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You are here: Home / Other Than That, How Was the Play, Mrs. Lincoln?

Other Than That, How Was the Play, Mrs. Lincoln?

by John Cole|  April 23, 20139:46 pm| 128 Comments

This post is in: Assholes, Republican Crime Syndicate - aka the Bush Admin., Sociopaths

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Sullivan flags a gem from Neocon scumbag and traitorous anti-American filth Jennifer Rubin:

Unlike Obama’s tenure, there was no successful attack on the homeland after 9/11.

Other than the tax cuts and the unpaid for medicare expansion and the two wars on the credit card, how did Bush wreck the budget, Mrs. Rubin?

Why can’t we throw some of these assholes out of the country? Or shoot them for treason. I’m open to both and other suggestions as well.

BTW, Andrew- there is your real fifth column.

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Reader Interactions

128Comments

  1. 1.

    KXB

    April 23, 2013 at 9:47 pm

    DC Snipers, anybody? Anthrax?

  2. 2.

    dmsilev

    April 23, 2013 at 9:48 pm

    BTW, Andrew- there is your real fifth column.

    THANK YOU.

    Did Sullivan ever apologize for that wee little slander?

  3. 3.

    Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)

    April 23, 2013 at 9:48 pm

    @KXB: Aurora, Colorado; Virginia Tech, …

  4. 4.

    dms

    April 23, 2013 at 9:49 pm

    Not to mention the anthrax attacks, which everyone seems to forget.

  5. 5.

    Baud

    April 23, 2013 at 9:49 pm

    So the key is to give the terrorists one huge victory, and that’ll sate them for a while. Good to know.

  6. 6.

    schrodinger's cat

    April 23, 2013 at 9:50 pm

    @dms: Whatever happened to poor Wen Ho Lee?

  7. 7.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    April 23, 2013 at 9:51 pm

    Katrina and Heckava Job Brownie. Since the citizens were mainly Black, Bush couldn’t give a good goddamn.

  8. 8.

    oldster

    April 23, 2013 at 9:52 pm

    Also, LindseyGraham–

    can someone just slap him for being an hysterical bitch?

    I mean–everything with him is terror terror terror to the nth degree. It’s a wonder he’s able to get out of bed in the morning.

    If you really have that little sense of perspective, so that you think a pathetic teen-age loser is a threat to America’s existence, then you have no business in public office.

    Just go back to your fainting couch in South Carolina, and let Bostonians take care of business.

  9. 9.

    cmorenc

    April 23, 2013 at 9:52 pm

    …but that 9/11 thingie was a rather BIG one, eh Jennifer R? Also, unlike with George Bush and 9/11, there weren’t any warnings from the intelligence community about anyone with imminent plans to attack the Boston Marathon, were there?

    Rubin is too STUPID to have a job anywhere other than the wingnut welfare circuit.

  10. 10.

    kindness

    April 23, 2013 at 9:53 pm

    John you are being too kind. Sully still links to her with occasional approval of Rubin’s disturbed views. Usually Sully differs from Jen wrt Israel. Here, Sully just shows himself to be like the rest of us. Dare I say moderates?

  11. 11.

    beltane

    April 23, 2013 at 9:54 pm

    @Baud: Give the terrorists a couple of thousand American lives, take the lives of tens of thousands of civilians of a country that had nothing to do with the loss of American lives…Whatever, it’s all good.

  12. 12.

    Baud

    April 23, 2013 at 9:54 pm

    Unless Bush’s tenure, every terrorist that attacked the U.S. homeland was captured or killed within a week.

  13. 13.

    Redshirt

    April 23, 2013 at 9:55 pm

    Everyone knows 9/11 was Clinton’s fault.

  14. 14.

    Bob

    April 23, 2013 at 9:56 pm

    Gin soaked Peggy Noonan fluffs Bush:

    “The American president has, meanwhile, demonstrated to the entire world that he is neither a bombastic naïf nor a reckless cowboy but, in fact, another kind of American stereotype: the steely-eyed rocket man. Don’t tread on him.” March 24, 2003

    Sadly, Jennifer Rubin has no gin excuse, just teh stupid:

    “Only when we see a robotic, cold president like Obama do we remember fondly the tender, tearful love of country Bush often conveyed and the steely anger directed at our enemies.” April 23, 2013

  15. 15.

    TG Chicago

    April 23, 2013 at 9:56 pm

    Other than the tax cuts and the unpaid for medicare expansion and the two wars on the credit card, how did Bush wreck the budget, Mrs. Rubin?

    Well, he presided over the economic collapse, which caused tax receipts to plummet, thus handing Obama the biggest budget deficit in US History.

    #answeringrhetoricalquestions

  16. 16.

    Schlemizel

    April 23, 2013 at 9:57 pm

    why the fuck are you reading that puss filled bottom feeding piece of shit? If you wanted to cause brain damage drink more booze. Same results, better time getting them

  17. 17.

