• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

We still have time to mess this up!

The revolution will be supervised.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

This blog will pay for itself.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

All your base are belong to Tunch.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

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

You can’t love your country only when you win.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Mobile Menu

  • Winnable House Races
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Balloon Juice 2023 Pet Calendar (coming soon)
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • War in Ukraine
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • 2021-22 Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Politics / Republican Stupidity / The Republican Party in a Microcosm

The Republican Party in a Microcosm

by John Cole|  August 16, 201012:20 pm| 95 Comments

This post is in: Republican Stupidity, Assholes, Bring on the Brawndo!, Fucked-up-edness

FacebookTweetEmail

Salon has a good rundown of how the hysteria over the community center in NY started. In a nutshell, Pam Gellar and Rupert Murdoch:

Here’s a timeline of how it all happened:

– Dec. 8, 2009: The Times publishes a lengthy front-page look at the Cordoba project. “We want to push back against the extremists,” Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the lead organizer, is quoted as saying. Two Jewish leaders and two city officials, including the mayor’s office, say they support the idea, as does the mother of a man killed on 9/11. An FBI spokesman says the imam has worked with the bureau. Besides a few third-tier right-wing blogs, including Pamela Geller’s Atlas Shrugs site, no one much notices the Times story.

– Dec. 21, 2009: Conservative media personality Laura Ingraham interviews Abdul Rauf’s wife, Daisy Khan, while guest-hosting “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox. In hindsight, the segment is remarkable for its cordiality. “I can’t find many people who really have a problem with it,” Ingraham says of the Cordoba project, adding at the end of the interview, “I like what you’re trying to do.”

– (This segment also includes onscreen the first use that we’ve seen of the misnomer “ground zero mosque.”) After the segment — and despite the front-page Times story — there were no news articles on the mosque for five and a half months, according to a search of the Nexis newspaper archive.

– May 6, 2010: After a unanimous vote by a New York City community board committee to approve the project, the AP runs a story. It quotes relatives of 9/11 victims (called by the reporter), who offer differing opinions. The New York Post, meanwhile, runs a story under the inaccurate headline, “Panel Approves ‘WTC’ Mosque.” Geller is less subtle, titling her post that day, “Monster Mosque Pushes Ahead in Shadow of World Trade Center Islamic Death and Destruction.” She writes on her Atlas Shrugs blog, “This is Islamic domination and expansionism. The location is no accident. Just as Al-Aqsa was built on top of the Temple in Jerusalem.” (To get an idea of where Geller is coming from, she once suggested that Malcolm X was Obama’s real father. Seriously.)

Basically, as with everything else with the modern GOP, fringe lunatics gin up a story, Murdoch pimps it, and then the rest of the Wurlitzer takes over. Loudmouth radio announcers, shameless politicians, wingnut bloggers, and unhinged lunatics unite to create a controversy out of nowhere.

This is why I simply have no respect for anyone who remains with the GOP. Period. This is the modern Republican party in a nutshell, whether it be death panels, the MONSTER MOSQUE, terror babies, or Obama’s birth certificate. The crazy people are running the show, and folks who remain in the GOP but tepidly speak out against it aid and abet the lunacy. We should stop using the phrase “reasonable Republican” and “sane conservatives” and call them what they really are- accomplices. It’s Malkin and Gellar and Louis Gohmert and Palin and Bachmann’s party now, and they’re just providing them cover.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Fun with Kaplan
Next Post: Classic Fred… »

Reader Interactions

95Comments

  1. 1.

    beltane

    August 16, 2010 at 12:24 pm

    If the Republican party cannot protect us from a virago like Pam Geller, how can they be expected to protect us from the terrorists?

  2. 2.

    Crashman

    August 16, 2010 at 12:25 pm

    “Monster Mosque.” Ha. A twelve story building might be a towering edifice to Muslim domination in some shit ass backwater middle America town, but in downtown Manhattan it’s just another small fucking building.

    These people need to sack up.

  3. 3.

    Steve

    August 16, 2010 at 12:25 pm

    Speaking of Murdoch, today’s NY Post cover: “HAMAS BIG BACKS MOSQUE: Terror Boss Likes GZ Site.”

  4. 4.

    soonergrunt

    August 16, 2010 at 12:26 pm

    The crazy people are running the show, and folks who remain in the GOP but tepidly speak out against it aid and abet the lunacy.

    Some of us felt that way in 2001, but we were laughed at and called un-American.

  5. 5.

    PurpleGirl

    August 16, 2010 at 12:27 pm

    OT. The Supremes (this time Alito, previously Thomas) has turned down petition to review the $20,000 fine to Taitz from 2009.

    http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2010/08/16/us/politics/AP-US-Georgia-Birthers.html?hp

  6. 6.

    beltane

    August 16, 2010 at 12:27 pm

    @Steve: Even though Rupert Murdoch is very old, he may yet live to stand trial for crimes against humanity at the rate he’s going.

  7. 7.

    steviez314

    August 16, 2010 at 12:28 pm

    Oh, I don’t know–maybe we should spend 48 more hours parsing Obama’s words down to their guttural atoms, and then re-form the circular firing squad. Beats fighting against the crazy loons.

    Have you thought of a new tag “Gibbs was right”?

