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You are here: Home / It’s So Easy

It’s So Easy

by $8 blue check mistermix|  March 26, 20109:32 am| 117 Comments

This post is in: I Smell a Pulitzer!

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John can’t post at the moment, but he sent over this AC360 transcript. After Dana Bash discusses the stray bullet hitting Eric Cantor’s office, David Gergen hits her slow pitch out of the park:

GERGEN: I do. I think there’s a chance of an incident, isolated, to be sure, but I think there’s going to be some wing nut out there on one side or the other of the political aisle, or somewhere, who is just out in Never Never Land, and a lot of guns out there. (emphasis mine)

It takes almost no work to push any political conversation into the “both sides do this” story outline. Eric Cantor at least had a slightly credible story line, but it wasn’t really necessary. If John Boehner had stood up and claimed that someone threatened to take away his tube of bronzer, he’d have gotten the same result.

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Reader Interactions

117Comments

  1. 1.

    ChrisS

    March 26, 2010 at 9:35 am

    Except one side constantly quotes revolutionaries and uses loaded rhetoric like martyrs, tyranny, socialism, heathens, and talks about how many guns they own.

    There is no two side to this non-sense. When was the last time Rachel Maddow or Jon Stewart tried whipping the masses into a violent frenzy?

    Buncha horseshit.

  2. 2.

    Mattminus

    March 26, 2010 at 9:36 am

    See, we have an equivalence right here. Lefty’s talking about Boehner’s orange, Hoganesque tone is the same as teabaggers dropping N-bombs! Both sides make hateful comments based on skin color!

  3. 3.

    beltane

    March 26, 2010 at 9:37 am

    If Eric Cantor hadn’t concocted his story, the media would have done it for him. What would false equivalency be without a falsehood?

    And someone must inform David Gergen of the meaning of the term “wingnut”.

  4. 4.

    Tom

    March 26, 2010 at 9:38 am

    VA police are also saying it looks like the Cantor’s office may not have been a target, just the place a bullet shot into the air happened to come down.

  5. 5.

    Punchy

    March 26, 2010 at 9:44 am

    there’s going to be some wing nut out there on one side or the other of the political aisle, or somewhere, who is just out in Never Never Land, and a lot of guns out there. (emphasis mine)

    Could Gergen possibly invoke more general hypotheticals in one sentence?

    Ya know, someone, somewhere, whether they’re here or there, may try something, somehow, that may or may not influence the timing of something, including but not limited to an instance of a Gergen handjob.

  6. 6.

    HRA

    March 26, 2010 at 9:44 am

    David Gergen has a tough time when deciding which side he belongs on in respect to having had worked for both parties in different administrations.

    Boehner having a threat to take his tube of bronzer away sounds more credible to me. At the moment I have been trying to figure out how to discard my husband’s jar of body cream that smells disgustingly to me.

  7. 7.

    Trinity

    March 26, 2010 at 9:44 am

    @Mattminus: FTW!

  8. 8.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    March 26, 2010 at 9:49 am

    I am sure they had reason to be concerned when they found a bullet in the office. That would concern me to think that my employees or staff might be in danger. But after finding out that this was probably a random act of stupidity (simple physics, actually. What goes up, must come down) you might not want to conflate it with threats and acts of vandalism specifically meant to terrorize your colleagues. Somebody go find that video of Boehner and Cantor whinging about that mean Speaker Pelosi. These guys turn in puddles of sobbing mush every time Pelosi spanks their little asses. Goddamned cowards is too kind a description of the GOP House leadership.

  9. 9.

    cleek

    March 26, 2010 at 9:51 am

    shorter Party Of Personal Responsibility : culpability is for people who can’t lie their way out of it.

  10. 10.

    Pigs & Spiders

    March 26, 2010 at 9:51 am

    there’s going to be some wing nut out there on one side or the other of the political aisle, or somewhere, who is just out in Never Never Land, and a lot of guns out there.

    Hmmmm, guns you say? Wonder which side of this disagreement will be the first to brandish weaponry in the name of their cause?!

    Irresponsible to speculate?

    Oh wait, we don’t have to!

  11. 11.

    CT

    March 26, 2010 at 9:53 am

    I heard that Francis Scott Key was so moved when he saw the flag emerge intact following the bombardment of Fort Cantor that he wrote the Star Spangled Banner.

  12. 12.

    geg6

    March 26, 2010 at 9:58 am

    @CT:

    Win.

  13. 13.

    Rick Taylor

    March 26, 2010 at 9:59 am

    I don’t remember anything like the reaction we’re having now when the congress took us to war with Iraq. But then of course invading another country under with a spurious justification resulting in the loss of civil war, tens of thousands of Iraqi dead, hundreds of American’s dead, millions of refugees, all costing many hundreds of billions of dollars cannot possibly compare with the loss of our precious American freedom to live without health insurance.

  14. 14.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    March 26, 2010 at 10:00 am

    Gergen is going to be on On Point in a few minutes. Think I might email in a question.

  15. 15.

    PTirebiter

    March 26, 2010 at 10:01 am

    I just hope to God there isn’t a PDB laying on Obama’s desk titled, Someone, Somewhere Determined to Somehow Strike Eric Cantor’s Empty Office Sometime Soon.

  16. 16.

    ed

    March 26, 2010 at 10:03 am

    Eric Cantor at least had a slightly credible story line, but it wasn’t really necessary.

    If by “slightly” you mean barely plausible. Cantor’s full of it and he knows it. Fuckers.

