Not to step on DougJ’s toes, but this part of the response at the League from Jason struck me as odd:
To everyone who eagerly broke out the metaphorical popcorn in DougJ’s comments — I’m sure I could come up with some patronizing questions for you, too. Would you like that? I’m not sure I would, which is why I haven’t, yet. But I’m sure I could.
Sheesh. Why do I bother?
He continues on in the comments:
No, no, no. These are liberals. Let’s try this:
1. When was the last time you condemned Stalin? If it’s been longer than a year, will you now take the opportunity and do so?
2. The individual broccoli mandate: for or against?
3. The last time you bought coffee, was it fair trade? If not, why not? Justify your answer using Rawls’ difference principle.
And so on. Caricature is easy, isn’t it?
Maybe I am missing some polling data, but I guess I’ve just never seen a lot of support for Stalin in the Democratic party, nor any reference to broccoli in the party platform. Granted, I’ve only been a Democrat for a couple years. On the other hand, there is this:
Add to it that some Republican state party platforms explicitly reference evolution. Thinking the majority of Republicans and Conservatives doubt evolution isn’t a smear or an unfair caricature, it’s reality. It’s a sad one, too, because apparently the majority of the population doubts evolutionary theory. And DougJ asking conservatives he thinks are somewhat sane isn’t some kind of personal attack (way to take a compliment there, Jason! We will dutifully add you to the insane/unreasonable list!). On the other hand, pretending there is some teeming mass of liberals pining for the days of Stalin isn’t even remotely plausible. It’s the kind of nonsense gibberish we expect from Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh and, well, Sarah Palin.
*** Update ***
From the comments here:
This post isn’t really fair.
Jason K. doesn’t “continue in the comments.” He doesn’t present those questions as being the equivalent of “Do you believe in evolution? Has the average global temperature risen over the past 30 years?”
He was replying to someone who posted some questions from Jeff Foxworthy’s “You Might Be a Redneck” book. He isn’t claiming that evolution denying, global warming denying questions stereotype conservatives, but that redneck jokes do.
I’ll agree with that- stating he “continues on” in the comments isn’t really accurate or fair. On the other hand, I just don’t understand why he would associate those things with liberals, anyway.
Hunter Gathers
Why must you trample on their God given freedom to have small fee-fee’s? You are not advancing the cause of liberty.
MobiusKlein
I’ll get it out of the way.
Fuck Stalin. Pol Pot too. Hitler as well. What was the point?
Individual Broccoli mandate – against.
Fair trade coffee – often not as good as other coffees, and how can I actually know it’s fair?
Kilks
I just can’t get over how dumb that Stalin question is. Ask some question about banning all guns or something maybe unpopular that maybe a democrat would support. Or extremely high taxes, who knows.
I mean, really? this is the guy who is reasonable?
demkat620
I forgot to buy my “I condemn Stalin” Button.
Damn, I knew I was supposed to do something today.
The Commenter on BJ formerly known as arguingwithsignposts
Just to be fair, I think JK is continuing on in the vein of DougJ’s questions for conservatives, as his reply is a follow-up to a comment from another LOOG commenter.
The comment he was replying to:
So it’s basically “You might be a redneck if” quality.
Jay C
No? Then why won’t they CONDEMN Stalin, huh? Why not?? Why nothing said (and frequently repeated) against one of history’s greatest mass-murderers?
After all, as Jason says: “These are liberals“….
ETA: And just to get it out of the way: yeah. Fuck Stalin.
Fuck him. With a rusty pitchfork. Sideways. Twice.
OK?
gwangung
To be fair, it looks like a brain dead continuation.
Kilks
@MobiusKlein:
I went on 3 different coffee tours on my time in Costa Rica. Unless they had the most convincing actors, these farmers seemed to be doing alright selling their coffee in the US fair trade. Of course anecdote is not data, so I have no idea about the bigger fair trade operations.
jibeaux
Shows what a bad liberal I am, I don’t think I even know that Stalin was a liberal. Has Jonah explained this yet?
BGinCHI
Libertarians: Can’t we just be disagreeable by disagreeing?
We only want to disagree.
We aren’t saying you’re totally wrong, we’re just disagreeing.
slag
@jibeaux: Is it possible they’re confusing Stalin with Lenin? Or maybe Lennon? Hard to tell with these folks.
J
Spot on JC. These days those much discussed non-caricatural conservatives are like the Loch Ness monster, Big Foot or a Heffalump, Sightings are v. rare and almost always suspect.
Here’s the best picture of a non-caricatural conservative I’ve been able to find.
http://www.isbigfootreal.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/patterson_bigfoot.jpg
nestor
I’ve been meaning to denounce Stalin. I just never seem to get around to it.
Tom Hilton
And it’s not just evolution: the list of completely insane beliefs that are held by the overwhelming majority of conservatives (tax cuts increase revenues! church and state are inseparable! more guns = less violence! every sperm is sacred!) is long and depressing. And because most conservatives hold these beliefs, they’re absolutely fair game for questioning the ‘sane’ conservatives.
Pooh
@jibeaux: He WAS evil. QED.
Tom Hilton
And I think my de facto standard for distinguishing relatively sane/reasonable conservatives from the other kind is whether they join in the loony-bashing (a la Frum, Friedersdorf, Larison) or get all defensive about it (like this guy).
Southern Beale
What about the individual tofu mandate? Huh? HUH? WELL?!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
I can’t decide which is stupider, the Stalin thing or the broccoli mandate, but I’m so depressed at the number of Democrats and Indies who don’t believe in evolution that I can’t even laugh at the nitwit.
Southern Beale
@Tom Hilton:
One of my favorites, told me by an actual Republican who campaigned for Fred Thompson: “Black people in America are MUCH better off because of slavery, as they get to live in teh awesome Murka vs the wretched Dark Continent.”
Southern Beale
@Tom Hilton:
One of my favorites, told me by an actual Republican who campaigned for Fred Thompson: “Black people in America are MUCH better off because of slavery, as they get to live in teh awesome Murka vs the wretched Dark Continent.”
The Commenter on BJ formerly known as arguingwithsignposts
@Tom Hilton:
Careful, Friedersdorf is on record as having great respect for Jonah Goldberg as a writer and a thinker. And Frum referred to Obama as governing during peacetime. Pretty idiotic, the both of them. I don’t know enough about Larison to judge one way or the other.
freelancer
Priest of the Free Market: Do you reject Stalin?
Response: I do.
Priest of the Free Market: And all his Lefty works?
Response: I do.
Priest of the Free Market: And all his empty bank accounts and promises?
Response: I do.
Priest of the Free Market: Do you believe in the God the Father, Bankster Almighty, creator of heaven and earth and the balance sheet?
Response: I do.
Priest of the Free Market: Do you believe in Jesus Christ, his only son, our Lord, who was born of the Virgin Mary, abhorred socia1ism, was crucified, died, and was buried along with communism, defeated death and moral hazard, rose from the dead and is now seated at the invisible right hand of the Father?
Response: I do.
RAMEN, comrade.
