This is what we call a total surrogate fail:
A consultant for embattled Senate candidate Todd Akin today compared Republican attacks on Akin to the 1993 federal siege of cult leader David Koresh.
“I’ve expressed this to Todd as my client for a while now, I’ve expressed it to him directly,” Akin consultant Kellyanne Conway said in interview released today by the conservative Family Research Council. “The first day or two where it was like the Waco with the David Koresh situation where they’re trying to smoke him out with the SWAT teams and the helicopters and the bad Nancy Sinatra records. Then here comes day two and you realize the guy’s not coming out of the bunker. Listen, Todd has shown his principle to the voters.”
Todd Akin and David Koresh- principled men of the people.
How are we going to continue forward as a country when half the electorate needs to be on lithium?
dmsilev
Not to mention this, from TPM:
I think I see part of the problem.
cathyx
Is there such a thing as a bad Nancy Sinatra record?
Ben Franklin
James Dobson of FRC is as cultish as Koresh. Whaddayaspect?
Dr. Loveless
Whatever happened to the Hoekstroika tag? This post certainly qualifies.
cathyx
I would say that equating ones client with David Koresh is a fail.
Violet
Can’t figure out who he’s trying to appeal to with the David Koresh comparison. Aren’t the people who find that comparison appealing already voting for him?
Jewish Steel
He’s just saying what we’re all thinking.
Hungry Joe
They should try to smoke out Nancy Sinatra with bad Todd Akin records.
Howard Beale IV
Lithium? Try Seroquel, Orap and depo-Prolixin.
Violet
Akin is the gift that keeps on giving. For the Dems.
Comrade Mary
You had to mention lithium, eh?
General Stuck
I think she was spoofing her client. I think we are to see more of it from semi sane republicans as the 27 percenter continue to wear out their welcome clusterfucking the GOP into a parody of itself, until Romney loses bigtime and the all out gooper civil war can commence without further adieu.
They don’t dare (most of them) attack these psychos directly, or risk a dittohead assault, at least for now. Either that, or I’m not sniffing near enough glue to understand.
dr. bloor
Think bigger, Cole. Half-measures aren’t going to do it with those folks.
Comrade Mary
@cathyx: Maybe, but this is brilliant.
Cacti
Well, Koresh is a martyr to a lot of people who would vote for Akin.
VICTORY!
WereBear
Mmmm, trying to say Akin is a dangerous lunatic?
I agree. So what’s the problem?
Violet
Ann Romney strikes again:
You know Ann, I’m worried about his mental well-being and he’s not even president. Good call!
Bort
Leave Nancy Sinatra alone!!!!
danielx
Forget the lithium business – though it’s definitely an idea. I want to know what pharmaceuticals Kellyanne Conway is consuming now.
ding dong
I saw Conway onCSPAN recently and she is not aging gracefully. She looked so different I didn’t even recognize her.she may be pulling this for attention.
dr. bloor
@Violet: I don’t see the problem. That’s nothing a simple disk defrag program wouldn’t take care of.
Mike in NC
The term for these people is “bottom feeders”.
muddy
You can’t cure sociopathy with lithium. You can, however, cure it with a brick. An old lady told me in a quiet room. *The* Quiet Room? shhh bygones…
Maude
@dr. bloor:
But there has to be something to defrag.
Linda Featheringill
Indecent exposure is against the law in all states, isn’t it?
Or something like that.Suffern Ace
@Mike in NC: have there been any sightings of Mark Block-the smoking man who was running Herman Caines campaign?
Waldo
I’m thinking David Koresh’s ashy remains would be a better candidate at this point.
Spaghetti Lee
Listen, Todd has shown his principle to the voters.
And the voters told him to zip it back up.
MikeJ
Was this before or after he told an audience that he voted against the Ledbetter bill because hey, businesses oughta be able to pay what they want?
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/09/28/1137640/-Todd-Akin-opposes-equal-pay-because-freedom
scav
@Spaghetti Lee: Listen, Todd has shown his principle to the voters.
