I don’t need another reason to loathe stoner contrarian and human jerk-off gesture Bill Maher. But in the Washington Post over the weekend he bellyached over the mean, unfair boycotts the kids whose friends were mowed down in Florida have initiated, particularly the Laura Ingraham boycott. He sees a potential for his ox to get gored, so all his First Amendment hand-wringing is just so much transparently self-interested bullshit. Nothing to see here, really. One thing leapt out at me, though.
Last year, after the University of California at Berkeley canceled Ann Coulter’s speech, citing security concerns, Maher blasted the university.
“I know, we don’t like Ann Coulter’s views,” he said, to audience laughter. “I like her as a person. I’ve never agreed with one thing she ever said…”
“I like her as a person.” Isn’t that nice? What do you like specifically about a woman advocates shooting immigrants? Is she a lot of fun in the green room? Your kids go to the same private school?
I love to see media trolls put aside their differences and come together in mutual contempt for their audience. You see that kind of shit all the time. One of my favorite recurring columns in the dearly departed Spy Magazine was “Logrolling in Our Time.” It documented the gushing prose that celebrity authors would trade back and forth in kind about each others’ mediocre books. Asshole pundits all see themselves as playing for the same team. There’s something about the chumminess of it all that really makes my bile rise.
And you know you’re doing the work of the angels when you earn kudos from Sinclair.
https://twitter.com/jayrosen_nyu/status/983171315044634624
I don’t have a super profound thought here, other than if the Parkland kids can shine a light on what trash these troll pundits are, they’re doing the Republic a greater service than they’ll ever know.
Okay, let’s take a deep breath, admire a fall-time fashion plate pic of Echo…
… and keep the momentum going with the 70 competitive races Swing Left has identified. We got a nice bump on that last post! Good job, y’all.
Capri
The day Ann Coulter is not in the news is the day that a publicist gets fired. She is an act. Maher is saying that he doesn’t like Hannah Montana, but Miley Cyrus is OK. He thinks anybody who believes Hannah Montana is a real person is a sucker – and he’s right.
Matt
Shorter Maher and Sinclair: “FREEZE PEACH MEANS I CAN SAY WHATEVER I WANT AND YOU CAN’T GET MAD”
Funny how “threats of extortion” doesn’t appear to apply to the NRA threatening armed insurrection every time someone suggests
cutting off their johnsonsbasic gun regulation.John Revolta
I believe Coulter and Maher were an item at one time. FWIW.
JustRuss
Says the corporation who forces news anchors to deliver corporate-approved talking points. I can’t even…
Eural Joiner
Maher is one of those “liberals” that I’m supposed to really like and be into…that I’ve never liked and never been into. It says a lot that all I hear about him is from friends on the right who think he’s the embodiment of progressive thought. I have no idea why.
Also, thanks for the nice Radiohead shoutout ;)
Alex Smith
@John Revolta: Gross.
MisterForkbeard
@Capri: Maher is also saying that organizing a boycott of Hannah Montana because she advocates killing immigrants is unacceptable because he personally likes Miley Cyrus.
So he’s right that Coulter is an act, and wrong that it makes any difference.
@Eural Joiner: Who thinks you’re supposed to like Maher? He’s got a very uneven reputation on the left. I suppose he’s what a lot of people on the right THINK the left is: Kind of a smarmy dick.
azlib
Free speech has nothing to do with whether a commerical interest or anybody for that matter withdraws their support from someone’s business. It is about government censorship.
Alex Smith
@MisterForkbeard: Yeah, I assume it’s an infinite regress of Men Behind the Curtain. I don’t care who these celebrities are in their heart of hearts. We can only judge them by what they do.
Corner Stone
@Eural Joiner: Maher’s not a “liberal”. He’s an asshole that wants better marijuana laws to apply to him.
bemused
Why, oh why, did msnbc choose to have Liberman on? I haven’t seen Lieberman anywhere in years. I heard this nasally, whiney voice coming from my tv, looked up and there he was on Katy Tur show. The horror.
Corner Stone
@Matt:
I like frozen peaches in a smoothie once in a while.
Rommie
“You goddamn meddling kids, don’t tip over the apple cart, I eat them too!”
I guess I *did* need a reason to reach loathe territory – mission accomplished, toolbag! That’s a shitty hill to blow up your career on – look around!