The Commenter on BJ formerly known as arguingwithsignposts
@Southern Beale:
Sadly, yes.
gocart mozart
When was the last time JK condemned Slavery or the Holocaust? If it’s been longer than a year, will he now take the opportunity and do so or should I just assume he is a supporter?
The above would be a fair equivalent of his Stalin question.
slag
@Tom Hilton: Yeah. But the problem is they often join in the bashing and the loony-ing simultaneously.
As in: they believe in climate change but also believe that the free market fairy will take care of it. There’s still not a whole lot you can do with that mindset. Other than laugh at it, of course.
joe from Lowell
This post isn’t really fair.
Jason K. doesn’t “continue in the comments.” He doesn’t present those questions as being the equivalent of “Do you believe in evolution? Has the average global temperature risen over the past 30 years?”
He was replying to someone who posted some questions from Jeff Foxworthy’s “You Might Be a Redneck” book. He isn’t claiming that evolution denying, global warming denying questions stereotype conservatives, but that redneck jokes do.
Tom Hilton
Oh, and one more thing: for 40 fucking years every single liberal in America was required by law* to preface every single public statement with “I condemn Stalin” all because some lefties in the ’30s didn’t think he was as bad as he really was, so I think it’s fair to say that liberals as a group have done enough Stalin condemnation to cover them until the very end of recorded time.
*Exaggeration for comic effect.
joe from Lowell
@freelancer: In the name of the Friedman, Greenspan, and the Invisible Hand, Amen.
The Commenter on BJ formerly known as arguingwithsignposts
I should add (If Cole’s reading of JK’s response is correct – it’s very unclear), what liberal uses “Rawls’ difference principal” in a sentence? OTOH, I read plenty of conservatards throwing around names like Hayek, Okenshott and Burke like they’re best buds or something.
Tom Hilton
@The Commenter on BJ formerly known as arguingwithsignposts: My standard isn’t that they reject any and all stupidity (because let’s face it, very few people of any stripe would meet that standard; god knows there are plenty of lefty apologists for Hamsher’s crazy-stupid), but that they reject a good percentage of it. Which distinguishes them from the vast majority of ‘conservatives’, who are driven by tribalism and inchoate rage and thus reject any criticism of any kind of anyone within their tribe.
Jay C
@Tom Hilton:
So my coda to # 6 was redundant?
jrg
Dougj presents them with actual views that are held by the majority of actual fucking Republicans, and the response is “individual broccoli mandates”?
I’ve got an idea. How about the death penalty for people who have to pull opposition viewpoints directly from their ass because confronting reality is too painful? I’m for that. Seriously.
Rayl
A quibble,perhaps, but an important one. Evolution is not a religion; it is a scientific theory. That means it is a concise and accurate description of a large body of scientific observations. As such it is a useful tool for use in further scientific study and experiment. It is not something to be believed in or not believed in like religion. It is more similar to what a set of tools is to an auto mechanic. It is important because it is useful.
Don’t think for a minute that a good scientist would not jump at the chance to produce a solid argument showing that the theory of evolution is not correct. That would be a certain road to fame and a Nobel prize.
mr. whipple
@jibeaux:
It’s very simple, really. Stalin liked broccoli. Liberals are for the broccoli mandate. Therefor, Stalin is a Liberal, and Liberals are Stalinists.
CaptainFwiffo
The evolution question came up in a Republican presidential primary debate and, IIRC, all but one of the candidates came down on the creationist side of things. This is an actual issue in actual school boards all across the country.
kdaug
Damn this shit hurts my brain. Literally. Even “reasonable” conservatives seem to have the most fucked up thought processes.
Stalin? Seriously? That’s the best you can come up with? You think we’re all pining for the days of the gulag?
Has the American right been completely subsumed into Glen Beck? Where are the reasonable conservative with whom you can have a conversation anymore?
I enjoy a good argument. I think that conservative thinkers* probably have some good points to make. I’d like to consider them. But all I’m hearing from the right now is “broccoli”/”Stalin”/”coffee”. What is their argument? What is their plan?
*Operative word
Warren Terra
The first part (you libtards just LURV Stalin, doncha?) is getting almost all the attention, but parts two and three fail pretty badly as well.
Nobody (barring some broccoli farmers) is in favor of an actual “broccoli mandate”. The question is whether such a mandate would be constitutional, not whether it would be desirable. To misunderstand this point is to confuse a cauliflower with a colonoscopy. Maybe next time they do the latter on JK, they can look for his head.
It’s supposed to be a liberal position that government regulation may be necessary to protect workers’ prosperity. The idea that market forces will protect workers’ prosperity because consumers will purchase products certified as “fair trade” is a libertarian one, not a liberal one. So this question doesn’t really make any sense – it’s hardly even a policy question to begin with, and neither answering “yes” nor answering “no” necessarily equates to liberalism.
Violet
Stalin? WTF? Who the hell supports Stalin? Even if some lefties did so back fifty years ago, who does these days? Stalin? Really? Need new material.
kdaug
For the record, though, I strongly disapprove of the Mongol hordes.
joe from Lowell
@John Cole,
I’m really not trying to start with you, but…
That’s why he wrote “Caricature is easy, isn’t it?” He only “associates” them with liberals to the extent that he recognizes that they are caricatures.
General Stuck
Au Contraire. I personally condemned Stalin last Wednesday. I remember it well, twas a dark and stormy night, and I thoughts to meself, that Stalin, he was such a wanker.
Warren Terra
@gocart mozart:
I evaluate all of my opinion leaders on the level of sustained outrage they manifest about the Albigensian Crusade.
Superluminar
Although JK probably doesn’t know it, his no.3 is actually quite interesting re:what would Rawls do? Are poorer Africans better or worse off as a result of FairTrade?
Woodrowfan
I refuse to denounce Lennon, but I am still pissed at Yoko…
Tom Hilton
@Jay C: Yeah, Hubert Humphrey and Scoop Jackson already covered it.
Elvis Elvisberg
There is no policy content to conservatism, only a series of resentments.
Evolution isn’t real, Al Gore is fat, cutting taxes increases revenues, the Surge worked, we have always been at war with the individual mandate– on important issue after important issue, Republicans believe things that are objectively false. You lose GOP primaries if you engage in heresy on these points.
There is no comparison on the left. Maybe some folks lefties profess not to believe that regulations can have unintended consequences, or something, but (a) that’s a more abstract matter, and (b) it’s not a matter of Party doctrine.
joe from Lowell
Oddly enough, I condemned Stalin this morning.
Mrs. joe from Lowell read a headline on Slate about Stalin driving Ukrainians to cannibalism, and had no idea what it meant. I told her about the induced famine, and yes, I was all condemnatory and stuff.
Villago Delenda Est
I believe in fucking over, repeatedly with a rusty chainsaw, all authoritarian assholes. Stalin, Hiller, Khomeini, Falwell, Robertson, Mao, Pol Pot, Reagan, Bush I and II, Palin…do I need to go on?
John Cole
@joe from Lowell: But they aren’t even caricatures that make sense, which is the point. I mean, if he had even said “Liberals all want your taxes at 95%,” that would at least have made sense.
Clearly, caricatures AREN’T easy for him.
