This Dave Weigel piece is fascinating, even more interesting than the usual from Weigel. It captures Breitbart berating a WND editor for giving a birtherist speech at the teabagger convention.
(via Andrew Sullivan)
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[…] a new post) topic: get a load of the compassionate and concerned lefty side of the blogosphere as they basically accuse Jim Treacher, who is still being treated for his broken knee, of lying about what happened when he was hit by a […]
licensed to kill time
It sounded like a lot of “Did too!” “Did not!” “Am too!” “Am not!”
Good for Breitbart for calling it out, but as a commenter said on the WI site, “it’s like a battle of wits where no one is armed”.
Prattlehorn
And in other news, the first log I dropped this morning began arguing with the second about its deplorable lack of turdical standards.
The din was overwhelming until the flushing drowned out all…
sukabi
well that was the funniest thing I’ve read all day… so glad they’re getting along sooooo well. LOL
General Winfield Stuck
When Breitbart is the voice of reason, the Mayans must be nipping at our heels.
I think Palin is on cspan with her keynut speech tonight to rally the rattlesnake convention to bring this hysteric moment of the new tea bugged movement to a fevered pitch of distilled wingnuttery.. I am in an ornery mood, per usual, and I think we should have a Sarah Goes to Nashville thread later on.
demkat620
I especially like the part where Farah asserts he is sacrificing his TV face time to get to the truth.
L.O.L.
demo woman
@General Winfield Stuck:
I do not have enough wine in the house to watch Sarah.
JenJen
I can’t express enough how much I appreciate Weigel’s work on the entire Tea Party “phenomenon”, from the very beginning to date. HIs stuff has been just terrific fun to read, in addition to being great reporting.
asiangrrlMN
Jeebuz. Breitbart sounding reasonable. I picked a bad time to start hallucinating.
The Sheriff's A Ni-
Bretibart is busy waving the script at Farah and shouting “Nonononono! You’re doing it all wrong! We keep the racism in the closet, not out of it!”
mcc
It makes sense. Breitbart can’t push his insane right wing conspiracy theories if Joseph Farah is diluting the insane right wing conspiracy theory “brand”.
Notice his complaint? It isn’t even “it’s wrong”. It’s “it’s not a winning issue”.
TJ
I read that Treacher or whatever his name was got hit by DSS. Apparently the incident was nothing like he described (the Daily Caller guy was issued a ticket for jaywalking, it wasn’t a hit and run, etc.). Also, he described laying on some yellow line crying in pain, but google street view doesn’t show any yellow lines where he claims to have been hit.
Dunno, sounds interesting!
DougJ
@JenJen:
I agree. He’s terrific.
Jules
@General Winfield Stuck:
Will there be a Surf and Turf meal provided along with lots of liquor?
Annie
Again, all this media time for 600 people. Now, the media is referring to them as “600 delegates,” as if they are representing thousands of people back home, and as an excuse to explain away that this “convention” is a total failure. It’s the media that is giving them legitimacy.
They aren’t delegates, they are assholes. And, Farah wants to be leader of the pack. At first he wanted Sarah to be his cheerleader, and now, he wants to be her water boy. I love the line that “journalists” don’t have to prove anything. And, if you read his speech, which I admit I did, it is all about “me, me, me.” He has built a huge business by getting stupid people to buy his products. He is a snake.
It is true. There is not enough wine to get through this entire farce…But, I guess I will have to keep drinking anyway.
Mark S.
Maybe Gerard Alexander can explain how this proves liberals are wrong for thinking conservatives don’t argue in good faith.
@General Winfield Stuck:
Nice.
Notorious P.A.T.
Breitbart tells Farah to prove the president wasn’t born in America. Farah says “I don’t have to! Asking the question is enough!”
Idiots.
Ed in NJ
This convention was supposed to be legitimizing the Tea Party for people like Breitbart and Palin, but instead, it is a train wreck of birthers, racists, and WND conspiracy theories. Of course, it’s wishful thinking to suggest it will be reported as such.
Zandar
Ahh good, Skeletor vs. Megatron. Just what America needs.
licensed to kill time
I was googling for tea party attendance stats and found this, which seems like a natural for “You Finish The Headline” hilarity:
heh.
matoko_chan
@asiangrrlMN:
But…the audience gave Farah a standing ovation.
Breitbart only cares that birtherism is a loozer meme and drives the semi-sane away from the teabagggers.
The Grifter Leadership including Brietbart and Beck and AllahP are trying to draw the teabaggers away from birtherism, because it makes them look crazipants….which they are.
matoko_chan
@TJ: Treacher got a ticket for jaywalking…. the assclown is tryin to make out that this was an assassination attempt or sumpin.
arguingwithsignposts
@Mark S.:
Well, he’s got it partly right:
It’s not about “asking questions.” Asking “have you stopped beating your wife?” isn’t at all acceptable under the “fundamental tenets of what journalism is about.”
ajr22
“prove, what, a birth certificate that may or may not exist?” Farah had gotten irritated. “That’s ridiculous. You don’t even understand the fundamental tenets of what journalism is about, Andrew. It’s not about proving things. It’s about asking questions and seeking truth.” This is the Glenn Beck model of journalism. He doesn’t have to prove things, its just about making accusations.
matoko_chan
This should be good.
