.

  72. 72.

    Charity

    August 29, 2009 at 1:54 pm

    OT: but my friend’s mother-in-law has the exact same kind of brain cancer. She’s already about 6 months in. I’ve been thinking a LOT about them this week.

  73. 73.

    JenJen

    August 29, 2009 at 1:55 pm

    My stepmother died of a glioblastoma. Her death was mercifully swift, but horrendous for the family. From her diagnosis, that tumor took only weeks to rob her of her quality of life, and only three months to end her life altogether. She was only 55.

    As soon as I heard about Teddy’s diagnosis, I knew just about everything that was going to happen to him, and what the family would be put through, and all of that pain just came rushing back.

    I truly wonder how people like Huckabee can call themselves Christians with a straight face. They’re not so much Republicans as they are monsters, to me, right now. I don’t know how much more of this I can take.

  74. 74.

    arguingwithsignposts

    August 29, 2009 at 1:56 pm

    @John Cole:

    God. Not another one of these threads.

    That’s pretty vague, JC. You mean one that wanders all over the place? That’s SOP, seems to me.

  75. 75.

    Wayne T

    August 29, 2009 at 2:00 pm

    Best post ever. If only I could buy Tunch a round of pawbreakers.
    http://www.edibleanimaltreats.com/category_s/38.htm

    The republican party has become more of a personality disorder than an actual political party. A merry band of morons led by 2-bit con-artists. If they only traced the financial trajectory of the limbaugh, beck, gingrich, palin, plumber vortex to see how badly they are being pawned. None of the idiots could have made that much money anywhere except republican politics.

  76. 76.

    AhabTRuler

    August 29, 2009 at 2:00 pm

    @Montysano:

    So Wolf, you’ve been warned; Rush, you’re on notice: first, we’re gonna clean up Washington, then, we’re coming for you.

    Sadly, this seems like so much hollow rhetoric now.

  77. 77.

    Stephen1947

    August 29, 2009 at 2:01 pm

    Thanks for all the pointers – I will root around in the archives semi-happily for the next several weeks, no doubt. Only semi-happily though because they are semi-clunky to navigate in. When you click on March 2005, you get the most recent page of entries and a button to go towards older ones. Since I didn’t know where I wanted to be in March 2005, and since I like to read chronologically, I decided to go to February 2005 and move forward – but there is no forward button on that page, only backwards.

    So anyone who would like to read Balloon Juice from the get-go has to go backwards through each month and then forwards – which gets to be a pain in the ass. This is probably far from the most important thing that needs fixing in a recently revamped website, but I imagine the fix would be pretty easy…

  78. 78.

    BruceFromOhio

    August 29, 2009 at 2:06 pm

    @JHF:

    Nothing will change in this country until the GODDAMN DEMOCRATS call them liars. They have to counter the torrent of bullshit.

    Dems have made the mistake of thinking that the campaign is over. It’s never over. The pundits, talking heads and traditional media can’t or won’t hold any of the leadership of either party accountable, so it’s up to the voters.

    As stated upthread, the lunatics want power, and the establishment is happy to give it to them. Seems more and more that dipshits like me are about the only thing standing in the way of that happening again.

  79. 79.

    Montysano

    August 29, 2009 at 2:06 pm

    @AhabTRuler:

    Sadly, this seems like so much hollow rhetoric now.

    Yeah, it seems embarrassingly naive when I go back and read it.

  80. 80.

    Mark S.

    August 29, 2009 at 2:08 pm

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    I think he means “When John Cole stopped being a wingnut.” At least I hope so, because yesterday I asked everyone something along the lines of “If you used to be a Republican, what was the event that made you switch?”

  81. 81.

    wasabi gasp

    August 29, 2009 at 2:10 pm

    @John Cole: You left a seed trail of how integrity conquered ideology. It’s very interesting. Maybe not as interesting a young girl’s strange, erotic journey from Milan to Minsk, but interesting nonetheless.

  82. 82.

