IT’S IMPORTANT TO HAVE THE RIGHT ATTITUDE
It is the summer of conservative discontent, having to not only put up with a radical statist in the White House, but also a faithless crew of misanthropic nincompoops running the Republican party.
It’s enough to make a grown righty weep - or put his fist through the wall. And that, oh gentle and discerning reader, is the subject for today’s missive. What is the proper public attitude to portray to the outside world while your insides are gurgling as if ready to vomit forth all of your anger and frustration at how Goddamned unfair it all is.
From many on the left - gross exaggeration, hyperbole, hysterical denunciations, false assumptions, and a deliberate effort to smear, tar, and feather conservatives by tying them to the most extremist, wacky, nutjobs who would fit right in with just about anyone who currently occupies a padded cell in a mental institution but has absolutely nothing in common with mainstream conservatives.
In Washington - a gaggle of gabby gas bags who try and talk like conservatives around election time but otherwise, think that Kirk is a character in a science fiction TV show from the 60’s and Hayek is a conveyance you use to paddle down a river.
What is an honorable man of the right to do? Well, we have two choices as I see it, best summed up in two wildly different attitudes explained by Stacy McCain and Big Hollywood’s John T. Simpson.
McCain on “Ann Coulter’s favorite lesbian,” Cynthia Yockey:
You can’t beat a man who refuses to admit defeat. You can kill a man like that, but you cannot defeat him otherwise, because he has gotten it in his mind to keep fighting, whatever happens.
Sunday I had a phone conversation with Cynthia Yockey in which she calmly and cheerfully explained that she was going to get David Letterman fired. Republicans are too willing to take that kind of abuse, Cynthia said, but she comes out of the gay-rights movement, and they don’t roll that way.
We talked a while, but the main thing I took away from the conversation was Cynthia’s determination to fight a one-woman campaign against Letterman. Even if no one else joined her anti-Letterman crusade, she would fight on alone. As long as it takes, whatever it takes, she has envisioned her goal, and intends to achieve it.
Dave has pissed off the wrong lesbian.
I have been in Ms. Yockey’s line of fire and I do not envy Mr. Letterman. In fact, if I were he, I just might be contacting my agent right about now and have him approach ABC about that 11:30 - 12:30 slot. ABC would hire Jeffrey Dahmer as a talk show host if they thought they could beat out The Tonight Show.
For contrast, here’s Mr. Simpson’s way of dealing with our current adversity:
Really sucks to be a conservative these days. I feel like I’m walking around with a big bulls-eye on my back. I know many of the Left, especially Keith Olbermann, Frank Rich, Paul Krugman, the New York Times editorial staff and all the pundits at HuffPo and KOS would find that statement hilariously ironic, given the recent shooting deaths of Dr. George Tiller in Kansas and security guard Steven T. Johns at the Holocaust Museum. Then again, they’re not the ones being branded en masse as co-conspirators in those murders. Conservatives are.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with Mr. Simpson. He’s a good conservative and a good writer. But this kind of hand wringing, “Oh woe is us,” pity party is definitely NOT what we like the public face of conservatism to be. Give me 300 Yockeys and I will conquer the country,
RSM agrees:
The novelist Tito Perdue once said to me, “How many Spartans would it take to bring down America? Ten thousand? One thousand? One?”
What Tito was trying to express was the vast difference between the softness of modern decadence and the adamantine hardness of the ancients. Those Spartans who died at Thermopylae were so much tougher than the average American of 2009, it’s almost like talking about two entirely separate species.
Nevertheless, there are those rare few who emulate the ancient virtues, who accomplish great things not because they are more talented or more intelligent or more fortunate, but simply because they are truly determined and pursue their aims relentlessly.
(Note: Not sure I’d want to be that tough. Or live in that kind of warrior society where even going to the bathroom was militarized.)
Rather than fretting about what we can’t control, perhaps it’s time for some relentlessness in achieving what we need to achieve to throw the bums out and retake control of America’s destiny.
We can wring our hands all we want to in private. We can make Obama voodoo dolls and stick it with so many pins that Pinhead would be envious. We can vent our anger all we want by playing Rock ‘em, Sock ‘em Robots with our kids. (The deliciously satisfying feeling of hitting your opponent’s robot’s jaw just right, causing it to fly up off his neck can be found nowhere else in gamedom.) We can spend hours coming up with new and improved invective to hurl at liberals when their attacks become too much to stomach.
But this is no substitute for presenting to the world a snarling, spitting, pit bull-like exterior that will strike terror in the heart’s of liberals everywhere. There is something truly unsettling about watching as your opponent keeps coming at you regardless of what you do to stop them. (”I tried ‘A!’ I tried ‘B!’ I even tried ‘C!’ and the bastard is still coming!”). It is at that point, your erstwhile foe either beats a hasty retreat or leaves himself open to a good gutting that is both emotionally satisfying as well as being politically productive.
