Oct
6
6
Shorter Bill “Emperor Palpatine” Kristol
- Good, gooooood! Smear Obama as an America-hating Fifth Columnist! Tell Americans that he hates the troops! Let the wingnuttery flow through your veins! You are learning quickly, my young apprentice…
‘Shorter’ concept created by Daniel Davies and perfected by Elton Beard. We are aware of all Internet traditions.™
Tom65 said,
October 6, 2008 at 23:51
Well that settles it – I just called my bookie and bet the kids’ college fund on Obama. Given Kristol’s track record, I’ll be a millionaire in about a month.
IM said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:02
Palpatine was competent and successfull, at least in the shor term, you know
EnfantTerrible said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:07
Hey! It’s the guy from “The Seventh Seal”!
Bubba said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:08
Best photoshop yet, guys. It’s amazing how well the grey skin tone works with Bill’s creepy smile. I’m sure the only better smiling visage to stick in that cowl would be McCain’s.
handy said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:16
Best photoshop yet, guys
Wait, that’s photoshopped?
g said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:17
Aw, hell, the Wright business is for pikers. She ought to go all the way for it and just tie him to Satan.
El Cid said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:18
The only problem is that it doesn’t seem quite Emperor Palpatiney for Bill Kristol to have chosen to start begging McCain to pick Palin back last year on his Weekly Standard vacation / fundraising cruise to Alaska, where he became smitten with the crazy woman after meeting her for a welcome lunch.
LittlePig said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:20
Isn’t it about time for Joe Biden to bring up a certain nutjob preacher in Caribou Barbie’s past?
LittlePig said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:21
Not to mention Gov. Palin’s “Treason In Defense Of Oil Revenues” husband.
Righteous Bubba said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:22
All hail Brad, Photoshop Emperor.
El Cid said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:22
I’d love to see Palin get all swept up in the moment at one of her nutbag rallies and accidentally blame the Zionist bankers.
Smut Clyde said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:24
I look forward to hearing more complaints about candidates who remained loyal to an obviously deranged pastor rather than leaving the congregation as soon as the ranting began.
I also look forward to pretending that LittlePig’s earlier comments never happened.
alec said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:26
Yeah, with Kristol’s endorsement it’s a more sure thing that the smarmy, slimy attack campaign’ll backfire than the sun rising tomorrow. The man is literally an avatar of mendacity; he is constitutionally incapable of being correct about anything, a triumphal condominium of ‘stupid’ and ‘lying’. Everything he knows he knows in the service of falsehood, and everything he doesn’t he still presumes to speak on.
I mean, you want to go for the legs on Obama, find something he’s done that’s radical to try and alienate him from the increasingly confident Obama Republicans and independents. (Good luck, buddy.) Smearing him by association with Ayers (evidently smearing the entirety of Chicago and Brooklyn by such association – something our local trolls have been playing to the hilt) is stupid and obvious. Slinging that kind of mud in the high-visibility end phase of a national campaign is a really fucking bad idea for John ‘If Fiscal Scandals Were Tontines I’d Be A Goddamn Billionaire’ McCain and Sarah ‘God, Honey,Treason Makes Me So Hot’ Palin.
From what the Obama aides said in response to the early trial balloons on Ayers, it looks like he managed to open a whole goddamn can of worms. Going negative on McCain is trivial; they’ve just chosen only to do so with his record. Doing so with his character is going to incinerate him.
Batocchio said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:29
Nice pic.
Kristol’s column is more suck-up hackery than usual, perhaps, but I think I got the biggest laugh out of this one:
And, really, shouldn’t the public get the benefit of another Biden-Palin debate, or even two? If there’s difficulty finding a moderator, I’ll be glad to volunteer.
your subconscience said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:31
http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2008/10/it-takes-a-vill.html
Joe Max said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:34
Which one?
The “pray the gay away” one? The “Rapture Insurance©” one? The “cast out the witches” one? The “Jews are going to hell” one?
So many wingnut preachers, so little blog space!
(Fookin’ awesome photoshopping, BTW.)
Loneoak said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:36
This line from Kristol’s crapfest
… made me realize that Palin never uses the word “people” where it would be appropriate, such as “speak directly to the people.” I guess people is a communist word, and “folk” is now the wingnugget approved word (ironically, also the Nazi approved word). So, I coined me up a new term to describe Palin’s faux-populism:
Folkulism: noun; 1) a political ideology marked by disdain for intelligent people; 2) a political tactic using colloquial language to coverup policies that are bad for people; 3) a vulgar derivative of populism, which espouses policies good for working-class citizens, that actually does nothing to improve working-class citizens’ well-being. Origin: Middle English, Alaskan dialect.
