Newt vs. Willard: The Ewok Strikes Back
By Anne Laurie January 2nd, 2012
(Mike Luckovich via GoComics.com)
One reason the Media Villagers love Newt is that he can be counted upon to give good horserace. From NYMag’s Daily Intel, “Battered in Iowa, Gingrich Plans to Rip Romney in New Hampshire and Beyond”:
... The cause of Gingrich’s downward spiral is clear enough: the relentlessly brutal and brutally relentless negative-ad barrage inflicted on him in Iowa since his surge in late November and early December. Indeed, something like half of the vast number of spots that have run here in that time frame have been assaults on Gingrich. The primary source of those spots has been the pro-Romney super-PAC Restore Our Future, which has spent something like $3.5 million on the effort. Gingrich has done nothing to disguise his ire at this turn of events; as the MSNBC host Alex Wagner has described his recent countenance, “The Teddy Bear is angry.”
What the Teddy Bear has not done, however, is fight back—not in any effective way, at least. But at Gingrich’s second event of the day—another meet-and-greet at another sports bar, this time in Marshalltown—he indicated that his passivity is about to disappear. After chatting and taking pictures with voters for about an hour, the candidate decided to conduct an unscheduled media availability. Among those present was another MSNBC host, Chris Matthews, who more or less took control of the proceedings, goading Gingrich by suggesting that he had let Romney’s super-PAC “kick the shit” out of him.
More than any other candidate in the race—more than most politicians, period—Gingrich is perfectly happy to address process questions, adopting the mien of a hardened political consultant. Comparing himself implicitly to John Kerry, Gingrich complained that he had been “Romney-boated” by the negative ads. “I probably should have responded faster and more aggressively,’’ he admitted. “If somebody spent $3.5 million lying about you, you have some obligation to come back and set the record straight.”
Those are brave words for a one-note fat man. As Steve Benen points out in his Washington Monthly blog:
I’d genuinely love to know whether the disgraced former House Speaker is so far gone, he literally doesn’t remember his own record. As Kevin noted a month ago, Gingrich is largely and personally responsible “for the poisonous state of partisan politics in America today.”
To be sure, Gingrich didn’t invent toxic partisanship, but looking back over the last three decades, no individual did more to create our nasty, vicious, and negative political climate than Newton Leroy Gingrich. Indeed, no one else comes close.
Hearing him complain about political maliciousness is akin to Mitt Romney complaining about dishonest rhetoric — it requires a stunning lack of self-awareness.
Newt’s “solution”, according to the Daily Intel piece:
Then Gingrich went on, incredibly, to lay out his post-Iowa strategy. “New Hampshire is the perfect state to have a debate over Romneycare and to have a debate about tax-paid abortions, which he signed, and to have a debate about putting Planned Parenthood on a government board, which he signed, and to have a debate about appointing liberal judges, which he did,” Gingrich said. “And so I think New Hampshire is a good place to start the debate for South Carolina.”
So there you have it: Gingrich, who trails Romney badly in the Granite State, plans to use the week between the caucuses here and the primary there to rip Romney a new one; and in doing so, weaken him in South Carolina, where Gingrich (for the moment) is polling strongly and is at the head of the pack. Now flush with a decent fundraising haul in the last quarter of 2011—around $9 million, he claims—Gingrich apparently intends to take to the airwaves to make his case, in addition to hammering Romney as a dreaded (and self-described, albeit long ago) moderate in the two debates scheduled for this weekend in New Hampshire…
Like all other sane people, in a match between Gingrich and Romney, I’m praying for injuries. Preferably fatal-to-both-parties’-electoral-chances injuries…
Posted in Assholes, Election 2012, Romney of the Uncanny Valley
The thing about this year’s edition of Clown Thunderdome is that someone, somehow, will have to eventually emerge.
January 2nd, 2012 at 5:04 pm
If only there were zero chance of any of these clowns winning I could just sit back and enjoy my popcorn.
January 2nd, 2012 at 5:06 pm
There goes my plan for a post-holidays diet, since I’m now going to be stocking up on popcorn.
OK, #2 got there first.
January 2nd, 2012 at 5:14 pm
Lotso?
