__
This is how Mr. Charles P. Pierce explained it:
Here’s your disclaimer: Joe Williams is a friend of mine. He is also one of the best political reporters I know and, when he landed at Politico, I thought, well, at least there will be one person there who isn’t completely dedicated to the notion that American politics should be covered the way it would be in The Daily Racing Form, if The Daily Racing Form were a slam book kept by a not-very-bright seventh grader.
Turns out that said seventh-grader also is, in words that the Supreme Court just on Thursday gave me permission to use “fleetingly” on television, a chickenshit motherfucker.
Joe said some unkind things about Willard Romney and white people. Joe retweeted a joke about Ann Romney’s maladroit quote about “unzipping” her husband. A ludicrous Tinker Toy news outlet stamped its tiny feet, and then the assembled mourners over at Andrew Breitbart’s Mausoleum Of Unemployables got themselves outraged, and Politico folded like a cheap suit. This should be a caution to any real reporters who work there now, or who may be thinking about working there in the future. Your bosses can be frightened away by a preposterous political grocery flyer, and by a website run by a cargo cult that worships a deceased angry drunk. They do not have your back.
Mr. Pierce has had his own experience with chickenshit motherfuckers, and that’s even apart from his career as a sportswriter. Jim Romenesko reports that the right-wing poo-flingers are feeling empowered:
“This is our MSM,” Breitbart.com’s John Nolte wrote on his post about Williams. “This is Politico. This is why God created Andrew Breitbart.”
Politico reported early this morning that Williams has been suspended for “suggesting Mitt Romney was only comfortable around white people.”… The editor’s memo added that “Politico journalists have a clear and inflexible responsibility to cover politics fairly and free of partisan bias.”
One conservative site’s reaction to the news: “The suspension is a revelation. I mean, who knew there were standards at Politico of all places?
Josh Fruhlinger at Wonkette points out (since this is Wonkette‘s niche in the journalistic ecosystem) that the emperor is actually stark naked:
Joe Williams is Politico’s White House correspondent, and this is the thing he said on one of the MSNBC panel shows where people scream at each other:
Romney is very, very comfortable it seems with people who are like him. That’s one of the reasons why he seems so stiff and awkward in some town hall settings, why he can’t relate to people other than that. But when he comes on Fox and Friends, they’re like him, they’re white folks who are very much relaxed in their own company.
So, uh, yeah, saying that Mitt Romney is more comfortable with people exactly like him, with one of those “like him” qualities being race, is not exactly the same as calling him a Klansman, we don’t think? See, one of the things about being white in America — about being part of a privileged majority generally — is that you can be in a racially homogeneous group and it seems totally natural! You’re the default! You don’t see the race of the people you hang out with! It’s cozy! But believe it or not, America does not entirely consist of white people (or even white people like the kind on Fox and Friends), which means that this comfort level could actually be something of a campaign liability.
And maybe this is something that an African-American reporter like Joe Williams (oh, did we mention he was black? Didn’t think we needed to, people that conservatives yell at for being racists are always black) would notice?…
Mr. Williams was actually too generous towards Willard “Mitt” Romney, who in point of fact is only comfortable around rich white people, preferably those he can enjoy firing. As for Politico, they’ve arranged for their own worst punishment — now that it’s been demonstrated they’ll pay danegeld to even the lowliest rabble-rousers, they’ll never get the stains out of the carpet in the reception area.
Brave, brave Sir Robin!…
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
And yet the assholes will continue to contend that they’re an irredeemable lefty rag, no matter how often these hacks kowtow to the wingnuttiest of the wingnuts.
Dipshits.
Violet
This is excellent.
TenguPhule
Unless they’re dirty fucking hippies, then they become the Masters of the Universe.
jl
” Romney, who in point of fact is only comfortable around rich white people ”
I agree that Williams was slightly inaccurate, and slipped up in omitting that word.
Good chance the same thing would have happened anyway, but we will never know.
I’ve heard a some decent pieces by Politico reporters, but they are few enough that I am always a little surprised.
I assume Williams will be back, and back soon. If they fire him, then Politico just hung a big red ‘kick me’ sign and the loons will be badk for more.
Let us see how ‘savvy’ the savvy bigshots at Politico really are.
Cowbelle
Good post. Bad choice by Politico.
Bobby Thomson
Who can tell? Politico is owned and managed by Republicans and has always been Drudge Lite. Does anyone really think suspending Williams was something they wouldn’t have done on their own initiative?
Elizabelle
@Cowbelle:
Always meant to tell you I love your screen name.
Older_Wiser
The truth always hurts. And then the asshats come out of their holes…
c u n d gulag
It’s hard to deny that Mitt is THE whitest of the white men in America.
That boy is 100% pure, unadulterated, rich Honkey!
And the most STIFF white man, at that.
He’s almost like a SNL, or Richard Pryor, take-off on a rich Honkey.
