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You are here: Home / Politics / Media / Seriously- It is Time To Move On

Seriously- It is Time To Move On

by John Cole|  December 2, 200911:38 am| 106 Comments

This post is in: Media

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Think Progress:

Yesterday morning, former Bush adviser Karl Rove went on NBC’s Today Show and said that if President Obama decides to send 30,000-35,000 troops to Afghanistan, he would be “among the first to stand up and applaud.”

Immediately after President Obama’s prime-time address last night — in which he announced that he would be deploying 30,000 additional U.S. troops to Afghanistan — Rove went on Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor and responded. However, he definitely didn’t “stand up and applaud.” Instead, he and O’Reilly bashed the President for underperforming (although he acknowledged that the “core” of Obama’s message was acceptable).

Honestly, who cares what Karl Rove thinks? Other than Bill Kristol and Dick Cheney, is there a more discredited person on the planet (and yes, I remember the Harriet Meiers/Hugh Hewitt days)? They are lying hacks who care only about immediate political gain- nothing else.

We seriously have to move on from these people. Fox news is not a news channel, and while our beltway elites keep shoving them in our faces with their usual nonsense, the only sensible response is- “who cares?” I’m as guilty as everyone else, but we have to start ignoring these people. Stop linking to ABC, CBS, NBC websites when they talk about them. Stop watching Meet the Press when McCain is on. Stop linking every blatant attempt by the Politico gossip columnists to stir shit up.

I’m going to do my best to follow my own advice, and we’ll see how spectacularly I fail on that account. But again, who cares what Karl Rove thinks? Would it matter to any of you if he endorsed Obama’s course of action in Afghanistan? Not me.

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106Comments

  1. 1.

    ricky

    December 2, 2009 at 11:41 am

    Obviously Mr. Rove bugs you. But then he bugs himself.

  2. 2.

    Redshirt

    December 2, 2009 at 11:42 am

    Seriously. The internets will tell us all the news we need to know. Let go of your hate – give up all TV news! In fact, give up on the MSM in it’s entirety.

  3. 3.

    norbizness

    December 2, 2009 at 11:42 am

    I eagerly await the application of this principle to other usual suspects.

  4. 4.

    John PM

    December 2, 2009 at 11:43 am

    I have actually been doing this since 2006. The only time I hear about these losers is when I read about them here, or when I am watching the Daily Show.

  5. 5.

    BR

    December 2, 2009 at 11:43 am

    Not to be nerdy, but there’s an area of computer science called information theory, which can give you a numerical measure of how much information content something contains.

    One measure is (seriously) the length of the shortest computer program that would produce the output.

    With these guys – Cheney, Rove, McCain, etc. – the information content is nearly 0, in a mathematical sense. Might as well replace them with a talking point generating program that’s 20 lines long.

  6. 6.

    marjo

    December 2, 2009 at 11:44 am

    Why isn’t Karl Rove wearing an orange jumpsuit? That’s all I want to know.

  7. 7.

    blahblahblah

    December 2, 2009 at 11:44 am

    Do you have a cable television subscription? Do you watch cable television “news” channels? Do you buy products advertised on these channels?

    Why are you giving money to people and institutions whose business model it is to lie to you? Why do you give. them. your. money?

    Do you have a subscription to the New York Times or the Washington Post? After the Judy Miller and Stephen Glass and Dan Froomkin scandals, why. do. you. give. them. your. money? Their business model is to lie to you!

    There are plenty of news outlets who do not – as part of their business plans – lie to their customers. Try those guys. And maybe market forces might even help.

  8. 8.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    December 2, 2009 at 11:45 am

    I totally agree – I’ve been on a TV news fast for 19 years, pretty much, and I highly recommend it.

    If we all tune out, maybe this ridiculous wingnut parallel universe will disappear up its own bunghole.

    @BR: Might as well replace them with a talking point generating program that’s 20 lines long.

    That’s ridiculous! No way would it take more than about five lines. ; )

  9. 9.

    Zach

    December 2, 2009 at 11:46 am

    Here’s the National Review’s take on Obama’s speech:

    2. Given that the additional 30,000 troops will not be fully on the ground until next summer and U.S. withdrawal will commence twelve short months later, how exactly are U.S. troops being set up for success?

    First, 30,000 troops is literally all we have to give. Second, Bush’s surge, which I don’t recall hearing much criticism from National Review about, was 50% smaller, took just as long to get in theater, and was accompanied with plans of beginning to draw down surge forces within a year of full deployment… and this happened.

  10. 10.

    Flitterbic

    December 2, 2009 at 11:47 am

    Karl’s mother will always care what her paunchy, balding little baby thinks. “Whose mommy’s wittle warmonger?”

