What a load of nonsense:
With a revamped message and a significant TV presence here, Rick Perry is hoping to revive his disappointing presidential campaign with a surprise finish Tuesday.
But even as they hold out hope that Perry can find a way back into contention, some of his advisers have begun laying the groundwork to explain how the Texas governor bombed so dramatically in a race that he seemed to control for a brief period upon his entry in August.
Their explanations for the nosedive come against the backdrop of a campaign riven by an intense, behind-the-scenes power struggle that took place largely between a group of the governor’s longtime advisers and a new cadre of consultants brought on this fall. In the end, the outsiders won out — and ever since have marginalized Perry’s longtime chief strategist while crafting a new strategy in which the Texan has portrayed himself as a political outsider and culture warrior.
In a series of interviews with POLITICO, sources close to the campaign depict a dysfunctional operation that might be beyond saving because of what they describe as the political equivalent of malpractice by the previous regime.
Perry nosedived because he looked like a total idiot in multiple debate performances. Period.
Dave
Actually, I think there were 3 reasons: Perry’s similarity to GWB, his disastrous debate performances, and…uh.
Ana Gama
Sure am missing Molly Ivins.
Kola Noscopy
Amazing to me that Texas keeps electing such obvious special needs males as governor, though I suppose given the culture down there it’s to be expected. Generally speaking, outside of Austin, it fosters stupidity as a virtue to be rewarded.
I lived down there for two and a half years and have lots of relatives who live there still. I know whereof I speak.
dmsilev
To be fair, the staff apparently did spend extensive time and effort trying to brief Perry for the debates:
Even accounting for the fact that every quote in this article is someone trying to save their own reputation by passing the blame, this is just sooo amusing.
Yevgraf
Why does Cole hate genuine authentic white heartland Americans who are merely displaying ‘Murkan Exceptionalism?
John Weiss
Having lived in Texas for many years, I’ve had the bad fortune to follow Perry closely.
His BS plays well in the Texas hinterlands. Not so well in the cities. His overwhelming ego is well known. Doesn’t play so well in the big leagues. He should have stuck with Governor but neither he nor the people he surrounds himself with have a lick of sense.
I’m happy to have seen the last of that moron. A little gift from what was a rather alarming year.
Good new year to us all!
John Weiss
@Kola Noscopy: Oh, come on man!
Austin
iswas a nice place to grow up in, but it’s not the only font of sanity in Texas! San Antonio, Houston and Dallas are quite sophisticated and rather blue as well.Jay C
Minor edit:
Every time I see Rick Perry in the news, my only thought is:
“…this is the guy the people of Texas passed over Kinky Friedman for???”
ChrisNYC
There’s a great moment in Perry’s Des Moines Register interview. He’s lecturing about how terrible it is that “kids can’t pray in private schools” and from off screen, you hear one of the women on the editorial board, say, with such frustration, “UGH — BUT THEY CAN!” No staff can fix that.
Josie
@John Weiss: Thanks for correcting the record on Texas before I could.
Actually, I don’t think Perry was hurt as badly by sounding stupid as he was by defending his position on the Dream Act in Texas. This is, remember, the Republican primary. We may have noticed his mistakes; they noticed that he did not hate the brown people enough.
Yevgraf
Schadenfreudelicious…
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/12/31/virginia-attorney-general-intervenes-in-gop-primary-ballot-dispute/
The cockroach Virginia AG has intervened to get the other gophers on the ballot. Meanwhile, O’Donnell is a Romney backer.
Let the internecine wars escalate.
GregB
That article is solely and attempt to preserve Perry’s future political viability by laying the blame on his collapse at the feet of his media/political advisers instead of at the feet of the stumble tongued moron who pissed away his chances because he thought that most Americans were as stupid, gullible and easily impressed as most Texans.
Perry is Texas Toast.
RossInDetroit
If the GOP Primaries are the America’s Cup, Perry is a dinghy with one oar and a slow leak. No crew on earth is gonna get that to the finish line.
JGabriel
What is hogwash? Is it the soap, dirty water and effluvia left after washing a hog, or is it the product, the soap, used to wash hogs?
Metaphorically, is hogwash more or less reliable than bullshit?
Edited To Add: Dictionary.com tells me hogwash is “refuse given to hogs,” for food I assume. Merriam-Webster defines it as “swill, slop.” You learn something new every day.
.
Villago Delenda Est
No, the problem can’t be that the candidate is an asswipe. It must be something the staffers did or failed to do. Yeah, that’s the ticket!
Martin
Newt misspoke again:
They really should pay me to keep correcting all this shit for them.
John Weiss
@GregB: “…because he thought that most Americans were as stupid, gullible and easily impressed as most Texans.”
That is a very misguided statement. I’ll put any ignorant American, and there are plenty, up against an ignorant Texan; I don’t believe you’d see much difference. Why pick on Texans? Why not the boobies in Mississippi, for example?
JGabriel
Dupe.
JPL
@Martin: Junior is a term of endearment in GA.
Mustang Bobby
This amounts to switching from Maybelline to Revlon in the lipstick department.
piratedan
@Yevgraf: any wagers on “the rules are rules” argument being tossed about if the roles were reversed?
