Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Innocent people don’t delay justice.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Bark louder, little dog.

No Justins, No Peace

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Ah, the different things are different argument.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

After roe, women are no longer free.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

“Cheese and Kraken paired together for the appetizer trial.”

Glad to see john eastman going through some things.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Calling Out the Chickenshits

Calling Out the Chickenshits

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Max Rose, D-NY-11, who was one of the first Democrats to criticize Rep. Ilyan Omar for a careless tweet yesterday, makes a great statement to the press:


Rose’s Twitter feed is worth a look – it’s a good example of how to aggressively focus on mostly local issues to keep your seat that you’ve just taken from a Republican in a district that voted for Trump in 2016.

Looks like we need an open thread.

Reader Interactions

87Comments

  2. 2.

    Salty Sam

    I am really encouraged to see this new Dem pushback on the media. Harris’ comments about not wasting her time on people who don’t understand her blackness (that’s a paraphrase, she said it much more eloquently), AOC’s running the game on social media, Omar’s apology “but still standing strong”, and now this. I used to cringe when old-school Dems would get in front of the microphones and grovel- NO MORE!

    Sounds like the calls for “more and better Dems” has been heeded…

  4. 4.

    Nicole

    “Agents of the Republican Party.” I love it. Good for him calling the press out on not camping out after the GOP’s many blatantly anti-Semitic comments.

    And of course, right after he finishes saying that, one of them chimes in with, “Have you spoken with the Congresswoman?” AUUUGGGHHHHHH.

  7. 7.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @jeffreyw: How did I know that’s what the picture would be? Oh yeah, I have bird feeders too! The other day I counted 13 male cardinals and 11 females, I think the other 2 were hiding in one of our evergreens.

  10. 10.

    Kraux Pas

    @MattF:

    Media just isn’t interested in R hypocrisy, R lies. Old news, dog bites man. Pointing it out threatens the bottom line.

    It’s even worse than you claim.

  11. 11.

    Immanentize

    Good election news, maybe already covered?:
    Ex-Astronaut Mark Kelly, husband of gun-victim Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, is running in 2020 against Republican Senator Martha McSally (who lost to Kyrsten Sinema last November but was appointed to an open seat by Governor Doug Ducey), to complete John McCain’s Senate term which will end in 2022.

    I’m kinda proud of that sentence.

  14. 14.

    germy

    Video:

    https://boingboing.net/2019/02/12/trump-supporter-attacks-bbc-ca.html

    The BBC reports that one of its journalists was attacked by a Trump supporter at his rally in El Paso, Texas, monday night. The footage from the victim’s camera shows Trump delivering his speech before it is knocked to the ground.

    Sporting a Make America Great Again cap, the man shoved and swore at the BBC’s Ron Skeans and other news crews before being pulled away. Mr Skeans said the “very hard shove” came from his blindside. “I didn’t know what was going on.” Mr Trump saw the attack and confirmed Mr Skeans was well with a thumbs up after it happened.

  15. 15.

    Betty Cracker

    @germy: I want to know if that MAGA thug has been arrested. None of the reports on the incident I’ve seen have said whether he was or not.

  20. 20.

    germy

    Cool as hell that Trump literally claimed doctors are gonna euthenize newborn babies tonight and the media is fact checking that he lied about the size of Beto's rally crowd instead— Juggalocialism (@UweBollocks) February 12, 2019

  21. 21.

    germy

    President Trump, who called Neo Nazis in Charlottesville “good people,” has this to say of Rep. Omar.
    “I think she should be ashamed of herself. I think it was a terrible statement and I don’t think her apology was adequate.”— Sam Stein (@samstein) February 12, 2019

    I was at a Jewish Republican event with him in 2015 where he said: “You're not gonna support me because I don't want your money. You want to control your politicians, that's fine.” https://t.co/YwJOduPtFr https://t.co/HKY59mqTnG— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) February 12, 2019

  22. 22.

    lee

    I didn’t really look into what Rep. Ilyan Omar said/tweeted/whatever. Was it really anti-semitic or was it just critical of Israel or its agents? I seem to think it was actually about AIPAC.

  25. 25.

    Kraux Pas

    @lee: In fairness, the text of the tweet has been missing from all the reporting I’ve seen.

    @News Media

    Context!?!? What’s that? Fight! Fight! Fight! Fight!…

  26. 26.

    lee

    @Kraux Pas: The one I saw she replied to a tweet with ‘It’s all about the Benjamins’. I think the original tweet referenced AIPAC or something. I realized at that point I didn’t care at all and stopped reading.