Mac G
“individual broccoli mandate”
What does that even mean? Democrats did not want this subsidized, mandate system but this is what Obama proposed to get GOP support and Corporate Dems on board.
Most liberals want a single payer system or one with a govt option.
Republicans politicians are not even trying to get rid of the individual broccoli mandate.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2011_02/027901.php
Nellcote
I condemn Stalin but what the fuck is an ” The individual broccoli mandate”?
The Commenter on BJ formerly known as arguingwithsignposts
@John Cole:
Fuckin’ caricatures, how do they work?
Cat Lady
Here’s a question for conservatives – why are you all so fucking retarded? Another question – stupid because you’re conservative, or conservative because you’re stupid?
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
individual broccoli mandate
Villago Delenda Est
@Nellcote:
The liberals are either going to force you to eat broccoli (that’s George H.W. Bush’s fear) or take it away from you (that’s my fear), or force you to eat it cooked, not raw (my sister’s fear).
The bottom line is, the liberals are going to do something that will piss you off, be it raise your standard of living at the expense of your Galtian overlords, or allow your children to become educated so that they question your superstitions or, even worse, tell you it’s OK to not feel guilty about how good sex feels.
Calouste
That poll really should have had the question: “Do you believe in creationism?” not “Do you believe in evolution?”. Creationism actually is a believe, evolution is not. I wonder if the results would have been markedly different.
trollhattan
@kdaug:
Apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh-water system, and public health, what have the
RomansMongols ever done for us?RSA
I think we need to schedule a regular two-minute hate, just in case.
trollhattan
The great thing about wingers is their eagerness to agree with anything fitting into their, uh, belief system while running away at top speed from that which does not. It’s why crap like this gets traction.
http://www.tnr.com/article/82962/conservatives-economic-chart-fox-de-rugy
Villago Delenda Est
You know, gravity is just “a theory”, much like evolution. So, I suggest we toss some of these people who think that “a theory” has no basis in reality out of a helicopter hovering 500 feet above an open field, and we can see just how “theoretical” gravity is.
Xecky Gilchrist
@Calouste: Agreed. Phrasing it as “believing in evolution” is accepting the Creationists’ framing. It’s not a competing belief, it’s a theory with a lot of supporting evidence.
General Stuck
The broccoli mandate could be a knee jerk liberal reaction to George Bush Sr banning it from air force one, and has been an unrequited left wing passion to make broccoli whole again.
All part of the vegetable culture wars being waged by proxy.
Beats or Broccoli? you decide.
cathyx
Ok, how about these questions for liberals:
Do you own or have ever owned a Subaru? A Prius?
Do you listen to “A Prairie Home Companion”? or “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me”?
Merlot or Cabernet?
Do you and your significant other read novels to each other on a long car ride?
Do you do the New York Times crossword puzzle?
Nellcote
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:
Thanks! I thought it was a tossup between Michelle O’s healthy eating initiative or George HW Bush’s aversion. But now I want to go back to not knowing.
The Commenter on BJ formerly known as arguingwithsignposts
@Villago Delenda Est:
Talking with a colleague today about this very thing, and mentioned that it would be great to see an SNL skit about a Church of Science where the lead scientist was at the front shouting “Do you *believe* in graviteh! Do you *believe* in relativiteh!”
And a bunch of white-coated people in glasses shouting “Amen.”
Comedy gold, I tell you!
JWL
The GOP does not live in fear of political rhetoric, and are a stronger organization for it.
On the other hand, the democratic party does, and are enfeebled as a result. Just why that is, is something I will never, ever understand.
Violet
@cathyx:
If you consider that as six questions, I can answer yes to two of them. Does that make me a liberal?
Gin & Tonic
@cathyx: No; no.
Yes; yes.
Yes.
No, I hate being read to.
In pen.
How’d I do?
Nellcote
@JWL:
For starters, Goopers are never punished for lying while Dems are punished for telling the truth.
Jay in Oregon
@Xecky Gilchrist:
This makes me want to produce a bumper sticker that says “You may not believe in gravity, but gravity believes in you.”
Science. It works, bitches.
nestor
Protip: Beyond DougJ®’s questions, nothing freaks out a serious conservative player more than a sadistically prolonged examination of the upcoming Republican presidential primary.
Nellcote
@cathyx:
No to all. How depressing. Should I get my ACLU card renewed or something?
Violet
@nestor:
They’re all far more interested in the VP slate than who will be on the top of the ticket. That’s the tell that they’re really looking to 2016.
piratedan
damn! I guess my publik schoolin’ tawt me wrong, becawse I learnt that Stalin evolved into the King of Russia because they didn’t have a broccoli mandate and that the purge was then brought on because of a bolshivik infection of their bodilee flewids and that if it weren’t for those librul Nazis, they might have taken over the planet at Malta. Thank God for Ronald Reagun and praise Jeebus!
Sixers
Isn’t the jury still out on Stalin?
slag
@Nellcote:
Yes! And be sure to praise Stalin while you’re doing it. I understand that’s the only way a libertarian gets his wings.
cathyx
Ok, a few more.
White mushrooms or morels?
Do you belong to a book club? Gourmet Club?
Do you wear clogs?
schrodinger's cat
I has a better caricature
Do you wear birkenstocks?
Drive a Volvo?
Drink loose leaf tea?
slag
@schrodinger’s cat: …Have two dogs and one imperfectly proportioned cat?
JPL
@cathyx: Yes, No, No, Yes
Sko Hayes
@cathyx:
1) No, but I want an Outback. Does that count?
2) Yes to PHC, and once in awhile to WWDTM. I live in hell (western KS), the public radio station is the only thing worth listening to out here. WWDTM is on the XM NPR channel.
3)Bourbon
4)No current SO, but even when there was one, always listened to music.
5) My dad does, but he’s a Republican. Does that count?
Warren Terra
@The Commenter on BJ formerly known as arguingwithsignposts:
It’s been done, sort-of, by Marcus Brigstocke, albeit in the UK and on radio instead of on TV. The prequel to that rant is also worth a listen.
Jeanne ringland
I’m having an angst attack because i DON’T KNOW WHAT THE BROCCOLI MANDATE IS@!!@
Mike in NC
@Sixers:
It would be fantastic to see somebody go on Hannity or O’Reilly and say that with a straight face. Their freakin’ heads would explode.
I’ll go with “bad, bad man” but at the same time would love to get my hands on a bottle of Stalinskaya vodka (made in Romania) just because it would look so damn cool sitting on my wet bar.
DougJ®
@Superluminar:
I’m not convinced Fair Trade is such a great model, at least in Africa. I have a friend who works there at an NGO focused on helping farmers make more money off coffee crops and he’s convinced that it’s not, since the price you they get for Fair Trade is much less than if they could increase quality, brand is somehow, and sell it to Starbucks or Stumptown.
Mark S.
Do you miss him yet?
BruceFromOhio
Because Scaife or Ailes or one of the other dwarves programmed him that way. Be kind, as he cannot help it.
OTOH, the fully caffeinated free trade blend I had this morning was excellent.
gocart mozart
@Warren Terra:
Good thing all the Cathars were killed. I would hate to have said the words “Catharic Church” at a dinner party only to have everyone assume I was mocking Asians.
