Charles Krauthammer is mad enough to stomp bunnies, a man consumed with the type of bitterness that can only come from being thwarted by putative allies when a cherished goal is in sight. Things were going so well. With an assist from elderly social conservatives in patriot drag,* the GOP had successfully rebranded the economic free fall and debt juggernaut Bush bequeathed to the American people as the consequence of Obama’s “reckless spending, new entitlements and oppressive regulation with higher taxes.”
The GOP’s electoral victories in 2010 put conservative fantasies about tossing old ladies and elderly gents into the maw of the private insurance industry and slashing social programs that serve the poor like Freddy Krueger on a meth binge tantalizingly within reach. And then Gingrich and Perry had to go and fuck everything up.
According to Special K, Gilded Age-levels of wealth inequality have nothing to do with the economic shit-pile, and Wall Street marauding is so irrelevant to the issue that it doesn’t even merit a mention. No, these extraneous topics were injected into the debate by the president as a “class-envy gambit” to bolster his political fortunes. And Obama’s strategy would have totally bombed due to “suffering in part from its association with an Occupy rabble that had widely worn out its welcome.”
But then, “the struggling Democratic class-war narrative is suddenly given life and legitimacy by…Republicans! Newt Gingrich and Rick Perry make the case that private equity as practiced by Romney’s Bain Capital is nothing more than vulture capitalism looting companies and sucking them dry while casually destroying the lives of workers.” And now “Romney’s wealth, practices and taxes take center stage.”
How bad is it? This bad:
“Wednesday, the Republican House reconvened to reject Obama’s planned $1.2 trillion debt-ceiling increase. (Lacking Senate concurrence, the debt ceiling will be raised nonetheless.) Barely noticed. All eyes are on South Carolina and Romney’s taxes.”
The opportunity to demagogue once-routine debt ceiling hikes? Gone. A Koch-funded photo op featuring tricorn-hatted Tea Partiers staging a Hoveround siege of the Capitol? To ashes in Krauthammer’s mouth it turns. All thanks to those meddling kids on the GOP presidential slate. Damn them. Damn them to hell.
*H/T to fellow Rumproast blogger Hunger Tallest Palin for this dead-on description of the Tea Party.
[X-POSTED at Rumproast]
Davis X. Machina
The first rule of Not-Just Rich-But-Fuck-You-Rich Club, is that you never talk about Not-Just Rich-But-Fuck-You-Rich Club.
brettvk
DanielX
Krauthammer haz a sad. SO disappointing when reality refuses to conform to one’s dreams, isn’t it, Charles? Life just hasn’t been the same for him since neocon heaven turned into hell.
In deep sonorous Keith Jackson voice: : “We are sorry…so very very sorry….”
Not.
Valdivia
That is one kick ass image right there.
Bago
TAGGING FURY!!!11!!1 eleventy one.
Schlemizel
@DanielX:
You would think by now people like Kraphammer would be used to reality not conforming to their fantasy. Apparently an inability to learn from experience is also a feature of conservatism.
Redhand
Hey Betty Cracker, I like your blogging style. Props too for even reading Chuckles the Clown; my gag reflexes go into max overdrive even at the thought of seeing that asshole’s ravings on the WaPo’s intertube site. But yeah, it’s always cool when Krauthammer haz a sad.
Elizabelle
Thank you for reading Krauthammer so that I don’t have to.
Which I don’t. For years now.
Much like one need not worry what David Brooks throws into his columns.
Go OWS! Go Obama!
General Stuck
Well yea, he’s righteous mad, and for good reason. Not only has there been no new land wars started in Asia , his party is over run by unelectable morons for president.
Dark days for the neocon. Dick Cheney must be sacrificing many small mammals to get him through the dry spell. I suspect Bloody Bill Krystal has a developed a permanent sneer that will need to be surgically removed. With the kick in the nutsack that Obama is still president and blackety black.
Amir Khalid
Um, did John Cole tell you about using multiple tags with your posts? Apparently, he’s got an issue with front-pagers overdoing that.
m
Krauthammer:
Wow, it’s almost like Chuck knows exactly what the GOP stands for.
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BO_Bill
I like Barack Obama.
amk
@Bago:
Beat me to it.
Hey noobie, short and sweet tags is the bj rule.
Great kraut kicking piece, btw.
Baud
@BO_Bill:
I do too!
JGabriel
Krauthammer:
Wow, it’s almost like Chuck knows exactly what the GOP stands for.
(Reposted due to moderation — accidentally deleted my userid)
.
MikeJ
@Amir Khalid: I thought his problem was with people creating lots of new categories. Not with the number of categories used, and no problem at all with creating new tags (which are different from categories in WP).
gbear
@Amir Khalid: Cole’s issue was with making up new tags. If all those tags already exist, it’s A-OK.
