Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Infrastructure week. at last.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

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

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

After roe, women are no longer free.

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

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

It’s the corruption, stupid.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

No one could have predicted…

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Let’s finish the job.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Consistently wrong since 2002

You cannot shame the shameless.

You are here: Home / Every time a hippie flaps his wings

Every time a hippie flaps his wings

by | 59 Comments

This post is in: ,

Pro-torture Vichy liberal scum Jonathan Alter:

Oh, Ralph. If Ralph Nader hadn’t gotten under Lewis Powell’s skin, we wouldn’t be having these arguments over whether the individual mandate in Obamacare is unconstitutional.

And “stand your ground” laws — like the one at issue in the Trayvon Martin case — wouldn’t stand a chance in the rest of the country.

And free market conservatives would not be unconsciously defying police and doing the bidding of the National Rifle Association.

Yes, like Edward Lorenz’s “butterfly effect” (where the course of a tornado can be traced all the way back to the flapping of a butterfly’s wings thousands of miles away), it’s all connected, and in ways that should make us more conscious of how we associate ourselves with other political insects.

The facile nihilistic idiocy here is beyond anything I’ve seen recently. It doesn’t even rise to the level of Slate-style contrarianism.

Your quote for the day, from Mark Twain:

When I finished Carlyle’s French Revolution in 1871, I was a Girondin; every time I have read it since, I have read it differently – being influenced and changed, little by little, by life and environment … and now I lay the book down once more, and recognize that I am a Sansculotte! – And not a pale, characterless Sansculotte, but a Marat.

Reader Interactions

59Comments

  1. 1.

    Clime Acts

    Doug, consider hospitalization. These posts are becoming increasingly incoherent.

    “Alter thinks Nader something something so the Surpremes and Obamacare something else…that’s why.”

    Back away from the Cheetos and dial 911. There are people who can help.

  3. 3.

    burnspbesq

    It worries me greatly to find myself in agreement with Clime Acts, but …

    If you had a point in mind, you’ve utterly failed to make it. Alter’s piece is hardly groundbreaking, but it’s sound.

  4. 4.

    some guy

    always a thing of pleasure to watch Khalil rip the Times a new one. todayyesterday Anne Barnard got her chance to have her (continuing) cluelessness exposed for the whole world to laugh at:

    I was switching channels yesterday, and I stumbled on a program on Syria on Hariri TV. There was Anne Barnard of the New York Times (they said Anne of the New York Times so I assumed it is her). Everything I assumed about her from her writing was confirmed. She is overwhelmed with the story that is covering; 2) she really is too ill-equipped in training and study and background to cover the story–she had to struggle a great deal to pronounce–sorry, to mispronounce–the name of Riyad Ash-Shaqfah; 3) she is–I assumed all along–under the influence of the Hariri press office in Lebanon which is directing all foreign journalists in Lebanon and guiding them to contact certain numbers in Syria and putting them in touch with the “refugees” in Al-Qa` and other areas in Lebanon; 4) she is a huge supporter of the Syrian National Council. But she surprised me that she turns out to be a huge fan of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. In fact, I call her an apologist of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood. Based on statement that was released last week in Istanbul, she now believes that the Syrian Muslim brotherhood wants equality and freedom, and nothing less. Just like that. This is like believing the statement by the Syrian regime that the ruler wants democracy in Syria. It was unbelievable. Ms. Barnard is so ignorant of the story that she is covering that she added: that it was significant that the former leader of the Syrian Ikhwan, `Ali Bayanuni (she also mispronounced his name like she mispronounces or mistranslates every single Arabic names that she encounters), was at the press conference because he comes from a “moderate” background. I kid you not. What does Ms. Barnard know about the background of Bayanuni? I am certain the answer is this: nothing whatsoever. Of course, Bayanuni has been in the employ of Hariri family for years and is a too if Saudi Arabia (but then again, I bet Ms. Barnard thinks that Saudi government is very moderate and perhaps feminist as well). Bayanuni–let me inform you–was the head of the Military Office of Ikhwan in Syria in 1979-1982, when the organization committed various massacres and sectarian atrocities. Riyad Ash-Shaqfah (or Shaqfaafaqaahfaqahahfah as pronounced by Ms. Barnard) was his assistant. Oh, lastly, it just occurred to me: would Ms. Barnard agree to appear on a rival TV station to Hariri TV, like Amal TV or Hizbullah TV, to talk about Syria? I doubt it very much. Oh, one last thing: one of the funny things she said was that the armed groups in Syria are not necessarily Islamist: and said that there are armed groups that identify as “liberal”. Ms. Barnard: when you stumble on the John Stuart Mill or Jean Jacque Rousseau Brigades please wake me up.

  5. 5.

