Hey, Reasonoids?
Really? You misspelled the word “asinine” up there. Seriously.
“They seem to say, ‘Well, we are for certain revisions to make the military more efficient,’ ” said Paul. “I’m of the belief that nothing around you will ever be efficient unless the top line number is lower. So, they don’t like what they call sequester. To me, that means that the top line number is lower, and if you really believe in savings in the military budget or else you’d have to find the savings, you’d be forced to find the savings. If they could offset it with true one-to-one spending cuts somewhere else, I might consider supporting that. If it’s like most of the games they play around here—they give us cuts over 10 years to pay for something over one year—I’m not going to vote for that, because really, we’re going back on what we promised the American people during that whole battle was that we’re going to be more fiscally responsible.”
I’m more worried about the fact that as your constituent here in Kentucky, why you keep doing things like voting to “jettison the crap” as you put it when you consider things like health care, flood insurance, food assistance, education and environmental protection to be worthless. What you really want to jettison is the government itself, and about 200 million Americans you figure we’d be better off not having to deal with.
Elizabelle
Notice the “Dead Kids Make Bad Laws” headline.
Yup. Nothing to learn from Aurora. Or Columbine.
Wazmo
Physician, heal thyself!
Commenting at Balloon Juice Since 1937
I’m curious, has Rand Paul ever held a mortgage? That would seem to violate his ideology. Besides that, he’s an idiot.
Mnemosyne
So, in Rand Paul’s world, if your mortgage is $600 a month, gas for your car is $100 a month and your grocery bill is $200, there shouldn’t be any problem if your boss arbitrarily cuts your salary to $800 a month because if you really wanted to, you could totally find ways to cut your bills.
There’s an old saying about getting blood from a stone, but I have a feeling Paul thinks a stone would produce blood if it just wanted it enough.
Horrendo Slapp (formerly Jimperson Zibb, Duncan Dönitz, Otto Graf von Pfmidtnöchtler-Pízsmőgy, Mumphrey, et al.)
You have my sympathies.
Knockabout
Can we also lose the “asinine” term “Reasonoids” as well? I can’t stand Rand Paul’s obvious hypocrisy any more than the rest of you, but it’s not exactly news.
Also, less Zandar hipster snark, more Elias Isquith substance. Thanks.
Dork
Pronoun fail. Who’s “they” in each instance in this blurb?
Hunter Gathers
@Commenting at Balloon Juice Since 1937:
Nope, he paid for his house with krugerrands he got from his Daddy on his sweet 16th.
PeakVT
If you already believe that taking a meat cleaver to the federal government is a brilliant idea, then Paul (either one) is interesting. To saner among us, he is just another joke that would be funnier if he wasn’t holding office.
Yutsano
@Mnemosyne: Call me crazy but I don’t think Senator Paul lives by these economic principles. But then again consistency is never his strong suit.
@Knockabout: Trolls gotta troll. Keep trying, one day you WILL silence him!!
Steve
If there’s wasteful spending in the federal budget, it’s generally because someone with influence wanted it in there. People with influence generally don’t give up their perks easily.
There is this article of faith that if you just “starve the beast” by reducing the top-line spending number, somehow the people who make the actual spending decisions will realize the jig is up and cut all the wasteful stuff. Only it never works that way. Things like food stamps get the axe instead, but hey, at least you’re being all principled and stuff!
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
He really is an idiot. Not that Conway was ever going to be Sherrod Brown south, but at least you’d have had 1 senator who understand critical thinking and logic.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
I love his “steepled” hands – he’s very impressed with himself.
Bulworth
Fxd
WereBear
Of course, he makes his money as an ophthalmologist, with lots of older people who pay with Medicare. Most practices see 30-50% Medicare income.
I believe he takes the money.
The Moar You Know
That pic is awesome. He looks like a world-class richkid prissy asshole.
Maude
Is that his own hair?
flukebucket
That lapel pin looks like a Lincoln penny.
geg6
@Knockabout:
What, exactly, is asinine about calling Reasonoids exactly what they are?
And..
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! For real? That was DougJ’s worst pick ever. And you must be new here if you think there is too much snark around here. For my money, there hasn’t been near enough lately. And a big fat smooch to Zandar, from me.
geg6
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:
He’d have to be to wear that ratty squirrel on his head in public the way he does.
Hungry Joe
I think he took Jim Bunning’s old seat. Bunning was a demented horrorshow, too, but at least he could pitch.
Knockabout
@Yutsano: Really, because last time I checked, Elias very much agreed with the principle that Zandar is a hack.
