This can’t be real. Is this an elaborate spoof I have missed out on?
*** Update ***
Consensus is spoof. It is just so hard to tell these days.
by John Cole| 78 Comments
This post is in: Teabagger Stupidity
This can’t be real. Is this an elaborate spoof I have missed out on?
*** Update ***
Consensus is spoof. It is just so hard to tell these days.
Comments are closed.
Kennedy
Should anything from the modern Republican party be surprising anymore?
Stooleo
Tough love, Bitches!
rufflesinc
But that would make it a crime to go Galt …
neil
Sure it’s real. Consider the source.
Dan
A quick search on the google machine makes it seem as if there is no Rep. Jack Kimble.
Rommie
This is why I support Mike Judge bringing back Beavis and Butt-Head, so the boys can look at each other silently for a long pause, and then start laughing.
Tom Hilton
Location: Tehran, Iran.
Yeah, I think it’s a spoof. Damn good one, though.
GambitRF
Yeah, it’s a parody account a-la BPGlobalPR. The fact that it’s plausibly true says a lot though.
snarkypsice
Click through to his website and it becomes obvious it’s a spoof. Pretty accurate though.
PaulW
And how the hell can I pay that fine?! I’m not even getting benefits right now, I’m still trying to get some paperwork cleared up! I’ve got no way to pay a fine I DIDN’T DESERVE!
SOB. Punish ME for a crappy economy I DIDN’T HAVE A HAND IN DESTROYING?! FUCK YOU JACK KIMBLE YOU SELFISH TUNED-OUT BASTARD!
If this is what we’ve got sitting around in an air-conditioned Congress drinking their intern-served tea thinking to themselves “I wonder if I should take the yacht or the jet to Martha’s Vineyard this weekend”… SON OF BITCH VOTE THEM ALL FUCKING OUT.
merrinc
@Dan:
We must not be using the same Google because I find lots of hits for a Republican congressman from California. One example:
http://kimbleforcongress.blogspot.com/
FormerSwingVoter
This has gotta be a hoax. Check out some of his other posts:
Omnes Omnibus
… and debtors’ prison or sale into slavery as a gladiator recruit for everyone who can’t pay the fine? Eighteenth century Britain or 1st century Rome, take your pick.
PaulW
That better be a spoof. If that congressman seriously believes it… I *will* resume spewing profanity until the employment market improves.
El Cid
Fined? The unemployed should be tasered.
FormerSwingVoter
Hahaha… man, the stuff in that Twitter feed is classic!
It’s definitely really him. FOR REALS.
David in NY
Joke, thank God.
John PM
Yes, it is a spoof. I just read some of the entries at the “Congressman’s” website:
http://kimbleforcongress.blogspot.com/
One post had him apologizing to AIPAC for writing a song “Thanks for the Mammeries.”
merrinc
Then again, after reading the link I just posted, this does seem to be a rather elaborate hoax/spoof.
I’d still bet there are some of them who would think that it’s a good idea. Not a whole lot different than putting the homeless in jail, right?
Tom Hilton
@merrinc: um, that’s part of the spoof. Check it out.
Edit: sorry, x-posted.
brendancalling
A better strategy would be for the unemployed to prostitute their children. that way there’s at least SOME income.
/GOP.
El Cid
I think if you read the purported Congressman’s website, it’s a spoof. In decrying cap & trade, he vows to call the atmosphere “crunchy”, and denies that a shoving match he got into with actor Terrence Howard next to the Fox News table was in any way non-playful.
jrg
That’s BS. Just because GOPers use this line of thinking doesn’t mean the rest of us have to. If you believe something that’s false, it’s your own fault for not checking into the story.
David in NY
Look, the liberals have all the jokes. They always have. So why do people hate liberals? I’ve never understood it. (I mean, I understand that some people hate it that they’re too dumb to actually get the jokes, but there can’t be too many of those folks, … can there?)
PaulW
@El Cid:
Stop drawing a bullseye on mah back, El.
Comrade Darkness
Spoof? I would have chalked it up to intellectual honestly, which would have been refreshing.
