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You are here: Home / Economics / Grifters Gonna Grift / Nothing don’t mean nothing honey if it ain’t free

Nothing don’t mean nothing honey if it ain’t free

by DougJ|  July 19, 20139:56 am| 155 Comments

This post is in: Grifters Gonna Grift

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Et tu, Erick?

Erick Erickson is not for sale, says Erick Erickson. You will have to take his word for it, because for some reason it regularly looks a lot like he is for sale. The most recent example: this mass email, obtained by MediaMatters, sent to the entire email list of Erickson’s RedState blog, promoting a financial newsletter by Mark Skousen, an Austrian economist whose uncle was the legendary right-wing pseudo-historian W. Cleon Skousen.

Also most of the email pitch was plagiarized from a four-year-old Ann Coulter email pitch for the same financial newsletter.

[…]

If, as Erickson claims, he did not get paid for this endorsement (or, rather, if he wasn’t paid to have his name affixed to this boilerplate get-rich-quick scam email), then his claim to moral purity is that he sold out his readers for free.

There’s more at the link…though maybe it won’t shock you to learn that Erick Erickson is straight grifting.

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Reader Interactions

155Comments

  1. 1.

    GregB

    July 19, 2013 at 10:02 am

    Erick Erickson, that goat fucking child molester is still around.

  2. 2.

    Sibling Nonspecific Firearm of Random Adjective Followed by a Noun That Describes a Mental State (fka AWS)

    July 19, 2013 at 10:03 am

    So nobody is going to do anything about the Lewis Black autoplay video that is keeping people off the front page?

  3. 3.

    dmsilev

    July 19, 2013 at 10:05 am

    Plagiarizing Ann Coulter? Dear Lord, can we expect to see Erick son of Erick of the House of Erick show up on TV in a slinky black cocktail dress?

  4. 4.

    PeakVT

    July 19, 2013 at 10:05 am

    …though maybe it won’t shock you to learn that Erick Erickson is straight grifting.

    Like any good Christianist should.

  5. 5.

    Hunter Gathers

    July 19, 2013 at 10:05 am

    Grifting the rubes is the American way.

  6. 6.

    Face

    July 19, 2013 at 10:06 am

    Also most of the email pitch was plagiarized from a four-year-old Ann Coulter email pitch for the same financial newsletter.

    Man bites dog. News at 11. Yawn. Feigns surprise.

  7. 7.

    GregB

    July 19, 2013 at 10:06 am

    Josh Barro at Business Insider thinks Erickson is pretty derpy.

  8. 8.

    c u n d gulag

    July 19, 2013 at 10:07 am

    Erick Erickson, son of many other son’s of the original Erick – who probable wishes he’d wacked his wanker off, seeing how much damage it’s wandering has caused – has no, none, zip, zilch, ZERO, integrity.

    And why? Because the Conservative base has no integrity.

    They don’t care what crap they’re being fed, as long as it fills the hatred and fear in their gut and heart. Or who feeds it?

    Erickson took an old grift, and gave it an Earl Sheib paint job.

    Yes, something should be done to protect the suckers, rubes, marks, fools, bobo’s, saps, dummies, idiots, morons, imbeciles, Jesus-freaks, and nit/half/dim/fock-wits, from themselves.

    But, what’s a grafter to do, when there is not only low-lying fruit like this, but so much of it?

    Why should the seller have any integrity, when the buyers aren’t discerning, and have no integrity towards others, either.

    The base wants a get rich scheme, no matter at whose expense. So, what integrity can they claim?

    They bought the gold, because they were sold that they were savvy, and that THEY could take advantage of others – those not in “the know” on this (grift/scheme).

    Actually, it’s only us Liberals who look to protect fools from soon being separated from their money.

    Conservatives are only too glad to take as much money from any fool they can find – and the easiest ones to take advantage of, are those without any integrity either: their base.

  9. 9.

    jonas

    July 19, 2013 at 10:13 am

    He didn’t make any money off the endorsement? Yeah…..right. It was probably meant to be carefully parsed. He didn’t get paid *up front* to send it out, but he’ll make a certain amount for every person that ends up subscribing to the newsletter or something.

  10. 10.

    Sibling Nonspecific Firearm of Random Adjective Followed by a Noun That Describes a Mental State (fka AWS)

    July 19, 2013 at 10:13 am

    @Sibling Nonspecific Firearm of Random Adjective Followed by a Noun That Describes a Mental State (fka AWS): All praise be unto the gracious Kay for responding to an earlier request. May her praises be sung forevermore.

  11. 11.

    Ivan Ivanovich Renko

    July 19, 2013 at 10:15 am

    I’m shocked, SHOCKED to learn that a prominent wingnut is grifting!

  12. 12.

    Sibling Nonspecific Firearm of Random Adjective Followed by a Noun That Describes a Mental State (fka AWS)

    July 19, 2013 at 10:15 am

    @jonas: or he got an in-kind trade of some kind. There’s a lot of advertising shit that goes on that doesn’t involve “making money” directly.

  13. 13.

    Tokyokie

    July 19, 2013 at 10:25 am

    @Sibling Nonspecific Firearm of Random Adjective Followed by a Noun That Describes a Mental State (fka AWS): Maybe he was paid in U.S. currency, because we know only gold constitutes real money. Oooh, this grift has more nuance than we first thought!

  14. 14.