January 2nd, 2012 at 5:14 pm
Gawd, I said this in another thread; but REALLY-Newt Gingrich?
It’s like I’m at the edge of a black hole or something.
January 2nd, 2012 at 5:20 pm
@Mike in NC:
Don’t worry, popcorn fits nicely into any healthy eating plan as long as you don’t go crazy with the toppings.
January 2nd, 2012 at 5:21 pm
Um, Mr. Benen? Lee Atwater calling from Hell on Line 1.
(Not that I think Gingrich doesn’t deserve first place.)
January 2nd, 2012 at 5:23 pm
The Money wants Romney. I don’t think Newt has enough money to take on The Money.
January 2nd, 2012 at 5:24 pm
@dance around in your bones:
Don’t worry, the event horizon is only a couple of days travel, and everything will be okay after that…
January 2nd, 2012 at 5:30 pm
@The Dangerman:
For one thing, Callista needs bling. That’s a serious money sink right there.
January 2nd, 2012 at 5:31 pm
Anytime I think of the GOP primaries, I remember the words of Henry Kissinger, getting a chubby at the beginning of the Iran-Iraq war: “I hope zey kill each ozzer.”
Romney vs. Gingrich? Times ten.
January 2nd, 2012 at 5:37 pm
A feature, not a bug.
January 2nd, 2012 at 5:38 pm
@The Dangerman:
“ROMNEY” anagrams into MONEY [R]. Coincidence?
January 2nd, 2012 at 5:40 pm
@Villago Delenda Est:
Bling hell. Goddess knows what a chunk of change it must cost to get that hair of hers completely immoveable every day.
January 2nd, 2012 at 5:45 pm
@Redshift: I am sure you are right. Blink! All done.
But really. NEWT FUCKING GINGRICH?!
Insanity.
January 2nd, 2012 at 5:47 pm
What’s different about 2011, as we got an inkling of in 2010, is the GOP attack machine is now being directed at “fellow” Republicans. Romney risks jumping the shark with these attacks and initiate a faction fight in the GOP.
January 2nd, 2012 at 5:48 pm
Atwater. Luntz. Rove. Cheney. The Big Fat Idiot. The Hammer.
Its a crowded field.
January 2nd, 2012 at 5:55 pm
The polling from late 07-08 election shows some things that are interesting. McCain was doing pretty good in Dec – mid January and again beginning to mid September 08. September gave us the McCain reaction to the economic melt-down in full force.
This may be where the GOP has mis-played their hand on the economy – what they have is empty rhetoric about “job creators” as opposed to any concrete legislation. Their reaction to the economy is on par with McCain’s. It takes truly abysmal levels of “uninformed” for voters to have missed this. Yes, tribal trumps and uninformed exists but the necessary level of uninformed will get hit with news and ads.
If you back up to the ‘10 elections and look at an under-performing/over promised stimulus package and the rancor and attention to ACA rather than economic matters along with the D election strategy things look at bit different than the GOPers might like. It pays to remember that the group it was that swung ‘10 elections was the “I” or unaffiliated and to look at how that group is composed rather than seeing it as some monolithic middle.
There is not going to be “generic” R running. There is going to be an actual R candidate with some sort of economic agenda. That candidate cannot align with Congress considering its approval and yet not doing so means running against the R brand. That candidate is going to run into the McCain problem all over again.
January 2nd, 2012 at 5:56 pm
@SiubhanDuinne:
Thanks for that. I had not noticed it before.
I sense a campaign add in the offing. I watch look for it.
January 2nd, 2012 at 6:02 pm
Also, I thought that Newt would have a little more staying power. But I usually underestimate the power of money and attack ads, probably because my reaction to most political ads (whether D or R) is ‘OK, what is this **** about?’.
I saw a recent interview of Newt at the crest of his recent popularity where he proclaimed himself the presumptive GOP nominee on the basis of a surge in polling of GOP primary voters, which has a high proportion of crazy deluded people.
(Edit: and with a wisdom beyond his years, sagely and magnanimously warned other GOPpers that attacks on him would be ill advised.)
I’m no good at searching for those kinds of clips, and can’t find this one. But it would be a good clip to have handy, or post on front page as Newt’s campaign lists and bobs and lurches, and eventually sinks into the abyssal depths of political fail.
