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You are here: Home / It’s Ok To Hate NYC Again

It’s Ok To Hate NYC Again

by John Cole|  May 10, 201010:46 am| 129 Comments

This post is in: Clown Shoes, Wingnut Event Horizon

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Since 9/11, we’ve all had to pretend that we are all New Yorkers and you simply weren’t allowed to say anything nasty about NYC. Somehow or another, it was no longer a refuge for coastal elites, gays, artists, and sundry Hollywood types. It was ground zero of real America. That started to shift last week when that commie Mayor Bloomberg tried to ban the sales of guns to potential terrorists, and now Ed Whelan really lets us know it is time to rip into the city:

In addition to her kicking military recruiters off Harvard’s campus during wartime and being paid for a comfy position on a Goldman Sachs advisory board, this passage (from this article) nicely captures Elena Kagan’s remoteness from the lives of most Americans:

    Kagan … is such a product of New York City that she did not learn to drive until her late 20s. According to her friend John Q. Barrett, a law professor at St. John’s University, it is a skill she has not yet mastered.

“Such a product of NYC!” It’s on, folks, and frankly, I’m thrilled. I hate the Yankees.

Also, I’m totally stoked for the driver’s test portion of future court nominations.

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Reader Interactions

129Comments

  1. 1.

    Glenn Beck's Chalkboard

    May 10, 2010 at 10:49 am

    Laugh if you must, but there’s no nose-in parking in the Supreme Court’s garage — it’s all parallel, baby!

  2. 2.

    RP

    May 10, 2010 at 10:49 am

    I’ve been driving since I was 16, and I’m a lawyer. I expect Obama to call any day.

  3. 3.

    beltane

    May 10, 2010 at 10:51 am

    As another product of NYC who didn’t learn to drive until relatively late in life, I offer a hearty GFY to Ed Whalen. I wasn’t too thrilled about Kagan’s nomination until I read this. Now I am.

  4. 4.

    mistersnrub

    May 10, 2010 at 10:52 am

    “Such a product of New York City” = “such a Jewish, communist homosexual.”

    GOP also plans on using her clerkship for Thurgood as a negative. That should work out well.

  5. 5.

    cleek

    May 10, 2010 at 10:52 am

    yeah, NYC is so atypical. nobody there has anything to do with real America. it’s a tiny little microenvironment of a few elite nobodys.

    nevermind that by population, it’s larger than 38 states.

  6. 6.

    MattF

    May 10, 2010 at 10:53 am

    You didn’t know that when the Court is in session, each Justice sits in front of his or her own little steering wheel? What, exactly, did you think was keeping the Justices occupied during those long, boring legal arguments?

  7. 7.

    carlos the dwarf

    May 10, 2010 at 10:53 am

    Not many people know it, but Harriet Miers was descended from a long line of NASCAR champions.

  8. 8.

    Joshua

    May 10, 2010 at 10:54 am

    Lady drivers, am I right?

  9. 9.

    mcsey

    May 10, 2010 at 10:55 am

    You mock John, but the driving thing will have legs. You know it will. Andrea Mitchell will have brought it up by Wednesday evening.

  10. 10.

    beltane

    May 10, 2010 at 10:55 am

    @Joshua: We’ll have to wait for Brick Oven Bill to weigh in on that subject. He claims to be an expert on it.

  11. 11.

    neill

    May 10, 2010 at 10:55 am

    Kagan’s late to the carbon-footprint party,
    and Gibbs riding a bicycle???!!1?1

    Just what in hell is going on with the Obama admin?

  12. 12.

    Violet

    May 10, 2010 at 10:56 am

    If she can’t drive, she’ll have to be chauffeured everywhere. Elitist.

  13. 13.

    TomG

    May 10, 2010 at 10:56 am

    Wow. After reading all of Glenn Greenwald’s discussions about her, to find people thinking her driving skills are in any way relevant….oh nevermind, he’s just jumping on the instinctive hate-wagon with completely irrelevant nonsense.
    What an idiot. I don’t usually read Ed, is he always that stupid ?
    (oh it’s the Corner…I understand now)

  14. 14.

    Xenocrates

    May 10, 2010 at 10:57 am

    Because we all know that excellent driving skills are a major requirement for ascension to the Supreme Court. Mr. Whelan is now in the running for the award for stupidest blog post of the year…but he is in some great company. Competition will be fierce.

  15. 15.

    Zifnab

    May 10, 2010 at 10:57 am

    Not a strong proponent of SuperTrains then, eh?

    Did they say this shit back in the early 1900s?
    “Supreme Court Nominee Charles Evans Hughes is no real American. He never even rode a horse until he was 19 years of age, and still has not mastered the bridle and harness! How can we allow such a person to occupy the highest court seat in the land?”

