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Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

T R E 4 5 O N

You cannot shame the shameless.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

There is no right way to do the wrong thing.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

A consequence of cucumbers

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

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It’s a doggy dog world.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

It could be worse. Vance could have said “post-menopausal sows.” Waiting for that audiotape to surface.

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If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Donald Trump, welcome to your everything, everywhere, all at once.

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Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

You are here: Home / Over the Line, Smokey!

Over the Line, Smokey!

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You have to be kidding me:

Tommy Christopher reports that Dale Robertson, a self-described tea party activist who was basically drummed out of the movement over holding a quasi-racist sign, has signed up with the Washington Times as a contributor to its tea party blog. Christopher’s quick rundown explains just how strange this is:

    Robertson, you may recall, was thrust back into the limelight in March, when he was quoted by the paper as never having seen any racial slurs at tea parties, despite having been photographed holding a sign that featured the N-word. He told us the photo was a fake, which our expert then disputed, before a sea of journalists came forward to point out that Robertson had already admitted to holding the sign.

I guess if I was to attempt a defense of the Moonie Times it would be that considering Fox has Glenn Beck, CNN just hired a guy who called Justice Souter a goat fucking child molester, numerous Republicans in the House are birthers, and apparently believing it is a-ok for business to racially discriminate and that the ADA should be rolled back lets you run for the Senate, if you’re a wingnut it is hard to figure out just why this might be over the line.

Pretty clearly our media and political betters have decided to let their freak flag fly, so when you start talking about signs with the n-bomb, we’ve reached a period of nuance and personal preference.

Reader Interactions

69Comments

  1. 1.

    beltane

    Didn’t the Washington Times go out of business recently? Is this all a bad dream?

  3. 3.

    comrade scott's agenda of rage

    No but the Moonies put it up for sale. It’s been bleeding red ink since it’s inception and apparently the Great Recession has hurt Moonie finances.

    That’s okay, the Examiner is there to carry on the right wing print standard in DC. Not sure where its money comes from–it’s gotta be a money pit as well.

    And CNN wonders why it’s ratings have gone in the dumper.

  4. 4.

    aimai

    Can I just say that I’m still floored by the hiring of the “goat fucking child molester” guy on a major network. I mean, I can remember when people who were going to go out in public at all needed to at least wipe the spittle from their lips and use polite language. I guess I’m getting old.

    aimai

  5. 5.

    cyntax

    I’m still gobsmacked that even with people like Glenn Beck, Erick Erickson, and this ya-hoo, we still have a “liberal media.”

    When are we gonna get some damn trotskyites on air for balance?

  7. 7.

    dmsilev

    @aimai: He claimed that he had “really matured a lot” since that comment, or some similar drivel. And if anyone believes that, I’ve got a great deal on a vintage suspension bridge in New York City; excellent condition and a bargain price.

    dms

  9. 9.

    WereBear

    I guess if you were running a goat bestiality blog, you’d want someone with experience.

    Can anyone deny he’s a real tea party kinda guy?

  13. 13.

    Chuck

    Apparently it only rises to “quasi-racist” if you can’t manage to spell “Nigger” correctly.

    Why does the Moonie Times still enjoy a seat in the Washington pool? Seriously, does Stormfront have a blogger in there?

  14. 14.

    jonas

    @cyntax: This is absolutely right. The only conceivable “balance” to this stuff would be for the New York Times or CNN to reserve a major column or program for an anarcho-syndicalist antiglobalism activist who would argue with his Trotskyite guest over whether capitalists should be merely summarily shot, or forced into reeducation camps. And other MSM outlets would have to comment on this discussion as “some other interesting opinions out there today…”

  15. 15.

    matoko_chan

    we can resist.
    look, i get to use my UD definition of rasmussen statistics!
    Pollster finds an example of rasmussen statistics in Arkansas.

    This morning, we posted results from a new survey of Arkansas conducted by the firm Research 2000 on behalf of Democracy for America. The survey was conducted on Tuesday night among 500 “Democratic voters” who said the had voted in the Democratic primary that day. It shows Bill Halter with a not-statistically-significant two point lead over Senator Blanche Lincoln (48% to 46%).
    While the DFA release is less than transparent about several aspects of their methodology (including how voters were sampled and whether and how the results were weighted), they do disclose the two most important things you need to know about this particular poll: The order in which questions were asked and the fact that Democracy for America is a political action committee that has formally endorsed Bill Halter.

    i think the poll/statistics guild can push back more effectively against rasmussen statistics than the journalist/media guild can push back against foxnews. the media needs reader/viewers worse.