Smut Clyde said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:41
I can only suppose that Palin’s and McCain’s advisors are currently planning ahead for the post-election blamestorming. The more they can goad the media into calling out the Rep. candidates for enriched, weapons-grade hypocrisy, the more they will be able to argue that the election was lost because of media bias rather than their own incompetence.
Legalize said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:42
Palinpatine?
Righteous Bubba said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:51
your subconscience said,
Is this one hiding under Jiminy’s hat?
Loneoak said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:51
Palinpatine?
Obama-Wan Kenobi
Snorghagen said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:55
Lunch with Irving Kristol, Bill’s dad, about 18 years ago:
(From Lawyers, Guns, and Money – the whole piece is good.)
zhak said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:56
(mostly offtopic & a request for help / info)
I can’t remember the details, but I think there was a SN post about Obama & Ayers & that education board they both served on, listing the other folks involved.
Does this ring a bell with anyone? I’d like to leave the URI at various & sundry sites.
Any help appreciated.
Malaclypse said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:58
I guess people is a communist word, and “folk” is now the wingnugget approved word (ironically, also the Nazi approved word)
I’m not seeing the irony. More a working-as-intended sort of thing.
Michael G said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:58
Republicans do love America, but it’s the sort of love that involves lots of accidental falls down the stairs. Obama just seems all nice and competent, and America is thinking of running away from R, but once he gets control, for no reason, he’ll start not being like that. Look out!
Snorghagen said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:58
Goddamn fucking WordPress.
There’s a good piece on Kristol at Lawyers, Guns, and Money.
Tehanu said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:59
Oh, this pic’s a keeper! Brad, you the man!
pch1013 said,
October 7, 2008 at 0:59
“I can only suppose that Palin’s and McCain’s advisors are currently planning ahead for the post-election blamestorming.”
And/or laying the groundwork for Zombie Newt’s triumphal return in 2010.
Loneoak said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:00
I’m not seeing the irony. More a working-as-intended sort of thing.
I was using meta-irony. Unfortunately, there is not html tag for that.
Well maybe I could have used a strikethrough:
(
ironically, also the Nazi approved word)Fixed.
Righteous Bubba said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:01
For zhak:
http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/11294.html
zhak said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:06
RB: Thanks much. :-)
Megann McAlthouse said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:20
Erm, Volk is German for “people”. Leute would be “folks”.
The notion of Bill Kristol as moderator is so hilarious you almost want it to happen.
Green Eagle said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:21
I thought, this morning, that nothing I have seen better sums up the current Presidential race than a comparison of Krugman’s serious, thoughtful comments on health care, across the page from this piece of regurgitated talking points.
Take your choice, America.
Rugged in Montana said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:21
Bible Spice (yes, I’ll embrace that) and her husband may have pushed for secession of Alaska but I’m telling you, it’s not sedition, it’s patriotic, you dim-witted badger/LIEbrals! First of all, they’re Republicans, so whatever they do is automatically patriotic. Thirdly, they shoot endangered animals from black helicopters, maybe one of the most patriotic things an American can do (along with melting those obnoxious icecaps). Sixthly, they want to help our overcrowded urban cities by creating an enormous paved parking lot out of the Arctic National Wildlife Whatsis. That will create tens of jobs and help Republican no-bid subcontractors get back on their feet again, after this Obama-caused financial disaster. OK, so we’ve been though the so-called “The Depression”, big deal, we’re all still alive, right? But now we’re heading into OBAMA’S GREATER DEPRESSION, and it’s all the fault of him being a muslin.
I don’t know why you DEMON-crats can’t see that we need Bible Spice as our President (McCain will probably hang himself shortly after the election….not even I think he can live with the dishonor he’s brought on himself), because the future is gonna be so depression-ing that we’ll need a perky creationist who doesn’t know anything to keep us all amused…….what part of that escapes you commies?
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:23
THIS IS EXCELLENT NEWS!!! FOR MCcAIN!!!!!
wagonjak said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:23
Why does the once venerable NY TImes continue to debase itself in front of the world by publishing bloody Kristol’s offensive partisan screeds as real opinion columns?
