Just start saying it
By DougJ, Head of Infidelity March 29th, 2011
If there’s one phrase I hate it’s “mistakes were made”. Fuck the passive voice. Somebody made the mistakes and they should be named and shamed.
Let’s be clear, in layman’s terms, Republicans are getting ready to shut down the government. I don’t want to hear any of you saying “the government may be shut down” or “there may be a government shut down”. Democrats have met Republicans halfway on the budget. If Republicans don’t take the deal, the Republicans will have shut down the government.
Make no mistake.
Posted in Fucked-up-edness, Republican Stupidity, Republican Venality
I knew it… now, the real question, what about the debt ceiling?
March 29th, 2011 at 12:47 pm
Ezra Klein’s mainpoint is that the Rethuglicans are not just insisting on cuts-but it has to be their cuts or no deal. Since the goal is to reduce the deficit-any cuts would be welcome you think.
But that’s what happens when pineheads like Allen West think they can call the tune in the GOP. The really sad part is that there are the 27% who don’t know anything about anything who will continue to vote for these losers.
March 29th, 2011 at 12:49 pm
And the media will sell it as the Democrats/Obama’s fault. This isn’t the 90’s anymore. I don’t think the facts of who did what to whom will matter at all.
March 29th, 2011 at 12:51 pm
@Alex S.: The debt ceiling is about to neatly dovetail with the budget, and right now neither one of them is happening. Watch for a full court press from the Galtian overlords. And bring lots of popcorn, this should redefine epic.
March 29th, 2011 at 12:51 pm
The most useful book I ever read was called “Mistakes were made… (But not by me).” It talks about cognitive dissonance and why people refuse to acknowledge when they are wrong, to the point of becoming even more committed to a previous ideology.
Fascinating, excellent for figuring out who is worth your time to argue with, and who it is not.
March 29th, 2011 at 12:52 pm
A lolly to the first news anchor that states it this clearly. Actually, might as well offer them a Bugatti Veyron ‘cause it’s not going to happen.
March 29th, 2011 at 12:52 pm
I always thought we weren’t supposed to negotiate with terrorists.
Just arrange for some freedom bombs for that Old Boner.
March 29th, 2011 at 12:55 pm
@Alex S.: GOP’s going for the combo.
Seriously, I think they want to default while the gov’t is shutdown to ensure maximum destruction.
March 29th, 2011 at 12:57 pm
But… but… but…
Both sides do it! There’s no difference between Republicans and Democrats. :-p
Do you have a link to the Democrats’ budget proposal? I’d like to have something to throw on a message board or a Facebook link so people can’t just wave away Dems as being “just as bad”.
March 29th, 2011 at 12:59 pm
It’s OK to scapegoat the Republicans for everything, even things the Democrats are partially complicit with. Really, it’s OK. Nuance and subtlety are not our friends. Low-info voters like a simple narrative, one with villains and victims. The Republicans and their sleazy friends in the media make very good villains, lets blame them for everything that is wrong in this country.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:00 pm
Oh no, we can’t possibly say that! Then Rush or Glenn might say nasty things about us to their listeners, and THEN where would we be? No no, we must reach out to potential possible eventual voters from the wacko right, and the only way to do that is to acquiesce entirely to their demands. Then they’ll vote for US, instead of the people they vote for now, who got us to do what they wanted.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:01 pm
Just say it…
“War”.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03.....=1&hp
Gee, Obama lying about his war aims… Whoda thunk it?
March 29th, 2011 at 1:01 pm
Good. I hope there is a government shut down. Let the Republicans face some consequences for their actions for once. And I sure as shit hope that the Dems grow a spine on the debt ceiling and make Boehner eat a plate of shit.
@beltane: If the shoe fits…
March 29th, 2011 at 1:02 pm
@Zifnab: You’re going about it the wrong way. Instead of defending the Democrats, you should respond to the “both sides do it” crowd with more attacks on Republicans. A vicious offense is the best defense.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:03 pm
Actually, Democrats have met Republicans all the way. The current compromise was the Republican leadership’s starting point for negotiations.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:05 pm
That fact is, that with the Republicans screaming louder than anyone else how much they view government as the enemy and how Democrats view the government as the solution to all problems, very few people (outside of the 27%-percent crazification zone) are going to point their fingers at the Dems when the gov’t is shut down and the resultant poo starts flying off the fan blades. No, people will naturally point at the party that campaigns on wanting to drown government in the bathtub.
Fucking political strategy. How does it work?
March 29th, 2011 at 1:06 pm
@Joe Beese: Hi. We’re not talking about Libya right now. Focus is important here. Kthxbai.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:08 pm
@Joe Beese:
OK, dude. Now you’re just spamming.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:09 pm
@Vibrant Pantload, fka Studly Pantload: “Now?”