But some people want us to think they didn’t see it coming; for example, Andrew Breitbart and Glenn Beck.
The Grifter wingnuts now want birtherism to be recognized as an Obama plot!
Dude!
Ian
Several commentators have beaten me too it, but this was classic
No, I think its about proving things.
Svensker
@matoko_chan:
I’m sorry. I just cannot get used to LGF be rational and all. The world is all SDRAWKCAB!
JL
Does Sen. Shelby worship Satan? This is a legitimate question that has been raised and is being discussed. As a journalist, I am asking Sen. Shelby to prove he is not a worshiper of Satan. I am simply seeking the truth.
Martin
And the reaction from the right now is ‘ZOMG! Questioning Obama’s birth certificate is irresponsible!’
From the R2K poll, 58% of Republicans say either Obama wasn’t born here or they aren’t sure. I think the horse is waaaay out of that barn to be worried about leaving the door open. A responsible media would push back against this observation, but well, what chance is there of that?
mcc
Did anyone get that standing ovation on tape?
Warren Terra
TJ, got a link? I was all for sympathizing with the guy in pain, jaywalker or not, absurd Secret Service theories and all, b/c hit-and-run is just wrong. But if he was lying about hit-and-run also …
mcc
And of course WorldNetDaily has been birth certificate central for MONTHS, over a year maybe? And nobody minded or card then, and they happily invited Joseph Farah to come speak at their conference anyway even though you can’t simultaneously know who he is and not know that Obama’s birth certificate is his big issue. So the idea here isn’t that questioning Obama’s birth certifiicate is irresponsible. The idea here is that it was irresponsible for Farah to come do it while the media was paying attention.
JGabriel
@Svensker:
Right? It’s like a before and after ad for rabies shots.
.
Warren Terra
I liked the bit in Weigel’s story about “you talked to a socia|ist newspaper?!“. Everyt”hingthey don’t like is “socia|ist”, it’s the new “fncking”. I bet they blame socia|ists for bad weather.
kay
@mcc:
I think they’re kidding themselves. Birtherism is central to tea bagger lore, and no amount of evidence or debunking is going to dislodge it.
They’re still claiming Obama and Sotomayor benefited from affirmative action on law school exams, although law school exams are identified with a randomly generated “exam number”.
It’s what they are. Remove all this bullshit about legitimacy and they’re a bunch of middle aged pissed off people who share a hatred of the President.
soonergrunt
As another here has noted, when Andrew Brainfart is the voice of reason for your movement, you have officially gone full-metal fuckwit.
KCinDC
@Warren Terra, Media Matters covered the errors (to be charitable) in the original reporting.
I’m not taking a position on the behavior of the police and State Department, because I haven’t seen reliable reports. If it was as described, it should be condemned, but that’s a separate issue from whether National Review and Daily Caller reported the story responsibly in the beginning.
The bit about using Google Street View to debunk the guy’s statement sounds uncomfortably close to recreating a tank running over a dog in your sandbox. I’m not going there.
soonergrunt
The thing to remember here is that birtherism is racism. It’s dressed up a little to make it more socially palatable, but it’s racism. Does anyone think for one moment that this would be an issue if his skin were white and his name was O’hanlon or O’hanrahan?
merl
I think most of these idiots believe that if Obama is not citizen, then Caribou Barbie will be President.
I know people that insist that Senator Clinton is a lesbian who killed her MALE lover. She is not bi, even with a male lover. Nope she is a LESBIAN11!!! Like that’s bad or something.
soonergrunt
@KCinDC:
Respectfully,
It’s nothing like that, because Google street view shows an image of a real place as it is, and a plastic toy doesn’t have a set of differential transmissions or a digital drivetrain command computer while a BFV does.
But I do see what you mean.
kay
@soonergrunt:
Well, no, because it’s never been an issue before.
Ever.
It also goes along nicely with the general authoritarian bent of so many conservatives. They’re never happier than when they’re demanding someone’s “papers”.
TJ
Warren, here is something. I’m not remembering or finding the other one I saw.
wasabi gasp
When playing tea party and sipping on a cup of air, there’s no arguing with your precocious little hostess if she starts yucking it up because you just took swigs of poo stick stirred unicorn piss.
Martin
@soonergrunt:
Google street view shows an image of a real place as it was when the photographed it. That could have been a year ago.
There’s no need for us as rabblerousers to disprove Treacher’s claims. That’s why we pay taxes for police and trust them to not be stormtroopers for whoever we fantasize is trying to persecute us.
Citizen_X
And then they brought in sheep and the speakers and audience all started fucking them, right?
Hey! What do you mean, telling a truth seeker “Prove it?” I’M JUST ASKING QUESTIONS!
LuciaMia
Remember, wingnuts must self-empower themselves by insisting they have all these powerful and mysterious enemies, out to silence their sacred work.
KCinDC
@Martin, yes. Not only that, but I don’t attach much significance to whether the guy noticed the color of the line properly while he was lying in the street with a broken knee.
soonergrunt
@Martin:
That much is true. When a street patrolman issues somebody a ticket for jaywalking, I assume that he was jaywalking.
