Struggling mightily to understand this post… uh….help?
3.
David Fud
Both sides do it is like watching an Overton tug-of-war drag everyone off of the rightward cliff of stupidity.
4.
lollipopguild
If the press convinces itself that both side do it and there’s no difference between the political parties then they can focus on page views and ad revenues and totally ignore the fact that the GOP is insane.
I tweeted him “A man holds up a bank and the cops arresting him get a ticket for double-parking their squad car. See, both sides do it.”
8.
Baud
I assume Ron criticizes Democrats now and then. Why shouldn’t the Twitter simply respond “Both sides do it?” every time he makes the attempt, Cuz “It’s a fact!”
9.
Luthe
What do you expect from an asshole who claims his political affliction affiliation is “disruption”?
eyeroll.gif
10.
Smiling Mortician
@Doug!: Also, it’s a fact because it’s an axiom and not an observation. Now I can’t unroll my eyes.
11.
NobodySpecial
My wish for his eternal reward is Cronkite and Murrow defenestrating him forever.
More than a mere fact, facts after all can be overturned with more information. “Both sides do it” is a TRUTH(tm).
20.
Bill E Pilgrim
I’ve decided that self-styled Centrists still insisting “both sides” are the same given the state of the Republican Party right now are the Black Knights of political punditry. Both sides have their extremists, the extremes are just as extreme, nothing unusually extreme about the Republicans, la dee da.
The GOP can be collapsing in rubble around their knees for all to see and they’ll tell you “Just a flesh wound!”
Fournier is determined to move himself higher up on the tumbrel manifest.
So be it.
23.
patroclus
Well, both sides don’t make historic trips to Cuba; only Obama’s doing that. And both sides don’t abdicate their job in confirming Supreme Court Justices. Only the Republicans do that. And both sides don’t have their campaign managers rough up protestors. Only Trump does that. One could go on and on – and that’s just today, in the last few minutes. Fournier is a discredited hack.
I’m a conservative hack who tries to hide how crazy the Republicans have become by claiming the Democrats are just as bad.
Bee, eye, en gee oh.
Actually what’s kind of funny or at least revealing is that other Republicans like even Lindsay Graham are openly acknowledging the Republican Party’s self-destructing, whereas the Fourniers of the world are still insisting it’s just the same as the other party. Which just shows the depth of his commitment to the Republican image.
Has Fournier (or anyone else) actually come out and praised “Shape of Earth: Opinions Differ”?
I mean, of course it makes business sense, you don’t want to alienate the crucial flat-earther audience. Next thing you know they’ll be saying the whole mainstream media has a pro-round-earth bias, and that’s why they only listen to talk radio… but has anyone held it up as an ideal of reportage?
In daily life, I encounter “both sides do it” when people don’t want to argue with their neighbor or fellow exerciser. They may not even believe it. It’s a way to duck assigning blame.
30.
Uncle Cosmo
@Doug!: @jacy: Ron Fumier sounds like a clown in dire need of being hit while walking down the street by a speeding dumptruck. And taking a long, insufficiently anesthetized time to die. And having his “health care” provider(s) charge him exorbitantly for its “services” (e.g., the $47,000 medevac charge recently reported over at GOS) while his “health insurance” provider(s) deny all claims. And having said “health care provider(s)” successfully sue his estate & take every penny of it.
31.
Villago Delenda Est
@Iowa Old Lady: It’s a way to avoid thinking about who actually needs to be blamed.
@Iowa Old Lady: I can see that since politics can be a contentious topic of conversation. The both-siders I typically encounter are people who want to talk about politics but are ill-informed because they get all their news from mainstream outlets (usually CNN).
35.
MomSense
Watching Air Force 1 land in Cuba and trying to explain to my 12 year old why this is such a big deal.
36.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Air Force One is landing in Havana!
37.
Helen
@MomSense: It’s very exciting. I am watching on BBC cuz CNN not.
38.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Don Oberbeck Colorado
I never thought I would live to see an African American President.
I never thought there would be a health care program.
I never thought we would have a “peace treaty” with Iran.
I never thought we would see gay rights mainstreamed.
And I certainly never thought I would see an American President visit Cuba while still in office.
I never thought that the Republicans would approve of these progressive and delightful events, and in fact they did everything in their power to prevent them, but President Obama has nonetheless prevailed, and with quiet dignity.