NancyDarling
This is totally superficial, but does the guy have some sort of superstition about his hair ala the Donald? Otherwise, why would he walk around looking like that?
And as for reshaping the debate, I don’t think anyone outside of the Randoids in the basement listen to him. He may fancy himself a player, but I notice he is not even on Rmoney’s short list for veep.
Ash Can
Yes, Rand Paul is Teh Awesome for government non-interference in people’s lives, unless you happen to be female, in which case you’re not a person/don’t count/aren’t human.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
@Elizabelle:
Well, of course not. The fact that the ‘EVERYONE SHOULD’A BEEN ARMED!’ solution toward these incidents only seems to gain credence withe every mass shooting, while even reasonable gun control is met with frothing ‘DEMS WANNA BAN GUNS FEREVER!!!!!’ madness to the point that no Dem wants to touch even tepid gun laws….well…
Basically, the NRA and Reasonoids rule our world, no matter how much we hate it.
Roy G.
Why are Rand Paul’s eyes always so red? He looks like he just pulled a couple of bong hits.
Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God
“I don’t drink human blood very often. But when I do, I drink the BLOOD OF THE POOR. Because I can.”
redshirt
It’s like “Tiger Beat” for Libertarians.
So dreamy! Is there a centerfold I can hang up in my locker?
Hungry Joe
@Steve:
To Paul and his ilk, things like food stamps are the wasteful stuff.
(The word “ilk” isn’t actually pejorative, but it sure sounds that way. Can’t imagine using it with someone I like.)
Mr Stagger Lee
Funny we just got off a thread with Kim Il-Sung, I wonder if (Odin Forbid)this ass gets elected president will Reason and others produce starbursts and cults of personality with thios jack-off? I mean a portrait of Rand receiving a crown of olives from Ayn Rand dressed in angelic finery while Americans look on in worshipful looks while a voice cries out.
redshirt
@Roy G.: The price you pay for being a disciple of AquaBuddha.
Cassidy
@geg6: He hasn’t read Freddie, apparently. That shit’ll make his head explode into a PBR mist with a Matt & Kim soundtrack.
I usually learn everything I need to know about a glibertarian in the few seconds it takes to say “Rand Paul says…”.
Elizabelle
Another WTF.
In that Charles Brook videoclip, didn’t the criminal profiler (Parks Dietz) suggest not focusing on the shooter (which can glamorize him to wannabes)?
Behold, this morning’s Washington Post front page.
Andy Warhol. Fifteen minutes.
The great Sally Ride got a front page obit, but no pic.
peach flavored shampoo
He looks like the thief from Ocean’s 12 (and 13). The French dude, something-something Fox.
Haydnseek
@WereBear: Remember those golden times of teabagger lunacy before Rand Paul was elected? He was ranting about the evils of Medicare on the stump, but had to walk it back later (quite clumsily,) when his office staff informed him that a lot of his patients were on Medicare. You bet your ass he took the money.
Sly
@Elizabelle:
You can, however, learn plenty from a self-certified ophthalmologist.
maya
Ahh! Now I know what Kentucky windage means.
Gin & Tonic
@geg6:
A-fucking-men.
Culture of Truth
“He’s a right loony”
geg6
OT, but I can’t wait for the state trial to start:
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/24/12925327-justice-department-eyes-pennsylvania-voter-id
Dumb fucks have admitted in court documents that there are no instances of voter fraud in PA and that they don’t expect there to be even if this law is struck down.
Tom Corbett is much more stupid than even I thought.
Elizabelle
@redshirt:
Love that!
geg6
@Knockabout:
That’s a bit like the pot calling the kettle and all that, isn’t it? Young Mr. Isquith is an idiot.
TooManyJens
@Knockabout: Your grudgewank against Zandar is old news and boring.
jibeaux
@Elizabelle: The sad thing is, they mostly don’t make for any laws at all.
Yutsano
@Knockabout: It might have more credibility if you didn’t have such a burr up your ass about Zandar. May your poultry fornication continue unabated.
@geg6: Elias has the earnest zeal of youth. It shows.
(I’m officially old this year. It’d be nice to maybe look it sometimes.)
Elizabelle
Here’s the church
here’s the steeple
open the door
and fleece all the sheeple.
Elizabelle
@jibeaux:
Yes. Cuz who coulda known?
geg6
@Cassidy:
What’s killing me is his using Isquith as his voice of authoritah! I haven’t laughed so hard in weeks.
Cassidy
@geg6: I have no opinion on Elias. I have been skipping over Doug’s stand-ins; I was tired and tl;dr applies.
