Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

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

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Trump’s legal defense is going to be a dumpster fire inside a clown car on a derailing train.

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

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

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

We’re not going back!

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

The words do not have to be perfect.

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

The most dangerous place for a black man in America is in a white man’s imagination.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Monday Evening Open Thread: Speaking of A Backlash…

Monday Evening Open Thread: Speaking of A Backlash…

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Many people are saying that Tucker Carlson just might be the worst human being known to mankind!

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91Comments

  3. 3.

    Scout211

    Remember when Jesse Watters worked for Bill O’Reilly and ambushing liberals was his speciality?  Amanda Terkel has something to say about that.

    https://www.huffpost.com/entry/fox-news-ambush-tucker-carlson_n_60fed58be4b0a807eeb499ee

    Fox News is outraged when their big-name hosts are ambushed, but it is totally fine with its big-name hosts doing the ambushing. Ambushes were a central part of the show of Bill O’Reilly, who was Fox’s most prominent host for years. (He left in 2017, under the disgrace of a series of sexual harassment allegations.)

    Fox News also continued to promote Jesse Watters, O’Reilly’s henchman who went out and did many of the ambushes. In 2009, O’Reilly sent Watters out to harass me while I was on vacation for the weekend in Virginia.

    Even after multiple attempts to contact Fox News, the network never offered any explanation or apology for what happened. There was no outrage that I was accosted while going about my personal life, simply because O’Reilly didn’t like that I pointed out that he had made gross comments about a woman who was raped.

    I was far from the only person subjected to the Fox News ambush machine. In the three years before O’Reilly went after me, his producers ― such as Watters ― went after about 50 people. And the ambushes continued after my encounter. There were other journalists, college professors, judges, lawyers, bureaucrats and educators ― some of whom were hardly even public figures, especially for a national TV audience.

    I was ambushed outside my hotel on vacation. Many others were accosted at their homes. In my case, no one from O’Reilly’s show ever reached out to me beforehand for comment.

  4. 4.

    piratedan

    on one hand Tuckums has to be deeply concerned that he’s losing his touch, didn’t a bunch of lawyers successfully get him off the hook (legally) because they claimed that no one should take what he says seriously? If that’s indeed the case, now he’s even a failure at being a “performer” if people are taking what he says at face value… what a dilemma…

  5. 5.

    MattF

    The finest RW reaction for me was that Dinesh D’Souza was deeply offended by Carlson being called out. No link, but that’s peak asshole.

  6. 6.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Scout211: Yeah, but Watters is a journalist and it was about news and getting the public THE FACTS so it’s laudable in that case but clearly liberals are super mean and so we need to protect Tucker’s feelings.

    I don’t think the italics really conveyed the level of sarcasm I was going for there. Just take my word for it, I’m being incredibly sarcastic right now.

  7. 7.

    germy

    Breaking: Ex-CA Senator @BarbaraBoxer was mugged today in #Oakland. Her aide confirms she was assaulted in the Jack London Square area: “The assailant pushed her in the back, stole her cell phone and jumped in a waiting car. She is thankful that she was not seriously injured.”

    — Doug Sovern (@SovernNation) July 26, 2021

  9. 9.

    dr. bloor

    Holy cats, these guys are in for a real surprise when someone decides to dust off the guillotine.

  10. 10.

    OzarkHillbilly

    Gotta pass this along before I move on with my evening: Pink offers to pay fines for Norwegian women’s beach handball team

    Pop star Pink has offered to pay the “sexist” fines handed out to the Norwegian women’s beach handball team after they refused to wear bikini bottoms while playing. The European Handball Federation, the sport’s governing body, fined the team €1,500 (£1,295) last week for “improper clothing” at the European Beach Handball Championships. The American singer voiced her support for the women’s team for refusing to follow the official rules forbidding female beach volleyball players from wearing shorts like their male counterparts.

    She tweeted: “I’m very proud of the Norwegian female beach handball team for protesting the very sexist rules about their ‘uniform’. The European handball federation should be fined for sexism.” She added that she would be “happy to pay” the team’s fines.

    According to uniform regulations in the rules of the game, women must wear bikini bottoms and a sports bra when playing official games. Men can wear shorts and a vest shirt.

    The Norwegian Handball Federation subsequently said that it was prepared to cover the fines, backing their players’ kit choices in a post to the team’s Instagram page.

