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You are here: Home / Steel cage grudge match

Steel cage grudge match

by DougJ|  July 22, 20118:51 pm| 125 Comments

This post is in: Our Failed Media Experiment

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If cleek can write a pie filter that will allow me to ignore Charlie Rose’s preening, self-involved questions, I will watch this, on Kthug’s say-so:

David Brooks and me, on Charlie Rose tonight. No columnists were harmed in the making of this program — possibly because one was in northern Virginia and the other in central New Jersey.

Update. I finally understand Bobo. He’s somewhat well-meaning, he’s just intellectually lazy and not-that-smart. He’s a lot like most NYT readers and PBS viewers, that’s why they like him so much. (I don’t mean to be too critical of NYT readers and PBS viewers, they’re a step up from consumers of almost any other form of mass media.)

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Previous Post: « Good enough for me and Jimmy P
Next Post: The Posts, They Write Themselves »

Reader Interactions

125Comments

  1. 1.

    slag

    July 22, 2011 at 8:56 pm

    David Brooks and me, on Charlie Rose tonight.

    Skank and Earnest?

  2. 2.

    gpleigh

    July 22, 2011 at 9:00 pm

    Sounds like absolute torture.

  3. 3.

    Mark S.

    July 22, 2011 at 9:00 pm

    I’d rather have the pie filter on Bobo.

    I wonder if Bobo was ever on Charlie Rose talking about his Social Animal book. That must have been the most excruciating 30 minutes in the history of television.

  4. 4.

    TX Expat

    July 22, 2011 at 9:01 pm

    As long as you’re watching Bobo, might as well check out this piece by Sullivan.

    I like it when he catches a clue and his description of this mess as “America’s Cold Civil War” seems about right to me.

    Ok, off to study book one and two of the civil code. Bar exam Monday!

  5. 5.

    Mike Kay (Democrat of the Century)

    July 22, 2011 at 9:02 pm

    a drinking game: knock one back every time they say “both sides”

  6. 6.

    JPL

    July 22, 2011 at 9:06 pm

    TX Expat happy thoughts for you.

  7. 7.

    cat48

    July 22, 2011 at 9:08 pm

    “Obummer” Bash Fest Alert!

  8. 8.

    RossInDetroit

    July 22, 2011 at 9:08 pm

    Krugman’s been showing his disdain for his ‘colleague’ for a while now. The shots keep getting closer to his bow.

  9. 9.

    Donald

    July 22, 2011 at 9:09 pm

    Just press the mute button whenever Rose or Bobo open their mouths. That ought to work.

  10. 10.

    Turgidson

    July 22, 2011 at 9:10 pm

    @tx expat: don’t worry. Sullivan will find some way to be an innumerate fool again soon. After all, Paul Ryan is serious and Democrats who accurately describe his ideas are demagogues.

  11. 11.

    Cermet

    July 22, 2011 at 9:11 pm

    TX Expat – either Cole has taken over Andrew’s blog and is ghost writing or Andrew wants out of the dog house for Balloon Juices’ A list. For this one he gets my vote for getting out of the dog house.

  12. 12.

    jl

    July 22, 2011 at 9:13 pm

    Thanks for the heads up. will look for it on the Rose site when it pops up.

    I assume Krugman will have memorized DeLong’s virtual green room posts, along with all the other, uh, you know, actual empirical research he tends to do (that is, actual work, which I think is rare among the GOP hackdits). Krugman probably rehearsed them in front of his cats, who look as implacable and as large as Tunch.

    It will be interesting to watch Brooks actually cringe and looked pained, as opposed to pretending in order to sell his hackwork.

  13. 13.

    MikeJ

    July 22, 2011 at 9:14 pm

    @TX Expat: I thought I knew what OCEAN meant before that $16 adverse possession story today. Good luck on the bar.

  14. 14.

    TX Expat

    July 22, 2011 at 9:14 pm

    Ross: did you see my reply in john’s thread about a reply button? There’s a fix for firefox and chrome. I provided the link.

    JPL: thanks. I’m gonna be very happy to be finally done!

  15. 15.

    Mark S.

    July 22, 2011 at 9:15 pm

    @RossInDetroit:

    You blame him? I would love to see the look on Krugman’s face when someone calls Brooks an “intellectual.”

  16. 16.

    TX Expat

    July 22, 2011 at 9:19 pm

    Don’t get me started! I got a law degree to do political stuff so having to learn about LA civil law has been torture. Thanks for the good wishes!

  17. 17.

    RossInDetroit

    July 22, 2011 at 9:20 pm

    TX Expat

    Ross: did you see my reply in john’s thread about a reply button? There’s a fix for firefox and chrome. I provided the link.

    Thanks, I did. I’m looking for a workaround in Command Level CICS just for the novelty of it.
    FF is boggy and crashy for me. Chrome has been much more stable and functional so that’s what I use. Except at work, where I have only IE, the software equivalent of scratching in a clay bank with a stick.