Too soon?
Sko Hayes
@Villago Delenda Est: Similar to climate change deniers who keep telling us that there’s nothing harmful about carbon dioxide.
srv
You know, as a DFH, even I punch truthers and brocolli lovers, particularly those wearing patchouli.
There’s a simple reason “real” conservatives don’t exist. Evolution. An internally self-consistent real conservative either has to punch themselves out of existence, or become John Cole.
joes527
@Jeanne ringland: That’s because they passed it WITHOUT ANYONE READING IT!!!
Jeanne ringland
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: Thank you so much. I hadn’t heard the broccoli reference before and I thought the guy was kidding.
BruceFromOhio
@kdaug:
Yes.
Drinking heavily and cringing.
Okay, maybe the last bit is just projection.
jwb
@Violet: Time to return your liberal card.
BruceFromOhio
@John Cole:
Drama is easy. Now comedy? Comedy is TOUGH. Just ask Vin Diesel.
Citizen_X
@cathyx:
I’m confused by this one. Is one “liberal,” the other “conservative?” Or is it a trick question, as in “If you know what these are, ur a librul eleetist”?
Because if it’s the latter, I have to call bullshit. (I mean, sorry to get all serious at a joke, but…) It’s accepting right-wing framing. In reality, you can be damn sure that all those motherfuckers at Fox News, and the Kaplan Daily, and on Wall Street know all their wines, and all their scotches, from vineyards and distilleries that you and I have never heard of because they are way out of our price range.
cathyx
Maybe it takes a liberal to do a caricature of one. This is too easy.
Do you have a coexist bumper sticker on your car?
Do you bring your own cloth bags to the grocery store?
fasteddie9318®
Every February 19th I make an ice sculpture of Stalin on my back deck and then smash it to shards while singing the Star Spangled Banner and shouting “HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT, YOU FAT BEARDED BITCH?” I know Stalin didn’t have a beard, but I like that line from Spaceballs, and I’m not a very good ice sculptor so it usually looks like he has a beard.
Stalin has been dead for nearly 60 years. Even as a sarcastic fake question, the notion that somebody should be tearing out their hair and condemning him on an annual basis is just bizarre. To say nothing of the fact that he wasn’t, you know, liberal.
Jeanne ringland
@cathyx: .D o you own or have ever owned a Subaru? A Prius? No, and no.
Do you listen to “A Prairie Home Companion”? or “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me”? Moved to the Seattle area in August, can’t find either of these shows. There’s an NPR station but it doesn’t seem to carry PHC.
Merlot or Cabernet? I’m not drinking no fucking Merlot!
Do you and your significant other read novels to each other on a long car ride? Sometimes we read Pratchett to each other on a long car ride, until the reader is carsick.
Do you do the New York Times crossword puzzle? Yes, very slowly.
cathyx
@Citizen_X: Just because they can afford the best doesn’t mean they know anything about it or even have good taste. I learned that from my days working on an estate where the wealthy estate owner wore dated polyester knit pant suits that were completely out of fashion. Money does not breed taste.
Jeanne ringland
@schrodinger’s cat: No, no, yes
cathyx
@Jeanne ringland: You are very much the liberal. You passed with flying colors.
Jeanne ringland
@cathyx: Were those ever in fashion?
Nick the Australian
If Stalin is fair game for questioning liberals, then I propose an additional question for conservatives:
3. When was the last time you condemned segregation? If it’s been longer than a year, will you now take the opportunity and do so?
Citizen_X
@cathyx: That’s my cue to say my one nice thing about Reagan: He did have nice taste in suits.
cathyx
@Jeanne ringland: Unfortunately yes. In the 1970’s. I forgot to add that she’s also frugal.
Jeanne ringland
@cathyx: Whew. ;-)
I’m still a registered Republican … oh, wait. I moved in August and I have to register to vote here. I never changed my registration even though I haven’t voted for a Republican for 30 years, except for a couple of local offices and that was only because every other choice was a loon by comparison. It’s been a strange journey, discovering myself to be a liberal.
Jeanne ringland
@cathyx: @cathyx:That lasted about 15 minutes, didn’t it?
I remember them; I never thought they were fashionable even when they were popular. I think my dad had the only somewhat attractive one in existence, light blue and almost tailored-looking, and I think he wore it 2 or 3 times.
cathyx
i@Jeanne ringland: And what state is your new home in? Is it comfortable to be a liberal where you live?
I live in the liberal state of Oregon. That’s why it was so easy to come up with my liberal caricature questions.
Jeanne ringland
@cathyx: No and yes.
we also have shopping bags that are made from recycled materials like plastic bags, and we got some of them for free at a city-run health fair.
Arclite
What ARE the equivalent questions to Evo and AGW on the liberal side? What dogma do liberals take at face value that flies in the face of observed reality?
Arclite
@cathyx: When you get married, will you add your spouses last name to yours with a hyphen?
Commenting at Ballon Juice since 1937
I always buy fair trade coffee – its delicious. When did Lou Rawls develop a ‘difference principle’?
Stalin? really?
Jeanne ringland
@cathyx: We moved to Woodinville, WA so we’re practically neighbors.
Yes and no. It’s near Seattle, there are lots of liberals around, but I haven’t found them where I live yet. I’m in a kind of snooty rural neighborhood called Hollywood Hill and they seem to be more conservative than otherwise.
I haven’t shown my true colors yet at the monthly neighbor ladies’ coffee meeting, I just listen while they feel sorry for Rossi losing to yet another woman (Patti Murray). Then I come home and chuckle.
Jeanne ringland
@Arclite: I wanted to do that back when I was a dedicated Republican, 41 years ago, but both our last names are too long.
Commenting at Ballon Juice since 1937
I should clarify. I buy fair trade coffee from countries that are geographically as close to me as possible – Mexican and Guatemalan this week. I’m wearing sandals again as soon as the mercury rises above 20 F.
Commenting at Ballon Juice since 1937
@cathyx: Cloth bags – for the last 20 years.
Coexist? No but I had a ‘Visualize Whirled Peas’ that nobody but my wife and daughter understood. Apparently the in laws were very confused by that one.
Omnes Omnibus
Do you own or have ever owned a Subaru? A Prius? A Saab.
Do you listen to “A Prairie Home Companion”? or “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me”? Occasionally.
Merlot or Cabernet? I prefer Syrah.
Do you and your significant other read novels to each other on a long car ride? No, we both get carsick if we read while in driving.
Do you do the New York Times crossword puzzle? I did when I used to get the paper copy.
How did I do?
ETA: I don’t like Birkenstocks, but I have two pairs of leather flip-flops. I have reusable bags in the trunk of the car, but I forget to bring them in.
Donald G
My answers to Jason’s questions:
1.) Stalin hasn’t been relevant since the 1950’s. Gorbachev hasn’t been relevant since 1991. What would be the point?
2.) Irrelevant, since there is no such thing as an “individual broccoli mandate.” It’s a figment of the imagination and not worth wasting time upon.
3.) I don’t drink coffee, so I don’t buy coffee.
[Jason’s facts are uncoordinated. He is in error. Nomad must sterilize in the event of error.]