    Tokyokie

    July 19, 2013 at 10:26 am

    @c u n d gulag: $$$$$$$$$$$$$! You should get 5 big ol’ red stars for that.

  15. 15.

    Tonybrown74

    July 19, 2013 at 10:27 am

    No!

    I don’t believe you!!!11eleventy-one!1

    /dramatic-clutching-of-pearls

  16. 16.

    SatanicPanic

    July 19, 2013 at 10:33 am

    financial newsletter by Mark Skousen, an Austrian economist whose uncle was the legendary right-wing pseudo-historian W. Cleon Skousen

    I feel like the word pseudo needs to be repeated in this sentence about 5 more times for it to be totally accurate.

  17. 17.

    The Moar You Know

    July 19, 2013 at 10:34 am

    He’s not for sale.

    He’s for rent. There’s a difference. When you”re for sale, you’re a slave. When you’re for rent, you’re a whore.

  18. 18.

    geg6

    July 19, 2013 at 10:38 am

    Personally, I applaud Erick bin Erick for his crafty fleecing of the rubes who make up his readership. I encourage him to keep doing it as often as possible. I know that, as a liberal, I should want to protect these idiots from ripoff artists like Erick bin Erick and the product of the foul Skousen clan. But I’m so over these people that I want them to suffer the consequences of their stupidity, early and often. I think Erick bin Erick should hook up with Beck’s gold grifting buddies, too. Let them all starve and be homeless. Maybe then, they’ll see the advantages in SNAP and Section 8.

  19. 19.

    Fluke bucket

    July 19, 2013 at 10:39 am

    It is always about the money boys and girls. It is the only concept they can grasp

  20. 20.

    maya

    July 19, 2013 at 10:45 am

    I thought Cleon Skousen sold cartoon balloons and called his nephew Jesus?

  21. 21.

    Marmot

    July 19, 2013 at 10:46 am

    @c u n d gulag: You’re on to something. It’s possible to win conservatives’ trust by displaying in-group loyalty, rather than accurate predictions or solid logic, say. Didn’t Rick Perlstein write something similar about the get-rich-quick schemes that tag along with right-wing mailing lists, and have since at least Richard Vigeurie’s (sp?) day?

    Lots of conservatives will still ally with the right even though the right is constantly trying to shake loose change from them. Buy gold, says Glenn Beck!

    But why? Why is this crop of people so invested in in-group loyalty?

  22. 22.

    Marmot

    July 19, 2013 at 10:50 am

    @geg6: Those people include my parents, geg. I’d prefer they didn’t get victimized in their old age.

    It’d be better to find out why they award their loyalty, then sabotage that process, don’t you think?

  23. 23.

    njb

    July 19, 2013 at 10:55 am

    He’s not for sale because he’s already bought.

  24. 24.

    Marmot

    July 19, 2013 at 10:56 am

    Here we go. Rick Perlstein on Richard Viguerie’s (and the conservative movement’s) “long con.”

    http://www.thebaffler.com/past/the_long_con/

  25. 25.

    maya

    July 19, 2013 at 10:57 am

    @Marmot:

    But why? Why is this crop of people so invested in in-group loyalty?

    Why did Oldsmobile buyers continue to buy Olds, and, what do they buy now? (Probably not Kias.)

  26. 26.

    Belafon

    July 19, 2013 at 11:00 am

    @Marmot: In the olden days, the metaphor was circling the wagons. In-group loyalty is important because they have been taught that they are under attack from every direction: religion, sex, gender, money, race. Who else are they going to rely on, the people who want to provide the blah’s the same healthcare they get?

  27. 27.

    Keith

    July 19, 2013 at 11:02 am

    I should add that his response to news that a US city had to declare bankruptcy (not the moral kind that he’s so familiar with) was to tweet: “HA HA HA HA HA”. Class act all the way. How did CNN let this guy get away?

  28. 28.

    Ted & Hellen

    July 19, 2013 at 11:04 am

    Erick Erickson is straight grifting.

    Like Cole and ABL and most other bloggers?

    And like you’d like to be?

  29. 29.

    PeakVT

    July 19, 2013 at 11:05 am

    @Marmot: Because group loyalty is just a part of the mindset. Conservatism is fundamentally about preserving the existing social structure. That means conservatives adhere to their existing social groups, regardless of whether the groups serve them well or not.

  30. 30.

    Mnemosyne

    July 19, 2013 at 11:08 am

    @c u n d gulag:

    Erickson took an old grift, and gave it an Earl Sheib paint job.

    We can close down the internets for the rest of the day, because they have already been won.

  31. 31.

    Mnemosyne

    July 19, 2013 at 11:10 am

    @Ted & Hellen:

    Cole and ABL sell subscription-only newsletters to gullible readers? Or is that just the explanation they gave you for why you have to send them $10 a month to be allowed to post here?

  32. 32.

    Shakezula

    July 19, 2013 at 11:10 am

    He’s not for sale because he goes by the ounce and no one has that much cash.

    I am pleased to hear that EEk spams his readers. Being dumb enough to read his bullshit should come with a penalty of some sort.

  33. 33.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 19, 2013 at 11:10 am

    I’m shocked, shocked.

    Get the smelling salts, I feel the vapors coming on.

  34. 34.

    Belafon

    July 19, 2013 at 11:10 am

    @Ted & Hellen: Well, you know, every year, John doubles the pay of all of the FPers, including his own. It’s been up for 10 years, so each now makes 0*2^10 = 0.

