Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Beware of advice from anyone for whom Democrats are “they” and not “we.”

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

So many bastards, so little time.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

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

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

Today’s gop: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

“In the future, this lab will be a museum. do not touch it.”

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

Those who are easily outraged are easily manipulated.

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

The republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

No one could have predicted…

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

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

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That obscure object of desire

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“Reasonable” conservatives’ latest crush (Huntsman) goes wingnut:

“[T]here is — there are questions about the validity of the science, evidenced by one university over in Scotland recently. I think the onus is on the scientific community to provide more in the way of information, to help clarify the situation.”

Ha ha, you stupid gullible motherfuckers.

Reader Interactions

60Comments

  3. 3.

    a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)

    Just shoot me. Seriously though, I’m fine with him going wingnut, because he’s dangerous. He looks reasonable and sounded reasonable but would drive the US over the cliff at full speed just like the rest of the field. Thus he’s a bit less dangerous talking the nonsense that appeals to the base, as he can then frighten the actual swing voters.

  5. 5.

    Karen

    Isn’t there a “Catch 22?” Huntsman has to get more insane to gain the love of the base conservatives but then he becomes less “reasonable.”

    The stupid! It burns!

  7. 7.

    Mike G

    “I think the onus is on the scientific community to provide more in the way of information, to help clarify the situation.”

    “Now ask me how much scientific evidence I have that Jesus visited North America, God lives near a planet called “Kolob” and my sacred underwear has magical powers.”

  9. 9.

    some guy

    Some officials argued in private meetings that because the drone crashed in a remote part of eastern Iran, it might never be discovered, and therefore, leaving the remains where they were could be the safest option.

    But on Sunday, an Iranian military official quoted by the state news service claimed Tehran had shot down a U.S. stealth drone—alerting U.S. officials that the downed drone had been discovered.

    U.S. officials denied that the drone had brought down by Iran, either through hacking its satellite link or by shooting it down.

    Intelligence and military officials declined to comment on the specific mission the drone was flying when it crashed.

    Western Afghanistan, Eastern Iran, opinions differ.

    srv owes me a Cockspur and Coke

  12. 12.

    RSA

    I think the onus is on the scientific community to provide more in the way of information, to help clarify the situation.

    Yeah, the scientific community needs to provide more clarity to a Republican base that typically believes that the Earth is 10,000 years old, that a state-sponsored day of prayer for rain can relieve a drought, and that Satan is a living entity. More convincing science, that’s all we need.

  15. 15.

    Warren Terra

    Huntsman has long been awarded the luxury of seeming too sane on select issues for the Republican base to tolerate, because he so obviously had no prospect of winning. Now that people have started whispering in his ear that he might have an actual chance, he can no longer afford to appear sane. And it’s logical that climate change would be the first vestige of sanity to go, and not evolution; the Koch brothers and other big money players don’t care about evolution.

    Still, it’s worth keeping in mind that however much Huntsman has appeared to be the only sane one in the bunch, it’s all relative. He’s been shockingly rational on a few issues, but they’re fringe issues. His budget plan, on the other hand, is fncking nuts.

    How nuts, you ask? Well, he wants to eliminate taxes on unearned income (capital gains, dividends), eliminate all credits and deductions, and greatly reduce tax rates for all brackets. The truly wealthy would pay no taxes, the top few percent would see a big tax cut, the middle class would more or less break even (it depends on the credits and deductions they currently can claim), and lower-middle-class families and the working poor would take it in the neck (tax rates mattering much less to such people than credits and deductions). Oh, and total tax revenues would fall, making the deficit worse. Some plan; some moderate; some sanity.

  16. 16.

    Villago Delenda Est

    “I think the onus is on the scientific community to provide more in the way of information, to help clarify the situation.”

    Excellent. I’ve got a volunteer to test out the Theory of Intelligent Falling, by being chucked out of a Blackhawk hovering at 1000 feet over a packed football stadium.

    Have a nice trip, Jon.

  17. 17.

    Comrade Mary

    I’m alternating between crying and gloating.

    But then I look at Doug’s fucking awesome title and I just grin. Nice one, Doug.

  18. 18.

    mclaren

    The term “reasonable conservative,” like “friendly rapist” and “kind torturer,” represents a self-contradiction. Politically speaking, such phrases violate the Pauli Exclusion Principle.

