Has anyone become more of a blogging force in such a short time as Charles Pierce? At any rate, his latest victim, Paul Ryan, is drawn and quartered over at Esquire, and it is a wondrous read:
Sentence No. 2: an entire K-Tel collection of Golden Oldies. “A Safety net, not a hammock.” “Dependency.” “Complacency.” “The Draining of The Will.” (That last one sounds like a film on penile abscesses directed by Leni Riefenstahl.) Holy god, this stuff was old when Newt Gingrich was peddling it in his previous life. Tell us, congressman, when you were skating for a couple of years on your Social Security survivor’s benefits, and when your family stayed on the government dole for longer that that, “taking” from, among other people, my parents and me, how did you manage not to be “lulled” into a life of “complacency” and “dependency”? How were you not “drained” of your “incentive”? How was your “will to make the most of your life” not drained, as well. What’s the magic number? Two years on the dole? Three? Five? Let us know so we can stop pestering you and find our bootstraps.
I suspect it was because, after you left the family earth-moving business, you eventually went to work on a government paycheck for Senator Bob Kasten, and then you went to work on a government paycheck for Senator Sam Brownback, and then you went briefly into the private sector — as a speechwriter for the late Jack Kemp — before going back on a government paycheck when you were elected to the House, 13 years ago. At which point, you became the pet Big Thinker and point man for a bunch of rich people, including many — Was the wine to your liking, by the way? — of the same folks that crashed the economy in 2008, thereby creating the conditions that, much to your obvious pain and chagrin, are turning so many of your fellow citizens into dependent, complacent, will-lacking slobs, because they’re taking unemployment benefits. That pretty much guaranteed you wouldn’t be paying for your own dinners much any more.
If Paul Ryan had any shame, that would leave a mark. As we know, however, sociopaths don’t feel shame.
Yutsano
Someone is NOT getting invited to Sally Quinn’s next soiree.
Violet
Charles Pierce is a national treasure. Long may he write.
El Tiburon
Was just thinking the same thing. He is all over my internet tubes. Where the fuck did this guy come from and where has he been? He sure is pretty with the words.
He is a cross between Taibbi and Greenwald and Hamsher.
Okay. I threw Hamsher in there just to help some of you constipated a-holes have a productive bowel movement this week.
Certified Mutant Enemy
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs. — http://kfmonkey.blogspot.com/2009/03/ephemera-2009-7.html
Special Patrol Group
Pierce rules.
Also, too, tbogg (another National Treasure):
“350 Buck Chuck” is a keeper.
nepat
Could the constant pimping of him at this blog have been a factor? Anne Laurie is practically his publicist.
Napoleon
@El Tiburon:
He was (is?) a columnist/feature writer for the non-right wing Boston paper and appears often on NPR’s “Wait, Wait” show and the “Only a Game” show.
Certified Mutant Enemy
sociopaths don’t feel shame.
That’s one of the reasons they’re sociopaths.
Violet
@El Tiburon:
I’ve been wondering the same thing. Did he just start blogging about politics?
This take down of Ryan is a thing of absolute beauty. I can’t decide what part I like best, it’s all so damn good.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@El Tiburon: Fuck you very much dickhead.
General Stuck
Ryan is a true believer, when most wingnuts aren’t. He actually believes in the trickle down nonsense, and a rising tide raises all Yachts. With the little people surfing the wake of the haves.
The worm is turning on these fuckers, I can feel it in my bones. They are becoming pawned by the economic times we live in, and their own congenital greed and lust for power.
Napoleon
PS, I think he use to post regularly on, I think, The American Propsect’s blog but has not done that for years. I think when they started it they were in Boston so, naturally, had him write for them on the blog.
cofax
So is Charlie Pierce going to lose his slot as a panelist on Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me (an NPR program) for being such a partisan gadfly?
Seriously: what’s the difference between the columns he’s writing and Lisa Simeone’s situation? Especially since Pierce probably has a larger bullhorn given the Esquire gig.
El Tiburon
@Raven (formerly stuckinred):
Don’t forget the courtesy flush. And you are welcome.
schrodinger's cat
Is Sully still a Ryan fan?