JGabriel
@Amir Khalid:
No, no, John Cole has an issue with creating too many categories:
See, tags are fine: it’s categories that suck.
No, I don’t know what the fucking difference is either.
.
Amir Khalid
Being mad enough to stomp bunnies is pretty much Charles Krauthammer’s normal state nowadays. Especially if it even looks like the left, or President Obama in particular, is having a good day. It’s a pity. I still remember a time when he wasn’t completely nuts.
MattF
Unhappy Krauthammer, and my freude is not at all schaden.
JGabriel
What happened to the “Edit” button?
Is everyone missing the “edit” button, or was I a bad boy?
.
Amir Khalid
Okay, I stand corrected: John Cole hates when fronbt-pagers create too many new categories, especially when they never get used again.
MattF
@Amir Khalid: My recollection is that Krauthammer really dove off the deep end with Obsessive Clinton Disorder. One day, someone will do a definitive analysis of that phenomenon.
WereBear
Krauthammer is the face of Instant Karma.
By that I mean, what on earth has he done in this life to be cursed with that face?
MikeJ
@JGabriel: I’m missing not only the edit button but the quicktags toolbar for doing blockquotes and links and such.
I’m also missing blingees on the post. Where are the blingees damn it?!?
JGabriel
@WereBear:
A comprehensive list of Krauthammer’s sins would break WordPress’s text limits.
Actually, I’m pretty sure it would break the Internet’s text limits.
Amir Khalid
@JGabriel:
It’s not just you. Nobody’s got the edit button. It has apparently been abducted by the state of South Carolina. (Well, someone said that yesterday, and I have no evidence to the contrary.)
amk
@JGabriel: yeah. Fuck cole.
Petorado
Really enjoying this show. The only way the Republican minority can get a nation to work against its self-interest is by staying in lock step and all of them doing as they’re told. This election year selfishness-fest among the candidates is pointing out the party’s serious flaws that the liberal media would pay no mind to otherwise. How dare these guys put cracks into Krauthammer’s carefully manufactured facade.
JGabriel
MikeJ:
I’ve still got quicktags, and the “Reply” button. Just no “Edit” or “Delete” buttons.
What the hell are “blingees”? Is that another word for emoticons?
.
redshirt
For all the jollies this Republican race is bringing – Obama’s winning no matter who the Repuke nominee is – I sure hope the Democratic Party kicks ass in every possible Congressional and Senate race. Can you imagine the endless shit storms to come should they take both houses? Ug.
MikeJ
@JGabriel: An artform perfected by one of Betty’s co-bloggers at RR. Just look for any post by Mrs. Polly over there. Like this one.
JGabriel
@Amir Khalid:
Thank you, Amir. Muchas gracias.
.
BO_Bill
Well, I like Barack Obama. And in the photograph at the head of this blog-post, we can observe the state-sponsored nature of certain movements. I would say that the only one of the “can-can” dancers who has had her ticket punched in the past week is the one, second from the left, with the big smile. The others are faking happiness with their leg-kicks. Lesbianism is probably good, but would only go so far as far as I can tell. Truth is Beholden in Geometry.
Here we apprehend the differences between the #OWS movement, and the TEA Party movement. (1) The TEA Party movement is just some people without can-can dancers and pre-made signs who simply appreciate existing amongst themselves; (2) TEA Party women are less glitzy than #OWS women, but, taken as a group, are sexier on average; and (3) TEA Party women most definitely copulate on a more frequent basis than #OWS women. These are women who follow their instinct. Guttural. Grunt.
I am kind of sad as today is my last day at The Facility.
Davis X. Machina
@redshirt: GOP control of both Houses has continued to trade right around .60 on the Iowa Electronic Markets.
JGabriel
@MikeJ: Oh, that Blingee(tm). Got it.
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Josie
Krauthammer’s deep blue funk is maple syrup on my pancakes. I really despise that man.
Betty Cracker
@Amir Khalid: Well, BJ does have an assload of categories. I was shocked, I tell ya…
JGabriel
@BO_Bill:
Okay, I’ll bite. What is The Facility, BOB?
Is it a Prison? Sanitarium? Culinary Institute?
I am perplexed.
.
MattF
@WereBear: The real Karma is that Krauthammer, an ex-psychiatrist, must see that the Republican primary candidates are a museum of psychopathology. Narcissism, delusion, affect-disorder, dementia, it’s all on public display.
General Stuck
After reading the morning reports on what is happening in SC, I will predict a blowout with Newt winning. For the reason that Romney’s former lead was always soft with all the states moderate goopers in his camp, and his conservative support based soley on the conventional thinking that Mitt was most electable in the GE. That has shifted dramatically with the Bain exposure for Romney in an jobs election.