  16. 16.

    ChockFullO'Nuts

    May 10, 2010 at 10:58 am

    I’m totally stoked for the driver’s test portion of future court nominations.

    Damn, that is a great line.

    We will all steal it and take credit for it, of course.

  17. 17.

    Tim I

    May 10, 2010 at 10:59 am

    No one should sit on the nation’s highest court, unless they demonstrate flawless parallel parking skills.

  18. 18.

    Barry

    May 10, 2010 at 10:59 am

    It was OK to hate NYC when Coulter denounced 9/11 widows.

  19. 19.

    dmsilev

    May 10, 2010 at 11:00 am

    I guess that means I can’t look forward to a Supreme Court nomination either; I learned to drive on more or less the same timetable. Growing up just outside of Boston, it truly wasn’t all that necessary.

    Well, that and the fact that I have no legal training or experience.

    dms

  20. 20.

    Allan

    May 10, 2010 at 11:00 am

    I didn’t know Kagan was Asian.

  21. 21.

    dmsilev

    May 10, 2010 at 11:01 am

    @mistersnrub:

    GOP also plans on using her clerkship for Thurgood as a negative. That should work out well.

    Let me guess. They’re trying to determine whether it’s possible to receive a negative percentage of the vote from African Americans?

    dms

  22. 22.

    Randy P

    May 10, 2010 at 11:01 am

    @mistersnrub:
    From the linked article:

    And Does Kagan Still Believe That The Supreme Court’s Primary Mission Is To ‘Show A Special Solicitude For The Despised And Disadvantaged’?”

    Man, that’s too easy. OK, Republicans. Can you think of anybody you claim as a role model, somebody in the Bible, prominently featured in the first four Books of the New Testament, who also believed in showing a special solicitude to the despised and disadvantaged?

    Yes, please. Go with this line of “attack”.

    The Hill’s article also says this:

    Yet an effort to negatively associate Kagan with Marshall, who is revered by liberals and African Americans, could prove explosive.

    but it’s not clear who they think it will explode on.

  23. 23.

    JK

    May 10, 2010 at 11:02 am

    I happen to like New York http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCIao5RfzxE, except for the goddamn NY Yankees, so the Yanks and Ed Whelan can both go Fuck Themselves.

  24. 24.

    beltane

    May 10, 2010 at 11:04 am

    @mcsey: When was the last time Mrs. Greenspan drove herself anywhere? The only driving these rich media assholes do is when they are driving this country off a cliff.

  25. 25.

    melmoth

    May 10, 2010 at 11:05 am

    Producsts of NYC, such as myself, take trains and buses and walk everywhere. As a result, we see every imaginable kind of person from all walks of life every day. This clearly makes us less “common” than people who drive from white suburbs to office parks, shop at strip malls, and hang around the diverse corridors of the national review.

  26. 26.

    UofAZGrad

    May 10, 2010 at 11:05 am

    My only concern is whether this pro-driving prejudice becomes super pure and discriminates against those of us who can’t drive stick. First they came for those who could not drive, but I could operate an automatic so I did nothing. . .

  27. 27.

    ChockFullO'Nuts

    May 10, 2010 at 11:05 am

    I don’t see why driving should be a confirmation issue.

    Can’t Kagan just get an apartment within walking distance of the Supreme Court?

  28. 28.

    Bill Arnold

    May 10, 2010 at 11:06 am

    Tim I:

    No one should sit on the nations highest court, unless they demonstrate flawless parallel parking skills.

    A master of parking in NYC must be able to park in a space initially shorter than their vehicle. Front and back bumpers must be touching when complete.
    (No joke, I saw an acquaintance do this.)

  29. 29.

    ChockFullO'Nuts

    May 10, 2010 at 11:08 am

    @UofAZGrad:

    Most court nominees prepare themselves by driving Jeeps on rugged offroad trails.

  30. 30.

    Mike Kay

    May 10, 2010 at 11:09 am

    I can’t fucking believe Kagan wore GREEN before memorial day!

    WHAT WAS SHE THINKING!

    Gay, jewish, new yorker, and she has no fashion sense! This is a bad, bad sign.

  31. 31.

    stevie314159

    May 10, 2010 at 11:09 am

    Glenn says she doesn’t know how to make left turns.

  32. 32.

    Mike Kay

    May 10, 2010 at 11:11 am

    @JK: are you a mets fan?

  33. 33.

    Svensker

    May 10, 2010 at 11:11 am

    That’s so dumb that I was going to say something clever but the dumbness destroyed my brain.

  34. 34.

    Bulworth

    May 10, 2010 at 11:12 am

    The stupid. It burns.

  35. 35.