There are many of us who, for reasons of upbringing or moral rectitude, might look in askance upon such outward displays of barbaric behavioral splendor. But after all, if the Visigoths or the Saxons had been one whit less relentless in their drive for power and booty, we might be speaking Russian or perhaps Chinese because North America would almost certainly not have been settled by northern Europeans. There’s even a chance we’d be speaking Turkish or perhaps Arabic given the close call western civilization had in 1529 at the gates of Vienna.
The point being, single minded focus on a goal has a lot of merit. It’s how most successful people achieve what they set out to do. Little Billy Clinton in Hope, Arkansas dreaming of being president when he grew up probably never doubted he’d make it someday. Most professional athletes - even those born with enormous talent - were unstinting in their youths about practicing and bettering themselves, preparing for their future career because they knew they could make it.
A little more Yockey and a little less Simpson, please. Connect with your inner Visigoth. Embrace your outer Spartan. Think big, talk big, do big. And never - I mean never - let them see you cry. There’s no crying in politics. Just ask Ed Muskie. Or Hillary Clinton. Turn those feelings of helplessness into a cold, relentless anger and conservatives will probably get a lot farther than by rolling over and groveling for scraps from the left.
Poor Rick. After trying so hard to resolve the conflict between your own intelligence and the stupidity of your compatriots you’re signaling surrender to stupid.
Yes, anger, that’s what we just haven’t had enough of from conservatives. More anger please. The country wants and needs more angry old white guys.
When’s the last time you talked about an actual conservative idea? I recall a post on the conservative health plan a while back. Before that? After that? Why the silence on ideas from you and other conservatives? Because you don’t have any. All you have is nostalgia for a bygone era. That and the rage of the old man who sees life passing him by.
Remember when you were talking about conservatives re-thinking, re-imagining, adjusting and coming back better and stronger? And this is what you’ve come up with? Not a single new idea, and now a call for more teeth-gritting and jaw-jutting and grim determination to . . . to what, exactly? Get those darn kids off the lawn?
Your party is killing you, Rick. All they have is impotent rage and now you endorse their impotent rage. This tells me everything I need to know about the conservative movement and the GOP.
Comment by michael reynolds — 6/17/2009 @ 10:06 am
There’s a fine line between resolute determiniation and psychotic obsession. Don Quixote had that intense focus too.
Lady’s on a one-woman crusade to get Letterman fired (for what? The Palin joke? Seriously?!?), and you admire her resolve. I see someone that’s determined to fail, that likes the idea of gallantly struggling against impossible odds and dying a glorious Hollywood death so much she’s chosen a pointless windmill to ram into until she gets dragged to the metaphorical hospital.
When I lived in Ohio (Dayton), there was a lady that would spend 3 days a week, 3-6 hours each day, dressed in graduation gowns standing at an intersection near U. Dayton. Sometimes she brought a sign about stopping the injustice, sometimes not. She’d been doing it for almost a decade. She lived almost an hour away (according to the scuttlebutt) but refused to give up on a complaint she had lodged against one of her Professors, who had given her a lower grade than she felt she deserved. Mind you, he gave her a passing grade, she graduated, she filed a protest and the college review system didn’t find anything outrageous or unfair in her grade, but she was going to Fight The Goliath. And she would NEVER give up or give in . . . and spent a decade protesting when she could between working.
Admirable integrity and dramatic resolve . . . or unstable lunatic?
Comment by busboy33 — 6/17/2009 @ 11:07 am
It looks like you have your work cut out for you, Rick. So many mosquitoes, so few swats.
Comment by Mike Farmer — 6/17/2009 @ 11:21 am
frigg’n a great rick, wonderful post!
get bent michael, your posts bore me, you seriously are the old lady shooshing everyone in the library.
Comment by jambrowski — 6/17/2009 @ 11:28 am
The problem is that the blogs and media amplify the nutjobs on both sides of the aisle. There are mainstream liberals, too, you know. Both the mainstream conservatives and the mainstream liberals get attacks from the wings of both parties. The echo chamber of the media makes it easy to score cheap points.
However, your concept of “presenting to the world a snarling, spitting, pit bull-like exterior that will strike terror in the hearts of liberals everywhere” sounds more like a way to score cheap points than appeal to the mainstream.
Yeah - probably a little over the top with the pit bull analogy. My point was more toward being relentless in pursuit of a goal.
Poor Michael took the whole thing a little too seriously. I mean, c’mon. “Connect to your inner Visigoth?” A typical (for me) combination of satire and wisdom.
ed.
Comment by Postagoras — 6/17/2009 @ 11:42 am
GREAT POST!!! Love it. Conservatives need a game plan. thanks for some concrete stuff. Ms. Yockey is a new and refreshing find for me.