They’ve been sliding into the gutter further and further since their avid support for the Iraq war, which they’ver NEVER APOLOGIZED for or acknowledged!
I used to get the newspaper every day, and that was expensive up here in Northern Cal where it isn’t delivered, and now I can barely stand going to their online site to read BS like this Kristol column.
SHAME ON ALL OF YOU AT THE NY TIMES! You’re destroying your brand by bowing to right wing attacks and pressure…
g said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:24
Well, he’s right that if Palin becomes Preznit, the amusement factor will dwarf Bush’s.
wagonjak said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:25
Good snark Rugged in Montana…you should be doing riffs for Sadly No!…thanks!…Carl
Danny Guam said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:28
These fuckers really are evil. Not smarmy. Evil.
Today as the “new” campaign message is launched in Fla and OH both speeches elicited from their respective crowds shouts of dangerous, crazy mob like responses. In OH at McCains’s speech one whackjob shouted “terrorist” in response the rhetorical question of who is Obama and in Fla some nice respectful fellow citizen shouted out “kill him” in response to the mention of Ayers name. Did they mean kill Ayers? or Obama?
Does it matter?
I remember after McCain launched his campaign and made an appearance on the Daily Show and Stewart asked him – “so, are you going to crazy base land?” and McCain said yes, he was.
This is fucked up. This is dangerous.
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:29
This is fucked up. This is dangerous.
That’s what rethuglicans call “home”.
MzNicky said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:32
Here’s what could happen. McGramps/Caribou Barbie get elected. Soon afterward Gramps buys the farm. (Odds now favor tragic snowmobile accident, I understand.) Barbie becomes President. Dems find good reason, probably within the first half-hour, to impeach her. Presto-changeo, Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House, becomes the new Prez. Pelosi chooses Obama as her VP. Remaining PUMAs, all nine of them, go jump in the lake. The End.
Rugged in Montana said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:33
That’s what rethuglicans call “home”.
That’s Rethuglicans with a capital “R”. Have a little respect.
Danny Guam said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:34
I may have trouble sleeping for the next month or so. It might be easier if MzNicky read me that fairy tail every night until the election.
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:37
I hope the water is really cold in that lake, MzNicky.
MzNicky said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:40
ittdgy: My one lingering regret at being banned for life from TGW is that I can’t taunt CarolynKB about the polls. Oh well.
mdh said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:42
Darth Palin is a SITH Columnist.
justme said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:42
No.
Loneoak said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:42
I hope the water is really cold in that lake, MzNicky.
And very shallow. Like neckshatteringly shallow.
Rugged in Montana said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:42
I may have trouble sleeping for the next month or so. It might be easier if MzNicky read me that fairy tail every night until the election.
You LIEbrals and your homosexualist erotic literature! Get a room! You’re all gonna be rounded up, given pink triangles to sew onto your clothes and put into concentration camps after the election. Just so you can concentrate on being an American.
Snowwy said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:44
Is the North Atlantic big and cold enough, I wonder.
Jennifer said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:45
You want to read something really scary? (If only in honor of Halloween?) Try this on for size.
She’s even dumber and more vindictive than you might have suspected.
Smut Clyde said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:53
McCain at a New Mexico rally:
I guess [Obama] believes if a lie is big enough and repeated often enough it will be believed.
If this is the first sighting of a “Obama = Big-Lie-Theory = Nazi” claim from McCain, am I eligible for a prize?
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:56
Enquiring minds want to know!
El Cid said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:57
Now I know what this reminds me of — it’s like how the pro-government politicians in Colombia accuse some liberal rival of consorting with the terrorists (meaning FARC), and not too long later the rival is getting death threats from the government-linked narco-paramilitary death squads.
I’m starting to wonder — and I’m serious about this — if the Palindrone screaming about Barack HUSSEIN Obama being a radical BLACK terrorist is designed to (a) get him threatened, and (b) actually get an attempt against him.
I think they know very well what sorts of people they’re riling up with this stuff. And they know what they’re capable of.
The GOP is now taking their lead from the actual banana Republic.
Smiling Mortician said,
October 7, 2008 at 1:58
It might be easier if MzNicky read me that fairy tail every night until the election.
Yes, but I have a request. Perhaps after the Dems find a good reason to impeach, and before Pelosi becomes prez, we could have a step where the Dems actually, y’know, ACT upon that good reason to impeach? Just seems like that may be a stumbling block. Don’t know why I think that.