  18. 18.

    mikefromArlington

    July 22, 2011 at 9:20 pm

    So, I wonder if Boner and his colleagues consult with hedge fund managers before breaking talks knowing the stock market will take a nose dive so those financing their campaigns can clean house on Monday shorting the market.

    I wouldn’t put it past all those thieves.

  19. 19.

    Keith G

    July 22, 2011 at 9:22 pm

    If Bobo trotted out the line he used on News Hour, “Obama had a temper tantrum and he will not get anywhere insulting the GOP House leadership”, I bet Dr. Krugman would have a hard time hiding the contempt.

  20. 20.

    cxs

    July 22, 2011 at 9:30 pm

    Good luck on the Bar, TX Expat!

  21. 21.

    pseudonymous in nc

    July 22, 2011 at 9:31 pm

    Bobo has already said that the rank and file House GOP is nutso. Now he’s saying that their nannies need to be patted on the head? Fuck him up the Applebee’s.

  22. 22.

    jwb

    July 22, 2011 at 9:31 pm

    Keith G.: Well, it will be interesting if that comes up, since it’s hard to decide whether Krugman has more disdain for Brooks or Obama.

  23. 23.

    dr. bloor

    July 22, 2011 at 9:31 pm

    Krugman probably rehearsed them in front of his cats, who look as implacable and as large as Tunch.

    OK, I laughed, in part because it’s a completely plausible speculation.

  24. 24.

    jl

    July 22, 2011 at 9:31 pm

    The real test for whether the program is useful will whether Krugman can distill the facts and reasoning of sound empirically based macroeconomics to get through to the listeners through the static and flack and misdirection and distraction of Rose and Brooks.

    Krugman wrote in a column that he loves the challenge of explaining the science of macroeconomics (well, what science there is to it) to lay audiences.

    This show will be a real challenge for him to do that. Whether he pays any more attention to Brooks than he needs to is not important.

  25. 25.

    jl

    July 22, 2011 at 9:33 pm

    @23

    Probably Krugman rehearsed stuff in front of his wife and some colleagues for a competent red team.

    Probably in front of his cats to make sure the blank and puzzled stares of Rose and Brooks do not distract him.

  26. 26.

    Davis X. Machina

    July 22, 2011 at 9:38 pm

    @dr. bloor: That would be “Albert Einstein” and “Doris Lessing”.

  27. 27.

    Corner Store Operator

    July 22, 2011 at 9:38 pm

    As good/horrible as this will be, the fact that Krugman is forced to go up against someone as pathetic as Brooks (he’s not an economist, what exactly is he?) is the tragedy here.

  28. 28.

    celticdragonchick

    July 22, 2011 at 9:40 pm

    Sully gets shrill:

    The Republican refusal to countenance any way to raise revenues to tackle the massive debt incurred largely on their watch and from a recession which started under Obama’s predecessor makes one thing clear. They are not a political party in government; they are a radical faction that refuses to participate meaningfully in the give and take the Founders firmly believed should be at the center of American government. They are not conservatives in this sense. They are anarchists….Coming from abroad, this country seems as if it is beyond dysfunctional. It looks like a banana republic on the verge of economic collapse. Now that Nixon’s dream has come true and the GOP is fundamentally the party of the Confederacy, it was perhaps naive to think they could ever accept the legitimacy of this president, or treat him with respect or act as adults in the governing process.

  29. 29.

    M-Pop

    July 22, 2011 at 9:47 pm

    Oh yeah, Charlie Rose is unbearable. Okay – let me put it into perspective: Charlie Rose is more unbearable than Tweety when he’s on a screed of stupid.

  30. 30.

    Ol' Dirty DougJ

    July 22, 2011 at 9:51 pm

    Okay – let me put it into perspective: Charlie Rose is more unbearable than Tweety when he’s on a screed of stupid.

    Ain’t no ballpark neither.

  31. 31.

    dr. bloor

    July 22, 2011 at 9:51 pm

    As good/horrible as this will be, the fact that Krugman is forced to go up against someone as pathetic as Brooks (he’s not an economist, what exactly is he?) is the tragedy here.

    Yeah, the potential drawback here is that we have life imitating art, and halfway through the show Krugman starts muttering “I can’t believe I’m losing to this guy.”

  32. 32.

    slag

    July 22, 2011 at 9:54 pm

    @celticdragonchick: It won’t last. He’ll glance over at his picture of Paul Ryan’s vacant blue ones, and Sullivan will be Right as rain again.

  33. 33.

    patrick II

    July 22, 2011 at 9:55 pm

    OT, but the Oslo bomber has been tentatively identified as Anders Behring Breivik, age 32, a self-described nationalist with links to right wing groups.

  34. 34.

    stuckinred

    July 22, 2011 at 9:56 pm

    The Norwegian murderer:

    A Twitter account for Breivik has surfaced, though it only has one post, this quote from philosopher John Stuart Mill: “One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100 000 who have only interests.” The tweet was posted on July 17.