Now, I got a ticket once for driving too fast for existing conditions. A white-out blizzard developed while I was driving on the interstate in Utah and I got in an accident. Driving at all was too fast, according to the trooper. It was a dick move, but that’s life.
In Treacher’s case, the jaywalking ticket may be a dick move, but it also serves to place the blame where it should be. The other guy is a federal agent. He could lose his job if he were to lose his license, or lose his insurance, so if he’s not guilty then Treacher gets the ticket.
All of this brings up a question about Jim Treacher–why create a whole different name that could be a real name instead of a creative synonym like ‘soonergrunt’? I mean, if I did that, I might as well use my real name, XXXXXXX XXXXXXXX. It’s not like he was writing the great american novel, and even Mark Twain used a phrase from his previous employment on a riverboat for his pen name.
scav
seeking truth? I think many have confused truth with the comfortable.
The Republic of Stupidity
@mcc:
Hmmmmmm…
The salient point in this exchange… good catch.
kay
@LuciaMia:
I think the hit and run is THE big lie, if it is indeed untrue, and it seems to be.
Media Matters said the driver called the writer’s employer, and that’s inconsistent with “hit and run”, obviously.
If that’s true, they have to fire him. That’s a serious allegation, and if he just made it up, he can’t work there.
PeterJ
@TJ:
Fixed.
mcc
@soonergrunt: The way I’d look at it, it seems like the problem here (if there is one) is the winger tendency to treat every little thing that happens, from routine traffic accidents on down, like the end of the world and an enormous government conspiracy, as long as it happens to them. This, or the weird “secret service hit and run” stuff, seems like a reasonable thing for us to pick at.
Meanwhile, if Treacher doesn’t deserve the jaywalking ticket and/or the DSS driver violated traffic laws, okay, then Treacher can, should and will take it to court, which is the proper place to determine who is at fault in a traffic accident. But if we start trying to pick apart the details of Treacher’s jaywalking defense ourselves, this seems to have bought into Treacher’s basic fallacy– that some blogger being involved in a traffic incident is an important partisan issue that it makes sense to debate the merits of on all sides of the internet.
calipygian
I was perusing the “Blogs we mock and monitor as needed” and coverage of the Nashville Nut Ball is pretty sparse, indeed.
No mention of it at Malkin’s place or on the street Corner.
I wonder if they are….ashamed.
The Republic of Stupidity
@Citizen_X:
Whoa… is this Carly’s NEXT attack commercial?
Talk about going in for the kill… Campbell’s toast.
Martin
@The Republic of Stupidity:
Well, that was my point. They never cared about whether it was true or not, but until recently they thought it was a winning issue. Now they act as though it’s crazy and the first they’ve heard of it.
There’s no way that 58% of Republicans buying into it unless they thought it was a winning issue worthy of spreading far and wide, whether it was true or not.
LuciaMia
And so’s ‘The Flat Earth Society.”
JPK
@Warren Terra: Media Matters has you covered…
http://mediamatters.org/blog/201002050006
PeterJ
Fighting amongst teabaggers?
This is the future of the tea party movement, the only question is when.
sashal
what if Adolf was alive today, would he called his nascent movement “Tea party”?
Svensker
@PeterJ:
If you’re going to FIX it, then let’s get the dang grammar right. Not that it’s a PET PEEVE of mine or anything.
Notorious P.A.T.
Not me.
soonergrunt
@mcc:
Umm, thanks.
Wile E. Quixote
@KCinDC:
Nonsense, the two cases aren’t comparable, no more than they would be if I traveled to the site of Sean Medlock’s accident and took pictures that debunked his story. I think that the reason that Medlock is making such a huge deal out of this is because he’s a worthless little conservative drama queen and also because he probably has really lousy health insurance or no health insurance at all. If this is the case and Medlock is at fault then he’s going to have a few hundred thousand dollars in hospital bills to pay off, if the driver is at fault there’s big pockets and Medlock will no doubt hire a lawyer and sue.
I wonder how long it will be before Medlock posts something like Glenn Beck’s whining and crying video about how hard his hospital stay was.
MikeJ
Except that, as mentioned above, someone not properly remembering the color of the stripe on the street doesn’t prove anything. If you want to debunk it, start with the fact the SUV was driven by somebody from State(Hillary!), not Tres. Start with the fact the SUV stopped and called the guy;s place of employment.
Bullshit about if a car v ped victim gets every detail right isn’t a winner, as the saner teabaggers would say.
Annie
@Ed in NJ:
Yes. Yes. Yes. Want some wine?
aimai
If Treacher is at all like the guys who worked for our new Senator Brown he definitely doesn’t have any health insurance. Anyone want to bet he doesn’t take “personal responsibility” for being in the wrong place at the wrong time and sues whoever hit him for damages as well as costs–and then turns around and attacks Obama for failing to reform tort law in time to prevent him from gouging third parties to pay for his own health care crisis?
aimai
Morbo
Kudos for Breitbart for denouncing birtherism? Yeah, no, fuck that.
Sly
Breitbart’s only complaint is that it makes Republicans look bad. I’m not very sympathetic towards this argument.
Plus, Andrew Breitbart is a racist.
Anne Laurie
@calipygian:
I’m old enough to remember the catchphrase “Does Macy’s tell Gimbels?”