Brachiator
This just in: the GOP goal to stupidify the nation is working (Most New York Students Are Not College-Ready)
The GOP has a dream that one day all students, black and white, rich and poor, will be equally saved from learning about evolution, math, science, and will be judged solely by the lack of content of their intellects.
cathyx
@Jeanne ringland: If those women are feeling sorry for Dino Rossi, then you need to find some new people to hang out with.
cathyx
@Omnes Omnibus: You prefer Syrah and you have bags in the car but forget to bring them in. You’re getting there. Give it a little more time.
cathyx
@Commenting at Ballon Juice since 1937: Good bumper sticker substitute. You pass.
El Cid
There is no need to cite a Gallup poll from 2009.
The latest poll from Gallup on Americans’ belief or lack of regarding the science of evolution was released December 17th, 2010.
And there is an important correlation here regarding Republicans and anti-evolution sentiments.
Here is the wording of the survey question:
The “ROTATE” bit is about how they vary the order within which choices from which to select (and in the survey as a whole the order of questions) so as to avoid biases based on the order of appearance.
New Yorker
I’ll answer Mr. Kuznicki’s questions.
1. Um, I don’t know when the last time I denounced Stalin was. Why, is he a major contributor to the Democratic Party? But, if it makes Kuznicki sleep better at night, I will denounce Stalin as a genocidal tyrant, even though he’s been dead for almost 60 years and probably can’t read this.
2. What the hell is the “broccoli mandate”? I eat broccoli because it’s good for you. If you want to go on the Rush Limbaugh twinkies diet, be my guest.
3. Um, I’m not the biggest expert on Rawls, so I’ll just say I buy a cup of coffee each morning from the convenience store next to me. It’s run by Arab Muslims, so I’m doing my part to support the leftist-Islamist alliance to restore the Caliphate that Glenn Beck keeps talking about.
Omnes Omnibus
@cathyx: I own several Billy Bragg albums.
cathyx
@Omnes Omnibus:Billy Bragg? You are a radical leftest.
cathyx
@New Yorker: Real liberals don’t buy coffee at a convenience store. Sorry, you fail.
lacp
I completely get the Stalin reference – he was one of the terrifying Liberal Fascist phantoms in Jonah Hawthorne’s classic story, “Young Pantload Brown.”
Omnes Omnibus
@cathyx: Nah, I am a center-left liberal with radical leftist musical taste.
And the Horse He Rode In on
@Cat Lady: John Stuart Mill had these clowns figured out 150 years ago. “Although it is not true that all conservatives are stupid people, it is true that most stupid people are conservative.”
El Cid
All this talk of liberals and vegetables and nobody mentioned arugula?
Damn, you people are falling down on the job.
None of you know how to prove that arugula is a foreign Hawaiian illegal immigrant gay food crop by picking out 3 confused looking members in a crowd in order to prove that the leafy green plant which grows rapidly, kills nematodes, and has been eaten for at least several thousand years is part of an arrogant Kenyonesian plot.
Omnes Omnibus
@El Cid: Most of us wouldn’t stoop to that. We couldn’t do it, my friend.
alwhite
And yet people around here want to pretend the leek of ordinary shlubs is ‘reasonable’ or worth trying to engage in discourse.
Big surprise, they are either unable or unwilling to consider anything outside their minuscule world view. You might as well discuss Descartes with an ape.
South of I-10
Do you own or have ever owned a Subaru? A Prius? I have a Honda Civic
Do you listen to “A Prairie Home Companion”? or “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me”? No, but they are not on my local NPR.
Merlot or Cabernet? Pinot Noir.
Do you and your significant other read novels to each other on a long car ride? No.
Do you do the New York Times crossword puzzle? No
White mushrooms or morels? Can you put that in gumbo?
Do you belong to a book club? Gourmet Club? We do have what we call our “Suppa Club”, which involves cooking for your friends and lots of wine.
Do you wear clogs? Sometimes.
I do live in S. La, so I should get extra points just for being a registered Democrat. I am often referred to as the “bleeding heart liberal” in my office.
Jason Kuznicki
I just don’t understand why he would associate those things with liberals, anyway.
And I do not understand why you would associate creationism or AGW denialism with the League.
That’s what I was getting at. That was the point of the post.
This association makes no sense whatsoever to me, particularly given that I’ve said repeatedly how I think humans have been causing the planet to warm, and how I’ve been — I’d thought — very pro-science and anti-religion. So much so that many of our commenters complained about me.
Jeanne ringland
@cathyx: I know. I’ve been to exactly one meeting and the lady I liked best is extremely religious, which I am not… at least not like that.
There may have been other opinions but most of the talking on this subject was done by two out of the dozen of us; one lives next door and was in the construction business and she knows Rossi so yeah, she’s going to feel sorry for him.
I’m going again this Friday in the hopes that I’ll get some important local info from them. There’s a worry that our dead-end street will have the barricade 1/2 mile away removed and become what it was before, a speedway.
Jeanne ringland
@cathyx: I never ever put bumper stickers on our cars. Old habit born of being the child of 2 public employees and married to one, but I am going to have an A’Tuin on my Escape. Look halfway down the page:
http://www.nadwcon.org/Merchandise.html
fasteddie9318®
@Jason Kuznicki:
Look, I won’t speak for DougJ®, but it seemed that he was doing the opposite of what you think he was doing. He’s trying to find forums where there are “reasonable conservatives”–personally I think he’ll have better luck hunting snipe, but to each his own. He thinks your site is such a forum and so he’s asking those questions to make sure. It’s not a challenge and he wasn’t associating climate denial or science denial with your site, he was trying to make sure that his read on your site was accurate. He could have thought of a better way to do that, but you getting into high dudgeon over it seems excessive.
gwangung
@Jason Kuznicki:
Maybe because folks were associating them with conservatives in general. Which, I think, is a fair association to make. Now, maybe going to the League to get insight on this may gotten things confused (well, I’m pretty sure it did), but it’s entirely a fair thing to try to explore that concerning conservatives.
Jason Kuznicki
Look, I won’t speak for DougJ®, but it seemed that he was doing the opposite of what you think he was doing. He’s trying to find forums where there are “reasonable conservatives”—personally I think he’ll have better luck hunting snipe, but to each his own. He thinks your site is such a forum and so he’s asking those questions to make sure. It’s not a challenge and he wasn’t associating climate denial or science denial with your site, he was trying to make sure that his read on your site was accurate. He could have thought of a better way to do that, but you getting into high dudgeon over it seems excessive.
The League contains people of several different political stripes, and of none.
I asked very purposefully offensive counter-questions to put the shoe on the other foot. I’m glad people HERE got into high dudgeon, at least momentarily. But I’d prefer we engage one another as adults. Can we do that?
gwangung
No, it wasn’t on the other foot. Because various surveys have shown that the majority of conservatives, do, indeed believe those ridiculous things. At best, you made a very poorly crafted response, because you didn’t understand the purpose of the question (part of which may have been the fault of Doug).
