After deciding that Politico is crack, I’m starting to believe Buzzfeed is crystal meth. Here’s an example, Why Harry Reid Hates Mitt Romney. Apparently, Mormonism isn’t a monolithic conservative religion, Reid is something of a symbol to progressive Mormons, and his attack on Romney last month is an example of that. So what was the attack? Here’s the totality of what John Stanton and McKay Coppins have to say about it in their lengthy piece on Reid:
Reid’s no-holds-barred attack on Romney’s religious life last month was instructive, both in its intensity, and in Reid’s capacity to go after Romney in a way that no other Democrat can.
While Democrats across the country were piling on Romney after the leaked 47% fundraiser video, Reid went for the jugular in a conference call with reporters. He told them Romney had “sullied” their faith, and insisted, “he is not the face of Mormonism.” The remarks were met with criticism from both outraged Republicans and skittish Democrats who didn’t want to be associated with anti-Mormonism.
Reid must have reasons that Romney “sullied” the Mormon faith, but the article just semi-quotes Reid in order to show that he’s a tough guy and that he offended a bunch of Republican Mormons. That’s it. It’s not the substance of Reid’s attack that matters, it’s that he had the balls to attack. Then there’s this:
Reid’s ideological differences with Romney represent deeper fault lines that run through American Mormonism. While the vast majority of U.S. Mormons are politically conservative, the church also contains a small but growing group of progressives, many of whom take defiant delight in parking their Obama bumper-stickered mini-vans in their church parking lots. Reid is a sort of folk hero to these types of liberal Latter-day Saints, and has long used his position to argue that Democrats have an important place in the faith.
The actual beliefs of progressive Mormons would be interesting as well as enlightening, since not much is written about Mormon beliefs in general, not to mention Democratic Mormon beliefs. But that doesn’t matter–what’s important is that they’re like the guy who wears a Dolphins jersey to a Bills game.
I guess it must get clicks or they would just be running cat pictures and Honey Boo-Boo on all their pages, but it’s a pointless exercise at best, and goddam poisonous at worst.
Hunter Gathers
Page clicks are the name of the game. No clicks, no ad revenue. And nothing generates clicks like asinine navel gazing and yelling ‘It’s the Apocalypse! Poll numbers and office products falling from the sky!’.
Mark S.
The article has no links to any of those quotes? Was it written in 1998?
BGinCHI
Mormon civil war: rooting for injuries.
suzanne
Well, my friends who are progressive Mormons tend to believe most of what I believe. They’re not as vehemently pro-choice as I am (most not okay after the first trimester), and they’ll defend the Church’s choice not to “seal” LGBT couples as strongly as they defend those couples’ right to be civilly married. But they are real, and they are growing, and I hope they soon having an impact on Salt Lake. The LDS Church only seems to change due to pressure from without, so time will tell.
Linda Featheringill
Maybe Harry wanted to say that not all Mormons are lying, cheating, stealing assholes.
PeakVT
Didn’t some ex-Politiho wanker join Buzzfeed recently? The MO is quite similar.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
Poisonous mostly.
Ash Can
I certainly don’t disagree, but my reaction is along the lines of “meh,” simply because I feel as though the real news would be a news organization that would actually provide that kind of depth and context. I suppose it’s a good thing that these guys are mentioning Reid’s pushback, and the fact that there are non-wacko Mormons, at all.
BTW, the third headline in the graphic looks interesting. Is Paulie waving a red flag in front of Uncle Joe going into the debate? I’ve certainly learned my lesson about overinflating my expectations, but I still think that’s a dumb thing to do. Then again, Paulie doesn’t exactly live up to his reputation of being bright.
Davis X. Machina
OT. And polling. So avert your eyes.
No one since at least 1980 still upside-down in fav/unfav in October has won a Presidential election.
geg6
And this is different than any other of our media, how? Network and cable news, most political blogs and web aggregators/magazines, all of print media…they care nothing at all about policy. Less than nothing, in fact. I am very choosy about what media I expose myself to these days because of this and the effect it has (witness Andrew Sullivan’s epic meltdown over the last week). Other than local news and newspapers, the only political show I watch religiously is Up with Chris Hayes. He’s put together the kind of show that I love…generally, people who are experts in their fields, who aren’t the usual suspects we see on the Sunday morning wanker extravaganzas, who are usually from all ranges of the political spectrum, and who are almost always pretty damn smart, as is the host.
