• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

You can’t love your country only when you win.

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

We still have time to mess this up!

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

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

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Mobile Menu

  • Winnable House Races
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Balloon Juice 2023 Pet Calendar (coming soon)
  • COVID-19 Coronavirus
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • War in Ukraine
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • 2021-22 Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2012 / Newt vs. Willard: The Ewok Strikes Back

Newt vs. Willard: The Ewok Strikes Back

by Anne Laurie|  January 2, 20125:00 pm| 131 Comments

This post is in: Election 2012, Assholes, Romney of the Uncanny Valley

FacebookTweetEmail


(Mike Luckovich via GoComics.com)

One reason the Media Villagers love Newt is that he can be counted upon to give good horserace. From NYMag‘s Daily Intel, “Battered in Iowa, Gingrich Plans to Rip Romney in New Hampshire and Beyond”:

… The cause of Gingrich’s downward spiral is clear enough: the relentlessly brutal and brutally relentless negative-ad barrage inflicted on him in Iowa since his surge in late November and early December. Indeed, something like half of the vast number of spots that have run here in that time frame have been assaults on Gingrich. The primary source of those spots has been the pro-Romney super-PAC Restore Our Future, which has spent something like $3.5 million on the effort. Gingrich has done nothing to disguise his ire at this turn of events; as the MSNBC host Alex Wagner has described his recent countenance, “The Teddy Bear is angry.”
__
What the Teddy Bear has not done, however, is fight back—not in any effective way, at least. But at Gingrich’s second event of the day—another meet-and-greet at another sports bar, this time in Marshalltown—he indicated that his passivity is about to disappear. After chatting and taking pictures with voters for about an hour, the candidate decided to conduct an unscheduled media availability. Among those present was another MSNBC host, Chris Matthews, who more or less took control of the proceedings, goading Gingrich by suggesting that he had let Romney’s super-PAC “kick the shit” out of him.
__
More than any other candidate in the race—more than most politicians, period—Gingrich is perfectly happy to address process questions, adopting the mien of a hardened political consultant. Comparing himself implicitly to John Kerry, Gingrich complained that he had been “Romney-boated” by the negative ads. “I probably should have responded faster and more aggressively,’’ he admitted. “If somebody spent $3.5 million lying about you, you have some obligation to come back and set the record straight.”

Those are brave words for a one-note fat man. As Steve Benen points out in his Washington Monthly blog:

I’d genuinely love to know whether the disgraced former House Speaker is so far gone, he literally doesn’t remember his own record. As Kevin noted a month ago, Gingrich is largely and personally responsible “for the poisonous state of partisan politics in America today.”
__
To be sure, Gingrich didn’t invent toxic partisanship, but looking back over the last three decades, no individual did more to create our nasty, vicious, and negative political climate than Newton Leroy Gingrich. Indeed, no one else comes close.
__
Hearing him complain about political maliciousness is akin to Mitt Romney complaining about dishonest rhetoric — it requires a stunning lack of self-awareness.

Newt’s “solution”, according to the Daily Intel piece:

Then Gingrich went on, incredibly, to lay out his post-Iowa strategy. “New Hampshire is the perfect state to have a debate over Romneycare and to have a debate about tax-paid abortions, which he signed, and to have a debate about putting Planned Parenthood on a government board, which he signed, and to have a debate about appointing liberal judges, which he did,” Gingrich said. “And so I think New Hampshire is a good place to start the debate for South Carolina.”
__
So there you have it: Gingrich, who trails Romney badly in the Granite State, plans to use the week between the caucuses here and the primary there to rip Romney a new one; and in doing so, weaken him in South Carolina, where Gingrich (for the moment) is polling strongly and is at the head of the pack. Now flush with a decent fundraising haul in the last quarter of 2011—around $9 million, he claims—Gingrich apparently intends to take to the airwaves to make his case, in addition to hammering Romney as a dreaded (and self-described, albeit long ago) moderate in the two debates scheduled for this weekend in New Hampshire…

Like all other sane people, in a match between Gingrich and Romney, I’m praying for injuries. Preferably fatal-to-both-parties’-electoral-chances injuries…

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « Not at all the same thing
Next Post: Monday Evening Open Thread: St. Willard, Hypocrite »

Reader Interactions

131Comments

  1. 1.

    dmsilev

    January 2, 2012 at 5:04 pm

    The thing about this year’s edition of Clown Thunderdome is that someone, somehow, will have to eventually emerge.

  2. 2.

    kerFuFFler

    January 2, 2012 at 5:06 pm

    If only there were zero chance of any of these clowns winning I could just sit back and enjoy my popcorn.

  3. 3.

    Mike in NC

    January 2, 2012 at 5:14 pm

    Like all other sane people, in a match between Gingrich and Romney, I’m praying for injuries.

    There goes my plan for a post-holidays diet, since I’m now going to be stocking up on popcorn.

    OK, #2 got there first.

  4. 4.

    Karen in GA

    January 2, 2012 at 5:14 pm

    The Teddy Bear is angry.

    Lotso?

  5. 5.

    dance around in your bones

    January 2, 2012 at 5:20 pm

    Gawd, I said this in another thread; but REALLY-Newt Gingrich?

    It’s like I’m at the edge of a black hole or something.

  6. 6.