  8. 8.

    beltane

    August 16, 2010 at 12:28 pm

    @PurpleGirl: If she has lost Alito, it is safe to say she has lost everything but her wig.

  9. 9.

    martha

    August 16, 2010 at 12:29 pm

    @soonergrunt: I resemble that remark.

  10. 10.

    Raenelle

    August 16, 2010 at 12:29 pm

    The reason people stay with the Republican Party is that the Democrats are just as bad. Remember, BOTH Michael Moore AND Al Gore are fat.

  11. 11.

    NonyNony

    August 16, 2010 at 12:30 pm

    @soonergrunt:

    Some of us felt that way in 2001, but we were laughed at and called un-American.

    And some of us saw it in the mid 90s, and got out then. It was just as true then as it is now, except Newt and company sounded more edu-ma-cated and less bug-eyed nuts.

    Of course, the folks who saw it in 1980 and got off the bus back then are probably justified in rolling their eyes at the lot of us…

  12. 12.

    Dead Ernest

    August 16, 2010 at 12:32 pm

    John, no matter how much you might vary day-to-day [given your plight of being human] whenever you offer;

    In a nutshell,

    I’m always left with an appreciation for how well you you sum up the essence of an issue.

    Yours in pithy nuttiness,
    D.E.

  13. 13.

    Resident Firebagger

    August 16, 2010 at 12:35 pm

    Reasonable Republicans and sane conservatives? What do you think makes up the Democratic Party?

    You are right when you call them accomplices though…

  14. 14.

    ruemara

    August 16, 2010 at 12:37 pm

    Well, Republicans are nuts and evil, but if I have to read one more comment from supposed progressives referencing how 70% of Americans think this mosque is bad idea, I’m gonna explode. Hey, RealAmerica, you spent a lot of time hating us big city folk, now we’re hallowed ground? Fuck you. Why the fuck do you think your poll should direct us NYers? Double fuck you with a brick. And the whining about the supposed “backtrack”. Listening to Thom Hartmann and he’s ranting about how Obama is betraying his principles. This country is damned stupid sometimes.

  15. 15.

    PurpleGirl

    August 16, 2010 at 12:37 pm

    @beltane: When I read the article, it made me smile a little.

  16. 16.

    Roger Moore

    August 16, 2010 at 12:39 pm

    @Raenelle:

    Remember, BOTH Michael Moore AND Al Gore are fat.

    So, does that mean they’ve been secretly conspiring to drive up our health care costs? Is this part of their nefarious scheme to force us into French-style socialized health care?

  17. 17.

    Quaker in a Basement

    August 16, 2010 at 12:40 pm

    For 9 years running, the wingers have been demanding to know, “Why won’t moderate Muslims speak out?”

    Well, here’s your moderate Muslims. NOW can you guess why they’d rather keep a low profile?

  18. 18.

    Keith G

    August 16, 2010 at 12:40 pm

    This is why I simply have no respect for anyone who remains with the GOP.

    I agree. Unfortunately, it’s working for them. Elements of the base are rallied, Obama’s message (if any) is derailed, and the “Obama is feckless” meme is advanced.

    What’s the answer? Really. Cole is criticizing assholes for acting like assholes. It’s what they do and it achieves a certain level of, at least, short term success.

    The question in my mind is along the lines of what will the leadership of my side do challenge back?

  19. 19.

    Tax Analyst

    August 16, 2010 at 12:42 pm

    I found myself mostly stunned, and then totally pissed off when I turned on the CBS news last night and had them flailing away trying to make what Obama said about it into something “controversial”.

    All I really wanted was today’s weather forecast anyway, so I changed the channel and got that somewhere else.

  20. 20.

    chopper

    August 16, 2010 at 12:43 pm

    @ruemara:

    sometimes?

  21. 21.

    chopper

    August 16, 2010 at 12:46 pm

    @Quaker in a Basement:

    well, the question ‘where are the moderate muslims’ is a rhetorical one outta the GOP. moderate muslims have been denouncing terrorism and al qaeda and that shit forever but the goopers pretend they don’t exist.

  22. 22.

    MattF

    August 16, 2010 at 12:46 pm

    How about “fellow travelers”? I’d also suggest “pinkos,” ‘cept that might be confusing w.r.t. us actual pinkos.

  23. 23.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    August 16, 2010 at 12:46 pm

     

    The crazy people are running the show, and folks who remain in the GOP but tepidly speak out against it aid and abet the lunacy. We should stop using the phrase “reasonable Republican” and “sane conservatives” and call them what they really are- accomplices.

    Mr Nail, meet Mr. Hammer.

  24. 24.

    JenJen

    August 16, 2010 at 12:47 pm

    I’d love to see some reporting on who the 9/11 Families who are organized against Cordoba House actually are.

    Josh Marshall wrote something illuminating last night that I wish he’d expand upon. For example, I didn’t realize the most outspoken 9/11 Families “spokesperson” is in cahoots with Liz Cheney, and co-founded “Keep America Safe.”

    There’s a lot of there, there. I’d like to see some reporting. Bet I don’t though.

