Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

In my day, never was longer.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

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

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

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Let’s finish the job.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

No offense, but this thread hasn’t been about you for quite a while.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

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

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

A consequence of cucumbers

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

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

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

You are here: Home / Past Elections / Election 2012 / Sunday Evening Open Thread: Comics

Sunday Evening Open Thread: Comics

by | 102 Comments

This post is in: , ,

(Jeff Danziger’s website)

__
Traditionally, jesters are granted special privilege to tweak authority. Dave Weigel tracks down our latest benefactor:

The man who got the “Etch-a-Sketch” answer out of Mitt Romney’s spokesman, the man who changed the political news cycle for 48 hours, the man who caused a 148 percent spike in a toy company’s stock, was not a political reporter. John Fugelsang happened to be a guest on CNN’s Starting Point, and Romney guru Eric Ferhnstrom happened to draw the straw that put him on that show. Some reporters, like Yahoo! News’s Holly Bailey, had put Ferhnstrom on the record before talking about a post-primary reset. But the Etch-a-Sketch answer — ah, there was an analogy to remember.
__
“I’ve been catching all manner of hell from the right wing over this,” Fugelsang says. “There’s a lot of displaced rage that CNN would dare allow a comedian to ask a question — never mind that it was a fair question. They’re just mad an artist got to ask it.”

Apart from the wounded feelings of our Media Village professionals, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

Reader Interactions

102Comments

  1. 1.

    Some guy in Austin

    Fugelsang is great. He’s touring on the Sexy Liberal Comedy Tour with talk show host Stephanie Miller and comedian Hal Sparks. If you get a chance to go, don’t miss it.

  2. 2.

    Bnut

    @Some guy in Austin: Aishia Tyler. Do want. And Hal Sparks is hilarious. Too bad they don’t come anywhere near the South. Who plays in Albuquerque but not Nashville, Atlanta, Memphis or even New Orleans?

  3. 3.

    Yutsano

    It always comes back to hurt delicate Villager fee-fees doesn’t it? The who asking the question is irrelevant, not that Weigel cares. He just has a deadline to meet.

  4. 4.

    Mnemosyne

    I’m sure that everyone who’s had to put up with my waffling over the past month or so will be relieved to hear that I finally put a deposit down on a soon-to-be-mine Trek Cocoa. I kept trying other bikes and ending back at the Cocoa, but the deciding point was that Trek decided to raise the prices on all of their bikes, so it went up to $629, but the shop said they’d let me have it at the original price of $579 if I put down a deposit.

    Security-wise, I talked it over with the shop owner and, on his advice, went down to the hardware store and bought the heaviest length of chain that they had rather than spending $150 on a Kryponite chain. It took the hardware store guy three tries to cut it to length, so hopefully that will be a deterrent.

  5. 5.

    becca

    Stephanie and the Mooks will be on Current TV starting Monday at 8am central. We will be watching.

    I hope she remembers the antiperspirant this time.

  6. 6.

    Amir Khalid

    I’ve heard that name John Fugelsang. Is he the guy that was on America’s Funniest Home Videos with Daisy Fuentes?

  7. 7.

    JGabriel

    Slate:

    “I’ve been catching all manner of hell from the right wing over this,” Fugelsang says. “There’s a lot of displaced rage that CNN would dare allow a comedian to ask a question—never mind that it was a fair question. They’re just mad an artist got to ask it.”

    No, Fugelsang, they’re not. Conservatives are just pissed that their guy looks like a dishonest lying hack who will say anything to get elected — and Conservatives will use anything, or just make shit up, to discredit you for asking the question that exposed his campaign’s hackery.

    Trust us: If a wingnut artist asked a question that made Democrats look bad, then they’d be talking about the deeper truths of art. The problem is not you or your art; it’s that your critics are Orwellian creeps.

  10. 10.

    Martin

    Raining. 13 straight hours of construction yesterday to get my latest project rain-proofed. Really pleased with the results, but everything aches.

  11. 11.

    Anne Laurie

    @Yutsano:

    It always comes back to hurt delicate Villager fee-fees doesn’t it? The who asking the question is irrelevant, not that Weigel cares. He just has a deadline to meet.