January 2nd, 2012 at 6:12 pm
“The
Teddy BearStay Puft Marshmallow Man is angry.”Phicksed.
January 2nd, 2012 at 6:36 pm
I’m sorry. but WHAT a FUCKING PHONY de Newt iz.
I swear, I think I woke up in Bizarroland. 2012?
January 2nd, 2012 at 6:36 pm
Santorum Salad.
Yes, Republicans in Iowa are THAT dumb. Let’s hope this was a joke …
January 2nd, 2012 at 6:38 pm
Love it!
The best Newt can do is to further sully The Brand with outrageous suggestions frosted with cruelty and undifference. Wait, that IS The Brand, now.
January 2nd, 2012 at 6:47 pm
@Southern Beale:
“Santorum Salad”
It’s easy to look up the recipe for the dressing.
I assume the pizza guy is trying to engineer a strategic bankruptcy.
January 2nd, 2012 at 6:48 pm
To me, the surprising thing about Newt’s rise and fall is that he ever rose at all, and having risen, that he would fall, since who and what Newt is has been well known for many years. I guess this is just one more example of how disconnected and generally uninformed the average voter is.
In the weeks since his initial surge, there has been lots of information about Newt published, but none of it was new and I don’t think I learned anything new about him at all. But apparently Newt’s failings remained unknown to Iowans.
It makes me think that instead of going first, Iowa should go last—after the nominee is already chosen. Except, I doubt other states are any better than Iowa. It’s no wonder we can’t vote our way out of our troubles.
January 2nd, 2012 at 6:52 pm
@jl:
Hahahahaha, I hope everyone in Iowa heads straight for the Googles!
January 2nd, 2012 at 6:52 pm
Callista has many many days of ego boosting in front of her. Many. At least a year. Hahahahaha
January 2nd, 2012 at 6:58 pm
Some dog and cat blogging for your viewing pleasure if anyone is sick of politics, which I am …
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:03 pm
That pundit quote places too much emphasis on TV ads. Iowa is a ground game state. Romney and Gingrich have none. Santorum does. Romney and Gingrich are media creations. No one likes them who actually lives outside the greater D.C. metro area.
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:04 pm
@Triassic Sands: Several wise people of blogdom, including Cenk Uygur and I think Cole hisself, have offered the ‘irresistible force/immovable object’ theory.
The irresistible force is wingnut fantasy. The immovable object is reality. Sooner or later these two things meet during a campaign, when for example, a candidate has to address specific issues and problems, and some aspect of sacred wingnut fantasy is insulted in the wingnut mind.
Thus the rise of GOPper candidates on a wave of idealized dreams and fantasies based on empty posturing, sloganeering and hate speech. Sooner or later the candidate, no matter how hard he or she tries to avoid it, is forced to address some specific aspect of reality (our liberal press often forces the matter, presumably out of boredom, or because all the horse race gossip is exhausted for the moment).
It’s like an emotionally damaged teenager looking for the hyper idealized love object who is soon disappointed by any real person.
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:05 pm
Charles Pierce strikes again!
“One hesitates to paraphrase the great Walter Sobchak in this context but, say what you will about the tenets of the Ron Paul campaign, at least it’s an ethos.”
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:09 pm
@Anoniminous: This is the interesting thing. There are no particularly hard shots at Romney, because almost all of them are aiming at VP.
This is in spite of the fact that after the 2008 campaign all the other candidates really hated Mitt.
No one is hitting hard—and with money—all the Bain capital stuff we BJ type folks notice. No one is killing him on how many houses he has forgotten he owns. No one is hammering on Mormonism.
They are all hoping for VP too hard.
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:11 pm
@BruceFromOhio:
They’ve been breeding for nasty, vicious and negative for several generations now. We don’t really know the full potential of the species yet.
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:13 pm
@catclub:
The bad faith runs very deep and strong with them, does it not, young catclub?
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:14 pm
@Phylllis:
And her frozen face.
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:14 pm
@BruceFromOhio: People! Listen up! Atwater, Rove, Cheney, etc. are all following in the footsteps of Richard M. Nixon, who knew no other way of campaigning than to attack the opposition with thinly veiled lies.