  25. 25.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    August 16, 2010 at 12:48 pm

    Interesting. GOP membership is still toxic in the eyes of many new political candidates. As I traveled around New Hampshire this summer I noticed that many Republican candidates, i.e. those running for Judd Gregg’s seat, do not use the more traditional all red yard signs, but indeed are using, in some cases, all blue signs to run in a GOP primary. As a matter of fact a couple of the Senate primary candidates in no way identify their political affiliation. A couple of them establishment types which makes it even more interesting. But, hey, when Palin, Bachmann, and Gohmert represent the mainstream of your party, you got issues.

  26. 26.

    jl

    August 16, 2010 at 12:52 pm

    Regarding the Douthat soft soap wing of this effort, I have made a list of reactionary Christian fundamentalist organizations and movements that I believe have endorsed violence and oppression, and other sundry things that I do not like.

    I think Douthat should lose his NY Times column until he, and all other people I decide he is like (eg David Brooks) properly revile, reprobate, reject, renounce, repudiate and refudiate, to my satisfaction said reactionary Christian fundamentalist organizations.

    He is, after all, a professed Christian.

    Why does this man, who has not refudiated all persons and groups associated with all things I deem bad in his religion still have a column?

    We need a list of places where Christians have committed violence, so we can make a fuss whenever some one wants to build a church within some arbitrary distance, since that would be ‘insensitive’.

  27. 27.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    August 16, 2010 at 12:55 pm

    We should stop using the phrase “reasonable Republican” and “sane conservatives” and call them what they really are- accomplices.

    Isn’t that what you called EDK?

  28. 28.

    NonyNony

    August 16, 2010 at 12:55 pm

    @The Grand Panjandrum:

    As I traveled around New Hampshire this summer I noticed that many Republican candidates, i.e. those running for Judd Gregg’s seat, do not use the more traditional all red yard signs, but indeed are using, in some cases, all blue signs to run in a GOP primary.

    This actually doesn’t mean that much – the red/blue distinction is a pretty recent one (2001) and political consultants often think that red signs irritate people more than blue or green signs. (I don’t know if there’s any evidence to back this up, or if it’s one of those pieces of common wisdom that are so commonly wrong). This could just be an indication that one political consultant won out over another one when it came to picking sign colors.

    As a matter of fact a couple of the Senate primary candidates in no way identify their political affiliation.

    This, OTOH, is very telling. Democrats have done this for decades – leaving their party affiliation off their literature out of fear that the negative associations of the Democratic brand will taint their campaign. When Republicans start ditching the word “Republican” from their campaign literature, that’s an indication that the Republican brand isn’t a good thing to associate with anymore.

    Time will tell if they’ve managed to kill their brand as effectively as the Democrats have managed to kill theirs.

  29. 29.

    Flugelhorn

    August 16, 2010 at 12:55 pm

    Typical John Cole. Someone does something he doesn’t like and its all those damn Republican’s fault. Arlen Specter lite.

    Got news, buddy! With over 70% of Americans nationwide against the mosque and almost 80% of New Yorkers (A DEMOCRAT STRONGHOLD) I would wager that a significant portion of people against this Mosque are democrats. Over 54% as a matter of fact (nationwide) and a larger percentage within New York. 70% of independents do not want this mosque near Ground Zero either.

  30. 30.

    Frank

    August 16, 2010 at 12:57 pm

    @Quaker in a Basement:

    For 9 years running, the wingers have been demanding to know, “Why won’t moderate Muslims speak out?” Well, here’s your moderate Muslims. NOW can you guess
    why they’d rather keep a low profile?

    Not only that, why won’t moderate Christians speak out against abortion clinic bombings and the murders of countless abortion doctors?

  31. 31.

    flukebucket

    August 16, 2010 at 12:58 pm

    We should stop using the phrase “reasonable Republican” and “sane conservatives”

    What are we gonna call E.D. Kain?

  32. 32.

    cat48

    August 16, 2010 at 12:58 pm

    Well, Gop Wurlitzer, did an excellent job! Mosques being planned in TX, CA, and TN have been protested by Teaparty types in the past few months. That’s probably why Obama got involved in the first place as he mentioned other protests around the country in his speech. It looks to be out of control. It’s their new cause when they’re not protesting immigrants or Kenyan Muslim presnits. People need to be reminded that we’re supposed to protect basic rights whether we like them or not. It’s not always a comfortable thing to do but necessary. (GUNS)

  33. 33.

    Bulworth

    August 16, 2010 at 12:59 pm

    For 9 years running, the wingers have been demanding to know, “Why won’t moderate Muslims speak out?” Well, here’s your moderate Muslims. NOW can you guess why they’d rather keep a low profile?

    Well, I think the wingers’ definition of a “moderate Muslim” is one who refudiates Mohammed and burns the Koran.

  34. 34.

    jl

    August 16, 2010 at 1:01 pm

    BTW, in my travels through the byways and highways of obscure California (obscure except for LA and Sand Diego), what ‘the little people’ were worried about was the economy.

    People felt stressed about keeping their jobs, humiliated that wages for the work they did was under severe downward pressure. Upset and cynical about the future of social security and Medicare, and the security of their retirement.

    Everything seemed to boil down to economic insecurity and what might be called long term and irreversible downward mobility for them, their family, their friends. Worries and doubts about environmentalism, global warming, public employees, unions, business and financial regulation, it all came down to jobs.

    No one I met was concerned about ‘the not mosque not at but deemed to be too near ground zero’. Or sharia law.