  17. 17.

    rob!

    March 26, 2010 at 10:04 am

    Yesterday, ABC’s World News Tonight led off with the story, introducing it with the line“Violence from both sides of the political spectrum.”

    Mission Accomplished, GOP.

  18. 18.

    Scott

    March 26, 2010 at 10:05 am

    When Republicans turn violent, it’s “Oh, well, bad apples, the Democrats are just as bad, who cares?” But if a Democrat turns violent, it’s “OMG OBMA IS NAZI WURST THING EVUR”

  19. 19.

    jeffreyw

    March 26, 2010 at 10:11 am

    This way the fuck OT but it’s just too damn funny not to share:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9D9f_ySvkA&feature=player_embedded#

  20. 20.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    March 26, 2010 at 10:13 am

    David Gergen just expressed his concern about the lack of bipartisanship on the radio show. Oh, my.

  21. 21.

    David in NY

    March 26, 2010 at 10:13 am

    How about this little story, Mr. Gergen. Enraged idiot crashes into car carrying 10-year-old and father because it had an Obama bumper sticker. Idiot currently charged with reckless endangerment. Funny, I don’t remember Democrats trying to run over cars with McCain bumper stickers. http://www.wkrn.com/global/story.asp?s=12208009

    EDIT: And this was yesterday, in Tennessee.

  22. 22.

    bkny

    March 26, 2010 at 10:16 am

    hmmm. let’s take a look at how the two parties reacted when linked groups acted:

    democrats >>>> moveon.org >>> newspaper ad re general betrayus

    republicans >>>> teabaggers >>> death threats, vandalism, verbal assaults

  23. 23.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    March 26, 2010 at 10:18 am

    @Mattminus:

    Both sides make hateful comments based on skin color!

    I think Boehner should start the National Association for the Advancement of Orange-Colored People and start campaigning for equality.

  24. 24.

    Violet

    March 26, 2010 at 10:18 am

    @rob!:

    Yesterday, ABC’s World News Tonight led off with the story, introducing it with the line“Violence from both sides of the political spectrum.”

    —

    Mission Accomplished, GOP.

    Yep. That’s how it’s done. There can be twenty examples of violence emanating from the tea partiers and other assorted rightwing types and one situation where a bullet wasn’t aimed at a GOP Congressman’s non-office, and somehow that equates to “violence on both sides.”

    Someone should send ABC News one of those old Barbie dolls that said, “Math is hard!”

  25. 25.

    Scott

    March 26, 2010 at 10:18 am

    Semi-OT, but the endlessly pompous Republican blowhard who stinks up the blog section at the paper I used to work at, has made his official pronouncement on violent teabaggers: “Republicans are not violent ever! Only Demoncraps are violent killers who kill!”

    I couldn’t resist commenting there, so I’m sure I’m now part of the Violent Demoncrap Killer problem… We’ll see if he’ll petition the paper to delete my blog… :/

  26. 26.

    Warren Terra

    March 26, 2010 at 10:19 am

    I’m sorry to see Mr. Cantor’s office vandalized by that liberal bully Gravity. Fortunately, the Texas Board Of Ed will be eliding Newtonian Physics along with all other products of the Enlightenment.

  27. 27.

    Davis X. Machina

    March 26, 2010 at 10:21 am

    Funny, I don’t remember Democrats trying to run over cars with McCain bumper stickers.

    Well, they kept trying to, but it’s hard to do on public transit, because someone else is driving, and while they’re probably a minority, and a union member to boot, there’s no guarantee they’ll cooperate.

    If you do try it in your own car there are two problems: the contempt in which your fellow lefties will hold you for having a car at all, and the fact that hybrids just aren’t fast enough off the line.

    And you can’t run over a car at all on a bicycle.

  28. 28.

    Warren Terra

    March 26, 2010 at 10:22 am

    By the way, does anyone have a good timeline of when the Police announced the bullet was an unaimed fluke versus when Cantor and his pals made public statements about the hail of Commie bullets?

  29. 29.

    lou

    March 26, 2010 at 10:22 am

    The Post this morning infuriated me and I emailed the ombudsman. It mentions Cantor’s claims and says something like Richmond police confirmed they’re investigating the incident. Except that the Richmond police’s release said it was a random event. Same with my local morning news. I actually called one of the stations and pointed out that saying Cantor’s office was shot because of the health care debate wasn’t true.

    Plus, it wasn’t even his office. It belongs to a political consultant and he occasionally uses the room for meetings. His campaign office is elsewhere in the building.

  30. 30.

    beltane

    March 26, 2010 at 10:26 am

    @Violet: Someone should demand that ABC produce a single confirmed incident of left-wing violence before they make this claim. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the media is purposefully shielding the GOP from blame.

  31. 31.

    cmorenc

    March 26, 2010 at 10:26 am

    We’re going to have to face up to the fact that the majority of mass/cable media “journalists” are lazy scmoozers who much of the time take the path of most convenience and least resistance – and steer stories into comfortably familar patterns that only require that they fit the facts into one of these comfortably familiar patterns, rather than the harder work of performing any fresh, objective analysis. The media do get energized by very shiny objects and will give short, vigorious chase, but quickly tire and become all too willing to look for comfortable patterns requiring minimal fresh work on their part to analyze the trajectory and impact of the latest shiny object.