I am very proud of him and I should think any Democratic candidate would want to run on “more of the same”.
@Mike J: Coolidge in a battleship, in 1928, I saw somewheres.
52.
patroclus
And the Stones will be there on Friday!
53.
raven
Stephen F Austin! ACK!!!
54.
Zinsky
One side is a cult. The other is a disorganized political party with lots of factions. Anyone who asserts that there is “symmetry” is either intellectually lazy or dishonest.
I think “Darmok and Jalad, on the ocean” is the appropriate one here, since it means “new friendship and understanding gained through a shared challenge”. Apparently.
@Germy:
There’s a burglary every 15 seconds in America, so be sure to keep your gun by your bed. That way, the burglars will be able to find your gun right away rather than having to dig through your stuff to find it.
61.
slag
@David Fud: Agreed. It’s how the whole “truth is somewhere in the middle” trope gets manipulated by the most knavish of knaves.
62.
Germy
@Roger Moore: If I had one of those racks I’d die by my cat’s paw.
@Roger Moore: Easy solution: never leave bed. Blame libs when you need to be craned out. Set up GoFundMe account for stomach removal surgery. Find god, use excess GFM money to set up online prosperity gospel church.
#livingthedreammotherfuckers
65.
marduk
I get the impression Fournier didn’t really understand what was being explained to him.
Rachel Robinson (Jackie Robinson’s widow) accompanied the President on AF1 (photo)
67.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Restaurant staff in #Havana can’t turn away from news coverage as POTUS nears #Cuba; landing within hour. (photo)
68.
JPL
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: wow.. How great.
There should be a warning about reading the comments though. Someone posted that our taxes are paying for their trip..
69.
ThresherK
@Roger Moore: “Keep your gun by your bed. That way, the burglarsyour toddler will be able to find your gun right away”
@Roger Moore: Funny you should mention that. For a time I considered buying a handgun as a deterrent to burglary (having been burglarized exactly once, 25 years ago). Not really interested in gunning down an intruder inside the house–bloodstains are hell to get out of carpet–but would rather they not come in at all.
Then i realized that
(1) If I didn’t let it be known that I had a gun, no potential burglar was going to be deterred from B&E until & unless I shot one down on the premises, and
(2) Once it did become known, I’d have to carry it with me at all times–otherwise my house would be broken into within 10 minutes of the next time I left to steal the gun. And carry it prominently, otherwise I’d still come home to find the place tossed in search of it. And even then,
(3) I’d probably be ambushed by a mugger the next time I came home in the dark night, again in order to steal the gun.
“Conservatives, when you say there’s no difference between the parties, what I hear is that your side f—d up real bad, and you don’t want to admit it.” (Me, last December)
75.
Eric U.
@Technocrat: never read the internet comments. Excepting on the liberal blogosphere, of course
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
It didn’t look all that good when I was at Gitmo in 72. Oh the water was clear but my view was a pier surrounded by very tall barbwire topped fences. 2 sets with a no mans land in between, no fresh water, no club to get drunk at……
they can focus on page views and ad revenues and totally ignore the fact that the GOP is insane destroying our democracy right under the media’s noses.
FTFY. Because Both sides do it is the ultimate “we’re not responsible for America catching fire and losing all hope. We just tell you things in bland and ‘balanced’ ways.”
We report, you suffer. The tagline of the Fournier-ised media.
79.
JPL
I was streaming CNN International and my son set up CNN for me to stream. The coverage was completely different. CNN International covered the mob connection in Cuba at the time and the transfer of money out of the country, leaving extreme poverty behind. Older Cubans are not necessarily thrilled with the President’s visit. Poppy someone on CNN, covered the extreme poverty their now and will Obama change things.
80.
raven
@Ruckus: If the Facebook page is correct it looks like this weeks Trump cheapshot artist is an African American dude who either is or was a squid.
eta Tony Pettway but the reports say he’s 32 and the dude on FB has got to be older than that.
Anyone who asserts that there is “symmetry” is either intellectually lazy or dishonest.
They could easily be both. In Fournier’s case, definitely both.
82.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Look at the faces of the Cuban people – they’re so delighted (photo)
83.
eemom
Reservoir Dogs permanently ruined that song for me.
84.
RaflW
So the Obama visit to Cuba is very cool. Unfortunately I can already imagine the unhinged wingers saying this is so that Obummer can get his commie marching orders, or some such tinfoil hat garbage.