If you want to know the source of Gingrich, it’s back in the 50s, in Nixon’s campaign against Helen Gahagan Douglas, the Pink Lady.
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:24 pm
@catclub:
That’s okay, wait for the general. I’m pretty sure Obama doesn’t want to be Mitt’s VP.
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:28 pm
@Phylllis:
Hair, hell. The injection-molded rictus grin is the stuff of which nightmares are made.
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:28 pm
OT, but I’m finally getting to watch my DVR of the Kennedy Center Honors.
Ya know what that Meryl Streep, she’s a pretty good little actress didya know? I like the cut of her jib!
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:38 pm
Hey, you kids, lay off the spouses. It’s mean and uncalled for.
Besides, she plays French Horn, which is a refined brass instrument, considered by some musikers to be an honorary woodwind.
THE ART OF THE TONGUE CONTROLLED EMBOUCHURE “HOT CANARY”
http://youtu.be/fNYLKcDyY-Q
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:40 pm
This is kind of cool. Not sure what good it does, but I am not a brass player, so what would I know. I hope filming this justified the risks to the player. Thought it seems old, so probably they did not know better.
X-Ray Trumpet
http://youtu.be/pjSBQl38ksk
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:42 pm
I’m watching my first-ever episode of “Freaks & Geeks” and find it hilariously funny.
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:43 pm
@Villago Delenda Est:
Newt can just trade his wife in for the CalistaBot 3000.
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:44 pm
@jl: Fine. But if this doesn’t scare you, you’re made of sterner stuff than I.
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:46 pm
@Southern Beale:
He’s a steady customer down at the lot; I’m sure they’re already prepping some possible replacements in anticipation of his needs.
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:49 pm
@Southern Beale: That show was genius. I had a mad crush on Linda Cardellini.
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:53 pm
Speaking of steady customers, here’s a video from last year (graphic language alert) in which a gay guy tells of his frequent sexual encounters with Mitt Romney. Seems sure to be a hoax, but I thought it was strange this was out there and no one seems to have said anything.
Then again, I didn’t watch the whole thing ….
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:53 pm
@kdaug:
OK, OK. She does not look like any french horn player I ever saw, man or woman, young or old, fat for thin. I admit that.
But that is also true of Newt, who looks like a cross between a blob fish and an obese naked mole rat. Not like a newt at all; newts are cute and an important part of our woodland and meadow ecology.
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:53 pm
@FlipYrWhig:
I remember Linda Cardellini from ER. In this show she’s reminding me a lot of Ellen Page.
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:54 pm
Newt is fair game, however.
Just by coincidence, I also found this fun song.
Chuck Bowers, Pig Pen Boogie
http://youtu.be/pURzGKCsFDM
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:55 pm
@Villago Delenda Est:
Calista Gingrich is too much like Cindy McCain. Both so shot full of thorazine to make their lives as GOP spouses bearable.
January 2nd, 2012 at 7:56 pm
@Southern Beale:
Oscar may not be, uh, classically photogenic, but he’s cute as all get-out. That fur! LOL.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:00 pm
@Southern Beale:
Laura Bush shows some of those same symptoms, too. Perhaps they all got pointers from Pat Nixon?
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:01 pm
@Southern Beale:
Oscar looks like Bill the Cat.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:04 pm
@kdaug:
Seriously Callista scares the fuck out of me, and I mean that, not in the “Queen of the Cream Cheese People” kind of way (h/t Rumproast) but in the way that she was a nice, normal looking girl when she married Newt, mousy tumbled curls, happy eyes, cheeky grin. She marries Newt and turns into the epitome of the Stepford Wife almost overnight, the imobile hair, the frozen grin, and those fucking eyes? WTF? How many fucking drugs is she on? My guess it is Mrs. McCain truckloads with a side of more truckloads, with another truckload at teatime.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:06 pm
@khead:
Yeah he really does!
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:06 pm
@Villago Delenda Est:
Yeah but not Babs Bush Sr. She’s the one wielding the syringe. That woman scares the crap out of me.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:07 pm
I realize that the thread title needs to be properly evocative, hence “The Ewok Strikes Back”.