Mauve Lantern
I’m now reading Corey Robin’s The Reactionary Mind, in which he points out something that had never occured to me. The Old South had created (intentionally?) a “democratic feudalism” which promised that every white man could be part of the Master Class of slaveholders. By 1860, there were 400,000 (!) slaveholders in the South. They all of them fancied themselves “aristocrats,” and so slavery — among whites — was seen as a very egalitarian affair that liberated (ahem) whites from menial labor. I.e., Slavery = Freedom !
Vis a vis this post, I’m thinking this is where identity politics was hatched in the US, and is exploited as a political tactic to this day.
different-church-lady
Well of course he’s only comfortable around rich white people: they’re the only ones where he doesn’t have to do the dirty work of actually asking for their votes. Therefore no phony pandering is necessary. Wouldn’t you be more comfortable in that situation?
MariedeGournay
“…now that it’s been demonstrated they’ll pay danegeld to even the lowliest rabble-rousers…”
A great way to describe the situation.
Keith
Speaking of comfort in front of non-white people, compare Obama and Romney at the Latino conference this week. Romney was speaking in a room of crickets; Obama game a passionate speech in front of a rousing audience. It’s about connecting with people not like yourself, and Obama blew Romney away in that regard.
different-church-lady
@Mauve Lantern:
Remove the slavery, and replace slave holding with an MBA, and you’ve got 21st century America.
Chris
@Mauve Lantern:
Yep…
Aristocracy is technically illegal in the United States, but the impulses that led to its creation – “some people are just better than others and I’m one of the better ones” – are still there. Americans have been trying to create their own substitutes for hereditary class in the European sense for as long as there’s been an America, and so far the two most popular substitutes are money and race.
amk
Twitter
The Ancient Randonneur
Give him a break! He really is a man of the people:
Baud
It’s about connecting with people not like yourself, and Obama blew Romney away in that regard.
It’s a real skill. I don’t have it, but I’m not running for president, for Pete’s sake.
Nethead Jay
O/T. This is vile and disgusting, even for a wingnut. Michael Reagan on Obama and Latinos:
“Emperor Obama obviously could not care less about helping the Latino population. When Democrats had control of both houses of Congress he did absolutely nothing for them.
Now he’s doing to Latinos what Penn State coach Jerry Sandusky allegedly did to the children of Pennsylvania — using and abusing them. With his short-sighted politicking, Emperor Obama has hurt the Latino cause in the long run.”
I wouldn’t mind if he stumbled and fell into an alligator pit…
Maude
@Nethead Jay:
Do you think he’ll get away with saying that? After all, he is a Reagan.
He did it for attention.
Baud
@Nethead Jay:
He’s right. Obama hasn’t offered a single Latino the option of self-deporting.
Elizabelle
Don’t look now, but Kathleen Parker’s got a WaPost column up: The left’s war on success
Illustrated with a blonde on a horse. Might be Mrs. Mitt. Can’t tell if the horse is dancing.
Not clicking or linking.
Nethead Jay
@Maude: Unfortunately, he probably will. As you say, he’s “royalty”. And yeah, looking for attention.
@Baud: Heh :)
WereBear
@The Ancient Randonneur: Lawsy. The man just can’t help it, can he?
MikeJ
I don’t know anything about the rest of it, I’m just overjoyed to see Pierce drop the annoying as fuck pretentiousness of writing “fvck” when he means “fuck”. Bravo! Maybe now I can pay attention to what he’s actually saying.
WereBear
You are so right about that.
Life in the 21st Century. Is it real, or is it an exquisitely crafted satire?
rikyrah
Joe Williams has been telling a whole lotta truth on tv lately. And Black folks know what happens when Black folks tell a whole lotta truth.
just sayin’.
Davis X. Machina
@MikeJ: It could be house style, or a filter dodge. As it is, I can’t get Esquire at work because it’s on the blacklist, as a ‘lad’s magazine’….
JPL
To me the election boils down to who would I’d rather have a beer with. Mitt is stiff white man who doesn’t like to mix with the commoners.
JPL
@rikyrah: Mediaite had the interview up and Williams didn’t say anything that wasn’t true. Mitt is more comfortable with his own kind. He doesn’t mix well with blue collar folks no matter what color.
Maude
@rikyrah:
I do think that if a white man had said that, it wouldn’t have even been noticed.
Horrendo Slapp (formerly Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.)
Do you ever get the feeling that this country is on the way down? I do. If we can get our collective head out of our collective ass and find a way to relegate this crowd of slobbering, paranoid brain-dead yahoos out of our political system, we might have some hope, but I sure as hell don’t know how we’re going to do it.
kay
Mitt uses his truly awful personality in his stump speeches now, as a punch line of sorts. He says he’s not a celebrity, blah, blah.
But he can’t even pull that off, even that sounds insincere and forced.
It’s like he and his audience are involved in a really long, socially awkward moment and they can’t figure out how to gracefully end the encounter and move on.