Corner Stone
@bemused: Joey has a whiny voice but it’s not nasal, more of a gravitas enhancing bass.
I hate that fucker as much as any other reasonable human being does, but he actually made it through the segment without overtly criticizing Democrats.
BillinGlendaleCA
@John Revolta: Yeah, I was going to say; their relationship went further than pleasantries in the green room.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Corner Stone: He lives in California, he’s got that; unless the KKKebler elf take his grass away.
FlipYrWhig
@Corner Stone: AFAICT Maher is a libertarian hedonist. Remember that story about the disabled golfer who wanted to use a cart to play on the tour? On his show Maher would not stop griping about that. He kept saying things like “why does EVERYONE have to be able to do EVERYTHING?” He’s one of these people who thinks “Harrison Bergeron” is a documentary.
Hungry Joe
“I like her as a person. I’ve never agreed with one thing she ever said…” Is a sentiment I can’t even begin to — and don’t want to — bend my mind around.
Yeah, “Logrolling in Our Time” was my favorite Spy feature. It was mostly authors blurbing each others’ books, as I recall. My favorite blurb of all time was associated with Dave Barry. It was either on one of his books, from a friend, or it was his blurb on his friend’s book, Anyway, it read, “Sure, I’ll blurb your book. What do you want me to say?”
MJS
I was very disappointed years ago to see pictures of Keith Olbermann at a baseball game with his whipping boy at the time, Bill O’Reilly, who has always been a vile human being. Since then I’ve just assumed that most, if not all, pundits are doing it as an act, regardless of what side politically that act falls.
catclub
@JustRuss:
this is why Ford salesmen always mention the merits of Toyota cars.
bemused
@Corner Stone:
Maybe he sounds nasally because he talks while looking down his nose.
John Revolta
@Alex Smith: Ain’t it?
Uncle Cosmo
Looks like this hit&run FPer now know as “Alex Smith” is as incompetent at typing a coherent English phrase for a title (“This Is What You Get When Mess With Us” – excuse the fuck outa me?) as he is at the cyberpanhandling he closes all his threads with.
Remind us why Cole decided to make this nimrod a FPer in the first place. (Or why he let Doogie!?! open up a fresh sockpuppet…)
FlipYrWhig
@John Revolta: You know how that season of The Real World where all the housemates decided to vote out Puck was the Big Bang that led to hundreds of “reality” series? I feel like the fungible blonde conservative pundits who used to be fixtures on _Politically Incorrect_ evolved into Fox News.
Boris, Rasputin's Evil Twin
Ah, Spy magazine, where many of us first learned to loathe the “Short-Fingered Vulgarain” and many other NYC icons/ hideous people. Grigori and I miss it so.
Litlebritdifrnt
In totally unrelated news Nick Groff of Ghost Adventures and Paranormal Lockdown fame is here in town and keeps posting tantilising pictures as to where he is, I KNOW where he is but of course his tweets are a couple of hours old and it is a bit like finding Waldo. I just hope he is here to film a show that I can watch in the future. He posted a pic of the place he is staying which is The Borough in Dalton Square which is right next door to Buck Ruxton’s house. He is a notorious murderer who killed his wife for having an affair. Dr. Ruxton (who was at one point my step-dad’s doctor). Was an Indian born doctor, and was living with a woman who held out to be his wife. The case is notorious because he killed her for having an affair but then had to kill the maid to cover it up. He dismembered the bodies and then threw them out of the train on the way to Scotland. Stupidly, he used copies of the Lancaster Guardian Newspaper to wrap the body parts in before he threw them out of the train. The case is famous because it used one of the earliest types of forensics that placed x-rays of skeletons over photographs to identify the victim. A lot of people my Dad’s age were convinced that Ruxton would never have been convicted had he not killed the maid, because all of his patients sang his praises and thought he would have been “justified” in killing “the adulterous bitch”. My Dad said until his passing that Dr. Ruxton was a saint and was “lynched” because he was Indian born. Personally I think he would have got away with it had he not killed the maid, but the murder of the innocent bystander was too much for the Jury to bear.