Hawes
Even the liberal TBoggs says that Pierce is rendering the rest of the internet irrelevant. There are days I might turn my whole blog into his RSS Feed.
cleek
@General Stuck:
i think that’s “a rising yacht raises all tides”.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
Update:
An Iraq war veteran who was injured during the raucous Occupy Oakland protest Tuesday night was upgraded to fair condition this morning at Highland Hospital in Oakland, a nursing supervisor said.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/10/27/BAD61LN3LM.DTL#ixzz1c0KDfF7s
Comrade Javamanphil
Esquire is not exactly an unknown platform to be launched from either, but yes, he’s very good.
OT: Best news of the day, Halperin says Obama is going to lose in 2012. (Try to contain your shock.)
fasteddie9318
@General Stuck:
This, sadly, is symptomatic of a more serious condition known as “being a dumbass young punk who lacks either the brainpower or the years of experience to figure out that he’s completely full of his own shit.”
However, Ryan is 41, and he’s past the GW Bush age 40 threshold for committing “youthful indiscretions,” so maybe he’s just mentally incapacitated.
General Stuck
@cleek:
LOL, could be
Special Patrol Group
Pierce’s Friday posts at Eric Alterman’s (wanker) Altercation blog were pure gold. Look ’em up.
aimai
I read that piece out loud last night to Mr. Aimai and I thought he’d laugh himself into coughing up a lung at the “Draining of the Will” line.
aimai
zmulls
“Was the wine to your liking, sir?”
I’m still kvelling over that line…
Culture of Truth
In a “highly amped speech” Paul Ryan “let loose with his pent-up frustrations” in a speech to the Heritage Foundation, the Hill reported.
Obama started his campaign “by preying on the emotions of fear, envy and resentment,” he said.
In the same speech, Ryan says U.S. is threatened by “a class of bureaucrats and connected crony capitalists trying to rise above the rest of us, call the shots, rig the rules and preserve their place atop society.”
brettvk
@Napoleon: Pierce was, at the time I first noticed his writing, a regular Friday contributor to Eric Alterman’s Altercation blog. His was the first, classical use of the term “teabagging” I encountered (online or IRL), which was why I was so bemused when the Koch-funded groups came along.
azelie
He used to guest post on Eric Alterman’s blog in the Pleistocene era of the lefty blogosphere and I always looked forward to his posts. I think that otherwise I’ve mainly seen him writing about sports, and I remember lamenting that he was not writing about politics anymore. Really happy to see him have a venue for political blogging again.
ETA: I see a couple of people have gotten to this before me.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
He used to do a regular Friday guest spot on Eric Alterman’s blog, which I completely lost track of when he moved to the Nation. He was posting at IIRC The American Prospect blog where he was a beautiful breath of witty air, till he made a reference to someone getting “the vapors”, and this provoked 87 posts calling him s a sexist, and he just gave up and stuck to sports for a long time.
PeakVT
Didn’t Pierce fill in on Fridays for Eric Alterman on his blog? Wherever that was. I forget. Maybe I’m misremembering about Pierce, too. Also.
ETA: Or maybe not.
ETAA: Four posters at the same time? Is that a new record?
Hill Dweller
Pierce is consistently great, which takes a lot of talent. Hell, I’m lucky to average one coherent comment a day. Pierce is making 4 or 5 blog posts a day, and all are good/great.
Culture of Truth
I haven’t seen rise to fame this rapid since that cat who says “no no no no no”
Who is incidentally, polling ahead of Rick Perry.
Mino
I was thinking more Wolcott/Taibbi.
The Other Chuck
I first heard of him from Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. I bought his book, _Idiot America_. Unfortunately it’s not actually very good, being just a reprint of an essay with rambling tangents added as filler.
Napoleon
@brettvk:
That must be what I am thinking of. I did use to read that blog so it makes sense that I would have seen him there.
Zifnab
I’ll tell you what I think it is. Esquire, GQ, Rolling Stone – these are young people magazines. You put a stuffy right wing WSJ Op-Ed writer behind the cover and you’re going to start shedding your readership pretty fast.
