Last days of a dying empire, part 7,378. Dave Weigel, reporting on CPAC 2011 forSlate, asks the question, “Whose Bright Idea Was it to Put Rumsfeld and Cheney in Front of Screaming Libertarians?“:
… [T]he people who wanted to hear Rand Paul speak at 3:45 had to arrive around 2:30, and stay there. If they did, they sat through a speech from Donald Trump (a surprise to attendees who weren’t checking the news frequently), and used every possible moment to yell “RON PAUL” at the Donald. When Trump responded to one of the heckles, and said that Paul “can’t win” the presidency, there were loud and righteous boos.
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It takes a while to exit the ballroom. This means that hundreds of Paul fans — recognizably younger and sometimes beardier than the median CPAC attendee — are in the room or in lines as Donald Rumsfeld is introduced.
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“I am pleased to recognize our chairman, David Keene, to recognize Donald Rumsfeld,” says emcee Ted Cruz.
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There are loud boos. Keene mentions that this is the “Defender of the Constitution Award.” More boos; also, shouts of “RON PAUL! RON PAUL!”
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When Rumsfeld takes the stage, the boos keep going, because some anti-war conservatives have stuck around to heckle. When it sees Dick Cheney, the crowd’s din drowns out the boos… for a while. I find a place on the floor next to several activists wearing Ron Paul gear.
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“Bringing in Cheney made it worse,” says Nathan Cox, a Richmond, Va. activist and member of Iraq Veterans Against the War. “I kinda feel like yelling something.”
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He doesn’t yell, but another activist yells “Show us the shekels, Dick! Show us the shekels!” It’s a not-so-veiled critique of Israel that gets him immediately kicked out. Another anti-war conservative yells “Draft dodger!” and he’s kicked out.
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By this point, enough supporters of the last Republican administration are in the room to fill it with cheers of “Cheney 2012!” and to drown out a heckler who yells “Where’s bin Laden?”
All of Weigel’s CPAC reports are worth reading, especially if you want an informed perspective that goes beyond sniffing other journalists’ nametags in the safety of the media room.
Yutsano
All of a sudden I can’t wait for the queers to show up. That is sounding just a popcorn-worthy. I wonder if they’re figuring out they can’t contain teh crazy anymore, and they can’t even co-opt it. Fun shtuff.
Dollared
Anne, you’re really not showing enough respect for The Chroniclers of Our Imperial Greatness.
asiangrrlMN
Let’s get ready to ruuuuuuuuumble! In this corner, we have the Oompa Loompas, led by the very orange John Boehner. In this corner, we have the Randianites, led by Ron/Rand Paul (father/son duo).
This oughta be good. Pass the popcorn, Yutsy! I really hope the members of GOProud come swishing in wearing nothing but gold sparkly g-strings and pasties on their nipples.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN:
Oh fergawdsake. The resultant fapping from the closet cases would almost make for a new sustainable energy source. But yeah, it would be fucking hilarious.
Nethead Jay
Yeah, that’s some incredible organizing incompetence. I’m with you @Yutsano: and @asiangrrlMN:, break out the popcorn and bring on GOProud ;D
In other non-news, Dr. Phil is still a gigantic asshole and quite possible criminal.
EDIT: Forgot to say, Anne Laurie, that last sentence is a beauty, sitting here laughing so hard my eyes ar watering…
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Bwahahahahahahha! Or, they could dress like this and make a grand entrance to this song (I bet you can guess what it is before you even click the link!).
ETA: Omigod. We need to go next year, Yutsy!
burnspbesq
Gotta love the Paulistas for yelling “War criminal” at Cheney.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: PINK FEATHERS REPRESENT!! Too bad getting Kylie to show up is out of the question. It’d be worth it just to have her cash the wingnut welfare check then tell them they’re all wankers and dickheads and leave laughing.
asiangrrlMN
@Nethead Jay: That’s fucking disgusting. I hope they nail Dr. Phil for something, anything. That’s just…I mean….
@Yutsano: Yes. That would be fabu. I must watch it again to get the taste of Dr. Phil out of my mouth. He DOES NOT taste like chicken.
@morzer: I am right there with you on this one.
burnspbesq
The last episode of “Friday Night Lights” is as good an hour of television as you can ever hope to see.
I continue to be mystified by the fact that that show never built a huge audience. It was so good, so consistently.
And Connie Britton is the sexiest woman who has ever walked this Earth.
J’ai une grande tristesse.
morzer
@asiangrrlMN:
Nothing wrong with Dr Phil that castration, total loss of assets and a sound beating with a tire iron couldn’t solve.
morzer
@asiangrrlMN:
I’ll raise ya this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHJ2-hP0dvE&feature=related
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: You do realize to plan a vacation like that I have to tell my work where and when and why I’m going. The where and when part is fine, but the why is kinda creepy to me.