    On a Facebook account that Norwegian media outlets have attributed to Breivik, he describes himself as having Christian, conservative views. He says he enjoys hunting, the games World of Warcraft and Modern Warfare 2, and lives in Oslo. He also lists political analysis and stock analysis as interests.

  35. 35.

    Stillwater

    July 22, 2011 at 9:59 pm

    @patrick II: Was there really any doubt? Why the fuck would AQ want to bomb Norwaysians?

    But, you know, thanks for the info. confirming that.

  36. 36.

    Dee Loralei

    July 22, 2011 at 9:59 pm

    They’re saying at least 80 killed at Norway youth camp. Dear God those poor kids and their families. via MSNBC

  37. 37.

    LesGS

    July 22, 2011 at 10:00 pm

    TX Expat & celticdragonchick: Sullivan laid in a truly righteous smack there. I’ve been reading McPherson’s Battle Cry of Freedom, and Sully’s characterizing what’s happening to the US now as a “Cold Civil War” seems right on the money.

  38. 38.

    MikeJ

    July 22, 2011 at 10:01 pm

    @RossInDetroit: I’ll add the reply button fix to the chrome pie filter tonight. Burgers are just about to come off the grill right now though.

  39. 39.

    JPL

    July 22, 2011 at 10:01 pm

    So now that it was a right wing nationalist who killed and maimed when will the American media ignore it?
    edit. I am so sorry for the pain caused because of this madman.

  40. 40.

    JGabriel

    July 22, 2011 at 10:06 pm

    Sometimes people on the opposite sides of the aisle manage to get along quite well anyway.

    No columnists were harmed in the making of this program — possibly because one was in northern Virginia and the other in central New Jersey.

    And sometimes they don’t.

    (I love the way Krugman implies that the only reason he and Brooks didn’t come to blows was because they weren’t in the same room.)

    .

  41. 41.

    Spaghetti Lee

    July 22, 2011 at 10:09 pm

    Mr. Krugman, do you like pie?

    Mr. Brooks, do you like pie?

  42. 42.

    TX Expat

    July 22, 2011 at 10:09 pm

    @MikeJ:

    Don’t get me started! I got a law degree to do political stuff so having to learn about LA civil law has been torture. Thanks for the good wishes!

    That was directed your way upthread. Too bad there isn’t a reply button for Safari. Makes using my other i-crap to comment annoying.

    @LesGS:

    “Battle Cry of Freedom” is on my to read list right after the latest George R.R. Martin that is just lying there tempting me. Yeah, Sully hit it outta the park with that post. Good for him.

    @JPL:

    I just got an AP alert that said 80 people were killed at the youth camp. The horror.

  43. 43.

    SiubhanDuinne

    July 22, 2011 at 10:10 pm

    Random thoughts:

    1. Haven’t seen the POTUS debt ceiling presser yet, but just read the transcript. He was righteous!

    2. I am actually IN an Applebee’s right now (don’t ask). But I am happy to report, I did not visit the salad bar.

    3. Go Braves!

    4. Jesus Christ, Norway. I hadn’t heard those huge numbers of dead, was hoping the death count could remain in single digits which is what was being reported earlier today. Jesus. What a fucking heartbreaker.

  44. 44.

    Trainrunner

    July 22, 2011 at 10:11 pm

    AP is now reporting that 80–eighty–people were killed on the Norwegian island camp today by that nationalist nutjob.

  45. 45.

    Ol' Dirty DougJ

    July 22, 2011 at 10:11 pm

    They’re saying at least 80 killed at Norway youth camp.

    Terrible, just terrible.

  46. 46.

    SiubhanDuinne

    July 22, 2011 at 10:14 pm

    80, I am in shock. Jee. Sus.

  47. 47.

    JPL

    July 22, 2011 at 10:21 pm

    I just can’t imagine the horror in Norway. Most of the youth attending the camp were fifteen and sixteen and excuse the expression but they must have been sitting ducks. After huge explosions in the government center the gun man mowed down a group of youth members participating in government. Since Norway is so small, I assume this is like our 9/11 but larger.
    How soon before red state suggests that if those youth were armed, they would be alive.

  48. 48.

    Jules

    July 22, 2011 at 10:22 pm

    Jesus.
    Fucking Gillespie is spewing on Maher tonight.

  49. 49.

    jurassicpork

    July 22, 2011 at 10:23 pm

    David Brooks, an intellectual? Forget Krugman. I’d like to see the look on George Will’s face when he hears that.

  50. 50.

    JPL

    July 22, 2011 at 10:25 pm

    I just went on foxnews.. Obama angry and 7 dead in Norway..
    edit..someone should capture the front page of foxnews.. I don’t know how..

  51. 51.

    MaxxLange

    July 22, 2011 at 10:27 pm

    oooh, Charlie Rose! I’ll cue up the Weather Channel theme song, and brew a pot of coffee

  52. 52.

    Comrade Kevin

    July 22, 2011 at 10:29 pm

    I haven’t seen anyone else mention it.. have any of you seen what Google did to the logo on their home page today?