    Mnemosyne

    January 2, 2012 at 5:21 pm

    @Mike in NC:

    Don’t worry, popcorn fits nicely into any healthy eating plan as long as you don’t go crazy with the toppings.

  7. 7.

    Citizen_X

    January 2, 2012 at 5:23 pm

    no individual did more to create our nasty, vicious, and negative political climate than Newton Leroy Gingrich.

    Um, Mr. Benen? Lee Atwater calling from Hell on Line 1.

    (Not that I think Gingrich doesn’t deserve first place.)

  8. 8.

    The Dangerman

    January 2, 2012 at 5:24 pm

    The Money wants Romney. I don’t think Newt has enough money to take on The Money.

  9. 9.

    Redshift

    January 2, 2012 at 5:30 pm

    @dance around in your bones:

    It’s like I’m at the edge of a black hole or something.

    Don’t worry, the event horizon is only a couple of days travel, and everything will be okay after that…

  10. 10.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 2, 2012 at 5:31 pm

    @The Dangerman:

    For one thing, Callista needs bling. That’s a serious money sink right there.

  11. 11.

    Citizen_X

    January 2, 2012 at 5:37 pm

    Anytime I think of the GOP primaries, I remember the words of Henry Kissinger, getting a chubby at the beginning of the Iran-Iraq war: “I hope zey kill each ozzer.”

    Romney vs. Gingrich? Times ten.

  12. 12.

    gnomedad

    January 2, 2012 at 5:38 pm

    Gingrich is largely and personally responsible “for the poisonous state of partisan politics in America today.”

    A feature, not a bug.

  13. 13.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 2, 2012 at 5:40 pm

    @The Dangerman:

    “ROMNEY” anagrams into MONEY [R]. Coincidence?

  14. 14.

    Phylllis

    January 2, 2012 at 5:45 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    For one thing, Callista needs bling. That’s a serious money sink right there.

    Bling hell. Goddess knows what a chunk of change it must cost to get that hair of hers completely immoveable every day.

  15. 15.

    dance around in your bones

    January 2, 2012 at 5:47 pm

    @Redshift: I am sure you are right. Blink! All done.

    But really. NEWT FUCKING GINGRICH?!

    Insanity.

  16. 16.

    Anoniminous

    January 2, 2012 at 5:48 pm

    What’s different about 2011, as we got an inkling of in 2010, is the GOP attack machine is now being directed at “fellow” Republicans. Romney risks jumping the shark with these attacks and initiate a faction fight in the GOP.

  17. 17.

    BruceFromOhio

    January 2, 2012 at 5:55 pm

    no individual did more to create our nasty, vicious, and negative political climate than Newton Leroy Gingrich. Indeed, no one else comes close.

    Atwater. Luntz. Rove. Cheney. The Big Fat Idiot. The Hammer.

    Its a crowded field.

  18. 18.

    Chuck Butcher

    January 2, 2012 at 5:56 pm

    The polling from late 07-08 election shows some things that are interesting. McCain was doing pretty good in Dec – mid January and again beginning to mid September 08. September gave us the McCain reaction to the economic melt-down in full force.

    This may be where the GOP has mis-played their hand on the economy – what they have is empty rhetoric about “job creators” as opposed to any concrete legislation. Their reaction to the economy is on par with McCain’s. It takes truly abysmal levels of “uninformed” for voters to have missed this. Yes, tribal trumps and uninformed exists but the necessary level of uninformed will get hit with news and ads.

    If you back up to the ’10 elections and look at an under-performing/over promised stimulus package and the rancor and attention to ACA rather than economic matters along with the D election strategy things look at bit different than the GOPers might like. It pays to remember that the group it was that swung ’10 elections was the “I” or unaffiliated and to look at how that group is composed rather than seeing it as some monolithic middle.

    There is not going to be “generic” R running. There is going to be an actual R candidate with some sort of economic agenda. That candidate cannot align with Congress considering its approval and yet not doing so means running against the R brand. That candidate is going to run into the McCain problem all over again.

  19. 19.

    jl

    January 2, 2012 at 6:02 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    Thanks for that. I had not noticed it before.

    I sense a campaign add in the offing. I watch look for it.

  20. 20.

    jl

    January 2, 2012 at 6:12 pm

    Also, I thought that Newt would have a little more staying power. But I usually underestimate the power of money and attack ads, probably because my reaction to most political ads (whether D or R) is ‘OK, what is this **** about?’.

    I saw a recent interview of Newt at the crest of his recent popularity where he proclaimed himself the presumptive GOP nominee on the basis of a surge in polling of GOP primary voters, which has a high proportion of crazy deluded people.

    (Edit: and with a wisdom beyond his years, sagely and magnanimously warned other GOPpers that attacks on him would be ill advised.)

    I’m no good at searching for those kinds of clips, and can’t find this one. But it would be a good clip to have handy, or post on front page as Newt’s campaign lists and bobs and lurches, and eventually sinks into the abyssal depths of political fail.

  21. 21.

    PeakVT

    January 2, 2012 at 6:36 pm

    “The Teddy Bear Stay Puft Marshmallow Man is angry.”

    Phicksed.

  22. 22.

    dance around in your bones

    January 2, 2012 at 6:36 pm

    I’m sorry. but WHAT a FUCKING PHONY de Newt iz.