Barbara
@Matt: This is exactly what he means. Ingraham receives millions in income through advertising revenue at a very exclusive and privileged perch at Fox, and David Hogg has twitter, which nets him nothing, but anybody can use. And yet, somehow, it’s only Hogg who is supposed to use his vehicle for communications “responsibly,” whereas, Laura Ingraham and Bill Maher and their fellow travelers are allowed to treat others with contempt with zero expectation of consequences or accountability, in effect, to silence others. Hey Bill, “Shut up and dribble.”
Corner Stone
@Uncle Cosmo: Hot Takes, incoming!
Barbara
@Hungry Joe: “I like her as a person” can only be followed by “because nothing she says threatens people like me. The rest of you — well, I don’t really care about you so, whatever.”
TenguPhule
@Barbara:
translates to: She’s willing to have sex with him.
Hildebrand
@Uncle Cosmo: Somebody doesn’t know their Radiohead. Great song. Go listen.
Hungry Joe
@Barbara: Yup. That’s pretty much it.
LAO
I’m always surprised when professional assholes (ie. Coulter or Maher) are surprised that people think they are assholes. It’s shocking.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Capri:
That doesn’t make her any less of a terrible person. Thousands, if not millions take her hateful rhetoric seriously. And he’s actually whining about people organizing to prevent her from further spewing that shit on private, non-government airways. Nobody has the right to an audience or a platform.
EBT
People forget that Bill Maher and Ann Coulter are having a sexual relationship.
geg6
He said the same bullshit on his show Friday night and Heather McGee and Elliott Spitzer pretty much took turns taking a sledgehammer to his stupid argument.
EBT
@Corner Stone: That is just a Libertarian.
TenguPhule
@EBT:
Most of us actually try not to think about it.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@MisterForkbeard:
In fact, I’d consider it even worse that it’s just an act. It’s not even their personal, sincerely held beliefs but just a way to get money and attention at the expense of innocents. Yes, that is far worse.
But her emails!!!
Bill Maher isn’t some sort of exception. It seems like this issue is rife in the media…to the extent the “journalists” will treat the quotes and commentary of GOP hacks as credible in papers and on their shows and even invite them back, despite knowing that the hacks don’t even believe the BS they are spewing.
Seriously. Think about that for a second. The media continues to invite people onto their shows and quote people who have confessed off camera and off the record that they don’t believe the bull shit they say and then treats what they know directly from the source to be weasel dung as if it were credible.
BroD
Thank you! I’ve wondered what the deal is about Maher (I’ve only seen YouTubes and don’t like his schtick). This episode helped me figure it out–he’s a dick.
ShadeTail
Maher’s always been a selective bigot. Hey, he likes black people! And he hated President Dubya! That makes him OK! Let’s ignore how he gets his constant hate-boner on when talking about Islam or Moslems.
John Revolta
I remember John Cleese, back in the Python days, describing how he was on a “chat” show with some high Anglican church official. They got into a heated debate about public morals and all, and then after the show the guy came up to Cleese all smiles and “I think that went rather well!” etc.
IOW, It’s always been about the clicks.
the wesson
@Corner Stone: mmm peach mint
Oklahomo
He is also an anti-vaxxer crank.
Corner Stone
@EBT: I think he’s a Libertarian that actually votes for D’s. When he votes, that is.
Corner Stone
@the wesson: Democrats aren’t supposed to say that word!
/Lord Axelrod
Mandalay
@Eural Joiner:
Probably because Maher makes fun of Trump. BFD.
But Maher also legitimizes Trump by normalizing him, when he has a soap box that he could be using so much more effectively to attack his policies. But whenever that charge is leveled at him, Maher always plays the I’m-just-a-comedian card.
Maher is a nasty and dangerous piece of work. While he’s cleaned up his act lately, he has a long track record of stereotyping women as nothing more than bimbos with big tits, and Latinos as “the help”. Of course he would claim that it is done in the name of humor, and he is not demeaning women or Latinos, but he is, simply by legitimizing and airing that mindset on national TV.
Brachiator
@Litlebritdifrnt:
A gruesome, but fascinating story. The doctor used his medical skill to try to prevent the bodies from being identified, but he was up against an even more skilled team of forensic scientists. And, having watched episodes of CSI, this bit stood out for me (from the Wiki):
dr. bloor
We must meet in person some time. I refer to “Logrolling in our time” occasionally in my conversations with others, and it would be nice to chat with someone who actually gets the reference.