March 29th, 2011 at 1:11 pm
@Zifnab:
But that’s the whole problem. This time the Democrats were just as bad as the Republicans. That’s why they’re a week and a half away from chaos with no message other than “wait, is this really happening? How can voters not see how irresponsible these people are?!”
The Republican plan is reckless insanity. The Democrats plan is to meet them halfway. Half of reckless insanity is still insane, and indefensible on its own merits.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:11 pm
Sadly, this is so often the case. It’s true regardless of which party is in the majority.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:15 pm
@Rick Taylor:
That was what I thought as well.
We’re already giving them the kitchen sink.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:15 pm
Thats what ya get for electing dems who are not willing to bow down to their corporate bosses…maybe barack needs to give a lesson on selling out.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:19 pm
@Shinobi: I assume that you apply the lessons when you come here
March 29th, 2011 at 1:21 pm
Um, I thought that was the whole point to the usage, “mistakes were made”: I think Poindexter said it during the Iran-Contra hearings, and the phrase took on a life of its own—as a placeholder for any character who clumsily attempts to deflect blame away from their own mistakes. See: Jeffy Did It/The Not-Me Ghost
March 29th, 2011 at 1:21 pm
@beltane:
Noted.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:21 pm
@Bob Loblaw:
How about “You voted for the Republicans, America, so this is obviously what you wanted.” I’ll happily post that to Facebook if the Repugs shut down the government.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:25 pm
You know who said that? Mel, the cook on “Alice!”
March 29th, 2011 at 1:26 pm
@Jamey: Bike Commuter of the Gods: That’s the point of that particular phrasing when a politician wants to acknowledge a mistake without heaping blame on him or herself. The media, when covering said politicians, really has no excuse to use that phrasing.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:28 pm
Question: Having never lived here through a government shutdown, what does that mean? I know what it means generally, but here’s where I am wondering if it will affect me. Let me be selfish here for a moment.
Next week, my partner and I are leaving for a two week drive from Atlanta, through the Southwest, and up to Utah to do a National Park/Historic Site tour.
My guess is that, if the government shuts down, people who work in these places will be told to go home.
And the entire reason for our trip will be gone, correct? I’m assuming only essential government personel will be at work – and that will not include people employed to make sure I’m enjoying Arches National Park.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:30 pm
Michael D: National parks will close.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:39 pm
@Michael D.:
I’m pretty sure national parks are shut down. Social Security deposits get sent out, but no changes or additions. Things like TSA, customs/immigration, and air traffic control continue. I haven’t seen any good rundown of this yet in the media.
What I really need to know is what the hell happens if the debt ceiling doesn’t get raised. I’m taking out a bunch of cash in case the banking system gets screwed up, but don’t know what this means for investments and the like. I’m pretty sure this would hammer the really rich, who tend to keep a lot of money in treasuries. The question is whether the billionaires can put the horses’ heads in teabaggers’ beds before the baggers pull the trigger on this.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:40 pm
@Bob Loblaw:
they have no message? something seems to be getting through to the public because more and more of them say they will blame Republicans if the government shuts down.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:45 pm
Well, yes, the repubs are being pricks and they’re being idiots, but the budget that’s currently being debated is the budget for 2011, which started on Oct 1, 2010. The 2011 budget should have been passed six months ago, when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. I’m really not sure why it wasn’t.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:47 pm
I agree: may the passive voice be fucked!
March 29th, 2011 at 1:50 pm
i share your loathing of the passive voice.
i’m just bummed that the federal courts aren’t affected by the shutdown.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:50 pm
@Joe Beese: If a paid Republican operative was working to disrupt Democrats’ discussions about the impending shutdown and provoke a circular firing squad, how would his selection of where to comment and the content of his comment be any different from what Joe Beese is doing on this thread?
March 29th, 2011 at 1:51 pm
@ericblair:
The question is whether the billionaires can put the horses’ heads in teabaggers’ beds before the baggers pull the trigger on this.
You’re assuming that “the billionaires” and “the teabaggers” are separate entities. Given that those billionaires are the ones funding those very same ‘baggers, I’m not so sure.
If the gubbmint gets shut down, that means that the Galtian-Overlords wish it to be so.
So, the question is… why? Yet again: no visible end-game. And I refuse to believe that the right-wing PTB have no intended endgame in mind. They’re not all mindless and stupid.
WI, MI, now this: I see a recurring pattern. They’re using the scorched-earth tactics of people who seem to assume that there will be no “next election”.