    Of course, this was California, which might be state full of suspect Cosmopolitian subversives, even if they seemed like working class real Americans to me (who is probably considered a super Cosmopolitan by the Know Nothing Party)

    I cannot believe this xenophobic scare mongering will be a big issue in the election, except as part of GOTV for the base. But I might be wrong.

  35. 35.

    jacy

    August 16, 2010 at 1:01 pm

    @Flugelhorn:

    A) it’s not even a mosque, and

    B) how did you get access to McMegan’s calculator? And

    C) really, WTF?

  36. 36.

    HRA

    August 16, 2010 at 1:02 pm

    I am respected! Thanks, John.

    A few things led me to change from the Repubs to the Dems.
    The lies about going into Iraq for a war.
    Picking McCain for candidate.
    Palin was the last gasp.

    Most of all, it was Obama. It was long overdue IMO.

    Btw, I spent some of my growing up years in Dearborn, MI. My Dad’s best friend was a Moslem and I addressed him as uncle. Yes, only in private to those they trust will they address any problems.

  37. 37.

    kdaug

    August 16, 2010 at 1:03 pm

    @The Grand Panjandrum:

    You go to elections with the mainstream you’ve got, not the one you want.

  38. 38.

    Frank

    August 16, 2010 at 1:05 pm

    @Flugelhorn:

    Got news, buddy! With over 70% of Americans nationwide against the mosque and almost 80% of New Yorkers (A DEMOCRAT STRONGHOLD) I would wager that a significant portion of people against this Mosque are democrats. Over 54% as a matter of fact (nationwide) and a larger percentage within New York. 70% of independents do not want this mosque near Ground Zero either.

    Who cares? It is not up to a vote. They have right to build there. I assume you are a real American who believes in our constitution including the First Amendment.

    By the way (since you went there), a majority of the people in Manhattan are for it. You do realize it is being built in Manhattan. Who are you to question what they want?

  39. 39.

    p.a.

    August 16, 2010 at 1:05 pm

    Just change the issues and the names of the ‘outrage artists’ and you have the history of the Republican Party since the days of Nixon/Agnew.

    And goddamn the “New Left’. Their revolutionary street/performance theater seems to be the template for this ‘fauxtrage/poutrage’ movement. (See, it always is ‘the left’s’ fault.)

  40. 40.

    Steven Rockford

    August 16, 2010 at 1:06 pm

    “The crazy people are running the show..”

    This is a great description of the modern GOP. No truer words have been spoken.

    http://open.salon.com/blog/steven_rockford/2010/08/10/the_good_ole_boys_are_gone

  41. 41.

    Culture of Truth

    August 16, 2010 at 1:06 pm

    I was informed repeatedly yesterday by local NYC news that Obama’s comments generated a “firestrorm of criticism.”

    So I hold most of the modern media in contempt for being accomplices as well.

  42. 42.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    August 16, 2010 at 1:06 pm

    Once again the fReichtards are producing, directing and starring in their own PR Nightmare. They won’t shut up about it until they’ve turned off 72% of America. They’ll finish by calling the 72% un-American and then flounce off to start some new shit.

    Let them get on with it.

    And pass the popcorn.

    (I second the Gibbs Was Right tag. You could even shorten it to GWAR.)

  43. 43.

    kdaug

    August 16, 2010 at 1:07 pm

    @Flugelhorn:

    To fucking bad – that 1st Amendment is a bitch.

  44. 44.

    Xero

    August 16, 2010 at 1:09 pm

    @Flugelhorn: Had the moron fearmongers in the OP not started in on their bullshit, and had they not turned the fauxtrage machine up to 11, what would the polling be then?

    PQ: “What do you think of a mosque near ground zero in New York?”
    Respondent: “Huh? Why should I give a fuck?”

  45. 45.

    jl

    August 16, 2010 at 1:09 pm

    @Frank: But are they really ‘moderate Muslims’? As we see today in the NY Times, reasonable people like Douthat have a list of things in his head that ‘moderate Muslims’ should do and say, or should have done and said over the last few years, and Douthat deems that this group that wants to build the community center has not conformed to this criteria he has set up in his head.

    So these people flunk Douthat’s subjective test for being ‘moderate Muslims’.

    And you might flunk Douthat’s criteria too. Maybe next month Douthat and other soft soaper xenophobes will complain that this group has not refudiated people like you. Who knows?

    That is how this game is played. It is a rigged game, rigged for the precise purpose of scare mongering and manufacturing face controversies.

    You cannot reason with this stuff, you need to strongly reject it, tell those who are gulled, misled and scared by it to pull up their socks and thinks thing through. You need to confront it for what it is, dangerous manipulation of people’s fears for crass political purposes.

  46. 46.

    wilfred

    August 16, 2010 at 1:11 pm

    Any and all well-intentioned arguments or discussion about this with the Pam Gellar wing of the walking dead are pointless.

    Rage against the Other is an old energy can neither be created nor destroyed. It is just transposed onto another Other when people get weary of hating whoever is top of the list.

    Well, I think the wingers’ definition of a “moderate Muslim” is one who refudiates Mohammed and burns the Koran.

    This.

  47. 47.

    Punchy

    August 16, 2010 at 1:12 pm

    @JenJen: No, cuz then you’d be “politicizing the tragedy of 9-11”, which–as we all know–is verboten in politics, right?