I wish Chris Hayes could moderate a presidential debate. We’d actually get some substance, he’d be a fair moderator (as he always is on his show), and he would not hesitate to ask a follow-up. He’d be as tough on Obama as he would be Romney, simply because he does that on his show all the time with spokescritters from both campaigns. He’s amazing to watch, especially in this day and age.
Nethead Jay
Oh, you don’t like Buzzfeed. Good, that makes me like them even more.
blingee
Buzzfeed will say whatever it needs to say to get clicks. That is all they care about. Of course people like mistermix will go for the catnip every time.
Sly
And I’m sure after their totally justifiable outrage has settled, Republicans will trot out yet another reactionary black American onto a stage to tell us all how liberals are keeping black people on a plantation of dependency.
BGinCHI
WTF?
Our trolls don’t even know how to troll.
Maybe DougJ could offer a Troll Summer Camp.
elisabeth
@PeakVT:
You’re thinking of Ben Smith.
blingee
The use of lyrics for titles is getting pretty fucking annoying btw. That is just being lazy imho.
Raven
@blingee: Oh, just bite the big one.
Because you’re plastic people
Oh baby now you’re such a drag. . .
The Red Pen
When you realize how tightly-aligned Mormon identity has become with the Republican party and the conservative movement, you begin to understand how Reid achieves this hero status.
Not only has he bucked the group in a very “in-group” group, but he’s done it very successfully (being elected to the Senate).
Chyron HR
@Nethead Jay:
Watch out, everyone. I think this guy might start eating chicken sandwiches at us.
blingee
@Raven: You know me, every time you kiss that girl you blow me
blingee
btw…how old is mistermix? I recall him saying he had school work at one point. I get the impression he’s barely breaking puberty or just really really immature intellectually for his age.
beltane
The only experiences I’ve had with Mormons has been on genetics/genealogy forums. These experiences have not been pleasant. There is a certain smug, insidious, though very polite, racism/antisemitism exhibited by the people I’ve encountered which creeps me out far more than the in-your-face white supremacists. Is it standard practice for the LDS to co-opt other groups’ ancestries to bolster their own foundation myths?
BGinCHI
@Chyron HR: When he was a child and all his friends jumped off a cliff he did not follow them.
His mother was so proud.
beltane
The only experiences I’ve had with Mormons has been on genetics/genealogy forums. These experiences have not been pleasant. There is a certain smug, insidious, though very polite, racism/antisemitism exhibited by the people I’ve encountered which creeps me out far more than the in-your-face white supremacists. Is it standard practice for the LDS to co-opt other groups’ ancestries to bolster their own foundation myths?
BGinCHI
@Chyron HR: When he was a child and all his friends jumped off a cliff he did not follow them.
His mother was so proud.
beltane
The only experiences I’ve had with Mormons has been on genetics/genealogy forums. These experiences have not been pleasant. There is a certain smug, insidious, though very polite, racism/antisemitism exhibited by the people I’ve encountered which creeps me out far more than the in-your-face white supremacists. Is it standard practice for the LDS to co-opt other groups’ ancestries to bolster their own foundation myths?
blingee
@Raven:
I get it crackin like a bad back
Bitch talkin she the queen, when she looking like a lab rat
I’m Angelina, you Jennifer
C’mon bitch, you see where Brad at
Ice my wrist’s and I piss on bitches
You can suck my diz-nik, if you take this jizz-ez
You don’t like them disses, give my ass some kisses
Yeah they know what this is, givin this the business
Cause I pull up and I’m stuntin’ but I aint a stuntman
Yes I’m rockin’ Jordan but I aint a jumpman
Bitches play the back cause they know I’m the front man
Put me on the dollar cause Im who they trusting
Ayo SB, whats the f-cks good?
We ship platinum, them bitches are shipping wood
Them nappy headed hoes but my kitchen good
I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish, I wish
a bitch woooooooooooooooooould
[Hook]
You a stupid hoe, you a, you a stupid hoe (x3)
You a stupid hoe, (yeah) you a, you a stupid hoe
You a stupid hoe, you a, you a stupid hoe (stupid, stupid)
You a stupid hoe, you a, you a stupid hoe (stupid, stupid)
You a stupid hoe, you a, you a stupid hoe (stupid, stupid)
(stupid, stupid)
BGinCHI
@blingee: OK, Doug, getting obvious.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@Chyron HR:
Careful, he seems sufficiently ruthless to fetch the Comfy Chair.
beltane
Sorry for the duplicate post. I kept getting a message that the server failed to send my comment.