That’s the part that’s becoming… frightening.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:53 pm
@Vibrant Pantload, fka Studly Pantload: You are correct. The media operates by filtering information to find “the story.” They have “the story” for what Democrats are like, and what Republicans are like, and they’ll report that information that tells their story.
This is an important insight on many levels.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:55 pm
@MTiffany:
We had a government shutdown before, during the Clinton era. Clearly, the Republicans did not learn anything from that debacle, which cost them dearly in the subsequent national elections.
Worse, some Republicans yearn for a government shutdown because they view Obama, the Democrats and the federal government as inherently alien to them. These fools want to stop the world and go into some kind of ideological hibernation until the USA that they desperately dream about is restored under the guidance of some Real American™ Republican president.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:58 pm
@Suck It Up!:
Democrats could have taken the last two months off and vacationed down in Cabo and the public would think that way regardless.
Republicans are the anti-government party, pretty much by definition. They bring it on their own damned selves, and the public knows at least that much. The Democrats’ political message is almost irrelevant in that respect. But what’s the use of a government shutdown if it results in destructive budget cuts no matter what? What’s the message beyond “Hey, at least we would never shut the government down, right? Let’s pitch in, gang, and win the future together!”?
March 29th, 2011 at 1:58 pm
@4tehlulz:
I think that’s exactly what the teabaggers want. And many republican officials probably think that this might cause a recession which is going to help them in 2012. But their corporate overlords want to protect their investments.
March 29th, 2011 at 1:59 pm
@Michael D.: Utah has a lot of BLM land you can explore. No, it’s not the National Parks but there is plenty to see and do. And if you have the choice, and it’s open, get to Bryce which for my money is the weirdest and coolest of the National Parks in Utah. (I think you can also head to Monument Valley. The Navajo will be happy to take your money. Pretty sure the National Park Service doesn’t control the whole area.)
March 29th, 2011 at 2:01 pm
@Comrade Javamanphil: Isn’t BLM federal too?
March 29th, 2011 at 2:05 pm
@ericblair:
I think it would really fuck up the banking system. Banks have certain capital requirements and use Treasury bonds to meet them. If all the sudden Treasury bonds are no longer AAA, well, that could cause some serious problems.
March 29th, 2011 at 2:07 pm
Did y’all see this?
SCOTUS rules guy doesn’t deserve $14M for wrongful imprisonment. But here’s the kicker:
March 29th, 2011 at 2:07 pm
An excellent point has been made about the passive voice.
March 29th, 2011 at 2:12 pm
@Cris: Yes but I have no idea how they would keep anyone off of the land. It’s not like there are campsites with services. You pull off the road, drive across the dessert a bit and pitch a tent (and hope you don’t wake up to a heard of cattle passing through your site.)
March 29th, 2011 at 2:15 pm
@Yutsano:It will redefine epic and not in a good way.
March 29th, 2011 at 2:20 pm
@srv:
That sounds like a fucking impossible burden to meet. Is it too much to ask that prosecutors be trained to not violate the Constitution?
March 29th, 2011 at 2:20 pm
@Joe Beese:
Do you live your entire life like this? Like when someone says “Hey Joe, ‘sup?” is your answer “Obama lied about Libya”? When your boss asks if you’ve gotten a project done, do you tell him Obama is a war criminal? And in the unlikely event that you have a sex life, do you shriek “Obama sucks!” at the moment of climax?
Just curious.
March 29th, 2011 at 2:21 pm
Is it inconsistent to dislike the passive voice (useful though it may be for certain kinds of emphasis) and lament the failure of so many to utilize the subjunctive mood? Because I do.
March 29th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
@Comrade Javamanphil: Re: Monument Valley – Thanks for the tip! That’s not too far from where we planned, so it will be a great Plan B!
March 29th, 2011 at 2:31 pm
When I tought English in Turkey I used to use Reagan’s “mistakes were made” line from the Iran-Contra affair to demonstrate the use of the passive voice to avoid taking responsibility.
March 29th, 2011 at 2:33 pm
@eemom:
That certainly gives new meaning to showing her my O face.
March 29th, 2011 at 2:38 pm
@eemom:
Pro-tip: Do not ask questions to which you really, really don’t want to know the answer.
March 29th, 2011 at 2:42 pm
@parenthetical: Heh. I used ‘mistakes were made’ in our corporate style guide to illustrate the same thing.
I try not to think about how many of the youngs here won’t get the reference, as that would make me sad.
March 29th, 2011 at 2:42 pm
absolutely, they are going to shut it down.
bring it.
March 29th, 2011 at 2:43 pm
The TooBigToFail bailout was more than TARP or the discount window or TBill asset purchases even, and FASB (accounting) rules were changed after the 2008 collapse to avoid the ‘day of reckoning’ that would surface if the bad (toxic) debt were revalued … it is called extend and pretend by the FIRE industry (the actual acronym for the Finance, Insurance and Real Estate industry … haha funny … oh, wait).