WE CAN NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP. Yes, it’s been depressing lately because we have a pres who basically hates America. Gee, I guess everyone who didn’t vote for him isn’t allowed a voice.
Hey, Mike…go on over to the lib sites where you guys can all whine about how horrible America is….most of you haven’t even been OUT of the US so you have no idea how lucky we are to be Americans. NO IDEA.
Go Sarah 2012!
Comment by Charlotte — 6/17/2009 @ 11:45 am
Not so much lack of ideas as lack of leadership. They have it, we don’t. That simple. I have left the Republican Party - have e-mail dissent to both of my senators for backing the move of Nicotine to the FDA and other matters. Send back the GOP’s pathetic appeal for money advising them to get some functional leadership. The simple fact that it has taken this long for anyone with a snowball’s chance of winning to step forward doesn’t bode well. Oh well, NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER SURRENDER
I would have to agree. I would add that as a consequence, there is real disorganization in the GOP - no sense of direction. A good leader would fix that but in the meantime, we are lost.
ed.
Comment by George — 6/17/2009 @ 12:26 pm
Yes, yes. More Yockey. All the Republicans should be more like a woman who wants to go after a talk show host because Sarah Palin shit her pants about a joke he told for no reason. That’s the winning formula right there. I’m sure you’ll be back in power in no time.
Oh Jesus. You are either a dunce or can’t read. The point is attitude. And man, that was a real funny joke. Do you have a daughter? I think it would be uproariously funny if she went to the mall and got raped by Ronald McDonald. Isn’t that a stitch? Your kid, lying spread eagle across a table getting porked by the clown. Hee hee hee.
I’m just TOO funny sometimes.
ed.
Comment by Levi — 6/17/2009 @ 12:30 pm
Well, Obama has unified conservatives of all stripes. He has started to lose moderates. How to thread that needle? Your points, both tongue-in-cheek and serious, are sound. My gut is that if the economy continues to be destroyed by this clown Obama, the Left may find itself in the minority for a long, long time in a few cycles if the Right plays the cards he has handed them.
Comment by obamathered — 6/17/2009 @ 12:41 pm
Oh Jesus. You are either a dunce or can’t read. The point is attitude.
What attitude? The only reason anyone cares about David Letterman is because Sarah Palin told them to. That’s not a change in direction for the Republican party, it’s more of the same. Manufacturing outrage over silly little non-issues like the Late Show monologue has been the favored Republican strategy for decades now.
Is that anything like manufacturing outrage over the private affair of a senator?
Just asking.
ed.
Comment by Levi — 6/17/2009 @ 12:55 pm
Mr. Simpson is so pre-June 2009. Ms. Yokey speaks for the vast majority of us now, I think. Frankly, focused opposition always is assisted with a healthy but not lethal dose of outrage, straight or gay or bi or whatever.
Comment by jackson1234 — 6/17/2009 @ 1:19 pm
Oh, and Levi: is Letterman the face of the Democratic Party? Just askin’.
Comment by jackson1234 — 6/17/2009 @ 1:21 pm
I’m sure you have noticed that the democrats don’t need the republicans to move any legislation, but they sure want them onboard. Similarly, there is always plenty of advice from others about what republicans need to be concerned about. That advice invariably is: be like us.
Screw that, go with the attitude. What’s wrong with being thought of as the party of no? If they say yes, they’ll pay for it. I noticed when Snowe, and Collins said yes to a recent bit of legislation they got hammered for “undermining” part of the legislation.
Comment by Allen — 6/17/2009 @ 1:22 pm
Thanks Rick, for answering a question/dilemma I was faced with when looking at this data:
http://travismonitor.blogspot.com/2009/06/conservatives-up-republicans-down.html
Conservatives up, Republicans down 40% of Americans are conservative (good) yet 4 of 10 Republicans are unfavorable on their own party … wassup with that?
You’ve added the puzzle piece. As per #7, WE LACK LEADERSHIP. And what the leadership lacks is that “Braveheart” spirit - they are like those Scottish nobles trying to cut deals with the English King for their own hides, while the TEA-Partying rabble want someone who will FIGHT!
It’s not unhelpful to know where you stand, but it is pointless to bemoan it rather than change it. It’s not the snarling that we need, but the “Dont give up” DETERMINATION TO MAKE OUR VOICES MATTER. Because utlimately I give a damn about this country because I’ve got some kids who may just grow up into a pathetic backwater country because our first black President put us in hock to the Chinese in his quest to destroy coal power plants and private health insurance. We need a Churchillian response to Obama’s threats to our liberty and prosperity, not a Nevill Chamberlain at Munich response. Fight on the cap-and-trade, fight on the budget, fight on ObamaCare, fight on Gitmo, fight on Sotomayor, fight them whereever they try to regulate, tax, spend,
It’s not so much 300 Yockey’s, but instead of waiting for the ‘next Reagan’ while clutching the martinis and muttering how all is lost, realize that we have among us 10,000 Reagans ready to take on the Obama-borg. We are the solution, the 40% of American that self-admits to being ‘conservative’. We have to fight to make our solutions a win or we’ll up as precipitate, to coin a chemical analogy.