    The only money John takes in is to pay for the website.

  35. 35.

    c u n d gulag

    July 19, 2013 at 11:12 am

    @Marmot:
    They are Manichean Authoritarians, which means that the followers are without any critical skills.

    To them, there are no shades of gray – only pure white – which is good/and pure black – which is evil. Any shade or gray in anything, means that someone compromised with evil, so evil is in the result of that compromise.

    They’ll believe anything from one of “their own.” EVERY TIME!

    And yeah, they have been the subjects for grifts from time immemorial.

    But how can anyone blame the grifter’s, when the grifting’s so easy.

    I wish I was a soul-less bastard, because I could have made a fortune!
    But sadly, even this Agnostic has some limits. A lot, in fact. :’-(

  36. 36.

    Scott S.

    July 19, 2013 at 11:12 am

    @Ted & Hellen: Angry Republican Troll is Angry.

  37. 37.

    bill d

    July 19, 2013 at 11:13 am

    Erickson should release his tax returns to prove it to all.

    /

  38. 38.

    Sparky

    July 19, 2013 at 11:16 am

    @dmsilev: Let’s hope not.

  39. 39.

    Tom Levenson

    July 19, 2013 at 11:16 am

    @Scott S.: I just want to go on record that I cash John’s checks right after I return from the hot-and-cold-running-Dom vacations paid for by Soros’ $

  40. 40.

    Odie Hugh Manatee

    July 19, 2013 at 11:16 am

    @Keith:

    Better yet, Erickkk, Son of Erickkk, after passage of the abortion of the Texas abortion bill twatted a URL to a coat hanger supplier so libruls in Texas could have it handy when they need an abortion

    My first thought was “How Christian of him”. My second thought was that he truly is a piece of shit without compassion for anyone who doesn’t goose-step to his beliefs.

  41. 41.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 19, 2013 at 11:20 am

    @Tom Levenson: What? No direct deposit?

  42. 42.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 19, 2013 at 11:20 am

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    Erikkk son of Erikkk is a case study in why retroactive abortion should be legal for just about anyone to perform.

  43. 43.

    piratedan

    July 19, 2013 at 11:21 am

    so, instead of being outraged that a major metropolitan area has suffered a financial crisis of proportions that even a Republican Governor and his extreme economic policies of suspending Democracy in order to save the city from itself has happened. We’re laughing due to political expediency instead of questioning what can be done to solve the problem. No one wants to examine why the money fled from the city and to the suburbs, no one wants to figure out how to fix the problem, they just want to be able to lay blame, regardless of how indirectly it may be applied, onto their political opponents. Thank you again Conservatives for illustrating that you’re no longer the adults in the room.

  44. 44.

    Scott S.

    July 19, 2013 at 11:24 am

    @Tom Levenson: Dom Perignon? Or dominatrices?

  45. 45.

    scav

    July 19, 2013 at 11:24 am

    @Scott S.: Double-dog doesn’t have the consistent integrity to be a repub troll, nor is mere reality a playground he recognizes. Just a grab-bag of some automatic triggers and a default to supporting whatever is the most likely to provoke the pharyngeal reflex. Jumble of low-rent programming tricks is our little cutie.

  46. 46.

    JCT

    July 19, 2013 at 11:27 am

    @Odie Hugh Manatee:

    My first thought was “How Christian of him”. My second thought was that he truly is a piece of shit without compassion for anyone who doesn’t goose-step to his beliefs.

    Yes, like many of his ilk he seems to be a member of a very active congregation that is centered on the gospel of “Who would Jesus Fuck Over (and can I have some)”. Feature, not a bug.

    This sort of vile behavior is just another step towards his life goal of taking over for Rush Limbaugh when he drops deal. Nothing more.

  47. 47.

    Sparky

    July 19, 2013 at 11:28 am

    @Mnemosyne: That fucking idiot doesn’t understand what “grift” means.

  48. 48.

    The Moar You Know

    July 19, 2013 at 11:29 am

    Erikkk son of Erikkk is a case study in why retroactive abortion should be legal for just about anyone to perform.

    @Villago Delenda Est: AKA “Stand Your Ground”. Works for me. Erickson puts me in fear of my life.

    I knew liberals and conservatives would finally agree on something. Somebody dig up David Broder and tell him his dreams came true.

  49. 49.

    geg6

    July 19, 2013 at 11:30 am

    @Ted & Hellen:

    Cole gets cash for blogging? Really? And you know this how?

  50. 50.

    Tone in DC

    July 19, 2013 at 11:31 am

    Erick bin Erick is just himself. He cannot help that. He and his Trike Force (and their pneumatic training wheels with Red Dawn decals from 1985) deserve all the derision that the sentient American public can heap upon them.

    And such as.

  51. 51.

    MattF

    July 19, 2013 at 11:31 am

    Repeat after me– It is, in fact, about the money. Rinse. Repeat.

  52. 52.

    Mnemosyne

    July 19, 2013 at 11:33 am

    @scav:

    Not even that — it’s just knee-jerk contrarianism. Note how it waits until there are 10 or 15 posts to see what the prevailing sentiment is so it can jump in with the opposite opinion. If the rest of us turned against Obama, it would suddenly become the biggest Obot on the planet.

    It has no actual convictions or beliefs, just opposition.