JGabriel
John Cole @ Top:
In a GOP primary? Get real. They love the stupid — they identify with it.
Perry nosedived because he said people who wanted to deny college funds to children who were undocumented, through no fault of their own, were “inhumane”.
Can’t have a “humane” GOP candidate. Every one knows “humane” is code for “gay, commie, illegals-lovin’, Islamofascist, libtard wuss-bag.”
.
JWL
Perry’s presidential run has managed to rival that of Dan Quayle’s in being an exercise in utter futility, dead upon arrival. And Quayle set a pretty high bar.
ant
fixited
bemused
Even Bush didn’t look this dopey and inept. Perry should have hired Bush’s crash course handlers.
AnotherBruce
Well you have to admire the attempt to spin the fact that Perry brain freezes during stressful moments. Just what you want out of a president.
No, you really don’t have to admire this.
Kola Noscopy
@John Weiss:
Why pick on Texans? Why not the boobies in Mississippi, for example?
John, having lived there for a few years myself, and having had relatives there all my life and quite a bit of interaction with the culture, I’d say it’s because Texas has this big, blustery, chip on its shoulder culture summed up with the one-time slogan “It’s a whole other country.” There’s a lot of the attitude from natives that just because someone or something is from Texas, it is bigger, better, and more awesome. You see it reflected in marketing/advertising out of there all the time.
You don’t see this same BS from Mississippi which is self aware enough to generally keep its mouth shut. :D
srv
Is Karl Rove an insider out outsider now?
Josie
@JGabriel: Exactly – see my comment at #10. The fact that he was not ready for this accusation and had no good response for it is the fault of his advisors. Any decent staffer would have seen this coming and figured out a way to deflect it. None of these people are rocket scientists, and they all depend on staffers to prepare them for debates and interviews. He is an ignoramus, granted, but I think he was ill served by his advisors.
Amir Khalid
@Yevgraf:
I don’t really see the argument for legislative change here. Two Republican candidates, Romney and Paul, did collect enough good signatures to get on the Virginia primary ballot. So did one Democratic candidate, Obama. And more candidates from each party got on the same primary ballot in 2008. It would seem that the problem is not in the rules, but in the players’ incompetent campaign organizations; and the fix should be made not in the rules but in those organizations.
also, the Fox story makes no mention of the legislation’s chances of passing and taking effect in the short time available.
JGabriel
@John Weiss:
It’s not so much that Texan idiots are stupider than the idiots of other states; it’s just that there’s such a high proportion of them. Not many other states can compete. Maybe Alabama.
Also, Texas is the only place where so many of the idiots actually think they’re the smartest guy in the room.
.
MattF
Perry was and is, plainly, in ‘waaay over his head.
It’s been noted before that “Governor of Texas” is basically a ceremonial office with very little actual power and that the existence of the office is a plausible way of dealing with politicians like Perry– given, particularly, that Texas seems to generate them in numbers. It’s about time that the rest of us got the joke and moved on.
John Weiss
@Kola Noscopy: Ah, well everyone’s experience is different. I grew up in Austin, lived there for eighteen years. Wonderful place to be a kid. I moved to Dallas in the late sixties and had little contact with the folk in the country. So perhaps my view of Texas is distorted.
BTW I’ve heard plenty of BS from deep Southerners, haven’t you? And, too: Texas is indeed like another country and it is true that many Texans see it that way. So?
Randiego
Looking over the previous posts, I guess I missed the Balloon Juice year end pie fights.
Davis X. Machina
The idiot-American vote, which could deliver the White House only 8 years ago, appears to only be a pale shadow of its former self. The House of Representatives, however, is another matter.
nancydarling
Because in so many ways, Texans ask for it. Mississippi muddles through without the resources, educational centers, medical centers, world class cities, etc. What’s Texas’ excuse?
Mississippi has produced some kick-ass writers though.
Also, too, I graduated from high school in Texas and have a brother near Austin and assorted nieces and nephews.
It was also the first place I was ever called “nigger lover”. That didn’t happen when we lived in Mississippi or Arkansas growing up.
gibsojj
Mississippi has only produced 1 president. Granted it wasnt a president of the USA, but I’m reasonably certain that jefferson davis was better for the country than george w bush
AA+ Bonds
Rarely that simple. Mitt also made an ass of himself in the same debates. But Mitt has a game on the ground thanks to Rove and Co., and the only candidate who appears to have the same in these states is Ron Paul. Mitt also has a Rove-style machine which brooks no dissent from the top-down plan, and a Rove-style attack strategy (e.g., Perry is a governor like Romney – it’s a shared strength – so, attack Perry as a “career politician”).
I think it’s very possible that Perry’s campaign got shredded by the gravity of opposing bodies.
srv
@JGabriel:
Yeah, for all those liberals in Austin, you can’t waive a stick without hitting some IT Paultard.
The natives were never really idiots or that full of themselves – it’s all the jackasses who moved to TX after 1978 or so.
They made W and Rick Perry the best that Texas has to offer.