The banks need an economic disaster to blame things on so they can cover their tracks … war has sufficed in the past, but there are other means. Not saying that’s for sure why the Galtian Lords might actually favor shutdown and economic turmoil … just sayin’
March 29th, 2011 at 2:48 pm
@joe from Lowell: Back in 2008, didn’t the McCain campaign award points to people trolling “left-wing” web sites, which could be used to get modest discounts on campaign swag such as $125 lapel pins and $400 packages of golf balls? Maybe Joe’s still shooting for a free set of “McCain 2008” golf balls.
March 29th, 2011 at 2:48 pm
DougJ.
/crosses arms and frowns
You are a Master 666th Degree Wizard and I should not have to tell you this.
The conservative base has the attention span of a gnat, and forgets how badly the conservative deatheaters screw them in a microsecond.
You need to use the Chained Curse to glue all their failed policies into them with an Unbreakable Causation Chain.
For example, NCLB is a conservative, freemarket policy…that has nearly destroyed our educational system.
And the Bush Doctrine is the proximate cause of the Epic Fail Horrorshows in Iraq and Iran.
COIN (the BD cut down for villages) is the direct cause of the Kill Squad.
Therefore, Bush owns the Kill Squad, not Obama.
See?
March 29th, 2011 at 2:53 pm
Just imagine if republicans had been able to shut down the government of Detroit 40 years ago.
http://online.wsj.com/article/.....on_LEADTop
They may have been able to save the city.
March 29th, 2011 at 2:53 pm
@jwest: Historians will forever more owe a debt of gratitude to Rupert Murdoch’s speech writer for revealing to them that Detroit’s economic woes are all due to political ideology rather than, you know, economics.
March 29th, 2011 at 3:11 pm
@eemom: Heh heh. You go, grrl!
March 29th, 2011 at 3:13 pm
Ash can,
If you define “economics” as running out of people with money to soak in order to support a welfare society, I would agree with you.
March 29th, 2011 at 3:21 pm
@jwest:
I really admire how you can pack so much irrelevance and ignorance into a single sentence, complete with an inane column from a Murdoch hack.
March 29th, 2011 at 3:36 pm
@ericblair: It also means-if Navy Times is to be believed, Soliders, Sailors, Airmen and Marines won’t get paid. Not exactly the message you want to send with three wars going on.
March 29th, 2011 at 3:36 pm
@Joe Beese:
Joe Beese: Go DIAF, you hateful attention whore!
March 29th, 2011 at 3:43 pm
@jwest: Hey, if you’re going to define a major domestic industry that can’t/won’t keep up with changing market dynamics as a “welfare society,” I guess I can define “economics” any way I want, now can’t I?
March 29th, 2011 at 3:49 pm
Brachiator,
“Mistakes have been made…”
When you finally come to realize that it is your liberal methods of “helping people” that cause the decay, poverty and misery evident in Detroit, don’t bother apologizing to me. Spend your time explaining to the generations of ignorant, impoverished beneficiaries of the Great Society why people like you thought it was a good idea at the time.
March 29th, 2011 at 3:50 pm
Ash Can,
At least liberals are active in promoting new ideas for Detroit industry. Here is a presentation for something that will undoubtedly replace the auto manufacturing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....ded#at=192
H/T to Ace of Spades
March 29th, 2011 at 3:58 pm
@Skippy-san:
Even the Romans were smart enough not to have slave armies. Can we at least bring them home?
March 29th, 2011 at 3:59 pm
this thread is making me hungry.
hungry for pie!
March 29th, 2011 at 4:00 pm
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Is it out fault if mistakes were made?
March 29th, 2011 at 4:04 pm
@Svensker: In the event that there would have been mistakes made, it would clearly have had to have been because the passive voice had been used and the subjunctive mood avoided.
March 29th, 2011 at 4:10 pm
This is really horseshit:
...
Could you imagine getting shot at in Afghanistan and not getting paid for it? And you’re trying to support you family back home?
March 29th, 2011 at 4:13 pm
@jwest:
Not a bad try. Better: Detroit is what you get from policies that increase and accentuate income/asset disparities, and make sure that those at the top have no civic/social responsibility. Third world oligarchies weren’t enough to scare their base, so the repubs are trying it here. So far, so good for our galtian overlords.
March 29th, 2011 at 4:27 pm
@Michael D.: That is correct. National Parks and the Smithsonian, where I work, will be shut and locked. Happened in 95 to the SI, where we could do no work on museum exhibitions and all the museums were closed to the public.
March 29th, 2011 at 7:03 pm