Omnes Omnibus
@jrg:
No, the the fact that a parody political site could, at first glance, plausible be taken for a real political site does say a lot about the state of political discourse. What was said is very much along the same lines as those who express sympathy for the difficulties the Onion writers face in today’s world. Or in other words, chill out.
martha
If it’s a great spoof, use it against them–sort of like a secondary weapon…
Can you see the look on Boner’s face if he got asked if he believed that people should be fined for not having a job? Priceless!!!
demo woman
The guy could be elected as leader of the Tea Party.
Ash Can
I call spoof; the site’s a hoot. You can’t be too sure these days, though.
(And I wonder how many reality/intellectually-challenged RWers will see that and think it’s a brilliant idea.)
sweetgreensnowpea
anyone in the market for a 60 year old prostitute?
just to pay the fines on the days i don’t work…don’t want to be greedy…
Zifnab
BPGlobalPR was a parody? Are you absolutely sure?
David in NY
@Zifnab:
The very question I was going to ask.
NonyNony
@Omnes Omnibus:
Poe’s Law.
Frankly though I made my saving throw on the original post and thought it was hoax from the get-go. Not because there might not be some Republicans who actually believe that the unemployed are to blame for their plight, but because I can’t see a Republican actually advocating for government intervention in the form of a fine here. Clearly this is something the free market can take care of…
Bulworth
I’m still havin a hard time believing the teabagger who complained about the tanning salon tax as racist wasn’t a spoof.
dj spellchecka
“Consensus is spoof. It is just so hard to tell these days.”
this gives me another chance to mention “poe’s law,” which i think has broad applications…
the original definition: “ Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won’t mistake for the real thing”
Brian J
Either over twitter or one of the various economics blogs I read, I seem to remember reading that some European country actually tried this. I’m not able to find anything, so perhaps I dreamed this, but I’ll keep looking.
cat48
He’s got a blog: Kimble’s Corner & has a copy of a speech he gave recently about the Gulf Oil Spill:
I am reminded of President Reagan after the Challenger disaster when he said, “Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue.”
Don’t know if he was in Tehran at the time.
jibeaux
Somehow, funny.
Mayur
Awesome.
cat48
The funniest spoof I’ve seen on twitter was IsraelGlobalPR. It had tweets like: “Don’t worry Israel will not suffer consequences as we have bought off the US Congress”
It was after the flotilla incident.
Armitage
Seems to me like there’s a simple solution to all of this. Military funding is sacred, unemployment benefits are for losers. Obama just needs to declare a War on Unemployment. Do your patriotic duty and enlist today!
Maybe I’m just missing it, but I’m kind of surprised there’s not a widespread Republican talking point about there being plenty of jobs available at your local military recruiting office.
Tom Hilton
@David in NY:
Because we have all the jokes–that’s why. Humorless people resent funny people; always have, always will.
Bubblegum Tate
Spoof that at least a few teabaggers will endorse.
Tom Hilton
@Bulworth: the tanning salon tax is just a symptom; the real racism is in the overwhelming societal pressure in favor of darker skin.
Third Eye Open
Al Gore is fat, that is all
patrick
it sounded plausibly real, except Jack Kimble is the name of the doctor from “The Fugitive”
and a quick check, there is no US rep Jack Kimble…
http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml
flukebucket
@Bulworth:
I am with you on that Bulworth. I just can’t make myself believe otherwise.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@patrick:
That would be Dr. Richard Kimble.
patrick
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:
yeah, I just realized that reading the thread about the diabetes drug…
4tehlulz
The over/under on when some GOPer proposes this as a serious policy proposal is 48 hrs. Place your bets now!
Josie
OT – This is an interesting bit of news as a follow-up to the stir created by Joe Scarborough about House Minority Leader Boehner’s unwillingness to work hard at his job.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/13/gop-young-guns-book-featu_n_643435.html
Culture of Truth
Isn’t Jack Kimble the guy in The Fugitive?
Also about a drug that caused liver failure, btw
lucslawyer
After Steele, who knows?
Rochester Airport Dragworm
The teabaggers may have liked his truck and his bod, but they are not happy with his kow-towing to those who would limit financial freedoms.
How about we raise taxes on the poor?