  17. 17.

    Kryptik

    But remember folks, calling someone a Teabagger shows you just how prejudiced you are and is grounds for considering you totally unserious.

  19. 19.

    Kryptik

    @jonas:

    Are you kidding? The only way to balance something like this would be to hire Bill Kristol again, don’tcha know. Don’t you remember that the media is still a liberal wasteland of prejudice against the poor conservatives wanting to stop the Leftist Destruction of Great AMerica?!

  20. 20.

    cyntax

    @jonas:

    And other MSM outlets would have to comment on this discussion as “some other interesting opinions out there today…”

    Ah, now that would be funny… and just.

    And that might just make me believe in a higher power.

  21. 21.

    El Cid

    @jonas:

    The only conceivable “balance” to this stuff would be for the New York Times or CNN to reserve a major column or program for an anarcho-syndicalist antiglobalism activist who would argue with his Trotskyite guest over whether capitalists should be merely summarily shot, or forced into reeducation camps

    I would subscribe to that.

  24. 24.

    jl

    From the link:

    “So he’s known for two things — holding a sign with a racial slur, then lying about it.”

    Will David Broder cry? Will Morning Joe Bully call them out?

    I think liberals, progressives and the left should remain consistent in the face of this madness. We should NOT ask for standard media ‘balance’ here.

    I do not want the lefty counterparts of Glenn Beck, Erick Whatever, or the guy known for two things (holding signs with racial slurs and then lying about it) on the teevee.

    Just some sane informed and incisive sane people who are not afraid of doing their homework and calling out BS.

    The Village will call such sane people the loony left, but who cares? I think the average voter will see the difference.

    It also amazes me how predictable the insane reactionaries have become. They are like those bugs who act like they reason through problems, but if you alter their environment so that their routines makes no sense, they conintue to do the same thing over and over again.

    So, Ron Paul’s bizarre nonsense and sleazy half retreat for the sake of Freedom started with bashing the basic necessity of very basic racial integration in society is all the loony left’s fault. Interesting that race and ethnicity also conveniently happen to be the current dog whistle wedge issues.

    And Democrats are the real opponents of civil rights, not the current GOP.

    Hoocoodanode that would be the response?

    I hope the teabaggers and the GOP keep this up all the way through election day. That may save us.

  26. 26.

    Warren Terra

    What Tom Hilton said, except that I’d thought the Moonie Times was meant to have tried to leave their history of overt glaring racism behind when they fired Wes Pruden and Robert Stacy McCain.

  28. 28.

    "Fair and Balanced" Dave

    OK, exactly how batshit insane does a wingnut have to be before the so-called “mainstream” media stops taking him/her seriously?

  30. 30.

    jl

    I am bending my mind trying to think what freak the media would have to trot out for appropriate balance, for reals.

    A trisexual anarcho-fascist-crypto monarchist who bites the heads off rats live on teevee to advocate for veganism? That will be appropriate balance for Beck, I guess.

  31. 31.

    Ed Drone

    @licensed to kill time:
    Almost a perfect haiku, you know. I tried to improve it, syllable-wise:

    Cry, the beloved country
    Our news The Onion
    Only without the laughs

    Admittedly, it doesn’t have the traditional mention of nature or seasons, but it has the syllable count.

    But whatever the form, it’s too damned accurate. Gives me shivers and nearly tears, it does.

    Ed

  32. 32.

    slag

    Wait a second. There are lines? I did not know that. I just thought that “accidents happen” and nobody anywhere had to take responsibility for anything at all ever. Where’d these lines come from all of a sudden? And why do they hate our freedom?

  34. 34.

    me

    @Uli Kunkel: Also, Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature.

    Anyway, on the bright side, with the Washington Times funding issues he won’t have a job for long.

  35. 35.

    bemused

    I’d completely forgoten reading about this Dale Robertson guy, too many nutjobs out there, that my first thought was, oh no, not another old wingnut Hollywood actor gone teabagger. Smacking head.