    “We are very proud of these girls who during the European Championships raised their voices and announced that enough is enough! We at NHF stand behind you and support you. Together we will continue to fight to change the rules for clothing, so that players can play in the clothes they are comfortable with.”

    In an Instagram post on Sunday, the Norwegian team thanked Pink and wrote: “Wow! Thank you so much for the support.”

  11. 11.

    dr. bloor

    @Cacti:

    Tucker looked like he was about to soil his trousers.

    I don’t think “about to” is an operative statement for that expression.

  15. 15.

    CaseyL

    Tucker is a worthless shit who’s been rich enough long enough to figure he can do and say anything he wants without consequences.   He’s right in that he’s faced no real consequences.  Calling him a shit to his face doesn’t count: he just laughs it off like he does in this video.

    OT: Anyone hearing anything about the bipartisan infrastructure package?  Today was the day the GQP was finally going to come up with its latest offer, IIRC.

  16. 16.

    Roger Moore

    It seems he supports accosting people in public for political reasons. He thinks that ethic can’t apply to him?

    “I never thought leopards would eat my face,” says the founder of the Leopards Eating People’s Faces Party.

  18. 18.

    germy

    Tomorrow I'll be testifying before congress, and while I don't think I'm nervous, I am definitely anxious. It will be televised so please tune in and support if you are able to.

    Additionally I am soliciting your good vibes!!! Thanks in advance pic.twitter.com/D89uxfgmk6

    — Harry A Dunn (@libradunn) July 26, 2021

  19. 19.

    MomSense

    Did fucker Carlson actually use his daughter’s presence as a shield?  What an asshole.

  21. 21.

    L85NJGT

    Is Bill Bennet still breathing? Maybe they could dust off that old fossil and have him lecture Trump voters on morality.

  23. 23.

    The Thin Black Duke

    @raven: He wanted Tucker to swing first, because then it’s self-defense. But Tucker punked out, which is just as good, so win-win. This also proves that Tucker isn’t up for a presidential run. He’d be eaten alive.

  24. 24.

    germy

    Woman with Trump flag pulled over by state troopers after driving across the State Capitol lawn, during pro-Thompson press conference. She’s shouting at troopers “I am a white woman! There is only one race!” pic.twitter.com/jY9iOGWGur

    — John Croman (@JohnCroman) July 26, 2021

    She seems nice.

  25. 25.

    West of the Cascades

    You can’t really tell from the stills of his show (Dog forbid actually watching clips of it), but this side-on view makes it clear that Tucker has no chin (the poor snowflake).

  26. 26.

    Dan B

    Surprise!  It’s projection!!

     

    Always.

    Don’t accosted people on vacation – check.

    Don’t be impolite – check.

    Don’t rape kids – check.

    Rinse, repeat…

  28. 28.

    Chetan Murthy

    @germy: There was some sort of public event going on, on the grounds.  With a lot of Black people there.  Several of them were asking the police why this (white) woman was getting away with something that would definitely have seen a Black person meeting extreme force.

    So it goes.

  29. 29.

    Roger Moore

    @L85NJGT: ​
     

    Is Bill Bennet still breathing? Maybe they could dust off that old fossil and have him lecture Trump voters on morality.

    The same Bill Bennett who was addicted to slot machines? That Bill Bennett? Yeah, right. His view of morality was always that of the rich man: morality is good for the little people, but the important people don’t need to worry about it.

  30. 30.

    Baud

    Via LGM, Hawley jumps on the anti-CRT bandwagon.

    The Love America Act would “promote patriotism in education” by not allowing federal money to go to any public schools that teach students about how white supremacy or racism played a role in the founding the United States. It would also require schools that receive federal dollars to ensure that students can read and recite portions of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Pledge of Allegiance at certain grade levels.

    Two things.

    1. Should we label this Common Core 2.0?
    2. Should the Dems introduce the Love American Style Act in response?

  31. 31.

    Brachiator

    The Tucker Carlson confrontation reminds me of a particularly satisfying Monty Python sketch.

  32. 32.

    HumboldtBlue

    @germy: ​ 
    Another classic example of how police treat a dangerous white woman who was endangering the lives of dozens of others. Mental health care was provided immediately, no beating, no shooting, just treated her with kid gloves.

  33. 33.

    germy

    Okay, here’s a great story.