    Mike in NC

    April 23, 2013 at 9:57 pm

    The word ‘homeland’ had no real history of usage in this country pre-9/11 and it should be eliminated, as should the Frankenstein agency called DHS. It’s just another layer of useless bureaucracy.

    But yeah, J-Rub is filth.

  18. 18.

    Redshirt

    April 23, 2013 at 9:59 pm

    @Mike in NC: Ramen! I hate that word “Homeland”. I’m sure the Bush gang would it have called it “Mother/Father Land” if they thought they could get away with it.

  19. 19.

    ? Martin

    April 23, 2013 at 10:00 pm

    And 9 dead at UNC – grad student ran people over with a SUV to avenge the deaths of Muslims around the world. Pretty damn similar to the Boston situation.

    And my neighbor (lived about half mile away) that went and shot up the El Al ticket counter. Wasn’t obviously terrorism, but Bush administration classified it as such, so…

  20. 20.

    Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)

    April 23, 2013 at 10:01 pm

    Only when we see a robotic, cold president like Obama do we remember fondly the tender, tearful love of country Bush often conveyed and the steely anger directed at our enemies.”

    That is some fucking weapons of mass stupidity there. The woman is a single-engine destroyer of any credibility the Washington Post has.

  21. 21.

    hamletta

    April 23, 2013 at 10:01 pm

    @Mike in NC: “Homeland” creeps me out. It sounds vaguely Nazi-ish.

  22. 22.

    Hill Dweller

    April 23, 2013 at 10:01 pm

    @Bob:

    “Only when we see a robotic, cold president like Obama do we remember fondly the tender, tearful love of country Bush often conveyed and the steely anger directed at our enemies.” April 23, 2013

    I honestly believe Rubin is mentally ill.

  23. 23.

    Baud

    April 23, 2013 at 10:02 pm

    @Bob:

    That’s some cringe-worthy writing there.

  24. 24.

    scav

    April 23, 2013 at 10:02 pm

    And what about those months and years of screeching and ORANGE LEVEL!!! threats that were actually entirely us being in the hands of a cool and competent regime. Underwear! Dive for cover!

  25. 25.

    SiubhanDuinne

    April 23, 2013 at 10:03 pm

    @Bob:

    “Only when we see a robotic, cold president like Obama do we remember fondly the tender, tearful love of country Bush often conveyed and the steely anger directed at our enemies.” April 23, 2013

    BARF.
    YORK.
    UPCHUCK.
    GACK.

  26. 26.

    Redshirt

    April 23, 2013 at 10:03 pm

    @Hill Dweller: She’s just in love. Can you blame her and Lady Peggington for falling for such manly heroes?

  27. 27.

    Spaghetti Lee

    April 23, 2013 at 10:04 pm

    @Bob:

    Jesus Christ, how can someone write that garbage? Does she believe it or does she just think her readers are that dumb.

    Yeah, Rubin, Bush tenderly loved his country. That’s why he let New Orleans drown and bailed out the banks before doing a damn thing for the lives the banks ruined. You stupid fucking asshole.

  28. 28.

    AA+ Bonds

    April 23, 2013 at 10:05 pm

    The BBC(!) newsreader just said the LA police “mistakingly” shot someone . . . I guess it shows my issues that I’m as pissed about the presentation as the “content” here

  29. 29.

    Spaghetti Lee

    April 23, 2013 at 10:06 pm

    @Mike in NC:

    Creeps me out too, for reasons I can’t quite put into words. Especially when it’s ‘the homeland’. What, saying ‘America’ or ‘The U.S.’ isn’t good enough?

    Honestly, dollars to donuts it’s one of those right wing code things. Teabaggers read ‘the homeland’ in an article and think ‘OK, this person America the way we see it. Good to know.’ God knows if Jennifer Rubin isn’t bashing Obama for bullshit reasons, she’s sucking up to right-wing lunatics.

  30. 30.

    Davis X. Machina

    April 23, 2013 at 10:09 pm

    That would be “2013 Sidney Hillman Prize winner for opinion and analysis journalism Andrew Sullivan”….

    I’m sure Sidney would be thrilled.

  31. 31.

    Fort Geek

    April 23, 2013 at 10:10 pm

    Those goddamn FEMA camps and mandatory anti-psychotic meds are sounding pretty good. Once they’re settled down…well, the fast food industry always needs counter help.

    I wonder how many paint chips these moron wingnuts ate as kids (or adults)?

    Over at Lawyers, Guns & Money: “The decline of lead exposure over the past decades is probably the single biggest reason why violent crime has dropped so much since the 1970s“

  32. 32.

    Suffern ACE

    April 23, 2013 at 10:10 pm

    @scav: yep. 2 trillion and did we ever get it to goldenrod…or whatever yellow orange is. Every holiday for years it seemed was orange alert time.

  33. 33.

