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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

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Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

When I was faster i was always behind.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

There are times when telling just part of the truth is effectively a lie.

This fight is for everything.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

If ‘weird’ was the finish line, they ran through the tape and kept running.

We will not go quietly into the night; we will not vanish without a fight.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

People identifying as christian while ignoring christ and his teachings is a strange thing indeed.

The desire to stay informed is directly at odds with the need to not be constantly enraged.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Weird. Rome has an American Pope and America has a Russian President.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

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You are here: Home / Economics / Grifters Gonna Grift / Paging James O’Keefe and Andrew Breitbart, paging James O’Keefe and Andrew Breitbart,

Paging James O’Keefe and Andrew Breitbart, paging James O’Keefe and Andrew Breitbart,

by Soonergrunt|  December 8, 201110:24 am| 91 Comments

This post is in: Grifters Gonna Grift, Kochsuckers, Open Threads, Assholes, Blatant Liars and the Lies They Tell, Both Sides Do It!, Clown Shoes, Our Failed Media Experiment, Peak Wingnut Was a Lie!

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From the HuffPo, we get the story of Eric Boehlert subjected to a botched scam operation:

It was the middle of the day on Friday, and Eric Boehlert heard a knock on the door. A senior fellow at Media Matters, a nonprofit watchdog that challenges conservative news outlets, Boehlert works from his Montclair, N.J., home.

A short, bearded man stood outside, holding a clipboard and wearing a Verizon uniform. He asked Boehlert if he’d be willing to take a customer survey. Verizon had, perhaps coincidentally, been at the house a week earlier to handle a downed wire. Boehlert quickly agreed and noted that a Verizon worker had actually failed to show up when he said he would.

But as the survey went on, it started getting strange. “The only weird part before he got to his final question was he started telling me, ‘Oh, you know, it’s really tough out there, the economy, and I’m just happy to have a job,’ and stuff like that, which I thought was weird for a customer rep to be telling one of his customers,” Boehlert recalled to HuffPost.

“So he gets to the last questions, and he’s really reading intently off of his clipboard, and he says something about making the kind of salary I do, working from home, something something about the 99 percenters,” Boehlert said.

 

I’ve you’ve recently had some odd contact with the minions of the 1%, tell us about it in comments.  Also too, open thread.

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Reader Interactions

91Comments

  1. 1.

    Elizabelle

    December 8, 2011 at 10:34 am

    Meh.

    It’s too bad that Boehlert didn’t photograph the dude.

    And it would have been sweet if he had chased him back to his car.

  2. 2.

    cathyx

    December 8, 2011 at 10:40 am

    I had thanksgiving with some members of the 1%. Friends of my sister. Most there were nice, humble people who are thankful for what they have. We were going around the table saying what we were thankful for, and the hostess started off complaining that even though they were broke now because her husband lost a big contract, she is still thankful for the many small things in their lives. She is a school teacher earning $44,000 a year on top of what her husband brings in. I bit my tongue in order to not tell her that $44,000 alone is not broke to most people.
    My turn I gave thanks to the OWS protesters.
    At the end of the evening, another woman asked my daughter if she liked to shop. Her daughter(same age as mine) loves to go shopping, it’s fun. My daughter didn’t quite understand the question. Again, I bit my tongue in order to not say that we don’t shop for pleasure, we shop for needs, so shopping isn’t a hobby or something we do because we’re bored.
    They just don’t get it.

  3. 3.

    wilfred

    December 8, 2011 at 10:45 am

    I don’t get shocked easily, but:

    WASHINGTON (AP) — A published report says the remains of many more troops have been dumped in a Virginia landfill than the military originally acknowledged. The Washington Post says the incinerated partial remains of at least 274 American troops were sent to the King George County Landfill in Virginia. The report was based on database information at the Dover Air Base mortuary, where the remains of most war dead return. The families of the dead authorized the military to dispose of the remains respectfully and with dignity. They were unaware of the landfill dumping, and Air Force officials told the Post they have no plans now to alert the families.”

    http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/12/07/us/politics/AP-US-Mishandled-Remains.html?_r=1&hp

  4. 4.

    wilfred

    December 8, 2011 at 10:45 am

    I don’t get shocked easily, but:

    WASHINGTON (AP) — A published report says the remains of many more troops have been dumped in a Virginia landfill than the military originally acknowledged. The Washington Post says the incinerated partial remains of at least 274 American troops were sent to the King George County Landfill in Virginia. The report was based on database information at the Dover Air Base mortuary, where the remains of most war dead return. The families of the dead authorized the military to dispose of the remains respectfully and with dignity. They were unaware of the landfill dumping, and Air Force officials told the Post they have no plans now to alert the families.”

    http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2011/12/07/us/politics/AP-US-Mishandled-Remains.html?_r=1&hp

  5. 5.