Cris (without an H)
Excellent
burnspbesq
He doesn’t always drink beer …
Cassidy
@burnspbesq: Any opinions on the alt hip hop?
redshirt
If you want a picture of the future, imagine AquaBuddha stamping on a human face… forever!
RP
@redshirt: Genius.
Yutsano
@Cassidy: I confess to skimming over dengre’s posts and even some of the more wordy ones from Tom. Elias seems more like he’s getting his philosophical and political footing than anything, but we might be able to nudge him in the direction of angels. We’ll see. I’ve also been known to be rather nice for a Scorpio. :)
geg6
@Cassidy:
Well, to quote the great Yutsano:
The guy who claims to be a liberal, even though he blogs at LoOG, introduced himself here by saying he guesses he’ll vote for Obama. The worst sort of Naderism seems to be his M.O.
jayjaybear
@geg6:
Not me. But I have a close-up view…
ETA: Heh…I just remembered that you do, too. Sorry! :0)
Cassidy
@Yutsano: Tom is very smart. Tom uses a lot of words. Admittedly, our next level down is half post from ABL (not a complaint, I get it), DougJ’s evolving revolutionary fervor, and John’s mish mash of pets drinking and occasional brilliance. I tend to view mistermix, Zandar, Freddy, etc. as the interns on Mythbusters; they may not be doing the big one, but they’re doing lots of little entertaining stuff in the middle.
I didn’t include the others because they post occasionally, sporadically, or on fairly specific themes.
Cassidy
@geg6: Yeah, but that’s typical of the lefty youth. I know several lefty people of the OWS bent who are into the both sides suck, fight corporatism, vote Green or Libertarian, etc. They’re liberal, but not the pragamtic types. Shit, I’ll vote for a tree stump if it can undo conservative legislation. I’ve recently seen an uptick in Gary Johnson (g)libertarians and less Ron Paul.
Edit: Typical in my neck of the woods. Can’t accurately use that term for all over.
Elizabelle
@Cassidy:
Dude! You’ve left out Kay!
(Although you seem to have raised a wonderful 12 year old girl. Very proud of her.)
Cassidy
@Elizabelle: I love Kay’s posts and anticipate every one. She isn’t all over the place like the ones I mentioned. She has a pretty specific theme she writes within, to me anyway.
She’s already arguing with her teachers when they trot out some wingnut shit. I tend to get well known at her school.
flukebucket
@Elizabelle: Total WIN!
Yutsano
@Elizabelle: Well…maybe not:
(emphasis mine)
@Cassidy:
I think I have, in the past.
Souvik
That picture reminded me of this episode of Corner Gas http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTxjgyExU88&t=3m15s.
Zandar
I got no beef with Elias. He’s eloquent and he sticks to his guns. I don’t always agree with him, but I respect him.
Real question is why my stalkertastic douchenugget keeps trying to start fights.
redshirt
@Zandar: Why do the birds sing? Why do children laugh? Tis the way of things…
geg6
@jayjaybear:
Oh, believe me, I knew Corbett was stupid. Hell, I remember when he was the US Attorney back in the 80s. And when he got appointed AG after the Preate mail fraud conviction. But I really didn’t think he was stupid enough to sign this legislation when he certainly knows that there isn’t and has never been voter fraud here and then allow his even more stupid buddy Turzai go around crowing in public about how this was all about keeping Dem turnout low and how it was all good news for Mittens.
Elizabelle
@geg6:
Kay’s got a blogpost up on it.
different-church-lady
Car wrecks are interesting. Just sayin’…
Omnes Omnibus
@Cassidy: My understanding of EI’s maybe vote for Obama thing was that he lives In a state that is like to go hard for Obama and that he could, as a result, consider a third party presidential vote. Not my style but it sounds pretty harmless. A couple of hipsters in MA, for example, voting for Angela Davis won’t swing the election.
different-church-lady
@geg6: As Letterman once said while pointing towards his own hair: “If I were going to wear a hairpiece, you think I’d choose this one?”
Yutsano
@Zandar: Meh. It gives me a good excuse to countertroll. Gets out my frustrations. Plus Knockie sputters when challenged on anything. It’s fun.
@redshirt: You stuck a Carpenter’s song in my head now. Just sayin’.
Monkeyfister
To quote Bugs Bunny:
“I’ve always thought monsters were such interesting creatures.”