    Ash Can

    April 23, 2013 at 10:11 pm

    Rubin apparently wants so badly for the white Republican president to have been great and the black Democratic one to be a failure that she’s completely lost touch with reality over it. The poor thing is not well, and shame on the Washington Post for treating her like a carnival freak show moneymaker.

  34. 34.

    Mayur

    April 23, 2013 at 10:12 pm

    Three. Thousand. People.

    Not to mention the property damage, economic disruption, and political fallout.

    This last so-called “terrorist attack” has inflicted arguably less damage and misery than the Aurora shootings did.

    Why are you even engaging this bullshit?

  35. 35.

    ? Martin

    April 23, 2013 at 10:12 pm

    Yay!

    The night’s most surprising moment came when Sen. Kelvin Atkinson, a Democrat from North Las Vegas, told his colleagues that he was gay and proud of it.

    “I’m black. I’m gay,” he said in a shaky voice. “I know this is the first time many of you have heard me say that I am a black, gay male.”

    May 1000 black, gay legislators bloom across J-Rub’s country.

  36. 36.

    Spaghetti Lee

    April 23, 2013 at 10:13 pm

    Also, the reason why someone why Jennifer Rubin would want this to be ‘Obama’s 9/11’ is obvious: she has a vague sense that her perverse love of George Bush is unpopular (she doesn’t really do ‘right’ and ‘wrong’) but rather than admit it, she’s just going to drag everyone else down to Bush’s level. But isn’t this different from 9/11, and I don’t just mean by scale? So far, there’s been no evidence that these two guys were working for anyone: they were just kinda fucked in the head and wanted to blow shit up. We see it all the time with crazy assholes and guns: just because these assholes used bombs instead and happened to be Muslim doesn’t make it a terrorist attack: terrorist attacks by defintion are meant to change the course of politics, right? What was the political goal here? Did they bomb because they wanted the US out of the Middle East, or such? I haven’t seen that.

    Not that a rotten sack of shit like Rubin will grasp such nuances, but the rest of us need to keep some perspective. If every shooting/bombing by some wackos is OMG THE NEXT 911!!!! then the fearmongers who want a camera in everyone’s butthole will have a much easier job.

  37. 37.

    Baud

    April 23, 2013 at 10:13 pm

    @Mayur:

    Three. Thousand. People.

    Yep. All reduced to an “except” clause to advance GOP propaganda.

  38. 38.

    Fort Geek

    April 23, 2013 at 10:13 pm

    Actually, it occurred to me that the Bush administration was the biggest, longest-acting terrorist attack on this country since 9/11.

  39. 39.

    Bob

    April 23, 2013 at 10:14 pm

    @Baud: It’s a shitty day when I contemplate Republican lady-parts* enthrall of Bush but someone gotta do it.

    *fingers

  40. 40.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    April 23, 2013 at 10:15 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: How about the memorable phrase Shrub uttered that would cause the deaths of 4488 American troops,.

    Bring Them On!

  41. 41.

    Baud

    April 23, 2013 at 10:17 pm

    Wikipedia’s list, FWIW

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrorism_in_the_United_States

  42. 42.

    Fwiffo

    April 23, 2013 at 10:19 pm

    People died from those anthrax letters. People were freaking the fuck out. We were being told to seal up our houses with duct tape and plastic. You could buy a spray that would let you see through envelopes. Junk mailers were considering using transparent envelopes.

    The beltway was paralyzed for weeks during those sniper attacks, which killed 10 people. People were hiding behind their cars while they gassed up. Gas stations hung up tarps to hide their customers.

    If those weren’t successful terrorist attacks on the homeland, I have no idea what is.

    Is the bald-faced lie about “no attacks since 9/11” supposed to distract you from the fact that they just called a mulligan on the worst ever attack on this country?

  43. 43.

    kindness

    April 23, 2013 at 10:19 pm

    @Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS):

    The woman is a single-engine destroyer of any credibility the Washington Post has.

    I think the WaPo is too late for that one.

  44. 44.

    MattR

    April 23, 2013 at 10:20 pm

    @? Martin: I am reminded of Wanda Sykes’s bit about coming out black to her parents.

  45. 45.

    Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS)

    April 23, 2013 at 10:20 pm

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    ‘Obama’s 9/11′

    I mean no offense to the good people of Boston and the marathoners, but this will never be Obama’s 9/11. In the grand scheme of tragic events, it’s not going to register as more than a blip.

  46. 46.

    Yutsano

    April 23, 2013 at 10:24 pm

    @? Martin: I r intrigued. Nevada is very much a divided state when it comes to social issues. The Mormons tolerate the gammbling and prostituution since it means they don’t have to pay taxes on anything. But I can’t see them lying down for same sex marriage that close to LDS territory.

  47. 47.

    Chris

    April 23, 2013 at 10:25 pm

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    Creeps me out too, for reasons I can’t quite put into words.

    “Patrie.”

    “Rodina.”

    “Vaterland.”