Kane
It seems like only yesterday that the same talking heads were gushing over Perry. They were declaring how solid of a politician and campaigner Perry is and how he has such great charisma and leadership. And of course they were always sure to remind us of how impressive it is that Perry has never lost an election, and they warned that Perry is not a candidate to be underestimated.
meh
geg6
Well, it certainly can’t be Governor Goodhair’s fault, can it, John?
None of these GOPer fuckers ever take responsibility for anything.
Meanwhile, Glennzilla is pimping Ron Paul again today. I’ll never read another word that asshole writes again. He’s no better than the Fonzie of Freedom and I refuse to give any libertarians a page hit. Greenwald is no civil libertarian hero. He’s a misogynist bigot with no principles beyond IGMFY if he thinks Ron Paul is better than Obama. Fuck him. He should DIAF.
Mike in NC
Rick Perry: too dumb to qualify to get on the GOP Virginia primary ballot, but just smart enough to “retire” as governor of Texas and still collect a paycheck.
John Weiss
@nancydarling: Ahh, I remember a road trip I took with my family, I was maybe ten. I remember stopping in ole Miss for gas. There were three restrooms: “Women”, “Men” and “Colored”. Two drinking fountains: “Whites”, “Colored”. I never saw that in Texas. That’s not to say I didn’t hear some pretty awful things growing up in Texas.
John Weiss
@geg6: Well, pod’ner, Texans did elect Ann Richards.
James E. Powell
Perry is just one of many whose politics amount to ignorance, bigotry, and resentment, all in service to the richest Americans. Seated among the rest of the Republican governors and senators, I’m thinking Inhofe, Cornyn, Coburn, etc., he is hardly exceptional. I suppose it is a positive that while this routine works well at the state level, it doesn’t fly in a national campaign. That, more than anything, accounts for Perry’s plunge.
bemused
A local paper runs a online poll question every week. This week’s question is “Which Republican candidate do you believe would be the toughest opponent for President Barak Obama?” This paper skews rightwing, the editor is rightwing and the results of previous poll questions definitely show a lot of people responding are rightwing. This week’s poll results made me chuckle. Mitt Romney tied with Someone Else, both at 36%. Nope, the rightwing readers are not thrilled with the Republican slate.
nancydarling
@srv: There were plenty of jackasses around in 1961. It might have been a preponderance of jackasses even then.
I should add to my post at #35, that Texas is the first and ONLY place that I have been called “nigger lover”.
wrb
@Josie:
This
That was the moment his support collapsed.
The rest was forgivable
MonkeyBoy
Whoever has been managing Perry and the people who support him seem clueless about the internet. Not only did his YouTube ad Strong have like/dislike voting enabled, only 24,475 supporters were able to find it on the internet and figure out how to vote on it.
Current tally:
24,475 likes, 726,684 dislikes
jeffreyw
Back on the block, growing up, I had a pal who visited relatives in Texas every summer. He brought back horned toads. I thought that was pretty cool.
Kola Noscopy
@John Weiss:
And you wonder why that is annoying to non-natives? Seems like a need born of insecurity to set themselves apart and by implication above.
In what way is it like “another country?”
Every state in this country has its own unique and deeply layered history. Texas is nothing special.
I always found Austin to be the true “other country,” an island of culture and progressivism compared to its surroundings.
nancydarling
@John Weiss: Then there’s Greenville, Texas which had a big banner sign hanging over Main Street proclaiming “The blackest land, the whitest people” well into the 60’s.
eemom
@geg6:
fuckin A. Did you see that drek he wrote in the Guardian about how OBAMA is to fucking blame for the entire GOP trainwreck?
I keep mentioning it only because — as little as I thought of Greewald before — even I never would have expected him to stoop to that level of despicable lying hackery.
master c
@dmsilev: yes, delightful.
as a Texan its a double bonus!
Linda Featheringill
@John Weiss:
Colored drinking fountains:
I spent the first eight years of my life in Texas. I remember seeing the separate drinking fountains. The Colored fountain was not kept in good repair or even kept clean.
There probably were separate bathrooms but that didn’t register on me at the time.
Bear in mind, of course, that this was a long, long time ago.
Kola Noscopy
eemom, what is the REAL story behind your over the top, personal hatred of GG?
Redshift
@Amir Khalid: The Virginia ballot thing is a kind of weird situation. It’s true that the signature requirement is over the top (I’ve heard plenty of statewide candidates joke about how insane it is.) It’s also true that anyone with a competent campaign can manage it, they’d just rather be using the resources elsewhere.
But our wingnut AG’s proposal is pretty hilarious. First, he’s proposing that the basis for qualifying be federal matching funds, when wingnuts generally oppose public funding of elections. (I don’t know if Cuccinelli has spoken publicly about it; it would be fun to find out.) And the second thing, which I hope the state Dems have the good sense to take advantage of, is that he’s proposing changing a requirement that means candidates have to have enough campaign workers or volunteers in the state to a requirement that the candidates just have to have enough money. Somewhere.
“Cuccinelli: Candidates should qualify for ballot with dollars, not voters”
I like it.
Montysano
Hey, a post about idiots with no mention of Alabama. Today is a good day!