  11. 11.

    AngusTheGodOfMeat

    December 2, 2009 at 11:48 am

    Take heart, John. Even at their ratings peak, Press the Meat is not watched by 99% of the American people.

    And the same 1% that watches MTP also watches ABC and CBS Sunday morning poli-tainment talkers.

    America ignores the political media in droves. I don’t think we appreciate just what good news that really is.

  12. 12.

    dr. luba

    December 2, 2009 at 11:48 am

    DO the networks still produce news coverage? Hadn’t noticed.

    BTW, when is Google News going to stop linking the Murdoch’s properties? I was looking forward to the day, and thought it was imminent. Every time I see some crazy headline there it is, inevitably, a FOX link.

  13. 13.

    srv

    December 2, 2009 at 11:49 am

    Merry Christmas kids, (as long as you’re legal).

  14. 14.

    General Winfield Stuck

    December 2, 2009 at 11:50 am

    We seriously have to move on from these people.

    We will, gradually. When the economy picks up and some jobs are created, their bullshit will fade. Though the legacy of failure of the Bush/Cheney reign of terror overseas will still haunt us for some time to come. As will the incessant history revisionism and dead skunk rhetoric.

  15. 15.

    shoutingattherain

    December 2, 2009 at 11:53 am

    You stop linking to them, John, and I’ll stop reading about them.

    Deal? Works for me.

  16. 16.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    December 2, 2009 at 11:55 am

    Considering what happens when you announce you are going Galt, John, I expect 10 articles on Fox News by the end of the day.

  17. 17.

    Violet

    December 2, 2009 at 11:55 am

    I can haz nu pundits? Plz?

  18. 18.

    gex

    December 2, 2009 at 11:56 am

    @srv: Fuck the Salvation Army. Ever since they tried to make their secret deal with Bush to get special “we get to hate on the fags” protection, I have burned with a fiery rage when I see them collecting money at every store I go to in the holiday season.

    Some fucking charity. Punishing kids for their parents’ behavior. Just the way Jesus would have.

  19. 19.

    Shawn in ShowMe

    December 2, 2009 at 11:57 am

    We seriously have to move on from these people.

    A Balloon Juice without frequent usage of “this is good news for John McCain”, “Darth Cheney”, and “Caribou Barbie?” Hell, we’ll be out of Afghanistan long before that happens.

  20. 20.

    Brick Oven Bill

    December 2, 2009 at 11:57 am

    Megan McCain, jumping on a bed.

    I say take a vote among all combat veteran O-3s through O-5s, and E-7s and above, and have them elect an interim national leader. This leader would be given the power of an absolute monarch and be tasked with getting to the bottom of the banking cabal-Federal Reserve, and re-establishing Constitutional rule in a manner that he sees fit, within the constraints of the original Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

    He should hold this power for one year.

  21. 21.

    NobodySpecial

    December 2, 2009 at 11:59 am

    You know, if Obama really wanted to win back the left, he’d perp walk that fat fucker in a heartbeat. Just the pre-trial stuff would drag past 2012 anyways.

  22. 22.

    Steerpike

    December 2, 2009 at 12:00 pm

    Objecting to Obama is a religion, nothing more, nothing less. Religious “thinkers” take a point as “given”–it is in the Bible/decreed by the Pope/an article of faith, therefore it is “true”–and work backwards to find evidence to validate that truth, ignoring all other data, including empirical evidence, logic, and contradictory statements–even if you yourself have made them.

    In the Church of Hating Obama, it is accepted prima facia, that any decision he makes will be wrong, so once a decision is announced, it is a relatively simple matter to assemble a case to support that thesis, regardless.

  23. 23.

    Sentient Puddle

    December 2, 2009 at 12:00 pm

    Wow. I know pundits have a tendency to not expect people to catch on to contradictions they make on video, but that’s usually because these contradictions tend to happen with at least a month in between them, not (by my count) 12 hours.

    …

  24. 24.

    MattF

    December 2, 2009 at 12:06 pm

    I think “move on” is the right answer– I haven’t turned on the TV for about two months now. Instead, I’ve been reading this and trying to understand Paul Cohen’s proof of the non-provability of the Continuum Hypothesis. Much better, much more fun.

  25. 25.

    PeakVT

    December 2, 2009 at 12:06 pm

    Can we get Baghdad Bob back on the air? If we’re going to have people that are wildly wrong about everything on the teevee all of the time, we might as well have someone amusing.

  26. 26.

    wilfred

    December 2, 2009 at 12:06 pm

    Honestly, who cares what Karl Rove thinks?