Since all the energy in the GOP during the last 3 years has come from tea party types, and they are by far the majority of wingnuts in SC, and the south, they will go to the polls in higher numbers, and Mitt’s supporters will see the writing on the wall, and pick their teeth instead of bothering to vote.
EconWatcher
At what dosage does schadenfreude become lethal? I’m concerned about my health.
BO_Bill
A big company. We sell dildos. This is a place where human nature is observed, and learned. I will miss it.
JGabriel
Betty Cracker:
I think I may have inspired the David Brooks Is A Dickhead category.
Not to take anything from Brooks’ own enormous efforts in that regard.
.
Villago Delenda Est
My heart truly pumps gallons of buttermilk for the vile little toad that is Chuckles the Krauthammer.
I’ve long contended the way to deal with him is to take him to the Mass Pike at rush hour, dump him out of his wheelchair, and let him demonstrate his superior abilities to survive.
JGabriel
Really beginning to miss that edit button, Cole.
.
JGabriel
@BO_Bill:
And your role there was …?
Employee? Work Release Program? Usage Presentation Model?
.
Betty Cracker
@MikeJ: Mrs. Polly’s artistic genius goes well beyond Blingees. In a just world, she would own the front page of The New Yorker.
DanielX
From Clown Shoes Charles:
Um, yes, and I’d say events of the last ten years have proved this pretty conclusively.
@BO_Bill:
This is almost Zen-like, and positively cries out for further explanation.
amk
@JGabriel: LOL. Guinea pig ?
scav
@JGabriel: Mold.
WereBear
I did not know that.
It is going to mess up my mind. I feel it starting now.
Nylund
For a while there it looked like Krauthammer and his ilk were going to get away with convincing America that the recession didn’t start until Obama took over, raised their taxes, and bailed out Wall St. But by some miracle, a teeny bit of the truth got out, but only because of the egos and reckless ambition of his own party members who found those facts helpful when trying to grab a hold of some power for themselves. That, and well, there are apparently some limits to just how many blathering idiots Americans are willing to listen to before they start realizing it’s just an endless train of blathering idiots who don’t know what the hell they’re talking about.
If it weren’t for the crazifaction factor, the country would be all right. But with that crazy 27%, that means you have to win over at least two thirds of the non-crazy 73% to win.
cmorenc
The difference between David Brooks and Charles Krauthammer is that even though Brooks is a shallow pseudo-intellectual purporting to represent the moderate face of Republicanism that no longer exists outside of a handful of cozy enclaves, I could enjoyable spend a couple of hours over dinner or a couple of beers with him without feeling the urge to jump across the table and choke him. With Krauthammer, I’m not so sure I could restrain myself the whole evening.
John O
Dr., heal thyself.
BO_Bill
My role was as a Free Man, providing labor. In my presence there are currently (2) drunk Indian females (it’s like morning) and (1) fat white female who used to work at The Facility and pulled the disability scam. She is walking around with a cane. I prefer the drunk Indians. The bigger of the two just asked me for a cigarette.
In my physical fitness regime, I have gotten to know a Mexican Ju-Jitsu hot shot who has taught me grappling techniques. It is kind of funny but this individual keeps threatening to deport the worthless fat white female with the cane to Mexico.
Mike in NC
I don’t know what they would charge for a bottle of Krauthammer’s tears, but I’d buy a friggin’ case.
DanielX
@cmorenc:
You’ve got to be joking – I’ve reached the point where I see pictures of either of their loathsome visages (and you can add that of Bloody Bill Kristol to the list) and the first thought that comes into my head is that most useful German word Backpfeifengesicht: a face that cries out for a fist in it.
geg6
cmorenc @51:
Really? I’d jump over the table to choke Brooks after about 3 seconds, whereas I’d just taunt Krauthammer and then laugh at his impotent rage. It would be much more fun.
Well, if you insist on hanging with Brooks, be careful not to rub his thigh. He always seemed like he liked it too much when that GOPer did it to him.
JGabriel
@scav:
It’s a dildo company. You’ll have to more specific. Are you using “mold” in the sense of stuff that grows on shower curtains, bread, and in dark corners, or “mold” in the sense of things Cynthia Plaster Caster starts with?
.
Betty Cracker
@WereBear: Yeah, I was kind of astonished when I first learned that too. But then it occurred to me that many — though certainly not all — people who enter the behavioral health field do so to address rather pressing personal issues. And it started to make sense after all.
Villago Delenda Est
@JGabriel:
The edit button is GONE, and I don’t know why, or where to, and so far many have noted that it’s missing, but apparently Cole is so busy digging out from underneath the snow (or is that Tunch?) that he hasn’t acknowledged that the edit button is MIA.