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said,
October 7, 2008 at 2:01
Smut Clyde, where’s your marketing sense?
I call this “He Who Smelt It Dealt It Preemptive Godwinning”.
Bitter Scribe said,
October 7, 2008 at 2:01
Kristol calls for another VP debate and adds:
“If there’s difficulty finding a moderator, I’ll be glad to volunteer.”
How civic-minded of him! I can hear him now:
“Senator Biden, how can you run on a ticket with such a wretched, America-hating traitor and still manage to look at yourself in the mirror long enough to shave?”
Seriously, does the NYT think that giving this guy space will inoculate them against charges of liberal bias? Because that’s the only reason I can think of for him to be there.
Lesley said,
October 7, 2008 at 2:02
All hail Brad, Photoshop Emperor.
I’m late to the hailing but HERE HERE!
Any chance there will be a public stoning of Kristol? I could be early for that.
Smut Clyde said,
October 7, 2008 at 2:05
Dog-whistle politics with an Acme dog whistle.
This will not end well.
bdr said,
October 7, 2008 at 2:14
That is a great photo of Rowdy Roddy Piper.
Where’s the coconut for the Super Fly Obama?
D.N. Nation said,
October 7, 2008 at 2:19
You should really do a quick tour of Michael Baroney’s blog. Poor piece of shit has gone completely off the deep end.
Smut Clyde said,
October 7, 2008 at 2:20
More on Acme® Dog Whistles. Too good to be true.
They also supply Thunderer Titanic whistles, replicas of those used on the liner; and the Meteor, a two-man flying whistle.
I am not making this up.
Danny Guam said,
October 7, 2008 at 2:24
Except McCain aint usin no dog whistle. They are using a bullhorn.
It’s all out in the open now.
buskertype said,
October 7, 2008 at 2:32
the “folks” thing is interesting. It seems to come up a lot when people are talking about race in a mixed-race setting. I think this use of the word is mainly a way to refer to a group as distinct (racially, religiously, ethnically, whatever) but it softens it somehow. When you call some group “folks” (black folks, white folks, gay folks, christian folks) you somehow invoke your shared humanity in a way that saying “people” doesn’t. Based on Palin’s use of the word I think she’s just not the kind of person who grasps verbal subtleties intuitively.
oops, I forgot to snark.
Gary Ruppert said,
October 7, 2008 at 2:34
The fact is that Obama would not be where he is today if not for the help of unrepentant terrorists.
These terrorists funded Obama through his entire political career. They got him started in politics and pave the road he went down, so that he could make it easier for them to take over.
Freedom in America will fall if Obama is elected. Obama will institute a dictatorship to bring America down and put up a new state where the left is supreme.
Obama was brought up by extremist Muslims, brainwashed farther by a Black Muslim preacher posing as a Christian, he associated with terrorists in the middle of a time when America is at war with terrorism.
If McCain does not have the guts to unleash the fire on Obama, then this nation will fall. McCain must crush Obama with the weight of Obama’s far left record.
Legalize said,
October 7, 2008 at 2:36
Loneoak said – “Obama-Wan Kenobi”
Han Stupid?
J— said,
October 7, 2008 at 2:54
At a time like this, when it’s hard to distinguish fact from fiction, it’s good to turn to a trusted source, namely, Andrew Schafly’s Conservapedia.
Anne Laurie said,
October 7, 2008 at 2:55
I can only suppose that Palin’s and McCain’s advisors are currently planning ahead for the post-election blamestorming. The more they can goad the media into calling out the Rep. candidates for enriched, weapons-grade hypocrisy, the more they will be able to argue that the election was lost because of media bias rather than their own incompetence.