    James Gary

    December 8, 2011 at 10:50 am

    Eric Boehlert subjected to a botched scam operation

    It’s creepy, but–like O’Keefe’s previous unsuccessful sex-toys on a boat stunt–what exactly was the “scammer’s” goal here? To show that some unabashedly liberal journalists actually earn a decent salary? I mean, WTF?

  6. 6.

    twiffer

    December 8, 2011 at 10:50 am

    @cathyx: eh, shopping for “fun” does not make one part of the 1%. unless my folks (dad is a teacher, mom does not work) are 1%ers and they never knew. cause my mom certainly loves to go shopping for fun.

  7. 7.

    Schlemizel

    December 8, 2011 at 10:50 am

    MEH – did he show you his company ID? Did you ask him what office he worked out of & what the 800 number was to verify his status before you let him in?

    I work in IT security & have run penetration tests, I can easily create a badge that looks good enough to get in the door unless you actually look at it. Pretending to be the phone guy works way too often.

  8. 8.

    Cat Lady

    December 8, 2011 at 10:51 am

    My sister’s second husband is a .01%er, and they hobnob with that kind, but as big an imperial dick as my BIL can be, he’s actually self made and he and my sis are two of the biggest Obama fans out there, and they report back from their perch from BellyoftheBeast, Florida. They’ve taken to calling out their acquaintances on the lies which provides them with enormous pleasure because they can’t refute the facts (thankya, Rachel Maddow!), and the shiv to the metaphorical ribs is pointing out to them the pathetic ship of fools and grifters that is the GOP candidates. Boom!

  9. 9.

    Brandon

    December 8, 2011 at 10:54 am

    The landfilled remains travesty happened on W’s watch, not Obama’s. Just more evidence of what we already knew that they thought of the troops as actually disposable. Lets see though how many news outlets blur the accounta ility

  10. 10.

    Ben Cisco

    December 8, 2011 at 10:56 am

    @Schlemizel: First thing I thought of. Oh, to have been able to say this jackass got arrested for this stunt…

  11. 11.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 8, 2011 at 10:59 am

    @James Gary:

    To show that some unabashedly liberal journalists actually earn a decent salary? I mean, WTF?

    MediaMatters/George Soros are peculiar boogeymen to the far right. Publicizing Boehlert’s salary would, in the minds of the Limbaugh/O’Reilly audience, somehow prove that OWS is part of a foreign sosh-list billionaire’s plot to…. do something (I’m not even sure to what level Soros is/ever was involved with MM). It makes the Underwear Gnomes joke look like solid, inarguable logic. The fact that Michael Moore has a big fancy home is supposed to prove that he’s a hypocrite because he wants to see his own taxes raised.

  12. 12.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    December 8, 2011 at 11:01 am

    @wilfred:

    And it would have been sweet if he had chased him back to his car.

    The article said he did.

    So what was the point, just do an O’Keefe and take things out of context so make Boehlert seems like an evil liberal elitist. But considering how crazy the right has become take Boehlert in context would be evidence of evil.

    Conservative “You see there, he’ comes out right and says it”

    Observer “Huh, he just says he’s a journalist,a liberal and he supports OWS.”

    Conservative”YES! So why isn’t he in prison??”

  13. 13.

    BGinCHI

    December 8, 2011 at 11:01 am

    What may be the worst of this anecdote is that maybe the guy really WAS a Verizon employee.

    Those companies are fucking aggressive as hell (see Comcast, worst company in the world award winner) and who knows what they might be up to.

  14. 14.

    RossInDetroit

    December 8, 2011 at 11:03 am

    That was a pretty clumsy stunt to try on a guy from Media Matters. Certainly too wary to fall for it easily.

    You can have your pick of authentic company logo shirts from charity shops.

    I’ll always check ID when people want access to rooms in my workplace. You’re not getting past me with just an aggrieved look and a tool bag.
    I tell my co-workers if I wanted to rip us off that’s exactly how I’d do it. You have your documentation in order or back to the van you go.

  15. 15.

    MonkeyBoy

    December 8, 2011 at 11:04 am

    Rick Perry’s team forgot to turn off like/dislike voting when they posted his Strong video. It quickly became the 5th most disliked video on YouTube with 162,353 dislikes and seems likely to surpass #3 LEAVE BRITNEY ALONE with 229,782 dislikes.