    It’s the American version of those words. Which have mystical overtones that speak to all those who see the country not as a group of fellow citizens trying to make it together but as a supernatural, messianic, almost sentient entity to be served like a divine force. (And if that service entails stepping on all those members of “the homeland” who don’t quite share your vision, so much the worse for them).

    The old movie “Spartacus” had a moment that captured it pretty well, the scene where Caesar says “Rome is the mob” and Crassus vehemently disagrees, saying that “Rome is an eternal thought in the mind of God.”

    Also what Aaron Sorkin said about people who love America but hate Americans.

  48. 48.

    Felonius Monk

    April 23, 2013 at 10:25 pm

    Why is Jennifer Rubin still allowed to masturbate in public via the Washington Post? Does WaPo have no decency?

  49. 49.

    gnomedad

    April 23, 2013 at 10:26 pm

    Sully – can’t live with him; can’t live without him, eh? Still in the “mockery” list, though, I see.

  50. 50.

    catclub

    April 23, 2013 at 10:33 pm

    @Fwiffo: “The beltway was paralyzed for weeks during those sniper attacks, which killed 10 people. People were hiding behind their cars while they gassed up. Gas stations hung up tarps to hide their customers.”

    I am still amazed that AQ has not sent more of those guys.
    They (AQ) seem to think that only huge, synchronized operations are sufficiently attention getting. Glad they have not figured that out.

  51. 51.

    some guy

    April 23, 2013 at 10:36 pm

    The Rube plays a very important role at WaPo (besides providing a daily humor column for much of the Internet) and that is to serve as a puke funnel. She mainstreams any and all garbage the NeoCons want to advance on any given day.

    Person X is an anti-semite
    Person Y is a true patriot
    Bibi needs more kissing.
    Benghazi
    Benghazi Benghazi Benghazi
    Obama hates Israel.

    her recent attempts tp rehab Elliot Abrams is a perfect example of her shill skill, a prelude to this Bush rehab campaign she is a minor player in

  52. 52.

    Hal

    April 23, 2013 at 10:36 pm

    Yes, Bush was so wonderful that every purported failure of Obama’s is Obama’s version of something Bush fucked up. Obama’s Katrina, Obama’s 911, Obama’s waterloo…wait, were GWB and Napoleon close?

    How you even begin to compare a dude out of office for 4 1/2 years to someone currently President and trying to fix all the stuff shrub botched is ridiculous.

    I thought Maureen Dowd had the stupidest column of the year award wrapped up, but Rubin is now giving her a run for her money.

  53. 53.

    PeakVT

    April 23, 2013 at 10:37 pm

    @Spaghetti Lee: she has a vague sense that her perverse love of George Bush is unpopular

    Rubin doesn’t love Bush. She’s a propagandist attempting to rehabilitate a central figure of the neocon reign of error.

    @Brother Machine Gun of Desirable Mindfulness (fka AWS): The Test Prep Daily hired her specifically to spew neocon crap. She is providing content the editors want.

  54. 54.

    AxelFoley

    April 23, 2013 at 10:37 pm

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    Jesus Christ, how can someone write that garbage? Does she believe it or does she just think her readers are that dumb.

    Not mutually exclusive.

  55. 55.

    Fort Geek

    April 23, 2013 at 10:37 pm

    @catclub: For smaller operations, they prefer to farm things out to Republicans to keep payroll under control.

  56. 56.

    magurakurin

    April 23, 2013 at 10:38 pm

    I think John should just put the banner

    911 HAPPENED ON BUSH’S WATCH

    right under the Balloon Juice banner. And just keep it there, forever, until a shit storm breaks out on the intertubes. A kind of super, mega trolling.

    Do it, John, do it.

  57. 57.

    Scott S.

    April 23, 2013 at 10:38 pm

    The only good Jennifer Rubin is a Jennifer Rubin who’s been strapped to a rocket with rusty barbed wire and shot into the sun.

  58. 58.

    Chris

    April 23, 2013 at 10:40 pm

    @Hal:

    Not to mention Obama’s Watergate and Obama’s Iran-contra.

  59. 59.

    danielx

    April 23, 2013 at 10:41 pm

    Does WaPo have no decency?

    This would be the same publication that features George Will, Charles Krauthammer, Richard Cohen, Michael Gerson and Marc Thiessen as well as Rubin on the editorial page? Aye, the very same!

    No. This has been another edition of Simple Answers To Simple Questions.

  60. 60.

    NotMax

    April 23, 2013 at 10:42 pm

    None at all under William Henry Harrison.

    Therefore, he must be among the greatest and most competent, security-wise, in the pantheon of presidents, huh?

  61. 61.

    PeakVT

    April 23, 2013 at 10:42 pm

    @magurakurin: I double dare Cole to do it.

  62. 62.

    trollhattan

    April 23, 2013 at 10:43 pm

    @Hill Dweller:
    If she lived in Nevada, the state mental health folks would put her on a bus for California. Just sayin’.

  63. 63.