    4tehlulz

    May 10, 2010 at 11:14 am

    Ms. Kagan clerked for Thurgood Marshall; obviously, she is pro-reparations.

  36. 36.

    Linda Featheringill

    May 10, 2010 at 11:16 am

    @UofAZGrad: I learned to drive on a tractor, with a gear shift, a bunch of gears, and several different brake pedals.

    And I have never been nominated for any federal office. I’ve been cheated! Where is my nomination?!

  37. 37.

    Citizen_X

    May 10, 2010 at 11:17 am

    I guess she’s acceptably Amurican, but she’d better recuse herself from Geico v. Earnhardt.

  38. 38.

    Waynski

    May 10, 2010 at 11:17 am

    Let me just say to Cole and all the other Yankee haters: 27. GFY. And that doesn’t mean “Good for You.”

  39. 39.

    stevie314159

    May 10, 2010 at 11:17 am

    I’m from New York. I’m a Yankees fan. I learned to drive at age 26 (as I moved to the burbs). I was 1 year behind Sotomayor at Princeton and 4 years ahead of Kagan.

    I feel totally represented on the Supreme Court now.

  40. 40.

    JK

    May 10, 2010 at 11:21 am

    @Mike Kay:

    I’m a bigger fan of a salary cap, but I do root for the Red Sox and the Mets.

  41. 41.

    Mike Kay

    May 10, 2010 at 11:24 am

    @JK: Like most manhanttanites, Kagan is a Mutts fan.

  42. 42.

    JK

    May 10, 2010 at 11:30 am

    @Mike Kay:

    This would achieve equilibrium on the high court. Sotomayor, a Yankees fan, would be balanced by Kagan, a Mets fan.

    Now for the $64,000 question:
    Which baseball team does Glenn Greenwald root for?

  43. 43.

    slag

    May 10, 2010 at 11:31 am

    Also, I’m totally stoked for the driver’s test portion of future court nominations.

    I’m totally stoked at the prospect of seeing Erick Erickson sell a bunch of orange cones through his Amazon site. Only $8 each (plus $36 in shipping and handling), I hear.

  44. 44.

    Bulworth

    May 10, 2010 at 11:36 am

    I’m an excellent driver. Also, too.

  45. 45.

    eastriver

    May 10, 2010 at 11:36 am

    Of course you hate the Yankees, JC. Because you’re a hater. Why don’t you just move to Boston have done with it.

  46. 46.

    chopper

    May 10, 2010 at 11:40 am

    as a guy who lives in new york, let me say i’ve been hating new york and new yorkers practically since i got here.

  47. 47.

    eastriver

    May 10, 2010 at 11:42 am

    @chopper:

    Please join JC in Boston. Buh-bye.

  48. 48.

    Skepticat

    May 10, 2010 at 11:42 am

    @beltane:

    The only driving these rich media assholes do is when they are driving this country off a cliff.

    thread win

  49. 49.

    Perfect Tommy

    May 10, 2010 at 11:43 am

    Growing up in NYC, I was 35 before I needed a drivers license. I ‘m not sure how commuting on the D train qualifies me as an elitist.

  50. 50.

    jonas

    May 10, 2010 at 11:45 am

    @JK: it’s well known that Glenn bats for the other team (rim shot!). Thanks very much folks — I’ll be here all week and the buffet is open ’til 2….

  51. 51.

    ruemara

    May 10, 2010 at 11:45 am

    As a product of NYC, I am so ashamed I never learned to drive until near 30 and I am not physically close enough to Mr. Whelan to kick his ass in an old school, Queens style, waiting on a bus, smack down.

  52. 52.

    amorphous

    May 10, 2010 at 11:47 am

    @Perfect Tommy: Regular Amurricans only take the BFV trains, never even considering the D.

  53. 53.

    Michael Bersin

    May 10, 2010 at 11:47 am

    Also, I’m totally stoked for the driver’s test portion of future court nominations.

    They’d change their tune if they ever experienced metro Kansas City drivers during rush hour or any other hour…

  54. 54.

    jomo

    May 10, 2010 at 11:56 am

    It’s not about policy – it’s about engendering a certain amount of mistrust. They are trying to present her as alien, as somewhat different, and therefore “not one of us”. Not being able to drive is being positioned as making her appear different and less authentic. It is the vilest form of nativist, smug behavior.

  55. 55.

    4tehlulz

    May 10, 2010 at 11:59 am

    @jomo: True, but you would think that they’d come up with a better shtick after it didn’t work with Sotomayor.

  56. 56.

    JK

    May 10, 2010 at 12:00 pm

    @jonas:

    I’d hire you to replace Jay Leno. Hell, I’d even hire Glenn Greenwald to replace Jay Leno.