R. Porrofatto
Well, this is easily disproved. We just have to look at all of Romney’s black and brown friends and colleagues. There’s…uh.. you know, that guy… um… well we know he had some gardeners, right?
(Okay this was just an excuse to quote what Williams said in full again, which is one of the most innocuous and true statements one could make.)
El Cid
Once again the rightwing / libertarian douchebag on a discussion panel does his loudmouth act where he overtalks everyone and generally makes it as though the entire conversation must orbit whatever his point is, because he is, by default, completely and obviously and centrally and morally and philosophically the standard against which all opposing must prove themselves.
This time it was Nick Gillespie, the “Fonzie of Freedom,” on Real Time with Bill Maher, with his printer toner died hair and black leather jacket, insisting that Rachel Maddow shut up and explain why she thinks wrong things, how everyone else misses what an ENORMOUS scandal is the HOLDER COVERUP of Fast & Furious, BIGGER THAN WATERGATE, and how he’s up on the science of fracking and of course environmental impacts of all energy production versus Mark Ruffalo.
Rachel got fed up and challenged him to stop asserting what it was which she believed and prompting her to explain why she supported A or B (which she hadn’t).
I don’t understand why these people don’t just say “Hey, shut the fuck up, I didn’t fucking come here to simply respond to your bullshit and craft every fucking conversation to follow your crap philosophical declarations. Say your bit and then shut the fuck up. If I give a shit about your points, I’ll say something. If not, too fucking bad.”
lacp
“White man, there’s a place you can go
I said, white man, on the Fox and Friends show…”
dmsilev
@kay:
Because that line of attack worked *so* well for John McCain four years ago…
Remember, Mitt Romney is the guy who lost to McCain in the primaries.
WereBear
@El Cid: That show was a dramatic example of how their “technique” is to simply wear the other person down with a blizzard of bullshit; like a toddler with a tantrum getting what they want because no one can stand it any more.
How can we tell we are making good points when arguing with a conservative? They change the subject.
kay
@El Cid:
Nick lives (part time) in Oxford, Ohio, home of Miami University. It’s a lovely place, Oxford, that is wholly dependant on a public university.
It was quite literally established by federal decree, with a federal land grant.
His safe, pretty town with all its public perks would not exist but for the federal and state government. He spends his time there bitching that the (excellent!) public library system should be privatized.
kay
@dmsilev:
McCain was better at it, because he has that bitter humor.
Kerry isn’t a good comparison either. I saw Kerry with rural Ohio Democrats and while it is true he didn’t connect with them, Kerry has a nice, self-deprecating aspect that comes through. Kerry was able to at least put people at ease, “we both know we have nothing in common..” like that. You felt there was a real person standing there, at least.
Amir Khalid
@kay:
Let’s see if I have this straight. The university in Oxford, Ohio is named after a city in Florida? I understand not wanting to call it Oxford University, but still …
jwb
@Amir Khalid: The Miami are a Native American group historically from the Indiana-Ohio area, closely related to the Illinois.
kay
@Amir Khalid:
Jwb said it, and I don’t know anything about Florida, but Miami in OH may have preceded Miami, FL, because the federal charter ( it’s an actual deeded grant with conditions ) establishing what is now Miami U is older than the state of OH.
Villago Delenda Est
@c u n d gulag:
He seems to be the prototype. The guy who single-handedly reinforces the stereotype of the narcissistic, totally self absorbed white rich guy, who earned his fortune by falling out of the right womb.
Ruckus
@kay:
I held my nose and voted for Kerry because to vote the other way I would have had to wear a hazmat suit and be forced at gunpoint and even then I may have deferred. I felt I needed to hold my nose because I never heard him give any speech which made me feel like he could be president. Till his concession speech. Where the hell was the guy making that speech his entire campaign? I think he’s a much better person than his speaking abilities and speech writers allow.
Nellcote
Miami in Florida is derived from the Mayaimi people native to Florida.
kay
@Amir Khalid:
I would like to see the libertarian hipster class commit to the dogma. Skin in the game.
You’ll notice they never BUY PROPERTY in these Tea Party deregulated, privatized shitholes they’re always pushing on the plebes.
Ruckus
@Villago Delenda Est:
He’s not the prototype. Just an excellent example that’s willing to stand in front of people and show what a completely clueless asshole, over privileged, rich, white males with daddy issues, can be, given the two or three seconds it takes anyone with a conscience to see it.
Villago Delenda Est
@Ruckus:
You’re right, he’s not the prototype.
He’s a replicant of the prototype.
Ruckus
@Villago Delenda Est:
With all the prototype’s programing errors still intact.
LittlePig
@lacp: Awesome.
barkleyg
Politico and Memeorandum are the written equivalent of FAUX NEWS:
Politico and Memeorandum are nothing more that Republican Gossip RAGS to inflame and “re-educate” their SICK base!
grandpajohn
@El Cid: What she should do is turn to the moderator and say” either do your job and shut thos lying moron up so I can talk, or I am out of here and when the moderator doesn’t do his job, get up and walk out.