    General Winfield Stuck

    August 29, 2009 at 2:12 pm

    @Mark S.:

    My money is on Israel v Palestinian. We call them wilfred threads. don’t know why.

  83. 83.

    AhabTRuler

    August 29, 2009 at 2:23 pm

    We call them wilfred threads. don’t know why.

    Because as obnoxious as Wilfred can be, he/she/it is one of the only ones to break against the CW around here on I/P issues.

  84. 84.

    Chad N Freude

    August 29, 2009 at 2:24 pm

    @BruceFromOhio:
    I have a dream … Obama calls a press conference and on camera recites each of the Republican talking points and says as he enumerates them: “That is a lie. The truth is .”

    I also dream that I have a pony.

  85. 85.

    Chad N Freude

    August 29, 2009 at 2:26 pm

    @Chad N Freude:

    The whatever-ml program that scans the postings deleted my attempt at left-angle-bracket “truth” right-angle-bracket at the end of the sentence.

  86. 86.

    Mike in NC

    August 29, 2009 at 2:31 pm

    Doc Huckleberry’s prescription for anything that ails you: take two Bibles and call Jesus in the morning.

  87. 87.

    General Winfield Stuck

    August 29, 2009 at 2:34 pm

    @AhabTRuler:

    it is one of the only ones to break against the CW around here on I/P issues.

    I’m not sure I agree with that. I think most here, or the CW, as it were, are on both sides and against both sides. And that is all I will say on this topic, as to not start a needless flame war,

  88. 88.

    Demo Woman

    August 29, 2009 at 2:34 pm

    Joe Klein really nails Huckabee

    Mike Huckabee believes that Ted Kennedy would have been urged to die faster and cheaper under Obamacare.It should be noted that Mike Huckabee also believes that God created the world in seven days about 5000 years ago.

  89. 89.

    Montysano

    August 29, 2009 at 2:35 pm

    @Chad N Freude:

    I have a dream … Obama calls a press conference and on camera recites each of the Republican talking points and says as he enumerates them: “That is a lie. The truth is .”

    And offers to sit down, face to face on the teevee, with Hannity or Levin or Grassley or who-fucking-ever, and chat about it. I’ve had the same dream…

  90. 90.

    JenJen

    August 29, 2009 at 2:38 pm

    @Demo Woman: Sometimes I wonder if Mike Huckabee likes to dress up like Fred Flintstone from time to time, and pretend like the family pets are cuddly little dinosaurs.

  91. 91.

    Chad N Freude

    August 29, 2009 at 2:40 pm

    @Montysano:
    I would add Glenn Beck to that list, but only if a strait-jacket is provided. Oh, and a spelling teacher, too.

  92. 92.

    AhabTRuler

    August 29, 2009 at 2:43 pm

    I think most here, or the CW, as it were, are on both sides and against both sides.

    Perhaps I am guilty of only seeing the posts that I disagree with, but that has not been my experience of the I/P threads that I have failed to avoid. [shrugs] As the Minutemen so aptly put it, “the roar of the masses could be farts.”

  93. 93.

    Chad N Freude

    August 29, 2009 at 2:45 pm

    Huckabee does come across as funny and likable and (deity-of-your-choice help us) intelligent. It tends to draw attention away from his religious fanaticism and anti-reality beliefs..

  94. 94.

    Common Sense

    August 29, 2009 at 2:47 pm

    @smiley:

    Melt a brick of Velveeta in a crockpot and stir in a can of Ro-tel tomatoes and chillies. That, my friends is some good dippin’.

    ^thumbs up to this^

    One note though, you should double the RoTel/Velveeta ratio. One can per half block of “cheese.”

    And yes, I agree that Velveeta is about as real as Cher. However, synthetic pseudo food can still be delicious.

  95. 95.

    Common Sense

    August 29, 2009 at 2:48 pm

    ugh HTML fail. sorry about the superscript.

  96. 96.

    Chad N Freude

    August 29, 2009 at 2:54 pm

    @Common Sense:
    Unfortunately, Velveeta conflicts with my belief that 6000 years ago the Intelligent Designer designed us to follow low- fat diets.