Davis X. Machina
@blingee: With whipped cream all over his boots, to boot.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@beltane:
Try closing and reloading the page before you resubmit your comment.
FYWP, also, too.
Just Some Fuckhead
Mormonism can best be described as Apocalyptic Freemasonry. As far as teachings go, it doesn’t innately have a liberal or conservative bias. However, as far as cults are run, of course it has a conservative authoritarian bent.
Brachiator
Doesn’t the cover of the current issue of Time magazine promise something about Romney’s Mormon identity?
Anybody read it?
geg6
OT, but Sandusky gets 30-60 years. He was facing something like 600 years, so this could be seen as getting off easy. But the guy is old and 30 years is a life sentence.
Good. I hope he rots in there, all the while proclaiming his innocence to the concrete block walls.
wrb
Sully’s wankgasim is now atop Drudge.
Did Sully lose the election all by himself-
first the hysterical live blog, now this?
geg6
@Just Some Fuckhead:
I couldn’t agree more. From what I can tell, it’s the model for Scientology.
wrb
@Brachiator:
This isn’t bad:
http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/atlarge/2012/08/13/120813crat_atlarge_gopnik?currentPage=all
He ends up at “none of this much matters”- with which I disagree- but reveals some interesting stuff along the way.
jwb
@wrb: If Romney is getting a Sullivan freakout bounce, it would not be Sullivan himself who is causing it, but all his idiot readers who for whatever reason apparently enjoy wallowing in his penchant for melodrama that would embarrass even Hollywood.
blingee
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: According to Cole everything is fine and dandy with the server….lol.
In that post yesterday he says he gets 75k hits a day and doesn’t want to spend any money to bump it up to 250k hits a day. 250k hits a day is NOTHING! How much money are we talking about here? I could probably find enough change in my couch to cover it for a month.
Just Some Fuckhead
@jwb:
The northeast and western parts of the country—the great blue zone that voted for Obama—is clearly ready for the election. Sullivan, in his enclave on the coast is not dead—and may well mount what amounts to a fifth column.
wrb
@jwb:
Sully’s live blog freakout held the top of Memorandum for the whole day after the debate.
His latest one is holding it now. Legions- not just his regular readers- have read them.
Conservatives are passing it everywhere, thumping their chests at how Romney made the gay turncoat yowl with pain.
My belief is that he’s had a great deal to do with turning the narrative from one of a mildly disappointing debate that produced a lot of useful footage of Mitt lying to THE GREATEST UNMANNING EVER.
slag
I think there’s a larger problem at work here.
The problem I see is that the very act of discussing politics brings with it a sort of Very Serious Person credentialism that cat pictures just can’t match. The HOW in this case is irrelevant; it’s the WHAT that matters. It’s like ordering a salad for lunch and thinking you’re eating healthy even though the salad is just a bunch of white leaves drenched in mayonaise and bacon bits. Or like watching those “science” shows on the teevee and thinking you’re learning about science even though every episode involves little more than blowing shit up in every way imaginable. Or like running around the country telling people you’re going to balance the budget even though the only hard line you’re admittedly willing to take is against Big Bird.
So, I guess the point here is that the poison of which you speak is actually health food for two types of people: Very Serious Persons and Republicans. Oh wait. Did I say two types of people? My mistake.
Amir Khalid
@geg6:
Spatula will haz a sad at this. Remember how, under a previous nym, he used to argue against Sandusky being prosecuted at all?
blingee
@wrb: Urrrum….no. Your living inside the bubble a wee bit too much. The vast majority of voters have never heard of Sully.
rlrr
@Sly:
how liberals are keeping black people on a plantation of dependency.
You mean like Mitt Romney’s father?
In the United States, Romney grew up in humble circumstances. The family subsisted with other Mormon refugees on government relief in El Paso, Texas, benefiting from a $100,000 fund for refugees that the U.S. Congress had set up.