  19. 19.

    Mike in NC

    Huntsman is nothing but the bored son of a Mormon billionaire who needs a hobby. He’ll soon drop this dalliance with wingnut politics for some other pursuit with a much better return.

  20. 20.

    some guy

    Unless and Until the Polar-Bear Americans prove, beyond a reasonable doubt that their habitat is threatened there is no danger, despite what their shysters and suborned dirty hippies claim.

    remain calm!

  21. 21.

    eemom

    @Gin & Tonic:

    I don’t get it. He has no fucking chance whatsoever, so why bother?

    aha! But now he thinks he DOES have a chance.

    Thus it makes perfect, paradoxical sense: the mirage of reasonableness that prompted the increasingly desperate, agonized [giggle] republican establishment to — as Amir so eloquently phrased it the other day — begin “sniffing cautiously” in his direction, is the first thing that’s gotta go if he is to make a serious bid for the votes of the lunatic base.

    God loves us, I tellz ya. This ever-devolving Clusterfuck of Clownery that is the republican bid for the WH is PROOF of that.

    Thank you Jesus. Thank you Lord.

  25. 25.

    some guy

    In January, Tehran said its forces shot down drones in the Gulf. In July, it said it shot down a drone near the city of Qom.

  26. 26.

    suzanne

    @Mike G:

    “Now ask me how much scientific evidence I have that Jesus visited North America, God lives near a planet called “Kolob” and my sacred underwear has magical powers.”

    If I was part of the 1%, I would TOTALLY give you my internet, because that was full of win.

  27. 27.

    AlladinsLamp

    And I’ve always wondered, Governor Huntsman, why the conquistadors, the friars, and the colonists had so much trouble with the Mormon Christian native population?

  33. 33.

    Joe Buck

    @lol: @Jenny: Jenny, your comment made me curious, so I checked what the people at FDL have been saying about the guy. About the only thing I can find was that they pointed out that Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman sometimes tell the truth to the Republican base, therefore they will lose. It seems hard to disagree with that. If anyone over there (other than a random commenter) expressed any love for Huntsman I don’t see it.

    They quoted Huntsman’s tweet where he said he believes in evolution and trusts scientists on global warming, but as Ron Ziegler said, that seems to be inoperative. I guess he must be running for VP now.

  35. 35.

    Suffern ACE

    That scientific community. So secretive. Comes from living your life in the closet I suppose, constantly worried that your family and friends will disown you when they find out. If only they’d do some outreach. Let everyone know how normal they really are. Adopt a media strategy and the right tone. If only they had some way to get that information out to the public.

  36. 36.

    dogwood

    The Huntsman love among the commentariat is proof that no matter how much bloggers rightfully mock the big time media hacks, they are just as easily influence by their bloviating as everyone else. People who think Huntsman is reasonable because he doesn’t have a history of homophobic/anti-science/birtherisms on his record don’t understand Utah politics. He’s a right-wing, son of a billionaire Mormon family. That was plenty good enough in Utah to get elected pre teaparty. Before Obama, rich, powerful Mormons didn’t have to completely humiliate themselves to win. The reason he never caught on with Republican voters is two-fold. He began with very low name recognition and he’s a lousy campaigner. Watch him on the stump. He’s as stiff and uncomfortable as Romney and less charismatic if that’s possible. His one advantage over the Mittster is that his ads and press releases are often clever and always less obviously hackneyed. As I see it, Huntsman is just another in a long line of Republicans (Romney, Perry, W, Quayle) that guys like Matthews think “real American” woman are going to swoon over. If Gingrich is “a stupid man’s idea of what a smart guy sounds like”, then Huntsman is an ugly guy’s idea of what a handsome man looks like. That’s probably a bit harsh. More accurately, he’s a middle aged white guy’s idea of what a president looks like.

  38. 38.

    Citizen_X

    Yeah, if there’s one thing scientists suck at, it’s providing information. All those global warming papers are like, “Abstract: GLOBAL WARMING IS FOR REALS. Data: TRUST US. Signed, SOME UNIVERSITY OVER THERE IN SCOTLAND.”

  40. 40.

    eemom

    @Joe Buck:

    here we get into the subtle distinction between the FDL and Glenn Greenwald Schools of Ratfuckery.

