Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Oh FFS you might as well trust a 6-year-old with a flamethrower.

Come on, man.

Books are my comfort food!

“Just close your eyes and kiss the girl and go where the tilt-a-whirl takes you.” ~OzarkHillbilly

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

No one could have predicted…

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

“woke” is the new caravan.

These are not very smart people, and things got out of hand.

There are no moderate republicans – only extremists and cowards.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

Celebrate the fucking wins.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

You are here: Home / Politics / domestic terrorists / STUPID Venality Open Thread: ‘Monkey It Up’, Repubs!

STUPID Venality Open Thread: ‘Monkey It Up’, Repubs!

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So… where do we chip in for a Gillum ad using his opponent’s Kinsley gaffe?

Per the Miami Herald:

… “He is an articulate spokesman for those far-left views. And he’s a charismatic candidate,” DeSantis said of Gillum. “I watched those Democratic debates. None of that is my cup of tea but, he performed better than the other people there so we’ve got to work hard to make sure that we continue Florida going in a good direction. Let’s build off the success we’ve had with Gov. [Rick] Scott. The last thing we need to do is to monkey this up by trying to embrace a socialist agenda with huge tax increases and bankrupting the state. That’s not going to work. That’s not going to be good for Florida.”…

Articulate… charismatic… he performed better… Y’ever wonder if the Repubs miss President Obama almost as much as us sane people? Cuz their current Dear Leader, nobody is gonna be able to throw such accusations at him.

ETA:

EATA (via commentor R-Jud):

Reader Interactions

93Comments

  1. 1.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    anybody watching the Cuomo-Nixon debate?

    Simon Maloy @ SimonMaloy
    *extremely* strong self-own from the governor here

    Gideon Resnick @ GideonResnick
    Getting chippy now as Cuomo asks Nixon to stop interrupting. She responds “can you stop lying?” He says “as soon as you do.”

    he wants to be president?

  2. 2.

    japa21

    As I told Mrs Japa this morning when this first came out, “Don’t monkey this up” is a phrase I have never heard. “Muck it up” is the phrase I am most familiar with.

  4. 4.

    Mike J

    I have heard “monkey up, but not used this way. He used it like “foul up.” There’s an entry for “monkey up” in ESR’s jargon file, which is a glossary of computer argot from the 70s, 80s, and early 90s. Monkey up in his usage is like “whip up” but very shoddy. Something you just throw together because you only need it to last 5 minutes. I’ve never seen any racial overtones attached to this usage, but that’s not to say that somebody, somewhere didn’t try.
    http://catb.org/jargon/html/M/monkey-up.html

    I seriously doubt DeSantis was using Usenet slang from the 80s, and if he was trying to, he did it wrong. On linguistics alone it’s much more likely this was a racist dogwhistle. Then when you add DeSantis’ personal history, it becomes a near certainty.

  5. 5.

    lamh36

    Evening BJ peeps…had my first class as a grad student yesterday. It was interesting being inside a classroom again.

    Anyhoo…so I’m still going through Aretha Franklin tributes. Gotta the latest issue of EW which is an Aretha Franklin tribute issue. It discussed the tributes pooring from other artist, across all genres.

    Two stand outs from country music!!!

    This was not half bad…go ahead Miranda Lambert.

    Miranda Lambert – Aretha Franklin tribute – The Bandwagon Tour https://youtu.be/9r1JXpD6nR4 via @YouTube

    this wasn’t bad either…well damn the country singers doing better than the damn MTV pop artists!

    Chris Stapleton | Do Right Woman, Do Right Man (Aretha Franklin) | The F… https://youtu.be/AI8KsALbgro via @YouTube

  6. 6.

    Aussiesmurf

    Its like those dudes that try and work the word ‘n*ggardly’ into a sentence and, when called on it, protest about how ‘its an actual word! I used it in good faith!’

  7. 7.

    Mike in NC

    There are a pack of GOP mini Trumps running for various offices. After seeing the fawning stupidity of the DeSantis ads, we’re expecting to congratulate all our friends in Florida about their next governor. People will quickly get nostalgic for Rick Scott.

  11. 11.