    There’s a good story about this, from Afghanistan, no less.

    Suhrawardi sat down next to a man on the side of a road. Together they sat in silence, watching the world go by. Finally came a man leading a camel. Curious, Suhrawardi asked the man what that made him think of. “Food”, said the man. Suhrawardi was surprised: “But you’re not bedu, you don’t eat camel”. “Oh,” said the man, “you don’t understand. Everything makes me think of food.”

  27. 27.

    Evinfuilt

    December 2, 2009 at 12:06 pm

    This will be harder to give up than a heroin addiction. I wish you luck Mr. Cole.

  28. 28.

    Stooleo

    December 2, 2009 at 12:12 pm

    OT
    Just when you think it couldn’t get any stupider, the teabaggers are now sending .. rubber chickens to members of congress. You will never guess the reason why.

  29. 29.

    joeyess

    December 2, 2009 at 12:15 pm

    You know, whenever I’m stuck in traffic because of some horrible car crash that has summoned the fire department, ambulances, state patrol and local cops and tow vehicles, they always shut down the lane in which the tragedy occurs. This always causes a bottleneck in traffic because, 1: there are assholes who don’t merge to the left or the right which ever way the flares set on the road by law enforcement dictate and they just cut in line. And, 2: everyone filing past the wreckage simply can’t resist looking for the blood.

    Number 1 pisses me off, number 2 sends me into a rage………..

    until I catch myself looking at the carnage myself.

    As for the wreckage that is Rove, McCain, et al, I think the same principle applies.

    They’re right there on the street. In a pile of twisted metal and oozing bodily fluids.

    I wish us all luck in our endeavor to ignore them as we pass, but I seriously doubt it can be done.

  30. 30.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    December 2, 2009 at 12:16 pm

    Yesterday morning, former Bush adviser Karl Rove went on NBC’s Today Show and said that if President Obama decides to send 30,000-35,000 troops to Afghanistan, he would be “among the first to stand up and applaud.”

    So presumably there is political benefit here to Republicans with this latest surge? Because Rove doesn’t make any other types of calculations.

  31. 31.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    December 2, 2009 at 12:16 pm

    @Violet:

    I can haz nu pundits? Plz?

    Terrifying thought of the day: in a media democracy, people get the pundits they deserve. Nobody puts a gun to our collective heads and forces us to watch. If nobody watched, nobody at all, they’d put on more cooking shows and real-estate pr0n instead. And NFL pre-game shows. You can never have enough of that.

  32. 32.

    Evinfuilt

    December 2, 2009 at 12:17 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    Cool, so we can be like Pakistan… Military dictatorship, its the Republican way.

  33. 33.

    Mark S.

    December 2, 2009 at 12:18 pm

    I was talking to my mom last night, and she gets all her news from Fox so I got treated to Climategate, bankers being forced at gunpoint to give mortgages to poor people, and my favorite, the guy who claims to have been beaten up by union thugs at a townhall meeting in St Louis. It’s a different reality when you reside in Fox land. It’s like talking to a cult member.

  34. 34.

    pablo

    December 2, 2009 at 12:22 pm

    I never watch O’Reilly, Beck, Hannity, or listen to Limbaugh, Savage, Ingraham,or any of the other chowder heads, BUT I know every warped stupid statement they make from reading blog of progressives!
    99% have no interest in them, but we are a very useful echo chamber!

  35. 35.

    Butch

    December 2, 2009 at 12:24 pm

    Then, John, you’ll be happy to know that Preznit McCain will be on Meet the Press this Sunday. What a score for Mr. Happy Feet Gregory, huh? Can’t imagine how he managed to persuade McCain to appear. Of course, the guy has no legislative initiatives in progress and can’t get his facts straight, but I’m sure everything he says will be instructive.

  36. 36.

    Why oh why

    December 2, 2009 at 12:25 pm

    If ThinkProgress, an arm of John Podesta’s CAP, can’t link to right-wing hacks or the latest racist outburst from the teabaggers’ fringe, what are they going to do? Criticize Obama for failing to live up to his campaign promises?

    Podesta was the chair of Obama’s transition team, and his brother is a health care lobbyist. Asking ThinkProgress to report honestly on the news, instead of nutpicking the right-wing, is unrealistic.

  37. 37.

    The Bearded Blogger

    December 2, 2009 at 12:26 pm

    @AngusTheGodOfMeat: Never thought of it this way. You are right, of course, political apathy has a justified and legitimate cause. At some point, they’ll only listen to each other. Hopefully, a meaningful public sphere will be activa and located elsewhere.

  38. 38.