And you’re stuck with the run-on sentence above because I’m going to hit submit and not have the edit button to go back and do something about it. Sort of the same problem that OvenMitt has with his taxes, now that I think about it.
feebog
From Chuckles OpEd:
Really? Spoken like a true one percenter.
Case in point; I was dumfounded a couple weeks ago when it was reported that the six Walton heirs were worth about 90 billion dollars, (about 15 billion each) an amount equivilant to the bottom 30% of wage earners in the country. So I did a little research and a little math regarding Walmart and figured out the following:
Walmart employs about 1.2 million workers.
Those workers average about 20K a year.
Walmart could have paid those workers twice that over the last twenty years and each Walton heir would still be worth about 7 to 8 billion dollars.
Throw in a really good health plan and they would still be worth well over 5 billion.
So the question is, what is the difference between 5 billion and 15 billion? The answer is nothing. There is literally nothing you could not do, buy or experience with 15 billion that you could not do with 5 billion. In other words, the Walton heirs are simply greedy fuckers who could give a shit less about their employees. They could also care less about this country, think about how much more demand those extra billions would have created in the hands of Walmart employees instead of an off shore account in the Cayman Islands.
And that Chuckles is what income inequality is all about. Not envy that someone has become sucessful and lives a lifestyle accordingly. We are pissed off at the overt and obvious greed that the super rich wave in our faces. We are tired of being told that making almost 400K for a few speeches is “not very much”. We are tired of the one percent villagers like you who are totally out of touch with what the rest of us are going through.
scav
@JGabriel: That’s the joy of the job. He can multitask. Coast-saving for his Galtian masters.
Jay C
So Charles Krauthammer is
wasting ink/pixelsusing his column to vent bile over the fact that the Republican Klown Kar Follies are distracting attention from debt-and-spending issues? Surprising. Not the bitter-bile part, after all, that what Krauthammer does – but he usually uses his column-inches to fulminate about Weighty Issues of war and peace: i.e., that there’s not enough of the former, and too much of the latter….Villago Delenda Est
@feebog:
Well said.
These people are screaming for tumbrel rides. Time to deliver for them. Long past time, in fact.
JGabriel
cmorenc:
But could you hold Brooks’ thigh all night long?
.
.
GregB
……The Republicans serve as the protectors and enablers of the plutocrats, the exploiters who have profited while America suffers. They put party over nation, fat cat donors over people, political power over everything.
-Charles Krauthammer
My God! I think he’s got it!
Elizabelle
@DanielX:
Just when you thought they couldn’t top Schedenfreude.
JGabriel
Betty Cracker:
Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal
its an excellent post, and this may be unduly esoteric, but does krauthammer actually have to be mad to stomp bunnies?
Valdivia
Not just the psychology bit but Krauthammer had a diving accident that left him a paraplegic. Much bitterness in that man if you ever see him on the TV.
WereBear
Yes, you are correct on all counts. Apparently his intellect was not up to the task of his neuroses, and he must have given up entirely.
JGabriel
@Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal:
That’s a good point. Bored or thirsty would probably suffice.
.
Josie
Al Giordano has just posted his latest column, which ends with this great quote:
cmorenc
@DanielX:
A key difference is that while Krauthammer and Kristol are full of malevolent intent and purposes, Brooks is merely a cheerfully clueless person parading as an intellectual. I can tolerate well-meaning but delusional people far better than I can tolerate malevolently delusional people. Brook’s fundamental delusional problem is similar to that of Friedman, that he imagines a beneficial political universe of enlightened moderation large enough to include a significant swath of the modern GOP, but which no longer exists in reality. Both Brooks and Friedman are far more simply silly, silly men than dangerously malevolent one like Krauthammer and Kristol.
barath
@Josie:
Al called it. Many weeks ago he said watch for Gingrich in SC, no matter what folks are saying. And he was right, just like he was about Iowa, NH, and basically every primary in 2008…
JGabriel
@Josie:
Asshole Thunderdome! Only one will survive.
This is the very definition of an RWA purity spiral.
.
Josie
@barath: Yup, and that is why I read his columns regularly. He does his homework.
barath
@Josie:
It’s funny – Al is about as outsider as you can get as a journalist…writing on the drug war at his own site from Mexico. And yet he’s better than basically every other political journalist out there.
SenyorDave
@cmorenc: @Villago Delenda Est: I’ve never met Krauttie, wouldn’t need to share a beer with to want to choke him. He is a hack of the vilest type, and when I used to get the WaPo and I read him, I always felt like he was one of the “a black man in the White House, well he’s not my president” types.
Behind the thin veneer of psuedo-intellectuallism beats a true bigot’s heart.