    David Koch

    The facile nihilistic idiocy here is beyond anything I’ve seen recently.

    this perfectly encapsulates Digby.

  6. 6.

    Keith G

    Doug, how high are you? Jonathan Alter is not attacking Nader. He is positing that effective liberal consumer advocacy caused the conservative establishment to form a backlash.

    An 8th grader can figure this out.

  7. 7.

    jl

    DougJ Infidel of Headiness,

    Your depraved and disgusting link to the communist Mark Twain quote goes to the Digby post. I think you meant it to go to the atheist scoffer and debauched race and class equalizer Twain’s Wikipedia article.

    BTW, if I ever teach HS, and have the slightest excuse, I will put all the fun Twain stuff in the lesson plan. And probably get fired the next day. Or at least suspended.

  8. 8.

    patroclus

    Digby includes the link to Alter column where he said 9/11 caused every liberal’s heart to turn to torture… What??!!

    That was undoubtedly one of the the worst columns ever! After that, I’m not sure why anybody would pay any attention whatsoever to Mr. Alter’s bleatings and drivel.

  9. 9.

    some guy

    perfect timing, faithful yet clueless NY Times reader Burnsie is here, ready to tell us how secular the Syrian Ikhwan is.

    chump time

  14. 14.

    Spaghetti Lee

    Man, sometimes I think we all hate each other more than the conservatives. Can’t we all just join hands and sing happy songs?

    @Punchy:

    Except you, you fucking Jayhawk fucker.

  16. 16.

    burnspbesq

    @DougJ, Head of Infidelity:

    Is that the best you can do, because that’s really fucking lame. Non sequitur is the last refuge of the man who’s got nothing.

    What are you going to say when it comes down exactly the way I have been predicting for the last nine months?

  18. 18.

    DougJ, Head of Infidelity

    @burnspbesq:

    I’d like an answer.

    If it is really 7-2, I will write a big post saying you and eemom were right and that I will never try to predict a Supreme Court decision again.

    If it’s 5-4 in favor of ACA, then we are both wrong.

    If it’s 5-4 against ACA, I think you owe us all a big explanation. You may want to just leave here for good, honestly.

  20. 20.

    freelancer

    When I finished Carlyle’s French Revolution in 1871, I was a Girondin; every time I have read it since, I have read it differently – being influenced and changed, little by little, by life and environment … and now I lay the book down once more, and recognize that I am a Sansculotte! – And not a pale, characterless Sansculotte, but a Marat.

    Huh? As someone whose mile-wide, inch deep knowledge of the French Revolution wouldn’t even pass a Jeopardy category’s muster, I would like someone here to unpack the Twain quote as though I had never even heard of France. Thank you. Feel free to use whatever metaphor is to your liking.

  22. 22.

    Villago Delenda Est

    When I finished Carlyle’s French Revolution in 1871, I was a Girondin; every time I have read it since, I have read it differently – being influenced and changed, little by little, by life and environment … and now I lay the book down once more, and recognize that I am a Sansculotte! – And not a pale, characterless Sansculotte, but a Marat.

    No, idiot, you’re fucking tumbrel fodder. Start knitting, and enjoy this pained look on this shitstain’s face as the blade falls.

  23. 23.

    Keith G

    @efgoldman:

    This is exactly the kind of shite that makes The Village, The Village

    I read the original column. I do not think it is about what you think it is about.

  25. 25.

    jl

    @DougJ, Head of Infidelity:

    Interesting source. Edgar Lee Masters wrote a biography of Twain? I did not know that.

    I read a few pages. Masters makes an interesting point that people often forget. Twain was a lefty mostly in his writings, and in manuscripts that he made sure public did not see during his lifetime.

    Twain’s public life and actions were that of a modern day reasonable right minded independent moderate goo goo mugwump. I was aware of his opposition to reasonable Civil War veterans pensions, and generally anti union views. He worried over ‘sound money’ and ‘preserving’ the gold standard (though the modern notion of gold standard was new fangled thing back then). Masters has some other interesting examples.

    That is OT, so I leave the rest of the good readers to continue the blog wars.

    I don’t usually bring up the inconsistency, or hypocrisy, or strategic carefulness of Twain’s radicalism (damn, he was going bankrupt regularly, and had a CT manse to maintain, after all ) because I am a vile propagandist who wishes to destroy this great nation.

    Twain later in his life was pretty straight in word and deed in opposing racism and oppression of women, though. I think that is in his favor.

  27. 27.

    Clime Acts

    @Punchy:

    ROCK CHALK SECONDED HERE!

    WHO AND WHERE IS THE GENIUS WHO LAST WEEK TOLD ME IN COMMENTS THAT KU SUCKED AND WOULD BE OUT EARLY?

    SHOW YOURSELF, FIEND!

  28. 28.