    Actually, that’s why I regularly read (and quote) Dave Weigel, despite his libertarian leanings — he’s the only blogpundit I’ve seen go to the trouble of contacting The Guy Who Asked the Fatal Question, rather than just quibbling about whether asking it was ‘fair’ or if ‘gotcha journalism’ is profaning our sacred impartiality. Weigel actually commits reporting, not just ‘journalism’ (aka, bleating ‘four legs good, two legs better’ upon receipt of the latest blastfax).

  12. 12.

    MikeJ

    @scav: Just caught the first 60 seconds of Frozen Planet in its US run. They redubbed it because they think Americans are too stupid to understand David Attenborough.

    Thank god for file sharing.

    BTW, there’s a good read in today’s Seattle Times, Puget’s Pilots. All about the 52 pilots who steer every ship into and out of the Sound.

  13. 13.

    Linnaeus

    1) Job applications; I’m juggling 3 part-time jobs now and it would be nice to be able to get something more regular and permanent.

    2) Reading The Ideological Origins of the British Empire. Not the most exciting reading, but I need to grind through it.

  14. 14.

    JoyfulA

    @Linnaeus: Tell us more about the single-job search and the interesting book (well, interesting topic if you don’t have to read the whole tome) as you roll along.

    I just ate one of my special hot dog creations and am about to get back to work.

  16. 16.

    jnfr

    Good Wife. Good Wife. Good Wife. Good Wife.

    I already lived through the 60s once. I like shows where the women are allowed to be alphas.

  17. 17.

    Mnemosyne

    @Martin:

    The rain started letting up a bit, but now it’s pouring down again. May be time for a cozy nap surrounded by kittehs.

  18. 18.

    Linda Featheringill

    Mowed the front lawn. With an old-fashioned rotary type thing. Since I’m by myself right now, I decided not to use the Powerful Machine, lest something happen and I bleed to death before anyone noticed that I was down.

    The grass does look nice, though.

  19. 19.

    Nutella

    Just updated my pie filter for the new format. Thanks again, Cleek!

    Don’t forget to save your pie-able list from your old filter before installing the new one.

  20. 20.

    Jewish Steel

    I am forming a flute and classical guitar duo. Not only do I want to do weddings but I’d like to break into the lucrative upscale corporate market. How’s this for a name and slogan:

    [email protected] Up Tha Joynt

    “Flute and Guitar Jamz To Go!”

  21. 21.

    Linnaeus

    @JoyfulA:

    Tell us more about the single-job search and the interesting book (well, interesting topic if you don’t have to read the whole tome) as you roll along.

    I’d be glad to. Not much to say about either right now, as I’ve only just now begun to really get into both tasks.

  24. 24.

    J. Michael Neal

    The Gophers and the Whioux met in the WCHA semifinals, and one team got embarrassed. A week later, they meet in the NCAA quarterfinals.

    With the women, the Minnesota shut out North Dakota 6-0 in the WCHA tournament, and then pounded them again, 5-1, in the NCAAs on the way to a NCAA championship.

    For them men, the Gophers entered the third period of the WCHA semi ahead 3-1 and gave up five goals and lost 6-3.

    Will history repeat and North Dakota repeat it’s triumph today? We don’t know yet, but Erik Haula just scored a power play goal in the first minute of the second period to make it 2-0 Minnesota.

    ETA: Bleh. 2-1 off an awful defensive zone turnover.

  27. 27.

    Anne Laurie

    @MikeJ:

    They redubbed it because they think Americans are too stupid to understand David Attenborough.

    Also, Attenborough “has joined evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and other top scientists in signing a campaign statement coordinated by the British Humanist Association (BHA). The statement calls for “creationism to be banned from the school science curriculum and for evolution to be taught more widely in schools.” Officially, these two points are not connected, but who would blame the American branch of the BBC for preferring not to angry up the blood of our staunch Heartland(tm) creationists?