But….do you understand the question NOW?
fasteddie9318®
I have to say, I didn’t see a lot of high dudgeon over here, but whatever. Whatever dudgeon you managed to generate stemmed mostly from the fact that asking somebody if they’re a closet Stalinist might be just the teensiest bit more offensive than asking them if they’re a creationist. And, you know, not a whole lot of evidence suggesting that liberals are fond of Stalin, whereas on conservatives tending to be GW denialists and creationists there’s a fair bit of data to back that up.
I don’t really have a dog in this fight, but if I ever do see anything on your site worth engaging with on any level, I’ll try to be adult about it. Cross my heart.
Jason Kuznicki
As I said, several people at the League do not self-identify as conservatives. I’m one of them. I found it rather offensive to be asked questions like these, particularly when I’d already explained what I thought about them and taken some heat from some of our conservative commenters.
If you’d called out Redstate or Powerline, it would be entirely understandable. But us? Please. Many of us would have to become conservatives first. (Have you read anything by Lisa Kramer? Or Rufus?)
BruceFromOhio
@Donald G:
That is just too Gaia-damned funny.
This thread is yet another instant classic.
fasteddie9318®
@Jason Kuznicki:
Yes, that’s just it: he wasn’t “calling you out.” You don’t ask those questions of Redstate or Powerline because you already know what the answers will be.
MattR
@Jason Kuznicki:
And I think this is the fundamental misunderstanding. If DougJ was “calling you out” in any way it was to offer kudos and separate you from blogs like Redstate or Powerline.
BruceFromOhio
@Jason Kuznicki:
You’re new here, aincha?
Jason Kuznicki
The idea that it was some sort of difficult test to pass did frankly irritate me. It wasn’t difficult at all.
Jason Kuznicki
Yep.
BruceFromOhio
@MattR:
Oh, DougJ. Is it the Lake Ontario water? The long, dull endless gray of an Upstate winter with heavier than usual snowfall? Lack of a decent microbrewery in a High Falls town?
Starting with that incident where he claimed his Arkon, and now being quoted somewhere as A Writer At Balloon Juice, he’s just gone all artsy-fartsy yin to Greenwalds yan.
fasteddie9318®
@Jason Kuznicki:
The idea that it was meant to be a difficult test is an inference you’re making.
HeftyJo
Honestly, I keep seeing posts like this on this site and I really just categorize it into the strawman category. You all keeping setting them up and repeatedly knocking them down to the ovations of your own supporting crowd. Conservatives say your doing things LIKE Stalin not because you SUPPORT Stalin. Now, if you all can understand the distinction I give you extra special people stars next to your achievement score card. In other words, is this all you got? Spinning insouciant utter bullcrap that nobody really grasps? Good luck and all that. How this site pulls down the undeserved level of unique hits is beyond me. Label me far from impressed.
HeftyJo
bullcarp = bullcrap
fasteddie9318®
@HeftyJo:
See? You liebruls can’t make this important distinction because it’s bullshit either way, but you can’t tell teh difference? Know who else couldn’t tell differences? STALIN, probably.
nestor
@HeftyJo:
You must be one of the “missed reactionaries” we used to talk about with Uncle Joe.
Stay right there.
BruceFromOhio
@HeftyJo:
Claim your limitations, and sure enough, they are yours.
Omnes Omnibus
@Jason Kuznicki: There are certain phrase that I can hear from someone at a cocktail party or barbeque that tell me that I should not attempt to have a conversation with them beyond the weather and Packer’s prospects for next season. For example, “As Glen Beck said…” or “I am not prejudiced, but…” coming out of someone’s mouth causes me to find an excuse to quick walk away. Conversation with that person will lead nowhere good. If one is looking for a “reasonable conservative” to read, finding out if someone is reasonable is not a bad way to start. There is enough crap on the internet that I don’t want to wade through it all to find an opposing view with whom a conversation can actually be held.
Calouste
@fasteddie9318®:
Maybe if liberals were fond of Stalin you’d have Democratic Congressional candidates dressing up like Red Army soldiers at the weekend, no?
fasteddie9318®
@Calouste: THAT WAS PURELY FOR HISTORICAL PURPOSES!
Kadin
The Stalin one is kind of funny if you read it as a caricature of people who go around demanding that left-wingers go around condemning every person they’ve shaken hands with in the past half-century. Cf. the outrage over Bill Ayers, Jeremiah Wright.
polyorchnid octopunch
@cathyx: Red pill or blue pill? Why not both?
Warren Terra
@Jason Kuznicki:
The idea that it was some sort of difficult test to pass did frankly irritate me. It wasn’t difficult at all.
And yet it’s a test that most Conservatives fail. Maybe DougJ was wrong to name the League as a haven of sane Conservatives, because – as you assert – maybe it isn’t actually a haven of Conservatives. You posters at the League are the ones who’d know. But DougJ’s intent was clear: he desperately wants to find some sane Conservatives out there.
I’ve got to say, I’ve been terrified for a couple of years now at the way that the Republicans have become the Stupid Party and the Counterfactual Party. I never expected to agree with Bob Dole or George HW Bush about a heckuva lot, but I could respect them, and I could see there were some ideas and some engagement with reality there. But a party that celebrates Michelle Bachman? A party whose leading light of serious budgetary thought is Paul Ryan, whose so-called budget consists of setting taxes at current rates or lower (current revenue: 17% of GDP) and arbitrarily declaring that the revenue will be 19% of GDP? I don’t really want to ever see the Republicans in power – but they will be, and when they are in power, I want them to be sane. I want them in some way to be idealistic about making this country work. The George W Bush administration was a disaster in this regard: cynical exploitation of the public’s fear for crass political gain, transparently absurd budgeting, into Afghanistan with no plan, into Iraq with no plan and no reason, politicizing the justice department, fiddling while the economy burned, etcetera – and yet that lot are mealymouthed eggheaded moderates by the lights of Michelle Bachman, Rand Paul, and Sarah Palin. The average Democratic politician may be spineless, they may even be venal, but at least they’re still pretty sure that the Earth isn’t flat.
That rant got long, but I guess what I wanted to say was this: DougJ’s questions were reasonable ones to determine whether a Conservative is remotely connected to reality. You don’t consider yourself a Conservative, so you found the questions so absurd as to be offensive; that’s fine, but most Conservatives would actually fail them, as you yourself note. If you can find similar evidence of a Liberal disconnect from reality, by all means slap us across the face with it. Asserting that we all love ol’ Joseph Djugashvili doesn’t really qualify.
Ija
@Jason Kuznicki:
If you don’t identify as conservatives, why bother answering the question? Just to bitch and whine about your own superiority? The question was meant for conservatives, if you are not one, shut up. People at LOG sure feels the need to extol their own virtues a lot. Please, you guys are not all that.
ETA: DougJ’s post was titled Questions for Conservatives. What part of that do you not understand?
Ija
And I find it hard to believe that someone who works for Cato is not a conservative. Unless you expect us to believe the lie that libertarians are not conservatives. Nice try, dude. That ship sailed a long time ago. What is it with people at the League going into contortions to pretend to be something they are not? Most of you are conservatives, admit it.
polyorchnid octopunch
@cathyx: Do you have a coexist bumper sticker on your car? – No
Do you bring your own cloth bags to the grocery store? – Yes, but that’s quite common in Canada now. Lots of people use them.