We had a student newspaper at UT, and it regularly tried to play “fair and balanced” between right and left. The left wing op-eds would get generally high praise. But I was actually in earshot of our editor getting chewed out for letting the right wing stuff get to copy.
Charlie Pierce, Matt Taibbi, Tai-Neihl Coats: they’re a sign of the times.
Southern Beale
From the link:
Yes, that can’t be stated often enough.
Mino
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): Thanks, I’d been looking for an update on him. So glad he’s improving.
John D.
@Zifnab: Charlie Pierce is almost 58 years old. Not exactly “young”. But one hell of a writer.
serge
Charles Pierce rules. Period.
Tractarian
@Comrade Javamanphil:
This is excellent news for John McCain?
flukebucket
Well I must say it makes me feel so much better to know that he has not been blogging very long. He is a master. I have been led to many fine things through this blog but I have to say I do believe he is the best yet.
From the linked post:
That’s gold Jerry. Pure Gold!
Mino
@efgoldman: He, he. The Russians call that soft torture.
geg6
@efgoldman:
I want to virtually marry Charlie Pierce and have his babies.
I haven’t been so excited by a blog since I discovered BJ. And Charlie is a better writer than John Cole. Cole only beats him due to cute pets, food pron, and hilarious household accidents.
agrippa
@El Tiburon:
FYI, I do not need your advice on bowel movements.
geg6
@Culture of Truth:
And where may I deliver your internets, sir?
WeeBey
Pierce has been killing it on the toobz for more than a decade, now.
You just had to know where to look.
Violet
From Pierce’s commentary on Perry possibly skipping the debates (Pierce goes on to discuss the Frontline documentary on Perry and Cameron Todd Willingham):
So delicious.
agrippa
@General Stuck:
General Stuck: I think that you are right about Ryan being a true believer.
And, I hope that you right about the worm turning.
You may well be. I hope so.
The Republic of Stupidity
That may be true, but at least we can try… and then keep on trying…
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Pierce also does a regular Tuesday morning visit to Stephanie Miller’s show, that I usually miss b/c I’m not a regular listener. He’s my favorite guest on WWDTM, but I think he’s best in print.
Yutsano
@The Republic of Stupidity: Rand thought shame was a sign of weakness. So no.
Bulworth
Yeah Pierce has been around awhile. I remember him fondly when I first discovered the intertubes and that horse guy and Michael Berube and Whiskey Bar and other awesomes. But I don’t think Pierce blogged regularly. You just had to hope you were in the right place at the right time to get some morsels from the crumbs that fell off the table.
emrventures
I’m a little surprised at the surprise about Charles Pierce’s rapid ascent in the bloggin world. Pierce had a built-in audience ready when he moved to Esquire and started doing politics.
He’s been a terrific writer (mostly on sports) for three decades. His previous blog, on sports in the sports section at the Boston Globe, was also one of my must-reads. His compilation of his sports writing, Sports Guy, is terrific, including a famous and notorious profile of Tiger Woods.
Jeff R.
Charles Pierce had a blog on boston.com, although it was more sports oriented than political. Until last Sunday, he was a feature writer and sort-of columnist for the Boston Globe Magazine. His column was only a sort of column as he joked in his farewell column: it was a column wide but only half a page high. He also wrote the book on Tom Brady and has several other books to his name.
The Republic of Stupidity
Years ago, I briefly worked for a house painter who insisted all new employees read Rand… really… that job didn’t last very long, for all the obvious reasons… anyways, later on, long after I was gone from that orbit, I did try reading some of Ayn’s work… something about Kant and hippos dancing on the head of a pin, if I recall correctly… I figured I had gone far enough at that point and threw the book away, and that was that…
Petorado
As Napolean noted, Pierce does have rather lengthy history of blogging, most specifically with American Prospect (their archives are loathe to reveal his old posts, for some reason.) Back in the Bush years, he wrote some brilliant skewerings of W’s reign. Even back then, folks were wondering who he was and where he came from. His ship finally seems to have come in. Good for him — and us.
daveNYC
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Ah wha? At least the Googling to find out WTF that was about brought me to the disturbingly entertaining Wikipedia entry on Female Hysteria.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@General Stuck:
I hope you’re right. I was thinking that last night, that the economy finally sucks enough, the housing crash and the credit crunch and all the debt coming down hard I guess finally means that people are looking at those income disparity/real wage/wealth gap charts and saying “What the fuck? That’s me!”
danimal
It strikes me that Pierce is filling a niche. The “hard-hitting, left-of-center-but-grounded-in-reality blogger with an acidic, sarcastic streak” niche has largely been abandoned as those filling this niche have either become firebaggers or Twitterers.