Oh wait….. damn you @JGabriel:!
MattF
@Redshift: So, what about a Romney/Cuccinelli ticket? Would not surprise me.
geg6
eemom @51:
If your blood pressure can take it, read the dreck he’s got up today. Ron Paul is the only honest politician evah as opposed to that dictatorial autocrat, Barack Obama. Paul is who virtuous people support as opposed those stupid sheeple who blindly follow Obama. If only they read Glenn and are enlightened might they awaken to the hellish world that the Obama crime syndicate has created and that Ron Paul, hero and savior of the blacks and Mexicans and middle Easterners, will save us all from.
Disgusting.
The Sheriff's A Ni-
Bush could get away with his braindead moments because the base believed Daddy’s connections would bail him out.
Cain could get away with his braindead moments because he had a background as CEO and Fed board member that indicated there was some intelligence there.
Perry didn’t have either. All he had to fall back on was being the second guy as governor, and, well…
Yutsano
@Kola Noscopy:
It was at one time an independent country. The claim is not that far-fetched.
Brian R.
Rick Perry failed because he is Rick Perry. Period. Full stop.
Cermet
@John Weiss: Oh, please – just because texans fought a war to create the lone star ‘state’ as an independent country and defeated Mexico does not give them the right to say they were an indep…uh, wait a minute … reread the part about being an independent country. Oh, yeah, they were a seperate country for a while. Ok, they do get the right to remind us about that.
Redshift
@wrb: His wholesale attack on Social Security didn’t help when the first debate after he declared was in Florida. I seem to recall his poll numbers took a hit from that and it helped set the stage for what followed.
I’m not sure his being a dumbass didn’t have an effect, even in a Republican primary. They like ignorant and “don’t you act like you know better than me,” not stupid. As Molly Ivins said of Shrub, he wasn’t stupid, but willfully ignorant and proud of it. Perry came off as ignorant and as a dumb goofball.
Gex
I think Texas is getting it worse than other states because they export their stupidity, via presidential candidates, to the nation as a whole. Likewise, a few Texans moved to Minnesota years ago and turned our Republican party with Arne Carlson type candidates over to Pawlenty and Bachmann.
JGabriel
@Montysano:
They’ve put so much effort into it. I didn’t want them to feel neglected.
.
John Weiss
@Linda Featheringill: Well Linda, I do not doubt the veracity of your memories. I grew up in blue, blue Austin and such nonsense as ‘segregated’ drinking fountains was apparently not tolerated there. I have no doubt that it was different elsewhere: I once saw a picture of ‘segregated’ fountains that were in the Dallas County courthouse, the first one, that dated to the early fifties.
John Weiss
@Gex: I don’t think that Lyndon Johnson could be called stupid. We called him plenty of other things, but stupid? No.
Redshift
@MattF: It’s possible; he could supply the teahadist cred. I think McDonnell probably appeals more to Romney, since on paper he has the wingnut evangelical background, but in office he hasn’t been wingnutty enough to scare off mainstream voters. That also might make him less appealing to the non-Romney voters, though. I can’t decide whether I’d be happier to have either one of them taken off our hands here at home, or nervous because it would make the GOP more likely to win VA.
Amir Khalid
@Redshift:
Ah. I didn’t realize there was more to this.
Gex
@John Weiss: Stupid intellectually or by behavior. Or are you waiting for us to all declare Texas the bestest of the best? There’s nothing I said in there that implied Texas worse than any other place. So take your butthurt somewhere else.
ETA: My statement about presidential candidates did not say ALL TX presidential candidates, crybaby.
Kola Noscopy
@Yutsano:
Believe me, I am very aware of all of Texas’ basic creation history.
But I’m pretty sure that was a long time ago. I think Texas has been a U.S. state for quite some time and needs to get over itself. Just my opinion, but it seems many Texans want to pretend to be their own country, but still suck on the United States teat.
John Weiss
@Gex: Well aren’t you in a mood today? Sorry, I can’t play. The kids are up.
FlipYrWhig
@geg6: I still enjoy how a paranoid gay libertarian finds enough common cause with a paranoid homophobic libertarian to make both of them the joint conscience of… “the left.” It’s the stupidest shit that has ever happened in the politics of the blogosphere.
Mark S.
@geg6:
(Waaaay) Shorter Glenn Greenwald:
Kola Noscopy
Happy New Year to all!
I think I will exit this thread just as it devolves into Greenwald Derangement Syndrome, and focus on tonight’s party prep.
:D
Kane
Dubya, Armey, Barton, GHWB, Cornyn, DeLay, Gohmert, (Fredo)Gonzales, Gramm, Hutchison, Miers, Paul, Pickens, Rove, Sessions, Starr, etc…
Do we really need a reason not to vote for a Texas Republican? Ever? Imagine where the country might be today if it were not for these individuals. Not only are their policies flawed, but their level of pettiness and dishonesty are unmatched.
Egg Berry
@Redshift:
Isn’t McDonnell a one-term governor by law?
srv
@nancydarling: That must have just been awful for you.
