Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

We still have time to mess this up!

Peak wingnut was a lie.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

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

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

The willow is too close to the house.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

This blog will pay for itself.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Let there be snark.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

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

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / I can’t help it if I wanted to

I can’t help it if I wanted to

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I too am tired of talking about Sarah Palin, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t share this Steve M. piece on the Rabbi who wrote the WSJ piece defending Sarah Palin’s use of the phrase “blood libel”.

Here’s a taste:

Hitler was a master showman. He was indeed a brilliant orator who used his considerable charisma to stoke an inferno of hate. It is well known that he practiced his speeches in front of mirrors and had photographers take snapshots of him in different poses that he later studied to determine which were the most effective. He was an evil genius who employed every facet of a darkened soul to bring out the beast in man. And Michael is insightful in pointing out how Hitler studied his audience in order to gain mastery over them the way an entertainer would. It is very surprising that such a straightforward comment has become so controversial.

Reader Interactions

63Comments

  2. 2.

    mr. whipple

    BTW, the margins are still fucking broken. How long did it take to cap a fucking oil well a mile under water? It can’t be that hard.

    C’mon, this is a A-list place.

  4. 4.

    elle

    Ha ha! I’m first!

    Besides, who said the crazy was limited to one religious sect?

    When you have someone like Michelle Malkin, who was born to immigrants, someone who experienced racism as a young child, and yet harbors so much hate and resentment towards foreigners and immigrants…..well.

    ETA…oh no. I’m not the first :(

  5. 5.

    mr. whipple

    It’s always, always, always the same: long sentences or paragraphs run over the right margin and into the ads, making posts and comments unreadable. It does it on Opera and IE, and if I had to guess is some ad, because if you refresh the page and the ad rotation changes it will fix itself. Sometimes it takes one refresh and sometimes it takes 20. But it’s the same problem over and over and over again.

  6. 6.

    norbizness

    “OK, I know I shouldn’t write about Palin for the fifth time in 24 hours, but..”

    “HOw about a nice game of solitaire?”

    (post appears, as if by magic)

  7. 7.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    @DougJarvus Green-Ellis: The margins don’t work properly in IE, though Firefox is fine. What is interesting, is that it starts out fine, and then something on the page causes IE to refresh and it all goes to hell.

    Additionally: When I start IE up, and then, go to BJ, I get a popup saying that something on the site forced IE to switch to compatibility view, and when it refreshes, that causes the margins to not work.

    ETA: I normally run Firefox, so I only saw this by pulling up IE. (I’m a programmer, I can’t help debugging stuff.)

  8. 8.

    BGinCHI

    He was an evil genius who employed every facet of a darkened soul to bring out the beast in man. And Michael is insightful in pointing out how Hitler studied his audience in order to gain mastery over them the way an entertainer would.

    This pivot between these two sentences is just, well, awesome. Between those two statements is a logical leap that summarily defines the conservative mind.

    This is probably why reasoning with these people is so futile.

  9. 9.

    askew

    Wow, WSJ missed the mark here. They have an asshole who hung out with and defended Michael Jackson defend Sarah Palin’s use of “blood libel”. Michael Jackson who used “kike” in a song and said many anti-semitic comments during this career. Lumping Palin in with Jackson is not the kind of help Palin needed right now.

  10. 10.

    Ija

    @DougJarvus Green-Ellis:

    I can never read this blog on Internet Explorer, I have to use Firefox. In IE, the words continue across the right hand side away from the screen. I would have to scroll to the right to read the complete sentence. Does that make any sense? Never mind. It’s not a problem. I can use Firefox just for reading this blog. It’s special :)

    Update: Opps, Belafon already explained the problem in a clearer manner.

  13. 13.

    Paul in KY

    @DougJarvus Green-Ellis: Us pathetic losers who are forced to use Windows Explorer have this reoccuring margins problem where every paragraph becomes one line stretching out to the right.

    Extremely annoying, IMO.

  14. 14.

    Mark S.

    And Michael is insightful in pointing out how Hitler studied his audience in order to gain mastery over them the way an entertainer would.

    I would like to think entertainers have different goals than Hitler when it comes to their audiences.

  18. 18.

    singfoom

    @mr. whipple: Stop using Internet Explorer. Use Firefox or Chrome. Seriously….. Every single version of Internet Explorer has horrible flaws that generates work for me and my web developing brethren.

    It is not a modern browser. I’m not sure what possible reason one could have for using it.

  19. 19.

    sukabi

    @BGinCHI: the same way most of the villagers and others fawned over Rove’s genius… they knew the back stories, and that most of what he was doing was either flat out illegal or morally reprehensible and wouldn’t call him on THAT, but rather admired his “genius”…. his “genius” relies on the media propping him up with their admiration on one hand while turning a blind eye to what’s right under their noses.

  20. 20.

    jeffreyw

    @BGinCHI: Yes, yes, I am. Er not evil, exactly. And not a capital G genius. A small g genius. A subscript g genius. Well, smart, anyway. OK, not that smart. But my dog loves allows me to scritch his ear. Usually.