  53. 53.

    cckids

    July 22, 2011 at 10:30 pm

    Jules@47:

    Fucking Gillespie is spewing on Maher tonight.

    My god, he is so sad in person. Complete lack of logic, and if he keeps harping on the “Obama’s birthday is the reason for the debt deadline”, I think Donna Brazile may deck him. Or the mayor guy, he seems kind of irked with him.

  54. 54.

    Montysano

    July 22, 2011 at 10:30 pm

    @ 47 Jules

    Fucking Gillespie is spewing on Maher tonight.

    What a giant festering asshole.

    John Fetterman: “I’m the mayor of the poorest town in Pennsylvania.”

    Gillespie: “You must be very proud.”

    Fetterman: “Maybe we should go outside.”

  55. 55.

    RossInDetroit

    July 22, 2011 at 10:32 pm

    MikeJ

    I’ll add the reply button fix to the chrome pie filter tonight. Burgers are just about to come off the grill right now though.

    Thank you. I hope you don’t regret that in the future when I’m all willy nilly replying to people and stuff.

  56. 56.

    JPL

    July 22, 2011 at 10:33 pm

    Krugman, noble prize, against Brooks walking the streets of nyc looking for an Applebee’s salad bar. Is this a contest?

  57. 57.

    Gin & Tonic

    July 22, 2011 at 10:35 pm

    Reuters is reporting that the death toll in Norway is at least 80, mostly at that youth camp.

  58. 58.

    slag

    July 22, 2011 at 10:35 pm

    @Comrade Kevin: Yes. It’s awesome. Although I don’t see the G.

  59. 59.

    scav

    July 22, 2011 at 10:36 pm

    and a rusty implement wave to the NYT who have managed to moderate their position to include the following

    Terrorism specialists said that even if the authorities ultimately ruled out terrorism as the cause of Friday’s assaults, other kinds of groups or individuals were mimicking Al Qaeda’s signature brutality and multiple attacks.
    __
    “If it does turn out to be someone with more political motivations, it shows these groups are learning from what they see from Al Qaeda,” said Brian Fishman, a counterterrorism researcher at the New America Foundation in Washington. “One lesson I take away from this is that attacks, especially in the West, are going to move to automatic weapons.”

    because, clearly, hey! no one ever ever ever really figured out what automatic weapons really did until Al Qaeda figured it out.

    ETA: oh yeah, and terrorists were fuzzy lovable cream-puffs until they came along and ruined it for everyone. shee-it. All the best to Norway that is possible, they at least look sane.

  60. 60.

    Cat Lady

    July 22, 2011 at 10:36 pm

    The Fonzie of Freedom is such a ridiculous person. That mayor dude is dying to take that fucking leather jacket and hogtie him with it.

  61. 61.

    Comrade Kevin

    July 22, 2011 at 10:37 pm

    @slag: I like the shadow down below the search box, that also rotates.

  62. 62.

    licensed to kill time

    July 22, 2011 at 10:40 pm

    This MSNBC story has some details about the shooter and youth camp scene, if you can stand to read it.

    A 32 yr old right wing conservative with a big farm business.

  63. 63.

    RossInDetroit

    July 22, 2011 at 10:40 pm

    The Google logo: If you poke it it wobbles around. I’m so easily amused.

  64. 64.

    JGabriel

    July 22, 2011 at 10:41 pm

    @patrick II:

    OT, but the Oslo bomber has been tentatively identified as Anders Behring Breivik, age 32, a self-described nationalist with links to right wing groups.

    I suspected from the start that this was going to be right-wing domestic nationalist. My sympathies to injured and their families, to the families of the dead, and the Norwegian people in general.

    .

  65. 65.

    Suffern ACE

    July 22, 2011 at 10:42 pm

    God. Norway.

  66. 66.

    Spaghetti Lee

    July 22, 2011 at 10:42 pm

    Yeah, the 15-and-16 year old kids on vacation are totally at fault for your fascist delusions, you wretched piece of fucking shit. Jesus, what a horrible, horrible story.

  67. 67.

    slag

    July 22, 2011 at 10:43 pm

    @Comrade Kevin: Very nice. Didn’t even see it the first time. Thanks for pointing it out! Calder’s mobiles always make me happy. Good subject for the Google logo, even without the apparent G.

  68. 68.

    scav

    July 22, 2011 at 10:43 pm

    and I’ve got a rant in moderation that is immoderate in the extreme. Deservedly so. I can’t spit at the moment.

  69. 69.

    Seonachan

    July 22, 2011 at 10:48 pm

    The only Charlie Rose interview worth watching:

    “‘Charlie Rose’ by Samuel Beckett”

  70. 70.

    jl

    July 22, 2011 at 10:49 pm

    @61: Yeah. The mobile was nice bright spot in a crummy day. The simulation works in Firefox (not the crummy other one), at least at my place.

  71. 71.

    jl

    July 22, 2011 at 10:52 pm

    Calder, in old age, gives a performance of his original circus

    Alexander Calder performs his “Circus” – Whitney Museum
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6jwnu8Izy0

  72. 72.