    Clime Acts

    @burnspbesq:

    It worries me greatly to find myself in agreement with Clime Acts, but …

    As you are, Bursnie, I once was…

    …as I am now, you one day shall be…

  29. 29.

    Linnaeus

    @freelancer:

    Huh? As someone whose mile-wide, inch deep knowledge of the French Revolution wouldn’t even pass a Jeopardy category’s muster, I would like someone here to unpack the Twain quote as though I had never even heard of France. Thank you. Feel free to use whatever metaphor is to your liking.

    The Girondins were considered radicals prior to the French Revolution; they opposed the monarchy and were initially in favor of the goals of the Revolution, but they thought the Revolution went too far and were then put in the “conservative” faction among the revoultionaries and were punished by the Jacobins.

    The sans-culottes (urban laborers so named because they wore long pants and not the knee-breeches – the culottes – of the upper classes) were the most radical faction in the French Revolution. Eventually, they were suppressed by the Jacobins and even more so during the Thermidorian Reaction. Put simply, they were deemed too far left and disposed of.

  30. 30.

    some guy

    what, the tax avoidance lawyer has no witty ripsote? no exclamation explaining how and why the Syrian National Council is too secular, all facts pointing otherwise be damned?

    as I said, took all of 3 minutes on Teh Google to prove him a chump. you are making it too easy, Burnsie.

  31. 31.

    Clime Acts

    Hey, I think it was the evil Burnsie who was dissing KU the other night…take it back, mofo!

    Kansas in the big one!

  32. 32.

    mclaren

    “Blame the victim” — the favorite game of the your average Americano.

    A six-year-old girl gets raped? “The little slut shouldn’t have led him on!”

    Kids get their heads beaten in with rocks by bullies while the bully’s helpers hold ’em down? “They shouldn’t have acted all gay ‘n shit, by, like, getting good grades, and reading books!”

    Conservatives on the Supreme Court throw out the constitution and make shit up? “It’s all Ralph Nader’s fault!”

    Your Americano has been eagerly and enthusiastically blaming the victim ever since we shot native American indian women and children in the back and dumped ’em into mass grave slit trenches, so I guess there’s no reason to stop now.

  33. 33.

    Xenos

    Burns and Eemom laid down markers on the court? I wonder if they found the Scalia show as disingenuous as I did.

    Scalia may not want to read the law, but he has read the briefs. He is heading toward a separate dissenting opinion, and wants to ‘cool off the marks’ who have unreasonable expectations from Fox and Limbaugh. He will rant and rave in his dissent, as will Thomas, but he will not wreck his legacy for a dissent.

    If Kennedy decides to fuck up several decades of settled law for a political strike on Obama then all bets are off, of course. But he is not going to do that. The clusterfuck would be absolutely awesome (in the old-fashioned sense).

  35. 35.

    mclaren

    @burnspbesq:

    Is that the best you can do, because that’s really fucking lame. Non sequitur is the last refuge of the man who’s got nothing.

    Funny. I always thought obscenities and a total lack of facts were the last refuge of the man who’s got nothing.

    Keep talking. It saves the rest of us the trouble of discrediting you.

  36. 36.

    freelancer

    This morning’s Up with Chris Hayes had a panel on the ACA where the token conservative was some douchenozzle from the Washington Examiner holding court on wingnut talking points regarding the ACA. Flanked by HRC’s polital operative for Health Care, an MD who is the Chief Medical Officer for the biggest public hospital in Cook County, IL, and a Yale professor of political science and a constitutional scholar, I lost count at how many times after he spoke that someone spoke up and said “No, that’s not true. And here’s WHY…” followed by an informed refutation of why this dude was completely out of his gourd and didn’t know what he was talking about.

    It is a sight to see.

    I’m liking this whole reality-based community standing up for reality thing. Sure it’s intemperate, but “Fuck you, that’s a lie!” followed by exhaustive debunking seems to be viscerally more present in the discourse that I can see. Maybe lefties are coming, bit by bit, a little bit more out of their shell.

  37. 37.

    Tom Levenson

    You know, I actually interviewed Ed Lorentz, and filmed him as he demonstrated his own old computer experiment showing the divergence from prior tracks of a system that evolves from initial conditions that are (necessarily) impossible to measure with absolute precision.

    All of which is to say that Alter is, among much else, butchering the reference to what a very good scientist actually did, and he should shut up. Also too.

  38. 38.

    mclaren

    @freelancer:

    Yeah, all of a sudden liberals seems to have eaten their Wheaties or something. “That’s a lie and I can prove it” works wonders, doesn’t it?

    Like all bullies, the conservatives whimper like little girls and start whining and running away as soon as you haul off and smack ’em hard.

  39. 39.

    Xenos

    @Face:

    However, when this goes 5-4 against—and it will—i want my apology.

    I will cite force majeure.