  57. 57.

    Persia

    May 10, 2010 at 12:05 pm

    @mistersnrub: I’m waiting for someone to pull out “What do you know? You’re a virgin who can’t drive.”

  58. 58.

    Theron

    May 10, 2010 at 12:07 pm

    Well good. I was tired of pretending Real Americans(tm) lived in NYC.

    (Though apparently Real America ain’t all it’s cracked up to be. Color me shocked. )

  59. 59.

    twiffer

    May 10, 2010 at 12:07 pm

    omg…i bet she used…PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION!!! and so is a godless commie or some stupid ass shit.

    the best thing about city life is not having to fucking drive everywhere. walk or take the subway/T/L/Metro/whatever.

    go sox! fuck the yankees. the mets suck.

  60. 60.

    Theron

    May 10, 2010 at 12:08 pm

    Hmm, my link didn’t show up. I’ll try to be simpler about it:

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126653602&ft=1&f=1014

  61. 61.

    Death Panel Truck

    May 10, 2010 at 12:08 pm

    Fuck the fuckin’ Yankees.

    There, someone had to say it. Steve Gilliard, R.I.P.

  62. 62.

    Karen in GA

    May 10, 2010 at 12:12 pm

    Barry, yeah, the New York hate’s been perfectly acceptable for a while. IIRC, the families of the 9/11 victims were among the first targeted, in fact.

    I’m from Brooklyn, and I got my driver’s license at 16. Not that there was any point to it at the time, but at least I’m qualified for a seat on the Supreme Court.

  63. 63.

    Persia

    May 10, 2010 at 12:17 pm

    @Karen in GA: As is Laura Bush. Who just, you know, killed someone. But she did it with her own car!

  64. 64.

    aimai

    May 10, 2010 at 12:20 pm

    @ChockFullO’Nuts:

    Yes, fantastic! Also, like dmsilev, I grew up in that alien enclave Cambridge MA and didn’t learn to drive until I was *^%$#30 when I moved to that bastion of red state values: Berkeley.

    If Kagan is to be dropped because of a lack of driving skills–putting her right out of the mainstream–can we drop Scalia, Alito, and Thomas because of their manifest lack of humanity? All joking aside *no* humanity has to put you right off the charts even in a center right nation.

    aimai

  65. 65.

    Rick Taylor

    May 10, 2010 at 12:20 pm

    It is a feature of modern conservatism of America to divide the country into real Americans and elitist latte-drinking Arugula-munching bus-taking dijon-using coffee-declining not-really Americans, who can’t even bowl a decent game.

  66. 66.

    MobiusKlein

    May 10, 2010 at 12:25 pm

    @eastriver: Plenty of us hate the yankees without needing the crutch of Boston – cause we hate them too. Dickholes, all.

  67. 67.

    Joseph Nobles

    May 10, 2010 at 12:25 pm

    Do we really want a Supreme Court Justice that can’t field dress a deer?

  68. 68.

    jomo

    May 10, 2010 at 12:26 pm

    @4tehlulz: It’s been said of Obama that he’s been lucky in his enemies.

  69. 69.

    Karen in GA

    May 10, 2010 at 12:29 pm

    Persia, touché. I never killed anyone. So much for my Supreme Court ambitions.

    But I was a good bowler when I was a kid — got trophies and everything. That’s enough to make me President.

    Bow to your rented-shoe-wearing overlord (overlady?)!

  70. 70.

    patrick II

    May 10, 2010 at 12:30 pm

    I have a driver’s license, a commercial driver’s license, a motorcycle driver’s license and an international driver’s license.
    The international license probably disqualifies me.

  71. 71.

    Randy P

    May 10, 2010 at 12:33 pm

    @chopper: Are you sure the people bugging you aren’t tourists?

  72. 72.

    trollhattan

    May 10, 2010 at 12:37 pm

    This thread is so full of tasty Win that I award the internets to everybody. That’s right, check under your seats. You win the internets and you win the internets and you win the internets and you win the internets and you win the internets and you win the internets and you win the internets and you….

    /Oprah

  73. 73.

    kuvasz

    May 10, 2010 at 12:38 pm

    It should be fair to point out that with the recent increase in personal protection to the Supreme Court and its Justices that Kagan can be driven to work by a Federal Marshall.

  74. 74.

    PurpleGirl

    May 10, 2010 at 12:39 pm

    JC: I hate the Yankees.

    Hey, you’re in good company. Even lots of NYers hate the Yankees. Remember what Steve Gilliard always said… “Fuck the fucking Yankees”.

  75. 75.