    Montysano

    July 22, 2011 at 10:52 pm

    Wow. Nick Gillespie in person is a disastrous spokesperson for libertarianism. “I’m all for shared sacrifice, as long as it’s voluntary”. He said that. Srsly.

  73. 73.

    licensed to kill time

    July 22, 2011 at 10:53 pm

    @licensed to kill time:

    Oops. This MSNBC story is the one that had more details on the shooter.

  74. 74.

    GregB

    July 22, 2011 at 10:54 pm

    I think it is time to start racial profiling for these types of terrorists.

  75. 75.

    aimai

    July 22, 2011 at 10:58 pm

    I’ve got a 14 year old. I’m just sick at heart. I can’t imagine what this is doing to those families and what it will do to the entire country. This isn’t their 9/11, its their Oklahoma Bombing writ large. 80 Children? My heart is breaking.

    aimai

  76. 76.

    jl

    July 22, 2011 at 11:06 pm

    More circus performances from Calder, to lighten things up a little.

    Alexander Calder’s Circus (part 2)
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIQbjbbNq0Q

  77. 77.

    counterfactual

    July 22, 2011 at 11:24 pm

    Very unconfirmed rumor from the Norwegian blogosphere: the Norwegian shooter blogged under the name “fjordman” at Atlas Shrugged and Gates of Vienna.

  78. 78.

    MikeJ

    July 22, 2011 at 11:27 pm

    @MikeJ: Attention chrome users: The reply button fix is now rolled into the pie filter.

    Click the link on my name. Yell at me if it doesn’t work.

  79. 79.

    Martin

    July 22, 2011 at 11:31 pm

    @MikeJ: Works perfectly on Mac Chrome. Thanks.

  80. 80.

    pixelpusher

    July 22, 2011 at 11:35 pm

    Doug, longtime reader, first time responder — to you.

    I buy the dead tree edition of the NYTimes out of loyalty. I grew up with the paper. I remember the 70s, when they fought the good fight, and people hated them. My old crazy aunt, yeah.

    And NPR? God bless them. Because otherwise, let’s face it: radio is a vast desert. Please disabuse me, if you can.

    OK, now that the alcohol has spoken, have a great evening and… keep up the good fight!

  81. 81.

    freelancer

    July 22, 2011 at 11:39 pm

    @MikeJ:

    Oh that is awesome. Muchos thanks-oes

  82. 82.

    Frapalinger

    July 22, 2011 at 11:40 pm

    I can’t wait to watch this tonight. I’m trying to watch Bill Mahr and that douche bag Gillespie is talking over everyone declaring that default won’t lead to the government not being able to meet its financial obligations or losing its AAA credit rating, that wages have in fact risen over the last 30 years, and that the repeal of glass-stegel had nothing to do with the financial crisis. I can’t make up my mind if the wingnuts really believe this crap or if they are just repeating these lies over and over again in order to promote policies that benefit the upper class. I’m going with the latter, though they probably have deluded themselves into buying their own bullshit as well.

  83. 83.

    scav

    July 22, 2011 at 11:43 pm

    @MikeJ: Many thanks for providing an example of at least something that works today. Damned if having a little “reply” pop up after so long just makes one want to click it just because it’s there.

  84. 84.

    Spaghetti Lee

    July 22, 2011 at 11:45 pm

    I’ve often thought the same thing about Bobo and other Bobo-like specimens. My pet theory is that if liberals succeed in shoving the convention wisdom scale further to the left by getting big legislation passed, winning elections and such, then the centrists will follow along. They don’t have a vested interest in any particular ideology, but they do have an interest in remaining perched on the political median and being inoffensive and popular dispensers of conventional wisdom. Change what “conventional wisdom” means in policy terms, and all the things we hate them for get neutralized.

  85. 85.

    JC

    July 22, 2011 at 11:45 pm

    ON the debt ceiling raise, more of the ‘both sides are responsible‘, from CNN.

    A ‘neutral’ anchor. Rick Lazio, super Rethuglican, and Gloria Borger, a conversative member of the Beltway media.

    Gloria Borger, doing the same ‘they just couldn’t hold hands together’, and throwing in things like individual mandate versus Bush tax cuts.

    totally false, totally faux balance, but this is the crap we have to deal with.

  86. 86.

    Chad N Freude

    July 22, 2011 at 11:46 pm

    @Seonachan: I appreciate this SO much! Thanks.

    BTW, Godot says he can’t make it, don’t wait for him.

  87. 87.

    Marginalized for stating documented facts

    July 22, 2011 at 11:47 pm

    Boy, do I hear you about Charlie Rose’s suckup kiss-ass give-head-to-the-common-unwisdom questions.

    Back during the dot-com bubble, Charlie Rose burbled with worshipful questions about the supposed glories of the immiment disappearance of bricks-and-mortar storefronts. Then when the dot-com bubble imploded, old Charlie Rose switched instantly to worshipful questions about why no one realized it was all bullshit.