    Kryptik

    December 2, 2009 at 12:26 pm

    As much as things like these induce me to tear out my hair and possibly threaten onset baldness decades too early for me, I say that “moving on” is a bad idea.

    These folks are not like internet trolls. They will not go away if you ignore them. The reason why? Validation and Credibility.

    Internet trolls and nobody wingnuts crave both of them, and giving them attention, even bad attention, gives them that because that at least lets them know that someone realizes they exist. High Wingnut Priests like Rove and Limbaugh and Company don’t need us to give them attention. They’re given all the attention, all the validation, all the credibility they want and use by the media themselves, giving them the sheen of someone who might know there shit to people who really don’t know any better (because they’re never let known why said High Wingnuts are completely full of shit).

    Ignore them at your own peril, because they’re given credence by people who not only control the direction of our gov’t, but the direction of information flow to masses who simply see them as ‘principled opposition’ because the hacktacular media doesn’t question them.

  39. 39.

    Rick Taylor

    December 2, 2009 at 12:27 pm

    The only thing Karl Rove deserves is seething contempt.

    Sure, I may disagree with Obama is handling the situation, but I have to admit he’s got a horribly difficult problem. There are terrorists in that part of the world who engineered 9/11, Osama bin Laden is still at larger after all this time, Afghanistan is a horrible mess. My god, how did things get to be so awful over the last six years, who the hell was in charge?

    Oh yeah.

  40. 40.

    Brick Oven Bill

    December 2, 2009 at 12:30 pm

    It is actually the Early Roman Way Evinfliut:

    “For example, under normal conditions, the highest authority was held by two consuls. In an emergency, a temporary dictator could be appointed.”

    It will be necessary at some not-to-future time to temporarily suspend the Constitution, as our economic model is currently designed to fail, and it will. I have become convinced that the whole thing is engineered. The alternative to a Constitutional suspension is anarchy.

    The banker-guys who write Obama’s words think that they will run the show when this happens. It would be far better to place the nation in the hands of those who have sworn an Oath to support and defend it.

  41. 41.

    Betty Perry-Fingal

    December 2, 2009 at 12:33 pm

    I highly recommend Al-Jazeera-English for someone who would like to watch new son TV occasionally and can’t stomach the US offerings. Even BBC isn’t as good these days.

  42. 42.

    Roger Moore

    December 2, 2009 at 12:35 pm

    @Mark S.:

    It’s a different reality when you reside in Fox land. It’s like You’re talking to a cult member.

    Fixt. The Republican party is little more than a cult these days, and Faux News is its official newsletter.

  43. 43.

    donovong

    December 2, 2009 at 12:37 pm

    “Would it matter to any of you if he endorsed Obama’s course of action in Afghanistan? Not me.”

    The day that I give a shit about anything that Karl Rove says or does is the day I pull out the .44, put it in my mouth and pull the trigger. Life will have lost all meaning.

  44. 44.

    The Bearded Blogger

    December 2, 2009 at 12:40 pm

    @Kryptik: Yeah, but the power they have derives, ultimately, from teh fact that people listen to them.

    We need a new public sphere, which means ignoring old media and creating new.

    @Betty Perry-Fingal: You terrist, DFH, commiegaypinkhomuslim, you!

  45. 45.

    The Bearded Blogger

    December 2, 2009 at 12:42 pm

    @Roger Moore: But Jonestown extends from the Atlantic to the Pacific…

  46. 46.

    catclub

    December 2, 2009 at 12:44 pm

    Evinfuilt @ 32

    “Cool, so we can be like Pakistan… Military dictatorship, its the Republican way.”

    No, if you look at the voters BoB has selected, we likely get
    Tila Tequila.

    Not sure if that would be better or worse than Military Dictatorship.

  47. 47.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    December 2, 2009 at 12:44 pm

    I’m as guilty as everyone else, but we have to start ignoring these people.

    Why don’t you start with Sullivan?

    I never follow such links because I don’t want such people to get a distinct visit occurance on their site counter.

    I mean we can predict the right’s response to just about anything. Then we can easily predict our response to their response. Driving traffic to them hurts our own interests.

  48. 48.

    licensed to kill time

    December 2, 2009 at 12:46 pm

    Watching Fox News has been proven to be seriously detrimental to your health. I did a study on myself, and found that my blood pressure spiked dangerously whenever I happened to catch a glimpse of it. Admittedly, this is a small sample set, but I urge you not to ignore the science in this case and for the sake of your health, avoid the Crazy Like a Fox “News” channel.

    You have been warned.

    And Karl Rove can go sit on a rusty spike and spin sixty ways ’til Sunday, he’s good at spinning.

  49. 49.