No Drought No More
It’s pretty obvious that dog is embarrassed to be photographed wearing a real fur collar. Shame on the person on the other end of that leash, on both accounts.
efgoldman
@LAO:
As far as I can tell, Maher is just Dennis Miller with a bigger nose.He’s said nothing of value for 25 years. I wouldn’t watch him if i had HBO
LAO
This can’t be true. He told Fox news, he didn’t approve of any raises.
SFAW
@TenguPhule:
On the other hand, the (potential) upside is that Dinesh D’Doucheza probably has a sad thinking about it.
SFAW
@efgoldman:
I think there’s an antibiotic for that.
Nicole
Bill Maher is odd, and not very smart. There was an Esquire interview with him, some months back and he’s… odd. And, at least in the impression I got from the article, also very unhappy.
But I can see why he and Ann Coulter were a thing for awhile. They both hate women.
Best comment I read this weekend about his defense of Ingraham- “Bill Maher is a less successful Piers Morgan.” Heh.
EBT
@TenguPhule: As an aside, I keep seeing your name as TenguPhile for a split second every time I read your posts.
SFAW
@LAO:
Goddammit! I don’t have any popcorn in the house!
Go Mets, by the way.
ShadeTail
@Oklahomo: Unless it’s the HPV vaccine. He’s fine with that one because it lets him make fun of the right-wing fundies who hate it.
Alex Smith
@dr. bloor: Maybe we were Separated at Birth! (I’ll show myself out)
@No Drought No More: I suspect a real fur collar, like any other animal by-product, would be shredded and half digested by Echo or the pack within 3 minutes.
Roger Moore
The underlying problem is that punditry- including “news analysis”- has replaced reporting as the dominant mode of the 24 hour “news” channel. The news should be about reporters reporting, not about “media personalities” putting their spin on events.
LAO
@SFAW:
I know that they’ll come down to earth sooner, rather than later, but I’ve been humming “Meet the Mets” under my breath since Friday!
Kay
I think it’s gross how they’re all giving Kudlow all kinds of deference because they know him personally from his YEARS, decades, as a paid media personality on cable. It’s so clear they LIKE him.
Such an insiders club. Yuck. An insiders club that is composed exclusively of multi-millioniares.
Mandalay
@John Revolta:
I remember a story that went in the opposite direction, when Glenn Greenwald went after Chuck Todd in an interview. According to Greenwald, Todd was furious afterwards, saying that Greenwald had made him look bad in front of the camera.
I don’t necessarily believe everything that Greenwald claims, but that tale has a real ring of truth about it.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Mandalay:
Was Greenwald ever invited back afterwards? That’s the tell.
efgoldman
@LAO:
The IG’s office is going to have to hire another twenty people – enough to bury all of Pruitt’s transgressions.
Kay
This is cute. Straight-up blatant corruption to benefit the President and his family:
Are there any law enforcement people left in DC or did they all go on permanent hiatus? Fucking ridiculous- the level of blatant corruption and self-dealing.
JLowe
What can you say? She (Ingraham) got owned by a high-school senior who was faster on his feet than her and had a better grasp of market forces. Live or die by the eyeballs and clicks. That rot started setting in years ago – my introduction to it was “Breaking the News” by James Fallows. A little late for Maher to start whining about it now.
But her emails!!!
I hate to break it to Todd, but it’s not Greenwald that make’s Todd look bad.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@efgoldman:
Feeling gloomy today?
LAO
@efgoldman: I vaguely remember a time when Dennis Miller was funny. That was a long time ago.
SFAW
@LAO:
Sweeping the Nats was a nice touch, too.Although Matt Harvey definitely tried to make it interesting yesterday. Good thing Collins wised up during the off-season, and yanked him before it got too bad. Or was it Warthen who brought in Gsellman? Right after Ray Ramirez worked on RG’s arm, of course.
Gravenstone
@Uncle Cosmo: You’ve shown often enough here that you’re basically a rage Muppet, but seriously – if you don’t like a particular front pager just don’t click the fucking thread. Hard? Not really.
oatler.