We need a virtue that conservatives of all people should not neglect. … as Dan Rather put it …. COURAGE!
Cue the Braveheart theme, Bill Murray’s “Stripes” speech, or whatever it takes. Time to “Man Up” and head for the sound of political gunfire. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!
Comment by Freedoms Truth — 6/17/2009 @ 1:23 pm
Michael Reynolds,
I find it very disappointing to see that have devolved to name-calling and invective. At least your former critiques had some basic (perhaps twisted) logic behind them. And there is classic liberal irony in your message: from accusing conservatives of being stupid (as if that were limited to a single party) to being angry (KOS is not a hate-site?), to not posting new ideas (what’s wrong with the old ones?)… to that I say “tu quoque” (yes, I know I have used that phrase recently, but you present the opportunity to use it so often, I just can’t resist).
You and your compatriots remind me of pre-teen kids that win a sports tournament, then stick their tongues out and sing-song teases at their vanquished opponents. The immaturity is astonishing. And those kids forget that there’s another season next year.
I would never try to speak for Rick, but as an outside observer, I would suggest that you worry more about your party, and what it is doing to you instead of worrying so much about Rick. And I’m surprised he hasn’t torn you a new asshole for suggesting to him what to write on his own blog.
As far as rage goes, it is rarely impotent for long. Rage is the foundation of grassroots movements, and it is both justified and sinless here. And by the way, the grassroots movement has already started… Obama’s numbers are falling. Only in-the-tank media have kept his numbers so high for so long. Over time, your sing-song teases will become less and less frequent in direct relation to Obama’s approval ratings.
We’re not dead yet, and Rick’s encouragement today reminds me of Churchill’s famous Harrow School speech
Or to their high approval numbers.
Comment by lionheart — 6/17/2009 @ 1:39 pm
First of all, conservatives must pick their battles properly, and not waste ammo on trivial events. All kinds of legislation is in the works that ought to be stopped cold by any legal means possible.
Second, we need to reaffirm our basic beliefs, especially as applied to today’s Democratic directions. This provides the basis for cogent argumentation for a conservative solution that the public needs to hear—often!
Third, we need to be persistent, well-informed, and willing to engage in debate for our views.
Fourth, we need the gumption to fire back at the opposition at every opportunity with factual retorts, and well-formed positions.
Fifth, we need the willingness to tell some of the opposition off in clear terms–in other words, to burn them good when they drift away into their usual nonsense, non-sequiturs, and drivel. That is a talent few possess at the ready.
Comment by mannning — 6/17/2009 @ 1:43 pm
Well, I’m all for determination in achieving one’s goals, but I certainly wouldn’t use Yockey as a shining example. Who the hell is she to go nuclear over getting David Letterman fired? Last time I checked, it was Palin who was the butt of the joke and she’s accepted Letterman’s apology. Anyone now continuing to pursue Letterman is NOT doing it for Palin, nor conservative principles. Yockey’s “determination” is about as admirable as the giddy loud-mouth who cheers on a bar fight.
Comment by Ryan Garns — 6/17/2009 @ 1:43 pm
All kinds of legislation ARE in the works?
Comment by mannning — 6/17/2009 @ 1:47 pm
“This tells me everything I need to know about the conservative movement and the GOP.”
Mr Reynolds: Then you know nothing and your ignorance is uncurable. Your ideological prism is preventing any real understanding and you are wasting your time here with your out-of-touch piffle that mis-states just about everything.
Comment by Freedoms Truth — 6/17/2009 @ 1:52 pm
Is that anything like manufacturing outrage over the private affair of a senator?
Just asking.
ed.
Do you really think it’s a good idea to go there?
Comment by Levi — 6/17/2009 @ 2:03 pm
Great post Rick … much to ponder, but I don’t think you gave enough credit to Mr. Simpson’s post. I agree it started on a ‘woe is me’ note, but felt it finished much stronger. Just my opinion of course, but I would definitely recommend all to read the entire piece.
Comment by Michael S. — 6/17/2009 @ 2:44 pm
@ manning:
“First of all, conservatives must pick their battles properly, and not waste ammo on trivial events.”
Exactly. Rick is absolutely right that sometimes a line in the sand must be drawn, but to quote my old mentor (who stole the quote), “you gotta pick the hill you’re gonna die on”.
The OP makes an impassioned justification for the Charge of the Red Brigade, but what is the goal? “Change”. Kick Da Bums Out. Basically, Do What’s Right. That’s not a goal. That’s not a plan. That’s not a hill to die on. That’s frustration lashing out, and that’s never a reason to damn the torpedoes. We’re Mad As Hell And We’re Not Gonna Take It Anymore is a laudable sentiment . . . but it’s not smart strategy unless its linked to some concrete effected goal.