  97. 97.

    Common Sense

    August 29, 2009 at 2:58 pm

    @Chad N Freude:

    I know that the Good Lord would not have given us the ability to make Velveeta if he did not want us to consume it. Besides, give the block of Velveeta in your pantry another 6,000 years. It will still be there, deliciously calling your name.

    I’m firmly convinced that if a nuclear apocolypse comes, the only things that will survive are Velveeta, Twinkies, and cockroaches. Who says America is a disposable society?

  98. 98.

    Chad N Freude

    August 29, 2009 at 3:01 pm

    @Common Sense:
    Exactly which

    Good Lord

    would that be? There are so many of them.

  99. 99.

    arguingwithsignposts

    August 29, 2009 at 3:02 pm

    @Common Sense:

    I’m firmly convinced that if a nuclear apocolypse comes, the only things that will survive are Velveeta, Twinkies, and cockroaches.

    You forgot keith richards.

  100. 100.

    Chad N Freude

    August 29, 2009 at 3:04 pm

    @Common Sense:
    All right, I can’t resist saying this any longer.

    the only things that will survive [include] Twinkies

    At least ga… no, I just can’t do it.

  101. 101.

    Chad N Freude

    August 29, 2009 at 3:04 pm

    @arguingwithsignposts:
    That’s funny.

  102. 102.

    Common Sense

    August 29, 2009 at 3:18 pm

    @arguingwithsignposts:

    You forgot keith richards.

    If you can snort fake cheese, Keith should be fine. Otherwise I’m hazy about his prospects.

  103. 103.

    JenJen

    August 29, 2009 at 3:39 pm

    Apropos of nothing, I am reminded of that moment during the 2008 Campaign where wingnut bloggers, including, if I’m not mistaken, Our Lady of Perpetual Outrage, jumped on the latest Obama Scandal… that he had fashioned his own, brand-new American flag, which he displayed proudly in the background as he spoke on the campaign trail.

    Of course, every Ohioan like me immediately recognized our flag, as I’m sure countless millions of other Americans did. It is the oddest-shaped state flag, after all, and should be easier to identify than other state flags. Didn’t stop wingnuts from believing, for as long as they possibly could, that Obama wanted to do away with Old Glory and this was proof!! Proof, I say!!

  104. 104.

    BruceFromOhio

    August 29, 2009 at 3:40 pm

    @Chad N Freude:

    I also dream that I have a pony.

    In my dreams, my pony makes martinis and gives foot massages.

    Still, worthy dreams, all.

  105. 105.

    Chad N Freude

    August 29, 2009 at 3:47 pm

    @BruceFromOhio:
    What do you suppose the pony does in Rick Santorum’s dreams?

  106. 106.

    Frank

    August 29, 2009 at 3:57 pm

    The Republican Party can’t call out

    the hucksters, liars, and crass opportunists.

    There’s no one left in the Party to do the calling out.

  107. 107.

    Midnight Marauder

    August 29, 2009 at 4:14 pm

    @Chad N Freude:

    Huckabee does come across as funny and likable and (deity-of-your-choice help us) intelligent. It tends to draw attention away from his religious fanaticism and anti-reality beliefs..

    Only if you don’t allow yourself to see through the bullshit. And honestly, I think the only reason Huckabee gets these “oh, he seems so funny and likable” comments all the time is because almost every other prominent figure in his party is not funny, not likable, and just an all-around terrible and disgusting human being. It really doesn’t take much to get some kind words if that’s who you consort with. It’s like if I rolled in a wolf pack of one with Charles Manson, Jeffrey Dahmer, David Duke, and I was Jimmy Fallon.

    Who wouldn’t think I was funny and likable compared to that crew?

  108. 108.

    slappy white

    August 29, 2009 at 8:43 pm

    amen to that brudda

  109. 109.

    bob h

    August 30, 2009 at 7:07 am

    If healthcare is defeated, done in by a minority Party that is the object of public ridicule and contempt, that will represent a triumph of idiot demagoguery and mobocracy. Do we recover from that?