  53. 53.

    scav

    July 19, 2013 at 11:33 am

    @Scott S.: Why do you assume or? Soros, remember, Soros-funding.

  54. 54.

    Davis X. Machina

    July 19, 2013 at 11:34 am

    @scav: What was Lionel Trllling’s phrase? “A series of irritable mental gestures which seek to resemble ideas.”

  55. 55.

    rk

    July 19, 2013 at 11:41 am

    @Ted & Hellen:

    Like Cole and ABL and most other bloggers?

    And like you’d like to be?

    Do you have any proof of that? Because Media Matters actually produced evidence that Erik the twit is a grifter. You (or is it the two of you idiots?) just typed some random crap.

  56. 56.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 19, 2013 at 11:42 am

    @The Moar You Know:

    Just ask Tom Brokaw, the heir of Broder. I’m sure he’ll confirm that this is the sort of thing that his mentor would approve of.

  57. 57.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 19, 2013 at 11:44 am

    @geg6:

    And you know this how?

    Transmissions from the Ferengi that penetrate the tin foil.

  58. 58.

    Marmot

    July 19, 2013 at 11:48 am

    @c u n d gulag: Upthread, both Belafon and PeakVT have similar answers, boiling down to “they hate or fear outsiders, trusting only each other.”

    I agree, but it’s unsatisfying. How do they get this way? I suspect it’s partly genetic, but maybe it’s all environmental.

    Also, I’ve searched for research about the instensity of in-group tendencies based on political persuasion — are they really more in-group driven than liberals? — but social scientists seem loathe to touch that.

    Anyone seen any research on either phenomenon?

    In the meantime, here’s Erikson explaining why it’s right to claim inflation is up, when it’s not. It’s a rare glimpse at a shibboleth behind the scenes:
    http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/28/the-truthiness-is-out-there/

  59. 59.

    feebog

    July 19, 2013 at 11:51 am

    I’m not sure why anyone on this blog feels an obligation to protect the gullible rubes on Erick son of Erick’s mailing list. Let them spend their hard earned saving on the crap he is pushing. A few of them may even wake up and realize they have been had.

  60. 60.

    p.a.

    July 19, 2013 at 11:54 am

    @maya: fear and loathing= addled cognition

  61. 61.

    catclub

    July 19, 2013 at 11:55 am

    @Scott S.: Why not both? One poured on the other.

  62. 62.

    piratedan

    July 19, 2013 at 11:57 am

    @Marmot: ty for that link… I swear, sometimes I think about ponying up for the NYT for Krugman alone but then again I think about the rest of the idiocy I’d be subsidizing and always hold off. Krugman’s next article about Conservative economists is also worth a look.

  63. 63.

    The Red Pen

    July 19, 2013 at 12:01 pm

    @Ted & Hellen:

    [Grifters, like] Cole and ABL and most other bloggers?

    I’m glad someone has the guts to call out John Cole as history’s greatest monster.

    Why won’t he release his birth certificate?

  64. 64.

    Marmot

    July 19, 2013 at 12:04 pm

    @piratedan: Thanks! I’ll get ahold of it right away. Krugman’s been chronicling that trend on his blog for a while. Even economists of the right are more invested in group loyalty than figuring out economics. It’s fascinating.

  65. 65.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 19, 2013 at 12:06 pm

    @The Red Pen:

    Why won’t he release his birth certificate?

    It will show he was actually born in East Prussia.

  66. 66.

    reflectionephemeral

    July 19, 2013 at 12:10 pm

    @Marmot:

    Here we go. Rick Perlstein on Richard Viguerie’s (and the conservative movement’s) “long con.”

    http://www.thebaffler.com/past/the_long_con/

    Yep, that’s an important article. It shows that this is a bigger problem than just one doofusy commentator being caught shilling some crap. This worldview– They are out to get us, and We can secretly profit at their expense– is endemic to the Republican Party. Supposed northeastern moderate Mitt Romney told prominent huckster Sean Hannity that the president was harming the country on purpose. It’s a tribalist, quasi-authoritarian mindset.

    It’s not great for winning presidential elections, but it’s a pretty solid way to win congressional elections and sell crap.

  67. 67.

    geg6

    July 19, 2013 at 12:11 pm

    @Marmot:

    I’m very sorry about your parents. However, if they choose to be marks, then I say the grifters should take them for what they can get. I really have no sympathy for them. And I, too, have family and friends who are just as gullible. But I’m truly done feeling sorry for these people. They could actually choose to open their minds and hearts. They don’t. So after 54 years of fighting the forces of darkness on my own and their behalf, I’m done with championing them.

  68. 68.

    Belafon

    July 19, 2013 at 12:11 pm

    @Marmot: Here’s something to wrap your head around: How much of this “I will not admit I am wrong” is actually tied to “I would then have to admin Liberals were right.”

    I would be willing to not goad if some of these people would just admit they were wrong so we can fix things.

  69. 69.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 19, 2013 at 12:15 pm

    Here’s something to wrap your head around: How much of this “I will not admit I am wrong” is actually tied to “I would then have to admin Liberals were right.”

    A great deal of the silence on the utter stupidity of the utterly illegal and immoral invasion of Iraq has to do with this. The damn hippies were telling us all along this was a mistake of epic proportions, but it was the hippies telling us that, so we ignored them. Hippies like Eric Shenseki, known peace activist and obvious commie agent.