    WHAT THE GOP IS GOOD AT is steering the media toward favorable, or (at worst) the least harmfully muddled patterns from their perspective. The “false equivalency” being one of the most often-used favorites that feeds into the journalists’ desire to appear to give a “balanced” perspective on things.

    WHAT THE DEMS NEED TO GET A WHOLE LOT BETTER AT is the jujitsu of steering media narratives. Comfortable patterns do exist that are more favorable not just to democrats’ partisan interests, but to the service of sounder, more objective, truthful understanding by the public (or at least enough of them to outweigh the wingnuts). Instead of railing at the media’s maddening superficiality and laziness and willing gullibility, we need to learn to take sharper advantage of it ourselves. That’s the only way to fight this kind of fire – with fire of our own.

  32. 32.

    Scott

    March 26, 2010 at 10:26 am

    lou, you can’t blame them for that. Reporting is hard work! And issuing corrections is for nerds and losers like bloggers! Besides, every time they report true things, they get death threats from the Tealiban…

  33. 33.

    Warren Terra

    March 26, 2010 at 10:27 am

    Among the schemers in the plot for Communist Gravity to have a bullet fall on Cantor’s office are not only Enlightenment Thinker Isaac Newton – also Convicted Heretic Galileo. Get Beck’s Blackboard!11

  34. 34.

    LuciaMia

    March 26, 2010 at 10:32 am

    From DailyKos
    UPDATE: They Throw Rocks; We Send Roses: 2,616 roses being delivered to Nancy Pelosi today!!

    But what if she’s allergic? Those damn, evil libbies!!

  35. 35.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    March 26, 2010 at 10:34 am

    @Warren Terra: Reminds me of Mort Sahl’s great line, when a documentary about Wernher Von Braun was titled “I Aim for the Stars” Sahl cracked the subtitle should read “But sometimes I hit London.”

  36. 36.

    Punchy

    March 26, 2010 at 10:34 am

    By the way, does anyone have a good timeline of when the Police announced the bullet was an unaimed fluke

    Wait. Sting’s doing forensic science now?

  37. 37.

    Scott

    March 26, 2010 at 10:36 am

    Wait. Sting’s doing forensic science now?

    Maybe he’s just better at forensic science than he is making albums…

  38. 38.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    March 26, 2010 at 10:38 am

    @Punchy: Don’t shoot so close to me…

  39. 39.

    tesslibrarian

    March 26, 2010 at 10:40 am

    OT, but I’m sort of enjoying this story:

    “Sources said that Mr Netanyahu failed to impress Mr Obama with a flow chart purporting to show that he was not responsible for the timing of announcements of new settlement projects in east Jerusalem.”

    A flow chart? Really? No, REALLY? Thought that might win him over? Really??

    And how did they explain things to Bush? Finger puppets?

  40. 40.

    flukebucket

    March 26, 2010 at 10:42 am

    @jeffreyw:

    If you don’t watch anything else today you need to watch that. Laughter is the best medicine and I am now on the equivalent of a morphine drip.

    Thanks for that. Thanks a lot.

  41. 41.

    burnspbesq

    March 26, 2010 at 10:43 am

    @Punchy:

    “Wait. Sting’s doing forensic science now?”

    Has been for years. Do you not remember his treatise on the invisibility of the Sun?

  42. 42.

    fecapult

    March 26, 2010 at 10:43 am

    As a former Richmonder – I can testify to stray bullet theory. One of the houses I rented, not too far from where Cantor’s office was located had a leak in the roof. The leak was caused by a stray bullet that had lodged up there. When I moved away from Richmond I couldn’t sleep for a couple nights because there weren’t sirens and occasional gun shots to lull me to sleep anymore. It’s definitely area-specific, but Cantor’s office is in one of those areas where something like this is almost expected at 3AM, once all the bars have closed.

  43. 43.

    scav

    March 26, 2010 at 10:44 am

    @jeffreyw: Doesn’t it make you wonder a mite when a dog can tear off a EDITXXX? And if those weren’t every other PD car available come up to watch and possibly raz him somewhat.

    EDIT, ok, we should hide that part.

    EDIT 2: and can we add it to professional congenialitity?

  44. 44.

    slag

    March 26, 2010 at 10:46 am

    Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

    Possibly my favorite tagline yet.

    Also,
    @ChrisS:

    There is no two side to this non-sense. When was the last time Rachel Maddow or Jon Stewart tried whipping the masses into a violent frenzy?

    Don’t forget about Bachmann and Palin. One of these two was a Vice Presidential candidate. Could you imagine Al Gore…hahahahahaha….I couldn’t even complete that question.

  45. 45.

    El Cid

    March 26, 2010 at 10:52 am

    Gosh, I hate it when stuff like that happens on both sides of the spectrum.

    Road rage, accident centers on Obama bumper sticker
    …
    WKRN.com | Posted: Mar 26, 2010 12:38 AM EDT
    …
    NASHVILLE, Tenn. – A Nashville man says he and his 10-year-old daughter were victims of road rage Thursday afternoon, all because of a political bumper sticker on his car.
    …
    Mark Duren told News 2 the incident happened around 4:30p.m., while he was driving on Blair Boulevard, not far from Belmont University.
    …
    He said Harry Weisiger gave him the bird and rammed into his vehicle, after noticing an Obama-Biden sticker on his car bumper.
    …
    Duren had just picked up his 10-year-old daughter from school and had her in the car with him.
    …
    “He pointed at the back of my car,” Duren said, “the bumper, flipped me off, one finger salute.”
    …
    But it didn’t end there.
    …
    Duren told News 2 that Weisiger honked his horn at him for awhile, as Duren stopped at a stop sign.
    …
    Once he started driving again, down Blair Boulevard, towards his home, he said, “I looked in the rear view mirror again, and this same SUV was speeding, flying up behind me, bumped me.”
    …
    Duren said he applied his brake and the SUV smashed into the back of his car.
    …
    He then put his car in park to take care of the accident, but Weisiger started pushing the car using his SUV.
    …
    Duren said, “He pushed my car up towards the sidewalk, almost onto the sidewalk.”
    …
    Police say Harry Weisiger is charged with felony reckless endangerment in the incident.