  31. 31.

    gogol's wife

    I am truly flabbergasted by all the people who consider this redesign an improvement. It’s completely unreadable. Is it really going to stay like this? Oh well, I’ll get a lot more work done, I guess.

  32. 32.

    Mnemosyne

    @Anne Laurie:

    Meh. I would say it’s more that no one in the US has any clue who Attenborough is other than “that old guy from Jurassic Park.” Who was actually played by his actor/director brother, Richard.

  34. 34.

    scav

    I live in hope that the intnertubz will eventually more than justify their existence and allow me to pay the License fee and get my bbc direct. Until then, I’ve got a region free DVD and the radio already works.

  36. 36.

    Comrade Mary

    Huh. This post looks fine on the home page, and the image is the same size on both, so there must be some little gremlin loose in the CSS to be causing this. It’s affecting all posts on their own pages right now.

  37. 37.

    Mike in NC

    Just got in from seeing “21 Jump Street” and still have tears in our eyes. Hilarious.

  38. 38.

    Anya

    From FUGELSANG’s blog

    His mother is an ex-Nun and his father was a Franciscan Brother. His Drama-League Nominated Off-Broadway solo show “ALL THE WRONG REASONS” was based on their love story. He admires Jesus as any guy would admire mom’s first husband.

    For wingnuts it’s proof that he’s spawn of Satan.

  39. 39.

    BGinCHI

    Xavi is wearing a hoodie. Currently in his swing. I hope some skittles-wielding thug doesn’t bust in here and shoot him.

    Thanks, Geraldo.

    What a pro(fessional douchebag).

  40. 40.

    Mnemosyne

    @Comrade Mary:

    I’m probably going to leave the super-heavy chain at home since that’s where I need the most security. (Work has gated parking and the security desk overlooks the bike rack, so I really just need to hobble it so no one can roll it away unnoticed.) The chain is freakin’ heavy — I got multiple comments while carting it around the hardware store. Apparently a petite middle-aged woman carrying the heaviest chain they sell is an unusual sight.

    Though I am getting ready to knit a chain cover out of cheap yarn to keep it from scratching the bike, so it might look kinda cool if I ride around wearing it bandolero-style.

  43. 43.

    Anne Laurie

    @Comrade Mary:

    (Bug report: the cartoon seems a little too wide and is forcing the content area to take over more space, with the result that the right sidebar is running below content for me.)

    Thanks for the report, I usually hand-shrink visuals to 500 for just that reason, but decided to see how an unmodified cartoon would work on the new rebuild…

    Sooo, I went back and shrank the cartoon, which now looks too small, and the right-hand column is still showing up “below” the left column. As it is for all the individual posts, even Cole’s single-paragraph picture-free Site Rebuild. New and improved glitch to go with the new layout!

  45. 45.

    Amir Khalid

    @Mnemosyne:
    I am very surprised by this. David Attenborough’s name is synonymous with those BBC documentaries all over the world. I’ve never seen them with narration by anyone but David Attenborough. The BBC even puts his name in the title when they sell the DVDs. Why would it be different in America?

  46. 46.

    scav

    This is getting fun.

    ETA: Meaning the wandering parts of posts appearing everywhere. Whack a comment! Down the wormhole.

  48. 48.

    WereBear

    I think Cheney is lucky the Blunt Amendment didn’t pass: as a “public servant” the public employs him. What if they have moral objections to giving him a transplanted heart?

  51. 51.

    chrome agnomen

    my page looks strange. nothing but header and then comment. below the reply box is everything else, the ads, contacts, blogroll. me likee.

  52. 52.

    JGabriel

    K-thug is a Hunger Games fan:

    And now, having seen The Hunger Games, I worry about the arithmetic of exploitation. Neither District 12 nor District 11 seem to have had more than a few thousand people; if the rest are similar, there just weren’t enough exploitees to support the number of exploiters we saw in The Capitol.
    __
    Aside from that — and the question of where, in a post-apocalyptic Appalachia, Peeta found hair gel — it was actually a terrific movie.

    .

  54. 54.

    dance around in your bones

    Ok, what the heck happened? Refreshed and now everything is black and white….are you guys fiddling with the site again?!