  70. 70.

    Violet

    July 19, 2013 at 12:16 pm

    Look at the first Newsmax headline on the sidebar:

    Peter King Confirms Possible Presidential Bid

    Oh, please let this happen! Please!

  71. 71.

    Amir Khalid

    July 19, 2013 at 12:18 pm

    @Ted & Hellen:
    You should raise all these concerns in long, detailed emails to John Cole and Imani (that is, ABL). Both are well-known for their high estimation of your opinions; and John Cole is, as I understand, a patron of your works of art. No doubt they will read your communications with the utmost attention and then do whatever is needful.

  72. 72.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 19, 2013 at 12:20 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    No doubt they will read your communications with the utmost attention and then do whatever is needful.

    “Man, that bit bucket is spilling excess 1s and 0s all over the floor, Boss might step in them and track them all over the house! Time to take out the trash!”

  73. 73.

    Jon P

    July 19, 2013 at 12:20 pm

    Calling Cleon Skousen a “pseudo-historian” does not do full justice to the depths of his wignuttery. Check this out:

    http://www.lysergia.com/LamaReviews/lamaInstantInsanity.htm

  74. 74.

    Johnny Coelacanth

    July 19, 2013 at 12:20 pm

    @Ted & Hellen: The bitter old biddy has returned.

  75. 75.

    Poopyman

    July 19, 2013 at 12:22 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est: Well, at least it’s a big step up from King of Prussia.

  76. 76.

    Lit3Bolt

    July 19, 2013 at 12:22 pm

    I guess it’s gratifying to know Erick Erickson is an authoritarian right-wing ideological radical only because it pays well.

    This will be of great comfort to the microbial life on Earth as it covers our corroded iPhones and rusty keys when all large terrestrial species die out when Earth’s average temperature soars to an average of 110 degrees F over the entire planet.

    But old white men in America were rich for a few years, so it was all okay and justified in the end.

  77. 77.

    piratedan

    July 19, 2013 at 12:22 pm

    @Belafon: agreed Bela, for these people to admit any kind of failing, large or small seems to go hand in hand with the old “Conservatism cannot fail it can only be failed” concepts. Same applies to “my version of the invisible sky buddy is the only legitimate one”. Everything is binary, zero sum stuff with these folks and they can’t get out of their own heads once the accepted tribal thinking has been determined.

  78. 78.

    Amir Khalid

    July 19, 2013 at 12:23 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:
    ;)

  79. 79.

    piratedan

    July 19, 2013 at 12:24 pm

    @Amir Khalid: I’m guessing that there’s a newsletter there, just waiting to be subscribed to…..

  80. 80.

    22over7

    July 19, 2013 at 12:27 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Or worse, King of Prussia. Can’t trust those Pennsylvanians as far as you can throw them.

  81. 81.

    Johnny Coelacanth

    July 19, 2013 at 12:28 pm

    @Keith: to tweet: “HA HA HA HA HA”.” If Erickson was deeper than a puddle of spit, he might pause to consider how this reflects on the Michigan Republican Gov’s brilliant plan to install despotic “Emergency Managers” in charge of struggling cities around the state. A GOP-appointed emergency manager has been in charge of Detroit since mid-March, but Erickson laughs because…. he thinks the blahs are in charge? He’s a black-hearted stain on the face of humanity? I’m not sure, but it’s probably both.

  82. 82.

    MattF

    July 19, 2013 at 12:28 pm

    @reflectionephemeral: Yeah, the long con… Pearlstein tends to be long-winded, so here’s the two-sentence version: The short con is when the grifter gets the loose change in your pockets. The long con is when you get sent home to get the rest.

  83. 83.

    Poopyman

    July 19, 2013 at 12:29 pm

    RIP Schoep.

  84. 84.

    Mandalay

    July 19, 2013 at 12:30 pm

    OT President King?….

    Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) told The Hill on Thursday he’s open to running for president and sees himself as the most “serious” Republican on national defense currently considering a bid for the GOP nomination.

    Jesus H. Christ on a pogo stick.

  85. 85.

    piratedan

    July 19, 2013 at 12:33 pm

    @Mandalay: if true, some genuine popcorn moments are in our future during primary debate season.

  86. 86.

    catclub

    July 19, 2013 at 12:37 pm

    kudos for the Janis Joplin lyric,

  87. 87.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    July 19, 2013 at 12:41 pm

    @The Red Pen: He said that he is of German extraction, is Cole a German name? Don’t want to go Godwin here but was his family real name Schicklegruber, and they changed it to….. Alex Jones call your office!

  88. 88.

    rikyrah

    July 19, 2013 at 12:42 pm

    of course he’s a grifter.

    next thing you’ll be telling me is that water is wet.

  89. 89.

    Ksmiami

    July 19, 2013 at 12:47 pm

    @geg6: so with you.. So many of my liberal yuppy friends r ready for the south – red state ppl to just secede already

  90. 90.

    Bobby Thomson

    July 19, 2013 at 12:53 pm

    @Ted & Hellen: The jig is up. See, everyone else thought Cole was basically paying for the web hosting costs of this hobby with paying web ads. Without your speaking truth to power, no one would realize that, like Erickson, Cole is in a dirty pay-to-play racket in which he writes favorable posts about an industry in exchange for payments under the table. Now the truth can be told. Cole is on the sweet, sweet gravy train of the animal shelter lobby.

