If there is a place with more abject stupidity swirling around than the right-wing blogosphere, I’d like to know where it is.
There isn’t such a place. Next question.
Really, you have to read this to believe it, I can’t do it justice. I can tell you this- Glenn’s tricky use of ellipses and hyperlinks seems to have completely confused the living shit out of the leading minds of the right blogosphere. These folks shouldn’t be allowed near sharp objects. Or keyboards.
*** Update ***
I am going live with my theory, the only thing I can come up with for the rampant asshattery and thorough idiocy we have witnessed lately from the right-wing blogosphere:
They are now working in concert to say as many stupid things as possible so that we are unable to document and mock them all.
It is the only thing that makes sense.
Mike Toreno
Hmmm, how about their enablers in the MSM?
Perry Como
A bit OT, do you think the wingnutosphere will call this former Master Instructor and Chief of Training at SERE a phony soldier for saying waterboarding is torture?
jcricket
I’m beginning to think that the steady diet of nuthin’ but red meat has lead to a new variant of Creutzfeldt Jakob disease amongst the wingnut-o-sphere. This variant is just as degenerative to brain functioning, but is, unfortunately, not deadly.
The end result of this new disease variant can be seen when a blogger is reduced to posting links to other people’s writings with simple words, like “heh” and “indeedy”.
(For those on the right-wing that can’t follow links or handle the foreign-sounding name, it’s mad cow disease).
jcricket
Apropos the aforementioned mono-syllabic right-wing torture-apologist-law-perfesser
Yes
And so ends another episode of simple answers to simple questions.
Kathleen
Now we know why “Bluto” was all over your comment thread on this, John. His moment in the “sun”!
Zifnab
The beatings shall continue until morale improves.
ThymeZone
Well, as I said yesterday, the rightosphere has degenerated into farce and a caricature of itself.
More importantly, it has become entirely irrelevant.
There’s an opportunity here to shape a new paradigm of Intertrontube punditryism, a whole new model of rational speech and thought that will serve us as we go forward into turbulent times.
Or, we could sit around and amuse ourselves with examples of the rightosphereostan’s amusiness, like cats shitfaced with a catnip mouse.
My vote would be for the former, but who am I but a despised, disposable persona on an outlier blog?
salvage
Hmmm you don’t say.
matt
John, are we still getting a No End In Sight review? Charles Ferguson was on C-Span’s Q @ A last night. It’s online at http://www.q-and-a.org.
El Cid
I must say, that the right wing blogosphere is only sharing the pre-existing winger stupidity with a broader world.
If you’ve ever had to hear this crap in constant conversations, you’d see the blogosphere as the refined, more logical version of the verbal effluence you encounter.
matt
Also, more funny.
nightjar
It is fascinating to watch this spread throughout the wingnut-o-sphere mother ship like a self inflicted virus.
Breschau
I posted something about this already on Glenn’s blog. But John, as a former resident of Wingnutistan, I’m curious about your opinion:
Is this more a show of abject stupidity, or just a willingness to blatantly lie with no fear of repurcussions?
Someday, I hope somebody writes a “Why the Right Loves to Lie” expose.
Delia
Well, as one of their putative leaders, stated some years back, the whole pack of jackals has given up on the reality-based community. That means facts, logic, and apparently even grammar. All that remains are the weird fits of anger when they’re reminded that things aren’t working out the way they want. It seems to get worse the more years they stay on the anti-reality drug.
John Cole
For the life of me, I have no clue what is going on. And this isn’t to say there is not a lot of stupid out there on the left, either. I remember going full bore against some truly idiotic stuff from Democrats and lefties over White phosporous, Bill Bennett, etc. But even that is tame stuff compared to what we are witnessing the past few months.
It isn’t just stupid, it is like some sort of refined essence of stupid. And it is a meanness, a willingness to do anything to anyone to accomplish who knows what.
I just have no clue what is going on- part of me thinks the strategy might be to say so many stupid and outrageous things that people can not document them all.