Cassidy
@Omnes Omnibus: That’s cool. LIke I said, I’m a pragmatic voter. He/ she can be a pot smoking, swingin, amoral clown and I’ll still vote straight ticket Dem. I used to do the “consider each issue, consider each candidate” blah, blah, blah, but now if you have an R next to your name, no way in hell.
In all actuality I’d be excited to vote for a pot smokin’, swingin’, amoral clown.
Joey Maloney
@Mnemosyne:
It would, if you hammered it against his fucking head hard enough.
different-church-lady
@Cassidy:
They think they’re railing against the two-party system, but they’re actually just part of an alternate two-party system, except that the two parties are “us” and “the establishment”.
SiubhanDuinne
Rand Paul has the most punch-worthy face I’ve ever seen. And I’m pretty much a pacifist.
(ETA: but I’d like to put my paciFIST through his pasty FACE.)
Cassidy
@Joey Maloney: Yup. Stealing this one.
Linda Featheringill
@Cassidy:
You left out the chickens! What the hell?!
burnspbesq
@Cassidy:
It’s in the queue for today, right behind the new Royal Liverpool Philharmonic recording of Shostakovich Symphonies Nos. 2 and 15.
Linda Featheringill
@Yutsano:
BTW, what is the number on “officially old”?
Bear in mind that I suspect you’re still a mere child. A precocious child, maybe. :-)
Cassidy
@Linda Featheringill: I like Betty too. Jeebus, anyone else. :D
Maude
@SiubhanDuinne:
LOL.
Joey Maloney
@TooManyJens:
Just had to see that again.
Hungry Joe
@SiubhanDuinne:
Perhaps you are unfamiliar with one Tucker Carlson, esq.
Maude
@Omnes Omnibus:
70. I don’t think it’s harmless to waste a vote. A vote is precious and should never be taken for granted. Not all people in all countries can vote.
This a subject that I take very seriously.
burnspbesq
@Cassidy:
Deltron 3030? Interesting. I kinda like it. I don’t know that it will ever make it into heavy rotation, but I will probably buy at least the first album.
P.S. Petrenko and the RLPO have done it again. They really get Shostakovich.
Cassidy
@burnspbesq: They only have one. The second is coming out. I’m also a big Gorillaz fan, so when these guys were pointed out to me this weekend, I was hooked.
jenn
@Maude: I think EI’s thought process was, if Obama’s going to win the state, and isn’t going to need his vote for the win, that it could be worthwhile to vote for someone farther left, to throw some support to that wing. At any rate, that’s how I had understood him. Which you can argue about re effective strategy, but I don’t think falls into ‘wasting a vote’ category. YMMV, of course!
Villago Delenda Est
Rand Paul’s head would look MUCH better on a pike than his shoulders.
Villago Delenda Est
@Hungry Joe:
What about Sean Hannity? That mug just SCREAMS to be rearranged with a Louisville slugger.
runt
Well, Rand Paul is pretty interesting, in the way Goofy, or Inspector Clouseau, or Hodor, or Gollum are interesting. Wouldn’t vote for them, though.
rumpole
Better question:
“Why is this man such an a==hole?”
Rest of the cover intact.
TenguPhule
“Red Eyes Take Warning”
Also, Vampire.
TenguPhule
Agreed. Though a nicely designed basket delivered to the GOP convention would be equally fine.
Hungry Joe
@Villago Delenda Est:
We’re talking punch-worthy, not Louisville-Slugger-worthy. Different criteria altogether.
mostlygrey
So this morning here in the wilds of Oregon, I was behind a big ol’ pickup with a Rand Paul sticker proudly displayed top center on the tailgate. Below it on the left, the Abortions stop a beating heart or some such thing(kinda too dirty to read) sticker, and lower right we had the Hitler took the guns first, then the people. I wasn’t sure this guys message, I do know he braked before he signaled to turn. Obviously a confused individual.
My big ol’ pickup has no bumper at this time so I can’t explain myself.
Does anyone read Reason or is it another funded vanity project for some goofy rich guy?
Spatula
I’d still like to fuck him.
Bennett
At the time of the BP oil spill in the Gulf, the interesting gentleman from Kentucky said that he didn’t think the govt’t should pressure BP into a compensation settlement since BP had totally said they’d pay out. When more mountains were being despoiled in his state by coal mining, the most interesting senator said that he didn’t “anyone would miss a few hilltops.” He’s dumber than a bucket of hair, as they say in Kentucky.
johnny robot and his flying sokko
The Germans have a word for that guy’s mug: Backpfeifengesicht.
It means “a face that cries out for a fist in it”.
Suzan
@Ash Can: Or poor!
Suzan
Or poor!
female