    Kryptik

    December 2, 2009 at 12:47 pm

    @The Bearded Blogger:

    Well, that’s a problem that progressives collectively can’t solve simply by turning away. Because we’re not the audience.

    Simply trying to ignore them does nothing, because it doesn’t get to the heart of the matter. The coverage of the abysmal Cheney ‘interview’ in Politico earlier this week was a sign of something necessary: pointing out the fact that it’s not the figures involved that are the problem. It’s that the people disseminating and stenographying are failing as actual journalists and news outlets.

    We can’t create a new public sphere simply by going off on to the other side of the beach and trying to build. You have to actively show why the old sphere is in collapse.

    We can’t ignore shit like this, because we need to actively beat these morons in the head with reminders that their duty is to be confrontational and actually get to the truth of the matter, not leave it as ‘he said, she said, you decide’. Again, we’re not the audience, and we can’t do anything effective unless we undermine the connection to the audience these hacks have. Again, it’s not just people who don’t know any better that are the audience, but people who should know better, probably do know better, but don’t act on it. In other words, just about every single goddamn figure in the Washington Bubble.

  50. 50.

    Redshirt

    December 2, 2009 at 12:49 pm

    I must say though, the events of the last year, or last few years, have given me a much, much greater appreciation of Orwell’s 1984; I remember reading it before 9/11 changed everything, and I could not get over a base skepticism that people could be led like that; that propaganda could be so obvious, yet believed; that the actual message of the propaganda could turn on a dime – in fact, today’s propaganda could directly contradict yesterday’s, and that’s just fine.

    I couldn’t get it, how it was even possible. Now, I think I understand completely. We see it every day – every hour in Rove’s case.

    So thanks, Wingnuts: You’ve helped me further appreciate a great work of art.

  51. 51.

    The Bearded Blogger

    December 2, 2009 at 12:57 pm

    @Kryptik: I agree that the MSM needs to be revealed as the farce that it is. I think the way to do it is to set up a patently superior shop elsewhere and let the comparison show them up as the hacks they are. Leading by example and so on.

    Our difference is wrt tactical approaches.

  52. 52.

    Meg

    December 2, 2009 at 1:06 pm

    I totally support your not linking to Politico.
    In fact I have been careful about where any link leads to before I click on it nowadays.

    It is a favor you do us to read them and tell us what they are up to. But linking them would be doing just what they want and the reason behind their crazy and irresponsible reporting, you know, more traffic, more money.

  53. 53.

    bago

    December 2, 2009 at 1:11 pm

    Rove is a has been, delegated to the Fox Ghetto. Cheney is the real threat. He can still use his pull to get awards, contracts, favors. He has being hiring people in DC for thirty years. Many owe him their jobs. He will not be crossed. He will not be questioned.

  54. 54.

    Barry Soetoro

    December 2, 2009 at 1:13 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill: This would be unconstitutional. Said officer(s) would be arrested and face a court martial.

    This isn’t some graphic novel/movie/TV series or fevered fantasy you wingnuts are always thinking about. Violence is the only solution for you guys.

  55. 55.

    blahblahblah

    December 2, 2009 at 1:17 pm

    @Kryptic:

    These folks are not like internet trolls. They will not go away if you ignore them. The reason why? Validation and Credibility.

    No. These folks own the platform from which they spew these lies. Internet trolls exist to screw up other people’s platforms. Better to compare Internet trolling to Public Relations. Further, the liars own media monopolies from which they force these lies down the throats of all citizens. It may not be state owned propaganda, but it certainly could be fairly called elite sponsored propaganda. Every national news organization is affected. It is BIAS – for real.

    The only option is to put these MOFOs Out. Of. Business. That means, stop giving them your money. Otherwise, they’ll lie and lie and lie while you pay for the privilege of being lied to.

  56. 56.

    Beej

    December 2, 2009 at 1:17 pm

    Instead of spending all their time refuting wingnut talking points, how about if progressive websites and commentators develop some memes of their own. Simplicity and repetition are the way the wingnuts operate, and it’s damned effective. Unfortunately, progressives and liberals tend to think there’s something slightly distasteful about repeating simple, catchy talking points ad infinitum. Distasteful or not, they need to learn to do it. Why? Because it works!

  57. 57.

    Ash Can

    December 2, 2009 at 1:18 pm

    Dear News Media:

    Your guy lost. Get over it.

    Sincerely,

    The Real World

  58. 58.

    jetan

    December 2, 2009 at 1:21 pm

    David Gergen was on a roll last night, openly sneering at Dennis Kucinich as an Utterly Unserious Person.

  59. 59.