  16. 16.

    jibeaux

    December 8, 2011 at 11:08 am

    So the “sting” is to ask the guy if he makes a good salary working from home? It’s only 11 a.m. so there’s still room for more stupid, but that’s the dumbest thing I’ve heard yet today.

  17. 17.

    Amir Khalid

    December 8, 2011 at 11:10 am

    @MonkeyBoy:
    Someone who mentioned it on these threads yesterday said that video had been reported for hate speech against gays. I wonder how it’s doing on that score.

  18. 18.

    Mark S.

    December 8, 2011 at 11:10 am

    @BGinCHI:

    Doubt it. From the link:

    Lee Gierczynski, a spokesman for Verizon, told HuffPost that whatever the man was doing, he wasn’t a Verizon customer service representative. “Security determined that Verizon had no door-to-door sales people in that area. There were no Verizon employees in that area,” he said, adding that Verizon “does not send out employees to conduct consumer surveys door to door.”

    From Soonergrunt’s excerpt, it sounds like Boehlert might have been just talking to a teabagger. But the rest of the story makes it pretty clear this dude wasn’t there to ask him about his wireless service.

  19. 19.

    Mark S.

    December 8, 2011 at 11:13 am

    Why is Rick Perry still in the race? Hasn’t he embarrassed himself enough? It’s not like he’s going to get a Fox News gig out of this.

  20. 20.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    December 8, 2011 at 11:15 am

    @James Gary: To show that some unabashedly liberal journalists actually earn a decent salary? I mean, WTF?

    There’s been this weird shift in Redoublechin attitudes since the Tea Party era started, especially wrt unions but now leaking into other areas. It goes something like assuming that anyone who isn’t a wingnut columnist or hedge fund manager is really, more or less, on welfare and therefore should be living at or below subsistence.

  21. 21.

    JustMe

    December 8, 2011 at 11:15 am

    I’ve you’ve recently had some odd contact with the minions of the 1%, tell us about it in comments.

    Yes. I encounter these strange characters who rant about something they’ve been outraged about that I later find out is what Bill O’Reilly was screaming about the week before. I see them every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.

  22. 22.

    amk

    December 8, 2011 at 11:15 am

    Yet another rethugs debate. Will the multiple choice mormon have the guts to take the swing at the multiple wifer crook ?

    Ironic that a faithful monogamous mormon was kicked to the kerb by the moronic wingnut of a party in favor of a multiple wifer moral midget.

  23. 23.

    Rafer Janders

    December 8, 2011 at 11:17 am

    @cathyx:

    I bit my tongue in order to not tell her that $44,000 alone is not broke to most people.

    Eh, “broke” is largely a function of income versus expenses. If you only make $44K a year, but you were previously spending much more than that based on having had a much larger income, and have therefore incurred fixed expenses (mortgage, etc.) that you can no longer support on a pre-tax salary of $44K a year, then yes, you’re broke.

    Similarly, if you make $1,000,000/yr, but spend $1,000,001, then you’re broke (and stupid, unlucky or unfortunate).

    But “broke” is not quite the same as “poor.” To me, broke implies a temporary state, whereas poor tends to be forever.

  24. 24.

    Elizabelle

    December 8, 2011 at 11:18 am

    @Enhanced Voting Techniques:

    He stopped short of trailing the guy back to his car. And taking the license plate.

    OT, but something I’m more interested in:

    Would there have been more blowback for allowing OTC Plan B sales (Obama’s in favor of 11 year olds having sex!) or what Sebelious did (politics trumps public health)?

    I wish there’d been a compromise, with Plan B behind the counter but girls 13 and older could request it, without a prescription.

    A pregnant 11 year old should come to an adult’s attention. Fast. (Do realize she might be an incest or abuse victim. So hoping she gets attention from someone in a position to help and protect her.)

  25. 25.

    amk

    December 8, 2011 at 11:18 am

    @Amir Khalid: the like/disilke has gone from 1:25 to 1:50 overnight. The moron doesn’t have the clue pull it even now.

  26. 26.

    Elizabelle

    December 8, 2011 at 11:18 am

    in moderation

  27. 27.

    Mark S.

    December 8, 2011 at 11:20 am

    @JustMe:

    I see them every Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter.

    I do, too. It’s why I’m not that upset about having to work over the holidays this year.

  28. 28.