Anyway, a historic day and I’m glad if Cuban’s think so too!
never read the internet comments. Excepting on the liberal blogosphere, of course
Many, many liberal blogs are full of RW troll comments. They dive bomb. It would never occur to me to visit a RW blog and troll their comments.
88.
Ruckus
@Uncle Cosmo:
Not everyone gets the dichotomy of owning a gun. They want the power, don’t understand the responsibility. Or the real costs.
Not sure why but this popped into my head upon reading your comment.
One of the best lines in Mash, tv not movie, Radar to Frank Burns, “They steal because they are poor, it’s the only way for them to stay alive.” Of course the response was classic conservative, “They should get a job.”
Conservatives don’t get that there is a greater level of responsibility, that of societal responsibility. That level that we have not towards ourselves but each other.
@sharl: The Fournier Transform converts any argument into
‘both sides do it.’
91.
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@catclub: Can we hope that there’s an Inverse Fournier Transform that provides actual information?
Cheers,
Scott.
92.
Ruckus
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
No
If there is anything Fournier involved in any formula the output is always bullshit. No way to fix that, it has a poison effect of every thing it touches.
ETA It’s why he thinks that both sides are the same, every thing he touches turns to shit so everything in the world must be the same.
You probably wouldn’t last long dive-bombing their comments. RW blogs tend to be trigger-happy with the banhammer. Its like they revel in purging the heretics.
94.
Ruckus
@Technocrat:
I thought it was because they can’t stand the truth.
95.
Kathleen
@patroclus: @patroclus: Well, Chuckles Todd said Harry Reid did the same thing in 2008 that Mitch McConnell is doing today, so there’s that (speaking of tumbrels). He then asked Reid 3 times why he blamed Republicans for wanting a justice sympathetic to them.
Yes, there are two sides. Maybe more. Both or all sides do things. Not the same things, but things. Whether the different things done by different sides are equal in integrity, impact, magnitude, or respect for civil governance is, at best, an estimate and at worst an exercise in rationalizing. When finding the balance between the things different sides do becomes the primary goal, the only way to achieve it is to discount differences, and to do that, you have to distort the truth.
100.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
Didn’t Fournier also tweet that he was the only objective person in political punditry? The guy is a delusional, clueless hack.
101.
RaflW
I know this thread is dead, but I’ll tombstone this, and maybe link to it again in the days ahead. NYU’s Jay Rosen is not having the bothsiderism:
RSR
The Grand Delusion.
Punchy
Struggling mightily to understand this post… uh….help?
David Fud
Both sides do it is like watching an Overton tug-of-war drag everyone off of the rightward cliff of stupidity.
lollipopguild
If the press convinces itself that both side do it and there’s no difference between the political parties then they can focus on page views and ad revenues and totally ignore the fact that the GOP is insane.
Doug!
@Punchy:
Ron Fournier says “Both Sides Do It” is a fact.
cleek
it’s a narrative
Mustang Bobby
I tweeted him “A man holds up a bank and the cops arresting him get a ticket for double-parking their squad car. See, both sides do it.”
Baud
I assume Ron criticizes Democrats now and then. Why shouldn’t the Twitter simply respond “Both sides do it?” every time he makes the attempt, Cuz “It’s a fact!”
Luthe
What do you expect from an asshole who claims his political
afflictionaffiliation is “disruption”?eyeroll.gif
Smiling Mortician
@Doug!: Also, it’s a fact because it’s an axiom and not an observation. Now I can’t unroll my eyes.
NobodySpecial
My wish for his eternal reward is Cronkite and Murrow defenestrating him forever.
jacy
“both sides do it” = I’m a lazy asshole who has no critical thinking skills.
Punchy
@Doug!: Yer original post had no link and no context. Got it now.
Ronnie is a dumbass shitbag
agorabum
King Hack has spoken. Sure, Brooks is bad, but at least he is admittedly Republican. He doesn’t claim to be above it all.
hueyplong
“Both sides do it” is what a GOP operative says when his party is fking a chicken.
What it demonstrably is not, is a fact.
West of the Cascades
Twelve year old boy waves toy gun alone in park. Cops shoot him dead. Bothsidesdoit.
schrodinger's cat
Why do we need MSM hacks? We can read GOP press releases without their filter.