Kathy in St. Louis
What his consultants don’t seem to get, since they have no hearts and are currently employed, is that that “Culture Wars” crap plays well when the religious right is sitting at home, cozily watching a fire, and reading the Bible/or Wall Street Journal. But the old culture war crap is just crap when you’ve lost your job due to downsizing, your kid now has to attend the local community college and work as a busboy, and the chances of you finding new employment now that you’re 52 looks pretty bleak. So, some of the gainfully employed and the retired may have time to listen to Pery whine about gays and abortion, but real people with real problems want to know what he’s going to do to get the economy going again. Since he and the other candidates don’t seem to have a clue, his act is falling flat. When they head out of Iowa, I’d suggest the rest of them get a clue or they will end up exactly as Mr. Goodhair is doing, which is not so hot.
hildebrand
@Kane: It is times like this that I renew my contempt of and disgust toward what Rove and Bush did to Ann Richards. I try to imagine what Texas would have been like if she had been able to get re-elected. While she wasn’t perfect, she actually seemed to care about the middle-class and the poor (a decidedly important bit down here in the Rio Grande Valley) – she actually had a plan to start to truly help the colonias, and actually realized that the Valley was a part of Texas.
FlipYrWhig
IMHO one of the stranger effects of the Perry crash-and-burn was that it appears to have snuffed out the loudest and most pointed attack on Romney, his taking every side of every issue important to Republicans. When Perry blew that line, it was like when a comedian stumbles over a word in the set-up, making even a funny punchline fail to connect. And as a consequence Romney hasn’t had to counterpunch nearly as much as he did in ’08. And it’s something he sucks at, so his life as a candidate has been made very much easier.
But I don’t know why Perry wouldn’t keep on fighting anyway, at least until the money dries up. You _know_ he dislikes Romney on a personal level, just like Huckabee did. Shitkickers don’t like country-clubbers.
Mnemosyne
@John Weiss:
Haley Barbour is corrupt as hell, but he’s not nearly as stupid as Perry, so I’m afraid Mississippi is one up on you there.
Kathy in St. Louis
@John Weiss: Poor Mississippi and Alabama. Thought to be the armpit of America where the dumbest people live. Well, I’m from Missouri, and let me assure you that between Kansas City and St. Louis live some of the dumbest hayrakes that you will ever find. I’d draw a large circle around Columbia,Missouri, since it’s a univesity town where there is some edumacation, but most of the rest of the state is a wasteland, and it’s not just because we have a lot of tornadoes, either.
Sad Iron
No, he didn’t look like an idiot; he is an idiot. Period. The man is starkraving stupid.
carpeduum
The Growing Old Prematurely party. They always gotta play the victim.
eemom
@geg6:
@FlipYrWhig:
I fail to see how anyone of conscience can continue to support Greenwald after he has cast his lot with a proven racist antiabortion gay basher.
Or ANYONE who isn’t a straight white male, conscience or not.
And on that note, much as the Greenwald apologists get their panties in a wad when one brings up the matter of his expatriacy, the fact is he doesn’t actually give a shit about the rights of gay people back home who can’t fucking afford to jump ship, now does he?
Cheap Jim
@Yutsano: So was Vermont. So was Hawaii. What of it?
smintheus
@Cermet: Several other states were independent once as well. Texas is the only state that thinks it needs to remind us of the fact.
Mark S.
@Mnemosyne:
Speaking of Haley, the Daily Fishwrap has him and three other goopers talking about what they would do if they were running for president. I like how they included Herman Cain.
smintheus
@Cheap Jim: So was RI, then all the other original 13 colonies.
Barry
“It was at one time an independent country. The claim is not that far-fetched.”
(stuff about the varied backgrounds of other states deleted)
Repeating Mr. Noscopy’s point: “And you wonder why that is annoying to non-natives? Seems like a need born of insecurity to set themselves apart and by implication above.”
jon
I like his energy policy whereby piping in all that shale oil from Canada allows us to not import foreign oil. Yes, he said that. And yes, the crowd cheered.
FlipYrWhig
@eemom: To be fairer to him than I think he would be to me, he does appear to mean to be adversarial only about the single domain of “civil liberties.” The problem with that, of course, to all non-monomaniacal people, is that politicians are more, do more, and stand for more than this one particular area. But Greenwald’s shtick is to reduce everything to one small set of issues, then carp incessantly about them. Which is a fine way to be a pundit, but a very poor way to gauge a politician. It starts to be like Jonah Goldberg calling Nazis liberals because they cultivated organic honey, only, you know, approvingly.
nancydarling
@srv: Not really.
Drum Circles And Weed
I have no opinion on whether Perry is stupid (well, I do but it’s not germane to the discussion). Perry tanked for two reasons:
1. He was obviously intoxicated during the debates.
2. He committed the unpardonable sin of calling the GOP platform of “segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever” WRT our hispanic citizenry the heartless and indefensible practice that it is. This is a party composed of people who would rather set themselves on fire rather than admit than anyone browner than milk is human.
Lysana
@eemom:
Got it in one right here.