    H/T GOS

    Clearly if both sides stop this sort of threat-mongering, what with Republicans encouraging TeaTards to soak the roots of the tree of liberty and blood, and on the other side Obama viciously using a Democratic majority in both houses of Congress to pass legislation he campaigned on, we’d be much better off.

  46. 46.

    lamh31

    March 26, 2010 at 10:53 am

    OT, but it’s amazing how often I agree with Ta-Nehisi Coates, this post I completely agree with:

    A Thought on David Frum

    I’ve always tried to be careful quoting David Frum, mostly because the old “even the liberal XXXX says” trick always struck me as gimmicky. But more than that, my impression of Frum has always been that he disagreed with the conservative movement on process, not goals. This is why his drumming out of the American Enterprise Institute seems so weird. It’s not like Frum endorsed the public option; his point was that conservatives should have engaged in hopes of making the bill even more conservative.

    Ezra makes a useful distinction between being a conservative think tank (or pundit) and just parroting Republican talking points. It really looks like Frum’s rift with the right originates in his unwillingness to do the latter. This is about process not goals. It’s worth contrasting Frum with Andrew, who I think differs with the right on core goals. Andrew doesn’t simply believe the GOP should compromise he thinks the current health care bill is a good idea. Whereas Frum endorsed John McCain (though he was sharply critical of Sarah Palin), Andrew endorsed Barack Obama. Frum coined the term “Axis of Evil” and wrote a book defending the Iraq War. Andrew supported the war, but now regards his support with regret.

    I’m not attacking Andrew’s conservatism, as much as I’m making the point that his break is as much about the means Republicans embrace, as it is about the ends they’re pursuing. Frum, from what I gather, is just questioning means.

  47. 47.

    El Cid

    March 26, 2010 at 10:54 am

    @David in NY: Sorry, missed your comment.

  48. 48.

    Robin G

    March 26, 2010 at 10:54 am

    Has the media really picked up this storyline? The impression I’d gotten yesterday (from TPM) was that even AP thought it was dumb. I know there are some idiots repeating the “both sides” narrative, but has it become accepted meme?

  49. 49.

    beltane

    March 26, 2010 at 11:02 am

    @El Cid: That wasn’t an accident. That was an on purpose.

  50. 50.

    mr. whipple

    March 26, 2010 at 11:03 am

    @Robin G:

    It was presented last night on my local news as ‘both sides’.

    Sigh.

  51. 51.

    Alice Blue

    March 26, 2010 at 11:03 am

    According to GOS, the building isn’t even in Cantor’s district.

  52. 52.

    Mister Colorful Analogy

    March 26, 2010 at 11:04 am

    @jeffreyw:

    You know, I always did wonder what a dog would do if s/he ever caught a car. And now we know.

    File this one under “Future SATSQ”.

    MrCA

    (H/T to my coworker who beat me to the punchline on this one!)

  53. 53.

    SiubhanDuinne

    March 26, 2010 at 11:05 am

    @Scott #32

    they get death threats from the Tealiban…

    I think it’s time for a general amNesTea.

  54. 54.

    GReynoldsCT00

    March 26, 2010 at 11:07 am

    @jeffreyw:

    LOLZ! I like when they chirp the siren and the brown dog looks like ‘yeah, wut?” and then keeps at it…

  55. 55.

    Janet Strange

    March 26, 2010 at 11:11 am

    Besides the obvious refusal to take responsibility for whatever crap the right-wing side of our political players are doing at the moment – and more importantly their leaders egging them on – this whole “the other side is just as bad!” excuse making has, imo, and even worse effect.

    Which is to make as many people as possible cynical, and therefore, passive.

    How many of the people you know say things like, “I don’t pay attention to any of them. They’re all [corrupt, lie, etc.].” A fair number refuse to even vote.

    That’s the real Mission Accomplished.

    A friend of mine said of Republicans, you know, they really don’t believe in democracy.

  56. 56.

    Pasquinade

    March 26, 2010 at 11:13 am

    Cantor’s “campaign office” isn’t in his congressional district

    http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/3/26/851031/-Cantors-campaign-office-isnt-in-his-congressional-district

    You know the implausible story Eric Cantor told yesterday about how his campaign office had been the target of a shooting incident? (His exact words were: “Just recently I have been directly threatened. A bullet was shot through the window of my campaign office in Richmond this week.”)

    Well, even if it weren’t for the fact that Richmond police are saying the bullet was fired randomly, there would be reason to be skeptical of Cantor’s claim. It turns out that it is nearly impossible to imagine that anyone ever could have figured out that the building in question housed his campaign office…because the building isn’t even in Eric Cantor’s congressional district, and it’s not his campaign headquarters.

    Instead, the building (located here) is actually in Virginia’s 3rd congressional district (map here). Cantor represents the 7th.