BGinCHI
I’m going with “ideological construct.”
“Creature comfort” was already taken.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Doug!:
More than a mere fact, facts after all can be overturned with more information. “Both sides do it” is a TRUTH(tm).
Bill E Pilgrim
I’ve decided that self-styled Centrists still insisting “both sides” are the same given the state of the Republican Party right now are the Black Knights of political punditry. Both sides have their extremists, the extremes are just as extreme, nothing unusually extreme about the Republicans, la dee da.
The GOP can be collapsing in rubble around their knees for all to see and they’ll tell you “Just a flesh wound!”
lollipopguild
@jacy: Ditto.
Villago Delenda Est
Fournier is determined to move himself higher up on the tumbrel manifest.
So be it.
patroclus
Well, both sides don’t make historic trips to Cuba; only Obama’s doing that. And both sides don’t abdicate their job in confirming Supreme Court Justices. Only the Republicans do that. And both sides don’t have their campaign managers rough up protestors. Only Trump does that. One could go on and on – and that’s just today, in the last few minutes. Fournier is a discredited hack.
Villago Delenda Est
@NobodySpecial: Aye.
Roger Moore
@jacy:
No. “Both sides do it” = I’m a conservative hack who tries to hide how crazy the Republicans have become by claiming the Democrats are just as bad.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Roger Moore:
Bee, eye, en gee oh.
Actually what’s kind of funny or at least revealing is that other Republicans like even Lindsay Graham are openly acknowledging the Republican Party’s self-destructing, whereas the Fourniers of the world are still insisting it’s just the same as the other party. Which just shows the depth of his commitment to the Republican image.
jacy
@Roger Moore:
He’s a dessert topping AND a floorwax!
BBA
Has Fournier (or anyone else) actually come out and praised “Shape of Earth: Opinions Differ”?
I mean, of course it makes business sense, you don’t want to alienate the crucial flat-earther audience. Next thing you know they’ll be saying the whole mainstream media has a pro-round-earth bias, and that’s why they only listen to talk radio… but has anyone held it up as an ideal of reportage?
Iowa Old Lady
In daily life, I encounter “both sides do it” when people don’t want to argue with their neighbor or fellow exerciser. They may not even believe it. It’s a way to duck assigning blame.
Uncle Cosmo
@Doug!: @jacy: Ron Fumier sounds like a clown in dire need of being hit while walking down the street by a speeding dumptruck. And taking a long, insufficiently anesthetized time to die. And having his “health care” provider(s) charge him exorbitantly for its “services” (e.g., the $47,000 medevac charge recently reported over at GOS) while his “health insurance” provider(s) deny all claims. And having said “health care provider(s)” successfully sue his estate & take every penny of it.
Villago Delenda Est
@Iowa Old Lady: It’s a way to avoid thinking about who actually needs to be blamed.
Mike J
@Villago Delenda Est:
Here’s proof of what Fournier said. An anonymous person on a blog threatened violence, just like the Republican presidential frontrunner. Same thing!
sharl
Teddy's Person
@Iowa Old Lady: I can see that since politics can be a contentious topic of conversation. The both-siders I typically encounter are people who want to talk about politics but are ill-informed because they get all their news from mainstream outlets (usually CNN).
MomSense
Watching Air Force 1 land in Cuba and trying to explain to my 12 year old why this is such a big deal.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Air Force One is landing in Havana!
Helen
@MomSense: It’s very exciting. I am watching on BBC cuz CNN not.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
MomSense
@Helen:
It really is incredible.
MomSense
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
It has been 90 years since an American President has been in Cuba.
Mike J
@MomSense: The last before that was probably Teddy riding up San Juan hill.
patroclus
This is truly a historic moment!
Mike J
Obama brings his kids, and to show solidarity with the revolution, their Grandma.
Too obscure?
lollipopguild
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: Hell yes.
MomSense
@Mike J:
Amazing.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Mike J: Sailed right over my head.
*blows bubbles*
Germy
I think only one side of the voting base will buy the “Backup Gun Rack For Bed”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4LTTmRa698
Attaches neatly to your bed, so you can keep your rifle nearby as you sleep!
Mike J
@Bill E Pilgrim: The boat Castro chartered to bring him back to Cuba for the revolution was the Grandma. Now the name of the state newspaper.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Mike J: I know. You missed my joke.