However, Noot is more of a Hutt than an Ewok.
Just sayin’.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:07 pm
@Litlebritdifrnt:
After that descrption, it’s Newt who should scare you. If he can turn his wife into a blank-eyed zombie, imagine what he’d do to the country.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:08 pm
@Southern Beale:
Agreed. The Ma Barker of the Bush Crime Family.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:08 pm
@SiubhanDuinne:
THANK YOU!
He’s the sweetest thing. He does that cute cat thing where he presses his nose into my nose, super hard, over and over. It’s really cute. Sometimes he misses my nose and gets my glasses and leaves smears.
Damn he’s cute.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:09 pm
Damn right. Ads, ads, ads, lots and lots of hard-hitting negative dirty ads (from Super PACs of course, so Mitt stays clean) bought by unlimited cash. They’ve destroyed Gingrich.
Take notes, liberals, because Romney will do the same thing to Obambi in the general.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:10 pm
Oh dear,just heard that JC is having a hard time on Twitter as he is busy defending his BFF Gigi!
He and ABL are in a fight!
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:12 pm
@Litlebritdifrnt: Indeed. So many of the Republican wives have that Thorazine glaze, with the blank eyes and the fixed grin. Ain’t enough money in the world to make them happy, I guess.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:13 pm
@Southern Beale:
Nope – Newt is just the mark, it is a sad reflection on what some women will do for the sake of money. THAT is what scares me. I am reminded of the latest “dating” site currently being heavily advertised on ESPN radio.
http://www.whatsyourprice.com/
And that is different from prostitution how? (Not that there is anything wrong with prostitution, if you’ve got something you are willing to sell and some rube is willing to buy it why not? Lets not be coy about what it is however)
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:14 pm
@Southern Beale: Oscar looks a LOT like my Seamus.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:15 pm
Monday…slow news day
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:16 pm
@Veritas:
Last I heard Romney doesn’t have enough money to put ads in about 3 or 4 States (including the PACs). Obama will have upwards of a billion dollars to remind people who Romney is. Chris Matthews was interviewing people in an Iowa Coffee Shop on his show tonight, he went around the shop trying to find supporters of any of the GOP candidates and all he could find were Obama supporters. It was funny.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:18 pm
@Litlebritdifrnt: What a wonderful story. You just made my day.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:21 pm
Does anyone know what John is twittering about re Glenn Greenwald and nun-raping?
I’m confused.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:23 pm
@kdaug:
There was a photo going round about a month ago showing Newt and Callista at some kind of gathering. I actually thought Callista was one of those large-size plastic head-masks you see around Halloween. I don’t mean this metaphorically, I literally thought that’s what it was, and I didn’t know who the mask was supposed to represent. It wasn’t until I had seen a few more photos that I realized it was actually Callista.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:23 pm
Well looks like Mom (ABL) and Dad (John) just got a very public divorce on Twitter. What are we kids to do?
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:23 pm
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Please, don’t disturb the fantasies of the troll with reality. It upsets him.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:24 pm
@Trentrunner:
No idea. I ignore twitter as much as I can.
I figure I’ll get a good summary here later. I can wait.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:26 pm
@Villago Delenda Est:
Yeah I know I shouldn’t feed it but sometimes the urge is just too much.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:26 pm
@Trentrunner: Greenwald tweeted that Obama supporters would support him if he raped a nun, or something like that. ABL and others were offended. John tweeted that the offense was overblown. ABL said that she was done with Balloon Juice.
These are the Days of Our Lives.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:26 pm
@Southern Beale:
But Oscar is adorable! He continues to remind me of Keaton, who is slightly more photogenic but still a giant goofball.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:27 pm
What’s ABL’s twitter name?
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:28 pm
@Litlebritdifrnt: ABL caught John getting nasty with Glenn, didn’t she?
The wife is always the last to know.
edt: nice
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:28 pm
@Trentrunner: @AngryBlackLady
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:29 pm
@Baud:
Ah. Well, given what an utter shitstain Greenwald has turned out to be on this Ron Paul shit, fuck him.