  48. 48.

    morzer

    August 16, 2010 at 1:13 pm

    @jl:

    I think you mean “professional Christian”. I don’t see any sign that Douthat gives a stuff about actually behaving like a Christian.

  49. 49.

    GregB

    August 16, 2010 at 1:14 pm

    Rupert Murdoch=Minister of Inflammation

  50. 50.

    mds

    August 16, 2010 at 1:15 pm

    Just as Al-Aqsa was built on top of the Temple in Jerusalem.

    Six-and-a-half centuries after the Gentiles razed the temple to the ground. (Never mind the fact that the current mosque dates from three centuries later than that.) And when the Crusaders ran Jerusalem, I don’t recall them turning it back into a synagogue … probably because there was no point after their wholesale slaughter of Palestinian Jews. So yeah, just like that.

  51. 51.

    morzer

    August 16, 2010 at 1:15 pm

    Has any one person done more damage to America and the West over the last 20 years than Rupert Murdoch?

  52. 52.

    Calvin Jones and the 13th Apostle

    August 16, 2010 at 1:16 pm

    @Tax Analyst: CBS weren’t the only ones last night. NBC was doing it, too.

  53. 53.

    onkel bob

    August 16, 2010 at 1:18 pm

    “This is Islamic domination and expansionism. The location is no accident. Just as Al-Aqsa was built on top of the Temple in Jerusalem.”

    What’s the acceptable mourning period for a building? The Romans razed the second temple in or about 70 CE, and the Dome of the Rock (not originally a mosque) was erected about 691 CE. I would think 600 years would be acceptable…
    BTW – it’s pretty much agreed that the dome was erected with the help of *gasp* Byzantine craftsmen (i.e., Christians). The overall plan and materials match those of contemporary Byzantine structures.
    edit: looks like mds beat me to it…

  54. 54.

    Janus Daniels

    August 16, 2010 at 1:18 pm

    @jacy:
    Your response almost made Flugle worth reading…
    and “McMegan’s calculator” is a keeper.
    Hear that John Cole?
    Add it to the tags.

  55. 55.

    You Don't Say

    August 16, 2010 at 1:20 pm

    @soonergrunt: I know this isn’t an open thread, but just wanted to drop in and wish you the best today.

  56. 56.

    jl

    August 16, 2010 at 1:21 pm

    @wilfred: Proper and fitting current and past reviling, rejection, reprobation, repudiation and refudiation of Hamas is the current criterion they have set up to define away the possible existence of the ‘moderate Muslim’.

    Never mind that Bush Jr seemed to think it a very good idea to go ahead with Palestinian elections where Hamas was a recognized party. Or that the political wing of Hamas, like it or not, plays a big role in Lebanese politics.

    If that is the criteria, I have a long list of organizations that self-professed Protestants, or Catholics, or Buddhists, or Hindus, or athiests, or Mormons, should totally reject revile and repudiate unconditionally to my satisfaction, and in a way that I deem appropriate in order to be considered respectable and moderate.

    If they do so now, then I will comb through all their statements and decide whether, through their history, they have acted and spoke in ways that I deem appropriate and reasonable and moderate. If not, then they must grovel and apologize to my satisfaction.

    When they grovel appropriately to my whims and notions that I am only required to very vaguely sketch, apologize for not having always done so in the past, then I will be ready to welcome them with open arms as equals, and they can join the club of respectable Americans who should have equal rights with me and all right thinking people.

  57. 57.

    LikeableInMyOwnWay

    August 16, 2010 at 1:21 pm

    This is why I simply have no respect for anyone who remains with the GOP. Period. This is the modern Republican party in a nutshell, whether it be death panels, the MONSTER MOSQUE, terror babies, or Obama’s birth certificate. The crazy people are running the show, and folks who remain in the GOP but tepidly speak out against it aid and abet the lunacy. We should stop using the phrase “reasonable Republican” and “sane conservatives” and call them what they really are- accomplices. It’s Malkin and Gellar and Louis Gohmert and Palin and Bachmann’s party now, and they’re just providing them cover.

    Couldn’t be said better.

  58. 58.

    flukebucket

    August 16, 2010 at 1:22 pm

    @Tax Analyst:

    All I really wanted was today’s weather forecast anyway, so I changed the channel and got that somewhere else.

    And it was probably wrong.

  59. 59.

    catclub

    August 16, 2010 at 1:22 pm

    @Crashman:
    I always thought it was ‘Monster Mash’.

    …it was a graveyard smash!

    maybe there will be be a monster mosque mash!

  60. 60.

    me

    August 16, 2010 at 1:22 pm

    (To get an idea of where Geller is coming from, she once suggested that Malcolm X was Obama’s real father. Seriously.)

    Malcolm X was definitely a US citizen, right?

  61. 61.

    jl

    August 16, 2010 at 1:27 pm

    @me: Has Malcom X every repudiate Hamas? Has he apologized for all Muslims who did not property condemn 911? Has he apologized for the Black Panthers? I think we all know the answer to that.

    Quite the contrary, he is silent!

    And I ask you, have all moderate Muslims properly apologized for Malcom X’s continued refusal to do the right thing?

    Huh?