    Corner Stone

    I normally like Laura Bassett of HuffPo but on Tweety’s show with Kornack sitting in she described Gillum as “far left”, instead of just “Democratic” candidate.

  13. 13.

    A Ghost To Most

    @Mike J:
    I’m a walking encyclopedia of computer jargon from the 80s to the teens . I never heard “monkey it up”. Kludge, hack (bad code, not breaking and entering), and the ever-present “fucked up beyond recognition”.

  15. 15.

    Bill Arnold

    Since open thread, for those who have friends and/or acquaintances obscessed with persecution of religious minorities like Christians or Jews, how do they react to moves like this?:
    China Declared Islam a Contagious Disease – and Quarantined 1 Million Muslims (As you can probably tell by the snark, Eric Levitz, Aug. 28, 2018)

    At first, Beijing was content to reserve its concentration camps for suspected radicals. But, as the Atlantic’s Sigal Samuel explains, they eventually decided that the Uighurs’ ideological malady was so destructive and contagious, it was best to quarantine them prophylactically, upon the slightest apparent symptom (like, say, the appearance of a long beard on an Uighur male’s face).

    Fortunately, the United States remains, for now, the world’s preeminent military and economic power. And as president Trump made clear in his speech withdrawing the U.S. from the Iran nuclear agreement, our country is deeply committed to spreading religious freedom, individual liberty, and other human rights throughout the globe. So, is there any reason to doubt that Trump will make the liberation of the Uighurs America’s top priority in its next round of negotiations with China over trade policy?

  16. 16.

    Joyce Harmon

    I was struck by “articulate”. White people are called “articulate” about as often as young people are called “spry”.

  19. 19.

    A Ghost To Most

    I hope Gillum is as alike Obama as he appears to be.
    He should give a speech at the DNC 2020. I was sold that night in 2004.

  20. 20.

    Joe Falco

    There is an attack ad about GA gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams featuring a tap dancer that’s about a half step away from saying “shuck and jive.”

  21. 21.

    Hungry Joe

    @Aussiesmurf: “Niggardly,” meaning stingy, tight-fisted, comes from Old Norse and is etymologically unrelated to the n-word. That said, there are plenty of English words that mean the same thing, and since this one sounds almost exactly like the hated, offensive one, and quite naturally sets people off when they hear it or see it (most people are unfamiliar with “niggardly”), it’s not much of a sacrifice to retire it from the language.

  23. 23.

    Corner Stone

    I hope Bill Nelson takes a fucking hint and drops his “white guy with a stick up his ass” soft shoe routine, and understands his future elected status hinges on the enthusiasm that’s coming from diverse communities, specifically AA. Ride them coattails, Billie! Ride ’em!!

  25. 25.

    NotMax

    Worst post-Lane in-need-of-a-machete parts of the property mowed and gone over again twice more to mulch, including the no longer scraggly berm streetside. Had to be extra cautious as the riding mower’s tires were prone to spinning on the still damp parts and to skidding sideways on anything more than the gentlest of turns. All the rest can wait until everything is dry.

    @Corner Stone

    Agreed.

    Monkey around, yes. Throw a monkey wrench into the works, yes. Monkey it up, no.

  26. 26.

    TenguPhule

    @NotMax:

    Monkey around, yes. Throw a monkey wrench into the works, yes.

    Million monkeys banging on keyboards to produce Shakespeare.

  29. 29.

    TenguPhule

    In his tweets on Wednesday night, Trump said “there is no reason at this time to be spending large amounts of money on joint U.S.-South Korea war games.”

    Trump, referring to himself, added: “Besides, the President can instantly start the joint exercises again with South Korea and Japan, if he so chooses. If he does, they will be far bigger than ever before.”

    His suggestion that all military exercises with South Korea and Japan had been suspended indefinitely directly contradicted what Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the day before.

    Speaking at a Pentagon news conference, Mattis said the U.S. military “suspended several of the largest exercises, but we did not suspend the rest.” He said “there are ongoing exercises all the time on the peninsula.”

    Mattis added: “So the exercises continue. What it means in practical terms is that we’re making no changes to the exercise program at this time.”

    Here we go again.

    Mattis says one thing, Trump contradicts him the next day.

