Comments on: Objectively Pro-Fascist

By: Dick Johnson

Dick Johnson — Wed, 15 Mar 2006 13:04:48 +0000

(or, preferably, “batshit-crazy”–just sounds funnier to me)

Actually, batshiat-crazy is much better.

I just like hearing the word vagina tossed around. Good stuff.

By: Suki

Suki — Thu, 02 Mar 2006 13:24:20 +0000

Otto Man et al, as my husband, a graduate of Harvard Law, told me a long time ago, with a deep and patient sigh, “Oh, honey, there are plenty of idiots at Harvard.”

By: Mike

Mike — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 14:18:10 +0000

Shapiro doctored the Dean quote, by the way. Here is the actual quote:

“The idea that we’re going to win this war is an idea that unfortunately is just plain wrong.”

The omission of that key word, “unfortunately,” makes all the difference.

By: Devil's Advocate

Devil's Advocate — Wed, 01 Mar 2006 03:51:19 +0000

Who is that litle snot-nosed twit anyway?

And why is he not in Iraq? Could it be that he has “other priorities” like Dick Cheney and Jonah Goldberg? Or is he just a sniveling coward?

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 08:31:22 +0000

As a former Marine and ACLU member, I absolute LOVE how many chickenhawks, with no “skin” in the game, can rant and rave about “Support the Troops”, and “Sedition Is Treason”, etc. Did he not read, or did he choose to ignore histories lessons of “Loyal opposition”? The week after Pearl Harbor saw the Republicans in Congress launching investigations into the events of December 7, 1941 – WITH ROOSEVELT’S BLESSINGS!!!

I wonder how much he’ll enjoy being labeled “disloyal opposition” to a program of social reform under a Democratic Presidency and Congress?

By: John in Chicago

John in Chicago — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 05:06:03 +0000

“Howard Dean, the head of the DNC, averred in December that the “idea that we’re going to win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong.”

I’ll admit that it’s not something I want a DNC chairman saying, even if it’s 100% correct. ”

I, for one, would much rather have a truth-teller like Dean as DNC chair than a mindless, predictable, glorified press release writer like Mehlmen.

For two, you have played along with the Reich Wing here and aceepted Dean’s comments as embodied in that snippet of a quote – and completely out of context.

When Dean made that comment, he made it very clear that he was referring to “staying the course” and the idea put forth by BushCo that if we “stay the course” we will “win the war”. He was calling for a new strategy.

By: Lucy

Lucy — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 02:02:15 +0000

Dave and Bill S, I wish it were true that “pussy” means “fraidy-cat.” It would be so cute if, in just this one instance, people chose a colorful, tame, yet still fairly expressive, epithet over a vulgar one. I was just thinking the other day of how impoverished our language is these days because people tend to immediately reach for easy profanities. Like saying someone is “apeshit-crazy” rather than “off his rocker.” I know I sound like a schoolmarm, and believe me, I think there are times when “apeshit-crazy” (or, preferably, “batshit-crazy”–just sounds funnier to me) suits the purpose. But doesn’t the image of someone being so wacko that they fly backwards off their rocking chair also make for a great expression?Again, I’m not saying profanity is always bad. I use it a lot, to be honest. You can’t survive as a liberal these days without it (for letting-off-steam purposes). But there are so many folk expressions that are actually more colorful and satisfying to throw out, I think we should all enlarge our vocabularies. Maybe studying some of the colloquialisms of “disgraced uber-liberal elite MSM icon” (I’m channeling a wingnut here momentarily) Dan Rather would be helpful. OTOH, I love the expression “cobagz” and got a laugh out of the ACLU (of which I’m a card-carrying member) being called a bunch of “vaginas.”

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 28 Feb 2006 01:29:06 +0000

When I surfed over to townhall.com to read the column, Shapiro's rant was rudely interrupted by an ad reading "DONTPASSGAS.ORG." It's actually an anti-smoking campaign, but it struck me as a rather pithy critique of Shapiro's work.

By: Bill S

Bill S — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 20:49:14 +0000

That’s what I thought too, dAVE.
As for shipping Ben off: does anyone think he’d be useful to the armed forces? I can’t see him demonstrating much in the way of competence in combat-quite the opposite. I’d fear for my life if it depended on this little weasel.

By: dAVE

dAVE — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 12:51:41 +0000

I always thought that “pussy” meant “‘fraidy cat”. I had no idea that it referred to a vagina.

By: Ian

Ian — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 10:20:44 +0000

Great job at dissecting this proto-Fascist essay and exposing it for what it is.

By: Random Guy

Random Guy — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 08:43:11 +0000

It’s not a coincidence that woman = pussy = weak coward. Even people who don’t mean literally that women are weak are reinforcing the idea that they are when they use “pussy” to mean “coward.”

Interesting point, but on the other hand, I use the terms “prick” and “dick” in the perjorative sense quite often, and I’m not insinuating that all men are arseholes when I do it.

By: Random Guy

Random Guy — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 08:36:56 +0000

Mike B.: Actually I was quoting the article. I just screwed up and didn’t italicize that particular sentence. What I was saying was in that last paragraph.

By: Anne

Anne — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 08:06:32 +0000

Very Blue Lady : If the phrase ” what a bunch of ‘pricks’ the ACLU are ” had been used instead , would you have rushed to the defense of men ? Women kick ass every day, there’s no need to go all PC anymore. Lighten up .

So if women kick ass every day, then it doesn’t really make sense to refer to their exclusive body parts as something that indicates the “owners” are weak and cowardly, does it? So, quit :)

I can’t help but think that the idea that it’s okay to say “pussy” to mean “coward” because some people say “dick” to mean “jerk” is like saying it’s okay to say the N-word because some people use “cracker.”

By: Constantine

Constantine — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 07:00:24 +0000

Just a reminder about Lincoln suspending habeas corpus: This was legal. The Constition says habeas corpus can be suspended in case of invasion or insurrection. Lincoln claimed it was legal. In fact, the supreme court ruled against him (after the fact) because although there was an insurrection going on in the Confederate states, Indiana was outside the "theater of war," and thus there was no justification for suspending habeas corpus against copperheads, since the civilian courts still functioned. (Known as the Ex Parte Milligan ruling)

By: Redleg

Redleg — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 05:35:14 +0000

Little Ben Shapiro is wasting his time in law school- he should know that his heroes Rush and Hannity didn’t need a degree to be the world-class right-wing hacks that they are. Ben doesn’t need one either- his level of hackery is quite high.

By: iraqoncilable

iraqoncilable — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 02:47:19 +0000

By: Stone Riley

Stone Riley — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 02:38:25 +0000

Just a reminder about Lincoln suspending habeas corpus: This was legal. The Constition says habeas corpus can be suspended in case of invasion or insurrection. But not in case of foreign wars.

By: Fancy Pants Elitist

Fancy Pants Elitist — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 02:34:36 +0000

But, Wait… I thought “Freedom was on the March” and we were trying to “help the Iraqi people” get a *democracy* over there so we don’t have to have one over here – er, or something like that!

By: Jaye

Jaye — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 02:29:26 +0000

Harvard Law School isn’t what it is cracked up to be.

Law school does little to develop anyone’s intellectual life. It is about memorizing laws and then spitting those laws back out at the law examiners.

Law school doesn’t keep fascists from getting a law degree or license. Not every law school grad is going to be Earl Warren or Abe Fortas or Ruth Ginsberg.

Any idiot can get into Harvard if they know the right person, or are related to the right person. And sadly, this kid is probably more typical than what we are comfortable with. Remember the laws and cases he sites were written and supported by lawyers he likes and are as mediocre as he is.