  91. 91.

    Amir Khalid

    July 19, 2013 at 12:57 pm

    @Mr Stagger Lee:
    It’s possible the spelling of the surname was Anglicised from “Kohl” at some point.

  92. 92.

    Yatsuno

    July 19, 2013 at 12:58 pm

    @rikyrah: He’s gotta be earning cash somehow. I’m certain he’s a good Christian conservative and forbids his beard wife from working.

    @Bobby Thomson: Ahi don’t buy itself. And Papa Boss will be demanding kitteh once he gets his bearings in his new empire.

  93. 93.

    Amir Khalid

    July 19, 2013 at 12:59 pm

    @Poopyman:
    I saw the story and couldn’t keep from tearing up.

  94. 94.

    The Moar You Know

    July 19, 2013 at 12:59 pm

    RIP Schoep.

    @Poopyman: Can’t handle any more pet stories that make me cry. I’ve got an old pooch that’s certainly in her last year or two of life. That’s a wonderful and beautiful story but damn, all I want to do now is quit my job right this minute, drive home and just take care of my dog.

  95. 95.

    Marmot

    July 19, 2013 at 1:02 pm

    @Ksmiami: In essence, you’re dismissing the struggle of those of us who like our misguided states (and parents, for that matter, geg), but think they just need some help. Fuck you.

  96. 96.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    July 19, 2013 at 1:03 pm

    This place really sucks when mistermix isn’t on the job.

  97. 97.

    A Ghost To Most

    July 19, 2013 at 1:07 pm

    @Sparky:

    That fucking idiot doesn’t understand what “grift” means.

    You obviously haven’t spent much time looking at his ‘art’.

    @Mandalay:

    Peter ‘NO Irishman can possibly be a terrorist’ King, running for president? Damn, this is going to be fun.

  98. 98.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    July 19, 2013 at 1:13 pm

    @Amir Khalid: No doubt, just a little fun there. Then again putting on my tin-foil hat, maybe he is not German but Georgian and his family name was was Djugashvilli? :-)

  99. 99.

    Ksmiami

    July 19, 2013 at 1:14 pm

    @Marmot: no I feel sorry for ppl stuck in places where the politics are from the 1800s but my patience with their governance in those places is gone. If they want to learn creationism in public school and blame every bad thing on Obama then no federal money for them…

  100. 100.

    Face

    July 19, 2013 at 1:25 pm

    Erickson took an old grift, and gave it an Earl Sheib Cecilia Jimenez paint job.

    Mine’s funnnier.

  101. 101.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 19, 2013 at 1:29 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    The original Junker name was “von Kohl und Katze”, but they dropped the von and and the cat to fit in better, along with switching to “Cole” which was more acceptable in the environment of 20th century teens America.

  102. 102.

    NickT

    July 19, 2013 at 1:31 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    Has anyone ever seen T&H’s “artwork”? I am betting the troll hasn’t advanced beyond smearing himself with his various secretions.

  103. 103.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 19, 2013 at 1:34 pm

    @NickT: Cole bought something he did and posted a pic of it on one of the presidential debate threads from last fall.

  104. 104.

    A Ghost To Most

    July 19, 2013 at 1:34 pm

    @NickT: Google ‘Tim Otte’. From my rather twisted viewpoint, he’s a Wannabe Warhol.

  105. 105.

    NickT

    July 19, 2013 at 1:35 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Dare I ask what the theme and the medium were?

  106. 106.

    Marmot

    July 19, 2013 at 1:37 pm

    @Ksmiami: Stuck? I like it here. Much better than wherever self-satisfied fools like you come from.

    And you’re broad-brushing, naturally. Plenty of good people live here, and the mouth-breathers are out-voting us. We need a little assistance, not your logical missteps. Your “them” includes me.

  107. 107.

    Villago Delenda Est

    July 19, 2013 at 1:37 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    There’s a reason why it’s called “Coleslaw” in the US (perhaps in the UK as well…the Windsors experienced that phenomenon, after all…)

  108. 108.

    JPL

    July 19, 2013 at 1:38 pm

    @Mandalay: Campaign slogan … The only good terrorist is an Irish Terrorist.

  109. 109.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 19, 2013 at 1:39 pm

    @NickT: It was a portrait of the Grateful Dead. Don’t know the medium. I am not a fan of his style either here or in art, but he is not untalented.

  110. 110.

    Violet

    July 19, 2013 at 1:42 pm

    @NickT: Here’s a link to the thread with the piece in it: https://balloon-juice.com/2012/10/03/scoring-the-debate/.

  111. 111.

    Marmot

    July 19, 2013 at 1:43 pm

    @piratedan: Double agreed, Bela and piratedan. Often just knowing that an issue is important to liberals is enough to cause conservatives to stake out the opposing viewpoint.

    There was this Repub environmentalist on NPR last year or so — can’t find the link :( — who blamed Al Gore and “Inconvenient Truth” for the sudden drop in concern about climate change among conservatives.

    Anyone know who and when that was, by the way?

  112. 112.

    NickT

    July 19, 2013 at 1:44 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I suppose that would depend on how you define talent. I doubt that Picasso is breaking into a cold sweat at the new kid on the block. Still, if Cole wanted to toss the troll $5, I daresay a little charity for the unfortunate is no bad thing.

  113. 113.