  62. 62.

    morzer

    August 16, 2010 at 1:27 pm

    @me:

    I thought Leni Riefenstahl was Geller’s father. Funny how those rumors seem so convincing…

  63. 63.

    JenJen

    August 16, 2010 at 1:31 pm

    @Punchy: IOKIYAR. :-)

  64. 64.

    scav

    August 16, 2010 at 1:32 pm

    As though the o so delicate and respectful christian church never deliberately built on the sites of pagan and roman temples. I’m seriously beginning to ponder the possible existence of anti-neurons.

  65. 65.

    Karmakin

    August 16, 2010 at 1:33 pm

    Not to wade into it, but I think that’s a lot of what the pie fight last week was about. It really is about self-identification and group strength. I think most of us strictly agree with the point that conservative==insane at this point, and to self-identify with the conservatives, even if you oppose the maniacs, still gives the maniacs strength.

    You can hold some old-school conservative views, and still self-identify as a progressive. It’s OK. You can even disagree with the majority of progressives and still self-identify. It’s OK. Because the operative part of progressive is progress. And as long as you support real empirical progress in one form or another, we can have a vigorous and productive debate. But as long as one identifies with the anti-progressives (because lets be honest, that’s all the conservative movement is at this point), a discussion is basically impossible.

  66. 66.

    Ash Can

    August 16, 2010 at 1:33 pm

    When I first heard of this cultural center being built a couple of blocks from Ground Zero, my first thought was that it was an excellent sign of the healing process following 9/11. But then, I’m not a bigoted, xenophobic Real American (TM), nor am I some attention whore looking for publicity.

  67. 67.

    Person of Choler

    August 16, 2010 at 1:38 pm

    The community center cum mosque issue pleases at least two groups of people:

    (1) Those who believe that there is such a thing as a right to property have finally seen Obama and Bloomberg speak in favor of owners doing what they wish with their lawfully acquired assets

    (2) Radical muslims, who howl with derision at America’s gutless, kowtowing, PC-whipped establishment.

  68. 68.

    JenJen

    August 16, 2010 at 1:47 pm

    @Flugelhorn:

    Got news, buddy! With over 70% of Americans nationwide against the mosque and almost 80% of New Yorkers (A DEMOCRAT STRONGHOLD) I would wager that a significant portion of people against this Mosque are democrats.

    Good to know! Also, and more importantly, so the fuck what? If a majority of American males polled said they were against the 19th Amendment, does that mean the President and Congress should go all squishy on that, too?

    Good thing our founding documents aren’t up for a vote or subject to change via polling, huh? America is a great and strong country, no thanks to people like you, honestly.

  69. 69.

    Randy P

    August 16, 2010 at 1:58 pm

    @NonyNony: Cool. I’m ahead of the curve on something.

    For complicated and stupid reasons I was registered as a Republican from circa ’77 to maybe ’84 or ’85, though I rarely voted Republican. I voted for Carter in ’80, though I admit to voting against him in my first presidential election in ’76.

    I think the last Republican I voted for was Bush Sr. against Reagan in the ’80 primaries.

    It was after Bush became a cheerleader for supply side economics which he had rightly attacked as “voodoo” in the primaries, that I realized there was nothing and nobody left for me in the Republican party. I think the shreds of belief in fiscal conservatism were what kept me up till ’81 or so, and after that it was just inertia.

  70. 70.

    Bill

    August 16, 2010 at 1:59 pm

    Where’s the outcry over Christian curches near the Alfred P. Murrah building?

  71. 71.

    kdaug

    August 16, 2010 at 2:08 pm

    @Bill:

    Heh.

    My general opinion is that you can tell me what happens when I die once you’re dead. Until then, it’s pure conjecture.

    Therefore, I’m offended at having any religious institutions built anywhere close to where I live.

    Unfortunately, that 1st Amendment thing gets in the way of what I want.

    Boo-hoo.

  72. 72.

    Svensker

    August 16, 2010 at 2:09 pm

    @Person of Choler:

    (2) Radical muslims, who howl with derision at America’s gutless, kowtowing, PC-whipped establishment.

    Good to hear that the radical muslims are howling at Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin. At least we agree on something!

  73. 73.

    Michael

    August 16, 2010 at 2:11 pm

    Basically, as with everything else with the modern GOP, fringe lunatics gin up a story, Murdoch pimps it, and then the rest of the Wurlitzer takes over. Loudmouth radio announcers, shameless politicians, wingnut bloggers, and unhinged lunatics unite to create a controversy out of nowhere.

    That was how they astroturfed Terri Schiavo. Back in 2002, nobody had heard of the thing, but some shadowy folks were paying to send wannabe activists to conservative events and conferences in order to talk it up. It was a nothing, but by 2005, it had become rip-roaring insane with the help of Sean Hannity and the nut-o-verse. Compounding the problem was the fact that congressional staffers weren’t checking to see if their zillions of calls to “save Terri” were coming from within their districts.

    That’s why the end result of the legislation was so disconnected from actual public sentiment.

  74. 74.

    Lihtox

    August 16, 2010 at 2:24 pm

    @Raenelle: You were being sarcastic but there is some truth there: any remaining moderate Republican politicians don’t want to leave the GOP because the only reasonable alternative is to join the Democrats, which is something they don’t want to do. They need another option. Crist may be able to run as an independent and win, but most politicians aren’t popular enough to run without a party machine.