The established Wingnut Wurlitzer beneficiaries aren’t “ashamed” of the Teabaggers, they’re just not gonna give free advertising to an upstart competitor.
aimai
I love the argument that he makes “just between us” that birtherism was great for the primaries but now that the argument can’t turn the tide it should be dumped. Its so…instrumental.
aimai
Anne Laurie
@Wile E. Quixote:
Well, ya gotta give “Treacher” props for getting his side of the whinge posted before the reality-based community could. Jogger blithely steps in front of SUV, gets clipped, the driver calls 911 and then jogger’s office to let them know what happened. But before the cops can finish processing the paperwork, the fReichtard narrative has already been gelled at “OMG teh SS ran down Our Brave Correspondent and now The Men In Black are trying to COVER IT UP ! ! !”
Don’t know what DC’s traffic-cam situation is like, but it would be interesting if there was an ‘independent’ view of the incident. Of course the Friends of St. Medlock would immediately proclaim that Big Brother was using Scienticism as part of the Great Cover-Up…
Anonymous37
I give up. What the fuck does this attempted joke mean? Was it some sort of Zen koan meant to confuse Farah and Breitbart into stunned silence?
calipygian
I think it is shorthand for, “If we impeach Obama, Biden will be President. Do you want that?”
I think its kind of analagous to why we’re supposed to be grateful that pretzels aren’t generally deadly.
Anonymous37
Wow, I had no idea that Biden was such a horrific boogeyman to the right-wing. I guess this is the sort of joke — sorry, “joke” — where they would just insert the name of the VP no matter who it was.
calipygian
I think Joe Biden is a very smart, if slightly socially inept, politician.
The right wing thinks Biden is a retarded Dubya.
Jim Treacher
@TJ:
May your life be free of pain and suffering.
Jim Treacher
@Anne Laurie:
http://twitter.com/jtLOL/status/8742188355
matoko_chan
@Jim Treacher: umm….is that a sympathy plea?
take it to Hotair or Redstate.
we don’t …umm….believe you….you would say simply anything if you thought it would benefit your side.
You’re the boy that cried wolf…..we don’t care if it comes and eats you up.
You’re one of the bad guys.
Jim Treacher
http://twitter.com/JTlol/statuses/8750090121
I don’t want your sympathy. I don’t even know you.
Comrade Darkness
@Anonymous37: Assume projection with the right; it’s a safe bet 99.999% of the time. Agnew, Quayle, Palin . . . merely insurance policies.
Also Reason #572 why Lieberman was such a terrible f*cking pick for Gore. Yeah, pick a VP that a bunch of gun-toting cross-eyed wingers would be happier with…
Cain
@Warren Terra:
The real funny is that we’re all a bunch of fascists trying to install socialism in the land of the free. All they do is use words that connotative something politically bad from our past.
cain
Chuck Butcher
@Jim Treacher:
Hey dumbass, stick yourself in front of 2.5T at 30mph and you’re gonna lose. Where you were lying would be a clue to the investigating officer as to the legality of your behavior. Did your momma forget the part of raising you that had to do with looking both ways? (the other parts she missed are evident in your idiotology)
You really should have picked a place where your dislocation from reality wasn’t a known…
Johnny Pez
“Jim”, the first rule is, stop digging.
Jim Treacher
That’s an interesting way of looking at it.
matoko_chan
@Jim Treacher: in other words, you’re a known liar, propagandist, and a flaming teabagger, and we just aren’t interested.
Go whine on FAUXnewz and Hotair where the “low information” base doesn’t have enough IQ points to recognize your disingenuous histrionic personality disorder and will believe your fantasized sob story.
Jim Treacher
I’m not sure what’s making you so upset, Matoko, but I hope you get to feeling better soon.
Zuzu's Petals
@matoko_chan:
More like Twitter-trolling, looks like. (Tweet-trolling?)
arguingwithsignposts
At some point, we will need @Jim Treacher to fax his credenza, because those … helicopters … aren’t… laughing.
Jim Treacher
@Zuzu’s Petals:
I could have posted evidence of my injuries to any number of sites, I suppose. You could have fun coming up with terms like Facebook-faking and so forth.
Anyway. Have a nice day, guys. Super Bowl Sunday.
Zuzu's Petals
@Jim Treacher:
Right. Because it was your injury that people were questioning here.
Floyd R. Turbo
Damn Jim… I find it odd that many Libtards will believe that the gov’t will blow up WTC, kill Blacks in NO, and rape Iraq for oil — yet running over a journo, covering it up, and trumping up jaywalking charges is somehow impossible and unlikely. Hey folks — use “reason” — all bureaucracies CYA when it comes to liability — it’s not a partisan thing it’s a facet of bureaucracy. Now leave your Mom’s basement and get a job. Good luck in getting a settlement Treach.
Jim Treacher
I thought Matoko was, but apparently not. Sorry, Matoko.
Pious Agnostic
Did you hear that while Treacher was lying in the street after the “accident” he was screaming his “fucking leg was broken?”
What a filthy liar! News reports prove it was his knee that was broken, not his leg. Filthy, lying teabagger conservative lying liar!