    RaflW

    April 23, 2013 at 10:43 pm

    @oldster: Also, Lindsey Graham

    These jackass stateside cowboys all wanted to have very expensive – in money, death, and national will – wars over there about thuh terrizm under the mantra of “Freedom isn’t free.”

    Well guess what, pants-pissers in the GOP? Freedom isn’t risk-free, either.

    I certainly wouldn’t want to live through a Boston-type bombing, but the chances of dying in a terrorist-related event on US soil is infinitesimally small. So lets destroy our civil liberties to reduce the risk from 0.0000001% to 0.00000005%. Yeah, great!, pansy pants-pissers.

  64. 64.

    Yutsano

    April 23, 2013 at 10:44 pm

    @NotMax: I’d like to see you do better in 30 days libtard!

    (I don’t think Franklin Pierce had any either. But I’m too lazy to Google it right now.)

  65. 65.

    Bob

    April 23, 2013 at 10:45 pm

    @PeakVT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLZj3zOUZNs

  66. 66.

    trollhattan

    April 23, 2013 at 10:46 pm

    If the eleventy-dimensional chess folks are correct that we’re entering a period of Dubya “reappraisal” and burnishment in order to clear the path for Jeb!, I’m ordering two comets just in case the first misses.

  67. 67.

    Runt

    April 23, 2013 at 10:47 pm

    Donny: “Oh yeah, the hand-off. How did that go?”

    Jennifer Rubin Walter Sobchak: “It went alright. Dude’s car got a little banged up…”

  68. 68.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    April 23, 2013 at 10:49 pm

    @Chris: Still waiting for Obama’s Teapot Dome, Credit Mobilier, The X,Y,and Z
    affair and Peggy Eaton affair. According to the teanuts he is the most scandalous president evah.

  69. 69.

    RaflW

    April 23, 2013 at 10:50 pm

    @Redshirt:

    I hate that word “Homeland”

    +1

    I’ve despised the vaguely Fatherland-ish ring to that term.

    And in minor, ancillary annoyance, I still have to double take when I see DHS. Fisrt though is “Department of Human Services.” Nope.

  70. 70.

    kay shawn

    April 23, 2013 at 10:51 pm

    …”no successful attack on the homeland since 9/11″…

    Ms. Rubin: We saw what you did there.

  71. 71.

    PeakVT

    April 23, 2013 at 10:51 pm

    @trollhattan: Your first comet arrived and it was a dud.

  72. 72.

    magurakurin

    April 23, 2013 at 10:52 pm

    @Bob:

    lol

  73. 73.

    Eric S.

    April 23, 2013 at 10:56 pm

    @catclub: I have long thought such a scheme, say with multiple teams in various cities, could paralyze the country for months. Fortunately, AQ and the like prefer large, single, spectacular events that are harder to plan and execute.

  74. 74.

    Chris

    April 23, 2013 at 10:58 pm

    @RaflW:

    I’ve despised the vaguely Fatherland-ish ring to that term.

    Related to this: does anyone here have issues with the Pledge of Allegiance in schools for the same reason? I didn’t enter the American school system until college so maybe I shouldn’t talk, but I’ve always found the entire concept horrifically creepy, for much the same reasons people have said for the use of the word “homeland,” plus the added creepiness factor that you’re expecting children to do it long, long before they have any idea what they’re doing.

    And no, it’s not the “under God” part that bothers me. That’s just the icing on the cake.

  75. 75.

    catclub

    April 23, 2013 at 10:58 pm

    @Eric S.: Me too, if it was not obvious. And given the stated AQ goal of economic collapse of the US, I figure they just do not understand what makes us tick.

  76. 76.

    magurakurin

    April 23, 2013 at 10:59 pm

    @RaflW:

    I’ve despised the vaguely Fatherland-ish ring to that term.

    Well, the Soviets had already taken “motherland” so that was all that was left.

    It is a totally shit term. I wouldn’t be surprised if one day the DHS becomes the Department of National or Domestic Security or something along those lines.

  77. 77.

    MomSense

    April 23, 2013 at 11:01 pm

    “…there was no successful attack on the homeland after 9/11.”

    Key word is AFTER and even then it isn’t true DC Snipers, Anthrax as others have said above.

  78. 78.

    Ted & Hellen

    April 23, 2013 at 11:01 pm

    Rubin and the other psycho Bush apologists get away with their fantasyland framing of recent history due in large part to the refusal of Obama and other national Dems to call the Bushies out on their failures by name.

    Please share with me one instance of Obama laying responsibility for the preventive failures of 9/11 at the feet of the Bush administration.

    And gee, it might have helped too if there had been some war crimes prosecutions too…but, oh well, that’s all in the rear view mirror, gotta look forward, not back, don’t ya know…

  79. 79.

    Calouste

    April 23, 2013 at 11:02 pm

    Dzhokhar Tsarnaev didn’t kill any civilians after 4/15. I guess Jennifer Rubin is ok to let him off with a badge from the NRA and a sloppy kiss from Glenn Beck for killing a jackbooted union thug with a gun?