    I’m truly waiting for the Blue Dogs and some moderate Republicans/former Republicans to get together and form a third party that is fiscally conservate, socially moderate, and not batshit insane. Obviously we need at least two parties in this country for democracy to function properly, and if the Republicans don’t regain their senses (and I’m not sure how much hope there is of that) then a second party is going to have to come up somewhere. You’d think this would be the perfect climate for a third way: economy’s bad so Dems aren’t popular, people don’t want to vote for the crazies, and a third party could declare itself as “fresh and new”. Maybe when the Tea Party collapses this year (he said optimistically) we will finally see the conservatives split.

    I wouldn’t join such a party myself, but I would much prefer Nelson and Lieberman as the opposition, to Boehner and Bachmann. And if my Democratic Senator or Representative of Governor is corrupt or stupid, I will be able to vote against him or her again without fearing the alternative.

  75. 75.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    August 16, 2010 at 2:27 pm

    @Bill:
    Let’s hope there aren’t any churches located near Sand Creek, CO.

  76. 76.

    Redshift

    August 16, 2010 at 2:42 pm

    @Steve:

    Speaking of Murdoch, today’s NY Post cover: “HAMAS BIG BACKS MOSQUE: Terror Boss Likes GZ Site.”

    Did they mention whether he was laughing his ass off when he said it?

  77. 77.

    kay

    August 16, 2010 at 2:49 pm

    I knew it happened, because we’re suffering the symptoms, but it’s still wild to read the actual timeline. It’s like an infectious disease. It’s less like politics and more like epidemiology.
    We need to do one of these for all of these insanity epidemics, but prior to spread.
    We can designate one or another conservative activist “Patient Zero” :)

  78. 78.

    Joseph Nobles

    August 16, 2010 at 3:09 pm

    To the tune of “Texas Has A Whorehouse In It”

    Ground Zero has a mosque close to it
    (Lord, have mercy on our souls)
    Ground Zero has a mosque close to it
    (Lord, have mercy on our souls)

    I’ll expose the facts although it ties me into knots
    Please excuse the filthy dark details, and terr’ist plots
    (Filthy dark details, and terr’ist plots)
    Cheerin’ going on inside it, Muslims have gone wild
    I inquired, no one denied it, now I think I’m getting riled
    Bowing down to Allah, close to where them buildings fell.
    And Obama does not close it down — it starts to smell.
    (Does not close it down, it starts to smell)

    Black-eyed juiced up freedom-hatin’ fanatical cave dwellers
    (Oh no)
    Celebratin’ their victory over our God-fearin’ hard-working all-American blonds.
    (Oh no)
    Not to mention some types, that you never guess would venture near.
    Makin’ terror babies loose and wild, just two blocks from here!

    And now our own Father Coughlin Sangers.

    (Ground Zero has a mosque close to it
    I’ll not let this scandal fade
    (Ground Zero has a mosque close to it)
    Tear it down, that’s our crusade.

    I can smell collusion and I’ll fight it to the top.
    ‘Merka’s desecration going on.
    And it must stop.

    (Chorus) Stop this desecration
    Stop that desecration
    ‘Merka’s desecration
    Stop that descration

    Ground Zero has a mosque close to it
    Lord, have mercy on our souls.
    Ground Zero has a mosque close to it
    Lord, have mercy on our souls.

  79. 79.

    Redshirt

    August 16, 2010 at 3:19 pm

    It amazes me still – even though I’ve conceptually known it for a long time – how our entire MSM dances to whatever nuthouse tune the Wingnuts want to play, care of whatever tune their Lobbyists masters inform them to play.

    Is it all just the ratings, or is there actually something sinister to this level of disproportional control?

  80. 80.

    matoko_chan

    August 16, 2010 at 3:21 pm

    more empirical data for my thesis.
    conservatism has devolved to a deme of low IQ racists that can only comprehend demagoguery and slogans.

  81. 81.

    Pangloss

    August 16, 2010 at 3:44 pm

    Nothing is more frightening than Brown Terror Babies in a Monster Mosque

  82. 82.

    Kat

    August 16, 2010 at 4:11 pm

    Speaking of unhinged lunatics… today they’ve posted 10 pages of raging, bile-filled anti-Obama rants under this article in the UK’s Independent:

    President goes for a swim in the Gulf – or does he?

  83. 83.

    JGabriel

    August 16, 2010 at 4:11 pm

    John Cole:

    We should stop using the phrase “reasonable Republican” and “sane conservatives” and call them what they really are – accomplices.

    We still need a name for the conservatives who believe all of these impossibly sensationalist stories from Fox and Murdoch’s newspapers, maybe tabloid Republicans.

    .

  84. 84.

    morzer

    August 16, 2010 at 4:19 pm

    @JGabriel:

    The Butthurt Cracker Selfpity Jihad?

    Or just the Buttcrackers for short.

  85. 85.

    kdaug

    August 16, 2010 at 4:32 pm

    @Redshirt:

    They’re owned by multinational corporations whose financial interests are best served by Republican policies.

    SATSQ.

  86. 86.