Tim
Wow, could today actually be “The Day” their shit asplodes ??
jcricket
Is that Bush Derangement Syndrome?
28 Percent
I do not see why you can not admit that you are wrong about this. Greenwald left out parts that did not help him and he even admits that himself. He has been investigated and found guilty. Now that he is sorry and has payed the price maybe we can all move on from this partisan bickering. But I doubt it because you lefties are all such congenital liars and you hate America.
jcricket
This is exactly the strategy Bush and the Republican Congress have followed for the past 6+ years. If you fuck everything up they can’t possible track you down on all of them, and you’ll tie them up in litigation for years (during which you can accuse them of “criminalizing politics” or being overly investigatorial or whatever).
Why should the wing-nut-o-sphere be any different?
Thom
I went to Dread Bonehead. I went to Jawa. I went to Wizbang. LGF. The others. I am in actual physical pain. It honestly really hurts. Atom-smashing stupidity. It will kill me. I fear for my health. God help me.
Just one example, from the brilliance that is one “Lorie” at Wizbang:
Ahh…Ah…Urg…NooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
jnfr
I’m voting for amusement and catnip.
Zifnab
Fixed, for spelling
DougJ
So Bluto’s for real? Even that stuff about “never, ever trembling at online blowhards”?
CaseyL
These people always make me think of that old magnet toy/game: the iron filings you move around on a board by moving a magnet around underneath the board.
It’s like the magnet is a metavirus of sheer subhuman stupidity and brutishness, and it’s infecting-cum-revealing anyone whose brain is truly incapable of handling objective analysis.
Fwiffo
Mos Eisley? Oh wait, that’s scum and villainy.
Chubbs
I don’t want to open a can of worms, but what the hell is the “sockpuppet” thing? Why do these guys keep calling Glenn that? Obviously I was off that day because I have no clue what they are talking about.
Greenwald and Cole are the only two blogs I read anymore. But, my theory on all the stupidity of the right blogosphere is it is just misdirection. They trumpet all these faux outrages and we respond and don’t pay attention to what is really going on in Washington and/or that we are always on the defensive, even if it’s for nonsensical stuff.
The Other Steve
I’m going to have so much fun at the Republican caucus this next year.
Damn you, Scott Beauchamp!
The Other Steve
I guess years ago, a friend of Glenn’s wrote flattering comments on his blog.
They think this means “sockpuppet”.
I used to think that, and it’s probably true coming out of the Whitehouse.
But having spent some time arguing with the likes of Don Surber, TallDave and so on… they really are too stupid to be able to come up with a plan like that.
Perry Como
How many morons do you have to smash together before you generate one cluon?
CMN
Glenn explains the sockpuppet accusation here
http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/07/response-to-right-wing-personal.html
Elvis Elvisberg
Chubbs– Greenwald was accused of using sock puppets to help himself out in threads a few years ago. I think he responded that it was his SO, using the same computer.
I’m willing, for the sake of argument, to concede that 95 percent of the comments on his blog, and 20 percent of all left-wing blogs, are in fact Greenwald sock puppets. That said, wouldn’t it be awesome if his critics would deal with the substance of his arguments, rather than simply shouting “sock puppet! sock puppet!” and covering their ears?
BobJones
Chubbs:
A few years ago, it turned out that someone using Greenwald’s computer was leaving a bunch of comments all over the place using series of different names. The comments all defended Greenwald, sometimes pretty angrily. “Internet Detectives” figured out that all the differernt comments were coming from the same computer. Greenwald somewhat obliquley wrote a post about it, more or less claiming that it was his husband or someone else living in his house doing it. Since then anything Greenwald says is obviously a lie since his husband/houseguest does not follow proper internet etiquette and use the same handle when commenting on the various blogs of the world.
Mona
It’s a long story, but according to a comment at some right wing blog that Goldstein approvingly linked to, I am the obnoxious bitch and true sock puppeteer. We anti-wingnuttians, you see, have plots, within plots within plots, that these devilishly clever dead-enders always seem to uncover. Damn their insightful souls for all eternity!