  23. 23.

    mr. whipple

    It is not a modern browser. I’m not sure what possible reason one could have for using it.

    Brilliant! I only use the POS IE when I attempt to see if the problem also occurs with it. In every day use, I use Opera.

    Brilliant design stratergizery: make everyone use Firefox to view a website.

  24. 24.

    ogliberal

    Shmuley had a TV show once – on Lifetime or one of those channels – where he provided family counseling….”Rabbi of Love” or something like that. He’d basically set up shop in the family’s house, observe them, then tell them what they are doing wrong. I remember reading another column by him a few months ago. I don’t think the guy is a wingnut – by contrast, I think he’s pretty liberal (and kind of goofy) on all but maybe one (see more on that below) issue – but he definitely has a bug up his ass about Obama…and I believe that “bug” is also known as Israel. (In the column I noted above Shmuley was upset because Obama didn’t treat Bibi with enough respect. Somebody call a Waaaaaahhhhhbulance.)

  26. 26.

    burnspbesq

    OT, but I followed your link to Can’t Explain last night.

    That is one seriously idiosyncratic list that guy’s got going there. One obvious example: how can you love “I’ll Be Around” and not love “She’s Gone” or “I Can Dream About You?” It’s like the Harry Mudd episode, where Spock tells two identical androids, “I love you, but I hate you.”

  28. 28.

    burnspbesq

    @singfoom:

    I’m not sure what possible reason one could have for using it.

    Umm, because it’s on the laptop they give you on your first day, and you don’t have sufficient privileges to install anything else. I can only speak with first-hand experience about professional services firms, but every one I’ve ever worked at had its own Mordac.

  29. 29.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    @mr. whipple:
    It should work on every browser except IE. Anything to make people not use IE is good with me. If Opera is having the same issue, then it is definitely broken and everything must be done to fix that.

    Just make sure it doesn’t work on IE.

    /snark

  30. 30.

    Comrade Mary

    @mr. whipple: I just downloaded and installed Opera 11.

    I get the long lines on first load of BJ, but if I reload, it looks perfect. I can enter a comment thread after reloading the home page and all is still well.

    I suspect there’s something behind the scenes similar to IE8, but coded better: it tries to make a page appear according to its default rules, but on reload, tries a backup plan.

    EDIT: And after closing the browser completely and coming back, BJ still looks good. I deleted ALL the private info (history, cache, cookies), closed and tried again, and BJ still loaded perfectly on the next try. I’m on Windows XP Pro, SP3.

  31. 31.

    David Hunt

    @askew:

    Lumping Palin in with Jackson is not the kind of help Palin needed right now.

    No. It’s exactly the kind of help that Sarah Palin needs.

  32. 32.

    hilts

    Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will deliver a keynote address to a gun convention later this month. Palin will speak Saturday, Jan. 29, to the Safari International Club (SCI) in Reno, Nev., according to the group’s website. The organization bills itself as “the leader in protecting the freedom to hunt and promoting wildlife conservation worldwide.” Others expected to appear at the convention are comedian Larry the Cable Guy, musical acts Marshall Tucker Band and Pure Prairie League, an Elvis impersonator, NASCAR team owner Richard Childress and conservative commentator Michael Reagan.

    h/t http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/137923-palin-to-appear-at-gun-convention-this-month-

  34. 34.

    DougJarvus Green-Ellis

    @burnspbesq:

    Doesn’t he like “She’s Gone”? I think “I Can Dream About You” has a different feel, more ’80s. I like his criticism, though, it’s definitely idiosyncratic but in a good way.

  38. 38.

    Joey Maloney

    I didn’t even see the picture, just read the line “the Rabbi who wrote the WSJ piece defending Sarah Palin’s use of the phrase “blood libel”” and right I away I thought, “it’s that asshole Boteach”. If only he still had his foreskin I’d yank it up over his head and smother him.

  39. 39.

    burnspbesq

    @DougJarvus Green-Ellis:

    “I’ll Be Around” is number seven on his list. “She’s Gone” isn’t on the list at all.

    It’s a fantastically interesting list. It’s just quirky. Why, for example, “Hello It’s Me” and not “I Saw the Light” or “Couldn’t I just Tell You?’ Why “Seven Year Ache” and not “Blue Moon with Heartache?” How does a guy with an apparent soft spot for love songs miss “Whenever You’re on My Mind?”

    It’s a long weekend. We can argue about this stuff for four days, and it’ll be much more fun than talking about the GIWFWYD.

  40. 40.

    Yutsano

    @burnspbesq:

    It’s a long weekend. We can argue about this stuff for four days

    You and your vile temptations. Don’t make me call in sick mister. I won’t because I’m too ethical but damn if you didn’t just read my id right there.

  41. 41.

    New Yorker

    Shmuley Boteach….I know that guy. I’m familiar with him from his “debates” with Christopher Hitchens over religion and whether it is necessary for morality. After Hitch laid out his familiar arguments, Boteach decided to use the time-honored “scream louder than your opponent” strategy for winning debates.

    The guy is a moron.

  43. 43.