Blink and you’d miss it.
Baud
Can’t wait until next week when they explain how Akin is a leader in the mold of Jim Jones.
geg6
Lithium ain’t gonna do it, Cole. My brother takes Lithium and he’s not near as nuts as these people. Now we are talking about my brother who once called me and insisted I look something up for him on the toobz. I asked why he couldn’t do it and he said he couldn’t use his computer because it was filled with spiders. And if I could just look this one thing up (which had nothing whatsoever to do with extermination tips), HE COULD GET RID OF THE SPIDERS! x11!
Granted, he wasn’t taking his meds at the time, but Lithium brought him back to just weird. I think you’re gonna need something a bit stronger for these guys. They’re way crazier than my brother.
AkaDad
Am I the only one who sung the headline?
jlow
We elect people who don’t cater to the crazies and expand the electorate by doing things that help people (i.e. the ACA).
WereBear
Nothing external will help these people.
They know what Reality is. They just don’t like it.
cathyx
@Comrade Mary: If you mean brilliant as in really bad, I agree.
kindness
I remember Koresh. Didn’t he tell his married couple converts they couldn’t have sex and then Koresh would have sex with the wives himself? I think so.
Republican values….You can’t do this but I can.
hep kitty
@General Stuck: How can you tell anymore, what is satire and what is real? That wild-eyed Claire McCaskill throwing down like a wildcat in heat and all.
patroclus
These boots are made for walking.
And that’s just what they do.
One of these days these boots
are gonna walk all over you.
Redshift
@Violet: This may turn out to be the only way his campaign resembles his father’s — a public suggestion of mental issues.
Maude
@AkaDad:
I was humming Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered.
El Cid
It was only last month one of the leaders of the RNC was condemning New Mexico‘s governor for insulting General Custer by daring to meet with Injuns, which, by the way, was required by law.
Anyway Scott Brown looked at the Indians they were supposed to meet with, they claimed to be native Americans — clearly they’re not.
Yutsano
@MikeJ: Nope. No war on women here. Just keep walking you librul freak!
MonkeyBoy
Um, lithium is mainly used as a mood stabilizer in treating the manic phase of people with bipolar disorder. While wingnuts may seem crazy their crazy is mostly not the self important supermanhood exhibited in the manic phase.
hep kitty
@geg6: I can’t tell from your comment, but your brother may possess something known as basic, common, human decency. That could be the dividing line there. Just saying.
gelfling545
@Linda Featheringill: I had planned to drink my wine rather than snort it up my nose and spit it onto my keyboard.Ah, well.
Linda Featheringill
@geg6: #32
Your brother:
It’ll probably be a hell of a wake when he goes. Think of the stories! And they’ll all be true!
different-church-lady
What, doesn’t everyone see Koresh as a renegade hero-martyr? You guys need to get out of your liberal bubble and into the real world, where people understand that dying in a fire set by George Soros and
Saul AlinskyWoodrow Wilson is the only hope we have left for this country.Linda Featheringill
@hep kitty: #38
Film at 11.
El Cid
By the way, I’m assuming people are recalling in context that this Waco incident on the right became a symbol of the lawlessness of Janet Reno and defiance of the Clinton administration?
When they first hear discussions of “Waco” and “Koresh,” it usually isn’t in the context of DAVID KORESH, CRAZY MAN, but in how although George H. W. Bush had nothing to do with the siege beginning under his administration, the assault on the compound by the FBI and local forces simply represented Bill Clinton’s demonstration that he was about to do the same to all our neighborhoods (meaning the valuable white, conservative, god-fearin’, not-UN-kow-towin’, gun-ownin’ patriots).
hep kitty
Well, it’s all sociopathy and how do you treat that? Considering how fucking dangerous they are, incarceration would be a logical first step.
pseudonymous in nc
I know that “political consultant” is shorthand for “wingnut welfare recipient”, but I’m still amazed that the GOP’s gang of professional failures never cease to find employment on the dime of campaign donors.