And, did you notice that as soon as his story began to unravel, he came up with this totally fake “Pulmonary Embolism” crap? Like that’s even a real thing!
kay
@Jim Treacher:
Did the driver leave the scene of an injury accident?
That’s what “hit and run” means. And that’s what you wrote.
Is it true?
kay
@Pious Agnostic:
No one was questioning that he was badly hurt.
I’d just like to know if it’s true that the driver left the scene.
That’s a serious allegation. I think it’s important that it be true.
matoko_chan
@Jim Treacher: i don’t believe anything you say either about the “hit and run” or the extent of your “injuries”….why should i?
If it was a hit and run why wasnt the driver arrested?
and why were you ticketed for jaywalking when your story is you had right of way?
you have totally impeached your own testimony.
you’re just a teabagger twitter troll.
matoko_chan
@kay:
I AM!
those twitter pics could have been totally faked!
we should demand to see the
long form birth cerificatemedical charts!for…umm….the Good of Our Beloved Country!
matoko_chan
curiouser and curiouser, said Alice.
AllahP weighs in…
AllahP was a lawyer before he became a teabagger, so presumeably he knoes his shit.
If tucker carlson knows the perp, where is the arrest warrant?
lawl.
aimai
Wait a minute–State Department not Secret Service? So, was this a Hillary Clinton ordered hit?
aimai
Jim Treacher
@kay:
The driver spoke to me, as I was laying in the street looking up at the faces around me, without identifying himself to me as the driver or a federal employee. Once I received new information, I posted it. I realize this is woefully insufficient, and a shattered tibia is no excuse.
Jim Treacher
It sounds like Matoko knows what he’s talking about.
kay
@Jim Treacher:
So hit and run was not true. Thanks. I don’t read the site where you work but I feel as if making an allegation that the driver left the scene of an injury accident (a serious charge) without anything to back that up is completely irresponsible and unfair. That’s not the “he said-she said” ( “was he in the crosswalk, or walking on a diagonal?”) that typically occurs in one of these accidents, and on that I would usually take you at your word. “Hit and run” is making a baseless allegation that someone committed a very serious crime. I think you have to have something solid before you write that.
I’m sorry you were hurt, and I hope you feel better fast.
kay
@Jim Treacher:
The reason I find the continued allegations about the President lying about his place of birth so disturbing is this: the onus is on the accusers to prove it. Birthers have managed to shift the duty to prove the allegation from the accusers to the accused.
That’s just wrong-headed. It’s backward. And it’s a little like alleging hit and run until the driver proves otherwise.
Jim Treacher
@kay: It was not baseless. He was a federal employee driving a federal vehicle and he failed to identify himself. Which is all in the story you didn’t read.
But I appreciate the well wishes.
Zuzu's Petals
@Jim Treacher:
See, this is why you guys get mocked.
(But I also hope you get well soon.)
aimai
kay,
That’s just the kind of wrongthink that makes it impossible for people of the birth to talk to you. “The onus is on the accusers?” Surely not. That’s crazy talk. Sure, if the President were a normal candidate we’d think of him as having some kind of rights akin to the presumption of innocence. We’d start from the premise that a guy whose mother and father put his birth announcement in the paper 47 years ago were just doing what ordinary people do and not planning the longest long con of all time, with the single most unlikely payoff in history. And we’d assume that when his birth certificate got converted into digital data along with *every other hawaiian’s birth certificate* that that indicated he had an original birth certficate *just like every other hawaiian.*
But that would be wrong–that would be wrong because, definitionally, Obama is not like an ordinary, normal, American person. I can’t think why that is, but clearly, in some strange way, he is different from a normal candidate. And as a student of right wing thinking I can assure you that once a person is “not the same” as the ideal white, christian, conservative candidate he is entitled to nothing at all: no constitutional rights, no presumption of innocence, no miranda warnings, hell–no right to expect common courtesy.
Sarah Palin and her friends get up in arms when they accuse Rahm of calling baby trig a “retard” but have absolutely no problem accusing the President’s mother of being some kind of loose woman, race traitor, would be abortionist.
The best book I read this year was “The Authoritarians” by Bob Altemeyer. Until I read it I had to rely on Dean’s Conservatives Without Conscience to explain to me just why basic statements of ethical thought and principle don’t apply to the way people like Treacher think about a moral or political problem. On the far right the phrase “sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander” becomes “I don’t know what you are talking about. A goose isn’t a gander. So, no sauce for you!”
aimai
TomB
Why are lefties so obtuse?
District of Columbia Statutes:
§ 50-2201.05. Fleeing from scene of accident; driving under the influence of liquor or drugs.
(a)(1) Any person operating a vehicle, who shall injure any person therewith, or who shall do substantial damage to property therewith and fail to stop and give assistance, together with his name, place of residence, including street and number, and the name and address of the owner of the vehicle so operated, to the person so injured, or to the owner of such property so damaged, or to the operator of such other vehicle, or to any bystander who shall request such information on behalf of the injured person, or, if such owner or operator is not present, then he shall report the information above required to a police station or to any police officer within the District immediately. In all cases of accidents resulting in injury to any person, the operator of the vehicle causing such injury shall also report the same to any police station or police officer within the District immediately.
He did none of that, erg hit-and-run.
Zuzu's Petals
@aimai:
Fixt.