  57. 57.

    lamh31

    March 26, 2010 at 11:14 am

    This is just hilarious. Rachel Maddow putting Sen Scott Brown on blast! Go Rachel!

    Rachel Maddow’s Boston Globe Ad: I’m Not Running Against Scott Brown…

  58. 58.

    ricky

    March 26, 2010 at 11:14 am

    Gergen is going to get fried for suggesting the possibility that a nutburger from any idelology might be oui there with a gun?

    If you guys are suggesting it that is not in the realm of possibility, then you probably think it is just as possible that the folks over a Firedog Lake are responsible for getting the student loan reforms through Congress. They certainly do:

    “Thanks to Jane, Jon, Dave, Scarecrow, and masaccio here at FDL, and many concerned journalists and activists across the country for giving students and educational institutions—not to mention American taxpayers—a measure of victory tonight .”

  59. 59.

    geg6

    March 26, 2010 at 11:21 am

    Guess it’s dangerous if you have an Obama sticker on your car now:

    http://thinkprogress.org/2010/03/26/bumper-sticker-violence/

    But, of course, a Democrat once flipped some random asshole at a Teabagger protest the bird, so it’s all good.

  60. 60.

    gbear

    March 26, 2010 at 11:23 am

    Can I post a cheery OT please and thanx?

    USPS is going to be introducing a stamp to promote animal adoption from shelters.

  61. 61.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    March 26, 2010 at 11:26 am

    @ricky:

    “not in the realm of possibility”

    Perfect.

    Hate mongers on the right create incident after incident with tea baggers screaming, threatening, calling members of congress “N*****!”, openly wearing weapons to political speeches, making signs that blatantly talk about “Brownings” and watering the tree of liberty with blood, an extreme right winger publishes the address of someone he thought was a congressman and the guy’s brother has his house attacked,

    And since “it’s in the realm of possibility” that “the left could do it too”, the news media has to report that all of this is
    “from one side or another”, and you want to defend them.

    Perfect.

    Listen there was a time decades ago when stuff like this came from the extreme left. If someone then had written that it was “both sides” acting violent, I would have laughed just as much as I do now.

  62. 62.

    Brick Oven Bill

    March 26, 2010 at 11:31 am

    “I AM DOCTOR AMY BISHOP!” As she blasts her brother with a shotgun, killing him, and launching another one or two shells through the ceiling. Later to parade around IHOP diners repeatedly punching a lady in the head who would not yield the child seat her kid was sitting in. Graduated to icing several co-workers. Harvard-trained professor. Rabid Obama supporter.

    The vast majority of political violence is perpetrated by the Left. This Balloon Juice has taken care to document. Amy is only the most interesting piece of Obama’s team.

    I will concede that if the reports that the bullet was on a downward trajectory with little energy as it struck Cantor’s window are correct, this trigger was likely pulled by a conservative. Shotguns are pretty easy to use, and even Harvard people can make one of three shots.

    The Cantor round was most likely either:

    (1) A engineered low-energy round designed to make Cantor appear as a victim, with minimal risk; or

    (2) A good shot, made by a human who evolved in the presence of gunpowder, capable of directing energy with a high degree of accuracy, therefore most likely a conservative. This was not likely a stray bullet as mistermix presents. There is much more wall in a building than window pane.

    This conclusion assumes that the shooter was at a lower elevation than the window when the trigger was pulled.

  63. 63.

    Pigs & Spiders

    March 26, 2010 at 11:34 am

    @Brick Oven Bill: Dude. That was weak. 2/10

  64. 64.

    SIA

    March 26, 2010 at 11:35 am

    @32 Scott

    “TEALIBAN”

    Perfect.

  65. 65.

    Mike Furlan

    March 26, 2010 at 11:41 am

    Wingnut version of history:

    December 7th 1941

    29 Japanese plans were lost to American anti-aircraft fire over Oahu.

    The Japanese forces responded to the American hostile action.

    See, “both sides did it.”

  66. 66.

    MikeTheZ

    March 26, 2010 at 11:47 am

    OT- Has anyone else looked at the R2K poll for the week?
    http://www.dailykos.com/weeklytrends

    Congressional ReThugs are the big movers for the week, with a whopping seven point drop.

  67. 67.

    Legalize

    March 26, 2010 at 11:48 am

    … when everyone’s trying to please me, baby. It’s so easy.

  68. 68.

    El Cid

    March 26, 2010 at 11:53 am

    Amy Bishop was a liberal because she went to Harvard. Anyone who goes to Harvard is therefore a liberal, like George W. Bush and the Harvard Republican Club.

    Conservatives are just so god-damned stupid, and the mentally rattled ones like BOB here just make the existing stupid all the more pathetic.

  69. 69.

    El Cid

    March 26, 2010 at 11:58 am

    @MikeTheZ: Again, Obama is overwhelmingly approved of in the Northeast, Midwest, and West.

    In the Northeast Obama’s at 76%, in the Midwest at 59%, in the West at 61%. In the South, he’s at 36%.

    It’s only the shit-hole right wing South which brings his overall approval rating ‘down’ to a Reagan-stomping 56%.

    Hell, in the Northeast, Nancy Pelosi is at 52%. In the Northeast, Congressional Democrats are at 51%.

    Remember that elections happen by state and district, not by national poll.

  70. 70.

    El Cid

    March 26, 2010 at 12:01 pm

    The response to the following:

    QUESTION: Would you like to see more Democrats or Republicans elected to Congress in 2010?