And trust me hon, but don’t look at this. Trust me. Your blood pressure can’t take it.
morzer
@Yutsano:
That’s… so disgusting, I think I need a drink. At 3.37 am, no less.
asiangrrlMN
@morzer: Nom nom nom. Let’s add Kylie to the mix. You OK with that? Sans feathers, though.
@Yutsano: Got too much pride to say you’re going to CPACT or whatever it’s called? Did you see this? Dan Savage and Lt. Choi checking out the menz together at CPAP. (h/t Allan over at RR).
And, I moused over the link, and my head almost ‘asploded. Aaaaargh! Will I never be quit of him?
ETA: It’s a good thing I don’t actually watch the show.
Yutsano
@morzer: Never liked the show so didn’t care too much, but I figured having Bristol on there was their jumping the shark moment. But now my lack of a TV is looking smarter and smarter.
@asiangrrlMN: You cannot say I didn’t warn you. And links like that make me want to stalk Dan Savage even more. Especially the monogamous gay crack at the end.
Suffern ACE
@Nethead Jay: Wow. And not one person involved in the production in the show thought that an immediate response was necessary. I wonder if they were happy that the child was sufficiently helpless looking, which might be better for ratings.
morzer
@Yutsano:
More like their walking the hippo moment. As for the prospect of Ol’ Grey Badger swiveling those hips, I think I need a mental destergent.
morzer
@asiangrrlMN:
I can deal with Kylie removing her plumes to join our pizza and passion extravaganza. I am a bighearted, tolerant sort of guy, after all.
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
@Nethead Jay: Couldn’t Phil and his production crew be charged with depraved indifference? Or have I seen too many episodes of Law & Order?
ETA: I keep reading your handle as Neathead Jay.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Why you wanna stalk him? To seduce him or to make his life hell?
@morzer: Ugh. Just…ugh. He will not be added to our night of extravagant passion.
@Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel): I would think he could be charged with something, but I am not a lawyer. I don’t even play one on TV.
Where’s Burnsie? He was here a minute ago.
Yutsano
@asiangrrlMN: IIRC there are legal penalties for not reporting child abuse when you are a Mandatory Reporter. They’re things like loss of license and such, and possible monetary damages for the child if a lawyer were so enterprising.
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
@asiangrrlMN: Yeah, he’d know, I figured.
asiangrrlMN
@Yutsano: Except, Dr. Phil let his license lapse, so he’s no longer a Mandatory Reporter. Dickhead.
@Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel): When you leave for your gig? And, zai nali?
morzer
@asiangrrlMN:
Just to clarify – he doesn’t get pizza, right? I am not so worried about the hump-hump aspect, but some things are sacred.
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
@Yutsano: Ah, yes. I’ve seen postings about similar things pertaining to elder abuse @ the various doctor’s offices I clean.
PeakVT
a heckler who yells “Where’s bin Laden?”
I think including the words “fuck” and “motherfucker” would have be appropriate, but give the guy credit for asking the right question.
asiangrrlMN
@morzer: He gets NOTHING. Zip. Nada. Ugh. Yuck yuck. I am thinking about this instead.
Villago Delenda Est
@burnspbesq:
They’re like a stopped clock; they have to be right about SOMETHING a couple of times a day, and calling Reichsmarschall von Rumsfailed a war criminal is spot on.
Villago Delenda Est
@Suffern ACE:
Ratings rule their world. Nothing, but nothing, is more important.
It’s their bread and butter.
We’ve got to do something about the Ferengi strain of human. We just must, or we are doomed.
burnspbesq
@Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel):
I haven’t looked at the video, but Dr. Phil’s existence is a crime against humanity. If y’all want to remake the last big scene from “Braveheart” with Dr. Phil playing William Wallace, go for it.
Ruckus
When it sees Dick Cheney, the crowd’s din drowns out the boos
I don’t know how to live in a world where there are enough people to drown out the boos of even one person when darth cheney crawls out of his hole to be seen. Well maybe by hanging around I don’t give those assholes the pleasure of having one less person to shit on. But that’s the extent of it.
Ruckus
@morzer:
I do like the way you think.
Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel)
@asiangrrlMN: Oh, the tour’s not til summer. Probably July or Aug when nos sensible band would travel the deep South. If you weary of hollering at roadies you could also be the sexy merch table girl.
@burnspbesq:Or maybe that last scene from Hannibal? I’m still traumatized by that film 10yrs on.
Ruckus
@burnspbesq:
Have anyone in mind to play the defense attorney? Or at least post bail?
burnspbesq
@Ruckus:
Bail? Dr. Phil is rich and has no meaningful ties to the community. Which makes him a flight risk.
