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You are here: Home / Stayed too long at the fair

Stayed too long at the fair

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I don’t read Mark Halperin much, but after John pointed us his way this morning, I checked out “The Page” a little. Here’s the kind of original reporting you’ll find.

At the Iowa state fair, the answer is four simple letters: p-o-r-k.

Watch the exchange above.

And the aftermath: Romney with pork-on-a-stick.

It’s no skin off my back, I don’t care what goes on in Iowa, but this has gone over completely into parody, right?

Reader Interactions

76Comments

  1. 1.

    Villago Delenda Est

    The thing is, asswipes like Halperin don’t even realize they’ve gone into parody.

    Poe’s Law is getting a beating nowadays.

  4. 4.

    dmsilev

    Is it deep-fried? It’s not truly American unless it’s deep-fried pork-on-a-stcik.

    That aside, the nerd in me is upset that it’s not sausage inna bun.

  5. 5.

    jl

    And blogs like balloon Juice and Wonkette paved the way.

    Except those clowns get paid.

    And now it occurs to me that ‘paid clown’ is the word we should use for the Politico bigshots, Foxers, Matthews, etc.

    They are paid clowns. The TVers, it turns out, mult mult multi millionaires. Effging abject paid clowns. Nothing more.

  6. 6.

    TooManyJens

    @jl:

    And blogs like balloon Juice and Wonkette paved the way.

    LOL. Yeah, because political reporting was really substantive before John Cole came along!

  7. 7.

    Mainer

    In Maine today, the O’Keefe folks tried to pawn off a tape and got their *sses handed to them. Not even the tea party governor found it convincing.

    LePage, who took responsibility for the department’s lack of “customer service,” also stressed that the DHHS employee was relatively new to the job. He praised the senior eligibility specialist in the video for asking all “the right questions” and turning the man away.

    The edited version of the video, unveiled Thursday by Americans for Prosperity and the Maine Heritage Policy Center, is the first two minutes of this clip. The complete interview with the caseworker starts immediately after the edited clip and shows that the undercover man was denied welfare benefits after the caseworker asked a senior manager for assistance.

    sunjournal.com/state/story/1072560

  8. 8.

    beltane

    It reminds me of the 2000 campaign when some sh*tstain NPR reporter giggled that he gave Bush preferential treatment because his campaign was more generous with food than Gore’s was. A stolen election, two wars and a filed economy all because of some free hot dogs.

  10. 10.

    lamh34

    I see Halperin was just on Tweety, like I said in the previous thread on Halperin, I guess his “hiatus” at MSNBC is over. Too bad!

  11. 11.

    The Dangerman

    Could be worse, I suppose; the first big contest could be California and the candidates would have to dress in their Speedos to catch some waves, Bro.

  12. 12.

    Scott

    @TooManyJens: Before Wonkette and Cole came along, all the candidates addressed the issues and wore nice suits and acted like normal people! But now, thanks to the CRUSHING AND UNSTOPPABLE POLITICAL POWAH of John Xavier Cole, the candidates are forced to caper about like spider monkeys. FOR COLE’S BRUTAL AMUSEMENT.

  13. 13.

    Cat Lady

    @beltane:

    If McCain had won, it would have been because of Liz Sidotti’s sprinkled donuts. If they’re going to sell the country down the river, you’d think it would be for more than something you can get at 7/11.

  14. 14.

    jl

    @6 I was going to pass lightly over the fact that one johngcole ruined everything when he bacame a Democrat, the final straw that now threatens to break the camel’s (nope, never mind, too muslin) cow’s back and plung our exceptional nation into eternal damnation, and push the hand of God away from our shoulder.

    But no, some people could not leave well enough alone, could they?

    @12 Damn straight. thank you.

  16. 16.

    Amir Khalid

    @lamh34:
    Mark Halperin called POTUS a dick on television — not in the heat of the moment, but after careful deliberation. I say he should have been fired.

  19. 19.

    Zifnab

    @Scott: Damn you, teh intornets! You have debased our discourse with your plebeian jesting!

    Begone and good day to you, Balloon Juice.

    I. Said. Good. Day!

  20. 20.

    JR

    this has gone over completely into parody, right?

    When was it ever not parody? We started the cycle with Palin ’12, and it’s been downhill ever since.

  21. 21.