  110. 110.

    sparky

    August 30, 2009 at 9:54 am

    imo this was a pretty good thread, if good means getting a synapses to fire.
    1. wilfred is right. it is entertaining, but of no utility to just shoot at the Greedy Old Party. better to at least try to imagine a different future.

    2. mistah cole is also right. having done the numbers, the wingnuttery will never quit. why? because they have a built in audience of 100,000,000, and that’s enough to keep a tent show going for a long long time. in a way, it doesn’t even matter if they get back into power as long as they can still sell books, rubber chickens, and ad time.

    3. the problem is that there is no organized, funded nexus of opposition, as this health care farce demonstrates. in the past, there were groups with power and money who even if they were not honest, ensured a certain degree of honesty by virtue of assaulting each other in the public sphere. with the collapse of communism and the triumph of the god of the market, there is no organized resistance. and, of course, at the end of the day very very few people in the US will publicly disagree with their meal ticket.

    4. so, any suggestions? yeah, two. first, vote with the only power these people care about–the dollar. refuse to do business with the people who are killing you. yes you will have to do the legwork and figure it out. sorry. second, recognize that all politics is local and get people in your local government who you can either trust or keep your foot on their throat. it’s what the GOP did and it worked out pretty well for them.

  111. 111.

    Tim misses Japan

    August 30, 2009 at 10:14 am

    John,
    I can see why you’re fired up. The villagers’ obsession with chappaquiddick and the Kennedy family being the evil incarnate is beyond ridiculous.
    Take a good look at the heinous crimes against humanity leveled by the right at Ted Kennedy over the last week and you’ll see that aside from the car crash, every single thing they point fingers at with regards to Kennedy applies to GWB as well.
    And they do this shrieking without a bit of irony, because they feel they can pooh-pooh anything their dear leader did as “BDS.”
    I thought Japanese politics were bad. These clowns take the cake.

  112. 112.

    Tim misses Japan

    August 30, 2009 at 10:14 am

    John,
    I can see why you’re fired up. The villagers’ obsession with chappaquiddick and the Kennedy family being the evil incarnate is beyond ridiculous.
    Take a good look at the heinous crimes against humanity leveled by the right at Ted Kennedy over the last week and you’ll see that aside from the car crash, every single thing they point fingers at with regards to Kennedy applies to GWB as well.
    And they do this shrieking without a bit of irony, because they feel they can pooh-pooh anything their dear leader did as “BDS.”
    I thought Japanese politics were bad. These clowns take the cake.

  113. 113.

    Bob In Pacifica

    August 30, 2009 at 12:39 pm

    What’s the “Wellstone Effect”? Is that what causes liberals planes to crash? I thought that was the Walter Reuther Effect. Or the John Kennedy Jr. Effect.

  114. 114.

    Mac from Oregon

    August 30, 2009 at 1:46 pm

    Once again Oregon leads the nation with our assisted suicide law. Death with Dignity would have given Ted the chance to go when he was ready and not when some tumor made it unendurable to live any longer.

    The Republicans fought tooth and nail to get Oregon’s law overturned, twice voters had to vote on the law, twice federal courts were used as clubs to beat doctors with if they prescribed lethal doses of medication for terminal patients, and twice they lost.

    So Gov. Huckleberry, go to hell.

  115. 115.

    SamInMpls

    August 30, 2009 at 2:56 pm

    I jumped on this balloon ride on Nov. 1st, 2007.

    Now, less than two years later, I am reading this post and I’m blown away at how wide the Left/Right divide has become. Not in terms of ideology so much as the fundamental differences in world view and sets of working assumptions.

    Rarely in my life have I felt as young and naive as I do these days. With near constancy I ask myself the question:

    “It has been this crazy before and we’ve survived worse, right?”

  116. 116.

    Mike Kilpatrick

    August 30, 2009 at 8:45 pm

    Probably the reason few survive brain cancers is that cancer never starts in the brain it only migrates there from somewhere else.

Comments are closed.

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