Comment by busboy33 — 6/17/2009 @ 4:18 pm
Rick,
Well, I never thought I’d be saying this to you, but here goes: THANK YOU!!!
I have made a number of excellent arguments at my site on why getting David Letterman fired is an important battle, not least of which is that if we don’t, it will embolden millions more bullies. I do hope you and some of your readers will come over and read why we must do this and how they will benefit personally if they undertake the fight. It takes awhile to turn off the flow of money from sponsors and persuade celebrities not to stink up their careers by coming on his show, but that is how these kinds of battles are won — with consistent, persistent effort.
I hope you will be willing to make a place on your blogroll for “A Conservative Lesbian.” I am going on back to my place now to put “Rightwing Nuthouse” on mine.
Oh — and the mind reels — Ann Coulter linked my blog today for my battle to get Letterman fired!
Cynthia
Link added. And congrats on the Coulter link.
Don’t worry, I’ll do something to piss you off tomorrow.
ed.
Comment by Cynthia Yockey, A Conservative Lesbian — 6/17/2009 @ 4:38 pm
Perhaps now you understand the emotions behind those Tea Parties you initially were so quick to dismiss….
Comment by Ad rem — 6/17/2009 @ 5:37 pm
Just read the “porked by a clown” comment…..(am picking self off floor…)
Comment by Ad rem — 6/17/2009 @ 5:48 pm
Rick, Thanks for linking me here. I know this is a very popular site, and have been here many times myself. That said, I don’t really see my Big Hollywood OpEd as hand-wringing. We ARE being blanket-indicted as co-conspirators in those murders. Is there even the least bit of doubt about that?
Call it what you will. I call it a catharsis. It’s a popping of the left-wing pustule that has been swelling nearly my entire adult life. Demonization of the Right has been the modus operandi of the Left at least ever since I first voted for Ronald Reagan in 1980. I’m SICK OF IT! It’s hypocritical political left-wing McCarthyism, nothing less. And it is incredibly corrosive to the American democratic process.
It’s more in line with Stalinist Russia, where people were cowed into a political philosophy under pain of death. Granted, it’s not that extreme yet. But as I point out in my piece, it’s not far off. A lot of people have lost their jobs, including teachers, GW skeptics, even Harvard President Larry Summers, for not toeing the PC line. This crap has to stop! That is not America. Not the one I defended in uniform for six years.
My overall piece is hardly hand-wringing, IMHO. I consider it more of a full frontal assault on all the Brownshirt tactics we’ve had to contend with for decades now. I try to hit ‘em where it hurts, i.e. with the truth.
You are, of course, entitled to your opinion. But I would just like to ask readers to look the whole piece over, rather than just the opening paragraph, and make your own minds up.
I am not a Leftie. My mind is open to suggestion. But we are in a full-blown ideological war. I look at my piece as a mini-field manual outlining the enemy and its tactics. Stating the obvious, perhaps.
I have been quite active in opposing through petitions bills like the Orwellian Fairness Doctrine and the FCC’s backdoor censorship they’re attempting through a ‘diversity’ panel. Diversity, of course, meaning singularity of political thought and opinion.
I would also mention that in my piece I talk about how I believe the Left is shitting bricks right now about how fast they’re losing public support for their policies since they’ve taken power. I think this is freaking them out the worst.
I call them for what they are, and recommend taking them head-on, and in full measure. What’s so hand-wringing about that?
Anyway, ’nuff said. We’re on the same side. Any recommendations you and other conservatives have is most welcome. But I will say this. I listened to the Rush Limbaugh show today for the first time in years, and he was saying a lot of the same things I did in my piece about the Left using every epithet in the book instead of debating issues on their merit.
Unceasing invective is not political debate. It is hate-filled tyranny of thought. I just saw it as one battle that had to be fought.
Again, love your site. And thanks for linking, despite any reservations you might have had on the piece. Yet another quality that separates us from Lefties: differing points of view are welcome, not slandered.
That said, I look forward to reading Ann Coulter’s piece. Best Regards, John T. Simpson.
Comment by John T. Simpson — 6/17/2009 @ 6:40 pm
Not only is Cynthis pretending to be a self styled defender of all womanhood (I dont want her defending me!), she has conveniently forgotten all the horrible anti hillary jokes from right wing radio jocks and she support PALIN for president! Jee the ignorant supporting the ignorant.
How is this different from all those theocratic islamists who called for the heads of the Danish cartoonists? Great example to set, NOT.
Comment by yoyo — 6/17/2009 @ 6:40 pm
Let’s see, Ms. Yockey. Someone said something you found very offensive and so if we don’t get him fired, it will encourage millions of bullies. Does the word “irony” appear in your dictionary?