I agree with Cole that reacting to Greenwald’s asshattery that way is overblown. The way to fight back is to point out that Paul would have gladly tossed Greenwald into an oven without the benefit of Zykon-B if they were both at Auschwitz.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:30 pm
So a republican presidential candidate is admitting that the party lied in order to smear a wounded,and highly decorated Vietnam combat veteran?
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:31 pm
Well, more than two can play this game:
I wonder if Glenn would support Jerry Sandusky’s “brave” political stances.
Glenn just doesn’t get that some attitudes are dealbreakers, like racism and homophobia, cancelling out whatever other laudable positions a politician holds.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:33 pm
@Baud:
I’m assuming Greenwald was trying to reference the 1980 murders in El Salvador of three nuns and lay worker Jean Donovan that happened thanks to US support of El Salvador’s death squads. Plenty of Republicans were happy to look the other way in the 1980s as US-funded right-wing death squads rampaged their way across Central America.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:35 pm
BUT GLENN WAS ONLY JOKING
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:36 pm
@Trentrunner: ABL and her twitjihad coterie did what they always do.
Make shit up and otherwise shit’s fucked up and bullshit.
She’s one to talk after declaring loudly and proudly that absolutely nothing would change her support for President Obama, not even if she caught him fucking a goat.
She’s got some craw in her drawz about GG because he dared to continue his National Security State criticism after President Obama was elected.
She does this with anyone who dares. I hope Cole continues to enjoy his extended CNN moment.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:37 pm
@Mnemosyne:
I’m not going to bother checking twitter to see it myself. If story is true, Greenwald tweeted something stupid and offensive. I don’t care about any plausible, or implausible, rationale or back story.
I have a better opinion of Greenwald than many here, though don’t agree with a lot of his speculations about Obama’s motives and supposed long term sinister intentions.
But if he did something stupid, he did something stupid.
Edit: not saying that you are defending Greenwald. I don’t know what your opinion is. What I said above is just my opinion on the new earth shattering BJ controversy.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:39 pm
@honus:
They’ll go after any combat veteran who doesn’t assimilate into their idiot collective.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:40 pm
The Oregon Ducks are the Rose Bowl Champions. My Husband will be celebrating until at least July.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:42 pm
@jl: Oh Gawd, the snort snort noises! Heh.
Gracias.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:43 pm
@jl: I’ve been following the whole thing since yesterday.
I have yet to join in the twit-war as it was. I have no love for GG, but I do follow and like ABL. If like John, I considered both mutual acquantainces, the one thing you learn is NOT to get in the middle of it. Cause no matter what it will seem like you are choosing sides. John chose to jump in maybe because ABL is a FPer or maybe because he felt the twit-war against GG was overblown, I don’t know, either way, not worth it IMHO.
If I joined every twit-war started by people I follow, I’d never do anything else.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:45 pm
Apparently, the original offensive tweet was by Dr. Dawg, who said:
To which GG responded:
Draw your own conclusions.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:45 pm
Greenwald is an ignorant fuckstain who turned to punditry after a legal career that amounted to nothing.
He wholeheartedly supports the closet case brigade of gay conservative employees of conservative think tanks and wingnut congressmen from his lair of safety/love den in Brazil.
A kick in the teeth is too good for him.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:45 pm
Oh, Bieber. Can we save some energy for beating the bad guys or are we going to do the job of beating us for them?
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:46 pm
@lamh35:
I burned myself out on GEnie and USENET long, long ago.
Screw it. More fun to hack at someone with a virtual sword in an MMO, frankly.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:49 pm
@Baud: My conclusion is that people really need to learn how to count to ten in this day and age when they get overexcited and go over the top, and means are available to spread their bad judgment to millions of people.
There are some Obots whose rationales for every disappointing act of Obama anger me. But how does trumpeting stupid and offensive statements help to persuade anyone?
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:51 pm
@jl: I don’t think the whole Twitter thing is set up for thoughtful and considered reflection.
January 2nd, 2012 at 8:58 pm
@Baud: I concluded Glenn hath lost his mind. Because stating that Obama supporters would not just approve of Obama raping a nun live on tv (or anywhere at all) but then attempt to explain how it was a benefit to all & sundry is right up there in offensiveness. Kinda like calling a small potatoes blogger the “Leni Riefenstahl of Obama supporters”. It boggles… and I’m surprised someone as usually more thoughtful than John would just say it’s nothing. Hella over the top, JC.