WereBear
And now this, which I also didn’t know.
I do feel sorry for him. That is the advantage of loathing someone over hating them. My religion doesn’t allow me to hate :)
honus
@Elizabelle: It’s not one word, but it is one of my favorite German sayings:
“Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens.” (with stupidity, the gods themselves labor in vain) I first saw it on the bumper sticker of a bricklayer’s pickup back in 1981, a few months after Reagan took office.
Hill Dweller
Not to be out done, Huckabee went on O’Reilly’s show and suggested Romney shouldn’t release his tax returns until Obama releases his college transcripts. But in a bit of a twist, Huckabee isn’t concerned about poor grades and/or affirmative action; he wants to see if Obama received loans as a foreign student.
It’s racism disguised as birtherism.
Josie
@barath:You’re right. I think it might be because he is on the outside and doesn’t have an agenda. He tries hard to be totally unbiased – a trait sadly lacking in our journalists here. Also, he is very good at drilling down into polls and statistics to find answers.
geg6
barath @79:
Not so much funny as sad. And my guess is that being an outsider and clearly seeing what is actually happening and reporting that are highly related. FSM knows, no one is so blind and clueless about this country as a Villager.
JPL
@Hill Dweller: Did he mention Romney’s long form of his birth certificate?
Elizabelle
@honus:
selbst vergebens
It sounds profound, or despairing, just from the syllables. Thank you; I shall share your saying with some German-speaking friends.
Samara Morgan
very nice post.
gratz.
r€nato
@Betty Cracker:
Having observed dozens if not hundreds of such people up-close-and-personal… this is SO true. It confirms my deep misgivings about the effectiveness of the entire field of mental health.
Even if the “science” were good (and it is VERY squishy, soft science)… many of the people practicing it have quite a few issues of their own, or at least a very few rather serious and deep ones. Right now I’m thinking of a woman who’s an author and counselor (one of the very, very few I’ve worked with who was not in possession of at least one post-grad degree) who writes and lectures about narcissism… and over the course of two hours displayed an astounding degree of it.
Maybe she *liked* being a narcissist and didn’t see the need to cure herself of it…
honus
@Elizabelle: Thanks, but it’s not mine, it’s Friedrich Schiller’s, from Maid of Orleans.
handsmile
@cmorenc: (#75)
While I’m largely in agreement with your characterological distinction between Brooks/Friedman and Krauthammer, the former duo are far more insidious to public political discourse.
Krauthammer is largely a non-entity outside of the conclaves of Village neoconservatism and the geriatric audience of Fox Noise. The NYT”s prime boobies, on the other hand, for all their “cheerful cluelessness” and “fundamental delusions” command widespread respect and influence.
Friedman is popularly regarded as America’s leading foreign policy expert (and somehow that’s not meant as an indictment). Brooks regularly appears on public (i.e., elite) television to spout his banalities on matters social and political. Both men profit handsomely from best-selling books.
Brooks’ and Friedman’s indisputable, albeit undeserving, prominence as well as the policies they advocate are, in my view, far more malevolent than the mutterings of an embittered demagogue like Krauthammer.
And by the way, I suspect that Dr. K. would never deign to share a meal with the likes of those who would comment on this disreputable rag. You’d be spared from committing criminal acts on that account.
amk
@barath: Reminds me of another ‘outsider’ living in SA and yet is clueless.
Villago Delenda Est
@Valdivia:
This is the thing about Krauthammer.
A tragic accident leaves him in a situation where he is very dependent on others, in many ways, to continue to live.
Instead of this informing him about the interdependency of humans, it alienates him further. He’s bitter and resentful that he no longer can function independently. That bitterness and resent translates into a sneering disregard for others who are as unfortunate as him, yet not as fortunate with a support system as he has been.
He is blinded to all those things in his sheer bitterness.
Contrast this with the attitudes of some people who should be VERY bitter, mainly the kids asswipes like Krauthammer insisted needed to go to Iraq to validate the deserting coward’s manhood, and came back scarred.
Kathleen
@MattF: Quite simple. Females found him very attractive. Verrminesque Rethuglicans – not so much.
Villago Delenda Est
@DanielX:
That, right there, was a word coined when someone first saw the mug of Sean Hannity.
One of my favorite German idioms is Er hat nicht alle Tassen im Schrank. In American English, our equivalent is “He’s a small fries short of a happy meal” or “A can short of a six pack”. (literal translation: He doesn’t have all his dishes in the closet)
Valdivia
@WereBear:
I met him once and felt bad for him too upon seeing him, and then he started talking and his vile made me stop feeling sorry for him. He is just odious you know?
Valdivia
@Villago Delenda Est:
exactly!