    Herb

    May 10, 2010 at 12:39 pm

    Elena Kagan’s remoteness from the lives of most Americans

    So living in one of the most densely populated areas of the country makes you “remote.” Well, I suppose it’s true that most Americans don’t live in NYC.

  76. 76.

    RedKitten

    May 10, 2010 at 12:40 pm

    I swear to the FSM, what kind of retarded, inane, irrelevant character test are they going to come out with next to prove that someone is a “real American”?

    I really don’t think you guys are all that far from disqualifying someone from the Supreme Court because they talk like a fag and their shit’s all retarded.

  77. 77.

    dadanarchist

    May 10, 2010 at 12:49 pm

    I’m 31 and I can’t drive – where should I hand in my passport?

  78. 78.

    licensed to kill time

    May 10, 2010 at 12:50 pm

    The most tickets I ever got in a single day were collected in NYC. The last one of the day (four) was at JFK where I dashed in to check on a friend’s flight and came out to find a cop writing me up and who also accused me of piling up the other three tickets on the dashboard to avoid getting another (?!). I admit, I did not take this very well. I began kicking my bumper in frustration, and looked up some seconds later to see FOUR cops in a circle around me, hands resting lightly on their guns. I cooled down fast and drove away sheepishly.

    It’s crazy to drive in NYC for the ticket possibilities alone!

  79. 79.

    JasonF

    May 10, 2010 at 12:54 pm

    I’m confused. Who cares how remote Ms. Kagan’s life experiences are from those of the “average American”? I was reliably informed by the right that things like empathy, understanding peoples’ life experiences, and being able to relate to litigants are all unrelated to a person’s ability to serve on the Supreme Court. Supreme Court justices are, after all, merely umpires, calling balls and strikes without regard to who is at the plate, and it really doesn’t matter if the batter loves to drive and the umpire takes the train to work.

  80. 80.

    PurpleGirl

    May 10, 2010 at 12:55 pm

    @Randy P: Can you think of anybody you claim as a role model, somebody in the Bible, prominently featured in the first four Books of the New Testament, who also believed in showing a special solicitude to the despised and disadvantaged?

    Not to mention that the person referenced never learned to drive a car. The most important weekend of his life, he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey… a donkey!

  81. 81.

    Cat

    May 10, 2010 at 12:57 pm

    Do you think they have a playlist somewhere or are they just that good they get the two-for play of Alien, didn’t learn to drive till her 20’s, and Ditzy Women, still is a bad driver.

    So smooth of a put down.

  82. 82.

    erlking

    May 10, 2010 at 1:00 pm

    I’m 45 and never have had a license–and I’m from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for god’s sake. ‘Course I got the fuck out there as fast as I could, so I guess I’m not a real American either.

  83. 83.

    Scott P.

    May 10, 2010 at 1:03 pm

    I didn’t learn to drive until I was 29 and I grew up in friggin’ Nebraska.

  84. 84.

    Poopyman

    May 10, 2010 at 1:04 pm

    Driving a car is not mentioned in the Constitution. Therefore, I think this makes Ms. Kagan more qualified than the other 8 -posers-drivers on the bench.

    Also:

    Also, I’m totally stoked for the driver’s test portion of future court nominations.

    This one has legs, Cole. I’m gonna be pimping it.

  85. 85.

    cleek

    May 10, 2010 at 1:09 pm

    @JasonF:

    I was reliably informed by the right that things like empathy, understanding peoples’ life experiences, and being able to relate to litigants are all unrelated to a person’s ability to serve on the Supreme Court.

    That argument has been superseded by argument #1665.23.b, commonly known as the “Liberals Are un-American Aliens Argument”. A notice was sent out last night announcing the change. Please check your email.

    /GOP MGMT

  86. 86.

    YellowJournalism

    May 10, 2010 at 1:09 pm

    In her entire life, my mom has never had a driver’s license, so she must be a super-duper mega-elitist. There goes her judicial career hopes.

  87. 87.

    Comrade PhysioProf

    May 10, 2010 at 1:11 pm

    Kagan is a motherfucking Mets fan???? Jeezus motherfuck, that demonstrates extraordinarily poor judgment and should disqualify her from serving on the highest court of the land.

  88. 88.

    Jonathan

    May 10, 2010 at 1:13 pm

    Finally, it’s New York against the world again, instead of just New York against Albany. Fine! We’ll take you all on!

    But youse gotta come to us, because we can’t drive to youse. Even if we know how to drive, as soon as we hit the NJ Turnpike, we suddenly forget where we’re going.

  89. 89.

    Zifnab

    May 10, 2010 at 1:19 pm

    @kuvasz:

    It should be fair to point out that with the recent increase in personal protection to the Supreme Court and its Justices that Kagan can be driven to work by a Federal Marshall.

    She would get herself a driver. Elitist!