Culture of Truth
From the party that wants to know why Obama invaded Afghanistan and urges you to bring a chicken to the doctor, I will believe almost anything.
frankdawg
@Armitage:
I think you may be on to the next Republican ‘idea’. You can collect unemployment or welfare but as a day laborer for the government. Sort of an forced WPA concept. I keep waiting for one of these pea wits to suggest it.
And speaking of pea wits, Minneapolis paper is reporting new poll showing Batshit Bachmann up by 9 points.
Brian J
@Josie:
The less he’s willing to work, the better off the country would be. In fact, I’d be willing to double his salary as long as he and his like-minded, hacktacular cohorts simply stay away from the chamber and let the grown ups try to solve problems.
fucen tarmal
@Tom Hilton:
well, i mean every one knows that once you go black, you never go back, and the darker the berry the sweeter the juice, how are white people supposed to compete with that?
frankdawg
@Tom Hilton:
I’m reminded of Tom Lehrer’s “Folksong Army”
Remember the war against Franco,
A fight where each of us belongs!
He may have won all the battles,
but we had all the good songs!
Ash Can
@Josie: I like the idea of House Republicans distracted by a leadership struggle. If only that could happen in the Senate too.
ellaesther
Of course the obvious — and actually rather important — point is that if the far right weren’t so close to this crazy, we wouldn’t have had to ask the question.
atlliberal
@David in NY:
We will find out in November.
Josie
@Ash Can: Exactly. It could happen, too, because some of the more militant Republicans think McConnell (sp?) is playing too nice with the Dems. I read somewhere that they were unhappy with his decision to not go to Nevada to attack Harry Reid.
Randy Ann
It’s a noble idea – we don’t want lazy people consuming their savings, living off their capital and producing nothing – but fining the unemployed would just give the government more money to waste.
I suggest, instead, that we fine the unemployed and use the fines to pay unemployment benefits until they can find themselves jobs. Talk about bootstraps!
brantl
@frankdawg: If this actually paid a living wage, and kept you in contact with your job-aquiring resources, it would be a damn good idea.
Josie
@Brian J: I think that is what the “Young Guns” are afraid of, that he won’t function as an effective leader of the opposition. By the way, I left you a message on the open thread about keeping pets in law school, a motherly type message.
bago
Child of eden…
http://www.spike.com/video/child-of-eden-e3/3416654?cmpnid=790&pt=sr&refsite=7118
Seriously.
There are sacrificial testicles involved in this project.
Seriously
Senyordave
With apologies to Jonathon Swift, I propose we eat the unemployed – it would save money and be very green. Another possibility is to use them to absorb the oil in the gulf.
Now where do I go to get my check from Dick Armey? At the very least this should get me a staff position at the Heritage Foundation or the American Enterprise Institute.
Punchy
Genius.
Dead Ernest
@fucen tarmal:
Celebrate that Blind Bitterness!
“We’re Somwhere! We Don’t Care About You! Get Over It!”
Laura Clawson
That guy is hilarious. I started following him in the run-up to the MA-Sen special election when he had some real gems about Scott Brown.
For instance: RT @RepJackKimble: When 9/11 volunteer rescue workers forgot what volunteer means, Scott Brown held the line on $$ for health care handouts.
wmd
Give away is he claims to represent CA 54th house district.
CA has 53 house districts.
David in NY
@frankdawg:
I started this, and I have always thought of my view that “Liberals have all the best jokes” as a corollary to the Lehrer theorem that “[W]e had all the good songs.”
asiangrrlMN
Hm. I, too, thought the doc in Fugitive was Jack Kimble. Weird. At any rate, I, too, would have no problem believing this is real. The other stuff he’s posted is clearly satire. Giving how much the Republicans hate the unemployed, this one, not so much.
Tom Hilton
@asiangrrlMN: Richard Kimble. Which is too bad, because if it were Jack Kimble it would tie this thread back to the Leverage/SmithKline thread.
Tim I
Googling Jack Kimble turns up a number of hilarious spoofs.
Here is a link to his Christmas post:
There is a fantastic CSPAN interview as well.
Mary
My brother is Jack Kimble and he’s a genius. My other brother is Nate Peele. You can check out his genius at [email protected]. My brother is 8 years younger than me and I taught him everything he knows about politics. I am very, very proud.