Disposing of plastic shopping bags properly is a pain in the ass. A guy in quebec developed a plastic bag that can last for years. It uses the plastic of about fifty bags… but it lasts way longer than fifty shopping trips. They sell them for a buck at the grocery store.
Of course, by your country’s current standards, great conservatives like Peter Lougheed or Bill Davis were raging communists.
Another Commenter at Balloon Juice (fka Bella Q)
@Ija: Clearly that title was a trick! That DougJ, son of DougJ(R) is indeed the wily one. That’s why it offended a LOG front pager who isn’t a conservative. It was a trick, or perhaps a trap. But it was meant to get someone. So there.
El Cid
Do I have to put away my Joseph Stalin lawn jockey now?
Allan
@Jason Kuznicki:
Q.E. motherfucking D.
Triassic Sands
Uh oh, looks like some serious denial here. A “couple” is two, John, and I think you’ve claimed “Democratitude” [sic] for longer than that. I know, that also means you’re older than you probably want to admit, but part of being a Democrat should be acceptance of reality.
@Ija:
I definitely don’t see libertarians as being the same as conservatives. They may share certain beliefs, but someone like Ron Paul is more of a libertarian than he is a conservative. At times, his agenda may coincide with that of liberals. Also, there is such a thing as a civil libertarian and it is not uncommon for liberals to also be civil libertarians.
One difference I’ve long recognized between (modern) American conservatives and libertarians is that conservatives are fundamentally dishonest and hypocritical, while libertarians live in a Wonderland where normal human interactions don’t hold sway. A conservative may want to eliminate regulations in order to enrich corporations and the wealthy (regardless of what he says publicly to justify his position), while libertarians want to eliminate regulations because they argue that markets will be self-regulating and everyone will come out ahead. Amazingly, despite all the evidence to the contrary, a libertarian may actually believe that nonsense, whereas a conservative doesn’t care about truth, but only about further enriching the haves.
Villago Delenda Est
@Allan:
Game, set, and match.
Obviously, DougJ’s questions riled up the masses over there, and Jason is confirming that those two questions indeed will demonstrate the point DougJ was making.
Q.E.motherfucking.D, indeed.
Xenos
@Warren Terra: The Albigensians were a bunch of wankers.
matoko_chan
@Jason Kuznicki: dude….there is a whole body of scientific EVIDENCE on this. quit ducking.
Conservatism has become memetic selection for stupid. In part this is because of Salam-Douthat stratification on cognitive ability, Grand New Party page 154.
Partly it is because of social levelling where IQ and education have become NEGATIVE social capital for conservatives.
Conservatism is anti-empirical….94% of scientists are not conservative. Conservatism is anti-empathetic–literature and the arts require empathy.
also,too….social brain hypothesis, savannah principle, the biological basis of behavior and backfire effect.
Conservatives refuse to talk about this. But it is an obvious problem.
Douchebag and McMegan’s answer is IQ-bussing, affirmative action for intellectually challenged redstate youth.
someone should shove this under your noses at the League. I would but im banned there.
:)
matoko_chan
@Jason Kuznicki: you know this a problem..Douthat has written extensively on this, and so has Frum Forum.
stop faking the butthurt.
you baked this cake with 50 years of anti-intellectualism and basepandering.
now you can choke on it.
matoko_chan
@Warren Terra: both conservatism and libertarianism in America are anti-empirical.
Jason Kuznicki
Ija said:
If we had shut up, you would have complained. As in fact you did:
I would never have answered the question if it were directed merely at “conservatives.” Instead it was directed at the League, of whom I believe all of two active authors now self-identify as conservative. So I answered, with the caveat (in the title, so you wouldn’t miss it) that I don’t call myself a conservative.
Conservatism frankly embarrasses me in a lot of areas. DougJ named two of them. I agreed with him. But seriously, you folks just don’t take yes for an answer.
aimai
@Warren Terra:
Marry me, Warren Terra.
aimai
matoko_chan
Big talk when im not allowed to comment.
REPLY (if i could)
Judge this, cudlips.
Salam-Douthat stratification ON COGNITIVE ABILITY.
Y’all have a copy of Grand New Party i presume? page 154.
Salam-Douthat stratification on cognitive ability in action.
and here.
aimai
@Jason Kuznicki:
Does this make sense to you? Many of your own commenters–from your own side–complain because you are pro-science/evolution/global warming and you think the problem is that Doug J thinks your commentes are wrong? *You* think your commenters are wrong. Why do you think that is? Do you think they come to read your writing, and criticize it from the right, for completely random reasons?
aimai
matoko_chan
@Jason Kuznicki: unban meh and ill give u an answer.
/wicked grin
matoko_chan
@aimai: he is anti-empirical, aimai.
pointless to argue unless you want to field study backfire effect and fact-blocking.
matoko_chan
@aimai: you see….aimai cher…jason can say TO US that he acknowledges evolution and AGW, but he would nevernevernever impugn his base’s God Given Right to believe in dumb, stupid, anti-empirical, bad and provably counterfactual memes.
that is why i got banned at the League.
I accused EDK of basepandering instead of trying to educate that base.
they dont think the base can learn.
And praps they are right. 50 years of anti-intellectualism and Salam-Douthat stratification on cognitive ability may have rendered the base impervious to anything but slogans and demagoguery…but praps that was their design all along.
:)
brantl
@joe from Lowell:
You’re giving him a lot of credit, he doesn’t recognize much…………..
THE
OT
Matoko, I’ve left a comment for you on Ghosts.
Ija
@Jason Kuznicki:
That complaint was in response to Will’s stupid ass poll. That was not in response to “non-conservatives” at LOG not answering DougJ’s question. Way to bury the lead and mislead people there, Jason. I appreciate it. And for God’s sake, stop pretending y’all are not conservatives. All the hand wringing about “not finding a home on the left” etc etc. Own it, y’all are conservatives. Be out and be proud.
ETA: It’s like y’all think the League is on a higher plane or something. How dare DougJ imply that about us? How special do you think you are anyway? Honest question.
Jason Kuznicki
@Ija:
You were complaining that we at the League were being evasive. Immediately before that, you were complaining that I had answered the questions. Was there anything I might have done that would satisfy you?
If I’d been silent, you’d have said “Aha! An uncomfortable silence!”
If I’d spoken up, well, I know what you did. You told me to be quiet.
How about this. I’ll tell you the issues I care about the most, and you tell me whether I’m a conservative or a liberal.
–I believe we should end the war on drugs. This to me is the biggest single issue there is. Treat addiction as a public health problem, not as a crime. Stop locking up so many minorities for a pseudo-crime that’s anyway disproportionately committed by whites.
–I believe we should massively cut our defense spending and bring our troops home from essentially all of the 150+ countries where they are stationed.
–I believe that we should relax occupational licensing and zoning laws to give small businesses a chance.
–I think same-sex marriage is good for everyone, straight and gay people alike. So I’d repeal DOMA.
–I believe that we should means-test Social Security. The rich don’t need it; let’s save it for the poor.
–I believe that we should end all farm subsidies.