January 2nd, 2012 at 9:06 pm
@Villago Delenda Est:
don’t misunderstand me, I think John is wrong in this and what originated this whole thing was rightly called out by ABL, but John C put himself in the middle of something that it just seems he had no idea how it started.
That is where John errored
January 2nd, 2012 at 9:12 pm
@ruemara: Pshaw. Everyone knows that raping nuns (or at least having them raped) was Ronald Reagan’s job, Peace Be Upon Him.
January 2nd, 2012 at 9:23 pm
@lamh35:
Oh, I see your point. John should have just stayed out of it.
Let Greenwald’s idiocy stand on its own, and privately talk to ABL and say “you’re feeding the energy creature. I know it’s horrible, and it says very offensive things, but it seems to revel in your anger.”
January 2nd, 2012 at 9:24 pm
@Villago Delenda Est:
yep, that’s exactly what I would have done and if the flame war continued, then I’d let the chips fall where they may.
January 2nd, 2012 at 9:25 pm
@Delia: And that thought alone freezes my heart, cold, and challenges all resolve.
Fucking Republicans.
January 2nd, 2012 at 9:27 pm
Well, Corner Stone, this could be your shot at Front Page status. You should probably email John a picture of yourself in a low-cut top. Later, gators.
January 2nd, 2012 at 9:28 pm
@Litlebritdifrnt:
They probably picked a liberal neighborhood on purpose. MSNBC is notoriously biased and Matthews is a liberal.
January 2nd, 2012 at 9:28 pm
@Allan:
Is that how it’s done amigo?
January 2nd, 2012 at 9:29 pm
@Litlebritdifrnt: I fucking hate Twitter. It enables the most rapid transfer of stupidity in the history of the human race. It reminds me of when citizens band radio became popular.
Now Twitter keeps a record of it, for friends, relatives and commentariat alike.
January 2nd, 2012 at 9:32 pm
@Baud: Um, isn’t Greenwald’s whole jihad about Ron Paul specifically about how the repulsive things he believes in don’t count because OH NOES MA SIVIL LIBARTEEZ! It seems like Greenwald is by far the more likely to say that Ron Paul raping a nun isn’t something he condones, but that’s not really the immediate issue, which is something something jackbooted thugs coming to reduce you to the mercy of the flying death robots Obama personally programmed, which Ron Paul totally wouldn’t do. The whole thing is based on taking Paul’s worst views and for the sake of argument putting them to one side. So if anyone deserves mockery about excuse-making, it’s Glengarry Glen Greenwald, defender of property rights.
January 2nd, 2012 at 9:35 pm
@FlipYrWhig: It’s projection. Like when the Republicans accuse Obama of being “partisan” or “divisive.”
January 2nd, 2012 at 9:38 pm
@BruceFromOhio:
10-4 good buddy! Looks like we got us a CON-VOY!
January 2nd, 2012 at 9:42 pm
@WereBear (itouch):
It’s one of the nicest things that distinguishes Michelle Obama from the majority of GOP wives. Whatever you think about vegetable gardens and veterans’ families and anti-obesity campaigns, nobody can say that Michelle is a FLOBOT.
(For the record, in case anybody was wondering, I think very highly of MO’s causes.)
January 2nd, 2012 at 9:46 pm
@FlipYrWhig: OH NOES MA SIVIL LIBARTEEZ!
January 2nd, 2012 at 9:47 pm
@Villago Delenda Est:
CON-VOY of STU-PID.
Gaia save me, the seasonal affective disorder came early this year. Peace out, brothers and sisters. Don’t forget to Love Thy Neighbor in this brave new year.
@SiubhanDuinne: MO puts every recent first lady to shame, save HC. Elegance, thy name is Michelle.
January 2nd, 2012 at 9:48 pm
@Villago Delenda Est:
Breaker 1-9, this here’s the rubber duck.
January 2nd, 2012 at 9:48 pm
I don’t really do twitter. Can someone provide an executive summary of the JC-ABL contretemps?