As for Perry, it was the debates AND the “inhumane” from where I sit.
nancydarling
@eemom: I recall defending GG on this blog months ago—something to do with his forced ex-pat status, I can’t remember the details. I’m sorry now I wasted all those words on him
Mark S.
What I don’t understand is why Greenwald doesn’t just endorse Gary Johnson instead of a racist homophobic crank. His explanation is that Johnson has no chance to win, but, Earth to Glenn, RON PAUL HAS NO CHANCE TO WIN, EITHER. If Paul ran against Obama, he would lose 65-35.
rikyrah
whenever I saw Perry, I flashed to Brolin in the Oliver Stone movie.
Perry was a small fish who thought he belonged in the big pond.
he found out otherwise.
FlipYrWhig
@Mark S.: He doesn’t want to “endorse” anyone. He just wants to set up a sort of “civil liberties primary” so that the libertarians can win, and thus win more airtime for libertarian (or small-r republican) viewpoints about freedom and intrusive government. The Paul boomlet makes that possible, so Greenwald wants to surf it. I think he’s kind of a crank, but there’s nothing wrong with any of that, IMHO. The wrongness occurs in trying to claim the mantle of “the left” for any of it. If anything those views are more widespread on the Bircher/survivalist/Tea Party _right_, with an anomalous detour leftwards in the COINTELPRO/McCarthyism era.
Drum Circles And Weed
Also in defense of Glenn, he hasn’t lived here for more than seven years. Put bluntly, this isn’t the same nation as when he left, and he has no idea what’s really going on here and no way to find out.
FlipYrWhig
@rikyrah: I think he was told that he could win in a cakewalk because no one really liked Romney and, because of that, all Republicans needed was an alternative with enough money to stay afloat. It really should have worked. On paper, he’s totally the right guy.
Corner Stone
@Mark S.: What happened to you?
Redshift
@Egg Berry: Yeah, but we have off-year elections, so he’s still got two more years. Of course, since he’s a Republican, he would probably stay in office while running for VP, and again since he’s a Republican, no one will call him on it. But at least his attention would mostly be elsewhere.
(Though actually, if he were nominated, he might actually resign as governor so his chosen successor, the Lt. Gov., would have a better position to run for governor.)
Kathy in St. Louis
@Mark S.: And the idea that there is 35 percent of our population who think that Ron Paul has terrific ideas is pretty frightening.
I had family members who voted for George Corley Wallace, and I still get chills thinking that anyone could have supported such a rotten, mean spirited person. Ron Paul is better spoken, but I see little difference.
eemom
@Drum Circles And Weed:
Then perhaps he ought to shut the fuck up about what’s going on here, wouldn’t you say?
@FlipYrWhig:
I can’t accept this. There IS something wrong with intellectual dishonesty and willfully obtuse single-issue obsessiveness as a political philosophy, left or no left.
sneezy
@John Weiss:
Bullshit. I don’t know when you grew up and this isn’t “drinking fountains,” but Austin’s Barton Springs pool was whites-only at least until 1961.
Mark S.
@FlipYrWhig:
Really, that’s your biggest problem, whether it’s “the left” or not? My biggest problem is Glenn’s hypocrisy: he accuses Obama’s supporters of overlooking his flaws while he glides right over Paul’s stated desire to repeal 50 years of civil rights legislation. I’ve read idiots like Ron Paul (hell, I’ve read Lew Rockwell, his ghostwriter); they really thing the 1964 Civil Rights Act was worse than Jim Crow and the lynchings.
There’s also the matter of Paul’s economic policies of abolishing the Fed and returning to the gold standard would result in a depression that would make the 30’s seem like a hiccup.
FlipYrWhig
@Mark S.: I think he is taking a very narrow view of the meaning of “civil liberties” and failing to take into account any other aspect of “civil rights”; and that, as a result, he is deliberately limiting himself to a discussion of a very small set of issues. I wouldn’t do that at all. I think it’s an artificial way to proceed through politics and would in a reductio ad absurdum way dictate some horrifying judgments about who was “right” on an issue. (As I said on another thread, David Koresh didn’t much like federal surveillance and the coercive power of the government either, so if you wanted to be extremely blinkered and bomb-throwing, you could say that David Koresh had better ideas about civil liberties than Obama does.)
But he’s deliberately not including economic policy in the discussion. That’s a stupid way to determine which candidate you like better, but it’s an acceptable thought experiment about one very narrow area of politics. And that’s what he does.
FlipYrWhig
@Mark S.: So, to put it another way, I think he’s doing a classic seminar-room maneuver, basically this: “Putting aside all other issues, on the very small spot of turf I’ve defined as ‘civil liberties’ Paul is better than Obama, and I challenge anyone to take my premises and follow my path and come to any other conclusion. You can’t do it credibly, and if you claim to, it’s only because you’re making excuses or drawing from areas outside the parameters I set.” And, if you accept all his premises, he’s right. The problem is that his premises are bullshit, and (to bring it full circle to my original complaint) that he thinks his bullshit premises are important to thinking as a liberal.
Kathy in St. Louis
@FlipYrWhig: Well reasoned. I don’t know about anyone else, but I agree with you one hundred percent. This is how a substantial number of people argue, this tiny little dice theory. If only were could have a hundred presidents then we could allow Mr. Paul to have authority over jusst this small area.