The Left is really the Right is really the Left is really the Right KILL THE OTHER KILL THE OTHER KILL THE OTH
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@Gravenstone:
I particularly like the “cyberpanhandling” comment for the link to donations for Democrats.
Mike in NC
In the horror novel “World War Z” by Max Brooks, Maher and Coulter are revealed to be lovers just as the zombies are about to kill them.
LAO
@SFAW: Psst. Collins retired (Mickey Callahan is the new manager).
Mandalay
@Barbara:
Exactly so. One of Maher’s recurring themes is that Democrats are spineless wimps who always bring a knife to the fight when the Republicans bring a gun.
So what happens when a Republican starts a fight, and someone responds by calling for an ad boycott? Maher sides with the Republican.
SFAW
@LAO:
I call bullshit. I’m pretty sure I’m a bit older than you, and I don’t remember a time when he was funny. And it ain’t because I’m getting forgetful.
rikyrah
Echo is so stylish :)
SFAW
@LAO:
Give me some credit, will you please? Did you notice who else I mentioned? (Although I guess Ramirez and Warthen are not household names for you kids.)
LAO
@SFAW: I must of had really shitty taste back then. Wasn’t he on SNL weekend update back in the day?
Litlebritdifrnt
@Brachiator: There were all sorts of new techniques being used at the time and that is basically what led to his arrest. It is a sad tale, and sadder due to the fact that his patients were devastated. My Dad LOVED Dr. Buck and he was eternally upset about the entire episode. I am not excusing what he did, and would never excuse a killer but I truly believe that had he not killed the maid to cover up the murder he would have be acquitted. Men in the 1930s took at poor view of adultery.
SFAW
@LAO:
Yeah. I guess he was OK doing that. But after he left SNL, his FQ (funniness quotient) dropped severely.
LAO
@SFAW: I didn’t realize Warthen was out — I see he’s with the Rangers, now.
MEMO to self, stop being snarky.
ETA: Especially to fellow Mets fans.
Chip Daniels
Maher came from that world of the 1970s, when “liberal” was a universe containing much misogyny masquerading under cover of the Sexual Revolution.
Fair Economist
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?:
This.
I have heard from another source that Coulter is just an act. This guy, who is a gossip maven, claims she’s a fag hag in Weho when she’s visiting the area. Racist/self-hating gays maybe but more likely she’s a (reprehensible) act.
Ridnik Chrome
@Uncle Cosmo:
To be fair, I often have the same reaction to Radiohead lyrics.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
At the gym this morning, the class was small–only 4 white, retired Iowans. But we somehow got talking about Pruitt and every person in that class was horrified. The one man was most appalled less by the corruption than by the anti-environmental action he was taking. The corruption stories have made those actions more public.
Also, re another cabinet member.
The tweet references De Vos telling teachers to “serve students.”
LAO
This kind of shit, makes my blood boil:
Fair Economist
@Mandalay:
Maybe Maher is also “concerned” his shtick goes bad if Democrats start fighting hard, so he may have some perverse incentives as well.
BillinGlendaleCA
@LAO:
That’s no fun.
? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?
@LAO:
Wasn’t that like most of them? Even GOP states? And talk about starting with an assumption and working backwards it.
I don’t give a shit what the president “feels”. Voter fraud doesn’t exist.
LAO
@BillinGlendaleCA: I’d usually agree with you, but apparently, I’m no good at it. I may just leave it to the experts here.
Roger Moore
@LAO:
And it is total BS. For example, Trump loves to claim massive fraud in California, but the voter rolls in California are public and were provided to his fraudulent voting commission because the SoS is not legally allowed to withhold them from anyone who requests them.
rikyrah
Koch-funded groups remain hell-bent on making a quick buck off of our veterans by privatizing the VA.
We should be doing more–not less–to ensure that our vets receive the care they deserve. t.co/9Rnhy8COXJ
— Raul M. Grijalva (@RepRaulGrijalva) April 9, 2018
LAO
@Roger Moore:
To quote Betty:
germy
Hillary Clinton:
rikyrah
@LAO:
phuck outta here!
germy
Brachiator
@Litlebritdifrnt:
I don’t know. I’m sure his wife’s family were appalled at the murder. But it certainly adds to the complex human dimension to read about how beloved this doctor was by some of his patients and neighbors. Thanks for the anecdote. Grisly, but fascinating.