  55. 55.

    SiubhanDuinne

    Okay, edit doesn’t work for me (it says it’s a successful save, but it lies).

    I edited my man on dog remark to say: Definitely NOT intended to be a factual statement.

    So I guess “FYWP” is still as useful a line as ever.

  56. 56.

    Brachiator

    Saw an early show of “The Hunger Games” and enjoyed it very much. It added to the fun that the woman taking tickets asked if I had read the book (“No. My niece and I talk about movies and she will disown me if I skip this one”). This reinforced my impressions that the novels touched many readers personally.

    The movie made a boatload of money in domestic box office, around $155 million. Foreign box office has been less impressive, but I think that the movie will speak to a lot of people, and may even have a subversive impact on young women living under authoritarian regimes. And I don’t mean this on a simplistic political level, but in terms of inspiration to revolt in ways large and small against all the forces which continually seek to disparage, control and devalue women.

    There was also the inevitable story in Hollywood Reporter (sorry, can’t link well from a mobile device) about how various liberal and conservative groups are eager to reduce the film to a political parable that supports their side. Even dopier was a rant on a film site claiming that women critics were going overboard in praising the film because, as anyone with a brain knows, only human critics with the penii can write reliable film reviews.

    Also saw the first trailer for “Dark Shadows.”. I didn’t realize that Tim Burton imagined this film as a comedy set in the disco era 70s. Tentative observation: this vampire flick sucks.

  58. 58.

    the Conster (f/k/a Cat Lady)

    You’re getting there blogmistress. Look and feel of comments is better, but needs moar rotating taglines. Saul Alinsky is your my co-pilot.

    ETA: Needs working html tags, also too. But you knew that.

  59. 59.

    Brachiator

    Adding paragraph breaks in comments, on an iPad, is seemingly impossible. Equally squirrelly is trying to edit a comment.

    Oh well.

  60. 60.

    dance around in your bones

    @scav: It’s like the ground is shifting under my feet – what’s going to happen next? Did I accidentally ingest peyote?

  61. 61.

    Delia

    @JGabriel:

    And now, having seen The Hunger Games, I worry about the arithmetic of exploitation. Neither District 12 nor District 11 seem to have had more than a few thousand people;

    For the first time I have to say that Kthug is being a bit provincial in thinking only economists worry about things like this. I read the book about three weeks ago and started wondering the same thing. Haven’t seen the movie yet so I can’t comment on Peeta’s hair gel.

  63. 63.

    the Conster (f/k/a Cat Lady)

    @Brachiator:

    This is why I have faith in the arc of justice. Melissa Harris-Perry’s show today had a wonderful discussion of Mad Men in the context of “post-feminist” America, and the 3 smart aware women plus Tim Wise (aptly named), hammered home the point that women will always need to fight and be vigilant against the forces that made the casual sexism of Mad Men possible and the darker forces of the American Taliban wannabes emergent now. There are a lot of great role models for girls now, and we need more. The more that girls grow up internalizing the power of Katniss and Hanna, those dark forces will lose.

  66. 66.

    Brian R.

    Doubt it’s accurate, but Fugelsang has been cited as the creator of that “You’re thinking of Jesus” bumper sticker as well.

  67. 67.

    Phyllis

    The sun finally popped out mid- afternoon here in DC, so I trekked over to the National Cathedral. And ran smack dab into someone from my little town of 3500 on Connecticut Ave on the walk over. Because it’s a small world, after all. The Cathedral is breathtaking, btw. Wish I was the kind of rule-breaker who was willing to take a picture of all the people…taking pictures while standing right next to the ‘No Photos in Sanctuary’ signs.

  68. 68.

    NotMax

    Horizontal scroll an annoyance. (1024 width view here)

    Consider putting tags in clickable link(s) such as the lexicon links are displayed? That might allow that column to be narrowed quite a bit, as some of the tag names are a tad long.

    Consider reorganizing archives links into a
    format more or less like this:

    2011
    Jan — Feb — Mar
    Apr — May — Jun
    Jul — Aug — Sep
    Oct — Nov — Dec

    and so on for each year (year centered over the months, just in case the format here doesn’t show it that way). Personally, as a design tweak, would use a bullet instead of double dashes in the example above, but unsure if code for bullets shows in comment area.