    During the runup to the 2003 Iraq invasion, old Charlie Rose sucked the neocons’ dicks so hard the back of his head practically caved in, Charlie Rose’s questions all centered around “What will be the effect of the glorious new democracy we’re going to create in the middle east?”

    Then when the 2003 Iraq invasion turned into the world’s biggest clusterfvck, Charlie instantly switched to asking oh-so-wise questions about “Why didn’t everyone know it was going to be a disaster?”

    Charlie Rose has become famous and wealthy by parroting the common beliefs back to a mass audience. If Charlie Rose had lived during the Salem witch mania, he’d be asking wise and insightful questions about why there are so many witches, and what we need to do to root them out of our society, and how many people we should put on trial for being possessed by demons.

  88. 88.

    MikeJ

    July 22, 2011 at 11:49 pm

    @Martin: Took me longer to find the password to edit that web site than it did to make the change.

    Glad to hear it works, I only tested on Ubuntu.

  89. 89.

    Mark S.

    July 22, 2011 at 11:54 pm

    Update. I finally understand Bobo. He’s somewhat well-meaning, he’s just intellectually lazy and not-that-smart. He’s a lot like most NYT readers and PBS viewers, that’s why they like him so much.

    Well, a lot of people are lazy and not that smart but aren’t that well-liked. I guess I don’t know anyone who really likes Bobo, so it’s hard for me to guess why they like him. I could see not hating him, especially if you’ve just watched some foaming at the mouth conservative on Fox.

    I don’t know, there is something really obnoxious about Bobo that I can’t put my finger on. There’s the name-dropping that dumb people use to make themselves look smarter. There’s the fact that he doesn’t seem to have ever struggled for anything in his life. There’s the doggedly sticking to conservatism even though it’s been a total failure for the last 30 years. There’s his embrace of evo psych psuedo-science.

    I don’t know if it’s one of these things or just all of them together that makes him so much more annoying than a garden variety idiot like Richard Cohen.

  90. 90.

    Barb (formerly Gex)

    July 22, 2011 at 11:59 pm

    Oh c’mon now. Re Norway. We all know that white male Christian conservatives are BY DEFINITION not terrorists. If I had to guess, he was taking his country back from those poor kids.

    Tiny authoritarian brains, can’t countenance coexisting with others or not always getting their way, always seem to resort to violence as their second option.

  91. 91.

    Dollared

    July 23, 2011 at 12:03 am

    @73 licensed. Oh.my.God.

    that’s 80 teenage kids at a Labor Party camp. It was a decapitation move, like Chile in 1973-74.

    Norway has only 5 million people. For us, the equivalent would be killing 4800 Young Democrats at a national convention.

  92. 92.

    Ol' Dirty DougJ

    July 23, 2011 at 12:04 am

    @pixelpusher

    I’m a religious reader of the Times myself and I sometimes enjoy NPR. I’m just a misanthrope, so “somewhat well-meaning but intellectually lazy and not-that-smart” is about as kind a description as I’d ever give of any large group of people. That said…I’d like to see highly paid pundits rise above that level.

  93. 93.

    Dollared

    July 23, 2011 at 12:07 am

    @88 Mark, it isn’t just annoying. The man works amazingly hard at creating slimy, false, protofascist arguments all the time. He is not lazy – he is like a textbook of facile totebagger propaganda.

    Remember how Haiti really kinda deserved their earthquake? Or my recent favorite, the discussion of Social Security cuts that began with the casual mention that the first national old age pension program was founded by Bismarck (and you know where that led us…..).

    Lazy is not the right word. Evil is a lot closer.

  94. 94.

    Frapalinger

    July 23, 2011 at 12:09 am

    So Krugman’s piece was edited for time. They mainstream media honestly just can’t help themselves and yet again are keeping a lid on this shrill, shrill thought criminal. On the flip side, this probably means less air time for Bobo, which is perhaps the single, unquestionable, absolute and objective good thing in the universe.

  95. 95.

    Lol

    July 23, 2011 at 12:16 am

    The important thing is that we remember all the times liberal pundits were shrill or used course language, because both sides do it and in the long run, hasn’t Nancy Pelosi killed 80 children also too?

  96. 96.

    Dennis SGMM

    July 23, 2011 at 12:16 am

    National police chief Sveinung Sponheim told NRK that the suspected gunman’s Internet postings “suggest that he has some political traits directed toward the right, and anti-Muslim views, but whether that was a motivation for the actual act remains to be seen.”
    A police official said the suspect appears to have acted alone in both attacks, and that “it seems like that this is not linked to any international terrorist organizations at all.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because that information had not been officially released by Norway’s police.

    The right has become an international terrorist organization. That this simple truth will never be acknowledged here in the US is one of the reasons that we are, in the short run anyway, doomed.

  97. 97.

    Spaghetti Lee

    July 23, 2011 at 12:21 am

    @91 Dollared

    So who’s the first wingnut to use the “They deserved it, the communists” argument? My bet is one of the paid monkeys at Townhall who I can’t be arsed to keep straight.