Comment by still liberal — 6/17/2009 @ 8:22 pm
Uhmm, yoyo, the difference between Letterman protesters calling for Dave’s head and Islamists calling for the Danish cartoonists’ heads is three torched embassies adn an assassination plot.
Please spare us the libtard drama queen stuff? BTW yoyo is a good name for you.
Comment by John T. Simpson — 6/17/2009 @ 9:44 pm
Hey still liberal….
You don’t find rape of a 14 year old girl to be serious? I guess that’s why you’re stil liberal, eh?
Comment by The Jaguaro — 6/17/2009 @ 10:03 pm
I think the liberal trolls in this thread are worried…very worried. Otherwise they wouldn’t be here.
Comment by The Jaguaro — 6/17/2009 @ 10:09 pm
Jaguaro: Do you think it is serious to accuse someone of promoting “the rape of a 14 year old” who did not say or do any such thing?
Do you really think that is what Letterman said? Really>>>Honestly… do you REALLY think that? Or is this just an excuse to get up in arms?
He was talking about the OTHER Palin daughter (now an adult) who, in the past, got pregnant without planning…. but really the joke was about A-Rod’s playboy dating habits. Everyone who heard that joke knew 100% exactly what was said… UNTIL they were TOLD to think otherwise.
False outrage over a misunderstanding is not an agenda. It’s a parlor trick, a diversion at best. THIS is a huge problem with the conservative agenda. For a party that talks nonstop about Reagan, it amazes me how many fail to actually learn from the man.
-JC
Comment by Justin Case — 6/17/2009 @ 11:01 pm
And Rick… I liked your post. Very ‘ironical’
Comment by Justin Case — 6/17/2009 @ 11:06 pm
Justin, Palin was in New York with her 14-year-old daughter. Dave said A-Roid knocked her up between innings. I call it stupid, others take offense. I believe rightly so. Dave’s writers should have at lest checked the facts before writing the joke.
But this is a pattern on the Left. Sandra Bernhard joked that Palin would be gang-raped by black men if she ever showed up in Harlem. You care to try to spin that one? Or the Top Ten Conservative Women I’d Like to Hate-F*ck rape list?
Waiting. Not holding my breath.
Comment by John T. Simpson — 6/17/2009 @ 11:30 pm
John T:
Yes, it was the 14 year old there . . . not the knocked up one (y’know, the one that was in the news during the campaign)?
So the basis for claiming Letterman advocated child rape was that if he made a joke about a Palin kid being knocked up, and it would have been literally impossible for the one who was in the news essentially for being knocked up to have gotten knocked up under the factual circumstances presented, then he must have meant the other daughter?
Why are the outraged people so literal as to which daughter was there, but sure not literal about the rest of what he said. Letterman said “A-Rod knocked her up”. He didn’t say “I wish to engage in intercourse with minor children”, he didn’t say “I endorse and approve of people having sexual relations with minors.” Literally, he stated a fictional situation . . . one that did not advocate, one that did not involve him.
I honestly don’t understand this outrage. No question the joke was in poor taste, nor was it funny. Not because of pedophelia, but because I don’t think making fun of the kid (the “choose abstinance just like I didn’t” one) is nice. Its not her fault mom uses her as a prop and forced her into the public eye. Comedian tells a joke in poor taste. In other news today, scientists are reporting that water is apparently moist.
@ Ms. Yockey:
I presume you’re dealing with your own blog, so I suspect you may never see this post, but should you read this . . . how is what happened “bullying”? I certainly can see that as being closer to reality than “advocating pedophelia”, but I’m not following the logic. Letterman didn’t say the comment to any Palins. How was he bullying them?
Comment by busboy33 — 6/18/2009 @ 3:33 am
Thursday morning links…
US public wary of deficit, economic intervention. Rightly so. Only fools trust a government. Related: 100 Stimulus projects to really piss you off. You earned this money, friends. Has anybody thanked for it you, lately?
Via Never Yet Melted:
The da…
Trackback by Maggie's Farm — 6/18/2009 @ 5:26 am
Great comment Levi. Proven so by Rick’s silence.
I can’t believe he didn’t make the correlation earlier.
1. What comment are you talking about?
2. The idea that I hang on what you turdblossoms idiotically scratch onto this site is ludicrous. I have better things to do - like clean the litterbox - than respond to every dolt whose illogic and stupidity is pasted in the comments section. You and Levi are just not worth the time that I’ve already wasted.
ed.
Comment by Davebo — 6/18/2009 @ 7:33 am
John T:
How is a Sandra Bernhard comment relevant to the Letterman/Palin issue? You ask me if I would defend comments about a woman being gang raped in Harlem… um, no. But that is a non-sequitur. Irrelevant regarding Letterman. Just more spin and misdiretion.