Davis X. Machina
@handsmile: Almost got tossed out of an in-service event for teachers, re technology and ’21st C. skills’, because not only was Friedman used to support almost every (known by me in advanced to be boneheaded) assertion about the future, the job market, and the job market of the future, but because the swag-bag contained a copy of one of St. Thomas’s (the Apostle of the Obvious, not the Doubter, or the South Indian one) books, and not much else.
Those things are only tolerable because of the swag-bag. I can get up late, make good coffee, and YouTube’d original TED talks, instead of getting up early, drinking rat coffee, and getting garbled rip-offs of TED talks. But that way, there’s no swag-bag.
And this swag-bag sucked.
Amir Khalid
@Villago Delenda Est:
Er hat nicht alle Tassen im Schrank is literally “He doesn’t have all his cups in his cupboard”.
WaterGirl
@JGabriel: Is it time to ask Mrs. Cole for an intervention?
Villago Delenda Est
@Amir Khalid:
Yeah, you’re right. Close but no cigar on my part.
handsmile
@Davis X. Machina: (#98)
Yeah, somehow from your writing I suspected that for you it’s all about the swag. And the bling.
EconWatcher
@Valdivia:
MJ Rosenberg over at Josh Marshal’s site attends the same synagogue as Krauthammer in DC, and told a story about an instance during the Iraq War when the rabbi suggested that the congregation pray for peace. Krauthammer interrupted the service, loudly and obnoxiously objecting. Imagine the nerve–a man of the cloth wanting to pray for peace.
Amir Khalid
@WaterGirl:
If Ma Cole is reading this, I think you just did.
Villago Delenda Est
Shoulda picked up my Cassel’s and made sure before I posted.
Oh well. Slapped down by the Maftoon again!
Valdivia
@EconWatcher:
It was in that synagogue that I met him. At a Bar Mitzva. And he was such an incredible ass. I really have no words, so that story does not surprise me at all.
Jamey
Mad enough to run over bunnies, at any rate…
/yes, I went there
Elizabelle
@Villago Delenda Est:
You are more right than you know. I had a personal encounter with him, many years ago, that bears out your observation.
Strolling along in NW Washington office district, near the YMCA, and ahead is Dr. Krauthammer, alone in his wheelchair, confronting the door to a white passenger van. I could tell he wanted to get into the vehicle. No one else is with him.
Recognizing him from TV appearances, but not approaching for that reason, I stride over, put my hand on the van door, and say, “Oh here, let me help you with that.”
The glare that he gave me is nothing I have ever seen before. It literally chilled my blood.
It was as if I had called him a terrible name, or done something filthy.
Nothing further was said, and I skulked away, feeling like I’d been slapped.
For what? For wanting to come to the aid of another human being?
A few weeks later, a guy in my office bragged that he was going to be seated next to Krauthammer at a luncheon.
Said nothing again, but thought to myself, “But how will you keep your meal down?”
Really, what did Krauthammer achieve? If he makes someone who is kinder than he is stop for a moment and reflect on whether they should help or reach out to another person in need — do you want to live in a world like that?
(Because for some time, I was concerned that I had insulted him, unintentionally.)
Ghastly bastard.
WereBear (itouch)
I understand your despair, though I would definitely consider that several bridges too far. I’ve also met a lot of wonderful people in the profession who have transformed lives for the better.
The problem is that it is more art than science. Yet not considered so.
@Valdivia: Yes, he is odious, and I would imagine, more so in person.
What I use in such situations is the reminder that: They make themselves more miserable than I would have the heart to.
JGabriel
@WaterGirl:
I don’t know. Maybe. I wonder if she prefers Mrs. Cole, Mama Cole, Mother Cole, Mom Cole, or some other designation all together? “Mrs. Cole” makes it sound like she is John Cole’s wife.
.
Donut
I, for one, welcome our new Over-Tagging Over Lord-ess
Samara Morgan
@Villago Delenda Est: he did terrible harm to the scientific community when he was on Bush’s
bioethicsbioluddite council.dogwood
@Kathleen:
Apply this to the current president and you understand much of the irrational hatred the angry, resentful, white male feels toward Obama.
The Other Chuck
@Hill Dweller:
You’re wrong– it’s not disguised at all.
The Other Chuck
@Fucen Pneumatic Fuck Wrench Tarmal:
Oh now you’re just splitting hares.
Benjamin Franklin
The entire piece could have begun, and ended with that.
Betty Cracker Rocks
xian
@cmorenc: I’m afraid you give Brooks too much credit. he is too clever not to be aware of his own craven situational mendacity.
xian
@cmorenc: I’m afraid you give Brooks too much credit. he is too clever not to be aware of his own craven situational mendacity.
xian
@Hill Dweller: Since when do grade transcripts itemize your financial aid details?