  69. 69.

    dance around in your bones

    @scav: I’ll return my tray table to the upright position and discreetly make use of the sick sack.

  70. 70.

    Lojasmo

    Open thread, it Seems?

    Biked to the trails with a friend to do some running. Walked the dog barefoot (hoping to run a barefoot half marathon in the fall, had a nap, did a little work on my project car (minivan, bought for $2k with lots of little problems) now +1 and ready to eat dinner, watching zombie land. Muppets movie from redbox on que.

  71. 71.

    Evolving Deep Southerner

    @efgoldman:

    commie comedian [isn’t “commie” winger shorthand for “comedian?]

    I may as well make my first comment at the new site quoting Boy George:

    Commie Commie Commie Commie
    Commie Commie Comedian,
    You Come And Go,
    You Come And Go,

  74. 74.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Amir Khalid:

    Why would it be different in America?

    Remember, this is the nation that changed the play title “The Madness of George III” to the film title “The Madness of King George,” because they were afraid if they went with the original, audiences would be mad that they never saw George Parts I and II.

    This is a true thing.

  77. 77.

    MikeJ

    @SiubhanDuinne: And The Philosopher’s Stone became The Sorcerer’s Stone because, uhm, I never did figure that one out. I mean, ok, change some esses to zees, but the title was fine.

  80. 80.

    Brachiator

    @MikeJ:

    And The Philosopher’s Stone became The Sorcerer’s Stone because, uhm, I never did figure that one out. I mean, ok, change some esses to zees, but the title was fine.

    The fear was that Philosopher would confuse or turn off some readers. Philosophy is boring; but sorcery sounds cool.

    .

  83. 83.

    J. Michael Neal

    The Gophers wrecked the script by failing to collapse in the third.

    Now hopefully the ‘Dogs can knock out BC. Either way, though, all four teams in the Frozen Four will be wearing maroon. Three in maroon and gold and Union in maroon and white.

  84. 84.

    gene108

    @General Stuck (Bravo Nope Zero):

    I am disappointed there were no zombies in Obamaville. I think anyone as twisted as President Obama, who could foist government mandated insurance requirements down America’s throat by 2014, is more than capable of creating zombies to wipe out civilization.

    Of course the zombies wouldn’t effect him and wouldn’t be out of control, like in Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Zombieland and many other zombie adaptations, because President Obama’s actually a necromancer, who uses his powers to control the undead.

    The undead will merely attack people, who use up too much government subsidies to purchase mandatory insurance coverage because Obama know, if he allows everyone to get insurance the costs will skyrocket and he’ll be found out for the unprepared fraud that he really is.

  87. 87.

    Mnemosyne

    @Amir Khalid:

    I’m trying to remember if the PBS stations that used to show Attenborough’s BBC documentaries used to re-dub them, or if it’s something that the cable channels (ie Discovery) decided to do. Either way, he’s not really known in the US at all except by aficionados of British TV who saw his stuff via import.

  88. 88.

    MikeJ

    @Mnemosyne: PBS always showed them with the original audio. It’s just Disco et al that do it.

    I seem to recall hearing that the series Earth had Sigourney Weaver doing the dubbing, but I only ever saw the good one.

  91. 91.

    Brachiator

    @Martin:

    Philosophy is boring for east coast liberal elites. It’s worse than soçialism.

    Hah! But this was more about the timidity of the publishing industry. British and American publishers were worried that boys would not read a novel written by a gurrl (and so, JK Rowling). And American publishers were worried that children over here would not read a book with philosopher in its title.

    There has been some similar hand wringing that Real American men and boys will reject “The Hunger Games” because the lead character is female.

    .

  93. 93.

    trollhattan

    @Mnemosyne:

    Knitted chain cozy sounds swell! In the meantime a castoff innertube, cut open with the chain slipped through it, will protect the bike nicely. The bike shop will have a gazillion unfixable punctured tubes and will be happy to give you a couple.