    I swear, I think I woke up in Bizarroland. 2012?

  23. 23.

    Southern Beale

    January 2, 2012 at 6:38 pm

    Santorum Salad.

    Yes, Republicans in Iowa are THAT dumb. Let’s hope this was a joke …

  24. 24.

    WereBear (itouch)

    January 2, 2012 at 6:47 pm

    Those are brave words for a one-note fat man.

    Love it!

    The best Newt can do is to further sully The Brand with outrageous suggestions frosted with cruelty and undifference. Wait, that IS The Brand, now.

  25. 25.

    jl

    January 2, 2012 at 6:48 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    “Santorum Salad”

    It’s easy to look up the recipe for the dressing.

    I assume the pizza guy is trying to engineer a strategic bankruptcy.

  26. 26.

    Triassic Sands

    January 2, 2012 at 6:52 pm

    To me, the surprising thing about Newt’s rise and fall is that he ever rose at all, and having risen, that he would fall, since who and what Newt is has been well known for many years. I guess this is just one more example of how disconnected and generally uninformed the average voter is.

    In the weeks since his initial surge, there has been lots of information about Newt published, but none of it was new and I don’t think I learned anything new about him at all. But apparently Newt’s failings remained unknown to Iowans.

    It makes me think that instead of going first, Iowa should go last — after the nominee is already chosen. Except, I doubt other states are any better than Iowa. It’s no wonder we can’t vote our way out of our troubles.

  27. 27.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 2, 2012 at 6:52 pm

    @jl:

    It’s easy to look up the recipe for the dressing.

    Hahahahaha, I hope everyone in Iowa heads straight for the Googles!

  28. 28.

    ChrisNYC

    January 2, 2012 at 6:58 pm

    Callista has many many days of ego boosting in front of her. Many. At least a year. Hahahahaha

  29. 29.

    Southern Beale

    January 2, 2012 at 7:03 pm

    Some dog and cat blogging for your viewing pleasure if anyone is sick of politics, which I am …

  30. 30.

    Allan

    January 2, 2012 at 7:04 pm

    That pundit quote places too much emphasis on TV ads. Iowa is a ground game state. Romney and Gingrich have none. Santorum does. Romney and Gingrich are media creations. No one likes them who actually lives outside the greater D.C. metro area.

  31. 31.

    jl

    January 2, 2012 at 7:05 pm

    @Triassic Sands: Several wise people of blogdom, including Cenk Uygur and I think Cole hisself, have offered the ‘irresistible force/immovable object’ theory.

    The irresistible force is wingnut fantasy. The immovable object is reality. Sooner or later these two things meet during a campaign, when for example, a candidate has to address specific issues and problems, and some aspect of sacred wingnut fantasy is insulted in the wingnut mind.

    Thus the rise of GOPper candidates on a wave of idealized dreams and fantasies based on empty posturing, sloganeering and hate speech. Sooner or later the candidate, no matter how hard he or she tries to avoid it, is forced to address some specific aspect of reality (our liberal press often forces the matter, presumably out of boredom, or because all the horse race gossip is exhausted for the moment).

    It’s like an emotionally damaged teenager looking for the hyper idealized love object who is soon disappointed by any real person.

  32. 32.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 2, 2012 at 7:09 pm

    Charles Pierce strikes again!

    “One hesitates to paraphrase the great Walter Sobchak in this context but, say what you will about the tenets of the Ron Paul campaign, at least it’s an ethos.”

  33. 33.

    catclub

    January 2, 2012 at 7:11 pm

    @Anoniminous: This is the interesting thing. There are no particularly hard shots at Romney, because almost all of them are aiming at VP.

    This is in spite of the fact that after the 2008 campaign all the other candidates _really_ hated Mitt.

    No one is hitting hard — and with money — all the Bain capital stuff we BJ type folks notice. No one is killing him on how many houses he has forgotten he owns. No one is hammering on Mormonism.

    They are all hoping for VP too hard.

  34. 34.

    Delia

    January 2, 2012 at 7:13 pm

    @BruceFromOhio:

    Atwater. Luntz. Rove. Cheney. The Big Fat Idiot. The Hammer.

    They’ve been breeding for nasty, vicious and negative for several generations now. We don’t really know the full potential of the species yet.

  35. 35.

    jl

    January 2, 2012 at 7:14 pm

    @catclub:

    The bad faith runs very deep and strong with them, does it not, young catclub?

  36. 36.

    bemused

    January 2, 2012 at 7:14 pm

    @Phylllis:

    And her frozen face.

  37. 37.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    January 2, 2012 at 7:24 pm

    @BruceFromOhio: People! Listen up! Atwater, Rove, Cheney, etc. are all following in the footsteps of Richard M. Nixon, who knew no other way of campaigning than to attack the opposition with thinly veiled lies.

    If you want to know the source of Gingrich, it’s back in the 50s, in Nixon’s campaign against Helen Gahagan Douglas, the Pink Lady.

  38. 38.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 2, 2012 at 7:28 pm

    @catclub:

    That’s okay, wait for the general. I’m pretty sure Obama doesn’t want to be Mitt’s VP.

  39. 39.

    kdaug

    January 2, 2012 at 7:28 pm

    @Phylllis:

    Bling hell. Goddess knows what a chunk of change it must cost to get that hair of hers completely immoveable every day.