    If she was a Real American, she’d show up for work in an H2 Hummer, after flattening three bicyclists and a Prius.

  90. 90.

    Poopyman

    May 10, 2010 at 1:20 pm

    @Comrade PhysioProf:
    Yeah? Well Scalia is a Yankees fan. I don’t know about you, but I welcome a SC Justice who’ll join us in saying FTFY!

  91. 91.

    LD50

    May 10, 2010 at 1:29 pm

    @4tehlulz: Kagan’s Whitey tape should be forthcoming any day now.

  92. 92.

    ljdramone

    May 10, 2010 at 1:37 pm

    @RP: Hell, I learned to drive a Massey-Fergusen 135 tractor on my dad’s farm when I was only 12. I’m 4 years more American than all you librul faggots out there who learned to drive at 16, and obviously I’m at least a decade more American than Kagan!

    Okay, so the “farm” was kind of a hobby/summer place in Western Maryland for my Hopkins professor father, but still. USA! USA!!!

  93. 93.

    chopper

    May 10, 2010 at 1:39 pm

    @eastriver:

    what, and deal with massholes all day? just as bad if you ask me.

    i like the ‘buh bye’. what, ‘talk to the hand’ was too long to type?

    either way, glad it’s okay for people to hate NYC again.

  94. 94.

    Kerry Reid

    May 10, 2010 at 1:39 pm

    I’m 45 and I don’t drive. Why? Because I suck at it. Unlike, say, knitting, driving is one of those things you shouldn’t do unless you’re really super-competent. Bad knitting leads to ugly sweaters. Bad driving leads to death. Amirite, Laura Bush?

    Of course, I’ve been duly punished for my lack of a driver’s license by being forced to live in shitholes with public transit like Chicago and San Francisco most of my adult life, where I have to suffer the indignities of glorious architecture, vibrant culture, and neighbors who don’t toss around derogatory phrases for people of color and gay people in the cause of “just making conversation.” Somehow, I’ve managed.

  95. 95.

    IndieTarheel

    May 10, 2010 at 1:43 pm

    Stupidest thing I’ve read since, well, the last time Ed Whelan was quoted saying something.

  96. 96.

    asiangrrlMN

    May 10, 2010 at 1:44 pm

    @Poopyman: Ditto this. If our Founding Fathers didn’t see fit to mention it in the Constitution, then it’s not an issue, amirite?

    Seriously. This is the best they got?

    P.S. FTFY, but I love me some NYC.

  97. 97.

    Tom Levenson

    May 10, 2010 at 1:44 pm

    @UofAZGrad:
    Win.

    Soup almost through the nose reaction at my desk-lunch.

    Truly pro-grade Godwinization.

  98. 98.

    Comrade PhysioProf

    May 10, 2010 at 1:54 pm

    Go YANKEES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  99. 99.

    fucen tarmal

    May 10, 2010 at 2:02 pm

    i’m somewhat torn on the issue of new york…

    while i do get that in a converse way new yorkers are some of the most provincial people out there, they seem to think if they drop bits of local geography or culture into a conversation, everyone is supposed to know what they are talking about, i guess enough people do…just never had any particular need to feel like new york was some special destination.

    however, when you see how some people act as if new york is the center of all societal evils that we know texas to be, i do have to laugh.

    as far as her driving skills, she damn well signal when she makes a right turn, and turn off the blinker when she changes lanes.

  100. 100.

    Morbo

    May 10, 2010 at 2:14 pm

    @mistersnrub: Fuck on a stick, that’s quite the cesspool of a comment section they have there. I’m not that surprised considering it probably has plenty of Politico links.

  101. 101.

    PurpleGirl

    May 10, 2010 at 2:15 pm

    @fucen tarmal: while i do get that in a converse way new yorkers are some of the most provincial people out there, they seem to think if they drop bits of local geography or culture into a conversation, everyone is supposed to know what they are talking about, i guess enough people do…just never had any particular need to feel like new york was some special destination.

    When I drop in local geography (or other information) into a conversation or blog comment I do it to give people some orientation about where or what I’m talking about. Because NYC is large and has a large population and Woodside in the borough/county of Queens is not the same location or state of being that 57th Street and Park Avenue is. We have a lot of different neighborhoods and a lot of diverse people. Personally I think many of the people who hate NYC do so because they can’t fathom its size, either physically or in population. It overwhelms their thinking processes and ability. Doesn’t make us better, just different.