  30. 30.

    different-church-lady

    Barney, we miss you so much:

    Over the course of the interview, Cohen tried to convince Frank, who represented the state’s Fourth District from 1981-2013, that Trump’s infamous “Access Hollywood” tape was actually a conspiracy theory manufactured by CNN, or the “Communist News Network,” as Cohen called it.

    “I think that’s deluded,” Frank said of “Ruddick’s” take on the “Access Hollywood” tape.

    “Deluded? Well, that is an insult, sir,” Cohen replied.

    “Yes, it’s meant to be,” Frank said.

  32. 32.

    different-church-lady

    @Hungry Joe: It’s already retired from the language. The only time people use it today is when they think they’re being cute about their racism.

  33. 33.

    tobie

    @Corner Stone: I don’t understand how any Senator up for reelection in a swing state can just be dialing it in. Is it laziness? a death wish? entitlement? I really just don’t get how Nelson can’t see the urgency of the moment and precariousness of his position.

  34. 34.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: lots of people want things they will never have, and Cuomo will never come as close to being president as Sarah Palin did.

    Steve who is, against all odds, actually in the ATL

  37. 37.

    TheOtherHank

    And even if he meant it exactly the way he’s been backpedaling, who cares? If you’re talking about an African American person, and you have a half a brain in your head, you don’t use the word monkey unless you want to sound racist. What a maroon.

  40. 40.

    Platonailedit

    The rethugs are going to let their full blown racist flags fly in 2018. And the fucking msm will be peddling he/she is an extreme left candidate flags fly.

  41. 41.

    jl

    @TheOtherHank: In the clip I posted above, Gillum goes out of his way, with a wry smile, to assure Todd that his response will be ‘articulate’. Then I think without saying so explicitly, Gillum calls out DeSantis for exactly what he’s trying to do: rile up his racist base, and stir outrage amongst the libs, in order to gin up more outrage among the racist base.

    I think Gillum knows the best way to handle it and executes it perfectly, and that he will be a formidable candidate.

  42. 42.

    Cermet

    Trying to tell people the truth was, as the Greeks knew too well as their story of Cassandra demonstrates, is mostly a waste of time.

    AGW in the next thirty years will bring havoc like few will believe. Within that time frame, war and destruction will sweep across must of the world. As oil goes dry (all the remaining available liquids will be far too costly to exact), then crops fail throughout much of the world far too often due to heat and drought; and paradoxically, floods will grow far worse damaging many regions at times, all leading to not millions, but many hundreds of millions being forced to flee the heat, war, and famine; even the US will suffer like we have never done before.

    I hope real alternate energy is developed (certainly fusion would be a major breakthrough but if it does manage to work, it will be extremely costly so only a few rich countries could afford it and its usefulness even for these countries will be very limited.) But that won’t feed the masses of people nor stem the terrible nature of the equatorial regions becoming uninhabitable due to heat. If new very contagious and deadly viruses spread (and I hope the current ones are just aberrations) then the outlook for the world in the near future does appears poor.

    Seeing even now how current AGW is triggering current droughts, internal civil wars, growing racist hatred and all too ready religious intolerance, I do not like thinking how these “embers” will grow as the AGW continues to become far worse.

  43. 43.

    TeacherRyan

    Well, I feel stupid. I grew up in the south and it never occurred to me that “monkey it up” had racial overtones. I completely missed it and had no idea the phrase wasn’t used outside of the south, although now that I honk about it, I haven’t heard the phrase since I left 20 years ago. You learn something new every day, thanks to racist Republicans.

  44. 44.

    DissidentFish

    @Joyce Harmon: I’ve been called articulate and I always took it as a compliment. I’ve also been called monkey to my face (I’m Indian-American). That was clearly not a compliment. And it was a very common slur in the 70’s and 80’s.

    I probably ought to re-asses how I feel about being called articulate. Maybe I don’t need to worry too much since age is weakening whatever articulateness I may have possessed.

  45. 45.

    John

    Not to defend a Republican or anything, but “monkey it up” is a quite common phrase where I grew up (Milwaukee) And it doesn’t have even remotely racist connotations to my knowledge.

    Sorry.