Watch out, Cole, your market-share is being threatened.
Ailuridae
@Special Patrol Group:
This. Alterman was the first thing I ever read politically on the intertubes (and only because of Springsteen) but I realized within a month that Pierce was the star of the show.
It is crazy to think about but you all could have had him here if the timing were right.
Davis X. Machina
@Petorado: “C-plus Augustus” was one of Pierce’s. That takes us back to 2002, anyways, and perhaps back as far as 1999, and the primaries.
Chris T.
@Culture of Truth: Projection
… by which Ryan is saying “I’m trying to rise above the rest of you, call the shots, rig the rules and preserve my place atop society.”
Bob
I read it, it’s great, as advertised. But it made me wonder, not for the first time, just what kind of fucking hell hole do conservatives of the Ryan type want to create?
gnomedad
Feature, not a bug. St. Ronnie Himself was just reminding us of ancient truths.
Cat Lady
@efgoldman:
I actually won one of the Real Paper’s weekly puzzles and got a free t-shirt and my name in the paper which I saved for years. It was the first thing I ever won until many years later when I won another t-shirt at my daughter’s college orientation – $120,000 and all I got was a “free” t-shirt.
BTW, Charlie has read BJ and occasionally commented here for years. I wouldn’t be surprised if his style and choice of snark didn’t come from some commenters here at this very moment.
Chris T.
@Bob:
Conservatives of the Ryan type believe that economics is a zero-sum game, so that every penny ever delivered to an “undeserving person” is forever denied to the “deserving” person. (And of course, “deserving” means “of my tribe”, or sometimes even just “of my family” or “me”.)
trollhattan
@Napoleon:
He’s that “Charlie Pierce” from Wait, Wait…? I’d have never made the connection. Dude can certainly turn a phrase, and a knife.
trollhattan
@Bob:
Same hell, bigger hole.
Violet
@Bob:
The kind where they’re safely outside and everyone else is inside. And there are walls and cages and a militarized police force to keep things that way.
Comrade Javamanphil
@Chris T.:
While simultaneously believing that a “rising tide will lift all boats.” Magical thinking indeed.
mike
I had been aware of his existence from Wait Wait and Idiot America, but had no idea he was this good. Holy cow, the man is on fire.
quannlace
He’s got a great laugh.
tulip
More gold:
http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/rick-perry-bill-o-reilly-interview-6530966
The money quote is the last line.
Hungry Joe
Ryan comes across as sincere, but it’s hard to tell the sociopaths from the true (Randian) believers since they bleat the same crap — and sociopaths are, almost by definition, good actors.
Cat Lady
@geg6:
Sorry, but I claimed him first.
kd bart
As soon as I was alerted that Pierce was writing a blog for Esquire, I added that blog to my favorites. I’ve enjoyed his stuff for years.
Chris T.
@Comrade Javamanphil: Yes, they don’t apply logic and consistency to their own positions. (Which is normal: most people don’t. Humans are not really rational. We all have our own weak points; the main trick is figuring out where they are, and then not believing your own BS. :-) )
It can be worth calling them on it every time though, because sometimes, for some of them, the light eventually dawns.
Steve
I liked Pierce’s writing at TAPPED a lot. I can’t recall exactly what he wrote to get himself into a big pie fight over sexism, but while I think it was purely unintentional on his part I seem to remember it was a little more serious than some people in this thread are letting on.
kc
Oh, God, that was good.