  28. 28.

    Immanentize

    @lee: I understand how any relating of Jews and money is, because of history, potentially viewed as anti-Jewish.

    But am I the only one that found “all about the Benjamin(s)” to be kinda clever if one consider’s Netanyahu’s overt anti-Obama Pro-Republican actions?

  31. 31.

    lee

    @Immanentize: Yeah I got the impression it was tone deaf. She was actually referring to lobbyists…so it really is all about the money.

    meh….whatever. AIPAC probably did more PR harm to itself crying ‘anti-Semitism’ than harm it did to her.

  32. 32.

    rp

    I think it’s appropriate (and accurate) to talk about AIPAC’s outsized influence on US politics. It’s a problem when people start saying that AIPAC “controls” Congress or the government or whatever.

    Israel is also an interesting example of the horseshoe theory at work. You see similar language on the far left and far right about Israel’s influence along with other stuff about globalization, the elites, etc.

  33. 33.

    Mike in DC

    Pushing the idea that Jewish people “own” the media, banks or politicians IS anti-Semitic. That being said, it is indisputable that AIPAC is a highly organized, highly funded lobbying organization that has a significant influence on American foreign policy, particularly regarding our policy in the Middle East/Near Asia region.

  34. 34.

    germy

    The inability to criticize AIPAC or Likud without being accused of anti-semitism reminds me of how we couldn’t criticize George W or his war in 2004 without accusations of being anti-American.

  36. 36.

    tobie

    This likely won’t get much coverage but it’s so perverse that it’s worth mentioning. Wealthy trophy hunters for an endangered Himalayan goat in Pakistan are now claiming they contribute to conservation efforts since the $110,000 fee they pay for the right to hunt this goat means the locals no longer need to help poachers to support themselves. The notoriously corrupt Pakistani government is fine with this.

    Here’s the quote from the Post article:

    But there is another, more benign, rationale behind allowing Harlan, along with two other Americans, to pay enormous sums to kill three long-horned markhors in northern Pakistan in the past month. According to Pakistani officials and conservation groups, the practice has actually helped save a rare and endangered species from potential extinction.

  37. 37.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Kraux Pas:

    Pointing it out threatens the bottom line.

    Pointing it out opens up reporters and pundits to recognizing that they, themselves, are ignorant bigots.

    @germy:

    The inability to criticize AIPAC or Likud without being accused of anti-semitism

    Too many Jews believe that the conflict between Jews and Muslims is existential, and if you criticize Israel’s right to take any action against Muslims, no matter how extreme, you are siding with genocide against Jews. Throw in the vastly greater number of evangelicals who believe the only purpose of Jews is to war against Muslims, and it’s a big cultural problem.

  38. 38.

    germy

    Looks like I’ll be skipping Find Your Roots tonight:

    Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), explore their diverse family histories.

  39. 39.

    Yarrow

    @Betty Cracker: From the BBC article about the attack:

    Mr Skeans said the man almost knocked him and his camera over twice before he was wrestled away by a blogger.

    A blogger! Okay, which one of you frontpagers were at the rally?

  44. 44.

    geg6

    @germy:

    I know! I am pissed at Henry Louis Gates! Throw us at least one bone, mmkay? I mean, that’s a lot of crap there in one episode.

  45. 45.

    Joey Maloney

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Too many Jews believe that the conflict between Jews and Muslims is existential

    Too many Israelis, maybe. American Jews continue to prefer the Democratic party by roughly 70-30.

  47. 47.

    The Moar You Know

    I guess assault is okay if the assailant is whipped into a frenzy by the POTUS then. Duly noted.

    @Betty Cracker: Yep.

    WH statement was assailant was “drunk” – the worst sin in Trump’s eyes.

  48. 48.

    Yarrow

    From a NY Post article about the incident:

    The man, who had entered the media platform holding reporters covering the speech, shouted at news crews “f— the media” as he was escorted out amid chants from the crowd: “Let him go. Let him go.”

    You can hear the boos and the “Let him go” chants on the video.

  50. 50.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Joey Maloney:
    Too many American Jews. 30% is a lot, and it’s all of them and a few Democratic Jews who merely think Democrats can be swayed while Republicans are horrible. I was raised a Jew. I assure you I am intimately familiar with the mindset and how widespread it is, not to mention the complicated middle grounds like ‘I wish there was any way around it, but I don’t see a peaceful resolution.’