Kane
Economic inequality is the GOP’s new Climate Change. Simply deny the existence of the problem and do nothing to provide solutions.
JGabriel
@xian:
In Brooks case, I assume the situations you refer to that stimulate his mendacity are “breathing”, “lip movement”, and “typing”.
.
Mike in NC
@Hill Dweller:
Gingrich/Huckabee 2012: What a Neo-Confederate dream team!
Newt could continue to fornicate because he so loves his country, and the Reverend Huckster could just keep forgiving him (even though Newt should technically be confessing to a priest these days).
MikeBoyScout
Hi all. I just wanted to say that I think we should have a Republican primary in South Carolina every month.
It seems that SC really brings out the KrAzEE.
And Chuckles will be really hurt come Sunday morning when Gnoot wins (or comes close enough) to keep the Bain Capital issue front and center for another week.
I’m singing in German over here.
WaterGirl
@JGabriel: Funny that you should say that. As I was pressing submit on my comment, it didn’t seem quite right but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
What I should have written is this:
Is it time to ask Cole’s mom for an intervention?
Kane
-Charles Krauthammer, Jan 11, 2012
http://www.foxnews.com/on-air/special-report/2012/01/12/how-should-romney-respond-attacks
Citizen Alan
Charles Krauthammer is the illegitimate love child of Gollum and Davros. That is all I have to say.
handsmile
With this morning’s snowfall here in the urban hellhole, I’m in such a joyful mood that even contemplating a creature as wretched as Charles Krauthammer cannot dampen my spirit.
So I dusted off the Encyclopedia Wikipedia and discovered these quite stunning factoids (all unknown to me) about Dr. K.:
He was raised in Montreal, Quebec, with his undergraduate degree from McGill (thus he’s certainly fluent in French!);
He is graduate of Harvard Medical School (his paralyzing accident occurred during his first year of medical studies);
He was the chief resident in psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital;
In 1978, he moved to Washington to “direct planning in psychiatric research under the Carter administration”, later serving as one of Vice President Mondale’s speechwriters.
With his constant sneer and overweening contempt, to say nothing of his cavalier attitude towards human suffering, Krauthammer has resembled nothing so much as a cartoon villain, lacking only a curving mustache, for as long as I’ve been aware of him in newspapers or television (the sneer and contempt comes through as well on the printed page).
Considering the biographical details above, however, the ethical and ideological trajectory of this man could perhaps only be elucidated by a one of Freud’s “Viennese witch-doctors” (Nabokov) or a first-rate novelist.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Krauthammer
brendancalling
nice post on sour-kraut, but I’m confused by the Obama logo on the OWS text.
My impression is that the occupiers are not exactly allies of the democrats.
brendancalling
@Citizen Alan:
that’s fuckin’ brilliant.
Hewer of Wood, Drawer of Water
@handsmile: I have no idea if he can speak French or not, but his having grown up in Montreal and going to McGill is no guarantee that he even knows a word of French. A disturbing number of Montreal’s ‘anglo’ community (especially of his age or older) would have had felt no need to ever learn any French, let alone become fluent in it
WereBear (itouch)
@handsmile: Some Jungian synchronicity going on today. I was also struck by amazement while reading that entry:
He has a spinal cord injury and is against stem cell research.
He doesn’t believe in living will directives. The person’s relatives should be able to override a person’s explicit wishes about their care.
He’s never been married; Steven Hawking, in contrast, had two marriages, one during the latter stages of his illness.
I can only assume that in a past life he was Caligula.
Betty Cracker
@brendancalling: According to Krauthammer, Obama begat OWS. The illustration above is 40% mockery of that notion, 40% tribute to OWS for shifting the national discussion and 20% desire to use the phrase “Yes We Can-Can.”
handsmile
@Hewer of Wood, Drawer of Water:
I appreciate your reply and insight. Having briefly resided in Montreal in 1979, with occasional visits up to the present, and acquaintances with several McGill graduates, it had been my experience/understanding that being a Francophone there was shall we say, de rigueur, among the economic/social elite.
Betty Cracker
@feebog: Zippo torch tribute for an excellent comment.
Elizabelle
@WereBear (itouch):
Hope your recovery continues.
You got me curious, so did a little checking of the Krauthammer bio.
He is or was married, and has a son. Here’s an undated article linked to in the wiki bio.
http://www.mitchellbard.com/articles/kraut.html
He’s in favor, per wiki, of some stem cell research, “using embryos discarded by fertility clinics with restrictions in its applications”. (Wiki article has links to support this, allegedly, refs 39, 40, 41 which I did not check.)