SST
Way late to the party, but the reason that Pierce is only now writing about politics is b/c his blog for the Globe was about sports. Moving to Esquire, he’s on to politics full-time now. He’s probably always had these opinions, but the subject of his blog was different.
Roy G.
Of course Ryan looks sincere – this is because Republicans value image above all else (other than money and power). ‘wingers like the way Ryan looks (manly and white), the cut of his jib (walks upright), and his furrowed brow (evidence of seriousness).
This is helpful for those Republicans voting against their own economic interest, since it helps to submerge the cognitive dissonance of such a good looking serious young man telling them their benefits have to be shredded.
Turgidson
@Comrade Javamanphil:
So we’re talking about a Nixon/McGovern or Reagan/Mondale type of Obama win, rather than a bitterly fought 275EV nailbiter. That’s a relief.
Only Kristol surpasses Halperin in “the opposite of what that guy just said is now certain to happen” oblivious dickishness.
timb
@nepat: good for her. Someone should be. He is the awesome
timb
@Violet: Read his book.
timb
@Bob: look out the window….divide everybody’s stuff by half, the proceeds of which go to the Lords of the manor.
they largely HAVE what they want
DFH no.6
@Bulworth:
Same here. Media Whores Online and Smirking Chimp were the first I found.
Berube’s still around some — mostly I see him in comments at places like LG&M.
And yes, Pierce is great. Loved his stuff online going back to Alterman’s Altercation.
But damn I miss Billmon. Best of them all, I thought.
Bulworth
@DFH no.6: ah, yes, Media Whores Online. Thank you very much for the reference. Thems were the good old blogging days. Sigh. I was so innocent then.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Bulworth: we never did find out who the Horse was, did we?
@Comrade Javamanphil: OT: Best news of the day, Halperin says Obama is going to lose in 2012. (Try to contain your shock.)
Is Halperin’s “The Page” supposed to be a ‘conservative’ alternative to all those ‘liberals’ at Swampland, like Calabresi and Crowley? I believe on MSNBC he plays a straight reporter, no?
geg6
OT, but hey Cole!
Seems Senator Mitch “Turtleface” McConnell is the one fucking up your teams move into the Big 12:
http://www.salon.com/2011/10/27/why_all_of_west_virginia_now_hates_mitch_mcconnell/
Maybe those hillbillies down there will think twice the next time they go red in an election.
geg6
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
No, The Page is supposed to be serious both sides do it journamalism. Really.
Paul in KY
@nepat: Charles Pierce doesn’t need anyone pimping him. You read him once & you’re hooked.
Unless you are a humorless douche who makes pissy comments on blogs.
Paul in KY
@geg6: John’s about due for another hilarious household accident.
Paul in KY
@Cat Lady: I don’t think he needed any of us or those of you who have been commenting here for years to help raise his snark game.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Raven (formerly stuckinred):
Seconded.
Paul in KY
@geg6: Alot of us in KY hate him too. Glad to have some company. There are many, many facets of Mitch the Bitch to hate.
geg6
@Paul in KY:
Heh.
Just wait for winter. Tunch and Rosie have been planning for a year now.
Paul in KY
@geg6: Good point. Winter is when they seem to happen. Tunch won’t let us down, I know it.
celtidragonchick
Here is some comedy:
Rod Dreher at the American conservative thinks that Paul Ryan and Elisabeth warren would make a great couple in congress…
Really.
One responsefrom “Tyro”:
Rod banned him for it.
Cat Lady
@Paul in KY:
Let me have my fantasies. I like to think this group of commenters are some of the wittiest on the intertrons and without all of us weighing in here every day the world would cease to turn on its axis and there would be a big black hole where all of the rest of the snark in the universe would disappear into and never be seen again.
Cat Lady
@celtidragonchick:
Shorter Tyro: im in ur bas3 killin’ ur d00dz.
catclub
@Cat Lady: Shorter Dreher: Waaaaaah!
HyperIon
I first hears Pierce on a very old broadcast of This American Life. It was before Only a Game was carried out here in Seattle so must of been in the mid 90s. It was a very funny piece about his kid eating IIFC and done in a biblical tone. “Thou shalt not…”
Blogger? Uh, no. Writer.
ohplease
Oh, God, I’m going to be so embarrassed when someone answers my question with the information that everyone who isn’t me already knows. About the article: the photo, is that not Anthony Weiner? If so, why?
celtidragonchick
@Cat Lady:
LMAO!