January 2nd, 2012 at 9:51 pm
@Southern Beale:
I love that, and miss it! Another year and a half until retirement and i’ll be able to have a kitteh again.
January 2nd, 2012 at 9:59 pm
@Baud:
No?
January 2nd, 2012 at 10:02 pm
@BruceFromOhio:
Agreed, although Rosalynn Carter is pretty real. Don’t know how far back you are going in defining “recent.”
January 2nd, 2012 at 10:04 pm
@SiubhanDuinne: See next thread comment #72.
January 2nd, 2012 at 10:07 pm
@SiubhanDuinne:
The fastest way to get in trouble on a military radio frequency is to use CB slang.
Well, that and use “over and out” at the end of your transmission.
Both were hanging offenses in units I was in. I was the hangman.
January 2nd, 2012 at 10:11 pm
@SiubhanDuinne:
We haven’t had a really terrific GOP first lady since Betty Ford.
But the crop since Nancy Reagan? Abysmal.
January 2nd, 2012 at 10:12 pm
I ain’t laying off Callista, and it’s because she’s a co-campaigner. She got him into this book and DVD selling scheme. She’s exploiting this shit just as sure as Sarah Palin is.
Cindy McCain confined herself to beer-distribution and third-world kid charity, and put in her appearances on the campaign trail, but Cally’s a full-fledged partner in Gingrich Productions – she’s shilling the Gingrich dogma as an enterprise, not just as a supportive spouse.
January 2nd, 2012 at 10:15 pm
@Villago Delenda Est:
Roger that, good buddy. 10-4.
January 2nd, 2012 at 10:15 pm
@doofus:
Thanks, I was just heading next door.
January 2nd, 2012 at 10:17 pm
@jl:
Go to youtube and search for:
Newt Gingrich “I will be the nominee” ABCnews 12/1
I think that’s the clip you’re referring to.
January 2nd, 2012 at 10:49 pm
I stopped reading ABL months ago. I don’t think she is/was always wrong, but the signal-to-noise ratio on her posts was the reverse of almost any others. (Exceptions are the fictive posts of Anna L, and Levenson’s posts, which I also don’t read.)
January 2nd, 2012 at 11:42 pm
Hah, thought I’d go take a glance at the Twitter dust-up to see what the hell was going on. Discovered that I have no idea how to get to reading Twitter w/o signing up for something I don’t want my name in. Lost interest immediately. Actually it was only idle curiousity. Masochism.
January 3rd, 2012 at 12:06 am
@Chuck Butcher: You don’t have to sign up for twitter to read John’s twitter comments and witness the dust up. Just go to this website:
http://twitter.com/Johngcole
January 3rd, 2012 at 12:24 am
@Villago Delenda Est: I just love WTF? Over.
....from John Cole. Said this around the house for weeks after I read it here.
January 3rd, 2012 at 1:11 am
@dance around in your bones:
WTF over (pronounced “Whiskey tango foxtrot, over?” is VERY common parlance when you don’t understand (as in I can’t believe you just asked me that/said that!) what the other party just transmitted. Usually delivered with the appropriate tone.
One of the things you DO NOT DO is swear/curse over a military radio net. For one thing, it’s considered unprofessional. Never mind that in face to face conversations the eff word gets used in nearly every possible grammatical role there is in the English language. You just don’t use that over the radio. Hence WTF (Whiskey tango foxtrot) used to convey the meaning without using the naked (ahem) eff word.
The eff word itself (as in “the eff word” or just “the eff”) is very often used to communicate that meaning in staff meetings…I recall a division chief of staff using that particular phrase frequently in a large staff briefing when confronted with a progress report about arrangements for support of an operation that wasn’t progressing at the pace he thought was needed. He didn’t want to say “fuck” inside the garrison division HQ (out in the field no one gives a damn, but when you’re in a solid building, in garrison, your standards are supposed to go up…wives and children a block away might hear, you know…) but still wanted to communicate his agitation in a way that will spur action.
BTW, the “over” indicates that you expect a response. An “out” indicates the conversation has concluded, no response needed or requested. Generally, the senior person is the one who gives the “out”. Juniors don’t end conversations. Seniors do.
January 3rd, 2012 at 2:28 am