Edit: Okay it wasn’t a sailboat, but still.
JPL
I have goosebumps. Thanks Obama!
Davis X. Machina
@Mike J: Coolidge in a battleship, in 1928, I saw somewheres.
patroclus
And the Stones will be there on Friday!
raven
Stephen F Austin! ACK!!!
Zinsky
One side is a cult. The other is a disorganized political party with lots of factions. Anyone who asserts that there is “symmetry” is either intellectually lazy or dishonest.
NobodySpecial
@Zinsky: My vote is ‘both’.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Davis X. Machina:
I think “Darmok and Jalad, on the ocean” is the appropriate one here, since it means “new friendship and understanding gained through a shared challenge”. Apparently.
rikyrah
The First Family in Cuba. Never thought that I would ever write that.?
WarMunchkin
@patroclus: I think he’s more like an accredited hack at this point.
Steeplejack (phone)
@raven:
I thought they had it until the very end. Bummer.
Roger Moore
@Germy:
There’s a burglary every 15 seconds in America, so be sure to keep your gun by your bed. That way, the burglars will be able to find your gun right away rather than having to dig through your stuff to find it.
slag
@David Fud: Agreed. It’s how the whole “truth is somewhere in the middle” trope gets manipulated by the most knavish of knaves.
Germy
@Roger Moore: If I had one of those racks I’d die by my cat’s paw.
Roger Moore
@Germy:
I figure that people who keep loaded guns where their cats can get at them are going to win Darwin awards.
p.a.
@Roger Moore: Easy solution: never leave bed. Blame libs when you need to be craned out. Set up GoFundMe account for stomach removal surgery. Find god, use excess GFM money to set up online prosperity gospel church.
#livingthedreammotherfuckers
marduk
I get the impression Fournier didn’t really understand what was being explained to him.
I guess he’s not familiar with the Law of Fives.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Rachel Robinson (Jackie Robinson’s widow) accompanied the President on AF1 (photo)
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
JPL
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch: wow.. How great.
There should be a warning about reading the comments though. Someone posted that our taxes are paying for their trip..
ThresherK
@Roger Moore: “Keep your gun by your bed. That way,
the burglarsyour toddler will be able to find your gun right away”FTFY.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
The breath taking scenery of Cuba (photo)
Uncle Cosmo
@Roger Moore: Funny you should mention that. For a time I considered buying a handgun as a deterrent to burglary (having been burglarized exactly once, 25 years ago). Not really interested in gunning down an intruder inside the house–bloodstains are hell to get out of carpet–but would rather they not come in at all.
Then i realized that
(1) If I didn’t let it be known that I had a gun, no potential burglar was going to be deterred from B&E until & unless I shot one down on the premises, and
(2) Once it did become known, I’d have to carry it with me at all times–otherwise my house would be broken into within 10 minutes of the next time I left to steal the gun. And carry it prominently, otherwise I’d still come home to find the place tossed in search of it. And even then,
(3) I’d probably be ambushed by a mugger the next time I came home in the dark night, again in order to steal the gun.
That put an end to that idea right quick.
Baud
Yes, she is.
Technocrat
@JPL:
There should always be a warning about reading the comments.
Raven Onthill
“Conservatives, when you say there’s no difference between the parties, what I hear is that your side f—d up real bad, and you don’t want to admit it.” (Me, last December)
Eric U.
@Technocrat: never read the internet comments. Excepting on the liberal blogosphere, of course
Technocrat
@Eric U.:
…and outside of Primary season
Ruckus
@David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch:
It didn’t look all that good when I was at Gitmo in 72. Oh the water was clear but my view was a pier surrounded by very tall barbwire topped fences. 2 sets with a no mans land in between, no fresh water, no club to get drunk at……
RaflW
@lollipopguild:
FTFY. Because Both sides do it is the ultimate “we’re not responsible for America catching fire and losing all hope. We just tell you things in bland and ‘balanced’ ways.”
We report, you suffer. The tagline of the Fournier-ised media.
JPL
I was streaming CNN International and my son set up CNN for me to stream. The coverage was completely different. CNN International covered the mob connection in Cuba at the time and the transfer of money out of the country, leaving extreme poverty behind. Older Cubans are not necessarily thrilled with the President’s visit. Poppy someone on CNN, covered the extreme poverty their now and will Obama change things.
raven
@Ruckus: If the Facebook page is correct it looks like this weeks Trump cheapshot artist is an African American dude who either is or was a squid.
eta Tony Pettway but the reports say he’s 32 and the dude on FB has got to be older than that.