    Zifnab

    @Amir Khalid:

    Mark Halperin called POTUS a dick on television — not in the heat of the moment, but after careful deliberation. I say he should have been firedgiven his own three episode special on FOX.

    Fix’d!

  22. 22.

    jeffreyw

    Before Wonkette and Cole came along, all the candidates addressed the issues and wore nice suits and acted like normal people! But now, thanks to the CRUSHING AND UNSTOPPABLE POLITICAL POWAH of John Xavier Cole, the candidates are forced to caper about like spider monkeys. FOR COLE’S BRUTAL AMUSEMENT.

    Coles[cough]law

    look==> there’s Rick!

  23. 23.

    trollhattan

    @Ruckus:

    I’ll pile the pie further: deep-fried-porkrinds-on-a-stick. Meat’s for sissies. Porkrinds are for closers.

  27. 27.

    bemused

    So Halperin is ignoring the other two Romney Fair videos involving a lot of shouting and laughing at Romney?
    Halperin is even more useless now than before his hiatus if that’s even possible.

  28. 28.

    Dennis SGMM

    We’ll know that Romney is serious when he starts arriving at campaign events in a pickup truck eq

  29. 29.

    Dennis SGMM

    We’ll know that Romney is serious when he starts arriving at campaign events in a pickup truck eq

  30. 30.

    Dennis SGMM

    We’ll know that Romney is serious when he starts arriving at campaign events in a pickup truck eq

  31. 31.

    Dennis SGMM

    We’ll know that Romney is serious when he starts arriving at campaign events in a pickup truck eq

  32. 32.

    Dennis SGMM

    We’ll know that Romney is serious when he starts arriving at campaign events in a pickup truck equipped with a gun rack.

  33. 33.

    khead

    But now, thanks to the CRUSHING AND UNSTOPPABLE POLITICAL POWAH of John Xavier Cole, the candidates are forced to caper about like spider monkeys. FOR COLE’S BRUTAL AMUSEMENT

    Weird. Whenever I see/hear ‘spider monkeys’ I think of Mr. Anderson’s camper.

  36. 36.

    jl

    Anyone else notice how much worse it has gotten since Rosie came on board as another brutal and ruthless enforcer for Balloon Juice?

  38. 38.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Dennis SGMM: I still can’t get over that Scott Fucking Brown parlayed his goddamn pickup truck into a senate seat when the whole reason he had a pickup truck in the first place was because he needed to tow a horse trailer to his daughter’s equestrian events, but he stopped doing that because it was too hard to back up. That is not a very macho story, to say the least. And the fact that it wasn’t mocked and spoofed endlessly shows how lackluster that Coakley campaign really was.

  39. 39.

    FlipYrWhig

    @jl:

    And blogs like balloon Juice and Wonkette paved the way.

    This actually reminds me of the famously tense interview of Jon Stewart by Rachel Maddow, where she said that she thought their shows weren’t all that dissimilar, and he scoffed and said (in effect) that if that was true, she wasn’t doing it right. There _is_ a kind of snarky quippy shticky quality to a lot of the major media, which IMHO kicked into gear in the ’90s with Maureen Dowd, but it’s rather dominant by now. It’s one of the burrs under Bob Somerby’s saddle. (Granted, the burr-to-saddle ratio for that guy is off the charts.)

  42. 42.

    Dennis SGMM

    @FlipYrWhig:
    IIRC, Hillary Clinton used a pickup as a prop on some of her late-campaign stops as well. When I was down in South Texas, old man Kleberg (Owner of the King Ranch) drove a pickup. That did not make me feel any kinship between us.

  44. 44.

    Amir Khalid

    I’m starting to think that Mark Halperin sees himself as a sort of Perez Hilton for politicians.

  45. 45.

    jl

    @39
    I was not aware of that interview between Stewart and Maddow.

    Why would Maddow want to be like Steward, or his Best F*ck*ng News Team on Earth?

    I always thought of Maddow as a reliable analyst and reporter.

    Why, have I been misinformed?

    Stewart, is, if I understand rightly, and effing comedian, a respectable paid clown who does high quality respectable clowning. Which is fine, and why I do not run for the smelling salts every time he makes a joke with the Democrats.

    To the extent that Stewart’s centerist rally was not a joke, I think it is Maddow who should be telling Stewart that U R doing it rong.