    Steph

    December 2, 2009 at 1:28 pm

    Oh I’ve been waiting for months to hear these words. Yes, yes, yes PLEASE STOP LINKING, STOP QUOTING. The entire left/moderate/non-crazy blogosphere needs to adopt a policy of radio silence.

    Especially stop linking to Politico.

    THANK YOU!

  60. 60.

    Steph

    December 2, 2009 at 1:32 pm

    @Why oh why: Which is why people should stop linking to Think Progress, too.

    It’s time to just be the adults and ignore the little brats.

    We all know that if you give little kids attention of any kind for annoying behavior, they’re going to keep doing it. You only make it go away by ignoring it.

    If no one links to idiot interviews with idiot Rove the idiot interviews will start to die out.

  61. 61.

    Xanthippas

    December 2, 2009 at 1:33 pm

    I’m with you, but please don’t stop writing about those tweets from right-wing bloggers.

  62. 62.

    CalD

    December 2, 2009 at 1:34 pm

    Not for nothing, but if you insist on watching Fox news, you have to learn to expect this kind of thing.

  63. 63.

    Michael D.

    December 2, 2009 at 1:45 pm

    Other than Bill Kristol and Dick Cheney, is there a more discredited person on the planet

    I didn’t look through all the comments, but someone SURELY has said “Dick Morris,” right?

  64. 64.

    tomvox1

    December 2, 2009 at 1:47 pm

    Agree 100% and throw Sarah Starbursts in there as well.

  65. 65.

    Jason B at Work

    December 2, 2009 at 1:55 pm

    Just try to abstain on the Rove-linkage for a day, and we’ll call it a victory.

    Seriously though, how can you NOT link to teh stoopid? If for no other reason than for the point-and-laugh potential.

  66. 66.

    Elie

    December 2, 2009 at 2:02 pm

    Steph, Meg and many others upstring

    I Agree Totally!!!

    We are feeding this stuff and have been — even as we repeat it and link to it…

    Kill the Beast through strangling its need for ongoing traffic…

  67. 67.

    thomas

    December 2, 2009 at 2:05 pm

    you gotta ask youself, “how many O-3+ and E-7+ has thick as a Brick Oven known in his life.” As a draftee I knew way too many of them.
    Oh, I get it. thick as a brick thinks he’s smart and the O-3 etc are almost as smart as he is.
    It’s all much clearer now.
    Then you gotta ask yourself, “why the F am I paying any attention to thick as a brick?”

  68. 68.

    Elie

    December 2, 2009 at 2:08 pm

    Jason B –

    When we link, we give them money. That simple. You wanna do that?

  69. 69.

    Xenos

    December 2, 2009 at 2:50 pm

    @blahblahblah:

    Further, the liars own media monopolies from which they force these lies down the throats of all citizens. It may not be state owned propaganda, but it certainly could be fairly called elite sponsored propaganda. Every national news organization is affected. It is BIAS – for real.

    As someone put it in these pages a few weeks ago:

    In a corporate state the corporate media is the state media.

  70. 70.

    Mark S.

    December 2, 2009 at 3:00 pm

    @Michael D.:

    I didn’t look through all the comments, but someone SURELY has said “Dick Morris,” right?

    It was funny seeing how many copies of “Condi vs. Hillary” were in the bargain bin at my local Barnes & Noble.

  71. 71.

    Makewi

    December 2, 2009 at 3:39 pm

    I like your plan of ignoring that what you disagree with. The power that “you” are enjoying now will be brief, so best enjoy it to the maximum. Besides sticking your head in the sand is a legitimate survival practice.

  72. 72.

    kay

    December 2, 2009 at 3:46 pm

    I think a good dividing line might be “elected” or “appointed” as to relevancy and immediacy.

    That lets out Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich, Bill Kristol, Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, Glen Beck, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee, and many, many more.

    It really weeds out the vast majority of conservative standard bearers.

    Elected or appointed by someone who was elected. That’s the price of admission.

  73. 73.

    Makewi

    December 2, 2009 at 3:53 pm

    The price of admission is having even one person who wants to hear what they have to say. The idea of letting the powers that be choose the people worth listening to sounds like someone who is afraid of dissent, or who longs for the days of the monarchy. Why do you hate freedom kay?

  74. 74.

    kay

    December 2, 2009 at 3:53 pm

    Karl Rove, Rudy Guiliani, any of the Bush-era lawyers, staffers or hanger-on hacks, Hoffman in NY 23, Grover Norquist, Rick Santorum, Joe Scarborough.

    Christ almighty. We’re down to the bare bones.

    The entire conservative yack-o-sphere are not elected.

    It’s a movement composed of people who lost elections.