  36. 36.

    ksmiami

    I think the operative term here is INSANE CLOWN POSSE. The right has gone off the rails. I feel a MORAL imperative to vote, donate and do what I can to prevent these jerks from further destroying our country. total jerk-off crazies undeserving of office.

    also, too, I hate these people and their wackaloon ignorant enablers.

  37. 37.

    bemused

    The Moonie Times is going to have to hire a full time spell checker/editor for Robertson’s blogs.

  38. 38.

    jl

    About time some of the commenters who are expert on that subfield chime in on the theoretical physics of peak wingnut.

  43. 43.

    SIA

    @aimai: I stopped watching CNN when they hired him, and just sent them a 2nd email explaining that his presence as well as the fake journalists John King & Candy Crowley were the reasons I no longer view CNN. I wish they would try a wild experiment: Fire all the top heavy pundits, become the actual “news” cable outlet, with real reporting, fact-checking, serious interviews, and panels consisting of non-celebrities who don’t make my skin crawl.

  44. 44.

    Ed Drone

    @WereBear:

    Q. How long does it take to tune a banjo?
    A. No one knows — it’s never been done.

    Q. How crazy can the Republicans get?
    A. No one knows — no one has reached the limit so far.
    .

    Ed

  46. 46.

    jrg

    Just some sane informed and incisive sane people who are not afraid of doing their homework and calling out BS.

    Hahahahah. Hah Haaaaaah! That’s precious.

    I want a fucking pony, but ponies don’t make for good TV ratings, do they? We all know where the real money is… creating controversy!

    Besides, people who do their homework are liberals. If 50% of your program is not devoted to bullshit, you’re left-leaning by definition.

  47. 47.

    Ed Drone

    @licensed to kill time:

    Maybe it’s a stretch, but the dual meaning of ‘onion’ is a subtle bow to tradition while remaining tres moderne, nes pas?

    Ed

    (and don’t proof-read my French — I’m nearly mono-lingual, and the smattering of ‘furrin’ languages I know don’t include that one.)

  48. 48.

    jl

    @jrg: Good point. Some one tell me when the anarcho-fascist-crypto monarchist who bites the heads off rats live on teevee to advocate for veganism is on Morning Joe.

  50. 50.

    Malaclypse

    OK, exactly how batshit insane does a wingnut have to be before the so-called “mainstream” media stops taking him/her seriously?

    At least three Buchanan Units.

  51. 51.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    A trisexual anarcho-fascist-crypto monarchist who bites the heads off rats live on teevee to advocate for veganism? That will be appropriate balance for Beck, I guess.

    And they’d both say everything is just like Hitler.

  52. 52.

    Tsulagi

    I guess if I was to attempt a defense of the Moonie Times it would be that considering Fox has Glenn Beck, CNN just hired a guy who called Justice Souter a goat fucking child molester, numerous Republicans in the House are birthers, and apparently believing it is a-ok for business to racially discriminate and that the ADA should be rolled back lets you run for the Senate, if you’re a wingnut it is hard to figure out just why this might be over the line.

    Okay that was funny. USA! USA!

    I dunno, in Darwin’s theory is there some point where shit starts devolving? Maybe that was the millennium bug.

  53. 53.

    Sator Arepo

    1) I don’t know why anyone–at all–bothers to take the Moonie Times even remotely seriously.

    2) In the future, please hyphenate “goat-fucking” where needed.

    I don’t care much, really, it’s just a hilarious juxtaposition, as:

    Proper punctuation and usage + profanity = WIN

    [insert Balloon Juice meme here]

  54. 54.

    MikeJ

    @Tsulagi<

    >: I dunno, in Darwin’s theory is there some point where shit starts devolving?

    Nope. Organisms become more fit for the environment they are in. The fact that these things are considered acceptable is an indictment of the political and media environment in which they take place.

  57. 57.

    dj spellchecka

    i get the daily moonie email for giggles and recently, they’ve started printing op-eds from ted nugent. [yes, that ted nugent]… if that isn’t rail-jumping crazy enough for y’all, his epistles make the “most read” list every time….

  58. 58.

    maus

    @Tsulagi:

    I dunno, in Darwin’s theory is there some point where shit starts devolving?