    FDL is more of a blunt ratfucking instrument. It trades on simple, brain dead, no frills Obama-hate. With a few notable exceptions — e.g., Lady Jane’s infamous Norquist dick-sucking episode and short-lived dalliance with the teatards — its collective zombie-brain doesn’t have the spare neurons for republican, um, “subtleties.”

    If, however, you’re looking for more surgical-precision level ratfuckery, Greenwald’s your man. Pretensions to “principled” libertarianism……above-it-all scoffing at party unity of any kind……Citizens United cheerleading……suck-uppery to scum ranging from Ron Paul to fucking Sarah Palin on the alleged basis of “principle”……yep, he’s got ’em all.

  41. 41.

    Mark S.

    How reasonable was he to begin with?

    Huntsman has said from the very beginning of his campaign that he doesn’t think the government should do anything about climate change and would not support spending taxpayer dollars on mitigating the effects of climate shift.


    Following the link    , he says he wouldn’t do anything while the economy is in the shitter.

  42. 42.

    Calouste

    The University of East Anglia is btw about 300 miles outside the Scottish borders, or further than NYC is from DC. You’s think the name would give some kind of clue as to whether it is located in Scotland or England.

  44. 44.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @Calouste:

    You’s think the name would give some kind of clue as to whether it is located in Scotland or England.

    And Huntsman is supposed to be the Republican with foreign policy nous.

    What does it say when the best and brightest of the Republican Party can’t tell the difference between England and Scotland? What was the land of his ancestors, Albania?

  45. 45.

    different-church-lady

    I’m telling you people right now: they’re running out of shiny objects, and Huntsman is going to somehow be shiny before this is all over.

  46. 46.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @lol: What left-wing love affair with Huntsman? I think people have confused a discussion of how Huntsman has seemed more reasonable than the other GOP candidates with an endorsement of Huntsman as a candidate or as a suggestion that he may be a viable alternative to Obama. For the most part, this is a mistake. For me, Huntsman has always seemed like a traditional, old fashoined Republican: sane, with a world-view that I can comprehend without a near fatal dose of mescaline, but not someone with whose world-view I agree and not someone from whom I would ever vote.

  47. 47.

    Tony J

    Huntsman? Meh. He hasn’t done anything good since he played Count Krolock in The Fearless Vampire Killers.

  48. 48.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    Kudos to all, especially Mike G, for great breakfast reading.

    Thanks to BJ, I didn’t read WaPo yesterday, and I haven’t started it today, although the article about Gingrich in debt because of luxury airline charters is tempting.

  49. 49.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Cheryl from Maryland:

    although the article about Gingrich in debt because of luxury airline charters is tempting.

    Look at it this way, if the article is good, someone will front page it or, at least, link to it.

  51. 51.

    lol

    @Joe Buck:

    It’s not so much support for Huntsman himself as sympathy for the “He’s a reasonable Republican we can work with” viewpoint that bolsters the “Both sides are the same” mentality that they use to justify not supporting Obama.

  52. 52.

    JG

    @eemom:

    Suck-uppery to Ron Paul and Sarah Palin? Either you are being willfully deceitful or you have poor reading comprehension. The fact that he (GG) agrees with Ron Paul on various issues related to foreign policy and civil liberties (as do many posters here) is now a sign of suck-uppery?

    The partisan mind is truly amazing.

  53. 53.

    Rommie

    I live in Michigan. I’ve seen up-close the results of a “reasonable” conservative in the executive chair. Huntsman would be just as bad as any of the others in the GOP clown car.

    Perhaps even worse, because all he’d have to do is sit on his hands and let Congress do the dirty work, while those who thought he was the moderate one all go “But, but, but…NOOOOOOO!”

  55. 55.

    The Moar You Know

    If, however, you’re looking for more surgical-precision level ratfuckery, Greenwald’s your man.

    @eemom: Uh oh, you done kicked the hornet’s nest now.

    That every word you just wrote happens to be 100% true isn’t going to slow that crowd down one second, sadly.

  57. 57.

    eemom

    @JG:

    kiss my amazing partisan ass.

    Greenwald praised Sarah Palin for being a “Washington outsider” who “made it on her own” — which adds “fact challenged moron” to his other sterling Ratfucker credentials.

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