FlipYrWhig
@germy: Kay or another Ohioan can explain to us how it came to be that Nina Turner got THIS fucked in the head. It seems personal and almost manic.
efgoldman
@FlipYrWhig:
Wilmer is a carrier
patrick II
In a democracy we cannot make laws against most speech. The right wing, from the craven opportunists like Rush, Alex Jones, Ingraham, Coulter, to the actual power brokers with bad intentions including FOX, Koch brothers, Mercers, and the Trump/Bannon/Putin triumvirate take advantage of our open speech customs and laws to lie and spread hatred and chaos. It is the most serious problem facing us since without truth we cannot attack our other problems (nukes, climate change, unfettered capitalism, etc.)
Except for rare and talented individual artists and writers, it is impossible for an individual to fight back with any impact, so community response, whether that community is a corporation, righteous teenagers using twitter, or churches become a more effective counterweight to the hate speech and lies of the right. And that effectiveness is what they hate and why they cry so loudly when it is used.
germy
@SFAW:
He lost all those Harvard Lampoon/SNL writers. That’s when he started flailing.
low-tech cyclist
@Hildebrand:
If we’re nitpicking about whether it’s ‘when mess’ or ‘when you mess’ there sure seems to be a ‘you’ at the 1:34 mark.
If y’all are arguing over something different where I have no idea what’s going on, my apologies.
Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady)
@EBT: Totally OT, but wasn’t it you who mentioned writing a short story every week? If you don’t know Hatch’s Plot Bank, you might find it useful.
schrodingers_cat
Why did bigot Anton resign, today?
germy
@low-tech cyclist: I honestly believe Uncle Cosmo was joking with his comment.
Which is why the sarcasm font and/or sarcasm symbol can be useful here.
germy
@Dorothy A. Winsor (formerly Iowa Old Lady): Craigslist’s “missed connections” section can be a source of inspiration, as well.
trollhattan
@SFAW:
The best thing that came from Miller’s stint helming Weekend Update was Dana Carvey doing Dennis Miller in front of Dennis Miller.
When your own castmates mock your style with the producer’s consent, there might could be a problem with your schtick. Whatever value he may have had went out the window after 9/11. He’s not alone in that regard.
germy
@trollhattan: I remember that episode, and Miller did not looked pleased or amused.
oatler.
@trollhattan: I also remember one of Robert Smigel’s cartoons that had John McCain dying of frustration while George Bush’s “9/11” conquered the airwaves.
Peale
@TenguPhule: Yep. So basically when they were dating, he didn’t respect anything she had to say…but he “liked her as a person.” Kind of translates into “I’m not listening to you, but I know good tits when I see them.”
Mary G
FBI has raided Michael Cohen’s office. Twitler must feel the noose tightening.
Corner Stone
Down, down, down! Michael Cohen going down! FBI raids at his office(s).
Barbara
@schrodingers_cat: Context?
SiubhanDuinne
Boy howdy, do we ever need a new thread. FBI raiding Michael Cohen’s office!
Tick. Also tock.
Mother. Also fuckers.
Tick tock.
SFAW
@Barbara:
Michael Anton, NSC (I think) spokesman
germy
Alex Smith
@low-tech cyclist: Oh, that’s what he was talking about. Ha! Fixed.
Barbara
@germy: If Trump and Cohen both state publicly that Cohen was acting independently of Trump and that Trump had no idea that this agreement was being entered into for his benefit, how can Cohen claim ACP in any of the documents associated with the agreement?
schrodingers_cat
@Barbara: Michael Anton, is the anti-immigrant bigot in T admin, he is the Steve Miller with fancy words. He resigned today
germy
@Barbara: good question.
Ruckus
@Barbara:
You hit exactly on the point why they think DH should shut up and they can say whatever they want. They get paid way too much to do nothing but run their mouths and DH gets paid doodly squat. That of course in their minds makes them important and DH has the value of a 5 day old glass of soda that’s been sitting out in the sun. They are among the privileged who get paid far, far more than any service or product they provide, which is the only yardstick that they use to determine value. And they know that if the people that actually provide their salaries decide that they are worth far less than doodly squat and boycott their suppliers, their money train becomes a honey bucket.
ETA If you don’t know what a honey bucket is, ask raven.