Zuzu's Petals
@TomB:
Actually, it appears he did all of that.
Stop? Check.
Give assistance? Check.
Give his name and other info to police? Are you seriously claiming he didn’t?
Good luck with the wingnuttery, though.
kay
@TomB:
TomB, was he charged with leaving the scene?
Why are Righties so quick to dispense with the niceties of fact and verification and proceed with the execution?
Incredibly irresponsible to allege hit and run. Makes everything this guy writes from this point forward less credible.
A small town newspaper reporter would never, ever write those words without some kind of verification or basis in fact. This is a big-time Tucker Carlson employee?
kay
@aimai:
Isn’t it scary how this has been adopted so widely?
Anyone can say anything about anyone, and, incredibly, we are at a place where the whole burden is on the accused to prove the baseless allegation wrong.
The driver did not present credentials to the reporter, so the assumption was “hit and run”.
What if these rules they’re inventing actually applied, to everyone?
Jim Treacher
@Zuzu’s Petals: I can’t tell you how much that means to me.
kay
And, Jim, no offense, but I don’t think you’re a credible reporter on “driver did not identify himself”.
Did he identify himself to the police officer at the scene?
“Hit and run” means “left the scene of an injury accident”.
It doesn’t mean ” did not present ID to the victim lying in the street”
I think this is a loser for you, by the way, if you’re indeed going to contest the issue of whether you were in the crosswalk. Don’t focus on whether the driver left the scene, in a sort of theoretical way. He didn’t.
Jim Treacher
@kay: Hi, Kay. I was probably unclear before, but the guy who hit me talked to me as I was laying in the street without revealing that he was the guy who hit me. He was driving a State Dept. vehicle.
And have you ever heard of somebody being issued a jaywalking citation in the ER after being struck by a vehicle? Particularly a jaywalking citation that specifies an intersection 4 blocks away from the actual intersection?
Hope that helps.
Jim Treacher
@kay: Well, if you’re unwilling or unable to read our reports on it, I don’t suppose there’s much I can do to help. But I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you. Go Saints!
Zuzu's Petals
@Jim Treacher:
I guess I’m in the John Cole column. I think this has been twisted and misreported along the way, but no one should have to go through that kind of pain and suffering.
I’m sure the after-surgery healing is a world of hurt, but sincerely hope it all works out.
kay
@Jim Treacher:
I think that running a correction is just the absolute minimum, Jim. Again, my small town newspaper, circulation 21,000, would do the same, and I can’t recall a time where their part-time low wage staff have ever made an allegation like that.
I’m sorry. I’m not going to give you a whole lot of credit for doing what any reasonably responsible person would do.
I think we just disagree on what you need to make an allegation. I’ll keep it in mind if and when I run into your reporting.
Zuzu's Petals
@Jim Treacher:
Where else would it be served?
matoko_chan
@Jim Treacher: frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn about your pain and sufferring if you were disobeying the law.
According to AllahP you impeached your own testimony so I’ll just let The Law sort it out.
I thought you teabaggers were big on law and order?
and ima grrl.
Jim Treacher
@kay: We did. Which you don’t know because you don’t read it. But I will live in dread of your disapproval.
Jim Treacher
@Zuzu’s Petals: Sounds like you’ve heard of some other instance of such a thing happening. Where was it served there?
Jim Treacher
@matoko_chan: I think I understand where you’re coming from. Sounds like we’ll just have to agree to disagree.
Zuzu's Petals
@Jim Treacher:
I am asking why you think it is so illogical that it would be served there if you’d already been taken from the scene.
Jim Treacher
@Zuzu’s Petals: If you think there’s something logical about it, I think that’s really interesting.
TomB
The law specifially states:
together with his name, place of residence, including street and number, and the name and address of the owner of the vehicle so operated, to the person so injured
(I did bold it, but you must have missed it)
Did the agent speak to Jim? Yes.
Did he give any of the information required in the law above? No.
kay
@Jim Treacher:
Hey Jim? I read your correction. The headline is another allegation.
“Vehicular assault”? It’s a felony. Are you trying to impugn your own credibility?
(1) A person is guilty of vehicular assault if he or she operates or drives any vehicle:
(a) In a reckless manner and causes substantial bodily harm to another; or
(b) While under the influence of intoxicating liquor or any drug, as defined by RCW 46.61.502, and causes substantial bodily harm to another; or
(c) With disregard for the safety of others and causes substantial bodily harm to another.
(2) Vehicular assault is a class B felony punishable under chapter 9A.20 RCW.
(3) As used in this section, “substantial bodily harm” has the same meaning as in RCW 9A.04.110.
kay
@Jim Treacher:
Can I convict you of jaywalking? You convicted the driver of “vehicular assault” in your retraction.
I’m just flabbergasted. There’s a new allegation in your retraction.
Doubling down? Myyy goodness.
Zuzu's Petals
@Jim Treacher:
You didn’t answer my question. Either of them.
Zuzu's Petals
@TomB:
The law specifically states:
together with his name, place of residence, including street and number, and the name and address of the owner of the vehicle so operated, to the person so injured, or to the owner of such property so damaged, or to the operator of such other vehicle, or to any bystander who shall request such information on behalf of the injured person, or, if such owner or operator is not present, then he shall report the information above required to a police station or to any police officer within the District immediately.