    Hair, hell. The injection-molded rictus grin is the stuff of which nightmares are made.

  40. 40.

    lamh35

    January 2, 2012 at 7:38 pm

    OT, but I’m finally getting to watch my DVR of the Kennedy Center Honors.

    Ya know what that Meryl Streep, she’s a pretty good little actress didya know? I like the cut of her jib!

  41. 41.

    jl

    January 2, 2012 at 7:40 pm

    Hey, you kids, lay off the spouses. It’s mean and uncalled for.

    Besides, she plays French Horn, which is a refined brass instrument, considered by some musikers to be an honorary woodwind.

    THE ART OF THE TONGUE CONTROLLED EMBOUCHURE “HOT CANARY”
    http://youtu.be/fNYLKcDyY-Q

  42. 42.

    jl

    January 2, 2012 at 7:42 pm

    This is kind of cool. Not sure what good it does, but I am not a brass player, so what would I know. I hope filming this justified the risks to the player. Thought it seems old, so probably they did not know better.

    X-Ray Trumpet
    http://youtu.be/pjSBQl38ksk

  43. 43.

    Southern Beale

    January 2, 2012 at 7:43 pm

    I’m watching my first-ever episode of “Freaks & Geeks” and find it hilariously funny.

  44. 44.

    Southern Beale

    January 2, 2012 at 7:44 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Newt can just trade his wife in for the CalistaBot 3000.

  45. 45.

    kdaug

    January 2, 2012 at 7:46 pm

    @jl: Fine. But if this doesn’t scare you, you’re made of sterner stuff than I.

  46. 46.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 2, 2012 at 7:49 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    He’s a steady customer down at the lot; I’m sure they’re already prepping some possible replacements in anticipation of his needs.

  47. 47.

    FlipYrWhig

    January 2, 2012 at 7:53 pm

    @Southern Beale: That show was genius. I had a mad crush on Linda Cardellini.

  48. 48.

    Southern Beale

    January 2, 2012 at 7:53 pm

    Speaking of steady customers, here’s a video from last year (graphic language alert) in which a gay guy tells of his frequent sexual encounters with Mitt Romney. Seems sure to be a hoax, but I thought it was strange this was out there and no one seems to have said anything.

    Then again, I didn’t watch the whole thing ….

  49. 49.

    jl

    January 2, 2012 at 7:53 pm

    @kdaug:

    OK, OK. She does not look like any french horn player I ever saw, man or woman, young or old, fat for thin. I admit that.

    But that is also true of Newt, who looks like a cross between a blob fish and an obese naked mole rat. Not like a newt at all; newts are cute and an important part of our woodland and meadow ecology.

  50. 50.

    Southern Beale

    January 2, 2012 at 7:54 pm

    @FlipYrWhig:

    I remember Linda Cardellini from ER. In this show she’s reminding me a lot of Ellen Page.

  51. 51.

    jl

    January 2, 2012 at 7:55 pm

    Newt is fair game, however.

    Just by coincidence, I also found this fun song.

    Chuck Bowers, Pig Pen Boogie
    http://youtu.be/pURzGKCsFDM

  52. 52.

    Southern Beale

    January 2, 2012 at 7:56 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Calista Gingrich is too much like Cindy McCain. Both so shot full of thorazine to make their lives as GOP spouses bearable.

  53. 53.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 2, 2012 at 8:00 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    Oscar may not be, uh, classically photogenic, but he’s cute as all get-out. That fur! LOL.

  54. 54.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 2, 2012 at 8:01 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    Laura Bush shows some of those same symptoms, too. Perhaps they all got pointers from Pat Nixon?

  55. 55.

    khead

    January 2, 2012 at 8:04 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    Oscar looks like Bill the Cat.

  56. 56.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    January 2, 2012 at 8:06 pm

    @kdaug:

    Seriously Callista scares the fuck out of me, and I mean that, not in the “Queen of the Cream Cheese People” kind of way (h/t Rumproast) but in the way that she was a nice, normal looking girl when she married Newt, mousy tumbled curls, happy eyes, cheeky grin. She marries Newt and turns into the epitome of the Stepford Wife almost overnight, the imobile hair, the frozen grin, and those fucking eyes? WTF? How many fucking drugs is she on? My guess it is Mrs. McCain truckloads with a side of more truckloads, with another truckload at teatime.

  57. 57.

    Southern Beale

    January 2, 2012 at 8:06 pm

    @khead:

    Yeah he really does!

  58. 58.

    Southern Beale

    January 2, 2012 at 8:07 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Yeah but not Babs Bush Sr. She’s the one wielding the syringe. That woman scares the crap out of me.

  59. 59.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 2, 2012 at 8:07 pm

    I realize that the thread title needs to be properly evocative, hence “The Ewok Strikes Back”.

    However, Noot is more of a Hutt than an Ewok.

    Just sayin’.

  60. 60.

    Southern Beale

    January 2, 2012 at 8:08 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    After that descrption, it’s Newt who should scare you. If he can turn his wife into a blank-eyed zombie, imagine what he’d do to the country.

  61. 61.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 2, 2012 at 8:08 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    Agreed. The Ma Barker of the Bush Crime Family.

  62. 62.