    Rafer Janders

    December 8, 2011 at 11:20 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    MediaMatters/George Soros are peculiar boogeymen to the far right. Publicizing Boehlert’s salary would, in the minds of the Limbaugh/O’Reilly audience, somehow prove that OWS is part of a foreign sosh-list billionaire’s plot to…. do something (I’m not even sure to what level Soros is/ever was involved with MM)

    To no extent. Media Matters is not affiliated with or funded by Emmanuel Golstei…excuse me, George Soros.

  29. 29.

    Jamie

    December 8, 2011 at 11:20 am

    Oh, Christ. DHS and Obama at it again, I see.

  30. 30.

    PurpleGirl

    December 8, 2011 at 11:21 am

    @BGinCHI: But do they send out workers to take surveys at a customer’s home. The only company survey I’ve ever been part of where the survey taker came to my home was a usage survey by Consolidated Edison and they needed to see the appliances and electricity use themselves. And Con Ed called me to set up a date and time for the surveys takers to interview me. They didn’t just drop in. I’ve taken lots of other surveys but they’ve all been over the phone.

  31. 31.

    Elizabelle

    December 8, 2011 at 11:22 am

    Cordray’s been filibustered.

  32. 32.

    kc

    December 8, 2011 at 11:22 am

    “The only weird part before he got to his final question was he started telling me, ‘Oh, you know, it’s really tough out there, the economy, and I’m just happy to have a job,’ and stuff like that, which I thought was weird for a customer rep to be telling one of his customers,” Boehlert recalled to HuffPost.

    That alone does not strike me as odd. I hear that kind of thing pretty frequently.

  33. 33.

    Rafer Janders

    December 8, 2011 at 11:23 am

    Claiming that George Soros backs Media Matters is a particular obsession with the right, though it is not true. It’s puzzling, because even if it were true, it would prove…what, exactly? Liberal businessman supports liberal cause?

    As always with the Right, it’s all about projection. They know that in Rupert Murdoch, the Kochs, etc. they have billionaires who control and manipulate the news for conservative ends. Therefore, there must be — there simply must! — liberal billionaires who control and manipulate the news for liberal ends. Because if both sides do it, then it will be OK, and the Left will no longer be able to use the charge as a cudgel against the Right.

  34. 34.

    Villago Delenda Est

    December 8, 2011 at 11:23 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    The fact that Michael Moore has a big fancy home is supposed to prove that he’s a hypocrite because he wants to see his own taxes raised.

    Moore actually earned his fortune. O’Keefe, OTOH, is trust fund scum.

  35. 35.

    amk

    December 8, 2011 at 11:23 am

    @Jamie: What’s your latest pet peeve again ?

  36. 36.

    Violet

    December 8, 2011 at 11:23 am

    @amk:
    There’s another debate? When? Tonight? I’m going through Clown Car debate withdrawal. I hope they bring the funny. Maybe Mitt can call Newt a serial philanderer or something.

    BTW, did Herman Cain quit running? I was out of the country and away from all news sources for several days.

  37. 37.

    Mark

    December 8, 2011 at 11:24 am

    @Xecky Gilchrist: It’s weird, right? Republicans routinely vote against their own self-interest because they’ve been whipped into a frenzy about this or that bs. But a “wealthy” person voting against what Republicans perceive to be his or her own self-interest? Unpossible. Or immoral.

    Essentially sympathy, empathy or having a soul are verboten.

  38. 38.

    Mnemosyne

    December 8, 2011 at 11:24 am

    @Rafer Janders:

    Or, in the words of Mr. Micawber:

    “Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.”

  39. 39.

    Joey Maloney

    December 8, 2011 at 11:27 am

    @MonkeyBoy: Thanks for the tip! I just Disliked it and flagged it as hate speech for good measure.

  40. 40.

    amk

    December 8, 2011 at 11:27 am

    @Violet: Yup and yup. This saturday at drake univ. And ‘herb’ cain was toast last week.

  41. 41.

    Mark

    December 8, 2011 at 11:27 am

    @kc: You hear that frequently? Usually customer service reps (when they’re American) try to tell me that I’m an idiot…”Because, you see, the system works this way…”

  42. 42.

    kc

    December 8, 2011 at 11:28 am

    Ah, read the whole HuffPo article. Very funny. Most likely a Breitbart clown (their word):

    The man claiming to be a Verizon representative finally asked his question. “After he mentioned my salary and that I work from home, all the bells went off, and this is not who this guy says he is. Therefore, I kind of lost track of the exact wording of the question, but it definitely was like very accusatory of me and I’m a hypocrite and how do I have this supposedly cushy job while I’m writing about real workers and the people of the 99 percent,” said Boehlert.