Persia
@suzanne: I grew up in a heavily Mormon area, and remain curious and baffled about how differently the faith is perceived by ‘mainstream’ America. Perhaps because I’m agnostic at best so it all seems kind of superstitious and odd to me, but from my perspective Mormons are no less (or more) crazy than most Christians, and have a similar difference in beliefs. IDK why it seems so strange to everyone else.
SBJules
I love harry reid
wrb
@Amir Khalid:
I thought his argument was the person who observed shouldn’t have interrupted because the younger person might have been humiliated and damaged more.
It seems to be a minority opinion, but thought it empathetic and possibly correct.
But as then, it isn’t an position about which I feel strongly enough to put any effort into defending.
blingee
Regarding the site freezing. I just did a trace and it looks to me like Cole is using a shared hosting account. A shared fucking hosting account!
No wonder this site runs like shit half the time. Surely he could come up with a bit more spare change to get a VPS at least. It’s really not that hard or expensive to run a site like this and 250k hits is nothing.
geg6
@Amir Khalid:
Yeah, I remember. It made me shudder then and just the reminder makes me shudder even now.
They are both pretty seriously deranged (Sandusky and Spatula, that is). The kitchen implement may have artistic talent, but then so did John Wayne Gacy. I wouldn’t buy his art and I’m more than a little weirded out that Cole did. I wouldn’t even click to take a look. Child molestation defenders are too creepy for me to ever purchase anything from, let alone art that I’d have to look at every day and be reminded of who it was, exactly, who created it.
jwb
Obama Big Bird ad released. It’s amusing, not sure it has teeth.
geg6
@wrb:
Another of his arguments was that the kids like it.
Very empathetic and correct, I’m sure.
Amir Khalid
@wrb:
He said that too. I myself disagree that letting a rape in progress go on could be the empathetic and/or right thing to do for the rape victim; but I think it best not to re-argue that particular point here.
TexasMango
@wrb: It wasn’t just him. No matter what happens on Nov. 6th, there are quite a few people who showed their asses that I won’t be listening to oe watching anymore. First DKOS, then HuffPost, then TPM and CNN. I guess I can live without MSNBC as well. I’m basically down to here and three other blogs.
Nethead Jay
@Chyron HR: Nah, I’ve just been irritated with a bunch of Mistermix’s post lately and thought I’d be a bit shallow and silly in his direction in return. Don’t usually comment much, just read here.
@BGinCHI:
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: See above
Another Halocene Human
@geg6:
Yeah, but he gets nervous and talks too much (like he just got out of school… unfortunately school kind of trains you to act like this kind of wanker) when we want to hear the candidates.
Stop defensively trying to tell us how clever you are/that you did the assigned reading, lest your penetrating question be taken for post-hangover in-class BS that will get smacked down.
nastybrutishntall
@blingee: I’m getting a distinct Lord Quas vibe from you now. Helium Voiced Manichean MadlibJ.
Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God
@Just Some Fuckhead:
This. J. Smith ‘adapted’ many aspects of early 19th-century Freemasonry (in all its whiteness and delightsomeness).
slag
@jwb: Ha! I LOLd at that ad though I initially had some concern about the source of it being from the campaign itself. But so far, I’ve decided that it was actually a remarkably serious ad about a remarkably serious subject that just happened to use humor to address it. In that respect, I actually really liked it. A little ironic distance can sometimes help people process information that might otherwise be either too abstract or too repugnant to consider.
jwb
@TexasMango: I’ve found Twitter a good way to filter, though it has its own irritating aspects.
jwb
@slag: Yes, especially in a media environment saturated with political ads. I’m just not sure how well it will pull viewers in and imprint the message. At least I know I wouldn’t be irritated in seeing it a dozen times.
Another Halocene Human
@beltane:
It’s actually religious doctrine for them.
Kinda sad for them, since their foundation myths are so easily debunked.
Orthodox Christians carefully murdered, burned, and buried the evidence for a couple of centuries, so it’s much harder to say what the truth might be.
Ben Grimm
@Persia:
The missionary work is a big part of it. The odd origin, including the polygamy, is another big part. And several of the specific beliefs (Kolob, getting your own planet, the whole Jesus visits America part) contribute for those who know about them.
wrb
@Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God:
I’ve read that the secret Mormon handshakes that are required for entry to heaven are the same as the secret Masonic handshakes.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Persia: I suspect it’s the whole secrecy about the higher levels of their scripture. Isn’t that something that even Mormons don’t hear until they get baptized, and regular folks are never allowed to be told? A practice Scientology adopted as well.