    Southern Beale

    January 2, 2012 at 8:09 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    THANK YOU!

    He’s the sweetest thing. He does that cute cat thing where he presses his nose into my nose, super hard, over and over. It’s really cute. Sometimes he misses my nose and gets my glasses and leaves smears.

    Damn he’s cute.

  63. 63.

    Veritas

    January 2, 2012 at 8:10 pm

    Damn right. Ads, ads, ads, lots and lots of hard-hitting negative dirty ads (from Super PACs of course, so Mitt stays clean) bought by unlimited cash. They’ve destroyed Gingrich.

    Take notes, liberals, because Romney will do the same thing to Obambi in the general.

  64. 64.

    jazzgurl

    January 2, 2012 at 8:12 pm

    Oh dear,just heard that JC is having a hard time on Twitter as he is busy defending his BFF Gigi!
    He and ABL are in a fight!

  65. 65.

    WereBear (itouch)

    January 2, 2012 at 8:13 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: Indeed. So many of the Republican wives have that Thorazine glaze, with the blank eyes and the fixed grin. Ain’t enough money in the world to make them happy, I guess.

  66. 66.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    January 2, 2012 at 8:14 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    Nope – Newt is just the mark, it is a sad reflection on what some women will do for the sake of money. THAT is what scares me. I am reminded of the latest “dating” site currently being heavily advertised on ESPN radio.

    http://www.whatsyourprice.com/

    And that is different from prostitution how? (Not that there is anything wrong with prostitution, if you’ve got something you are willing to sell and some rube is willing to buy it why not? Lets not be coy about what it is however)

  67. 67.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    January 2, 2012 at 8:15 pm

    @Southern Beale: Oscar looks a LOT like my Seamus.

  68. 68.

    Benjamin Franklin

    January 2, 2012 at 8:16 pm

    Monday…slow news day

  69. 69.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    January 2, 2012 at 8:18 pm

    @Veritas:

    Last I heard Romney doesn’t have enough money to put ads in about 3 or 4 States (including the PACs). Obama will have upwards of a billion dollars to remind people who Romney is. Chris Matthews was interviewing people in an Iowa Coffee Shop on his show tonight, he went around the shop trying to find supporters of any of the GOP candidates and all he could find were Obama supporters. It was funny.

  70. 70.

    Baud

    January 2, 2012 at 8:21 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: What a wonderful story. You just made my day.

  71. 71.

    Trentrunner

    January 2, 2012 at 8:23 pm

    Does anyone know what John is twittering about re Glenn Greenwald and nun-raping?

    I’m confused.

  72. 72.

    priscianusjr

    January 2, 2012 at 8:23 pm

    @kdaug:

    Goddess knows what a chunk of change it must cost to get that hair of hers completely immoveable every day. — Hair, hell. The injection-molded rictus grin is the stuff of which nightmares are made.

    There was a photo going round about a month ago showing Newt and Callista at some kind of gathering. I actually thought Callista was one of those large-size plastic head-masks you see around Halloween. I don’t mean this metaphorically, I literally thought that’s what it was, and I didn’t know who the mask was supposed to represent. It wasn’t until I had seen a few more photos that I realized it was actually Callista.

  73. 73.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    January 2, 2012 at 8:23 pm

    Well looks like Mom (ABL) and Dad (John) just got a very public divorce on Twitter. What are we kids to do?

  74. 74.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 2, 2012 at 8:24 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    Please, don’t disturb the fantasies of the troll with reality. It upsets him.

  75. 75.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 2, 2012 at 8:26 pm

    @Trentrunner:

    No idea. I ignore twitter as much as I can.

    I figure I’ll get a good summary here later. I can wait.

  76. 76.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    January 2, 2012 at 8:26 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Yeah I know I shouldn’t feed it but sometimes the urge is just too much.

  77. 77.

    Baud

    January 2, 2012 at 8:26 pm

    @Trentrunner: Greenwald tweeted that Obama supporters would support him if he raped a nun, or something like that. ABL and others were offended. John tweeted that the offense was overblown. ABL said that she was done with Balloon Juice.

    These are the Days of Our Lives.

  78. 78.

    Mnemosyne

    January 2, 2012 at 8:27 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    But Oscar is adorable! He continues to remind me of Keaton, who is slightly more photogenic but still a giant goofball.

  79. 79.

    Trentrunner

    January 2, 2012 at 8:28 pm

    What’s ABL’s twitter name?

  80. 80.

    4tehlulz

    January 2, 2012 at 8:28 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: ABL caught John getting nasty with Glenn, didn’t she?

    The wife is always the last to know.

    edt: nice

  81. 81.

    Baud

    January 2, 2012 at 8:29 pm

    @Trentrunner: @AngryBlackLady

  82. 82.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 2, 2012 at 8:30 pm

    @Baud:

    Ah. Well, given what an utter shitstain Greenwald has turned out to be on this Ron Paul shit, fuck him.

    I agree with Cole that reacting to Greenwald’s asshattery that way is overblown. The way to fight back is to point out that Paul would have gladly tossed Greenwald into an oven without the benefit of Zykon-B if they were both at Auschwitz.

  83. 83.

    honus

    January 2, 2012 at 8:31 pm

    So a republican presidential candidate is admitting that the party lied in order to smear a wounded,and highly decorated Vietnam combat veteran?