Chubbs
Thanks guys. That’s funny. It would be nice if they actually argued about what he said but, alas, how far would that get them. lol
Being someone that has been derided as “liberal”(which in their mind is a dirty word),”terrorist lover”,”communist”, “socialist” and the like when being addressed by people online, I am somewhat familiar with this type of “arguing” by some of those on the right.
That said, if I ever start blogging, I’m going to buy me some sock puppets. :)
The Commissar
*sigh*
It is teh stupid.
Regarding Boylan, I don’t think the tone of a PAO’s email matters. And to whine about it is ridiculous, IMHO.
But, in comparison to this mountain of wingnut stupidity, John & Glenn’s whining doesn’t amount to much.
John Cole
Even though you are calling me whiny, I am just glad you are blogging in English again, Commissar.
Svensker
But I doubt it because you lefties are all such congenital liars
You misspelled that. Should be “congenial”.
You righties are always mixing up the genitals and the genials. Just ask Larry Craig.
horatius
Reading comprehension bitches.
Looks like we need “liberal arts” education as much as every in this country. And it’s a wonder English is even considered the “national language”. What a joke!!
Svensker
But I doubt it because you lefties are all such congenital liars
You misspelled that. Should be “congenial”.
You righties are always mixing up the genitals and the genials. Just ask Larry Craig.
(There. Fixed it. Hard to be teh Funny when you blow the tags…)
Breschau
Fair enough. I’m just amazed by the thought that one drunk email from a Colonel thousands of miles away has caused amusement for so many people today.
I think it’s especially telling that Bluto is just getting eviscerated on his own blog today. I mean, I’ve been on RedState and LGF before – where are the legions of wingnut commentors that always defend what their leaders say/write, no matter what? Even *they* can’t come up with a good excuse? And Bluto’s “I wanted to give him fair warning” thing is beyond hilarious.
Ah well, I’m sure he’s enjoying the bump in traffic.
Billy K
I believe The Stupid can be explained like this: guys like “Dread Whatshisname” are copies of copies of copies. We’ve all seen what happens when you make a photocopy of a photocopy. It gets progressively distorted.
The Right blogoshpere consists of 3rd or 4th generation copies. They don’t even know what they’re fighting for or against. They just mimic the tactics (but not really the strategies) of their predecessors and lash out again and again. They lack understanding, conviction or dogma, so they just look like the mouth-frothing idiots they are.
Jake
You’re assuming anything they do makes sense. What I see is a reflexive response to stimuli: “Soldiers!” “Terrorists!” “Clinton!” “SCHIP!” “Immigrants!” You can filter input and weigh your response or decide not to respond at all. The rwing fringe loons lack this capability. Each appropriate stimulus demands an equally loud response and because there is so much going on it’s no surprise they sound a bit spastic. “TerrorClintonImmiSCHIP!!”
capelza
Wait…Boylan was drunk posting?
That would explain his complimenting Colmes.
Breschau
Yeah, I guess I should make it clear: that’s my opinion, and my opinion only. But I do believe it. Lord knows I’ve written my share of emails or IMs after one too many drams of Lagavulin that I really wish I could take back.
And if somebody had asked me about one of those the next morning, I’m pretty sure my reaction would have been something like: “Interesting. Why do you ask?” Mostly because I probably didn’t remember writing it.
Llelldorin
I honestly think that the right-wing in this country has entirely lost the concept of “dealing with the substance.” You can see that on almost any issue. My personal favorite was during the “family is fair game” blow-up, when a right-winger in here angrily claimed that presenting a kid who had been helped by S-CHIP “was an attempt to make it impossible to argue against the S-CHIP expansion”–in the comment thread of a post by John in which he made just such an argument.
Using a disabled kid to make the argument doesn’t make it impossible to argue the issue. (John’s “using a cigarette tax hike to fund this is nuts” works nicely, for example.) It does make it difficult to attack the messenger. The right-wing has totally forgotten what it even means to “argue the issue.”