What I’m looking forward to, in that stomach-churning can’t-look-away-from-the-trainwreck sense: It’s been pretty clear since the Great 2006 Rethuglican Rout that Newt Gingrich (the Boomer Dick Nixon) wants to “purify” the GOP by evicting the last semi-sane members and turning it into the kind of permanent-minority-nuisance third/fourth/fifth party that’s kept politics in places like Israel and Taiwan so… interesting. If Newt can reduce, as our friends in the culinary industry say, the existing Republican Party to a smaller but ideologically more intense rump coalition of its hardcore Robber Baron Glibertarians and Snake-Fondling Talibangelicals, that tiny band of can use its permanent 10-15% share of the electoral vote to extort endless special favors from the remaining two or three serious political parties, the ones from the reality-based community that actually want to govern the whole country. Such as, for instance, giving Mr. Gingrich hissownseff a platform, complete with national media attention & federal dollars, to keep running for President forever, or until his dessicated corpse is finally set aflame during some tragic torchlight rally incident…
Now, the third fReichtard point of the Rethuglican Golden Triangle — which includes the Neoconservathug Realpolitikkers like Bloody Bill Kristol — looks upon Newt’s happy dream of the Permanent GOP Minority with a very jaundiced eye indeed. I had not previously heard that Bloody Bill himself claims to have introduced Palin to the wider wingnut world, but it’s becoming clearer every day that Bible Spice is not going to give up her newfound national spotlight just because the ticket upon which she’s supposed to be playing backup is going over a cliff. In Sarah-cuda, the fReichtards may have found the perfect challenger for The Giant Amphibian Attention-Whore. It’s especially rich in symbolism that Palin actually lives the small-town-crime-boss / snake-handling-christianist career that Gingrich is basing his dreams of future glory upon, just as Newt’s political career prior to 2006 was largely supported by the Pax-Americana globalists that seem to have taken up Sarah as their shiny new
figureheadstandard-bearer.It would keep me awake even more nights if I thought Gingrich and Palin could actually come to some kind of working truce where all three wings of the flying-in-ever-tighter-circles Great Republican Dookie Bird might continue toiling in harness (‘One master, one whip’), but neither of these two individuals have ever demonstrated even a preschooler’s ability to play well with others. So, I’m thinking (schadenfreuding) that one source of cheap and unlimited entertainment during the immanent Greatest Depression Ever!!!eleventy-one!! is going to be watching the Armies of the Newt and the Sarah Shock Troops mud-wrestle each other for the rotting corpse of the Republican Party.
buskertype said,
October 7, 2008 at 2:56
Oh Noes, Looks like Larry Johnson finally found the “whitey” tapes.
http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/archives/2008/10/thought_of_the_day_7.php
D.N. Nation said,
October 7, 2008 at 2:58
But I thought Obama was an inexperienced nobody. Your characterization is pretty exceptional for a “community organizer.”
Smiling Mortician said,
October 7, 2008 at 3:00
J — , I’ll see your conservapedia and raise you my favorite pedia of all time.
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said,
October 7, 2008 at 3:00
Obama is an inexperienced community organizer AND a floor wax.
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said,
October 7, 2008 at 3:08
Yay, Anne Laurie!
And don’t forget the additional schadenfreuditude of watching the Dave Broders and Jay Carneys over in Versailles by the Potomac trying to figure out just whose naughty bits they need to pleasure.
buskertype said,
October 7, 2008 at 3:16
I’m looking forward to Palin/Lieberman ’16.
mikey said,
October 7, 2008 at 3:18
Ok, this continues to confuse me.
Why would someone who lives in the nation targeted by the terrorists want the terrorists to commit acts of terror against his own nation? Is it too much to ask WHY Obama would want people to blow up Americans, maybe even in America? How does that benefit him?
Doesn’t it put him at risk of, well, being blown up?
What does he get in exchange for “helping” terrorists hurt Americans.
Nobody has ever answered these questions. They say with conviction that Obama is on the side of the terrorists.
But the terrorists want to blow up americans, maybe even especially american politicians. How would that work? What would he get?
Or is the theory that he harbors such a spluttering, mindless hatred of america that he has created this whole persona, this whole career, complete with Harvard Law, the Illinois state legislature and the US Senate in order to position himself to make sure that bin Ladin can blow up, what, another building?
Is there some point were rational thought intrudes on the comfortable masturbatory paranoia and racial hatred?
Hmm. Guess not.
Carry on…
mikey
El Cid said,
October 7, 2008 at 3:23
mikey: I guess the right’s idea is that if Obama gets in, he’ll order the U.S. military to blow up the Pentagon. Or something.
WereBear said,
October 7, 2008 at 3:25
Of course not, mikey. That would be the meeting of Matter and Anti-Matter, and we all know what would happen then.
This is why wingnuts keep a safe distance from Logic, Reason, and even Thought itself.
You’d think you’d appreciate that effort more, sir!
J— said,
October 7, 2008 at 3:39
Thanks, Smiling Mortician. That was funny.
Mo's Bike Shop said,
October 7, 2008 at 3:43
I’d always figured it was just projection of their own quisling, chickenhawk reflexes.
mikey said,
October 7, 2008 at 3:47
Here’s how it sounds to me.