    Cermet

    July 19, 2013 at 1:46 pm

    I know how you feel but add twelve years – my daughter with her academic abilities is making me feel like an academic failure in life and I am the inventor of flexible glass (very similar to the star trek ‘transparent aluminum) and the world’s lightest armor that can defeat RPG’s … .

  114. 114.

    Gex

    July 19, 2013 at 1:51 pm

    It leaves me wondering though… if the base, who is convinced that the are doing worse because of all those moochers and not real Americans, would actually be feeling a little more financially secure if they didn’t give all their money away to these guys.

  115. 115.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 19, 2013 at 1:52 pm

    @NickT:

    I suppose that would depend on how you define talent.

    Hence the use of litotes.

  116. 116.

    the Conster

    July 19, 2013 at 1:53 pm

    OT – Obama giving a speech about the Trayvon Martin case. Addressing the AA community’s experience with law enforcement and the justice system, setting off the countdown to wingnut wailing about, well, everything, again.

  117. 117.

    Marmot

    July 19, 2013 at 2:03 pm

    @the Conster: Au contraire, that’s completely on-topic.

  118. 118.

    Scott S.

    July 19, 2013 at 2:03 pm

    @the Conster: Obama talking about race = Most Racist Thing Ever.

    Limbaugh using the N-word = I don’t fucking know, but the wingnuts all approve of it.

  119. 119.

    muddy

    July 19, 2013 at 2:04 pm

    @NickT: Except that the artist wants to rub the one artwork up in our faces all the time, as proof that JC loves him the best, and lets him run wild because they have a secret understanding that we don’t know about or understand. Rather than the real thing which is that JC just doesn’t ban for philosophical reasons. Don’t take it so personally, I don’t think it’s a vote of approval.

    I’m an artist in another medium, and I am always happy to see other artists making money at it. But hearing about the one sale eternally, jeezum crow that’s tiresome. After I sell someone mugs or bowls etc I don’t go on trying to beat the community over the head with the crockery for ever after. Even when it’s a whole set of fucking dishes that match and stack perfectly.

  120. 120.

    Amir Khalid

    July 19, 2013 at 2:06 pm

    @NickT:
    If you can believe it, John Cole once commissioned a Grateful Dead band portrait from T&H, and featured it in a post. In fairness, T&H did that one slightly better than his usual work, which is mediocre even by flea-market portrait standards.

    Among his flaws are, he’s not particularly creative when composing an image, nor is he a very careful draftsman. And a portrait of Obama that he linked to just the other day featured clearly misaligned stencil work, which seemed to have escaped the notice of the artist himself.

  121. 121.

    Haydnseek

    July 19, 2013 at 2:14 pm

    @Amir Khalid: It’s the sort of thing you see in the mall. I call it KioskKwality(tm). It looks great next to the repro enamel signs in the rec room.

  122. 122.

    NickT

    July 19, 2013 at 2:16 pm

    @Amir Khalid:

    It certainly suggests that creativity and trolling aren’t to be found in the same individual.

  123. 123.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    July 19, 2013 at 2:17 pm

    C’mon people, are you all retarded? John loves me the most and I don’t have to tricks for his affection.

  124. 124.

    ksmiami

    July 19, 2013 at 2:18 pm

    @Marmot: Your choice – I mean sure shrimp and grits taste good and there are sho nice people… but realize that your tax dollars are directly funding hate and intolerance and a complete refusal to deal in reality and scientific method. Not to mention that the recent Supreme Court VRA gutting will probably result in a more challenging voting environment for red state liberals… but by all means … stand your ground what could go wrong???

  125. 125.

    muddy

    July 19, 2013 at 2:21 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead: He does NOT love you the most, he rejected your cat! So there. I’m sure he loves me the most anyway.

  126. 126.

    Redshirt

    July 19, 2013 at 2:21 pm

    @NickT: I’m surprised he trolls in the manner he does when his real identity is out there on the internet. Usually his brand of troll requires complete anonymity.

    Lends itself to the theory he’s just mentally disturbed rather than intentionally malicious.

  127. 127.

    Sparky

    July 19, 2013 at 2:22 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead: Maybe, but I’m thinking it’s because you let him rub your belly.

    (Be very careful about that. You know what he’s gonna do to Boss’s nuts, right?)

  128. 128.

    NickT

    July 19, 2013 at 2:23 pm

    @Redshirt:

    Well, you know who else was a failed artist with crazy racial theories and set out to troll a whole nation…..

    Come to think of it, that troll had only one friend too – and that was a dog.

  129. 129.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    July 19, 2013 at 2:24 pm

    @muddy: Meh, it’s my son’s cat so he prolly did the right thing.

  130. 130.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    July 19, 2013 at 2:25 pm

    @Sparky:

    Maybe

    No maybe about it. I have the framed certificate on my wall.

  131. 131.

    Ripley

    July 19, 2013 at 2:26 pm

    @Tom Levenson: Hold out for Bitcoins. They’re so stable, and can only go up. And you can buy meth online with them.

  132. 132.

    muddy

    July 19, 2013 at 2:28 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead: I’m shocked shocked that you were shopping your son’s cat around! He and Batman will no doubt get their revenge on you.

  133. 133.

    NickT

    July 19, 2013 at 2:28 pm

    @Just Some Fuckhead:

    Really? You got a certificate too?

  134. 134.

    Ripley

    July 19, 2013 at 2:28 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    It will show he was actually born in East Prussia.