  80. 80.

    Eric S.

    April 23, 2013 at 11:04 pm

    @PeakVT: triple dog dare you.

  81. 81.

    MikeJ

    April 23, 2013 at 11:04 pm

    “Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US.”

  82. 82.

    Southern Beale

    April 23, 2013 at 11:05 pm

    ..there was no successful attack on the homeland after 9/11.

    Everyone always forgets the fucking anthrax attacks.

    Goddammit.

  83. 83.

    Bob

    April 23, 2013 at 11:06 pm

    @Eric S.: @Eric S.: @Eric S.: See comment #66

  84. 84.

    Redshirt

    April 23, 2013 at 11:08 pm

    @Chris: I do, but I have a problem with all displays of state. Too much tribalism for me.

    Do you know that prior to WW2 the proper hand position during the Pledge was the old “Roman Salute”? Made popular in Germany as well, back in the day.

  85. 85.

    Ted & Hellen

    April 23, 2013 at 11:10 pm

    @Ash Can:

    Rubin apparently wants so badly for the white Republican president to have been great and the black Democratic one to be a failure that she’s completely lost touch with reality over it.

    OK folks, the above is a great example of reading RACISM into every possible thing, even when it is in evidence at a level equaling zero, and thus devaluing the charge when it is accurately and honestly made.

  86. 86.

    eemom

    April 23, 2013 at 11:10 pm

    Sort of on topic, and anyway it cracks me up: WSJ’s ranking of best to worst jobs.

    Attorney at #117, directly under Funeral Director.
    Dead last is Reporter, Newspaper.

  87. 87.

    Chris

    April 23, 2013 at 11:10 pm

    @Redshirt:

    Yep, I did know that. Kind of a shock when you first see the old photographs of classrooms doing it.

  88. 88.

    Eric S.

    April 23, 2013 at 11:11 pm

    @Bob: I’m guessing that is the YouTube to my quote. I ibid of guessed that but my phone is on its last days and a video may have killed it. And the kitteh is on my lap so getting a PC right now is just not an option. Still, if I’m right, sorry for duplicating you’re comment.

  89. 89.

    priscianus jr

    April 23, 2013 at 11:12 pm

    @hamletta: “Homeland” creeps me out. It sounds vaguely Nazi-ish.

    “The name Homeland Security grates on a lot of people, understandably. Homeland isn’t really an American word, it’s not something we used to say or say now”
    Peggy Noonan, Opinion Journal (June 14, 2002).

    * * * *

    And in case you were wondering why it sounds so Nazi-ish to American ears:

    ‘ I feel compelled to add a comment or two by a native speaker of German. When the “Departement of Homeland Security” in the USA was founded German speaking journalists faced a dilemma. How could we possibly translate that?

    ‘Correctly that would be “Ministerium für Heimatsicherheit”.

    ‘In Austrian and German ears that sounds 100 percent Goebbels. Additionallly the secret service “Stasi” of communist Germany was an acronym of the “Ministerium für Staatssicherheit”.

    ‘We can’t do that the “Ami” [as Americans are commonly named here], was the gist of the discussion. They may sometimes behave, especially currently, like elephants in a microprocessor factory, but they do not deserve that translation.

    ‘What else? “Heimatlandsicherheit”? Says the same and sounds clumsy.

    ‘So more or less all German speaking journalists decided to go for “Ministerium für Heimatschutz”. This is still the shortest and least pejorative translation for DHS one can find. Not as aggressive as the other, but denoting something like “home-made, rugged, hillbilly style” in addition. From 1934 untill 1938 when Austria was ruled by a homegrown clerical/ fascist regime dominated by Catholic fanatics the word “Heimatschutz” was much used.’ ….

    http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/200610/msg00004.html

  90. 90.

    Mike E

    April 23, 2013 at 11:13 pm

    @Baud: That’s quite the list there, but it leaves out the only [ahem] verified coup d’etat in U.S. history.

  91. 91.

    Davis X. Machina

    April 23, 2013 at 11:13 pm

    If you must have a morning patriotic observance, a recitation of the first section of the 14th amendment is a better place to start…

    Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

  92. 92.

    Narcissus

    April 23, 2013 at 11:14 pm

    @priscianus jr:

    denoting something like “home-made, rugged, hillbilly style”

    That sounds like something an American Goebbels would go for.

  93. 93.

    Bob

    April 23, 2013 at 11:14 pm

    @Ted & Hellen: So RACISM is worse than racism?

  94. 94.

    Redshirt

    April 23, 2013 at 11:15 pm

    Let me also state for my FBI file that I am sick and tired of “God Bless America” being sung during the 7th inning stretch. Enough already!

  95. 95.

    Eric S.

    April 23, 2013 at 11:20 pm

    @Redshirt: Sick and tired. While the jack boots are updating your file they can pull mine for the same update.