  102. 102.

    fucen tarmal

    May 10, 2010 at 2:38 pm

    Because NYC is large and has a large population and Woodside in the borough/county of Queens is not the same location or state of being that 57th Street and Park Avenue is

    and i could tell you that there are different states of being among bloomfield, squirrel hill, and sewickley heights, that exist even in communities of fractally smaller size. you wouldn’t be expected, and i would look foolish for expecting you to know them, without detailed understanding, or personal history with the pittsburgh area.

    the difference is in the expectation that others can and should differentiate. its the supposition that people should care to know the differences, which would seem silly if the burden were to be reversed.

  103. 103.

    Pangloss

    May 10, 2010 at 2:39 pm

    Shorter: She’s a Jew.

  104. 104.

    FormerSwingVoter

    May 10, 2010 at 2:47 pm

    @RedKitten:

    I swear to the FSM, what kind of retarded, inane, irrelevant character test are they going to come out with next to prove that someone is a “real American”?

    Really, it’s always the same character test. The actual things they say are made up on the spot and completely contradictory, but it doesn’t matter because they’re irrelevant to what actually matters to these people. The actual test is: Conservative = SUPER-TRUE AMERICAN, Moderate/Liberal = TRAITOR WHO DESERVES TO BE EATEN BY WOLVES.

  105. 105.

    Ginger Yellow

    May 10, 2010 at 2:49 pm

    Christ, I’m 30 and I still haven’t learned how to drive. Totally unnecessary, not to mention expensive, in London.

  106. 106.

    chopper

    May 10, 2010 at 2:53 pm

    @Morbo:

    i like the guy who’s all ‘it’s not the job of the supreme court to change the constitution. that’s the legislative’. the fact that these people can vote gives me a sad.

    i do like the idea of the GOP running with this criticism of marshall’s speech. yeah, the constitution as written was perfect. all that 3/5-of-a-dude bits and no rights for women and minorities stuff didn’t need to be fixed at all.

  107. 107.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    May 10, 2010 at 3:03 pm

    So let me get this straight: Kagan hates teh military recruiters, and she doesn’t drive. The solution is obvious – have her show up for the confirmation hearings driving a tank ala Mike Dukakis.

  108. 108.

    R-Jud

    May 10, 2010 at 3:30 pm

    @Ginger Yellow:

    Totally unnecessary, not to mention expensive, in London.

    Also, it’s mental, driving in the UK, at least compared to the US where the roads are nice and wide and built for cars. I drive in the US (even in NYC and Chicago) but not over here in Blighty. I drove in Birmingham city center once, including Spaghetti Junction, and had to lie down in a darkened room for like two days afterwards.

    Never again.

  109. 109.

    Wile E. Quixote

    May 10, 2010 at 3:44 pm

    I learned to drive when I was 16. And I learned to drive an M60 tank when I was 18. I guess that means that Ed Whelan’s a total fucking pussy compared to me.

  110. 110.

    Wile E. Quixote

    May 10, 2010 at 3:47 pm

    @ThatLeftTurnInABQ:

    Actually Dukakis wasn’t driving the tank. He was riding in the loader’s position. I think the solution is to show Elena Kagan how to drive an M-1 (it’s not that hard) and then have her go over to Ed Whelan’s house, crush his car and neutral steer all over his front lawn.

  111. 111.

    TooManyJens

    May 10, 2010 at 3:48 pm

    If she hadn’t had sex until her late 20s, I bet that “remoteness from the lives of most Americans” wouldn’t be considered a problem by the right.

  112. 112.

    Randy P

    May 10, 2010 at 4:28 pm

    @R-Jud:
    I knew that I would never drive in London the first time I saw a 4-way intersection with no stop signs and a painted roundabout in the middle.

    So you’re just supposed to… pretend… that there is a traffic circle there? And trust that every one else is pretending the same thing?

    Not that I had any intentions of driving there anyway, but that sealed the deal.

  113. 113.

    Wordsmith

    May 10, 2010 at 4:40 pm

    Ya know – not learning to drive until your 20s – to me – is unreal. But I’ve been driving (licensed) since 14….not to mention the two years driving the John Deere, & Dad’s old Land Cruiser along ditch banks. In my mid-50s now.

    So the gist is Ms Kagan cannot be the designated driver and she can’t drive my car!

  114. 114.

    CPinHI

    May 10, 2010 at 5:01 pm

    I’m a product of suburban Houston, and I didn’t learn to drive until my late 20s. I’ve never been able to afford a car until now, so I never bothered to get my license. Does this make me evil??? I did not realize.

  115. 115.

    Martin

    May 10, 2010 at 5:22 pm

    @Wordsmith: Most of my relatives never learned to drive. Not unusual in NYC. OTOH, they would all know how to successfully and efficiently get from Times Square to Flatbush at 2AM blind drunk. Don’t try that in your John Deere.
    @Wile E. Quixote: I think it goes without saying that Ed Whelan is a total fucking pussy. The tank just seals the deal.