    Even considering the pseudoscience of Social Darwinism, the existence of technological innovations like Satellite TV, Twitter and Facebook do not make for a “more advanced” society.

    While the laws have gotten better to protect us, we’ve gotten lazy and the media wants to push everyone in a “post-racial” hole where they don’t have to report on the unpopular human interest stories that go over poorly with their advertisers and rednecks.

    “more advanced” suggests that things change with each generation. They don’t, we just start over and do the same dumb fucking mistakes over and over again. That’s what makes the Pauls’ shrill statements about removing all legal protections of person so terrifying, that Libertopian “people will be innately good, and when they’re not, that’s the cost of a ‘free’ society” speech that’s obviously from a position of entitlement.

  59. 59.

    ET

    Considering what has gone on with the Washington Times I wonder how long for the world it is.

  60. 60.

    Derek

    Argh, eat my balls, Word Press!

    @Mark S.:

    “Parking would be difficult, staying alive even harder.” I can’t stop reading that line! Its so funny it makes staying alive even harder! Epic. Someone needs to submit it to Bulwer-Lytton this instant. I mean that. It’s destiny! Dark and stormy destiny.

    That line is fucking hilarious. I am going to make a complete sentence from that using some other part from Robertson’s bio and send it to Lyttle Lytton, for the “Found” contest.

    (I tried to put a link to Lyttle Lytton, but WP didn’t like that. Anyway, google it if you’re interested. Few things have ever made me laugh harder.)

  61. 61.

    Cacti

    Well, this is the Moonie Times we’re talking about.

    It’s not like they’ve ever tried to hide their role as a right wing propaganda rag.

  63. 63.

    Ash Can

    Why wouldn’t the Moonie Times hire a(nother) racist? I should think that racism would be a feature rather than a bug for the people on its staff. I’d find it remarkable if the MT didn’t hire racists.

  64. 64.

    matoko_chan

    oh please please please let my Urban Dictionary definition post soon!
    I want to invite Dave Weigel to contribute.

    Scott Rasmussen, the firm’s president, laughed off the criticism.

    Laff this off, Scott, you tool.

    Thanks for your definition of Rasmussen Statistics!
    Editors reviewed your entry and have decided to publish it on urbandictionary.com.
    It should appear on this page in the next few days:
    http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rasmussen%20Statistics
    Urban Dictionary

    what i submitted–

    Rasmussen Statistics
    Fake or selectively massaged statistics published in the interest of supporting a particular narrative. Based on techniques from “How to Lie with Statistics.”
    Rasmussen Statistics include positive poll selection, house bias and sampling distortion.
    Named for celebrity pollster Scott Rasmussen who selectively did not poll PA-12 because he knew the liberal candidate would win.
    Rasmussen statistics are often cited by teabaggers, followers of the Tea Party Movement….for example, “the Tea Party Movement is bipartisan and multi-racial” is an example of Rasmussen Statistics.

  65. 65.

    asiangrrlMN

    Good lord. I really think I am going to out-crazy Michelle Malkin and cash in on the rightwing gravy train. Then, in five years, give all the money to Amnesty International and other organizations such as that. I can do token for five years, right? And I can give starbursts if needed.

    By the way, my local town had a Tea Party and were proud to announce that OVER FIFTY PEOPLE showed up. You read that right. OVER FIFTY PEOPLE. Snicker.

  66. 66.

    Origuy

    I could get fifty people together right now by sending out an email that there’s cake in the break room. On Friday afternoon at four. If I had cake.

  67. 67.

    mclaren

    Instead of a Gay Pride parade, the media can hold a yearly Kook Pride parade.

    I’m just surprised that CNN or Fox News or the Washington Post haven’t yet hired David Ickes (“The Grey Reptoids are Mutants From Atlantis Who Bred With Lizards”) as a political commentator.

    I’d really love to see a round table discussion on CNN or Fox News between David Ickes, who says that grey reptoids from Atlantis abduct and eat our children and William D. Brehm, who says that UFOs are full of demons sent by Satan to deceive us, and that Byerly guy who says the earth is hollow and full of Nazis.

    The Wall Street Journal could write an opinion piece about that debate describing it as a “very serious debate between our most important political thinkers.”

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