    % Responding ‘Prefer Democrats’:

    Northeast: 67%
    Midwest: 50%
    West: 51%

    And the South? 32%.

    That’s how you get an overall D/R split of 48% vs 42%.

  71. 71.

    And Another Thing...

    March 26, 2010 at 12:02 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill: Having crawled out of his cave to drop a steaming load, B.O.B. will wander off talking to himself, killing time while waiting for today’s Beck Cavalcade of Crazy.

    Yesterday’s dump was sexist crap about women drivers…”clever” material that was old in the ’60’s.

    You know, there must be some diagnostic term for creatures who get their jollies defecating in public.

  72. 72.

    Chyron HR

    March 26, 2010 at 12:02 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    Amy is only the most interesting piece of Obama’s team.

    Sorry, BOB, but we have a word for gun-worshippers who hate college elitists: Teabagger.

  73. 73.

    Ash

    March 26, 2010 at 12:05 pm

    OT, sort of: Another classic from a teabagger.

    “To all modern Sons of Liberty: THIS is your time. Break their windows. Break them NOW.” These were the words of Mike Vanderboegh, a 57-year-old former militiaman from Alabama, who took to his blog urging people who opposed the historic health-care reform legislation — he calls it “Nancy Pelosi’s Intolerable Act” — to throw bricks through the windows of Democratic offices nationwide.

    Vanderboegh said he once worked as a warehouse manager but now lives on government disability checks. He said he receives $1,300 a month because of his congestive heart failure, diabetes and hypertension.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/25/AR2010032501722_pf.html

  74. 74.

    Gus

    March 26, 2010 at 12:05 pm

    Yeah, I have my problems with Gergen, but when people were calling Obama arrogant, he came right out on a CNN program and said that as a Southerner he understood that was racial code for a black man getting above his station. I gotta give him props for not being weaselly about that.

  75. 75.

    celticdragonchick

    March 26, 2010 at 12:06 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    Your trolling is sub par today.

    “I AM DOCTOR AMY BISHOP!” As she blasts her brother with a shotgun, killing him, and launching another one or two shells through the ceiling. Later to parade around IHOP diners repeatedly punching a lady in the head who would not yield the child seat her kid was sitting in. Graduated to icing several co-workers. Harvard-trained professor. Rabid Obama supporter.

    Even the freepers haven’t tried to turn this psychotic loon into an Obabma-bot killer. Funny how her victims were not obviously Republican supporters, eh?

    The Cantor round was most likely either:

    (1) A engineered low-energy round designed to make Cantor appear as a victim, with minimal risk; or

    (2) A good shot, made by a human who evolved in the presence of gunpowder, capable of directing energy with a high degree of accuracy, therefore most likely a conservative. This was not likely a stray bullet as mistermix presents. There is much more wall in a building than window pane.

    I hope this is actually some sort of spoof.

  76. 76.

    celticdragonchick

    March 26, 2010 at 12:08 pm

    @And Another Thing…:

    You know, there must be some diagnostic term for creatures who get their jollies defecating in public.

    In the military, they are called “Phantom Shitters”. They typically leave their calling card outside of officer’s quarters, and in offices and motor pools.

  77. 77.

    Citizen_X

    March 26, 2010 at 12:10 pm

    Somewhat on-topic, look at the FauxNews chryon describing the Democrat Terrorist attack (i.e. the lone-bullet-that-couldn’t-penetrate-the-window-blinds-of-a-random-room-in-a-building-that-housed-some-Cantor-offices): “GUNMAN SHOOTS UP OFFICE OF NUMBER TWO HOUSE REPUBLICAN”.

    Also shown in a different screen grab here (scroll down a little).

  78. 78.

    MikeTheZ

    March 26, 2010 at 12:13 pm

    @El Cid: True. I just couldn’t get past the 10 point net swing in approval between Congressional Dems and ReThugs. It makes sense that it happened, but its still eye opening.

  79. 79.

    David in NY

    March 26, 2010 at 12:14 pm

    @El Cid:

    Has anybody done a regional break-down on views of the Affordable Care Act? Is it anything like the others, I wonder, vastly popular outside the South?

  80. 80.

    Dreggas

    March 26, 2010 at 12:15 pm

    OT but now this shit is gettin worse:

    TN-Man-Rams-Car-Carrying-Child-Due-to-Obama-Bumpersticker

  81. 81.

    Alex S.

    March 26, 2010 at 12:20 pm

    @Warren Terra:

    Gravity has a liberal bias.

  82. 82.

    MikeTheZ

    March 26, 2010 at 12:27 pm

    @Dreggas: Saw that. But not, he’s not a terrorist.

  83. 83.

    Brick Oven Bill

    March 26, 2010 at 12:28 pm

    Hitting the window of this particular congressman at this particular time theoretically could be random, but the odds are astronomically against it.

    At 500 yards, the typical hunting round hits with around 1000 foot-pounds of energy. Unless this was some kind of special window, that would smash it.

    At the distance necessary to reduce the level of energy of a standard bullet to that which would not penetrate the blinds, the level of marksmanship necessary would be remarkable.

    There are many questions regarding this window. I am leaning towards a low-energy round.

  84. 84.

    Camchuck

    March 26, 2010 at 12:30 pm

    @LuciaMia:

    That’s got to be at least 10,000 thorns, right? Qualifies as a threat of violence.

  85. 85.