Once issues have been ruled out, a sort of debater’s Gresham’s law kicks in–debate without issues is just “who can be the biggest putz in the fewest words.”
Dennis-SGMM
If you’d actually bothered to read Greenwald’s piece you’d have seen that he linked to the entire text of the email in his first paragraph.
He “admitted” that he used ellipses to demarcate those portions of the email which he abstracted from the original. The use of ellipses tells the reader that the text is an incomplete part of the original document. It’s a common journalistic technique which is used when responding point-by-point to a long or complicated document.
The only part left out is the other 72% of your brain.
Xanthippas
Yes, and you can tell how serious he is about that non-trembling because he has pirates and skulls and crossbones all over his blog and because he is “dread.”
28 Percent
So you admit that he admits that he admitted it. It is good to see that you are willing to come clean. There may be hope for you yet – remember that JESUS always forgives the humble.
I am sorry to see thatyou do not want to let bygones be bygones and stop this partisan HATE but I guess it is too deep in your bones. How sad that truly is. The country can not heal until we all come together But I guess you aren ot called DEMONOCRATS for nothing.
Xanthippas
BTW John and Tim, you guys need to freaking blog less or something because I’m spending too much time commenting on and laughing about all this snark and mockery instead of getting any actual work done.
blogenfreude
Remember when they were spinning out of control about Green Helmet Guy? The good old days …
Tsulagi
No, he could not have been. That would be a clear violation of SOP, which everyone knows is impossible. Known truth.
I just read that entire email from Boylan. If he wrote it, that is really sad. If he wrote it, and the later cutesy non-denial denial, he’s a total sack of shit.
Face
I think he meant to say “blowjobs”…The online version being the only kind he’s getting, of course.
Pb
I don’t know why, but for some reason I’m remembering the justification for snakes on a plane (in Snakes On A Plane)…
Dreggas
Really I think it all boils down to one thing…In-breeding. Let’s face it, at this point the right wing is so completely homogenized and there’s such a lack of diversity that it’s led to retardization and in general a severe deficiency of grey matter. It’s political Inbreeding.
Ted
One of the funniest bits of snarling snark I’ve read in a long time was back in June at S,N! regardig the whole Jamil Hussein stuff and AP. John’s stuff as of late has been in that ballpark as well.
Good stuff.
srv
Could someone create a Wiki for this event? I just don’t have the time to wade through all the stupidity.
r€nato
heh indeed. Thank you Lee Atwater, thank you Karl Rove.
(wrong-wingers are just imitating their example, like the good cultists that they are)
jcricket
Is this like those AT&T commercials I see on TV?
Thank you for stating the obvious :-) Seriously, the right-wing blow-hard-i-sphere has perfected the art of manufactured outrage over the last 20 years. It gets enough people riled up to vote against whomever the latest Democratic bogey-man is (or whatever benefits Dems are about to give to rapist illegal alien muslims). AM Talk radio is where they started out with it, Gingrich ensconced it in the official Republican playbook, and now it finds a welcome home at Fox News and all over the Internet (where no one knows you’re a dog).
Republicans made a pact with the devil in the early 80s to get elected, and the fruits of that are now being seen as the lunatics take over the asylum.
r€nato
parody warning: I’m fairly sure 28 Percent is a spoof.
r€nato
I’m fairly sure the Minnesota Timberwolves’ brain trust, who traded Kevin Garnett to the Celtics in return for a jock strap and two conditional 10th-round picks to be named later, could give them a run for their money.
GeneJockey
It’s not abjuect stupidity OR lying. It’s “bullshit”, as per Dr. Frankfurt’s definition, whereing the bullshitter doesn’t care what the truth is, he only cares whether it convinces his audience.
Clearly, looking quickly at the comments on LGF, it does.
I noted the same thing with the recent Limbaugh “phoney soldiers” kerfuffle. It didn’t matter what the REAL context was, or that Rush changed his story three times, or that he edited his tape to artificially create context where none existed. The key was that his audience now had something to hang on to that allowed them to continue to believe in him. And Limbaugh is ABSOLUTELY SHAMELESS about bullshitting, because he knows that his audience will lap it up.