    This thread:

    Bought a used Charles Bukowski book and the best part are the notes in the margins from a woman who clearly was having none of this shit. pic.twitter.com/YfVjvJ1Ua5

    — Melissa Turkington (@Leftovers_Movie) July 23, 2021

    So the woman who wrote the notes saw the tweet and responded! She’s funny and brilliant.

    You are so lovely and I am excited to meet you! https://t.co/PMWRrPJEVM

    — Melissa Turkington (@Leftovers_Movie) July 25, 2021

    Hi! I’m the person who took those notes. ?? I don’t have pic of what I wrote in the collection but here’s a pic of the pen I used and a journal entry I wrote about that terrible book LOL pic.twitter.com/S1UbspibGf

    — tawdry lorde (@katiepdf) July 24, 2021

  34. 34.

    JaneE

    Do unto others is a good way to live.  Some people seem to think they are the only ones who get to do, not be done to.

    Nobody in their right mind would believe Tucker Carlson, but there are still a lot of people who do.  Tucker knows this, and he knows that people will die because they listen to him and the rest on Fox.  He really is the worst kind of human being.

  35. 35.

    dr. bloor

    @Baud:

     

    Should the Dems introduce the Love American Style Act in response?

    Joyce van Patten and Stuart Margolin shall lead us to the promised land.

  38. 38.

    HumboldtBlue

    The commentators for the women’s triathlon are doing their goddamndest to highlight the fact that the woman leading the race and who is a two-time world champ is from Bermuda. As if that horrid obstacle to get over is a defining characteristic of her career. I mean, she was born in Bermuda (breathlessly “it’s the size of Tuscon”).​ 

    It is the first gold medal for Bermuda, but sweet mother of colonialism, she’s born of English parents and was schooled in England.

  42. 42.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Chris Matthews is trending on twitter. He’s still with us.

    Ari Melber had him on his show and the reaction is about 7-1 “Nope”

  44. 44.

    realbtl

    10 to 1 that was Bozeman and Tucks was on his way to the rick fuckers Yellowstone Club.  He may now have a different idea of Montanans especially there or in Missoula, college towns that are the most liberal in the state.

  45. 45.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Baud: based on my very scientific forty-five second scroll through

    A couple people actually said they like him. Go figure.

  49. 49.

    debbie

    @JaneE:

    Reminds me of Hannity urging his listeners to sell everything and rush to ND to get in on the fracking bonanza. “Look what I can do!”

  50. 50.

    brendancalling

    Personally, I think Tucker is lucky that the larger man didn’t take it upon himself to call his friends on the cell to help him drag Tucker off to a quiet location, and beat the living daylights out of him in privacy and with anonymity.

    All he did was publicly shame the soft, chubby, hairless little man-boy.

    Tuck and I are the same age and he went to St. George’s during the sex scandal. I grew up in Newport and almost certainly crossed paths with that shithead. More than a few of my friends went to St. George’s—I also used to skateboard with Alex Hightower, the dude who confronted Spicer.

  55. 55.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @debbie: I remember once flipping through the channels and I caught O’Reilly threatening a boycott of Mexico because their president (Fox?) had said something negative about Bush, I think it was Iraq related. “Go ask the French what happens when the O’Reilly Nation (I think he said) starts a boycott” He was so comically buffoonish, but I’m sure five of his followers made a YouTube of themselves pouring French wine into the gutter and they thought they made the whole city of Bordeaux tremble

  56. 56.

    David ? ☘The Establishment☘? Koch

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: ​  It’s old home week. Biden had Tony Coelho at the WH for a ceremony commemorating ADA, which he wrote with Tom Harkin. Harkin didn’t attend because the 81 year old was working on an ADA project in Wisconsin.

    Old liberals never die, they just keep pushing the boulder up hill.​

  57. 57.

    debbie

    @sahilkapur

    Donald Trump is out with a new statement telling Republicans: “Don’t do the infrastructure deal.” He does not identify anything in it that he opposes, nor does he explain what GOP lawmakers should ask for or reject, only that they should not look like “weak fools and losers.”

    Again, TFG will NOT be ignored. Ever.

  61. 61.

    mrmoshpotato

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    “Go ask the French what happens when the O’Reilly Nation (I think he said) starts a boycott” 

    Hey BillO, you sexual harassing sack of shit!  I know!

    A bunch of your mouth-breathing, shrub-humping, war-mongering, asshole viewers go buy a bunch of champagne and French’s mustard to destroy it like dumbfucks!

    Maybe all of you should parachute into Baghdad and find those elusive WMDs!