    “So there was this pause, and I said, ‘You work for Verizon?’ And he just sort of looks back at me and [says], ‘Will you answer the question? Will you answer the question?’ And I said, ‘Can I see your Verizon ID?’ And he wouldn’t produce any Verizon ID, and I think he asked me another time to answer the question. And basically I just said, ‘I’m done so you can leave now.'”

    Then the guy runs off, but forgets where he parked his car. LOL. I’ll guess we’ll never see the video of that.

  43. 43.

    Scott

    December 8, 2011 at 11:28 am

    I suppose I’m fairly lucky in that I don’t have to deal with teabaggers very often. Most of the family conservatives are pretty old-school. Coworkers are mostly liberal. I don’t even run into ranting wingnuts out in public. Heck, I was in the jam-packed Post Office the other day and didn’t even hear anyone bitching about gummint slackers. If it weren’t for reading y’all’s stories, I bet I’d think the whole country was fairly liberal…

  44. 44.

    MonkeyBoy

    December 8, 2011 at 11:29 am

    @Violet:

    BTW, did Herman Cain quit running? I was out of the country and away from all news sources for several days.

    The headline I saw was: “Cain suspends campaign to spend more time with your wife”, so technically he is just on hiatus.

  45. 45.

    Villago Delenda Est

    December 8, 2011 at 11:30 am

    @Violet:

    He’s “suspended” his campaign, whatever the hell that is supposed to mean.

    Effectively, he’s gone.

  46. 46.

    kc

    December 8, 2011 at 11:30 am

    Blockquote fail. Grr.

  47. 47.

    Walker

    December 8, 2011 at 11:30 am

    @cathyx:

    My mother’s childhood best friend is definitely a 1%er. Coca-Cola money. But they are also old South money, which means that they are the tightest people you will ever meet when it comes to money. My wife and was talking to them about cooking once, and the husband was complaining about the prices of parsnips and how they were too expensive.

  48. 48.

    fasteddie9318

    December 8, 2011 at 11:31 am

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    MediaMatters/George Soros are peculiar boogeymen to the far right. Publicizing Boehlert’s salary would, in the minds of the Limbaugh/O’Reilly audience, somehow prove that OWS is part of a foreign sosh-list billionaire’s plot to…. do something (I’m not even sure to what level Soros is/ever was involved with MM).

    Since the right wing mind is conditioned to slavish obedience and devotion to authority, they assume everybody is the same way. Any chance to point out where a presumed authority has done something that they presume liberals would find wrong (AHA! IT WAS CLINTON WHO DEREGULATED THE BANKS! HOW DO YOU FEEL NOW, LIBTARD? AHA! ERIC BOEHLERT MAKES A GOOD LIVING! FEEL THE BURN, COMRADE!) is supposed to cause us to crumble under the weight of the cognitive dissonance. It never occurs to them that we really don’t have a problem with people making a good living, or that we are able to evaluate those in authority with something more sophisticated than the simplistic Manichean choice that they use.

  49. 49.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    December 8, 2011 at 11:33 am

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    He’s “suspended” his campaign, whatever the hell that is supposed to mean.

    I think the technicality allows him to keep raising money as “Cain in ’12” or whatever it is

  50. 50.

    ThresherK

    December 8, 2011 at 11:33 am

    @jibeaux: HuffPo should have put quotes around “sting” the way they did for “Verizon”.

    It’s one thing to piss off pimps, but dressing up someone as a big corporate reprentative might mean corporate lawyers. A la Dr. Strangelove, I’d like to see “You’ll have to answer to the Coca-Cola Company!”

  51. 51.

    Soonergrunt

    December 8, 2011 at 11:34 am

    @Elizabelle: Not anymore.

  52. 52.

    fasteddie9318

    December 8, 2011 at 11:36 am

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    He’s “suspended” his campaign, whatever the hell that is supposed to mean.

    It means the campaign is over, but the grift goes on and on.

  53. 53.

    Amir Khalid

    December 8, 2011 at 11:36 am

    @Violet:
    The Hermanator hath suspended his campaign. I understand that this means at present that he’s not actively running, and doesn’t seem likely to resume doing so; but he may still receive donations to cover campaign costs already incurred. Needless to say, this has been disappointing news to those (like me) who wanted to see the highly entertaining Herman Show continue its run.

  54. 54.

    TheMightyTrowel

    December 8, 2011 at 11:36 am

    @Xecky Gilchrist: If I were to take a guess, I’d suggest that it’s more about class affiliation. That is, the wingers see people who earn lots and still vote dem as class traitors and think that dem’s (who are all poor dirty hippies) will feel the same way upon learning of his or her large income.