  98. 98.

    Corner Stone

    July 23, 2011 at 12:23 am

    @Dennis SGMM: My God. 80 children.

  99. 99.

    Dollared

    July 23, 2011 at 12:26 am

    @Spaghetti – I checked TownHall and the link to the Norway article is broken. I assume someone gloated and they had to take it down.

  100. 100.

    Frapalinger

    July 23, 2011 at 12:35 am

    Brooks got one last sloppy knob in for the very serious Paul Ryan before the break. Oh well, Paul Krugman was able to speak at very small length on one topic for almost 8 minutes. We won’t get to see that much of him on tv for another cumulative 3 months.

  101. 101.

    Dennis SGMM

    July 23, 2011 at 12:37 am

    @Corner Stone:
    It’s staggering. The damage that man did will outlive him by decades. My only hope is that Norwegians will conclude that tolerating heavily armed right wingers is a Bad Thing and take appropriate action.

  102. 102.

    TG Chicago

    July 23, 2011 at 12:41 am

    I just caught the end of the segment. My extremely facile review:

    David Brooks blinks A LOT. Paul Krugman blinks relatively rarely.

  103. 103.

    Bob

    July 23, 2011 at 12:44 am

    All the nutjobs try to tone down the lunacy on Charlie Rose. Bobo wouldn’t dare say in his column some of the reasonable things he said on the show.

  104. 104.

    Hill Dweller

    July 23, 2011 at 12:49 am

    After watching that pretentious D-bag Gillespie on Maher and Bobo on Charlie Rose’s awful show, I had to fight the urge to drink a bottle of Drano.

  105. 105.

    Hill Dweller

    July 23, 2011 at 12:50 am

    Bobo was somewhat reasonable on Rose because Krugman was there to make him look even more stupid if he repeated his usual drivel.

  106. 106.

    Frapalinger

    July 23, 2011 at 12:57 am

    @ TG Chicago and Bob
    I agree that Brooks really did tone it down. Without a doubt, it was his usual crap – the serious people need to get together and make a serious deal for the sake of seriousness, but BOTH SIDES lack seriousness – but he made it clear that, well, yes, after all, the republicans just aren’t serious about anything. As for the blinking, it was most intense at the end because Krugman had smacked down his bull shit that spending is out of control and because he was lying, stating that the Paul Ryan plan would control costs of healthcare. I was disappointed that Krugman didn’t tear into the Paul Ryan plan, but I guess he figures it a dead letter anyway and that they were out of time. I just can’t get over the fact that Brooks had to get one last plug for Paul Ryan in at the end, but it was almost all capitulation on his part.

  107. 107.

    Frapalinger

    July 23, 2011 at 1:03 am

    @Hill Dweller
    I agree with you about Real Time tonight. The highlight was when the mayor asked the empty leather suit to step outside. Otherwise, it was standard right-wing talking head tactics – just say the same old jingoisms and fact free nonsense over and over again, interrupting everyone else and not letting them get a word in edgewise until falling over backwards and foaming at the mouth. Bill Maher should have one guest per week and talk to them at length about something they have some sort of knowledge about (rather than just current political chatter) and then move on to new rules (which were weak this week).

  108. 108.

    Judas Escargot

    July 23, 2011 at 1:04 am

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    Yeah, the 15-and-16 year old kids on vacation are totally at fault for your fascist delusions, you wretched piece of fucking shit.

    Unarmed teens…

    Once again, the right wing proves itself to be the steward of true courage, honor and manhood.

  109. 109.

    Frapalinger

    July 23, 2011 at 1:15 am

    Since this guy in Norway self-identified as a christian conservative and was not, in fact, a muslim al qaida operative, do any of you see the story having legs at all? I mean, its not terrorism unless certain people do it, right? I know the media move from one shiny object to the next, so the story would be dead soon anyway (just like the Japan nuclear disaster, i mean, the problems are all solved, right?), but since this man killed a bunch of children (note: not fetuses) in the name of capitalistianity, me thinks we won’t be hearing much about it in the days to come.

  110. 110.

    Mnemosyne

    July 23, 2011 at 1:21 am

    Don’t forget, kids, the Norwegians brought this on themselves by being warmongers. And the fact that the murderer was not Muslim and was in fact anti-Muslim doesn’t change a thing:

    As I wrote three different times here, both the perpetrators and their motives are unknown, and none of the points I made — which relate exclusively to the reaction to these attacks — are changed in any way based on the identity of the perpetrators.

    And people wonder why I think Greenwalt is a twat.

  111. 111.

    Wannabe Speechwriter

    July 23, 2011 at 1:23 am

    Nick Gillespie is on Bill Maher right now. I want to make out with a Glock…

  112. 112.