  62. 62.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @debbie: last summer Sirius/XM was running ads of him pitching nutritional supplements. His ex-wife’s NDA must cost him a fortune

  63. 63.

    Keith P.

    When did that shirt Tucker is wearing (I usually refer to it as a “Don Jr shirt”) become the defacto casual wear for conservatives?  They *all* wear that shirt when they’re off-TV (that plus the fly-fishing shit cranked up to 11 in the video) which is why I think this whole episode is manufactured by Carlson to make him look unbowed in the face of the angry, unhinged liberal.

  64. 64.

    Brachiator

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    “Go ask the French what happens when the O’Reilly Nation (I think he said) starts a boycott” He was so comically buffoonish, but I’m sure five of his followers made a YouTube of themselves pouring French wine into the gutter and they thought they made the whole city of Bordeaux tremble

    But this was wine that they bought, right?

  65. 65.

    A Ghost to Most

    The backlash in the WaPo comments has been impressive. The usual suspects say something stupid, and 15 people rip them open before I get a chance to.

    People are really pissed.

  66. 66.

    Steeplejack

    @ABCPolitics:

    MORE: Biden at six months is fearing massive legislative paralysis as well as a potential resurgence of COVID-19.

    nycsouthpaw:

    The Note continues its multidecade tradition of treating these things as sandstorms that came out of the desert rather than deliberate strategies of Republican leaders with their own agency.

    @nycsouthpaw:

    Skies darkened again by the haboob of partisan division.

    I think this is funny. That is all.

  69. 69.

    Steeplejack

    @Chetan Murthy:

    Adam Jentleson:

    The BIF [Bipartisan Infrastructure Framework] is at a critical moment and Dems have to be careful not to get played. It has spiraled from “We’ll be ready Monday” to “OK maybe not Monday” to the fact that *transit* remains unresolved in an infrastructure package, to Coons suggesting the BIF drop transit altogether. 1/

    Excellent thread (from Friday) with some fact-based analysis. Here’s the Thread Reader version for the Twitter-averse.

  72. 72.

    Shana

    @dr. bloor: According to IMDB Stuart Margolin (OMG, haven’t thought about him in probably decades but know exactly who he is) was born almost in my hometown and evidently is still alive. Who knew?

  73. 73.

    Shana

    @HumboldtBlue: I’m not an expert but even I could see that was photoshopped. The edges of the cartoon image keep moving where a TV would be stationary.

  75. 75.

    Steeplejack

    @Shana:

    The last thing I saw Stuart Margolin in was Arbitrage (2012), with Richard Gere. He was great as an “elder statesman” Wall Street type.

    I did not know that he won back-to-back Emmys (1979-80) as Angel in The Rockford Files!

  78. 78.

    Chetan Murthy

    @brantl: Newspaper article I read noted that the Dan Bailey who upbraided Tuck-Tuck, was not related to Dan Bailey of the eponymous store.  No idea if it’s accurate.

  81. 81.

    Chetan Murthy

    @Howard Beale IV: Fuuuuuck.  If we’re going to depend on networks staying up to fight a war, we’d better be able to destroy Russia’s networks, and keep them destroyed.  Crrrikey.  What a farce.

  82. 82.

    Steeplejack

    Jentleson continues today (on the filibuster):

    If we don’t change the rules to pass our priorities, Republicans will do it to pass theirs. Biden will achieve less and fail to pass voting rights. Republicans will get as much as they would anyway—and more, since Dems will have left huge priorities on the table.

    Good thread in general.

  84. 84.

    Layer8Problem

    @WaterGirl:

    @Steeplejack:

    I distinctly remember Stuart Margolin in an episode of The Monkees, playing an alien.  And I think Pat Paulsen was in that episode too.  My god I’m old . . .

  89. 89.

    Richard

    @Keith P.: Of course it did. All those gift shops and rock shops and hunting and fishing shops and native jewelry stands are where we sell our wares to the always welcome and interesting tourists.

    If an a**hole like Tucker walked into my shop, i would tell him to go away. That jerk thinks he can go play in fantasy “a river runs through it” vacation.

    It was interesting to see how he looks without his makeup on. I’m just disgusted with that Tucker guy.

  91. 91.

    Richard

    @Keith P.: okay. They still should have told that Tucker Carlson to go fuck off. It is not going to ruin the family business. That old grandpa, who knows what he thinks?

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