    Or King of Prussia Mall.

  135. 135.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 19, 2013 at 2:29 pm

    @ksmiami: People have complex and varied motivations. A job, family, a feeling that leaving is letting the assholes win and fuck them so I’m staying are all reasons that someone might stay somewhere that has gone red. It’s the same set of reasons that few of us moved to the Netherlands when W got elected. But I am sure you did, right?

  136. 136.

    muddy

    July 19, 2013 at 2:30 pm

    @NickT: Now the secret is out. John hands out those certificates like sandwiches to dogs. Share the love!

  137. 137.

    Redshirt

    July 19, 2013 at 2:33 pm

    @NickT: Well, when you put it that way, it’s for the good of humanity that he only trolls us and does not instead try to create a thousand year reich.

    We’re all taking one for the team!

  138. 138.

    NickT

    July 19, 2013 at 2:33 pm

    @muddy:

    Well mine says it’s the only truly true, certifiedly certified, authentically authenticated, genuinely genuine certificate of supremely supreme Cole affection certification in existence. I thought the red Marxist ink used for the signature was a nice touch.

  139. 139.

    NickT

    July 19, 2013 at 2:34 pm

    @Redshirt:

    I think it’s very noble and admirable of us as a community to keep the troll corralled here. We just don’t give ourselves enough credit as people.

  140. 140.

    scav

    July 19, 2013 at 2:42 pm

    @NickT: Check for the T&H spittlemark for proof of absolute authenticity of affection. I’m only mimeograph grade myself — nodding aquantence at best, so long as I make an aborted gesture of recognition first. No sandwich priviledges, bien sûr, not even accidentally dropped crumbs.

  141. 141.

    Marmot

    July 19, 2013 at 2:44 pm

    @ksmiami: My hometown was 70% Hispanic or higher. Never tasted grits ’till I was 30.

    I’m sure you and your smug friends truly agonized about writing off parts of the country you already stereotyped. But it’s not as simple as you think.

    As for my tax dollars “funding hate and intolerance” — what are you talking about, anyway? — yours funded torture. This whole country voted GWB into office twice. Did you leave for Canada or fight the Repubs?

  142. 142.

    NickT

    July 19, 2013 at 2:46 pm

    @scav:

    I thought it was very touching of Cole to go to all the trouble of having my certificate made in Taiwan.

  143. 143.

    ksmiami

    July 19, 2013 at 2:46 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: I understand roots etc… but Between SYG laws, global warming, the forced birthers etc and the craven stupidity levels, I do expect that civilized people will begin to vote with their feet. And companies will relocate to attract top talent and to take advantage of the ACA which – funny won’t work in most red states because their Republican legislatures won’t put together exchanges etc. The vision that Republicans have for women, minorities, the non 1% etc. is a nightmare dystopia but it’s more important that poor whites feel superior to the blah people than to promote a vision of a working government that serves the citizenry… I wish you luck in changing hearts and minds in red states but the overall mindset in those places hasn’t changed in 100 years; it probably won’t start now and as great as the bbq is, I’d rather be among people who share similar values and a fear of organized religion…

  144. 144.

    muddy

    July 19, 2013 at 2:50 pm

    @NickT: Marxist red ink? I thought it was blood. I just assumed, you know?

  145. 145.

    NickT

    July 19, 2013 at 2:52 pm

    @muddy:

    Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him.

  146. 146.

    scav

    July 19, 2013 at 2:53 pm

    @muddy: That might be the cherished Mop-era insignia. Highly valued, that, if true.

  147. 147.

    Omnes Omnibus

    July 19, 2013 at 2:54 pm

    @ksmiami: I am in Wisconsin, a state with proud progressive traditions. It is going through an ugly phase right now but my leaving it won’t fix anything. My staying might help.

    Also, why didn’t you vote with your feet during the Bush years? Our government was all about tax cuts, Jesus, torture, and war. Why not say fuck it and go?

  148. 148.

    muddy

    July 19, 2013 at 2:56 pm

    @NickT: At the time I thought I was the only one with a certificate, so it didn’t seem unreasonable.

  149. 149.

    NickT

    July 19, 2013 at 2:57 pm

    @scav:

    Could be a “sang du blogeur nu” signature. Those are pretty rare – no more than 1,000 in existence. The big test, of course, is whether there’s a large accidental thumb print next to the signature.

  150. 150.

    NickT

    July 19, 2013 at 2:59 pm

    @muddy:

    Well, your disillusion as to Cole’s unique affection can be balanced by your fascination as to his copious exsanguination.

  151. 151.

    muddy

    July 19, 2013 at 2:59 pm

    @NickT: The new ones have a cat thumbprint, at least that’s what I heard.

  152. 152.

    muddy

    July 19, 2013 at 3:06 pm

    @NickT: I shouted Out Out Damned Spot! and the dogs were perturbed. What’s the problem, none of you are named Spot for the christ’s sake. Mind yer own business.

  153. 153.

    muddy

    July 19, 2013 at 3:06 pm

    damn double again

  154. 154.

    Ksmiami

    July 19, 2013 at 3:17 pm

    @Omnes Omnibus: greed, social media and the knowledge that on a national stage the GOP Always overplays its hand..

  155. 155.

    SFAW

    July 19, 2013 at 7:14 pm

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    It will show he was actually born in East Prussia.

    You know who else was born in Ostpreussen?

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