    Cris

    @singfoom: It is not a modern browser. I’m not sure what possible reason one could have for using it.

    Oh bullshit. Look, we all hate IE6; nobody should contest that. IE7 and IE8 continued to have lingering issues, but they were enormous leaps forward from that old dog. To make a sweeping statement like “Internet Explorer isn’t a modern browser” is blood libel utter nonsense.

    For goodness sake, XMLHttpRequest originated with explorer. As of last June, IE9 was actually outperforming Firefox on CSS3 background module support.

    Look, I only use IE when I absolutely have to. I don’t care for it and I don’t recommend it. But of course it’s a modern browser.

  44. 44.

    burnspbesq

    @Yutsano:

    While you are throwing po’ folks out on the street today, Mr. Snidely Whiplash, you can prepare your response to the following two propositions: (1) “In the Shape of a Heart” is the apotheosis of the entire singer-songwriter canon; and (2) “Hearts of Stone” is the best song Bruce Springsteen ever wrote.

  46. 46.

    Mnemosyne

    I didn’t even have to click the link to know that Steve M. was talking about attention whore Shmuley Boteach. He can’t even get on “Dr. Phil” anymore, so it looks like he’s trying to claw his way back up to the top by defending Palin.

  48. 48.

    Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)

    Hitler was a master showman.

    You know who else was a master showman? Oh, right. Hitler. I guess you covered that already.

  49. 49.

    DPirate

    I don’t see how either of you are talking about Palin. Boteach wasn’t either, really, but at any rate nothing he spoke about was addressed. All Steve M did was write a little hit piece on the rabbi with a some innuendo in it.

    I fail to see what is wrong with saying Hitler was a great speaker. That should be obvious to anyone. and it doesn’t mean you hate jews if you noticed that.

    Regardless of that, Boteach’s editorial says some really good and important things. You wouldn’t have noticed, of course, since it’s just one more thing to be attacked as it represents some passing support for your enemy.

  51. 51.

    mr. whipple

    @DPirate:

    I think they mean tab browsing.

    Gotta love this place. Website doesn’t load properly, so the obvious solution is to either buy a Mac with the latest SnowCheetahLeopardLion OS and browser or hit the refresh button until it works.

  53. 53.

    Comrade Mary

    This is what makes web development so depressing: I found that I needed one (1) refresh on Opera to make this site load properly and, as described above, it still loads properly after many other tries and after a full housecleaning and restart. These aren’t cached pages either, and even new comments pages are perfect.

  54. 54.

    Mnemosyne

    @DPirate:

    You probably should have read the WSJ piece a little more closely:

    Despite the strong association of the term with collective Jewish guilt and concomitant slaughter, Sarah Palin has every right to use it. The expression may be used whenever an amorphous mass is collectively accused of being murderers or accessories to murder. (emphasis mine)

    That’s him excusing her use of the term. Not only that, he insists that she can use the term and is completely innocent because violent rhetoric has no effect on unstable people. If it did have a bad effect on unstable people, she would no longer be completely innocent, would she?

  55. 55.

    SteveinSC

    @mr. whipple: From a purely technical point of view this is a ricketty site that can only be seen with cheesy browsers. I’m primarily a Linux user and have FireFox. FireFox is crude and cheesy so mutatis mutandi it can handle this hacked together website. I like IE (hate the father, love the child) because it looks better and works fine on everyone else’s website. A professional approach would be to fix this site so it works properly, not divert visitors over to other cheesy browsers.

  56. 56.

    Fergus Wooster

    @Mr. Whipple, et al:

    For those of us condemned to use IE, I’ve found that disabling Javascripts usually fixes the margin problem on BJ.

    Tools – Internet Options – Security Tab – Custom Settings. Javascripts are toward the bottom – select disable, apply, and then refresh the page.

  58. 58.

    polyorchnid octopunch

    @Joseph Nobles: I’m running chrome, and I don’t see that problem.

    Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US) AppleWebKit/534.13 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/9.0.597.45 Safari/534.13

  59. 59.

    Mike Kay

    hahahahahahahhahahahahhahahahhahahahahahaha
    hahahahahahahhahahahahhahahahhahahahahahaha
    hahahahahahahhahahahahhahahahhahahahahahaha
    hahahahahahahhahahahahhahahahhahahahahahaha

  60. 60.

    Comrade Mary

    OK, this is a better thread for this:

    Garry Wills applies the Underpants Gnomes algorithm to Palin’s transmogrification of the blood libel story.

    Nothing that happened in Tucson can be forced into the blood libel story. That is because Palin is not interested in what happened in Tucson. She is interested in something closer to her home—herself.

    1. The innocent Christian attacked is Sarah Palin, and her assailants are “pundits.”
    2. Still no blood.
    3. The pundits are not even named, much less apprehended.
    4. Saint Sarah canonizes herself.

    (I think the “PROFIT!” step is left as an exercise for the reader.)

  61. 61.

    Nerull

    @singfoom:

    It’s not that bad, at least not anymore. IE6 was a nightmare, sure, but 8 is a lot better, and 9 gets a higher ACID3 score than Firefox release version….

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