One thing Krauthammer wrote that I found affecting: a remembrance of his brother (only sibling) who died a few years ago. Included memories of their playing baseball together, if memory serves.
I still think he’s ghastly, but not without human qualities.
Hewer of Wood, Drawer of Water
@handsmile: At the time you were there at least a working knowledge of French was necessary and certainly is now. During Krauthammer’s time there, not so much
WereBear (itouch)
@Elizabelle: Thanks for good wishes. I am better than before. Thanks.
And thus us interesting info; more dimensions than the surface suggests. And of course simply having a marriage means nothing about its depth or delight.
It is a phenomena of our time that we can connect through movies and TV. Whatever it is that lets us make judgements about another person is fully operational just from viewing expressions and hearing their voice. This is pertinent to politics since so few get to meet the candidate in person; yet personal comfort is a huge, and often unacknowledged, factor.
My immediate reaction upon setting eyes upon Krauthammer’s visage on TV was an overwhelming impression of hatred and bitterness. I wondered about its roots; but not enough to pursue research.
Thus your first person account was most fascinating. Thank you for sharing it.
Jess
@feebog: Your rant is a thing of beauty. I may have to print it out and stick it on my fridge.
ThresherK
@Hewer of Wood, Drawer of Water: I thought McGill was the place where folks without much command of French went.
Our friends are doctoral candidates in Montreal. She is from greater Boston and goes to McGill, he’s a native Francophone and goes to UQAM.
WereBear (itouch)
@feebog: Since there is no blog liked to your screen name, I urge you to write this one up as a guest post for somewhere. It deserves much wider distribution.
Kyle
It’s curious how many of the most disgusting neocons grew up in Canada — Krauthammer, Mark Steyn, David Frum.
WereBear (itouch)
@Kyle: I once worked with a lovely man from Canada; but he was both a salesman (through and through) and an embracer of right wing framing about rugged individualism.
He felt that universal health care picked his pocket and he wanted no restrictions in his income and autonomy. Of course, he was speaking as someone with a good job and company paid health care.
That company has since gone put of business. I wonder what he thinks now.
sharl
@EconWatcher:
It looks like TPMCafe posts from 2006 have mostly disappeared; only a few come up over at the Way Back Machine. Kevin Drum quotes it here, and M.J. himself occasionally referenced it in subsequent posts (example).
…
Oh, hai, Betty! Great to see you here, and (as usual) at RR as well.
Villago Delenda Est
@Hewer of Wood, Drawer of Water:
The Quebeckers were kept in their place, back in the good ol’ days. Pretty much like those brown people were all over the US, not just in the South, although the South was the most open about it.
As you indicated, nowadays, not so much.
sharl
OT, but while poking around Josh Marshall’s archives, I found an old hangout over there for Elizabeth Warren – here’s a page from there. Her valiant (though unsuccessful) battle against that atrocious 2005 bankruptcy “reform” bill had brought her greater familiarity during her time at TPMCafe, and she eventually moved onward and (thankfully) upward.
As I think most folks here know already, she’s been fighting the good fight on this for quite some time.
Hewer of Wood, Drawer of Water
@ThresherK: McGill is the elite English-language university in Montreal – I think it’s the only English medical school in Quebec
flukebucket
@feebog:
Damn. That sums it up better than I have ever seen it summed up.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@JGabriel:
QC, Inspector #0. It takes a dildo to know a dildo.
Rome Again
@WereBear:
That’s a great question. :P
Ozymandias, King of Ants
@Elizabelle: Let me just say up front that find Krauthammer’s writing odious, his opinions beyond redemption.
That said, as a disabled person my self, allow me to point something out:
Never ever assume a disabled person is “struggling” with anything. Generally, we disabled people all have our own little strategies for dealing with things that our disabilities make challenging. We are also more acutely aware of the things that we can not do than able people and we try as much as possible to avoid those things. Often, just doing something an able person considers polite can completely disrupt a disabled person’s strategy for doing something.
An example would be the coworker who very politely held my coat until I insisted that he let me put it on myself. He thought I had slighted him “for just being polite” and didn’t speak to me for almost a year. Or that nice young lady who thought she was helping me through that revolving door but actually knocked me over, a fall, incidentally, that broke my clavicle.
So, the best option is always to ask first and to do only with the disabled person’s consent.
polyorchnid octopunch
@handsmile: only among the ‘schmott’ ones (to steal a turn of loge from Girl Genius).
cynn
@Ozymandias, King of Ants: Wow, that is good to know. I always got the impression that I was patronizing if I asked someone if I could help. I have gotten some pretty snippy responses when I asked.
brendancalling
@Betty Cracker:
sourkraut actually thinks that?
ho. lee. shit.
that’s fucking HILARIOUS. I think i just made a douthat in my boxers from laughing.