RaflW
@Zinsky:
They could easily be both. In Fournier’s case, definitely both.
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Look at the faces of the Cuban people – they’re so delighted (photo)
eemom
Reservoir Dogs permanently ruined that song for me.
RaflW
So the Obama visit to Cuba is very cool. Unfortunately I can already imagine the unhinged wingers saying this is so that Obummer can get his commie marching orders, or some such tinfoil hat garbage.
Anyway, a historic day and I’m glad if Cuban’s think so too!
David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch
Vintage cars in Cuba have amazing curves (photo)
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@marduk: I’m convinced!!
And that’s a multiple of 5 characters! Spooky!!
Cheers,
Scott.
Germy
@Eric U.:
Many, many liberal blogs are full of RW troll comments. They dive bomb. It would never occur to me to visit a RW blog and troll their comments.
Ruckus
@Uncle Cosmo:
Not everyone gets the dichotomy of owning a gun. They want the power, don’t understand the responsibility. Or the real costs.
Not sure why but this popped into my head upon reading your comment.
One of the best lines in Mash, tv not movie, Radar to Frank Burns, “They steal because they are poor, it’s the only way for them to stay alive.” Of course the response was classic conservative, “They should get a job.”
Conservatives don’t get that there is a greater level of responsibility, that of societal responsibility. That level that we have not towards ourselves but each other.
Ruckus
@raven:
Can you post a link to that?
catclub
@sharl: The Fournier Transform converts any argument into
‘both sides do it.’
I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet
@catclub: Can we hope that there’s an Inverse Fournier Transform that provides actual information?
Cheers,
Scott.
Ruckus
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
No
If there is anything Fournier involved in any formula the output is always bullshit. No way to fix that, it has a poison effect of every thing it touches.
ETA It’s why he thinks that both sides are the same, every thing he touches turns to shit so everything in the world must be the same.
Technocrat
@Germy:
You probably wouldn’t last long dive-bombing their comments. RW blogs tend to be trigger-happy with the banhammer. Its like they revel in purging the heretics.
Ruckus
@Technocrat:
I thought it was because they can’t stand the truth.
Kathleen
@patroclus: @patroclus: Well, Chuckles Todd said Harry Reid did the same thing in 2008 that Mitch McConnell is doing today, so there’s that (speaking of tumbrels). He then asked Reid 3 times why he blamed Republicans for wanting a justice sympathetic to them.
father pussbucket
@RaflW:
FTFY.
Bobby Thomson
Please. Fournier doesn’t actually believe both sides do it. It’s an argument. He’s a partisan Republican hack.
Troublesome Carp fka Geeno
@Ruckus: Isn’t that what he said?
Quaker in a Basement
Yes, there are two sides. Maybe more. Both or all sides do things. Not the same things, but things. Whether the different things done by different sides are equal in integrity, impact, magnitude, or respect for civil governance is, at best, an estimate and at worst an exercise in rationalizing. When finding the balance between the things different sides do becomes the primary goal, the only way to achieve it is to discount differences, and to do that, you have to distort the truth.
the Conster, la Citoyenne
Didn’t Fournier also tweet that he was the only objective person in political punditry? The guy is a delusional, clueless hack.
RaflW
I know this thread is dead, but I’ll tombstone this, and maybe link to it again in the days ahead. NYU’s Jay Rosen is not having the bothsiderism:
“Depends on your point of view…” These are weasel words for political journalists:
http://pressthink.org/2016/03/depends-on-your-point-of-view-are-weasel-words-for-political-journalists-this-has-to-stop/
sharl
@catclub,
@I’mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet:
The presence of Four(n)ier Transform jokes here: most excellent
The fact none occurred to me: humbling, and leaving me a bit remorseful
But the excellence wins out…
LosGatosCA
@Bobby Thomson:
Bingo – you are correct.
The only reason to say ‘both sides do it’ is if you can’t defend the side of the argument you are on.
In all other cases, you claim superiority.
Wilson Heath
It’s a floor wax And a desert topping in one!
Jamey
I’d go give Ron Fourflusher what-for, but he’s blocked me on Twitter.
Brittle little twunt…