  116. 116.

    gocart mozart

    May 10, 2010 at 5:51 pm

    Female driving (horses) as well as voting, property owning, contract making, and general political opinionating was frowned upon in 1776. Why do republicans hate the Founders!

  117. 117.

    Toast

    May 10, 2010 at 6:46 pm

    NYC: Greatest. City. In. The. World.

    The fact that the right routinely holds up NYC as an example of what’s wrong with America just shows how diseased they are.

  118. 118.

    R-Jud

    May 10, 2010 at 6:57 pm

    @Randy P:

    I knew that I would never drive in London the first time I saw a 4-way intersection with no stop signs and a painted roundabout in the middle. So you’re just supposed to… pretend… that there is a traffic circle there? And trust that every one else is pretending the same thing?

    Did you ever get out of London and encounter the country lanes? They are literally just one lane, with 7-foot hawthorn hedgerows on either side (spiky!) and a few inches of wiggle room. Occasionally there is a little divot you can pull off into should you encounter a large truck coming in the other direction. Usually someone has to back up for a few hundred yards to let you pass. There are no traffic lights dictating flow. It’s all luck.

    I’m 5’11 and wear a US 6, and on more than one occasion when I’ve been out running in the lanes, trucks have to back up to let me slide by– that’s how tight these lanes are. I shut my eyes when Mr Jud takes us driving on them.

  119. 119.

    Older

    May 10, 2010 at 8:30 pm

    A lot of people seem to think that New York either is the Real America, or can never be the Real America.

    I have long felt that if New York were to drop off the map entirely, it would make no difference to me. That said, I do not in any way dislike New Yorkers, and I would not be surprised or offended if they felt the same way about where I live.

  120. 120.

    redoubt

    May 10, 2010 at 9:26 pm

    @slag: If Erick bin Erick drives like everyone else in Macon he’s going to need the orange cones himself when he inevitably hits somebody.

    Mid twenties, here. But then I grew up in Chicago, where there are two types of cars–those that have been stolen and those that are going to be stolen.

  121. 121.

    Greg

    May 10, 2010 at 10:31 pm

    I hate New York AND I don’t have a driver’s license or a car. Am I a real American or not? I am so confused.

  122. 122.

    Shell Goddamnit

    May 10, 2010 at 10:33 pm

    @mistersnrub:

    Hoo boy, Doug Heye, RNC communications director, stepped on his prick again:

    Yet Republicans made plain their disagreement with the view of judging expressed by Marshall and endorsed by Kagan — that “it was the role of the courts, in interpreting the Constitution, to protect the people who went unprotected by every other organ of government — to safeguard the interests of people who had no other champion.”

    “Elena Kagan’s endorsement of this empathy standard,” Heye wrote, “has been rejected by the American people.”

    Good lord. Are these people *broken*? What is wrong with them? The idea that the American people reject empathy is insane.

  123. 123.

    Batocchio

    May 10, 2010 at 10:57 pm

    Well, hating the Yankees is a plus, but the important thing is that Kagan obviously can’t be trusted if she uses that socialist public transportation.

    (BTW, DC has pretty good public transportation, too.)

  124. 124.

    brantl

    May 11, 2010 at 8:42 am

    Can we make the driving test retroactive, I’ll bet Scalia, Thomas, Roberts and Alito can’t make a left turn with a gun to their heads, I bet they’ve got to make 4 right turns. And each of those assholes is so contrary that they can’t parallel park, they’d just park perpendicular to the space.

  125. 125.

    brantl

    May 11, 2010 at 10:23 am

    @Bill Arnold: How? If you didn’t push them apart on getting in there, when it was shorter than the car, (and the car’s on the diagonal, it’s longer then), then how did you GET IN?

  126. 126.

    Gatsby

    May 11, 2010 at 10:52 am

    Yeh, well, I’m a NYer, and I only learned how to drive in my mid-thirties. I’m the queen of parallel parking in tight spaces!

  127. 127.

    Phoebe

    May 11, 2010 at 10:56 am

    @JasonF: But Real Americans aren’t wise Latinas. It wasn’t about the relevance of life experience, it was about having the wrong life experience. Like this new alien enemy, Kagan. We don’t want her kind making decisions that affect the Real Ones.

Comments are closed.

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    May 13, 2010 at 11:39 am

    […] Cole has the list. And it really does start to get just a bit absurd after a while, the more things people demand out of a SCOTUS […]

  2. Obama the Tease « Just Above Sunset says:
    May 14, 2010 at 3:29 am

    […] of judicial experience – even if they hate that sort of thing. And is the court packed with too many New Yorkers? What about Real Americans? Of course the less said about Michael Steele demanding that she not […]

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