    Hypnos

    July 23, 2011 at 1:31 am

    Right wing fundamentalist islamic terrorism, right wing fundamentalist christian terrorism, right wing extremist fascist terrorism, it’s all little SCARED people afraid of the future, afraid of a world that is changing, afraid of the increasing IRRELEVANCE of their beliefs. I am sorry. You have been left behind. You are worthless. You are useless. We don’t need you. Kill yourself – not others. Thank you.

  113. 113.

    soonergrunt

    July 23, 2011 at 1:31 am

    @ Mnemosyne, #110;
    You shouldn’t insult twats like that.

    O/T:
    This: http://www.amazon.com/Go-the-F-k-to-Sleep/dp/B0055QAEVE
    Is just dripping with awesomesauce.

  114. 114.

    Joel

    July 23, 2011 at 1:32 am

    The New York Times provides a lot of good content. Probably the best source of original content in the US, and there’s really no one close. Yes, Brooks, Dowd, Douthat, and Friedman are the four horsemen of the stupidity apocalypse, but you win some and you lose some.

  115. 115.

    PeakVT

    July 23, 2011 at 1:33 am

    @JPL: MWSnap.

  116. 116.

    Hypnos

    July 23, 2011 at 1:37 am

    Oh and can I say this – at least left wing terrorists took on people with economic wealth and political power, and more often than not, armed bodyguards.

    In Italy in the ’70s, the Red Brigades were shooting lawyers, businessmen and politicians.

    The neo-fascist right wing, with full endorsement from the secret service, blew up train stations and cooperative banks.

    I will never justify violence in pursuit of any ideological aim, but THERE IS a qualitative difference.

    Extremism is not all the same.

    Some people are just slimy, scared cowards.

  117. 117.

    Mnemosyne

    July 23, 2011 at 1:48 am

    @soonergrunt:

    You shouldn’t insult twats like that.

    I was too lazy to type “self-important pseudo-intellectual who’s constitutionally incapable of admitting he’s wrong and insists on doubling down on his idiocy no matter what.”

    Of course, that describes most lawyers in America. ;-)

  118. 118.

    Joel

    July 23, 2011 at 1:56 am

    I hope this guy, this guy in Norway, I hope he spends the rest of his life in a small windowless cell with minimal human contact. I hope he never gets to breathe fresh air again. And I hope he lives for a very, very long time.

  119. 119.

    burnspbesq

    July 23, 2011 at 2:43 am

    “somewhat well-meaning but intellectually lazy and not-that-smart” is about as kind a description as I’d ever give of any large group of people. ”

    “Dripping with condescension” doesn’t begin to describe that statement. It’s just a God-damned shame that we can’t live up to your expectations of us. We’re so sorry.

  120. 120.

    MaxxLange

    July 23, 2011 at 2:43 am

    fuck me running, what a horrible cockpunch of a day this was

    ironically, I woke up with a strange sensation – of well-being, and purpose, and even happiness. I’m a chronic depressive, so this is sort of unusual

    then the Norway news. which just keeps getting worse and worse.

  121. 121.

    Jebediah

    July 23, 2011 at 3:15 am

    @Frapalinger:
    Agreed – I only caught a few minutes – still at work – but I loved that. “Want to take it outside, genius?” And he deserves to have that guy smack him around a little, since the mayor’s comment came after maher mentioned that he is the mayor of teh poorest city in PA and Gillespie said “You must be very proud.” Wotta fucking pointlessly douchey thing to say!

  122. 122.

    Svensker

    July 23, 2011 at 7:27 am

    Update. I finally understand Bobo. He’s somewhat well-meaning, he’s just intellectually lazy and not-that-smart. He’s a lot like most NYT readers and PBS viewers, that’s why they like him so much.

    Yes. Ditto Tommy Friedman. One’s a right wing a-hole, the other’s a left-wing a-hole. They’re both war mongers.

    But not that smart. Also, too, huge egos.

  123. 123.

    A Mom Anon

    July 23, 2011 at 7:29 am

    @121 Jeb
    It’s especially freaking ignorant and stupid when you go look at John Fetterman’s Wikipedia page and see what he’s been trying to do the last decade.

    I really hate these right wing asshats. And why is it these so called”independants” and “libertartians” never seem to be on the Dem or lefty side of things? Except when it comes to bongs and what goes in them. Fuckers.

  124. 124.

    bergman

    July 23, 2011 at 8:49 am

    Ah, that’s what we need, a broadside against the stupid people who read.

  125. 125.

    Donald

    July 23, 2011 at 10:33 am

    “Don’t forget, kids, the Norwegians brought this on themselves by being warmongers. ”

    This is unreasoning Greenwald hatred. I despise Islamophobes, but before the facts came out I thought there was a fair to middling chance that some Islamist group had done this–I also thought it was possible that it was someone else and frankly hoped that it was. If it had been Muslims (as it has been on occasion, you know), Greenwald was pointing out what the motivations could have been.

    As for “bringing it on themselves”, that reminds me of how one couldn’t have a rational discussion after 9/11 about why some in the Muslim world hated us. Anyone who raised that issue was immediately accused of saying that the victims deserved what happened to them. It’s a great way to shut down thought.

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