John Weiss
@smintheus: Curiosity aroused: You said that there were other independent states other than Texas. Texas, I’ve always thought, was the only independent country to join the Union.
John Weiss
@sneezy: Hey, sneezy. I did not know that Barton Springs was segregated. Didn’t visit it until the late sixties.
PeakVT
@Egg Berry: Yes.
PeakVT
@John Weiss: What’s the difference between an “independent state” and an “independent country”?
Mnemosyne
@John Weiss:
Hawaii was an independent country until a group of American sugar barons overthrew the queen and created the Republic of Hawaii before gifting it to the US as a territory. So Hawaii has a lot more bragging rights than Texas does when it comes to being an independent country before they were a state.
Kilkee
@Cheap Jim: California Republic. Vermont. Hawaii.
Drum Circles And Weed
@John Weiss: California Republic. Or if you can stand being a bit less technical, the entire American southwest was Mexico until 1848 when we
stolewon it from them.Lojasmo
@John Weiss:
You clearly need to do a little reading pod’ner. The ENTIRETY of Austin was segregated through the middle of last century. Perhaps the reason you didn’t see all the signs of segregation is that you are…and I am spitballing here…white?
http://diversearts.microassistdemo.com/culture-art-music/musical-styles/whose-blues-race-relations-and-segregation-east-austin-blues-scene
Lojasmo
@John Weiss:
Didn’t catch this until the editing period ended.
Then shut the fuck up about not seeing water fountains, m’kay?
Kola Noscopy
@Barry:
Upon reading this, dear Barry, I wept sweet tears of validation, to be addressed as “Mr. Noscopy.” My contributions here are not often so respectfully received. :D
Kola Noscopy
@eemom:
I’ll try again, eemom. What is the source of your intensely personal hatred for Glenn Greenwald? Your vitriolic and frequent comments about him are far more venomous than seems proportional to the situation.
Did you once say you went to law school with him or something along those lines?
eemom
@Kola Noscopy:
I have a friend who was in law school with him.
My intensely personal hatred is for anyone who purports to believe the same things as I do, but who is in reality a sneering, lying, self-serving hypocrite whose purported concern for other people is 100% illusory.
I will say again that with his Guardian piece and his embrace of Ron Paul, Greenwald has laid to rest any claim that he doesn’t deserve every one of those adjectives.
And I’m curious that you, as a gay man, are fine with his embrace of Ron Paul — a man who would set your rights here in the U.S. back to the Middle Ages if he could, while Glenn remains safely ensconced in the warm equality of Brazil.
Kola Noscopy
@eemom:
I just read today’s GG piece, and this is where again I don’t get the hysterical reaction. He clearly and repeatedly states he that he does NOT endorse or support Paul for president. He certainly does not EMBRACE him and does not want to see him elected.
He says it is beneficial that he is in the race because it shines light on areas where Paul is far more “progressive” than Obama and begs the questions as to why that is; ie. WHY is it that Obama is so far right on FP and NS and the security state and why are establishment Dems so unwilling to substantively question Obama in those areas?
Rather, democrats, and I am a registered one, are basically told to shut up.
But Glenn asks and answers every question you raise far better than I ever could. I just feel that you misrepresent him in a weirdly hateful way, as though there is more to the story about why that is.
I enjoy a lot of what you write here, but it seems to me that you hear GG only from the perspective of an Obama partisan and no other.
We all know exactly WHY GG lives in Brazil, as would I in his position? I don’t find it credible in this day and age to claim that a commentator has to live here to have informed opinions on what goes on here.
Overall, I just get a better impression of you than is supported by your GG hatred. But you’re certainly entitled to it.
FlipYrWhig
@Kola Noscopy: I have been trying to see things Greenwald’s way in order to figure out what he’s trying to do. I can come up with an intellectual defense of it. If the shoe was on the other foot, however, there’s NO WAY Greenwald would let someone with a media megaphone repeatedly defend a public figure with odious views and get away scot-free because of some sleight-of-hand. His biggest and most vocal fans wouldn’t buy it either.
Let’s say a liberal-ish pundit repeatedly said that the great thing about the prospect of the Republicans nominating Newt Gingrich (who did that commercial with Nancy Pelosi for Al Gore’s climate campaign) was that it would open up a wide-ranging discussion about why Obama hasn’t done more about climate change. “I’m not saying I’m endorsing him,” the pundit would say, “but it would be a constructive and overdue discussion.” Would you find that very persuasive? Would Glenn Greenwald? Or would you all start to wonder why this pundit kept taking opportunities to puff up a candidacy that involves repugnant stands on many other issues?
eemom
@Kola Noscopy:
what’s your defense of that Guardian piece?
No matter what criticism anyone has of Obama of how valid that criticism, it is just a reekingly dishonest exercise in hackery to assert that HE is responsible for the GOP trainwreck.
As to Paul, saying he doesn’t support him is just a convenient ass-covering dodge. The fact remains, as has been noted repeatedly above, that you can’t parse any candidate for public office into a poster child for a single issue without being, again, a disingenuous self-serving hypocrite.