–I believe that we should end the tax exemption for health insurance.
These are my priorities. I don’t see that I fit comfortably on either the left or the right. Perhaps someone will now come along and tell me that I’m not a libertarian, either. It would figure, wouldn’t it?
But I’d much rather be discussing issues like the above on their own merits, and not discussing which club I putatively belong to.
Jason Kuznicki
I don’t acknowledge that these commenters are of my own side. These are the folks who compare my same-sex marriage to bestiality. Their reasons are not, as you say, “random,” but I do find them irrational and baseless.
They may comment at the League, but it’s a grave error to suppose that they are on my side. The League attracts all kinds, for good and ill.
General Stuck
And so it goes on. The thread about nothing.
Ija
@Jason Kuznicki:
How about letting the CONSERVATIVES answer, then? Since you insist, INSIST! I tell you, that you are not a conservative, why are you so offended by the questions? It’s not directed to you personally, or do you make a habit of taking everything personally? The post is titled “Questions for Conservatives”, not “Questions for thin-skinned people at LOG”. Learn to tell the difference.
matoko_chan
@Jason Kuznicki:
but they are on your side. you both vote republican. you might deplore their idiocy, but you NEVER call them on it. You are a basepanderer like EDK. Bad, wrong, stupid, anti-empirical and counterfactual ideas being imposed as policy is what is destroying this country.
Conservatism is a dead phailosophy. It didnt work. Conservatism gave us the Econopalypse and 30 years of Mubarak and the Epic Fail of the Manifest Destiny of jeebus democracy in MENA. Conservatism gave us the Nuclear Republic of Iran and OBL. and Hayek was WRONG……booyah!
There are no good ideas left in conservatism, and libertarianism in America has devolved to just a bunch of anti-empirical assclowns giving handjobs to the bankstahs.
You have a responsibility to EDUCATE the Noble Yeoman Farmers you pretend to lead.
So dont pretend you are just like us.
/spit
Ija
You know what I really hate about League of Ordinary Gentlemen? That superiority shit that you guys pull off day in day out. Even Freddie-I-am-the-only-true-leftist-deBoer exhibited that when he was blogging at LOG. It’s not about being a conservative/liberal/libertarian/I-can’t-find-a-home-on-the-left/whatever, it’s your sense of superiority. You guys think you are so much better than anyone else, and that shows in your posts, and in how you respond to other blogs. Like it is such an atrocity beyond belief that DougJ would ever ask questions about evolution and global warming to LOG, gosh, how could he think that of us, what does he think we are, RedState? We are all superior beings here, how dare he questions our honor?
I bet most of you work in academia, or judging from the maturity level of the posts, have aspirations for career in academia. Only academics can pull off this level of superiority complex.
matoko_chan
@Jason Kuznicki:
..and i totally believe you are an American libertarian. An intellectual whore held in babylonian captivity to the socons and the bankstahs.
whoever feeds the dog, owns the dog.
fap-fap-fap markets!
matoko_chan
@Ija: yeah, its that WITH the base but not OF the base crapology.
I hate Douchebag and the rest of the bourgie conservatives at LOG and the glibertarian posse at Cato and Reason far worse than Palin and Limbaugh.
Because they empower the rabid christofascists with a faint veneer of reasonableness, and tell the base it is ALL RIGHT to have bad stupid counterfactual ideas and to IMPOSE those ideas on the rest of us citizens.
Conservative ideas HAVE ALL FAILED, horribly.
and they will never admit it.
chopper
lol, so asking conservatives if they believe in evolution or climate change (the majority of said group says no) is a ‘patronizing generalization’ in the same manner as asking a liberal if they believe in a ‘broccoli mandate’.
sounds like this guy doth protest too much. either that, or he’s a complete strawman-making buffoon. i’m thinking the latter.
Jason Kuznicki
I don’t.
chopper
@Ija:
nothing sadder than a faux-intellectual hack who claims to be ‘independent’ because he speaks with such self-righteous sophism that nobody wants to hang out with him.
chopper
also, i love watching glibertarians bitch and moan about how they aren’t ‘conservatives’, and how dare you try to pigeonhole and categorize me!, then turn around and go back to bitching about ‘liberals’.
matoko_chan
@Jason Kuznicki: lawl, liar liar pants on fire…show me your registration.
and still, you defend the GodGiven RIGHT of the christofacists and conservitards to impose WEC doctrine on the rest of us citizens, don’t you? Like ensoulment, creationism, AGW denial, homophobia, etc?
And the right of the bankstahs to soullessly and rapaciously farm the american electorate for cash in the Holy Name of the Free Market?
And please, lets talk about Hayek and Dead-White-Guy Phailosophy.
you have no street cred with meh, Jason.
You are fed by the Kochs.
and….fap-fap-fap markets!
matoko_chan
@Jason Kuznicki: and please convey this message to jaybird and mfarmer, (since im banned at LOG) …if its any consolation, a WHOLE lot of the cudlips here hate on me too. :)
i do miss Dr. Manzi.
how he would laff to hear my theory of the midterm results.
Distributed Jesusland in action.
;)
Stefan
Do you own or have ever owned a Subaru? A Prius?
No, but then I live in NY so don’t own any car. Which makes me a communist.
Do you listen to “A Prairie Home Companion”? or “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me”?
Only if I’m in a car and it’s on the radio, but since (see above) I don’t own a car, this only happens when I’m driving a rental to the Hamptons on the weekend.
Merlot or Cabernet?
Pinot Noir.
Do you and your significant other read novels to each other on a long car ride?
See answers above re lack of car ownership. If I did own a car, no, since I get car-sick when reading. (Why so many questions about cars? This betrays an anti-urban bias!)
Do you do the New York Times crossword puzzle?
In ink, motherfucker. In. Ink.
matoko_chan
@Stefan:
win.
Morbo
@Triassic Sands: The lowercase “l” is the key in that paragraph.
matoko_chan
better run along home now, Jason.
fucking coward…..you’re just like EDK.
run run run glibertarian man
we’ll eat you up as fast as we can.
crush crush
shred shred
Jaybird
Hey Matoko.
I think that it would be unfair to judge Balloon Juice by you (or any single commenter at Balloon Juice, for that matter).
My post saying what you did was intended to show DougJ an (I thought it was) amusing counterpoint to how he didn’t need to re-evaluate any assumptions based on Bob’s answer to the questions (despite all of the other answers given by far more people).
If that wasn’t clear, I apologize.
Keep the faith and I hope that you continue to use UAs.
Jaybird
matoko_chan
@Jaybird: do. i. care.
like i said, conservatism is selection for stupid.
even their smart people are retards.
Jaybird
Matoko,
I assumed you cared when you gave Jason a message for me.
Should I have seen that as communication that you didn’t care?
I’ll do my best to go back to our old ways of communication.
Jaybird
matoko_chan
@Jaybird: we havent communicated since EDK banned me.
i dont read that steaming pile of recycled conservative cowshit.
fuck off.
Jaybird
Matoko,
Oh, sorry. I assumed you read it when you pasted something that I wrote over there.
You know what happens when you assume!
Anyway, ttyl.
Jaybird
matoko_chan
and DIAF.