  96. 96.

    magurakurin

    April 23, 2013 at 11:22 pm

    @Ted & Hellen:

    now I know you are a Doug J. troll.

    Jen Rubin is Obama’s fault.

    He shoots, he scores for another case of Tastycake…

  97. 97.

    MikeJ

    April 23, 2013 at 11:24 pm

    @Redshirt: A-fucking-men. I make a point a standing backwards when I go to a game.

    I think in the seventh inning of every game we should have, either live or on tape, David Ortiz address the crowd.

  98. 98.

    Quicksand

    April 23, 2013 at 11:30 pm

    “With notably rare exceptions (2008, for example), the global ‘invisible hand’ has created relatively stable exchange rates, interest rates, prices, and wage rates.”

  99. 99.

    Suzanne

    April 23, 2013 at 11:35 pm

    @Bob:

    “Only when we see a robotic, cold president like Obama do we remember fondly the tender, tearful love of country Bush often conveyed and the steely anger directed at our enemies.” April 23, 2013

    Oh, FFS. First of all, he fucking cried after Newtown. I suppose Jennifer Rubin doesn’t think dead children are worth shedding tears. Secondly, and ONCE AGAIN, I am not looking for a therapist or a drinking buddy or a confidante—I’m looking for a president.

    And to conclude…..dod anyone honestly consider Bush “steely-eyed”? I mean, maybe he has gray eyes. But the dude always looked like he was making a “that’s what she said” joke in his head and was barely suppressing his douchey giggles.

    Please note that I do not fault him for this. I love a good “that’s what she said” or “like your mom” joke. However, I am not the president.

  100. 100.

    MattR

    April 23, 2013 at 11:37 pm

    @Suzanne: Bush was steely-eyed as he stared at the pages of My Pet Goat on 9/11.

  101. 101.

    Bob

    April 23, 2013 at 11:37 pm

    @Quicksand: @Quicksand: Yep, Alan Greenspan is a dip-shit.

  102. 102.

    Suffern ACE

    April 23, 2013 at 11:41 pm

    @Suzanne: I’m with you. I think Clinton did steely eyed better, but had fewer opportunities. When bush did it, I figured there was a bright light causing him to squint. The whole reason folks were scared of Cheney-beyond the whole thing that anyone who revels in injustice that much has to be a bit nuts-is that bush wasn’t charismatically steely.

  103. 103.

    ? Martin

    April 23, 2013 at 11:45 pm

    @Yutsano: Marriage is business in Nevada. It’s just another revenue stream.

  104. 104.

    MattR

    April 23, 2013 at 11:46 pm

    @Yutsano:

    But I can’t see them lying down for same sex marriage that close to LDS territory.

    But I thought after same sex marriage becomes law, polygamy is inevitable.

  105. 105.

    danah gaz

    April 23, 2013 at 11:51 pm

    That was my exact response to Rubin this morning.

  106. 106.

    Ruckus

    April 24, 2013 at 12:21 am

    @Mr Stagger Lee:
    Pretty sure shrub really didn’t/doesn’t give a shit about anyone. He barely seems to even give a shit about himself. He is however a thoroughly useless shit.

  107. 107.

    A Humble Lurker

    April 24, 2013 at 12:36 am

    @Eric S.: Quadruple.

  108. 108.

    Jamey

    April 24, 2013 at 12:37 am

    @? Martin: I’m sure his colleagues knew he was black before he announced it, right?

  109. 109.

    Sly

    April 24, 2013 at 12:52 am

    @Felonius Monk:

    Does WaPo have no decency?

    The only reason that Jennifer Rubin has an editorial space at the Washington Post is because Fred Hiatt’s first choice was otherwise occupied.

  110. 110.

    Another Halocene Human

    April 24, 2013 at 1:02 am

    @Quicksand: oh, you did it now :)

  111. 111.

    Cacti

    April 24, 2013 at 1:08 am

    As I mentioned in the earlier thread, the mental gymnastics required to give Bush a mulligan on 9/11 practically beggars belief.

    What Rubin is saying, in non-weasel words is “Other than the time he let 3,000 Americans die on his watch, Bush kept the country safe.”

  112. 112.

    David Koch

    April 24, 2013 at 2:13 am

    @MikeJ: “All right. You’ve covered your ass, now.”

  113. 113.

    TenguPhule

    April 24, 2013 at 3:28 am

    Why can’t we throw some of these assholes out of the country? Or shoot them for treason. I’m open to both and other suggestions as well.

    I’ve always favored stripping the Bushes, Cheneys and Rubins of their American citzenship and dumping them in Iraq and Afghanistan for the local women to deal with them.

    Kipling was quite poetic about their inventiveness.

  114. 114.

    Louis

    April 24, 2013 at 4:00 am

    When you’re wounded and dying
    On afghanistans plains.
    And the women come out
    To cut up your remains.
    Just roll on your rifle
    And blow out your brains.
    And go to your gawd
    Like a soldier.