  40. 40.

    jl

    @Xenos:

    [Scalia] “will not wreck his legacy for a dissent.”

    You mean he will not go so far as write something that makes sense?

  41. 41.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @DougJ, Head of Infidelity: Same as the rest of the lawyers who have offered predictions – me included. Our frame of reference based on years of experience and education lead us to an incorrect conclusion.

  44. 44.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Xenos: Sure, but the instant dismissal of the collective lawyers’ opinions is worth noting. We may be wrong, but we actually have some knowledge as to how courts function. As I have said before, if the Court rules against the ACA I will have to do a shitload of soul searching. Based on my education and experience, I expect a 6-3 or 7-2 decision upholding the law. If I am wrong, I will have start rethinking many things.

  46. 46.

    Ruckus

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    This is where the non-lawyers are. We hope you are right, more than anything we hope you are right, we just have little faith in the system anymore. We see the crazy and think it has infested everything. You see structure and precedence. One side is correct. We want it to be you. Hell I even want burnsy to be right. If I were a religious person I’d pray he is right. If for no other reason than just for the thrill of seeing the right have a collective conniption fit. Unfortunately I look around and see recent history and shake my head and what I see looks like Alice in Wonderland, except this time the acid was some really, really bad shit.

  47. 47.

    TuiMel

    @Ruckus:
    I think this pretty much captures it. Scalia was so full of gleeful scorn, I can see no way to take him seriously ever again. He really demeaned his own stature as a justice and hurt the court’s credibility in my eyes., i hope some day he feels comensurate mortification (not holding my breath). I do not think the Court Cons care about legacy as a liberal would define it. I fear they believe they are forging a new notion of legitimacy for SCOTUS – a new legacy based upon a departure from any / all precedents that their ideology abhors. Winners get to write history; I worry that this reality is their conceptual get-out-of-jail-free card for the havoc that might be in the wake of their disavowals of precedents.

  48. 48.

    Keith G

    @Nellcote: I know. Right?

    It’s as if Doug, Tom and most others read a different column. I remember when our side used to be about reality.

  49. 49.

    bjacques

    Even before I finished Carlyle’s History of the French Revolution in 2012, I wanted to guillotine Carlyle’s poetic dictionary.

  50. 50.

    Nickws

    @Nellcote:

    @Keith G:

    Damn, that Alter piece is actually a nice little historical synopsis of the rise of the well-funded, professionalised US Right intelligentsia.

    But… Villager! Iraq! Not-Doug’s-mancrush-Cenk!

    (See, this is why you can’t have nice things.)

  51. 51.

    ornery_curmudgeon

    Jonathan Alter was one of the leading ‘liberals’ who set up Nader to take the blame for the appointment of George Bush by the Supreme Court.

    Yes, in spite of egregious politicking of the high Court, or that Bush’s actual brother was the governor of Florida, or that the ‘news media’ had just color-coded the nation into red and blue for a new civil war mentality … or even that more Dems voted Bush than Nader got votes in FL …

    The Democratic base was put on the wrong scent and scapegoated … a great champion of the Middle Class. It was amazing, in lieu of more satisfying adjectives.

  52. 52.

    El Cid

    You never know what horrid consequences may come from asserting some non-conservative position; without knowing, then, it’s perhaps better not to do so, at least until some sort of formal party organism says so.

  53. 53.

    El Cid

    @TuiMel: I think it’s great that people finally heard the completely underwhelming Scalia in his own typically not-impressive words instead of remaining safely convinced by his reputation, which perhaps may now precede but not follow him.

  54. 54.

    BruceFromOhio

    @TuiMel: Regrettably, this. Gore v. Bush was the gut shot. Citizens United was the head shot. Until further notice, I expect the SCOTUS to rule in favor of corporations, irrespective of existing law and presented arguments. Roberts, Scalia, Alito, et al, have demonstrated as much.

    As was noted elsewhere, whatever it is that passes for modern conservatism has been playing the long game since Reagan, and it is now paying off handsomely. Traditional legal analysis may indicate that ACA will stand, but recent history indicates it’s already a goner.

  56. 56.

    gaz

    You referenced butterfly effect. I was thinking “A Sound Of Thunder”. (short story by Ray Bradbury I read ages ago)

    “Embedded in the mud, glistening green and gold and black, was a butterfly, very beautiful and very dead.”

  57. 57.

    rachel

    Nader: not worth getting into a flamewar over. He stopped being “a great champion of the Middle Class” years ago. Now he only plays one on TV from time to time (every 4 to 8 years, for some reason).

  59. 59.

    Nellcote

    per Jonathan Alter ‏@Twitter:

    Irony, anyone? In Bloomberg View column I wasn’t saying Nader actually caused RW craziness any more than the butterfly caused the tornado.

Comments are closed.