  55. 55.

    Neldob

    December 8, 2011 at 11:37 am

    I got a call a few months ago from somebody doing a “survey” about charter schools, making very sure I understood very clearly that charter schools are “public” schools. Several questions I asked to clarify were clarified by “charter schools are public schools”. No mention at all of their private profits. This might have been only in California.

  56. 56.

    Brachiator

    December 8, 2011 at 11:37 am

    Two stories on the class war.

    Gawker and other sites are having big fun over this banker’s 1,615 word email rant to a woman who blew him off after a date.

    Meanwhile the non partisan Public Policy institute details the decline of the California middle class.

    While the Great Recession has begun to ease its death grip on California, the percentage of Californians living in middle-income families has fallen to a new low of less than 50 percent, according to a report released Wednesday night by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC).
    __
    By 2010, 47.9 percent of Californians lived in families considered middle income, after adjusting for the state’s cost of living. These are families with incomes between $44,000 and $155,000.
    __
    Just 30 years earlier, in 1980, 60 percent of California families were middle income.

  57. 57.

    fasteddie9318

    December 8, 2011 at 11:37 am

    @amk: Why do you need specifics? Isn’t it enough to know that Obama and the DHS are “at it,” and apparently not for the first time? I am chilled to the bone by this.

  58. 58.

    MonkeyBoy

    December 8, 2011 at 11:38 am

    @Walker:

    the husband was complaining about the prices of parsnips and how they were too expensive.

    Around here I think parsnips cost 5 times the price of carrots – so they ARE expensive considering that they are almost the same vegetable. However if the demand for parsnips went way up the price would probably sink to carrot levels. So maybe the hubby was talking economic theory which someone interpreted as bitching. Or maybe he heard some economic theory about parsnips and just decided to bitch about their price.

  59. 59.

    GregB

    December 8, 2011 at 11:39 am

    I don’t quite understand the mindset that it is somehow being a hypocrite if someone makes a good living and also advocates for others to make a good living or advocates for those less fortunate.

    I simply don’t get it.

  60. 60.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    December 8, 2011 at 11:39 am

    @fasteddie9318:

    Since the right wing mind is conditioned to slavish obedience and devotion to authority, they assume everybody is the same way.

    Good observation. Also, they’ve been listening for years to Rush, et al tell them that liberals are really doctrinaire Stalinists in disguise, so it baffles them when faced with an actual live in-the-flesh liberal who shows a degree of ideological flexibility which would drive an authentic Stalinist into fits of rage. The old joke about ask 3 liberals about an issue and get 5 opinions, they’ve never heard it.

  61. 61.

    RossInDetroit

    December 8, 2011 at 11:40 am

    @Scott:

    I suppose I’m fairly lucky in that I don’t have to deal with teabaggers very often. Most of the family conservatives are pretty old-school.

    I have inlaws who are firmly in the Paul/Libertarian camp. As in won’t shut up about Future President Paul. I never thought it would come to this, but I have avoided seeing them at all for 18 months. We used to get along despite wildly differing backgrounds and world views but I’ve become intolerant of the ‘winger rants. I could suck it up and play nice for the sake of family but I just don’t feel like biting my tongue any more so I stay away. I accept that I’m being a prick about this.

  62. 62.

    ksmiami

    December 8, 2011 at 11:41 am

    hmm from my vantage point, the 1%ers are made up of the same types that make up the 99%. Good and bad, generous v materialistic. Certainly, most of my cohort made the money themselves, but realize that luck, and often a sturdy middle class launch pad had a lot to do with their success. I read a great quote the other day that basically said, you don’t owe your heirs wealth, you owe them a decent society and that is why we need the estate tax. Just my $.02. I also have noticed that people are growing more concerned about the disparity and disappearance of the middle class; it’s not good for anyone

  63. 63.

    David Hunt

    December 8, 2011 at 11:43 am

    @Mark S.:

    Why is Rick Perry still in the race? Hasn’t he embarrassed himself enough?

    As a life-long Texas, I can answer that. No, he hasn’t embarrassed himself enough. This is clearly demonstrated by the fact that he has not yet resigned in shame from the governorship.

  64. 64.

    WereBear

    December 8, 2011 at 11:49 am

    @fasteddie9318: cause us to crumble under the weight of the cognitive dissonance

    We don’t have cognitive dissonance. We don’t need to create a stone fortress in our heads.

  65. 65.

    Aet

    December 8, 2011 at 11:49 am

    @kc, It’s odd, beacause customer surveys are typically both _highly_ scripted and meant to be done very quickly. This was obviously some kind of scam/sting.