I’m in a hole on the south side of a Battalion perimeter about to get hit by a reinforced division of NVA regulars.
The sun sets. It gets seriously dark.
The main effort is on the west side of the perimeter. Off to my right there are mortars, tracers, claymores and screams. In front of me, it’s dark, but there’s nothing happening.
Now understand. I HATE these fuckers. I hate the Cap’n, I hate the LT, I hate the fucking war, I hate being here, I hate the guy in the hole to my right.
Now.
I COULD go drop grenades in the mortar pits.
I could toss a couple of satchel charges into the bunkers where the MA Deuce Fifties are working out hard.
I could cut the commo wire.
And that might just be enough to get the zips in the wire. Get the pos overrun. Get the fuckers beat.
But what would it get me? Why would I do it? I’d end up dead in the red clay along with all the fucking idiots I despised. Because you can’t just say “I’m for terror”. That’s stupid. It’s no different than “I’m for getting overrun”. It’s nothing but a death wish alongside some weapons grade stupidity.
Somebody needs to make these assclowns explain what they’re saying…
mikey
slaney black said,
October 7, 2008 at 3:49
Kristol is one to talk about firth columnism. Seriously.
Lesley said,
October 7, 2008 at 3:53
When McCain loses, will Palin go back to her little hick town in Bumfuck Alaska or will she continue in her prominent cheesehead role making a complete fool of herself?
alec said,
October 7, 2008 at 3:57
It’s uncharitable, but
(a) almost everything the Republican right says these days is an elaborate way of shaming themselves for being dirty, dirty boys and
(b) the sort of people who cheered on the Ruby Ridge and Waco Aryanist murderers out of sheer partisan narrative loyalty have huge issues with the kind of patriotism that assigns intrinsic value to the lives of other citizens.
It’s not just a chickenhawk thing. Someone like Ann ‘Too Bad Timothy McVeigh Didn’t Blow Up The New York Times’ Coulter screaming at people for sympathizing with terrorists cannot be explained in any terms but protjection, and projection of something truly nasty. It’s not intrinsically loathsome not to give a shit about your country or even other people, but deciding that their lives are forfeit because they work for a bureaucratic organization you dislike is horrifying and unconscionable.
ifthethunderdontgetya™³²®© said,
October 7, 2008 at 4:00
Lesley said,
October 7, 2008 at 3:53
When McCain loses, will Palin go back to her little hick town in Bumfuck Alaska or will she continue in her prominent cheesehead role making a complete fool of herself?
=================================================
Let’s ask the same of Willy Kristol.
Ok forget him, let’s ask Pinch Sulzberger if he’s going to continue being a Monty Pythonesque media baron. (Think Upper class twit Olympics, Donald Graham is a competitor.)
~
alec said,
October 7, 2008 at 4:02
Unfortunately, I think the same kind of failure of imagination is at work here as the Republicans are famous for. We’re capable of actually imagining someone treating us the way we treat them; I think in that situation they would assume that you would be rewarded with flowers and kisses and a complimentary night with Jane Fonda. Other people are props in the little morality plays that are their lives, not living human beings – so the NVA regulars shooting you (as you would them) is unthinkable.
Same goes for sympathizing with slime like McVeigh – and bin Laden, before 2001. They like to assume that unless they’re Evil Big Gubmint Statists, they’re safe from the kind of person who casually destroys other human beings. Because the right-wing militia culture / anti-Soviet freedom fighters / etc represented the ‘good guys’, they can’t imagine being blown up by them even inadvertently, let alone intentionally.
The closest they get to normal empathy is projecting that, and the loathsome consequences of it, onto people they dislike. They like the child-murdering Good Guys, so we must like the child-murdering Bad Guys. Black and white and red all over.
alec said,
October 7, 2008 at 4:12
Really, that exact dilemma you’re suggesting is one of the major tragedies of war. If we were to go to war with Iran right now, you’d have people who love everything about America except its culture go and try and kill us because we’re invading their homes and threatening their families. Even in cases like Vietnam, where one side is there on a purely discretionary basis, often it’s just a case of circumstances being such that everyone involved think they have little choice but to kill other people for reasons they disapprove of.