  84. 84.

    Trentrunner

    January 2, 2012 at 8:33 pm

    Well, more than two can play this game:

    I wonder if Glenn would support Jerry Sandusky’s “brave” political stances.

    Glenn just doesn’t get that some attitudes are dealbreakers, like racism and homophobia, cancelling out whatever other laudable positions a politician holds.

  85. 85.

    Mnemosyne

    January 2, 2012 at 8:35 pm

    @Baud:

    I’m assuming Greenwald was trying to reference the 1980 murders in El Salvador of three nuns and lay worker Jean Donovan that happened thanks to US support of El Salvador’s death squads. Plenty of Republicans were happy to look the other way in the 1980s as US-funded right-wing death squads rampaged their way across Central America.

  86. 86.

    4tehlulz

    January 2, 2012 at 8:36 pm

    BUT GLENN WAS ONLY JOKING

  87. 87.

    Corner Stone

    January 2, 2012 at 8:37 pm

    @Trentrunner: ABL and her twitjihad coterie did what they always do.
    Make shit up and otherwise shit’s fucked up and bullshit.
    She’s one to talk after declaring loudly and proudly that absolutely nothing would change her support for President Obama, not even if she caught him fucking a goat.
    She’s got some craw in her drawz about GG because he dared to continue his National Security State criticism after President Obama was elected.
    She does this with anyone who dares. I hope Cole continues to enjoy his extended CNN moment.

  88. 88.

    jl

    January 2, 2012 at 8:39 pm

    @Mnemosyne:

    I’m not going to bother checking twitter to see it myself. If story is true, Greenwald tweeted something stupid and offensive. I don’t care about any plausible, or implausible, rationale or back story.

    I have a better opinion of Greenwald than many here, though don’t agree with a lot of his speculations about Obama’s motives and supposed long term sinister intentions.

    But if he did something stupid, he did something stupid.

    Edit: not saying that you are defending Greenwald. I don’t know what your opinion is. What I said above is just my opinion on the new earth shattering BJ controversy.

  89. 89.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 2, 2012 at 8:40 pm

    @honus:

    They’ll go after any combat veteran who doesn’t assimilate into their idiot collective.

  90. 90.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    January 2, 2012 at 8:42 pm

    The Oregon Ducks are the Rose Bowl Champions. My Husband will be celebrating until at least July.

  91. 91.

    dance around in your bones

    January 2, 2012 at 8:43 pm

    @jl: Oh Gawd, the snort snort noises! Heh.

    Gracias.

  92. 92.

    lamh35

    January 2, 2012 at 8:45 pm

    @jl: I’ve been following the whole thing since yesterday.

    I have yet to join in the twit-war as it was. I have no love for GG, but I do follow and like ABL. If like John, I considered both mutual acquantainces, the one thing you learn is NOT to get in the middle of it. Cause no matter what it will seem like you are choosing sides. John chose to jump in maybe because ABL is a FPer or maybe because he felt the twit-war against GG was overblown, I don’t know, either way, not worth it IMHO.

    If I joined every twit-war started by people I follow, I’d never do anything else.

  93. 93.

    Baud

    January 2, 2012 at 8:45 pm

    Apparently, the original offensive tweet was by Dr. Dawg, who said:

    @AngryBlackLady @g_p_g @ggreenwald @emptywheel ABL, Obama could rape a nun live on NBC and you’d say we weren’t seeing what we were seeing

    To which GG responded:

    @DrDawg @AngryBlackLady @g_p_g @emptywheel No – she’d say it was justified & noble- that he only did it to teach us about the evils of rape.

    Draw your own conclusions.

  94. 94.

    Yevgraf

    January 2, 2012 at 8:45 pm

    Greenwald is an ignorant fuckstain who turned to punditry after a legal career that amounted to nothing.

    He wholeheartedly supports the closet case brigade of gay conservative employees of conservative think tanks and wingnut congressmen from his lair of safety/love den in Brazil.

    A kick in the teeth is too good for him.

  95. 95.

    RossInDetroit

    January 2, 2012 at 8:46 pm

    Oh, Bieber. Can we save some energy for beating the bad guys or are we going to do the job of beating us for them?

  96. 96.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 2, 2012 at 8:49 pm

    @lamh35:

    If I joined every twit-war started by people I follow, I’d never do anything else.

    I burned myself out on GEnie and USENET long, long ago.

    Screw it. More fun to hack at someone with a virtual sword in an MMO, frankly.

  97. 97.

    jl

    January 2, 2012 at 8:51 pm

    @Baud: My conclusion is that people really need to learn how to count to ten in this day and age when they get overexcited and go over the top, and means are available to spread their bad judgment to millions of people.

    There are some Obots whose rationales for every disappointing act of Obama anger me. But how does trumpeting stupid and offensive statements help to persuade anyone?

  98. 98.

    Baud

    January 2, 2012 at 8:58 pm

    @jl: I don’t think the whole Twitter thing is set up for thoughtful and considered reflection.