That’s creepy to many of us. Or, at least it is to me.
Another Halocene Human
@Just Some Fuckhead: I’d say the teachings are pretty innately authoritarian. Lots of restrictions on followers behavior, and I could go on.
Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God
@geg6:
And… One of L Ron Hubbard’s ‘sources’ was Crowley’s O.T.O, (by way of JPL founder, the chemist, rocket scientist and crazed occultist Jack Parsons).
It’s notable that Scientology and Mormonism, arguably the only two major religions that originated in America, were both founded by known con-men who couldn’t even bother to make up their own bullshit.
They really are cousins.
Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God
@wrb:
And the magic underwear sport Masonic symbology, situated at points on the body said to have spiritual import.
(I spent most of the 90s studying various cults and religions as a hobby, don’t get me started).
wrb
@Another Halocene Human:
It is a huge project, they spend millions of dollars on genealogical research. If you are of European or Jewish ancestry, your ancestors have almost certainly been been baptized Mormon.
For a kick, I tried following a few of my lines back using genealogical information available on the internet. I could go back 1500 years in Ireland and Scotland due to information gathered and organized by Mormons. They’d gone through church registries, graveyards- everything.
Another Halocene Human
@Ben Grimm: Mormons need to unbend and reach out on the fundagelical’s issues.
Baptists ha-a-a-AAAAted Catholics but the red beanie brigade (and Weyrich? shudder) teamed up on that anti-woman abortion crusade and now they’re all buddy-buddies.
I’ve even seen evangelicals blogging about Catholic (Orthodox, we’re talking pre-schismatic Mass elements here) prayer and incorporating it into their worship.
SBC used to claim they were the original church and predated the Catholics which is kinda funny until you realize they don’t travel outside the US, have no notion of world history, and think they’re for real.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@beltane:
Yes.
Cacti
@Ben Grimm:
Their rejection of the Trinity is another big sticking point. Mormonism can properly be called a polytheistic religion, which is verboten amongst the Abrahamic religions.
slag
@jwb: Good question. I’m not an expert in that area. But I can say that I found the ad sneakily effective for me. It was simultaneously, subtly serious and funny.
1badbaba3
@Nethead Jay: Ok, I’ll bite. Which of the “bunch” of posts hath caused said irritation? It would be irresponsible not to speculate, or something of that sort. Not trying to be a nudge, just curious. Still trying to get the lay of the land here.
@jwb: Do birds have teeth?
catclub
@Cacti: One would think that having three gods would qualify for polytheism, but the trinity isn’t really that. Cause the people who worship said trinity say so, that’s why.
Cacti
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
It’s more than just after baptism. To receive the Mormon temple rites, you have to be over 18, active in weekly attendance for over a year, a full tithe payer (10% of your pre-tax income), and need a recommend signed by your local and regional leaders, following a personal worthiness interview.
Lurking Canadian
@beltane:
As I understand it, their Holy Book contains the story of how Jesus appeared to the Lost Tribes of Israel, who had managed to build a civilization in North America. Somehow, this civilization managed to avoid any contact with the Native American civilizations that are all the archaeologists have been able to find. Also, until the late 1970s, there was something fundamentally wrong with black people that made them unfit for priesthood, or heaven, or maybe both.
tl;dr: Yes.
WereBear
Mormons are a bit touchy about their theology, because it is a known historical fact that Joseph Smith was a con artist, and tried a few scams before this one caught on.
Mark Hofman was a forger who bilked the high up Mormon hierarchy with this very knowledge. He created documents that seems to prove that certain very controversial, and damning, elements of Mormonism were true.
Instead of denouncing them as forgeries, the Mormon bigwigs paid lots and lots of money to buy them and put them away in their vaults.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Another Halocene Human:
They’ve stopped with that particular bit of mythmaking?
Most Protestant groups make this identical claim, that they are Christianity as it was Meant To Be before it was corrupted by Constantine’s creation of Catholicism.
Sure they do. The Lottie Moon annual begathon raises money for overseas missions.
catclub
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): “Or, at least it is to me.” Me, too.