    Enjoy your new ride!

  94. 94.

    trollhattan

    @Delia:

    IIUC it’s not a BJ issue but an FYWP issue. It’s their list, and they really hate sock-a-lists.

  95. 95.

    MikeJ

    @Brachiator: I always wondered if it was partially the British educational system v American education. It’s not as if Rowling invented the idea of the philosopher’s stone. Perhaps the British children (who wouldn’t be saved by George Washington) understood it.

  96. 96.

    Brachiator

    @the Conster (f/k/a Cat Lady):

    There are a lot of great role models for girls now, and we need more. The more that girls grow up internalizing the power of Katniss and Hanna, those dark forces will lose.

    I take your point, although I have reservations about movies like “Hanna,” another variation on the Le Femme Nikita woman trained to be an assassin thing.

    I mentioned in an earlier post that this summer there are a number of films with female leads or among the main characters. The Hunger Games, Snow White and the Huntsman, Prometheus, and Brave.

    I haven’t read the novel, but I liked how in the movie of The Hunger Games, Kat inspires, protects and is the author of her own actions. She is a complete hero. And I also like how in the universe of the film, the producers of the TV show acknowledge her abilities, but still try to transform her into a simpler, more typical pretty girl, a beauty show contestant. They do this with the boys as well, trying to sell the public a lulling narrative. Watching how Kat played into this to survive, while maintaining her integrity, was very compelling, and elevated the film from allegory or typical action movie.

    As an aside, a otherwise good film critic on the local public radio station here in Southern California blasted the film somewhat because he could not accept young people as killers. This aspect of the film really got under his skin (KPCC Filmweek, downloadable as a podcast).

    .

  97. 97.

    Delia

    @Brachiator:

    I was trying to explain the premise of the book to a good friend of mine who couldn’t get past the idea that it was just another desensitizing violent action drama. I hope I managed to get across to her that it was actually a critique of that.

  98. 98.

    Brachiator

    @Delia:

    I was trying to explain the premise of the book to a good friend of mine who couldn’t get past the idea that it was just another desensitizing violent action drama. I hope I managed to get across to her that it was actually a critique of that.

    I didn’t know much about the novel or the film, but found some of the early reviews and the buzz surrounding the film to be intriguiging. Also, a woman friend of mine who is not much into action films thought very highly of the book. I respect her judgment, so my interest in the film increased. I looked at some of the stuff on the web, trying to avoid spoilers, and ran across the title of an online essay about the film by Mary Borsellino:

    Your heart is a weapon the size of your fist

    It was here that I said, I have got to see this movie.

    .

  99. 99.

    oldmtnbkr

    @Mnemosyne: you might try stretching a couple mountain bike-sized inner tubes over the chain; cheaper, faster, good protection for the bike’s finish.

  100. 100.

    Gretchen

    @General Stuck (Bravo Nope Zero):
    It’s hard to see why the Obamaville people think anyone will be convinced by that. The guy’s been president for 3 years, things are getting gradually better, but his reelection wlll turn us into Potterville? How does that make any sense at all.?

  101. 101.

    General Stuck (Bravo Nope Zero)

    @Gretchen:

    Well, it’s a primary ad, so it is mostly aimed at GOP primary voters. Though I will expect many similar ads in GE by Romney, or whoever wins the primary. But your are right, Obama has been president for 3 plus years, and right wing fear/race baiting will have limited effect outside the GOP base. And maybe getting a few non voters to actually go the polls this time against Obama.

    Obama has had a remarkably stable approval numbers fluxing only a few points above or below 45 percent. And with historically high approval from the dem base. So I seriously doubt this kind of nonsense will do them any good, and could alienate indie swing voters if they go too far.

    With an improving economy, it is really all they have.

  102. 102.

    opie jeanne

    I am not currently fit to deal with other people this evening. My patience has completely run out and I can scarcely stop myself from saying nasty but truthful things to people too stupid to understand anything.

    After some of the lunacy I’ve encountered this evening, and I’m about to start frothing at the mouth. I need to go live in a cave until the ninnies all go away.

Comments are closed.