  99. 99.

    ruemara

    January 2, 2012 at 9:06 pm

    @Baud: I concluded Glenn hath lost his mind. Because stating that Obama supporters would not just approve of Obama raping a nun live on tv (or anywhere at all) but then attempt to explain how it was a benefit to all & sundry is right up there in offensiveness. Kinda like calling a small potatoes blogger the “Leni Riefenstahl of Obama supporters”. It boggles… and I’m surprised someone as usually more thoughtful than John would just say it’s nothing. Hella over the top, JC.

  100. 100.

    lamh35

    January 2, 2012 at 9:12 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    don’t misunderstand me, I think John is wrong in this and what originated this whole thing was rightly called out by ABL, but John C put himself in the middle of something that it just seems he had no idea how it started.

    That is where John errored

  101. 101.

    Citizen_X

    January 2, 2012 at 9:23 pm

    @ruemara: Pshaw. Everyone knows that raping nuns (or at least having them raped) was Ronald Reagan’s job, Peace Be Upon Him.

  102. 102.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 2, 2012 at 9:24 pm

    @lamh35:

    Oh, I see your point. John should have just stayed out of it.

    Let Greenwald’s idiocy stand on its own, and privately talk to ABL and say “you’re feeding the energy creature. I know it’s horrible, and it says very offensive things, but it seems to revel in your anger.”

  103. 103.

    lamh35

    January 2, 2012 at 9:25 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    yep, that’s exactly what I would have done and if the flame war continued, then I’d let the chips fall where they may.

  104. 104.

    BruceFromOhio

    January 2, 2012 at 9:27 pm

    @Delia: And that thought alone freezes my heart, cold, and challenges all resolve.

    Fucking Republicans.

  105. 105.

    Allan

    January 2, 2012 at 9:28 pm

    Well, Corner Stone, this could be your shot at Front Page status. You should probably email John a picture of yourself in a low-cut top. Later, gators.

  106. 106.

    Veritas

    January 2, 2012 at 9:28 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt:

    They probably picked a liberal neighborhood on purpose. MSNBC is notoriously biased and Matthews is a liberal.

  107. 107.

    Corner Stone

    January 2, 2012 at 9:29 pm

    @Allan:

    You should probably email John a picture of yourself in a low-cut top.

    Is that how it’s done amigo?

  108. 108.

    BruceFromOhio

    January 2, 2012 at 9:32 pm

    @Litlebritdifrnt: I fucking hate Twitter. It enables the most rapid transfer of stupidity in the history of the human race. It reminds me of when citizens band radio became popular.

    Now Twitter keeps a record of it, for friends, relatives and commentariat alike.

  109. 109.

    FlipYrWhig

    January 2, 2012 at 9:35 pm

    @Baud: Um, isn’t Greenwald’s whole jihad about Ron Paul specifically about how the repulsive things he believes in don’t count because OH NOES MA SIVIL LIBARTEEZ! It seems like Greenwald is by far the more likely to say that Ron Paul raping a nun isn’t something he condones, but that’s not really the immediate issue, which is something something jackbooted thugs coming to reduce you to the mercy of the flying death robots Obama personally programmed, which Ron Paul totally wouldn’t do. The whole thing is based on taking Paul’s worst views and for the sake of argument putting them to one side. So if anyone deserves mockery about excuse-making, it’s Glengarry Glen Greenwald, defender of property rights.

  110. 110.

    Baud

    January 2, 2012 at 9:38 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: It’s projection. Like when the Republicans accuse Obama of being “partisan” or “divisive.”

  111. 111.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 2, 2012 at 9:42 pm

    @BruceFromOhio:

    It reminds me of when citizens band radio became popular.

    10-4 good buddy! Looks like we got us a CON-VOY!

  112. 112.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 2, 2012 at 9:46 pm

    @WereBear (itouch):

    It’s one of the nicest things that distinguishes Michelle Obama from the majority of GOP wives. Whatever you think about vegetable gardens and veterans’ families and anti-obesity campaigns, nobody can say that Michelle is a FLOBOT.

    (For the record, in case anybody was wondering, I think very highly of MO’s causes.)

  113. 113.

    Corner Stone

    January 2, 2012 at 9:47 pm

    @FlipYrWhig: OH NOES MA SIVIL LIBARTEEZ!

  114. 114.

    BruceFromOhio

    January 2, 2012 at 9:48 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    CON-VOY of STU-PID.

    Gaia save me, the seasonal affective disorder came early this year. Peace out, brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to Love Thy Neighbor in this brave new year.

    @SiubhanDuinne: MO puts every recent first lady to shame, save HC. Elegance, thy name is Michelle.

  115. 115.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 2, 2012 at 9:48 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Breaker 1-9, this here’s the rubber duck.

  116. 116.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 2, 2012 at 9:51 pm

    I don’t really do twitter. Can someone provide an executive summary of the JC-ABL contretemps?

  117. 117.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 2, 2012 at 9:59 pm

    @Southern Beale:

    I love that, and miss it! Another year and a half until retirement and i’ll be able to have a kitteh again.

  118. 118.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 2, 2012 at 10:02 pm

    @Baud:

    I don’t think the whole Twitter thing is set up for thoughtful and considered reflection

    No?

  119. 119.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 2, 2012 at 10:04 pm

    @BruceFromOhio:

    MO puts every recent first lady to shame, save HC. Elegance, thy name is Michelle.

    Agreed, although Rosalynn Carter is pretty real. Don’t know how far back you are going in defining “recent.”