Naturally, gnosticism has always been popular in some way, and mainstream Christianity has from very early on had to assert that there really are no secrets. Thanks, Da Vinci Code!
wrb
@Another Halocene Human:
Dostoevsky believed something similar. He had a 9-11ish freakout as result of the Crimean War and became something of a Orthodox millennialist. He thought the war would lead to the fall of Rome, source of all evil not born of the French or the Poles, and all humanity would join in love. Protestants would automatically become Orthodox, as they were only Protestant due to the need to protest the evil of Rome. Jews would join too for some reason- the undeniable wonderfulness of the new world, I guess.
jwb
Sesame Workshop asks Obama campaign to take down Big Bird ad, so it probably won’t go into wide circulation. I did make a copy, however.
catclub
@blingee: “It’s really not that hard or expensive to run a site like this and 250k hits is nothing.”
Is that an offer? It sounds like an offer to host BJ for no cost ( ‘nothing’).
Cacti
@Lurking Canadian:
I’ll fill in the blanks for you:
The Book of Mormon is the story of a Jewish family ca. 600 BC that fled Judea prior to it’s fall to the Assyrians. They were led by God through the Arabian desert, and eventually across the ocean to the Americas.
They split into factions upon arriving, as the righteous followers of Nephi (Nephites) and the wicked followers of his brother Laman (Lamanites). They were all previously white, but God “cursed” the Lamanites with a “skin of blackness” to set them apart as unrighteous. Over the next 1,000 years or so, the Nephites and Lamanites were constantly at war. As long as the Nephites were righteous, they prevailed. Eventually the Nephite society gave in to debauchery, and they were wiped out in a war of genocide.
The Lamanites are “the principal ancestors” of the native Americans according to the introduction to the Book of Mormon.
Keith G
@geg6:
Unlike the deep and measured policy discussions fostered hereabouts.
Another Halocene Human
@wrb: Hey, I’m not the one who asked that question, that was upthread.
Makes me wonder, though… while genetic info has confirmed paternity lines in Ireland to some extent I gotta wonder overall how accurate that info is.
I’ve hear cuckoldry rates are high in small, ethnically homogeneous communities.
Of course, it’s hard to untangle the inbreeding from all that at a few centuries’ remove.
Djur
Progressive Mormons are hardly a new thing. Does nobody remember the Udalls?
If anything, it’s the complete capture of the LDS faithful by conservative Republicans that’s a relatively new phenomenon.
Another Halocene Human
@wrb: Wow, considering the source: ahahahhaHAHAHAHAHAhahhaha
Dostoevsky does strike me as somewhat kitchen utensil-like. This is just the icing on the Schadengalette.
Lurking Canadian
@Cacti: So it’s not so much ignoring the Native Americans as actively libeling them? Awesome.
Anyway, thanks for filling me in.
wrb
@Another Halocene Human:
My impression was that it becomes extremely dubious.
However I found tracing the tale surprisingly engrossing, even though it was likely that my actual blood went off down some unknown series of branches.
It was different window into history.
jenn
@jwb: Ha! That was great! ‘Mitt Romney. Taking on our enemies, no matter where they nest.’ [Cut to a snoring Big Bird holding a teddy bear.]
yopd1
@jwb: Well, the Romney camp evidently didn’t understand the ad.
That was the freaking point the ad was making!
blingee
@catclub: Sure no prob. That means I can get rid of bloggers and commenters I don’t like. That’s part of the deal. Just give me the passwords and I’ll get right on it.
Higgs Boson's Mate
@blingee:
If your blogging skills are on a par with your commenting skills then this outfit will be on Blogger in less than a month.
Yutsano
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: It is rather curious how Durf bitches about this blog yet won’t make his own.
quannlace
Makes me think of today’s Doonesbury cartoon.
(1968. Mitt Romney begins his career of annoying people.)
JoyfulA
@Another Halocene Human: The genealogy people are now into DNA testing.
scav
@Cacti: The other funny thing (note to design team: use snarky ha has here) is that the whole tribe of Isrealites (or other melanin impaired) showing up over here was popular meme at that time so as to explain all the monumental earthworks people were coming across in the US (Cahokia, Moundville etc) which clearly couldn’t be built by Those Feckless Native Americans so clearly some Europeans had to show up first to build them (and them convienently disappear (tidied up any pre-existing land rights issues, if nothing else).
The Moar You Know
@yopd1: They understand it just fine.
Their problem is that proclaiming on national TV that the first individual on your targeted assassination list is a beloved children’s character makes you look like a first-class asshole.