    Follow the Colbert, my child.

  48. 48.

    Ruckus

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    I can understand that, having lived in OH for a while. At the state fair I don’t believe you could get any food not deep fried.

    On the other hand in some parts people BBQ pork. Some even call pork ribs, pig or meat on a stick.

  52. 52.

    Mnemosyne

    @Mainer:

    You know that you’re desperate for scandal when you try to build one around a guy who’s not qualified for benefits … not getting benefits. Come on, fellas, where’s the punchline? “He wasn’t supposed to get benefits and, um he didn’t get them. But he tried to get them! And was denied. Scandal!”

  54. 54.

    FlipYrWhig

    @jl: Maddow seemed to be hoping for an acknowledgment from Stewart that they were kindred spirits because they both were interested in watching political events and being clever about them. Stewart kept wanting to make a distinction and saying, in essence, that the news should be serious, not clever, and that being like his show would be being like comedy, not news, and hence doing a bad job of covering the news.

    The whole thing is worth seeking out, if it’s available, because you’d think it would have had much more of a mutual admiration vibe than it did. It was testy. Stewart later blamed the fact that he was sick that day, but it seemed to me that he meant everything he said.

  55. 55.

    GregB

    As a NH resident it is my solemn duty to bump in to Mark Halperin at some political event and then call him a dick.

  57. 57.

    Violet

    So is Romney’s nickname now Pork-Chop-on-a-Stick? I really think that suits Newt much better. Romney is more like Pringles-in-a-Can. Or even Wonder-Bread-on-a-Stick. Not toast. Bread.

  59. 59.

    SectarianSofa

    This is so lame I feel like Halperin has given me the Stupid cooties.

    Halperin is the bourgeoisie, in the sense of being that which should go fuck itself.

  61. 61.

    Suffern ACE

    @Mnemosyne: The scandal I suppose is that the low level employee was confused and went to ask a supervisor a question. As a manager I hate it when my subordinates do that!

  62. 62.

    Mnemosyne

    @Suffern ACE:

    Is it that, or is it because, thanks to the clerk’s inefficiency, the guy trying to commit fraud on camera had to wait a whole forty-five minutes before he got turned down? Insert DMV joke here.

  64. 64.

    fhtagn

    Poor old Mittens, getting porked by even such a limp-dicked, talentless, snivelling fuckwad as Halperin. Looks like the Tap-dancing Mormon Family Troupe isn’t going to make it to the PsychoCrazySuperbowl this time around either.

  66. 66.

    Ruckus

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    Sorry it was not intended that way.

    If nothing else the next 15 months will bring so many chances to laugh your head right off due to the gross conservative stupidity that the next election is sneaking up on having some redeeming social value.

  71. 71.

    LosGatosCA

    I’d like to see an automatic post everyday at BJ at around 9am EDT that contains the following points.

    The media sucks.
    Halperin, Brooks, Will, Cohen, Sullivan, Joke Line, Fred Hiatt suck even harder.
    Tom Friedman is the dumbest person on the planet who can write his own name.
    Franco and Broder are still dead.

  74. 74.

    JenJen

    Mittens has been so en fuego with the awful Iowa State Fair soundbites that it’s hard to keep up, but to me, this overlooked one is the funniest:

    Watch A Hot Dog-Eating Mitt Romney Stumble Into ‘Surprise’ Fox News Appearance

    And you know, for being a rather elite political reporter, it’s pretty hilarious that Halperin’s “The Page” makes no note of Romney’s macaca-like “corporations are people” gaffe, instead vaguely referring in a short piece to the exchange as “good TV fodder”. Mark Halperin kind of sucks at political reporting, no?

  75. 75.

    JenJen

    Also too, in Halperin’s “GOP Debate Report Card” at “The Page” tonight, this is how he characterized “Pawlenty’s worst moment”:

    Gratuitous jokey shot at Romney’s wealth seemed off point and petty.

    Halperin is truly the most hacktastic reporter in politics today. Well, he has been for awhile, which is why I suppose I enjoy piling on him so much.

  76. 76.

    KSH

    What’s a good response to the whole “taxing success” thing? Saying that Romney is insinuating that most of the US population are failures because they’re not rich?

    What about the whole class warfare thing? Seems like the easiest one is, “Yes, we’re joining the fight that the rich took to us 40 years ago!”

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