I’d guess a solid majority of Iraqis involved in the insurgency don’t mind Americans, might not even mind the US, and might as much as want to live here. (Because we’re ruled by shitbrains like Malkin we’ve invaded and destroyed the country and refused any post-Saddam or poor emigrants from there – this is why I’ve wanted to move to Sweden, what with them being a twentieth our size and taking on a thousand times as many Iraqi refugees.) But they just don’t have a goddamn choice.
In terms of American society at the very least, there’s a strong cognitive dissonance over this. The war is about morale, everyone involved believes in the grand crusade for democracy (and the other side is against it for they hate our freedom), and there’s a backwards ideology where it’s essential to draw out the war for as long as possible with as little resources expended as possible because the conflict is ideologically and aesthetically appealing. You could, with a straight face, call war hell as a military strategist in the 60s. These days we’re ruled by soulless suits whose first and only concern is money, and they see no compelling reason to engage in wasteful, unnecessary use of overwhelming force. It’s not like there’s anything wrong with nation-building, after all.
If only we had a Rumsfeld working for us in the 40s. We’d still be fighting the Battle of the Bulge, and how beautiful it would be on cable news.
MzNicky said,
October 7, 2008 at 4:33
alec: Dude, may I just say that speaking strictly for my own self, more than two fat paragraphs per comment and I usually scroll. Brevity is the soul of wit and stuff. Just sayin’.
A Different Jake H. said,
October 7, 2008 at 5:09
alec: I enjoyed reading your comments, and I’m not sure how you could have shortened them significantly and still retained the meaning. But I also enjoy MzNicky and mikey and most everyone else’s comments as well, so I don’t want to get on anyone’s bad side. Just sayin’.
alec said,
October 7, 2008 at 5:22
MzN: I typically only write that short when being sarcastic or directly responding to someone. I’m more long-winded than clever; you’re not missing much.
jim said,
October 7, 2008 at 6:43
Bubba Kristol’s blessing on the McCain campaign’s smear-orgy is the best news I’ve heard all day.
Kristol would realize that his enthusiasm for the GOP’s latest Hail Mary has probably made advance purchases of champagne balloon at Obama HQ … but that pesky cranio-rectal condition keeps getting in the way.
No, I want that water nice & tepid – cold water would make the piranha much too torpid.
Lesley said,
October 7, 2008 at 7:06
The Truth’s comments are really short now that I have him in my killfile.
Brandi said,
October 7, 2008 at 7:57
Shorter Truth: My erection is wilting!
justme said,
October 7, 2008 at 8:35
Shorter Teh Toof,
Oh, shit.
Mentis Fugit said,
October 7, 2008 at 9:08
This is fucked up. This is dangerous.
“…or as I call them, my base.”
“Palpatine” = “A pet Palin”
“Emperor Palpatine” = “Meet pro-rape Palin”
Sorry, just brain-dumping.
Djur said,
October 7, 2008 at 10:28
Hypocritical Left has really gotten boring since he’s gotten into this recent Byrd-Kennedy-Murtha-Chicago rut, and his “fun and easy” catchphrase is beginning to grate. I liked him better when he was single-mindedly obsessing over Bill Ayers.
Tehanu said,
October 7, 2008 at 10:58
Shorter Troof: You liberals have an ex-KKK leader. Our wonderful fuhrers are in the KKK now, so there!
Gabriel Ratchet said,
October 7, 2008 at 13:13
Hey,
Cornfed WankstainTeh Goof: I’ll see your “former Klan member” — something I’d've thought you of all people would see as a plus — although given your other nom de knucklehead I can see why you might not mention it — and raise you a son and grandson of actual traitors, none of whom has ever apologized for their actions.MzNicky said,
October 7, 2008 at 14:27
alec: No offense intended, nor am I the comment arbiter. I also enjoy what you have to say; I’m just basically lazy and have a short attention span and would like to read you if it were shorter. Rock on and stuff.
Sadly, No! » Awesome said,
October 7, 2008 at 15:55
[...] The Real Gary Ruppert: Freedom in America will fall if Obama is elected. Obama will institute a dictatorship to bring America down and put up a new state where the left is supreme. [...]
libarbarian said,
October 7, 2008 at 16:50
Gary is on to us!!!
D.N. Nation said,
October 7, 2008 at 17:15
Shorter The Truth:
Too bad, so sad. But, really, this is The Troof Endgame…he’ll pop by the night of the election, fail to note how badly his candidate is losing, make a few Kennedy/Byrd cracks, and fade into nothing only to be replaced by the inevitable Truthbot.