  75. 75.

    kay

    December 2, 2009 at 3:57 pm

    @Makewi:

    Baloney. You never shut up. Is someone somewhere silencing conservatives? How can that be? You never shut up.

    The whole point of John’s post is he doesn’t want to listen to you.

    Why is this simple concept so hard for conservatives? Ignoring you is not the same as silencing you. Think it through. the rest of us got it in 3rd grade.

  76. 76.

    General Winfield Stuck

    December 2, 2009 at 4:01 pm

    I like your plan of ignoring that what you disagree with

    Wingnut to the masses — This rock is flat

    Masses– “crickets

    The power that “you” are enjoying now will be brief, so best enjoy it to the maximum.

    Plan to. Scarlett.

  77. 77.

    Makewi

    December 2, 2009 at 4:02 pm

    @kay:

    Who said anyone was silencing criticism? Having a hard time dealing with my actual argument kay? I actually think it’s brilliant that you seem to want to ignore the “other side”, since you only hear what you want to in any case.

  78. 78.

    kay

    December 2, 2009 at 4:03 pm

    Even the conservative spokesmodel lost a competition.

    Prejean. She lost. It’s a weird, reversed merit system. To lose is to ascend in the pecking order.

  79. 79.

    Makewi

    December 2, 2009 at 4:06 pm

    @General Winfield Stuck:

    See now, gen suck, that would be clever in a “I know you are but what am I?” sort of way, only it’s really not.

    Being bitter and angry all the time doesn’t seem like a good way to enjoy anything, but to each his own I guess.

  80. 80.

    kay

    December 2, 2009 at 4:09 pm

    @Makewi:

    It’s John’s call what he reads. I’m not clear on what you’re whining about.

    Here’s the problem: this person doesn’t want to listen to your unelected and completely irrelevant representatives.

    Solution: Mandatory reading? X amount of Karl Rove daily?

    What if he doesn’t want to? Maybe you could craft a poorly-worded protest sign and wander around outside his house? He might read that.

    I’m not sure what remedy you want me to provide.

  81. 81.

    Makewi

    December 2, 2009 at 4:10 pm

    @kay:

    Ah yes, Prejean. In which we see once again the leftist tendency to try to destroy an individual personally for disagreement over policy. You should be proud.

  82. 82.

    General Winfield Stuck

    December 2, 2009 at 4:10 pm

    @Makewi:

    Being bitter and angry all the time doesn’t seem like a good way to enjoy anything

    I am not the one whining on a liberal blog with just wait, you libtards will get yours. The bitters is all you Scarlett.

  83. 83.

    Steph

    December 2, 2009 at 4:12 pm

    @Makewi: The idea is not to ignore what you disagree with, it’s to ignore the stupid. Link to the people making legitimate arguments against your position, absolutely. Have an intelligent debate.

    Enough with the junior high shit, finally.

  84. 84.

    Makewi

    December 2, 2009 at 4:13 pm

    @kay:

    Yes, it is John’s call, and once again since you keep seeming to miss it, I think ignoring that which you disagree with is a brilliant plan for you guys. Pretend dissenting opinion doesn’t exist and that growing dissatisfaction with the current path will just go away.

  85. 85.

    General Winfield Stuck

    December 2, 2009 at 4:15 pm

    @Makewi:

    I think ignoring that which you disagree with is a brilliant plan for you guys

    So much concern, so little substance.

  86. 86.

    Makewi

    December 2, 2009 at 4:17 pm

    @General Winfield Stuck:

    Mocking is not whining, and I’m not the one on the “winning” side that controls all branches of government who cannot help but continue to obsess over the other side. So yeah, you’re bitter.

    Maybe it’s because the government we have is so very, very bad. Is that it, to hard to contemplate the massive failure that this win has turned out to be?

    @Steph:

    Ha. If only you didn’t classify everything you disagree with as the stupid shit.

  87. 87.

    Makewi

    December 2, 2009 at 4:18 pm

    @General Winfield Stuck:

    You mistake my pointing and laughing for concern. Understandable considering how clouded you are by the bitterness you carry.

  88. 88.

    mcc

    December 2, 2009 at 4:18 pm

    Honestly, who cares what Karl Rove thinks

    Well, NBC’s Today Show cares, and Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor cares.

    It makes more sense if you think of Karl Rove less as a political figure than a media entity, an outgrowth of the right-wing media establishment. Once you look at it that way that you don’t ask the same questions. You don’t ask, “who cares what Bill O’Reilly thinks?”. You ask, “Bill O’Reilly has X number of viewers, how do we limit the damage?”.

  89. 89.

    kay

    December 2, 2009 at 4:19 pm

    @Makewi:

    I think conservatives should find a spokesperson who is actually elected. It has a moderating quality, accountability to voters.