Linda Featheringill
@El Cid: #42
General Custer’s honor:
Custer ain’t got none. He used it all up before he died.
DPS
The problem is that history doesn’t have any other examples of people standing their ground against overwhelming opposing force. Waco was the only time that had ever happened, and so he had to use it as his analogy, even though he didn’t want to.
Try to learn some history, please, people.
El Cid
@pseudonymous in nc: What’s more frightening is that with such nitwit grifters in command, they still win or nearly win.
I always think we were lucky that the Bush Jr. administration was nearly as incompetent as it was venal, as short-sightedly greedy as it was long-term vicious.
James E. Powell
What has Claire McCaskill done that Missourians hate her so much that this election is not only close, but winnable for Akin?
jurassicpork
Assclowns of the Week #93: You Da Bomb! edition is out, with a new top 10 list embedded for Willard Romney and our lowered expectations for him.
And, yes, John, I also dug up that little gem about his pollster comparing Akin to a notorious cult leader and gun runner. Talk about a Munchhausen By Proxy persecution complex!
El Cid
@James E. Powell: She’s a Democrat.
different-church-lady
@El Cid: True, but you’d think the way the whole thing ended for Koresh would give them pause.
hep kitty
@Bort: That cheesy, rape-obsessed, blathering old turd with a nasty combover doesn’t get the right to criticize Lawrence Welk, much less Nancy Sinatra.
Dennis SGMM
We all love to play the “This will lead to the downfall of the Republican party” game. It’s possible that their habit of throwing tons of money at various advisers, consultants, and professional ball-lickers (All of whom have a solid record of FAIL) will undo them long before their insane policies do.
? Martin
@different-church-lady: Yeah, I always recall this comment from that Burkean conservative G Gordon Liddy following the Waco raid:
He thought Koresh was quite the patriot. Always surprised Liddy didn’t land more prominent positions on the right.
Linda Featheringill
@Waldo:
At least David had charisma, which Willard doesn’t. Dude was sexy. Crazy. But sexy.
Edited.
different-church-lady
@Linda Featheringill: I suppose if you’re into the glasses with crossbars look, then yeah, uh, I guess…
WereBear
I swear, nothing significant happens fast in this country since JFK made every man throw away his hat.
And now, it’s crept back in the form of baseball caps; a definite step backwards.
Go back to real hats, men! They are much sexier!
muddy
@? Martin: He blew it with his patriotic banana hammock. That’s not dignified, and it’s a rule that Republicans are dignified. Worried about ladylikeness etc, so proper.
quannlace
But he had really great hair.
Dennis SGMM
@WereBear:
I like real hats, but they’re hard to find and you’ll pay close to $200 for a decent one. I’m talking Stetson here.
debit
@Linda Featheringill: I’m sure the teenage girls he fucked thought he was hella sexy. I think he was pure scum.
ETA: Sorry, but he raped teenage girls. I can’t imagine how anyone could find him attractive in anyway, shape or form.
? Martin
@muddy:
Huh. Must be a new rule…
Spaghetti Lee
@James E. Powell:
Well, Rasmussen (!) has McCaskill up by six. YouGov has her up by about the same. I’m just looking at TPM and it looks like there’s this one polling outfit sponsored by Cit United that has Akin farther ahead than anyone else, and they release polls constantly to effect the average. Should she be up more than 6 on a guy like Akin? Sure. But bear in mind that she was down by 10 2 months ago.
I think she’ll pull it out. I really do. Akin is just an awful, awful person. He’s like this year’s Carl Paladino-not just bad policies, but repulsive on a visceral level.
Dennis SGMM
@muddy:
Two words: David Vitter.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Comrade Mary: Oh. And here I thought he’d mentioned lithium.
geg6
@hep kitty:
He’s got a bad case of bipolar, but he’s not a bad guy. I can’t deal with him very well (even though we used to be close before he went over the edge), but he makes an effort. More than I can say for my other brother who doesn’t have a mental illness diagnosis to excuse his assholishness. It began for him when he was in the Navy in the early 70s. It’s been a real slog with him, but his heart is in the right place even if his head isn’t.