Stirling
@Special Patrol Group:
That’s where I found him. I’d regularly check Altercation every Friday hoping he posted something. I’ve also read several of his books, most recently “Idiot America” – priceless.
But Tbogg is still relevant (and hilarious as is Pierce) – he has the best commenters on the intertubes.
Thistle
@Special Patrol Group: Pierce’s gigs at Alterman’s joint were not to be missed. It was there he began to refer to W. as “C-plus Augustus” and to W’s presidency as “the Avignon Presidency.” (Although his current penchant for referring to that time period as “the Cheney Regency” is not too shabby either.)
Emperor of Ice Cream
Ahhhh … Billmon. He helped keep me sane during those awful years 2001-03 when for some reason, people seemed to think Jr Bush was competent (even heroic). I thought the world had gone crazy and Billmon (along with Digby) proved that there was still some sanity left.
Djur
@Stirling: Tbogg has good commenters, but nobody comes close to alicublog’s commenters.
ohplease
@ohplease: Okay, I finally unraveled my thinking. While I am just as dumb as I seem, I am not quite that ignorant. See, I have major trouble with the names. Ron Paul, Paul Ryan, Rand Paul. It all sounds the same to me. I have to stop and translate the words and assign them a picture. I was looking at Paul Ryan’s photo, but I thinking Rand Paul. I’m all “That is so not Rand Paul!” And I was distracted and didn’t take time to parse them out.
Complicating matters is that when I do sort them out, there’s this other guy named Paul Rand who always wanders in. I am sure Paul Rand is a lovely person*, but he is photobombing my recollection. If I were setting up for a Republican debate and a Paul Rand walked in, I’m sure I’d have him at a podium, ready to go, only to discover that he’s the caterer or something.
I have a similar problem with the names Kevin, Keith, Kenneth, and Brian. I have to stop and think, “Okay, it’s not Kevin Olbermann, it’s Keith.
There should be penance of some sort. I’ve cluttered up the comment thread, but that pales in comparison to making any of you think of Anthony Weiner when you really didn’t have to.
So never mind, move along, k.
*Paul Rand, it turns out, was a famous graphic designer who is now dead.
jake the snake
@Paul in KY:
The thing I hate most is paying that lying sack of shit’s salary.
sb
I’ve been reading Pierce anytime I could find him, mostly at Altercation. Glad to see he’s making a splash.
handsmile
@Emperor of Ice Cream: (#111)
A Wallace Stevens reference at Balloon Juice!? Well boy howdy, that was a delight to see. Please comment here more often.
ruemara
I used to like Charlie Pierce, since I’m a huge Wait, Wait fan. You know, he’s pretty good on a lot of things, but a steady stream of “Obama’s a wimp, a caver, pre-capitulation, blablah didn’t close Gitmo”. I’m just an oversensitive black woman. He and a number of other big names I adored have kinda slipped off my radar. Glad he’s pretty much taking things by storm, because he is a great writer.
dollared
BTW, Pierce wrote the Pre-Takedown of Senator wishy-washy Obama, before he was President Wishy-Washy Obama.
http://www.esquire.com/features/barack-obama-0608?click=main_sr
I like the Freedom part, because that’s where you go to get re-drunk after home Packer games. You have to read it to understand.
dollared
BTW, Pierce wrote the Pre-Takedown of Senator wishy-washy Obama, before he was President Wishy-Washy Obama.
http://www.esquire.com/features/barack-obama-0608?click=main_sr
I like the Freedom part, because that’s where you go to get re-drunk after home Packer games. You have to read it to understand.
SiubhanDuinne
@Cat Lady:
Okay, that was weird :-)
Paul in KY
@Cat Lady: I never thought of it that way. I’ll keep on snarking till I do get buckled (to save the world, etc. etc.)
Paul in KY
@jake the snake: Me too. Very depressing, when you think about it.