  53. 53.

    trollhattan

    @germy:
    I’m eager to hear at least a few of our several dozen Dem candidates openly take issue with Crooked Bibi and his Likud, which have had a stranglehold on Israeli politics for decades now and are dead-set against lasting peace and any kind of two-state solution. Drag it in the open and force a discussion.

  58. 58.

    germy

    1. We spent a lot of time yesterday talking about Ilhan Omar and anti-Semitic tropes.

    Can we spend 2 minutes talking about Duncan Hunter, who is still a Congressman because of his brazenly bigoted anti-Muslim smear campaign against his opponent? https://t.co/u4cDatojg5— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) February 12, 2019

  61. 61.

    germy

    I want to know who is on the NYT team given the number of women and people of color running in 2020. Seriously. Post a graphic. I bet it’s wall to wall white dudes with a white woman or two for seasoning. Prove me wrong.

    — Imani Gandy (@AngryBlackLady) February 12, 2019

  63. 63.

    germy

    I still can’t get over the number of people saying that Omar quoting Biggie lyrics was her suggesting Jews control the government through a shadowy cabal. I think a lot of y’all didn’t get the reference and rather than admit that foible, you’re reading a lot into it.

    — Imani Gandy (@AngryBlackLady) February 12, 2019

  64. 64.

    tobie

    @japa21: I didn’t know that. The argument is just so perverse: I kill exotic animals to preserve them. Gag me, as Moon Unit Zappa used to say.

  65. 65.

    rp

    @Lee: It’s potentially anti-semitic if you argue that AIPAC alone controls Congress. It’s not if you argue that lobbyists like AIPAC, the NRA, the oil industry, Saudia Arabia, et al control Congress.

  66. 66.

    Served

    I thought that Omar’s reference to the lyrics were also a play on words referencing Netanyahu specifically.

  67. 67.

    J R in WV

    @tobie:

    My younger brother enjoys shooting rare and exotic big game in captive game ranches in the Texas Hill Country.

    He liked it so much when he retired from Compaq in Houston, he moved to the Hill country, bought a small ranch, and then bought exotic game animals to breed up his own herd, to shoot, while captive on his small ranch.

    Life Member of the NRA, Bush ’04 bumper sticker, no doubt a big Trumper. I don’t see him much any more, he raised his two sons in the BSA cult!

    The one is now an ensign in the USN and the other (on the spectrum) is attempting to become a TX Law Enforcement Officer. This is difficult, as he has difficulty looking into someone’s eyes, even his uncle, for ex.

  68. 68.

    germy

    I don’t know anything about politics in Israel. Is there a strong opposition party to the current administration?

    I know there’s a big number of political parties there. Are there any serious challengers to Netanyahu?

  69. 69.

    Brachiator

    @jeffreyw:

    When you’re hoping for a nice romantic dinner and a bunch of assholes show up.

    Reminds me of a real life version of the Angry Birds video game.

    Cool photo.

  70. 70.

    NYCMT

    I canvassed for Max Rose in Bay Ridge on Election Day last fall. Glad he called out the Republicans for being chickenshit demagogues – especially as I woke up this morning to find out that a Catskills yeshiva not even four miles from my childhood bedroom was festooned with swastikas and torched at the end of January.

  71. 71.

    tobie

    @J R in WV: Whatever happened to innocent hobbies like woodworking, playing an instrument, sketching or sports??? I feel bad for your nephew. It sounds like his father’s/your brother’s ideology has pushed him to look for a job in law enforcement, when he’s psychologically unsuited for it. The last thing he needs is a high stress job dealing with people in difficult situations.

  72. 72.

    NotMax

    Repeating for the daytime jackals.

    Both Google and Apple ought to be deeply mortified, have their digital feet held to the fire and rectify this NOW.

    Saudi Arabia has created an application that allows male guardians to track and prevent women from travelling due to the rise in the number of women recently fleeing the ultra-conservative kingdom.

    The app, called Absher, meaning “Good Tidings” in Arabic, has been in operation for several years, however, it has only recently come into attention in media worldwide following the high-profile case of Rahaf Muhammad, a Saudi teen who fled the kingdom from her abusive family and found asylum in Canada.

    The app allows males to track their female “dependents,” such as wives and daughters, and receive a message whenever they use their passport to travel outside of Saudi Arabia.

    The Saudi Ministry of Interior, which runs the app, claimed this is an attempt to create digital services platform, which include the ability to pay fines online.