Same thing with these bloggers – whether or not the bloggers actually believe Glenn was “hiding” something, their audiences believe it, and in their minds it’s proof that the Left are all liars.
r€nato
that’s the thing… in my personal ethos, I find it difficult to completely despise hucksters and charlatans like Rush. If no one was willing to buy the bullshit, he’d have no incentive to peddle it. He gets richly rewarded for conning those rubes… why wouldn’t he do so?
D-Chance.
The same man who lamented the press secretary-of-the-day during the Clinton presidency, wondering if each woke up every morning looking in the mirror and asking himself, “How do I fool them again today?”
It is amusing, the volume of Limbaugh’s rhetoric that can be turned 180 degrees and perfectly applied to his own words and conduct.
Jake
They do have a lot in common don’t they? Especially the annoying as all hell bit.
4jkb4ia
LOL at whole situation
D-Chance.
Mr Cole, your attempt at an explanation to the question:
My theory is that the pioneers get more rabid as the wagons circle tighter.
When you see an individual withdraw from society, quite often it is coupled with paranoia and delusion and mistrust and bitterness.
Politically, it’s easy to be happy-go-lucky when everyone’s on the same page and you’re riding a 70% approval rating. But as the percentages drop… as followers, one by one, open their eyes and leave… those who remain begin to panic and get progressively more aggressive in order to keep the remainder on board. The hardcore take the lead and will do anything to force the remaining few to pledge their loyalty. The outside world becomes an enemy in its entirety.
With those currently in charge at 24% and the likelihood of completely losing all power in 15 months becoming an almost certainty, the base has just about reached the tightest rabid circle possible. They now have only themselves; everyone else is to be demonized as the enemy, whether it be the MSM, Democrats, France, Mexicans, Hillary, Ron Paul, bloggers, Hollywood, secular humanists, etc, etc, etc. The ‘reality’ of the right-wing blogosphere extends to just a few links to other right-wing blogs, Fox News, and the closest AM talk radio station. The right-wing bloggers have reduced themselves to living in a bubble within a bubble, a totally alternate reality where they are the only ones to see the light and the other 75% are all blind or ignorant or evil.
They’ve damn near become a cult. I fear for the day when Rush goes on air and tells everyone to don the black sweatsuits and Nikes…
Wilfred
I read this comment on the other blog I hang out at:
The descendants of the ‘sea pirates’ are the crew of the Wingnuttian fleet. We’re like the Indians here folks, only maybe it’s not too late after all.
AkaDad
My theory is that they finally realize that Bush has turned the Republicans into a minority party and that Hillary is going to President, which is why they are uncontrollably lashing out.
Libby Spencer
Exactly. Shock and Awe stupidity. The White House has been using the same tactic for six years. Distract from the issue at hand with such breathtaking outbursts of mass idiocy to drive the debate away from, in this case, the all too apparent incestous relationship between the military and its eager little slavering keyboard warriors.
incontrolados
That was my comment, Mona.
Actually, Mona, you are more like an ultra-wingnut. I don’t know anyone who can justify John Birch like you, nor anyone who has the drive to find your name in any context on the intertubes — except maybe Althouse.
As I said several times in the comments on Salon, I’d rather not have you on my side of an argument. I don’t trust you.
demimondian
No, AkaDad, I think that many of them are not yet aware of their impending humiliation. I think that those poor guys genuinely believe that The People are with them, and that they are Standing Up for All that is Good, Patriotic, and True. They really have lost touch with reality; they’ve deteriorated into true denizens of Dextrowingnuttia, with some kind of _folie a plein_, a shared, mutually reinforcing delusion.
I’m hoping that their all in that state; if there are cynics among them who are happily manipulating them as “useful idiots”, then those cynics are evil beyond belief.
Zuzu
Hmm, ya mean kinda like this?
jcricket
What, you mean like this gem from Time’s Blog of the year?
Or this one (same blogger):