  120. 120.

    doofus

    January 2, 2012 at 10:07 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: See next thread comment #72.

  121. 121.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 2, 2012 at 10:11 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    The fastest way to get in trouble on a military radio frequency is to use CB slang.

    Well, that and use “over and out” at the end of your transmission.

    Both were hanging offenses in units I was in. I was the hangman.

  122. 122.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 2, 2012 at 10:12 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    We haven’t had a really terrific GOP first lady since Betty Ford.

    But the crop since Nancy Reagan? Abysmal.

  123. 123.

    g

    January 2, 2012 at 10:15 pm

    I ain’t laying off Callista, and it’s because she’s a co-campaigner. She got him into this book and DVD selling scheme. She’s exploiting this shit just as sure as Sarah Palin is.

    Cindy McCain confined herself to beer-distribution and third-world kid charity, and put in her appearances on the campaign trail, but Cally’s a full-fledged partner in Gingrich Productions – she’s shilling the Gingrich dogma as an enterprise, not just as a supportive spouse.

  124. 124.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 2, 2012 at 10:15 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Roger that, good buddy. 10-4.

  125. 125.

    SiubhanDuinne

    January 2, 2012 at 10:17 pm

    @doofus:

    Thanks, I was just heading next door.

  126. 126.

    Triassic Sands

    January 2, 2012 at 10:49 pm

    @jl:

    Go to youtube and search for:
    Newt Gingrich “I will be the nominee” ABCnews 12/1

    I think that’s the clip you’re referring to.

  127. 127.

    N W Barcus

    January 2, 2012 at 11:42 pm

    I stopped reading ABL months ago. I don’t think she is/was always wrong, but the signal-to-noise ratio on her posts was the reverse of almost any others. (Exceptions are the fictive posts of Anna L, and Levenson’s posts, which I also don’t read.)

  128. 128.

    Chuck Butcher

    January 3, 2012 at 12:06 am

    Hah, thought I’d go take a glance at the Twitter dust-up to see what the hell was going on. Discovered that I have no idea how to get to reading Twitter w/o signing up for something I don’t want my name in. Lost interest immediately. Actually it was only idle curiousity. Masochism.

  129. 129.

    WaterGirl

    January 3, 2012 at 12:24 am

    @Chuck Butcher: You don’t have to sign up for twitter to read John’s twitter comments and witness the dust up. Just go to this website:

    http://twitter.com/Johngcole

  130. 130.

    dance around in your bones

    January 3, 2012 at 1:11 am

    @Villago Delenda Est: I just love WTF? Over.

    ….from John Cole. Said this around the house for weeks after I read it here.

  131. 131.

    Villago Delenda Est

    January 3, 2012 at 2:28 am

    @dance around in your bones:

    WTF over (pronounced “Whiskey tango foxtrot, over?” is VERY common parlance when you don’t understand (as in I can’t believe you just asked me that/said that!) what the other party just transmitted. Usually delivered with the appropriate tone.

    One of the things you DO NOT DO is swear/curse over a military radio net. For one thing, it’s considered unprofessional. Never mind that in face to face conversations the eff word gets used in nearly every possible grammatical role there is in the English language. You just don’t use that over the radio. Hence WTF (Whiskey tango foxtrot) used to convey the meaning without using the naked (ahem) eff word.

    The eff word itself (as in “the eff word” or just “the eff”) is very often used to communicate that meaning in staff meetings…I recall a division chief of staff using that particular phrase frequently in a large staff briefing when confronted with a progress report about arrangements for support of an operation that wasn’t progressing at the pace he thought was needed. He didn’t want to say “fuck” inside the garrison division HQ (out in the field no one gives a damn, but when you’re in a solid building, in garrison, your standards are supposed to go up…wives and children a block away might hear, you know…) but still wanted to communicate his agitation in a way that will spur action.

    BTW, the “over” indicates that you expect a response. An “out” indicates the conversation has concluded, no response needed or requested. Generally, the senior person is the one who gives the “out”. Juniors don’t end conversations. Seniors do.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

2023 Pet Calendars

Pet Calendar Preview: A
Pet Calendar Preview: B

*Calendars can not be ordered until Cafe Press gets their calendar paper in.

Recent Comments

  • prostratedragon on Fun Facts Friday (Feb 3, 2023 @ 3:48pm)
  • WaterGirl on Fun Facts Friday (Feb 3, 2023 @ 3:47pm)
  • Gravenstone on Late Night Open Thread: Getting Done, By Brexit (Feb 3, 2023 @ 3:46pm)
  • WaterGirl on TGIFriday Morning Open Thread: Another Long Week, Almost Over (Feb 3, 2023 @ 3:46pm)
  • trollhattan on Fun Facts Friday (Feb 3, 2023 @ 3:46pm)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
We All Need A Little Kindness
Favorite Dogs & Cats
Classified Documents: A Primer

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Mailing List Signup

Front-pager Twitter

John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
TaMara
David Anderson
ActualCitizensUnited

Shop Amazon via this link to support Balloon Juice   

Join the Fight!

Join the Fight Signup Form
All Join the Fight Posts

Balloon Juice Events

5/14  The Apocalypse
5/20  Home Away from Home
5/29  We’re Back, Baby
7/21  Merging!

Balloon Juice for Ukraine

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!