I put the important conjunctions in bold, in case you missed them.
Can you state with assurance that the driver did none of these things? Not even JT or the gang at DC suggest that.
Interesting reasoning though. I guess that means that the guy who broadsided my car, came over to talk to me, and then gave his info to the police while I was put in an ambulance was guilty of hit and run. And he got clean away with it!
TomB
How is this situation not “substantial bodily harm”?
TomB
Did he give his personal information to Jim? He spoke directly to him.
Zuzu's Petals
@Zuzu’s Petals:
PS, now that I think of it, he didn’t bother to tell me he was the driver of the other car!
Zuzu's Petals
@TomB:
Please go back and read the law again.
Note to JT…this ain’t speaking so well of your readership, y’know pal.
kay
@TomB:
Reckless. It has a specific meaning. I think Jim had better be get some advice before he makes the next allegation of criminal conduct.
I don’t know: “attempted manslaughter”?
The second unsubstantiated allegation uses the driver’s name.
TomB, doesn’t this scare you a little? I mean, in this case, it was a federal employee in the scary black SUV, and all that, but next time it could be you, just in the course of your life. Because someone could very easily do this to you. You get that, right? You understand why we generally don’t shoot first and ask questions later?
Because it’s hard to rehab a reputation once an untrue or unproven allegation is out there.
kay
@TomB:
he wouldn’t give his information to Jim. This wasn’t a fender bender, where they were exchanging information. The driver was actually offering help. Did give help. Did not leave the scene.
“Reckless” will come out when they determine speed, who was or was not in the crosswalk, etc.
You can’t just sling this stuff around. This guy has a name and job.
Zuzu's Petals
@kay:
It’s worse than that. The pieces actually suggest the agent pressured the DC police to ticket JT. Look at the wingnutters who have linked and run with it, claiming he “attempted a coverup” and “forced” the police to issue the ticket.
Oh yes, and that he was probably a drinker or “medicated.”
Stay classy, guys.
TomB
@kay:
Have we left the “hit-and-run” question?
If so, can we both agree that, if the facts as alleged by Jim are true it was indeed hit-and-run.
Zuzu's Petals
@kay:
Not only that, he made it clear to Tucker and crew that he stuck around and gave all his information to the police for the police report.
Zuzu's Petals
@TomB:
Wow, you really don’t read your own cites, do you?
TomB
Which one?
Zuzu's Petals
@kay:
I think it would be perfectly reasonable to be handing your personal and insurance info to someone who by his own admission is lying on the street, writhing and screaming and cursing with pain, and being treated by paramedics. Yep, that would definitely be the most reasonable approach.
Zuzu's Petals
@TomB:
The law, Tom. The law.
TomB
Yes, yes, I realized we are talking about the law. Unlike everyone else, I bothered to actually look it up. So what about it doesn’t fit?
Please be specific.
Zuzu's Petals
@TomB:
I guess I really can’t force you to read it. Much less understand it.
(Possibly the word “or” is too hard to sound out?)
Great reflection on JT, I must say.
TomB
@Zuzu’s Petals:
Please just post what I’m not reading.
Zuzu's Petals
@TomB:
I already did. Remember, it had all those “ors” marked in bold?
TomB
@Zuzu’s Petals:
Nevermind, I’ll do it. I didn’t realize cut-and-paste was such a chore.
The law says:
together with his name, place of residence, including street and number, and the name and address of the owner of the vehicle so operated, to the person so injured, or to the owner of such property so damaged, or to the operator of such other vehicle, or to any bystander who shall request such information on behalf of the injured person, or, if such owner or operator is not present, then he shall report the information above required to a police station or to any police officer within the District immediately.
You seem to be hanging your hat on “report the information to the police”. However it specifically says “or, if such owner or operator is not present,”. Since he spoke directly to Jim, he knew the operator was present.
Why is this so hard to understand?
Garrigus Carraig
Would someone be so servicey as to add “Laughing helicopters” to the Lexicon? ‘Cause I seem to have missed the original reference & now have no idea. Thanks!
TomB
@Zuzu’s Petals:
Link?
Zuzu's Petals
Do you think the police requested information on behalf of the injured man? And by the way, there’s nothing that says giving info to an injured party means dictating it to them or sticking it in their hand as they’re writhing on the street.
But you go with that, Tom. I mean not even JT or the nutters over at DC are making such a claim, but you go right ahead and make ’em proud of the intellectual wattage of their readership.
Zuzu's Petals
@TomB:
Read the DC article.
TomB
@Zuzu’s Petals:
Then why didn’t Jim, or anyone else, know the name of the driver until they looked up the number of the phone call he made?
Link please. I’d ask for a quote, but ctrl-c seems to be beyond you.
Zuzu's Petals
@TomB:
1. Because – again – he gave the info to the police.
2. Sorry, I’m not giving the site the extra hit. I assumed you were actually conversant with the material. My mistake.
Here’s a quote though:
licensed to kill time
@Garrigus Carraig:
Check out this thread (the whole thing is laughtastic) and comment #136:
I agree it ought to be in the Lexicon….also, Gassellipses!