    My first job out of college was as a consultant for a small company that produced custom office software for local companies. One of our biggest contracts was web development that did customer surveys for various small companies (this was in the late 90s, so this kind of thing was still rare). As part of the project, we had to include a script to follow for people who wanted to answer the same survey over the phone or on a checklist at the company’s office.

    These things were more tightly scripted then any call center checklist or telemarketer script. They have to be, because all the survey results are fed into a database, and the data gathered has to conform to a particular set of responses or the survey is thrown out. The data isn’t valuable unless the sample size is large, and so there is management pressure to gather lots of surveys.

    Someone whose job it is to administer these surveys is usually going to be actively disinterested in small talk. They usually have either something else that requires their attention, or they have a quota of surveys to fill. Companies who hire people to administer surveys are either going to use their own employees (who have other jobs they need to do) or dedicated employees/interns (who have a quota). Either way, they have to be polite, yet curt.

  66. 66.

    Gin & Tonic

    December 8, 2011 at 11:52 am

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    He’s “suspended” his campaign, whatever the hell that is supposed to mean

    It’s just like quitting, but with the added bonus that you can keep on collecting money from the rubes and spending it on “expenses.” If he had “ended” as opposed to “suspended”, then he couldn’t fleece any more marks.

  67. 67.

    catclub

    December 8, 2011 at 11:53 am

    @Walker: “But they are also old South money, which means that they are the tightest people you will ever meet when it comes to money.”

    Surveys that show poor people are more charitable always surprise. but Why? Given two groups of people, one of which makes strenuous, successful, efforts to make money stick to them, and another much less killed at making money stick to them, which one is more likely to give money away? Easy-peasy.

    I now object to rating a variety of things as charity. Giving to ones church, if the church does not then turn around and give away a _substantial_ fraction of its income to good works, is one.
    Giving to a college or university that has a multibillion dollar endowment, and primarily educates children of rich parents is another.
    Giving to an opera company whose primary customers are millionaires, is a third.
    Yet they can all be listed as charitable donations – of which I am guilty to a greater or lesser extent.

  68. 68.

    rikyrah

    December 8, 2011 at 12:07 pm

    this guy is trusting, cause no way would nobody without an appointment get cross my front door

  69. 69.

    Culture of Truth

    December 8, 2011 at 12:10 pm

    I am also puzzled by thse accusations of “hypocrisy.” By this logic, the only way for a wealthy person to have any integrity is screw everyone else over.

  70. 70.

    Culture of Truth

    December 8, 2011 at 12:12 pm

    Indeed, to take this logic still a step further, the only way for a person in any profession or field or walk of life, or for that matter, any human being in general, to have personal integrity, is to hate all other fellow human beings.

  71. 71.

    Culture of Truth

    December 8, 2011 at 12:14 pm

    In conclusion, total selfishness is proof of total morality.

  72. 72.

    Paul in KY

    December 8, 2011 at 12:26 pm

    @RossInDetroit: Don’t bite your tongue. After hearing your opinions, they’ll probably know not to bring up those topics again.

  73. 73.

    RossInDetroit

    December 8, 2011 at 12:30 pm

    @Paul in KY:

    Don’t bite your tongue. After hearing your opinions, they’ll probably know not to bring up those topics again.

    I appreciate the need to articulate our points of view but this context usually involves beer, hollering, nearby firearms and more beer. If it was just a tense discussion of differing politics I’d go there but they’re actively hostile some times.

  74. 74.

    Brachiator

    December 8, 2011 at 12:34 pm

    @Culture of Truth:

    In conclusion, total selfishness is proof of total morality.

    Sounds very Randian.

  75. 75.

    AnnaN

    December 8, 2011 at 12:35 pm

    I just love that any time “incompetent librul huntards” are referenced, people are now automatically turning to O’Keefe and Breitbart. /snicker

  76. 76.

    Mnemosyne

    December 8, 2011 at 12:45 pm

    @Culture of Truth:

    In conclusion, total selfishness is proof of total morality.

    Remember, these are the same people who looked at the warning in the Bible that bad people would come to you making false promises of peace and decided that it means that anyone who tries to promote peace is automatically an agent of the devil and only people who promise perpetual war can be trusted.

  77. 77.

    soonergrunt

    December 8, 2011 at 12:55 pm

    @AnnaN: The sun comes up, the tides come in, death, taxes, etc.