As I’ve said before, I’m a dog lover. So according to you and Greenwald, if Adolf Hitler were running for office today, it would be perfecly cool for me to write a column about how that candidacy is exactly what America needs to focus attention on the issue of animal abuse, even though I TOTALLY don’t endorse his other positions.
priscianusjr
@Jay C:
smintheus
@John Weiss: Others have said this as well, but here goes: The original 13 colonies plus Vermont were autonomous and independent states until they ratified the current Constitution and joined the Union…even I would say during the post-Revolutionary period of the Articles of Confederation (while RI initially held off from ratifying the Constitution, it was subject to taxes as a foreign nation). Then there was the Republic of California and an independent Hawaii during the 19th century.
So 17 out of 50 states have been independent before joining the Union. Another 2 (Maine and West Virginia) were territorially part of independent states (MA and VA) that joined the Union before they became separate states in their own right.
Kola Noscopy
@eemom:
Ummm…yeah. THAT’S a reasonable analogy.
Mnemosyne
@Kola Noscopy:
It’s a good thing you put “progressive” in quotes, because there’s absolutely nothing about Paul’s right-wing isolationist foreign policy that’s progressive in the least. He’s your standard-issue paleoconservative — the only person he’s to the left of is Pat Buchanan, who didn’t support the invasion of Afghanistan. Wait, let me guess, you think Pat Buchanan is to the left of Obama on foreign policy, too.
You and Greenwald also apparently overlook that Paul has no problem with the security state on the state-wide level — it’s only the federal security state Paul has a problem with. All those beatings by cops in Seattle or Oakland would be a-okay with Paul, because it’s not the feds doing it.
Paul essentially wants to return the US to the Articles of Confederation. What, exactly, is “progressive” about that?
eemom
@Kola Noscopy:
what is unreasonable about it? Hitler was a dog lover.
Kola Noscopy
@eemom:
No, I said it WAS reasonable. Ron Paul is JUST LIKE Hitler. Of course you’re correct.
Kola Noscopy
@Mnemosyne:
Have a nice conversation with yourself. you go off in all these other directions that have nothing to do with what GG is actually saying. AGain, your Obotism clouds your perceptions.
Please also point out where I said that I was a Ron Paul supporter, Mr. Overreactionary Pants.
eemom
@Kola Noscopy:
now you’re being Greenwald-esq disingenuous. The point is not that Paul is just like Hitler; the point is that the analogy works.
Lojasmo
@Anal algesia:
The term “hysterical” is a refuge of misogynistic douchebags. I know you are such, but it’s a tell. Just saying
Kola Noscopy
@Lojasmo:
Get a life, weirdo. You’re just itching for a fight, or dare I say…TROLLING for one?
You really don’t think a man can be “hysterical?” Or that many, many words evolve way beyond their original meaning of hundreds, even thousands of years ago?
No, of course you don’t believe that. You’re just…TROLLING.
Kola Noscopy
@eemom:
I’m guessing Hitler believed the sky to be blue.
Obama believes the sky to be blue, I’m assuming.
Ergo, Hitler = Obama.
OK, I get it.
Kola Noscopy
@Lojasmo:
“Anal Algesia,” as directed against me, a gay man, is obviously a hateful and vicious homophobic slur, you horrid person.
My god and parent-given name Kola Noscopy, a long held family honor, has nothing to do with your gay-hating slurs.
fuck off
Mnemosyne
@Kola Noscopy:
Just as I thought — you can’t deny that Paul’s isolationism stems from his right-wing John Birch Society views and not from any affinity with the left, so you have to fall back on random insults to disguise the fact that you and Greenwald are idiots for arguing that Paul is somehow to Obama’s “left” on foreign policy when he takes a paleoconservative isolationist stance.
Kola Noscopy
@Mnemosyne:
hmmm…
Kola Noscopy
or we could forget about Ron Paul and focus on why Obama’s foreign policy is so Right Wing, period.
FlipYrWhig
“I really like what Rick Santorum is saying about renewing the idea of community in America. Not that I’m endorsing his views on any other issue, but on this specific issue he’s fantastic. Rick Santorum, wow, I hope he wins so we can talk about the value of community. He’s so progressive about it. Not on anything else, but, for that, it would be great if he won. And don’t go lecturing me about his pro-life absolutism or his equivalency between homosexuality and bestiality. I don’t like those, but they’re not the issue. But what I mean is that Rick Santorum is the best and most progressive candidate to initiate a discussion about this one thing I find important. If you don’t see it, you’re just a blindly loyal apparatchik making excuses.”
sneezy
@Cermet:
Yeah, they can remind us that in pursuit of their right to practice human chattel slavery, they seceded from not just one, but TWO countries: first Mexico, then the US! That’s something to be proud of right there. Not every state can say that!
Angel
Rick Perry is a self serving, opportunistic, hypocritical, narcissistic stupid bigot! Let’s get rid of him.
tone
I believe it was “HEARTLESS” -no one in that audience would know the word inhumane.
So the uppers and downers and all arounders,and the heartless comment were going way too far from the fold.