    Your representatives sound like crazy people because they’re accountable only to cable show bookers, and in that forum, where they really have excelled, granted, crazy is better.

    It’s good advice. You’re welcome.

  90. 90.

    General Winfield Stuck

    December 2, 2009 at 4:22 pm

    I’m not the one on the “winning” side that controls all branches of government

    So yeah, you’re bitter.

    LOL, So much to be bitter for.

    Your logic is wingnut.

  91. 91.

    Steph

    December 2, 2009 at 4:24 pm

    @Makewi: “Ha. If only you didn’t classify everything you disagree with as the stupid”

    Examples, please? (Fucking moran troll.)

  92. 92.

    kay

    December 2, 2009 at 4:24 pm

    @Makewi:

    The reason the vast majority of conservative speakers are so unhinged is that they’re not elected, so not accountable to voters.

    They don’t have any responsibility for their statements, and that’s, um, freeing.

    Although they’re wildly popular with cable tv bookers.

  93. 93.

    Steph

    December 2, 2009 at 4:24 pm

    @Makewi: “Ha. If only you didn’t classify everything you disagree with as the stupid”

    Examples, please?

    To everyone else, sorry, I’m new here, perhaps I don’t know all the moran trolls by handle yet.

  94. 94.

    Steph

    December 2, 2009 at 4:25 pm

    HAHA! I had second thoughts about my language and thought I caught my post in time. Ah, just as well.

  95. 95.

    gwangung

    December 2, 2009 at 4:26 pm

    @Steph:

    Ha. If only you didn’t classify everything you disagree with as the stupid shit.

    THIS is stupid shit.

    Countering evidence on other threads is not stupid shit. (You’re making a good effort there).

  96. 96.

    General Winfield Stuck

    December 2, 2009 at 4:28 pm

    @Steph:

    I don’t know all the moran trolls by handle yet.

    HAHA! I had second thoughts about my language and thought I caught my post in time

    Nope. You did it right.

  97. 97.

    Makewi

    December 2, 2009 at 4:35 pm

    @General Winfield Stuck:

    And yet, you continue to obsess with bitterness. So now I will add denial to your list of “attributes”.

  98. 98.

    Makewi

    December 2, 2009 at 4:39 pm

    @Steph:

    I like the complement of the polite (please) with the rude (fucking moran troll), it evokes a sense of balance and crazy.

  99. 99.

    Sentient Puddle

    December 2, 2009 at 4:40 pm

    @Steph:

    To everyone else, sorry, I’m new here, perhaps I don’t know all the moran trolls by handle yet.

    Well, you clearly caught on quick with one at least. Certainly a good start!

    A few others that you can safely pie-filter are Brick Oven Bill and Bender. I got one other on my mind, but I don’t recall his exact name, and I don’t want to accidentally slander someone.

  100. 100.

    General Winfield Stuck

    December 2, 2009 at 4:47 pm

    @Makewi:

    You wank on Scarlett. It’s what you do best.

  101. 101.

    Royce

    December 2, 2009 at 4:49 pm

    Cole: “We seriously have to move on from these people.”

    Absolutely. Recommended. 5-Star. Top-Rated.

    And tell Dkos this too. I was hoping to be “Rove, who?” by now, but I swear someone or another links his every dribble.

  102. 102.

    Makewi

    December 2, 2009 at 4:53 pm

    @General Winfield Stuck:

    I should take that as a compliment, given your doctorate in wanking.

  103. 103.

    General Winfield Stuck

    December 2, 2009 at 4:55 pm

    @Makewi:

    given your doctorate in wanking.

    Flattery won’t get you troll points. But will see what I can do.

  104. 104.

    JTnTX

    December 2, 2009 at 5:01 pm

    I think it is good policy to do the exact opposite of what those ass-clowns recommend. Anytime they disagree with you, then you know you are doing something right!

  105. 105.

    bago

    December 2, 2009 at 6:33 pm

    @Makewi:

    That is not happening anymore. Stop speaking for me. I have MY own voice. What are u gonna do fire me for volunteering for the special olympics hahaha ur crazy No I am doing this appearance. You do not need details. Its for the SPECIAL OLYMPICS!!! You just need to know I will be doing it alright

    You will not facilitate this appearance

  106. 106.

    Sammy

    December 3, 2009 at 1:04 am

    Typical Fox:

    Hannity had Nicole Wallace on tonight to offer her expertice on global warming (her take: Al Gore owns an airplane). Now considering the beating Palin just gave Wallace in her book, you would think Hannity would have asked her to respond. Nope, Palin’s charges never came up.

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