Dave’s joke was about the OTHER Palin daughter, the adult who had an unplanned pregnancy and is now the spokesperson for teen abstinence. But really, it was more of a joke about A-Rod anyway. It was a pop culture reference, one that the audience clearly understood. Letterman did NOT condone raping a 14 year old. To say so is false… and frankly, it’s slanderous. And you know it.
You do know that, right? You do know that his intention was not to condone rape. You do know that David Letterman did not, would not, and does not publicly promote and condone the raping of children. You can admit at least that much, right? Because if you can’t grasp that one basic simple fact, then it’s a pointless discussion.
Nobody even thought that’s what Letterman was implying when he said the joke… not until she told you to think that. When asked, Mrs. Palin could have said, “Well it was a bad joke. Although my 14 year old was actually the one at the game with me, I assume the joke was actually a cheap shot aimed at my older daughter who did not deserve to be made fun of. As a parent, I am offended when people make jokes about any of my children.” — She could have taken a logical, truthful high road. And most people would have agreed with her point.
But she didn’t say that. Instead she accused a well known public figure of making perverted comments toward a 14 year old… and then her husband went on say he was specifically making jokes about raping a 14 year old.
She knows what Letterman meant. If she didn’t know at the time, then she does now. But, maybe she doesn’t? Regardless, somehow her misinterpretation has become a rallying point for conservatives??? Sad.
Spin & misdirection — that is what the right has been doing for the past decade. And that is why they have lost the independent voters in the middle. Everything is done with a spin or taken out of context. You wanna know how to get the conservative agenda back on track? Try straight forward honesty & integrity based on LOGIC and common sense. Put down the Karl Rove Handbook and walk away.
-JC
Comment by Justin Case — 6/18/2009 @ 8:48 am
I have been saying for 8 years that the Republicans in Congress are a bunch of spineless wimps and thus, indistinguishable from the Dems in Congress. When that changes (and we elect some Republicans with cojones) - we will have a true two-party system which I believe to be essential for the survival of our Republic.
Comment by Gayle Miller — 6/18/2009 @ 9:32 am
Rick,
Thanks for blogrolling me! I cheered when I saw it! Re pissing me off tomorrow — right back atcha, my dear, right back atcha! XOXOXO!
#35: Ridicule on its face is a type of bullying. I’m shocked I have to explain to anyone that what Letterman did is bullying. ALL of it was bullying, except for the hostage taking explained below.
Michelle Malkin’s piece on Letterman (search her site, linked on mine) included Letterman’s long rant developing the “slutty flight attendant” theme — THAT was bullying. And you know, I just realized, another thing that makes what Letterman did bullying is that Gov. Palin — and all of his other targets, this isn’t a victim rant — are powerless to stop him and do not have the access he has to create a mob and sic them on everyone he hates. So — now that I think about it — Letterman’s behavior is bullying, mobbing (Google it, it’s a word) AND hostage-taking. You read it here, first, folks (and I’ve put so much time into this I’m copying it to post on my blog).
Going after someone’s children flies past bullying into hostage taking, as I point out at my blog. It is notice to anyone courageous enough to take the battering that goes with public life that it will extend to their family members, too. For most people, the thought of exposing their children to attacks is horrifying. And that is the intent of the people like Letterman who do this: to destroy their enemies and drive them out of the political marketplace. It is an extremely effective technique. I got run out of the lesbian community in the 1990’s, as I mention in a recent post, because Margaret was assaulted at a conference when I was 15 or 20 feet away from her and couldn’t move fast enough to intervene. The reporter from a Baltimore gay newspaper thought nothing of the assault and did not — actually, refused — to report it. Margaret, my late life partner, was quadriplegic due to multiple sclerosis. So there isn’t anyone these loons are above attacking.
We must fight back. We must stop the bullying. We must start with Letterman. We must win. Instructions are posted on my blog.
Cynthia
Comment by Cynthia Yockey, A Conservative Lesbian — 6/18/2009 @ 10:46 am
Also, Rick, this is addressed to your readers:
Judging from the almost total lack of referral links from this blog in my sitemeter, virtually none of you came over to “A Conservative Lesbian” to check out what I had to say. Huh? And yet, the word “lesbian” is baked right into my blog name! WTH, dudes, WTH?
Cynthia
Comment by Cynthia Yockey, A Conservative Lesbian — 6/18/2009 @ 10:57 am
A sure sign of Michael Reynolds post being the hard truth is the explosive rants from the neocon crowd. Hey wingnuts, you’ve tried the anger mode, all it did was turn off the moderates and independents in the country.Yeah, it fires up the base, but 23% of the electorate being fired up will keep you in the political wilderness.My Democratic party will stand toe to toe with any of your angry ideologues, that you can take to the bank.Old,angry,white men won’t win elections, it just makes the gop bitter and petty.Limbaugh is destroying your party and you are totally blind to it.You have no ideas, just rage,eventually that rage will destroy your party. You listen to no one, your way too smart for that.Fine, please stay angry.Obama will continue to re-build the country Bush and Cheney destroyed.