    El Cid

    March 26, 2010 at 12:33 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill: You’re an idiot. You’re not a physicist. You have no knowledge of ballistics. You’re just an irritating spoof troll by some ass that thinks this shit is funny.

  86. 86.

    Brick Oven Bill

    March 26, 2010 at 12:39 pm

    Ballistics are Geometry El Cid. Geometry is rooted in Mathematics, which, as it consists of thought, can be known by all, even the non-Practitioner, which I am not.

    There is something funny about this story line. I want to see a picture of the window, and know the penetration angle of the bullet.

  87. 87.

    Elizabelle

    March 26, 2010 at 12:39 pm

    Re AC transcript, I love that CNN entitled its segment “Keeping Them Honest.”

    Referring to politicians.

    Although they have, it seems, a greater problem with their own “journalists” and pundits.

    Pure false equivalency throughout. I generally like David Gergen, but he was wrong in substance and fact during his comments. I’m disappointed in him.

    PS: FWIW, the first quote I heard from Boehner on this subject added insult to injury in the preamble. Maybe he’s dialed it down since.

    “I know many Americans are angry over this health care bill, and that Washington Democrats just aren’t listening,” Mr. Boehner said in a statement. “But, as I’ve said, violence and threats are unacceptable. That’s not the American way. We need to take that anger and channel it into positive change.”

    (NY Times, “After Health Vote, Threats on Democrats”, March 24 )
    ttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/25/health/policy/25health.html

  88. 88.

    Dreggas

    March 26, 2010 at 12:40 pm

    @MikeTheZ:

    Never said he was a terrorist but these morans are still dangerous idiots.

  89. 89.

    Little Dreamer

    March 26, 2010 at 12:40 pm

    I posted this on another thread, but it belongs here too:
    __

    It occurred to me the other day when I was delivering newspapers (the morning after the Sunday vote) with a headline “Victory!; Outcry!” in the Arizona Republic that media is going to have to walk a fine tightrope to get back to the truth (which they are having a hard time dismissing) without completely alienating a bunch of right-wing customers that they depend on for subscriptions – this goes for television and their advertisers as well.
    …
    The worm is not going to flip over, it’s going to turn slowly and if anyone is convinced that the media isn’t going to play this type of game, they aren’t thinking of the revenue that will be lost.

    This is how the game will be played, and we need to remain vigilant and prepared for it.

  90. 90.

    DonkeyKong

    March 26, 2010 at 12:41 pm

    They could call that segment “Jerkin with Gergen”

  91. 91.

    Little Dreamer

    March 26, 2010 at 12:43 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    Turn your spoofer identity card in, you’re no longer relevant.

  92. 92.

    Little Dreamer

    March 26, 2010 at 12:44 pm

    @DonkeyKong:

    Gee, I thought Gergen jerks around all the time, no?

  93. 93.

    El Cid

    March 26, 2010 at 12:48 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill: Just because you say the word “Mathematics” over and over doesn’t make you a mathematician. Please someday stop this schtick and go back to puppet-based comedy.

  94. 94.

    Xenos

    March 26, 2010 at 12:48 pm

    A good shot, made by a human who evolved in the presence of gunpowder

    AHA! Eet must have been a… Chinaman!

    /Clouseau

  95. 95.

    Little Dreamer

    March 26, 2010 at 12:49 pm

    @Dreggas:

    I wonder if the RNC would like to vouch for the fact that Mr. Weisiger couldn’t possibly be a Republican by showing a certfied copy of his Democratic party affiliated voter registration card on national tee-vee?

  96. 96.

    Brick Oven Bill

    March 26, 2010 at 12:55 pm

    My analysis benefits the group that you Believe is working for you Little Dreamer.

    The following is knowable:

    1. The caliber of bullet.
    2. The angle of penetration.
    3. The approximate amount of energy absorbed by the window pane.

    From these entering arguments, the application of Geometry can determine range. I suspect that an honest analysis of the data will conclude that this was a non-standard round that resulted in the broken window.

    Either that or the whole thing is a fabrication. Has anyone viewed this broken window?

  97. 97.

    Little Dreamer

    March 26, 2010 at 12:57 pm

    @beltane:

    And someone must inform David Gergen of the meaning of the term “wingnut”.

    Just more of the “both sides do it” strategy. If he were honest, he would say moonbats.

  98. 98.

    Little Dreamer

    March 26, 2010 at 12:58 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    You used to be funny.

    Don’t tell me what I believe.

  99. 99.

    dr. bloor

    March 26, 2010 at 1:02 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    Has anyone viewed this broken window

    Yeah, some guys that go by the name of “police.” It’s their analyses we’re basing our comments on.

  100. 100.

    And Another Thing...

    March 26, 2010 at 1:08 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill: Do the Richmond cops qualify as “someone?” The link is to the Richmond Police Report:

    Then again, maybe you should view the window “personally.” I’ll chip in 5 bucks.

    For more info on the alleged “campaign office” and Cantor’s statement that he was “personally threatened: see:

    As for your “leaning towards a low-energy round” I’m thinking that would likely be Cantor himself.

  101. 101.

    scav

    March 26, 2010 at 1:13 pm

    speaking of the caliber of spoof, trajectory and penetration and the lack thereof

    our poor little non-standard round is on a declining arc that can’t even make it past the blind.

  102. 102.

    CMcC

    March 26, 2010 at 1:14 pm

    I wonder if David Gergen knows the difference between “yes we can” and “hell no you can’t”?

  103. 103.