    Rantbot 5000

    August 16, 2010 at 4:41 pm

    And, to bring this whole thing full circle, here’s Laura Ingraham from earlier this month: “Mayor Bloomberg applauds Islamics’ 9/11 trophy mosque”

  87. 87.

    Redshirt

    August 16, 2010 at 4:56 pm

    @kdaug: That’s the obvious answer, but there’s more to it. For instance, it appears that for some time, the entirety of the MSM takes its direction from the various Newscorps outlets; now, tell me why GE (NBC) should take editorial direction from Newscorp? Or Disney from Newscorp?

    I think there’s more to it than the financial interests of the corporate owners; rather, and this is a guess: Newscorp has a model and a direction that appears to work (in a profit/ratings sense) while simultaneously the rest of the news biz dries up; so, if you want to succeed, emulate Newscorp, who’ve hit on a successful model.

    This makes more sense to me, as it speaks to desperate editors/managers/reporters looking to keep their jobs and willing to do what it takes to do so, rather than Corporate Overlords coming down from on high to dictate the particulars of a story.

  88. 88.

    morzer

    August 16, 2010 at 5:15 pm

    @Redshirt:

    Right – the new media rule is “Never knowingly outshrilled”.

  89. 89.

    EJ

    August 16, 2010 at 5:20 pm

    @JenJen: They’re people with an opinion. A stupid one, yes, but I could give a goddam who their friends are or what kind of countertops they have in their house. Leave the stupid ad hominem crap to the righttards.

    So Liz Cheney is friends with someone who shares her ideology? Who woulda thunk it.

  90. 90.

    tavella

    August 16, 2010 at 5:25 pm

    Basically, as with everything else with the modern GOP, fringe lunatics gin up a story, Murdoch pimps it, and then the rest of the Wurlitzer takes over. Loudmouth radio announcers, shameless politicians, wingnut bloggers, and unhinged lunatics unite to create a controversy out of nowhere.

    Yup. And then a bunch of democrats and/or liberals will go ‘well, we reluctantly admit they have the right, but it was a _bad idea_, they should have done something _non-controversial_. ‘. We’ve had several of them on earlier threads.

  91. 91.

    asiangrrlMN

    August 16, 2010 at 7:31 pm

    @NonyNony: Then, there are those of us who were never Republicans at all. Can we get some love, too, please?

    Cole, I said over at Benen’s place that any minority who is in the GOP today gets no sympathy from me. Benen was highlighting Republican Muslims who are appalled at the GOP’s latest rhetoric, and I said, “If you want to continue to be a part of a group who oppresses everyone, then STFU when they turn their tactics on you.”

    That said, I am still musing a conversion so I can make mad monies and have incredible power. They love them some tokens on that side, yes they do. As I said in a thread below, I could be the left’s Mata Hari!

  92. 92.

    -

    August 18, 2010 at 4:43 am

    @soonergrunt: the situation became obvious in 1994 (gingrich’s ‘revolution’). no ~sane repugs had the ability or guts to oppose the “bs machine”.

  93. 93.

    -

    August 18, 2010 at 4:51 am

    @Raenelle: well, no. US (and probably all locale) voters don’t have the initiative or brains to look beyond what’s offered.
    That’s why the ‘Reagan revolution’ happened. motivated by a combination of predictable dem deadwood & inbreeding with bad economic luck, voters moved away from dems. But instead of finding anything better, voters voted in the Other Bums. (though they are the significantly more malignant bums).

  94. 94.

    -

    August 18, 2010 at 8:03 am

    @NonyNony: yep. I had no interest in politicians who promised to scr00 over ordinary productive people, which was the reaganoughts’ biggest marketing effort.

Comments are closed.

Trackbacks

  1. The Cordoba House is a fake controversy « The Unpersons says:
    August 16, 2010 at 2:30 pm

    […] become a “controversy” until the rightwing hate machine decides to make it their issue. And so it was initially with the Cordoba initiative. Once again, like Stendhal says, we are victim to a debate being hijacked by a bunch of asses with […]

Primary Sidebar

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

2023 Pet Calendars

Pet Calendar Preview: A
Pet Calendar Preview: B

*Calendars can not be ordered until Cafe Press gets their calendar paper in.

Recent Comments

  • ljdramone on Medium Cool – Give Us A Song and Tell Us Your Story (Jan 30, 2023 @ 9:11am)
  • Kay on Monday Morning Open Thread: Rise and… Feed the Beast! (Jan 30, 2023 @ 9:11am)
  • Dorothy A. Winsor on Monday Morning Open Thread: Rise and… Feed the Beast! (Jan 30, 2023 @ 9:11am)
  • Matt McIrvin on Monday Morning Open Thread: Rise and… Feed the Beast! (Jan 30, 2023 @ 9:11am)
  • Dorothy A. Winsor on Monday Morning Open Thread: Rise and… Feed the Beast! (Jan 30, 2023 @ 9:09am)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
We All Need A Little Kindness
Favorite Dogs & Cats
Classified Documents: A Primer

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup

Front-pager Twitter

John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
TaMara
David Anderson
ActualCitizensUnited

Shop Amazon via this link to support Balloon Juice   

Join the Fight!

Join the Fight Signup Form
All Join the Fight Posts

Balloon Juice Events

5/14  The Apocalypse
5/20  Home Away from Home
5/29  We’re Back, Baby
7/21  Merging!

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!