Comment by Joe — 6/18/2009 @ 12:13 pm
Joe, translation:
“Oww, owww, owww. Please stop.”
Comment by jackson1234 — 6/18/2009 @ 2:04 pm
@Joe
Outstanding … ‘Old, angry, white men won’t win elections’. I only hope you are right. That means we get to get rid of Murtha, Kennedy, Shumer, Kerry, Baucus, Dodd, Frank, etc when they come up for re-election. As the saying goes … Please engage brain, before opening mouth. Have a great day :).
Comment by Michael S. — 6/18/2009 @ 3:00 pm
Cynthia, you seem to have conveniently forgotten that Palin continues to use her children as political tools.
Comment by yoyo — 6/18/2009 @ 5:41 pm
Cynthia Yockey, A Conservative Lesbian Said:
10:57 am
Also, Rick, this is addressed to your readers:
Judging from the almost total lack of referral links from this blog in my sitemeter, virtually none of you came over to “A Conservative Lesbian” to check out what I had to say. Huh? And yet, the word “lesbian” is baked right into my blog name! WTH, dudes, WTH?
Cynthia
Hey, just a possibility but I know I have been to your site several times in the last few days and never from a link from here. Maybe the majority of readers here have already been there.
Comment by deb — 6/18/2009 @ 10:05 pm
yoyo Said:
5:41 pm
Cynthia, you seem to have conveniently forgotten that Palin continues to use her children as political tools.
And you seem to have conveniently forgotten to explain the way in which Palin uses her children as political tools. Please show us how she does anything different from what any other politician does.
Comment by deb — 6/18/2009 @ 10:07 pm
Yoyo, you’ve chosen your name well. Palin is being a mother, taking her daughter to a ball game. To view that as the Governor using Willow as a tool is indicative of blind partisanship and something other than a thought process on your part. By Ms. Yockey’s motivation my own letters (and those of dozens of my friends) are now in the boardrooms of Letterman advertisers for 2 reasons. Palin is a principled AND HONEST politician, sadly lacking from both sides of the aisle these days. And to enable us to hold up the scalp of Letterman’s career as a marker to those of your ilk that your corrupt and hate-filled politics have crested and your future from this point onward will continue to dim. And those letters WILL be effective. My profession has honed my persuasive writing skills quite nicely, and my track record proves that I know very well how to win.
Joe, your hate-filled rant is not worth my reply. Pardon me while I scrape your essence from the bottom of my shoe.
Comment by Duke — 6/19/2009 @ 6:15 am
“Cynthia, you seem to have conveniently forgotten that Palin continues to use her children as political tools.”
So what? so does Obama. I recall those kids showing up on his big speech occassions.
That would never excuse someone making vile jokes about his kids.
And as #48 said, Palin was doing what most Moms and Dads do with their kids.
Comment by Freedoms Truth — 6/19/2009 @ 12:57 pm
@ Ms. Yockey:
“Ridicule on its face is a type of bullying.”
I presume I’m misreading this, so feel free to call me stupid, but are you saying that ANY ridicule constitutes bullying? Regardless of the time/placc/manner details? Bullying to such a dangerous and offensive level that a person should be hounded out of their job for engaging in it?
“I’m shocked I have to explain to anyone that what Letterman did is bullying.”
This might suprise you, but some people might take this sentence as passive-agressive ridicule (not me — I put on my big boy pants today so I’m only crying on the inside). Do you decry the Conservative voices that savage Obama? They are CLEARLY ridiculing him (his wife, their heritage, etc.), so do agree they should be boycotted and protested into obscurity?
If not, what makes Letterman so unique? I don’t want to come to the conclusion that this is a publicity stunt, but I am absolutely failing to grasp what made this comment rise to the level demanding public action.
If you are against uncivil discourse as a matter of courtesy, I am 100% behind you. However, given the coarseness of discourse in America today, engaged in by just about everybody, this individual example of rude humor doesn’t seem to have any distinguishing character except for two features: (1) it involves a Palin, and (2) it involves the media.
If this is the ONLY example of ridicule that moves you to such extreme behavior, then why? You aren’t swearing an oath to drive Rusty DePass out of his job for making jokes about Obama? Or Limbaugh? Or Coulter?
I mean it when I say I want to believe this is a principled stance, and not simply a publicity stunt. I truly do. But I’m not seeing it — open my eyes.
p.s.: as to “why aren’t more dudes clicking on the lesbian’s site” . . . well, if you added “with steamy les pics” to the name of the site, I think you’d not only get those jumpers, but also a pretty good answer to the first question.
Comment by busboy33 — 6/20/2009 @ 7:10 pm