PeakVT
@Another Halocene Human: It depends on the group, but the rate of non-paternity events is roughly 1-3% in stable socio-economic groups. Note that the definition of NPE is wider than just mistaken paternal identity.
Spatula
@Amir Khalid:
Never happened, you lying cretin.
But I do recall in that same thread where you told all of us how you enjoy sucking Satan’s cock in Hell.
Keith G
@wrb:
Oh Puleeese. Even though I find his response ego-driven and repulsive,let’s not make it the center of a dolchstoßlegende myth.
This story begins and ends with decisions made by the West Wing. If the leader of the free world cannot avoid (or then clean up) this schoolyard level mess, then he might need to turn in his cape and decoder ring.
This is an Obama created shit sandwich. We know he can make some bad decisions, lets see if he can make some great ones and get through this.
Ben Cisco
New Obama for America ad – Mitt takes on
WallSesame Street.Been laughing at it for the last hour.
wrb
@Keith G:
I didn’t see it as particularly shitty sandwich. I listened on the radio, which might have something to do with it.
I thought Romney had clearly lost, because he’d lied so fragently and also been a jerk.
In the immediate aftermath there seemed to be a lot of other who held that opinion.
At that point those in Sully’s position had a choice about where to take the narrative. People could choose whether to relentlessly focus on unpacking the lies, or they could indulge in emo hysteria over machismo.
Sully had a lot to do with taking the narrative in the direction it went, and now in drowing out the jobs number news.
blingee
@Higgs Boson’s Mate: Blogger probably runs better than this site does on some server hosting hundreds of other sites. Like most shared hosting servers, it’s probably vastly oversubscribed.
rlrr
Most Protestant groups make this identical claim, that they are Christianity as it was Meant To Be before it was corrupted by Constantine’s creation of Catholicism.
Before Constantine, there was something like a bazillion flavors of Christianity (many of which would seem pretty strange to a modern Christian). Which one of these was supposed to be anything like modern Protestantism?
wrb
@rlrr:
All, probably. There are a bazillion flavors of modern Protestantism.
Keith G
@wrb: And I turned it off twenty minutes in because those lies were often left on the table, as it were. Obama did well in the footnotes and yet that was not enough. That idea existed before Sully could have had any virtual impact. I tuned back in to scan network follow up. They (and the person on the street interviews) were not quoting The Dish. Even Dem stalwarts looked shaken and sounded confused and a bit glum. Letting your opponent have a go at you from a better position (with so many people depending on you) is a shit sandwich. This isn’t about Obama’s life and career or what he does and doesn’t like, it’s about the lives and futures of tens of millions who so desperately need him to win so they might get a better chance. Shouldn’t that be fucking enough to get his ass to debate prep?
I don’t like that Sullivan is becoming part of the story, but I do view him as a bit of a parasite, so I am not surprised.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@wrb:
Quite a few Mormons do their mission work assisting in the microfilming of old records or working in the library instead of knocking on doors.
I can’t find the exact article now, but a side benefit of their microfilming project is that when disasters like the collapse of the City of Cologne’s archives building happen, there is often an extra set of at least some of the records offsite.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@rlrr: The True Christianity, of course, the one practiced in the home-based churches founded by the Apostle Paul.
Some versions of this founding myth claim that their church is the inheritor of an underground church that survived in hiding when Constantine tried to purge rivals to his perversion of Christianity. Some, like the LDS, claim divine revelation to allow them to restore the original practices.
Patricia Kayden
@wrb: Why am I laughing hysterically at comments re Sullivan’s meltdown?
I like him, but wow. I just read his blog and I had to turn away slowly. Seems like if he likes you, you’re golden, but if you mess up, you’re screwed. Feel sorry for his Husband.
eyelessgame
Honestly, I do think Reid going attack-dog on Rmoney-taxes has everything to do with their common religion. I’d bet a fair amount of money that if we could see those tax returns, we’d see that the money going to the Church of Latter-Day Saints did not in fact reach ten percent of Willard Romney’s income, and if he hasn’t been titheing, it would mean a great deal to his enthusiastic Mormon supporters.
Patricia Kayden
@wrb: Ditto Ed Schultz and Chris Matthews.
Amir Khalid
@Spatula:
Ooh, that really hurt. (Not.) Now you’re just making shit up, and that’s pitiful to behold.