TomB
Normal people cannot leave the scene of an accident and then notify the police later. He did not identify himself to anyone at the scene, and that is specifically against the law as quoted.
I’m sorry, that says nothing even close to what you said.
Your quote:
Where did he “make it clear”???
Zuzu's Petals
@licensed to kill time:
Also, “faxing credenzas” please.
kay
@Zuzu’s Petals:
Well, clearly he’s fair game, then. He can’t defend!
Easy pick’ins for the Fair and Balanced crowd.
Garrigus Carraig
@licensed to kill time: Oh thanks. I remember reading that at the time, hitting refresh over and over with my jaw on the floor. Good times. Put it in the Lexicon, DougJ!
Zuzu's Petals
@TomB:
Do you actually think the police did not come to the scene of an injury accident?
Do you even know what a police report is?
Tell ya what buddy, you just go right ahead and keep making those DC guys proud.
Buh bye.
TomB
Heh, and you do, of course.
Obviously Jim knows because he specifically states he didn’t know who hit him. The man spoke directly to him and did not identify himself as the driver. Read the law again:
or, if such owner or operator is not present, then he shall report the information above required to a police station or to any police officer
Yes.
Why? Because I won’t let you spin this into something it isn’t?
Why did you say this:
Where did he do that?
Zuzu's Petals
@kay:
Unbelievable, eh?
kay
@Zuzu’s Petals:
It’s a way of thinking. An unbridgeable divide.
It’s fine to allege this guy committed a crime. He probably did! Even if he didn’t, well, who cares! Print his name, with a felony allegation. He might have!
These are the journalists, mind you.
Luckily, for them, conservatives don’t have to actually live in the kind of country they envision. This, ahem, journalist will get a hearing on the jaywalking charge. Which is more than he gave the driver.
TomB
So newspapers and televison news, you know, journalists, do not report names of people alleged to have committed felonies?
Zuzu's Petals
@kay:
It’s that, and probably just a lot of blog whoring. Hits are everything.
I’d have thought even Tucker Carlson would be ashamed to put something like that out, but I guess there’s no underestimating the guy.
memomachine
Hmmmmm.
1. This isn’t a case of a hit-and-run on a *vehicle*. This is a case of a hit-and-run on a pedestrian. A vastly different matter.
2. How is this Treacher’s fault? In what jurisdiction is the pedestrian at fault when hit by a vehicle that *is making a turn*? When turning a vehicle at a light it is doubly incumbent on the driver to ensure that the way is clear.
3. Frankly you folks are out of your minds. But then again you’re liberals so I repeat myself.
baboy
@sashal:
I think he’d call it the DNC.
motionview
I don’t quite know how this post got turned around to talk about Treacher, but you really should have turned off the comments. It’s what HuffPo does when their readers are going to make the site look moronic.
I was under the apparently mistaken impression that Cole had some integrity. Maybe you should go back to talking amongst yourselves about Chimpy McHitlerBurton.
Bradley
Interesting that the posters here accuse Treacher of lying, based on absolutely no evidence except that they disagree with his political beliefs. Disgusting.
rachel
Interesting that a bunch of posters here showed up to defend a paranoiac numbskull who blatantly mislead them and who all (said numbskull and his followers) can’t read basic English. C’mon, it’s a cited law, but it wasn’t that hard to get. What do we call these people?
…
Oh, yes! Morons!
And if–unlikely, I know–any of you numbskulls are still reading this: don’t bother replying to me. I waited on purpose for this post to leave the front page so I could vent and them forget about all you.
TomB
Irony, thy name is “rachel”.
matoko_chan
@TomB: look up moran.
I quoted AllahP where Treacher impeached his own testimony.
Once a witness impeaches himself we are within rights to discredit anything else he says.
That is the real America for you.
;)
John Cole
For fuck’s sake, can you cut the guy a break? He’s immobilized in a hospital bed in extreme pain on a dilaudid drip, facing the better part of a year of rehab and a lifetime of knee pain and arthritis no matter how well the rehab goes.
Could he be wrong on some of the details? Most likely. Does it matter at this point? Not a bit, because it is in the hands of the authorities.
Arguing about it and claiming a guy who just suffered a traumatic injury, is on serious pain meds after an extensive surgery and doing all this feeling blind and vulnerable because his glasses are broken and he is in a hospital in a strange town may have “impeached” his own testimony just makes you all look like first class douchebags. If I had found out about what was going on this thread earlier, I would have shut the damned thing down and given you all a time out.
Grow the fuck up.
TomB
Ah, so because the State Department driver wasn’t immediately arrested and Jim got an ex post facto ticket (for an intersection 4 blocks away), he’s “impeached” his testimony?
It doesn’t work that way. How did he contradict any fact?
By that measure I never, ever have to believe Obama again.
Also, do you really believe he didn’t get his knee broken?
Really?
TomB
@matoko_chan:
moran – no dictionary results
Lovely.
TomB
@John Cole:
I’ll consider it closed.
;-)
Kelly
I love it how you guys are suddenly law and order types telling Treacher to calm down before accusing someone of breaking the law. I’m sure none of you ever accused Bush of Treason, right?
Partisan politics is by far the most depressing thing about this country.
Jim Treacher
Kay’s righteous indignation was worth it.