  78. 78.

    trollhattan

    December 8, 2011 at 12:59 pm

    Don’t know if I’m the last person to discover this, but TBogg’s had another run at McMegan. Given Tom L’s self-imposed six month McMegan hiatus [as if], here:

    http://tbogg.firedoglake.com/2011/12/07/i-flaunt-therefore-i-am/

  79. 79.

    cckids

    December 8, 2011 at 1:01 pm

    @twiffer: Yes. My daughter as well. Its the difference between shopping for fun & buying for “fun” or because you’re bored; that usually will narrow it down to the 1%-ers.

  80. 80.

    Bubblegum Tate

    December 8, 2011 at 1:16 pm

    @Cat Lady:

    My good friend’s father is a 1% (I call hanging out with his family “Rich People Fantasy Camp”), but he couldn’t be a nicer guy. He understands his wealth because he understands what it is to not have any wealth. He very much went from the bottom to the top, but he doesn’t have that Galtian delusion that he’s some sort of superman who now has the right–nay, the responsibility–to spit on those below him. He’s well aware of the lucky breaks and the help that he got along the way, and he’s very determined to make sure as many other people as possible get that assistance as well. He’s no fire-spitting liberal, but you certainly won’t be catching him voting Republican.

    Basically, he gives me faith that being mega-rich doesn’t require you to be a narcissistic asshole.

  81. 81.

    catpal

    December 8, 2011 at 1:19 pm

    @Amir Khalid: this response to Perry’s hate is even better from Second City

  82. 82.

    Southern Beale

    December 8, 2011 at 1:22 pm

    What these idiots Breitbart and O’Keefe don’t understand — will NEVER understand — is that no one really thinks it’s a problem however much money Eric Boehlert earns. They’re sending out taunting Tweets, “Hey Occupy Wall Street, Eric Boehlert gets a six-figure salary while you’re sleeping in cardboard boxes, he’s a hypocrite!” And that’s just false.

    Even if Eric Boehlert does earn a 6-figure salary (and I don’t know, he may, he may not, I have no clue) he is working on behalf of the 99% to make the system more equitable!

    There is no hypocrisy here. What there is, actually, is someone working against their own economic self-interest for the betterment of those below him on the income scale.

    How utterly ironic and completely predictable that Breitbart and O’Keefe cannot distinguish this difference. They are barking up the wrong tree.

  83. 83.

    Bubblegum Tate

    December 8, 2011 at 1:39 pm

    @Culture of Truth:

    the only way for a wealthy person to have any integrity is screw everyone else over.

    It’s like I’m reading a Heritage Foundation position paper!

  84. 84.

    FormerSwingVoter

    December 8, 2011 at 1:41 pm

    @BGinCHI: Nah. Customer service follow-ups are always done by phone, not in person.

  85. 85.

    Keith G

    December 8, 2011 at 2:36 pm

    @ #24 Elizabelle

    Nonetheless Obama’s HHS overtured a scientific recommendation. That was not what he promised.

  86. 86.

    Mnemosyne

    December 8, 2011 at 3:22 pm

    @Elizabelle:

    I can’t quite decide how I feel about it. I’m disappointed, but not “OMG HE’S LOST MY VOTE!” disappointed. It will still be available OTC to those 17 and over, so it’s not an all-out ban like Bush’s ban was. People get so easily freaked out at a hint that their 15-year-old Precious Little Snowflake might have TEH SEX!! that I can see what the political calculation was, especially for the election.

  87. 87.

    catclub

    December 8, 2011 at 3:44 pm

    @cckids: “Yes. My daughter as well. Its the difference between shopping for fun & buying for “fun” or because you’re bored; that usually will narrow it down to the 1%-ers.”

    I think the billionaire owners of QVC would like a word.
    It takes more than just a few 1%-ers to buy all those rhinestone covered cellphone cases.

  88. 88.

    ruemara

    December 8, 2011 at 5:51 pm

    All I can think is, “How in the world did they get his home address?” That scares me.

  89. 89.

    brantl

    December 8, 2011 at 7:48 pm

    @amk: You’re selling Mittens short; he’s a moral midget, too!

  90. 90.

    AA+ Bonds

    December 8, 2011 at 11:09 pm

    O’Keefe is actually posting on that thread, under the moniker of “Chris Ar”.

    I recommend that Balloon Juicers reply to his comments and ask him to reveal himself as O’Keefe.

    Huffington Post has turned a bit Breitbart friendly, but enough comments to him and they will get past the censors.

  91. 91.

    Nemesis

    December 9, 2011 at 7:50 am

    There is no such thing as a botched Okeefe scam. Its called editing.

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