@Linda Featheringill:
Well, you’re right. There are all kinds of stories. And many of them good ones. Some not so much, seeing as his mental illness has caused a lot of heartache in our family. I truly believe it contributed to my dad’s death (massive heart attack, a story related to my brother and too long and sad to discuss here), though I don’t blame my brother for that any more.
But funerals in our family always end up on an up note. Our family was small, as far as extended family, but we were a big family, six kids. My parents were true characters, there was always lots of drama, and we are close despite the fact that we argue all the time. The brothers have drifted out of the closeness orbit, but the sisters are a strong alliance. Sad as we were to see our parents go, there was a lot of laughter (mixed with tears) as we went through the parents’ things when they died. We told our significant others’ old family stories, even going back to our grandparents’, all of whom were either immigrants or first generation American. And then there were the surprises, like when we found my mother’s journal from the year she met my dad, both before and after. It was a revelation and we sisters had a blast going through it and marveling at what we didn’t know about our mom and dad.
It sounds weird, but funerals can be fun in some weird but comforting ways, if you have sisters to pull you through it.
Mnemosyne
@MonkeyBoy:
I dunno, I seem to recall that the Republican VP candidate keeps trying to present himself as the kind of superman who climbs mountains and runs marathons in record time.
Notice that I’m not even bringing up Newt since he actually does have a family history of bipolar and no one would be shocked at an official diagnosis.
jl
Their world has become so hermetic and occult, the result is either puzzling or offensive to outsiders. Which is good that the truth can no longer be hidden: the wingers are nuts.
Not following the campaign sound and fury much anymore. Looks like a productive year for precinct walking so more into that now.
But well, always a minute to check out 538. well, getting up past 317 EVs and over 82 percent chance Dem win.
I predict debates will be fun to watch.
J R in WVa
John,
It isn’t that bad. There will only be 27% of them, ever.
JR in SW WV
Or something like that.Suffern Ace
@El Cid: Good lord. I know we’re supposed to honor our fallen troops, but Custer?
PurpleGirl
No, these people don’t need lithium, they need Paxil and large amounts of it.
Mr Stagger Lee
It could have been worse, Randy Weaver and Ruby Ridge could have been invoked, another example of wingnut martyrdom.
ArlingtonRob
I prefer Driftglass, who says…
“America cannot survive half Fox, and half free.”
muddy
@? Martin: @Dennis SGMM: It’s one of those “do as I say, not as I do” rules.
phoebes-in-santa fe
@cathyx: Is there such a thing as a GOOD Nancy Sinatra record?
dance around in your bones
@geg6:
I can remember laughing hysterically in the limo thing after my grandfather’s funeral when my sister’s and I were discussing the eternal soup that we all are derived from and go back to after we die.
I was a teensy bit worried that the limo driver would think we were weird.
This was after my gramma kept telling us (during the funeral) that grampa would be showing up anytime now (she had Alzheimer’s) and we tried so hard not to snigger and say “Yeah, but not the way you think!”
Oh gawd, the black humor gets me through this vale of tears.
Tonal Crow
Nooooooo, Republicans, don’t compare too-mild campaign ads to smoking out a murderous criminal! We’ll DIE if you keep saying that!
muddy
@dance around in your bones: My sister was telling me this story the other day about her mother-in-law; she kept asking loudly at a wake, “Where’s Francis?” and kept being told he was the one in the coffin. “Oh, that’s terrible! Now where’s Frannie again?” They went through this at least a dozen times. They just tried to keep her from the widow.
tybee
@quannlace:
i wonder who ended up with it?
dance around in your bones
@muddy: LOL. See, funerals ARE funny sometimes!
We get a bit hysterical, I think :)
Steeplejack
@Dr. Loveless:
My favorite one, too!