  115. 115.

    Thor Heyerdahl

    April 24, 2013 at 5:05 am

    1000 pardons for the following comparison (and may Madeline Kahn rest in peace)

    But Rubin’s over the top attacks on Obama leaves me to wonder if Rubin dreams she could play the role of Lili von Shtupp and ask Obama “is it twue what they say about the way you people are… gifted?”

  116. 116.

    chopper

    April 24, 2013 at 7:12 am

    @Hal:

    oasis aint the beatles and boston aint 9/11.

  117. 117.

    Ramalama

    April 24, 2013 at 7:16 am

    @magurakurin: Yes! Do it! I don’t know what kind of impact it would have on any of Rubin’s ilk or even on a drive-by Bush advocate, but it surely would feel good.

  118. 118.

    Matt McIrvin

    April 24, 2013 at 7:23 am

    @Chris: Of course the Pledge is creepy.

    The odd thing is that it was concocted by a utopian socialist as a vaguely progressive, internationalist thing that kids in every country would say (though of course it only caught on in the US); you were originally just pledging “allegiance to my flag, and to the republic for which it stands”. I think the idea was to connect nationalism to “liberty and justice” no matter where you lived.

    The other odd thing is that the original version of the salute wasn’t hand-on-heart; instead it looked exactly like the Nazi stormtrooper salute.

  119. 119.

    Matt McIrvin

    April 24, 2013 at 7:28 am

    …and I’m not sure if the guy imagined every country becoming a republic, or the Pledge being adapted to monarchies and such.

  120. 120.

    Omnes Omnibus

    April 24, 2013 at 7:35 am

    Cole, did you see this on your blog earlier?

  121. 121.

    Patrick

    April 24, 2013 at 7:37 am

    Unlike Obama’s tenure, there was no successful attack on the homeland after 9/11.

    I wonder where Ms Rubin went to debate school. This must be the dumbest argument I have ever heard since 9/11 happened on Bush’s watch.

  122. 122.

    Svensker

    April 24, 2013 at 8:46 am

    Sully’s on his “jihad jihad oMG jihad” kick again and claims Bill “Muslims are the Real Antichrist” Maher as moral backup. That has finally pushed me over the edge. I ain’t reading him any more.

  123. 123.

    Ajaye

    April 24, 2013 at 8:53 am

    Another day, and simply one more occassion to ask ourselves in our usual bewilderment and incredulity : what has this person done to merit a nation media platform from which to spew hacktastic fact & analysis free right wing talking points. This is a special case though since the hack in question is especially ridiculous and creepy. Actually, that is exactly why she merits a place in the liberal media. Fair and balanced! Even if our pundits are unbalanced!

    At least she didn’t pretend 9/11 did not happen. I want to know why right wingers are permitted to start the Obama bashing the minute after a national tragedy whereas liberals are instantly branded as unpatriotic at best and enemies of the state at worst if they deliver even a mild rebuke to a R president in the wake of a terrorist attack?

  124. 124.

    liberal

    April 24, 2013 at 8:59 am

    @Sly:
    Yep.

  125. 125.

    sherparick

    April 24, 2013 at 10:08 am

    I am also wondering how Glenn Greenwald is reacting to his new hero, Rand Paul, endorsing the use of drones to off American citizens suspected of committing a criminal act (someone who just stole $50 from a liquor store was the example used). http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/04/23/1204296/-Rand-Paul-reverses-position-supports-drone-killings-of-American-citizens-on-American-soil

    But he doesn’t want drones peeking on Murikans who are using their hot tubs.

  126. 126.

    The Golux

    April 24, 2013 at 10:28 am

    …the unpaid for medicare expansion…

    She actually lists this as one of his great achievements:

    “He is responsible for one of the most popular and fiscally sober entitlement plans, Medicare Part D.”

    Sheesh.

  127. 127.

    Deb T

    April 24, 2013 at 1:38 pm

    As Charles Pierce says over on Esquire, looks like she gives Bush a giant Mulligan for 9/11. It’s not like there wasn’t plenty of warning that there might be an attck. They took their eyes off the Bin Laden ball after Clinton left.
    And what about all the soldiers who died or were wounded in that senseless war in Iraq? Even Hussein wouldn’t have killed as many Iraqis that have died and are dying in that ongoing conflict.

    There was the anthrax attack after 9/11 oh,
    a bunch of folks died in New Orleans while Bush’s ate birthday cake and then flew over. Heck of a job Bushie. The city was nearly destroyed and won’t ever totally recover.

    The Boy Bombers in Boston were more like the teens at Columbine than Al Queda.

    So yeah, let’s give Bush a pass. NOT.

  128. 128.

    McJulie

    April 24, 2013 at 6:06 pm

    @Suzanne:

    But the dude always looked like he was making a “that’s what she said” joke in his head and was barely suppressing his douchey giggles.

    Best description yet!

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