  47. 47.

    chris

    @Cermet: Depressing ain’t it? I’m not on the Near Term Extinction bandwagon but the more I read the more I revise my definition of “near term.”

  48. 48.

    lamh36

    @John: BULLSHIT

    is it…look around you…who used the phrase? Your old white uncle, cousin, aunt…whoever?

    Does your one Black friend use it too?

    Please…if it’s a common phrase among a bunch of white people…and you’ve never heard it uttered across a diverse group…then GTFO

  49. 49.

    laura

    @lamh36: im hoping you soar in your Master’s Program and hope you share some experiences here.
    My Roadie brothers loved Chris Stapleton who opened a couple of shows for Guns n Roses last year. A massive bromance ensued.

  53. 53.

    FelonyGovvt

    It amazes me that we’re only 12 years or so removed from the “macaca” debacle where the Senate candidate was widely shamed for using that term to describe a young Indian American man. Now they throw out disgusting slurs proudly.

  54. 54.

    FelonyGovt

    It amazes me that we’re only 12 years or so removed from the “macaca” debacle where the Senate candidate was widely shamed for using that term to describe a young Indian American man. Now they throw disgusting slurs around proudly.

  57. 57.

    Amir Khalid

    The nudge-nudge, wink-wink racism of DeSantis’ words aside, he’s admitting that Gillum is making a strong case for the Democratic party’s policy ideas and demanding that Republican voters shut their ears to it, so that the Republican party can keep the governorship of Florida. Not a peep from DeSantis about Republican policy and how it’s better for Floridans, just “Resist the socialist tide! Keep my party in office!” Truly, the party of nihilistic partisanship.

  59. 59.

    marv

    The salient point was made in Comment 3 – the expression “nigger-rigging” was the popular version of this racial slur, and in common use in the 20th century not just in the South, but throughout the good old USA. Why do we pretend we never heard this shit?

  61. 61.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @marv: I have heard and seen N-rigging before. I have also seen and used jury-rigging for the same purpose, “Monkeying something up” is mew to me. Don’t give cover to the racist.

  62. 62.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @marv: I never heard it. I’ve been on this earth for 60+ years. Never heard “monkey it up” either.

  67. 67.

    A Ghost To Most

    @FelonyGovt:
    Contributing to Webb vs Macaca Allen way back when was fulfilling. Time to send a little cash to Gillum.

    Where’s Dougj! when you need him?

  68. 68.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    I hadn’t given much credence to the idea of Governor Cynthia Nixon. Based on the few minutes of this debate I have seen, the NY lege may be considering some version of the 25th amendment to get Cuomo out of there by Friday

    jordan
    Absolutely painful back-and-forth between Cuomo & Nixon here.
    Cuomo tries to accuse Nixon of being “a corporation” and donating as “a corporation” to get special favors in NYC.
    The “favor”?
    She requested no helicopters above “Shakespeare in the Park” so people could hear.

    The video is much, much worse that this tweet would suggest.

  69. 69.

    Steve in the ATL

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Also too, don’t try to tell us that Milwaukee (and I really love that city) has never had racism issues.

    Neither has Tulsa, Oklahoma. Now if you’ll excuse m, I’m going to listen to the GAP Band.

  71. 71.

    John

    @Corner Stone:

    Usually something like “don’t monkey it up” meaning don’t mess it up.

    Not a phrase I’ve used in a couple decades, but I seriously doubt anyone was using it with racist intent.

  73. 73.

    John

    @Belafon:

    If it were commonly used in a racist manner…

    Internet searches wouldn’t be so sparse.

    See how that works?

    But now it’s racist because some dipshit on the internet deemed it so. I guess all phrases with the word monkey in them are also racist, right?

    Done now.

    This is asinine.

  74. 74.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @John: and you, a lifelong Democrat and two-time Obama voter and blah blah blah, have had it with this political correctness!

    You didn’t leave the party, the party left you!

    It’s getting so you can’t even tell a joke anymore!

    You don’t have a racist bone in your body, but…..

  79. 79.

    Bill Arnold

    @Cermet:

    AGW in the next thirty years will bring havoc like few will believe. Within that time frame, war and destruction will sweep across must of the world.