    Sentient Puddle

    March 26, 2010 at 1:14 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    Hitting the window of this particular congressman at this particular time theoretically could be random, but the odds are astronomically against it.

    If I rolled a die with a million sides, the odds of it landing on 437,942 are astronomical. The odds are also exactly the same as it landing on any other given number.

  104. 104.

    Little Dreamer

    March 26, 2010 at 1:18 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    You honestly think someone is going to be able to fire a bullet from 500 yards into a building at “25 East Main Street, Richmond, Virginia“?

    Are you fucking serious?

    EDIT: Whoops, the coordinates didn’t take, but feel free to input the address into Google Maps and see how difficult that task would be.

    ;)

  105. 105.

    Midnight Marauder

    March 26, 2010 at 1:18 pm

    @Gus:

    Yeah, I have my problems with Gergen, but when people were calling Obama arrogant, he came right out on a CNN program and said that as a Southerner he understood that was racial code for a black man getting above his station. I gotta give him props for not being weaselly about that.

    But this is the problem I have with giving someone like Gergen props for a moment like that: it’s what he’s supposed to do! And I get it, we have to reward or applaud people for the rare moments of honesty and enlightenment when we get them, but therein lies the problem itself. These rare moments only shine so spectacularly because the rest of the time, people like Gergen are shameless, falsely equivocating, loafing morons.

    So it’s nice and all that he did exactly what a normal, sane person should have done in such a situation, but I wish that such examples were the rule of the day, as opposed to being the exception to the rule.

  106. 106.

    Davis X. Machina

    March 26, 2010 at 1:20 pm

    Something about the kerning on that bullet isn’t quite right…

  107. 107.

    CalD

    March 26, 2010 at 1:22 pm

    Any time you’re watching cable “news,” whose fault is that, really?

  108. 108.

    Brick Oven Bill

    March 26, 2010 at 1:23 pm

    TalkingPointsMemo is now defining shootings as ‘vandalism’. This is new territory.

    These police have reportedly dismissed this particular incident against this particular office at this particular time as ‘random’. This is not a Logical dismissal.

    If the bullet is anything other than a 22 caliber bullet, something funny is going on.

  109. 109.

    trollhattan

    March 26, 2010 at 1:29 pm

    @85 El Cid

    No, you see, he really is a physicist–a noo-kyou-lar physicist–who has stated without evidence of irony or embarrassment that fission energy is the product of friction. So he totally gets the bullet thing and anyway, teabaggers are all peaceful patriots.

    Not to mention, super smart!

    http://www.shortsshortsshorts.com/2010/03/24/important-murkin-news/

  110. 110.

    Remember November

    March 26, 2010 at 1:44 pm

    @ChrisS:

    exactly- but they want to seem “fair” and “balanced” and don’t want to point the blame where it squarely rests.

    Will it take another Waco? Another OKC? God I hope not but if it does then the co-conspirators need to be locked up.

  111. 111.

    Remember November

    March 26, 2010 at 1:54 pm

    @Brick Oven Bill:

    Except it wasn’t aimed at Cantor’s office. The bullet was a random shot in the air- and only broke through the window through gravitational force not ballistic-as you can tell by the picture and fracture patterns of the glass.

    Sorry to confuse you with facts BOB. Next time try reading a police report.
    It would irresponsible not to speculate on the veracity of parabolic trajectories and the hot air deflection factor.

  112. 112.

    Henry

    March 26, 2010 at 2:28 pm

    Could the Cantor shooting be an inside job?

  113. 113.

    Gus

    March 26, 2010 at 2:50 pm

    @Midnight Marauder: True enough. That’s the state we’re in, though. No one else on the CNN panel would have touched that with a ten foot pole.

  114. 114.

    El Cid

    March 26, 2010 at 2:51 pm

    No one shot at Eric Cantor’s office. At least, not with a gun. It’s possible that a bullet round was fired with a slingshot, or maybe was thrown by hand.

  115. 115.

    jcgrim

    March 26, 2010 at 2:53 pm

    Check out Talking Points Memo for the facts about Cantor’s story. The police stated it was a random act. Cantor effectively shifted the focus away from the Repub wingnuts:

    http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/police-on-cantor-incident-were-calling-it-random-gunfire.php?ref=fpblg

  116. 116.

    YellowJournalism

    March 26, 2010 at 7:17 pm

    CNN: “Eric Cantor was mistaken. His office was not fired at. Police conclude it was most likely a stray bullet from random gunfire. Left-wing supporters could have done it, though, because violence is happening from both sides.”

    HLN: “There are some really important things going on in the world right now, but we would prefer to take your calls and texts while we sensationalize the latest child murder case that we’ll report on in sickening, fetish-like detail.”

    MSNBC: “Eric Cantor is full of shit. Cops busted him for lying.”

    Fox News: “Crazed, rabid lefty liberals shot at Eric Cantor(‘s office building)! It’s Obama’s fault for asking for donations! Democrats do it, too! So there. Glenn Beck is next.”

    Me: Turns off TV.

  117. 117.

    JerichoJ8

    March 27, 2010 at 6:56 pm

    Cantor’s “attack” is as about as close as 99% of GOP leadership has ever gotten to a battlefield. The velocity of that bullet indicates someone could have thrown it harder threw the window with more force than from the mile or so from which it was shot randomly.

    CANTOR’s TWEETER Account—I was attacked by a black 10′ tall glittery hermaphrodite who carved BO backwards into my face…

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