Bail denied.
burnspbesq
@Ruckus:
My favorite portrayal of a defense attorney in a movie, because it’s reasonably accurate and beautifully crafted, is Raul Julia as Alejandro Stern in “Presumed Innocent.” I could see Parminder Nagra as an earnest but overworked public defender.
harlana
What a bunch of losers. Where were they 8 years and over 4,000 Americans and hundreds of millions of Iraqis dead? The long overdue outrage leaves me cold, just a bunch of whining babies who didn’t give a fuck when it mattered, never bothered to investigate why we invaded, now 8 fucking years later, they are outraged. Fucking losers.
Carnacki
Very interesting survey results
stuckinred
@harlana: “hundreds of millions”? Dawg, there are only 31,234,000 people in Iraq.
morzer
@stuckinred:
Bah. A mere rounding error to our neocon masters. Anyway, what happened to that fine logical principle known as McArdle’s Calculator?
harlana
Okay, I realize I got a little “out there” in my analysis. I’m sure some of these little twats opposed the war, perhaps at the start (although I suspect at the time we invaded most of them got hard-ons when Bush stepped out in his flightsuit). I guess what pisses me off is that when those of us who were against the war from the very beginning were considered traitors for criticizing the war or doing something like calling Rumsfeld a war criminal, were shunned despised. alienated “America haters.” Now these fucks get together in their herd mentality and shout it aloud 8 fucking years later and they are considered patriots
alwhite
@morzer:
Yes, would you please videotape this punishment it and send to me?
I always thought he was a puffed up rag of a human being. He is to physiology what Sludge Judy is to law. Quick to judge, never a split second of doubt, harsh and one-sided. What they do bears no resemblance to what real people do. They are merely freak shows for the entertainment of morons.
harlana
@stuckinred: I meant to say hundreds of thousands, my bad.
Southern Beale
Woke up this morning to the entire Nashville Fire Dept. on our street. House across the street from us on fire, roof in flames.
I swear our neighborhood must be cursed …
morzer
@harlana:
Actually, the objectively correct response is that gastritis broke your calculator.
alwhite
@harlana:
Plus they are, after all, just brown people – you know, not the kind of folks they care about.
The Paulites problem with Iraq are not dead brown people, and not so much dead “good people” even. Their problem with the invasion has to do with government spending and power.
morzer
@alwhite:
It’s the 3/5 clause, but set at the 1/10 value.
Sko Hayes
@asiangrrlMN: I hope you know that the head of GOProud wants Dick Cheney to run for president.
Of course, that might have been before Cheney started looking like the walking dead. Whooeee, karma is a BITCH, ain’t it, Dick?
Anne Laurie
@Dollared:
Thanks! Incidentally, I stole the concept of Very Serious Journalists sniffing each others’ tags from Gary Trudeau, back in the… probably the Reagan coronation, come to think. How retro-timely.
JPL
UhOh, I just read an article about the lady who contacted Gawker about Lee and one sentence caught my eye
When contacted by the Post, Callahan said she’s reeling from the intense interest in the story, noting with dismay that people were already trying find information about her.
Does she have granite counter tops? What will Michelle Malkin say?
EDIT..must credit the Washington Post.
Chris
“Show us the shekels?” At a Gooper rally? And no one called them anti-semites? Shit, dude!
Chris
@PeakVT:
“Well, you know, I’m just not that concerned about him, to be honest.”
– Bravely Brave Sir W, putting the safety of his fellow citizens above all other considerations.
Morbo
Heard NPR’s coverage of Rummy and Cheney in bed this morning; it made me rage.
Nethead Jay
@Parallel 5ths (Jewish Steel): Seems to me something like that skould be possible. But not sure, I’m an IT guy, not a lawyer.
I can see how that could happen. But if you could see my desk and general work area it would be clear to you that I’m not big into the neatness concept ;)
someofparts
This is why I read websites like this one. Thankyou for that link.
My landlord gets Comcast, so Morning Joe is my only option as I’m getting up each day. I watch it in small doses. They had Trump on the phone this morning bragging about the reception to his speech.
The only reason I can stand even small doses of Morning Weenie Face at all is because I know I can go online and find out what is really happening.
jayjaybear
@Chris:
It does say that the comment got him immediately kicked out of the event.
Tim
@harlana:
You, sir or maam, are CORRECT!
Ruckus
@burnspbesq:
I was thinking of bail for those of us that went all in with the scene in Bravehart. “Dr” Phil, as you say, has money and would therefore be a risky candidate to receive his just comeuppance, being an important person and all.
Ruckus
@Morbo:
Rummy and Cheney in bed this morning
Rummy and Cheney in bed this morning? Boy this explains a lot.