Mary G
@Barbara: Neither he nor his client are the sharpest knives in the drawer. They seem to have thrived on getting what they want by screaming at people and playing “I’m not bound by this contract because I say so” so long that they feel invulnerable. Not gonna work with Mueller. I wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t all kinds of smoking guns lying around that office.
SFAW
@trollhattan:
I remember when Monday Night Football thought that it would be a good idea to have Miller fill the role that Rushbo had occupied, and the first/last/only game I heard Miller was Jets vs. Pats. He — blinding wit that he half-was — talked about the Jets’ owner (“Woody” Johnson) and the Pats’ center (Damien Woody), and said something like “Now we’ll find out who has the bigger woody.”
I have cracked some pretty bad/stupid/groaner jokes in my day, but nothing as fucking stupid as that.
Moron, you deserve to be the almost-answer to one of those “where are they now?” questions. “Almost-answer,” because no one gives a fuck about you anymore, Miller, so the question won’t get asked.
Anonymous At Work
@MJS: I can accept cultural activities that are politically neutral being a politically-neutral space, such as baseball, basketball, theater/opera, etc. (GW Bush will go down as one of the worst Presidents ever, but he can talk a mean game of baseball)
But I think the point for a lot of the punditocracy is that it *is* a game and those darn kids aren’t playing by the established rules. You’re supposed to toe the line, maybe try to sneak in a scuff or two to try and move the line, but all apologies, no matter how blatantly insincere and off-topic (I’m sorry your feelings got hurt…) they may, were to be immediately accepted and the entire matter immediately thrown down the memory well. Next batter, new inning, new set of downs.
What’s happening to Ingram is that the darn kids aren’t letting it go because she didn’t apologize for what she actually did and said, and have decided to put their money where their mouth is. Good on them.
Mnemosyne
@Ruckus:
If veterans like both you and raven know what one is, I think I can guess. ?
Frankensteinbeck
@germy:
I read Uncle Cosmo as doing a satire about Ferd and the other obsessed trolls.
Mnemosyne
“The fur collar is detachable.”
Let’s see who recognizes that line. ?
Only hint: it’s not from a song.
Ruckus
@Mnemosyne:
I wondered who would catch that. You win!
JustRuss
@Fair Economist: In the book Blinded by the Right, the author, a gay man, describes his friendship with Coulter. She was certainly aware of his sexual orientation. Homophobia and general skeeviness eventually led him to abandon conservatism. Coulter of course is OK with it, although she doesn’t seem to be homophobic herself.
I recently learned an acquaintance of mine was childhood friends with Coulter. She’s not a fan of the grown-up (relatively) version.
Shana
@dr. bloor: You two can join my hubby and me. God I miss Spy. At least Graydon Carter’s ended up at Vanity Fair.
Capri
@? ?? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ? ?: Agree 100%. She’ll say whatever it takes to get some press. I recall when a mainstream newspaper gave her column space to comment on the Democratic National Convention – it was either Obama’s first or second term. She did her usual schtick, the one that nobody bats an eye at over at Fox, and lasted 2 days.
debbie
Has no one mentioned that a boycott is in fact free speech?
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@John Revolta: For what it’s worth, political debates are supposed to be about positions and not personalities. Also the English do practice that in collage. It’s the Know Nothing Right that reduced political discourse into a stream attacks on the other persons for daring to not agree with them.
JR
For a second I thought you were referencing the Susan Sontag-penned Fischerspooner song: “We need a war”
RemindsMeOfThatMovie
Maher had Eric Erickson on not too long ago. He had Heraldo Rivera on last week.
He was going on about the N. Korea meeting thing too. How it was a good thing that Trumpov was doing and his justification was because he’s on the west coast and that’s where the bombs will fall if N. Korea can make it that far.
So once again he has started rubbing me the wrong way just when I was starting to give him another chance. He had been acting fairly reasonable until the N. Korea thing. Now he is going off on all sorts of disagreeable tangents.
Procopius
Bravo! I love this. I’ve disliked Maher as a mean-spirited authoritarian with no sense of humor for years, but nailing his, “I like her as a person,” just made my day. I so wish there was someone who would ask him about that, preferably on his show. Alas, I never watch his show any more, so I do not know if anyone would, but I presume there is not.