    However, it is its “dependent” registration and notification alert section that is excessively being used by Saudi men to restrict the freedom of women.
    [snip]
    Meanwhile, Apple and Google are facing criticism for hosting the app and have been accused of facilitating misogyny and helping “enforce gender apartheid” for making the app available on Google Play and Apple’s App Store. Source

  73. 73.

    ruemara

    @Immanentize: Ker-rist. It’s a line from a song, not about Netanyahu! Considering how many people keep referring to that line as the sign of anti-semitism, how much of this is due to the lack of familiarity with 90’s rap lyrics?

  76. 76.

    Mick

    @rp:

    It’s a problem when people start saying that AIPAC “controls” Congress or the government or whatever.

    Yeah, it’s not like the prime minister of Israel denigrated and belittled a sitting US president in front of Congress at the invitation of the House Majority. Nope, no “control” whatsoever.

  77. 77.

    rp

    @Mick: This doesn’t make any sense. As you note, he was invited by the House Majority in an attempt to embarrass Obama. That’s the GOP using Israel and Netanyahu (with Netanyahu’s consent of course), not the other way around.

  78. 78.

    Aleta

    The NYT political editor P Healey is proud of its article today on sexist media treatment of candidates. Several tweets, incl one tiny admission of his own past sexist usage in 2007-8. *

    But anyway, here’s the conclusion of his tweet series (which is meant to advertise their new story). And just a couple of good replies out of many.

    Patrick Healy @patrickhealynyt
    Some readers think we had double standards for Clinton in 2016. I see it differently.

    I’m proud of our 2016 coverage and our team. I don’t think we applied double standards to Clinton, but I’m mindful of the criticism.

    Louise Mensch @LouiseMensch
    Replying to @patrickhealynyt
    You literally fired your public editor because she blew the whistle on your false coverage of the FISA warrants, which your paper knew about, she said, and the FBI investigation. This story remains uncorrected.

    According to your public editor, whom you fired, not only did you know @FBI was taking it seriously you actually had a phone call from them asking you to hold off reporting *because it was so serious*. But the paper proceeded simply to report the opposite.

    Imani Gandy
    If you’re proud of your 2016 coverage then we are doomed because you have learned nothing. And that’s a real tragedy.

    I want to know who is on the NYT team given the number of women and people of color running in 2020. Seriously. Post a graphic. I bet it’s wall to wall white dudes with a white woman or two for seasoning. Prove me wrong.

    * In the context of his conclusion abt 2016 NYT Clinton coverage, that one sincere admission sorta feels like what one does to seem trustworthy about the whole of one’s point:
    “in 2007-08, I wrote a story describing her laugh as a “cackle.” I was reaching for a description; it’s one I regret as sexist. I learned from the experience and I’m mindful about it now, when making coverage decisions.”

  79. 79.

    Fair Economist

    @Immanentize: I thought about that pun too.

    I disagree with the attacks on Omar. Just because Jews have been stereotyped for being greedy, etc. shouldn’t mean a Jewish organization can get away with financial corruption. AIPAC uses campaign contributions to manipulate Congress into supporting bad policies, and that’s a problem, just like with dozens of other organizations.

  82. 82.

    Aleta

    @schrodingers_cat: They’re already doing it. The tweets put out by Healy are an ad that tells us “We know you care, and we’re aware. So don’t worry baby. Everything will be alright.”
    “Read us.”

    I’ve noticed many signs elsewhere.

  84. 84.

    Brachiator

    @Aleta:

    Patrick Healy @patrickhealynyt
    Some readers think we had double standards for Clinton in 2016. I see it differently.

    I’m proud of our 2016 coverage and our team. I don’t think we applied double standards to Clinton, but I’m mindful of the criticism.

    What a load of horse shit.

  86. 86.

    StringOnAStick

    The whole controversy looks ginned up to me and my husband (who is Jewish). The problem is AIPAC has a ton of cash to throw around and is so reliably right wing, but too many Jews (thankfully NOT my husband) have an instant reaction that any criticism of any Jewish-associated group as anti-Semitism. AIPAC is all about keeping Bibi and his reactionary party in power long enough to make sure there is no land left with which to trade for peace with the Palestinians, period; he’s even strongly implied as much with his “I love negotiation, we can do it years, decades even” statements.

    ETA: I even removed a large part of my statement because I know the screaming arbiters of who is an anti-Semite or not will check their google alerts and head over here for some thread busting.

  87. 87.

    The Moar You Know

    Some readers think we had double standards for Clinton in 2016. I see it differently.

    @Aleta: Oddly enough, so do I. They never once treated Secretary Clinton as a legitimate candidate for office AT ALL, so of course there was no double standard.

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