    How does this look as a sketch of an outline of a plan for avoiding billions of human deaths? (Billions of human deaths is the current “plan”; this is one (hidden) motivating reason for the rise of anti-immigration movements around the world; to provide political and ideological support for blocking climate refuges.) (This is an optimistic sketch.)
    (1) Emergency decarbonization[0] of the global energy economy. Massive investment in research on energy renewables and storage and transmission, and electric vehicles and freight transport and efficiency and etc. No compromise with the Fossil Carbon Extraction and Burning forces. None. In the fullness of time, they are mass murderers, on a scale never encountered previously by humanity.
    (2) Remedial blocking of 1-3% sunlight for the decades required to scrub the atmosphere of excess CO2, to avoid a runaway greenhouse scenario. In a pinch, decades of nuclear autumn as a few cities (or maybe forests) per year are evacuated and burned with thermonuclear-initiated firestorms. (It being hard, not to mention immoral, to trigger controlled nuclear exchanges.) Or SO2 injection into the upper atmosphere, or something else. (Perhaps E. Musk could be focused on spending the next few decades of his life placing a sunshade at L1, e.g. using materials from asteroids and self-replicating supply and construction machinery. :) )
    (3) Large numbers of nuclear-powered carbon sequestration engines to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels, operating for decades. Perhaps they could also produce electricity, or desalinate seawater, or provide steam heat for cities. If somebody figures out how to do it effectively and quickly and differently, great (e.g. biotech of some sort, or a flotilla of self-replicating solar powered carbon sequestration ocean rafts that drop solid carbon (hey, maybe diamond!) to the sea floor.)

    [0] On my to-read list: The politics of decarbonization and the catalytic impact of subnational climate experiments (7 March 2018)

  80. 80.

    frosty

    @NotMax:

    Monkey around, yes. Throw a monkey wrench into the works, yes. Monkey it up, no.

    My Dad’s expression for screwing something up on a repair was “we buggered it up”. Never heard monkey it up in any context.

  83. 83.

    PenAndKey

    @Omnes Omnibus: Funny, in at least one particular rural corner of Western Wisconsin along I-90 the phrase was certainly in use as a generic “fucked something up by being stupid” remark when I was a child 20 years ago.

    Seriously, when did pointing out life experiences instantly bring out the knives when they don’t match a thread narrative? I can’t believe I’m actually commenting for the first time in years over something as asinine as this, but the vitriol you’re all showing at the slightest provocation is, quite frankly, embarrassing.

  88. 88.

    Annamal

    Even if it is a common and non-racist phrase where DeSantis comes from he should still apologise and rethink his phrasing.

    Steven Adams absolutely did not have any racist intent when he referred to other players as “little monkeys” (which in a New Zealand context would be the equivalent of calling them scamps) but he still apologised and hasn’t made that kind of a misstep since (being a Tongan kid on a scholarship to an expensive private school, I’m going to guess his own life was not free of racism which might help him listen to other people if they tell him he’s a crossed a line)

  89. 89.

    PenAndKey

    @Platonailedit: Old garbage? This’ll be cute. The only reason I don’t use my old nym is that it’s been so long since they installed the new “mobile theme” and I stopped being able to comment easily that I’ve forgotten it, so enlighten the class and who exactly do you think I am that feel a need to insult me? This’ll be rich.

  90. 90.

    mere mortal

    My thoughts on this have been rather fluid.

    First, I was thinking it’s a nothingburger, he wanted to say “fuck it up” but couldn’t, so who cares.

    But I’m swayed by the other context AL noted from the comment.

    Still not sure it’s a “macaca” moment or explaining that he was actually talking about “blah people”, but I’m prepared to understand that it’s pretty bad.

  91. 91.

    Scott P.

    My assumption would be that Gillum’s brain crossed “screw this up” with “monkey around” and created a portmanteau.

  93. 93.

    PenAndKey

    @mere mortal:

    That’s pretty much my take on it. Where I’m from the phrase is a way to swear without swearing, basically. In Florida it may be different. I’m not a mind reader so I can’t be sure what Gillum meant by it, but i can’t see attacking him for it being anything but red meat for our own base amusement.

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