Patterico's Pontifications

3/6/2007

Introduction to Hypocrisy 101

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 6:18 pm



I’m still not done with Glenn Greenwald’s recent dishonest post. Let’s look more at the issue of hypocrisy, shall we?

The reason I ignore most attacks from right-wing bloggers is not because I don’t believe in the virtues of responding — I do — but because most of the attacks are at this level and it is honestly difficult to generate the motivation to reply (as but one helpful hint, if you want to accuse someone of “hypocrisy,” you must (a) excerpt a standard the person has advocated and then (b) show how they have violated that standard; failure to follow steps (a) or (b) means that you have not made out a case for what is called “hypocrisy”).

OK, then.

Here’s the (a) and the (b):

(a) Greenwald decries innuendo on the right

  • Here, Greenwald criticizes right-wing bloggers, who, he claims, “traffic in the most reckless innuendo, gossip, and rank, error-plagued speculation that exists.”
  • Here, Greenwald blasts “an ever-growing network of scandal-mongers and filth-peddling purveyors of baseless, petty innuendo churned out by the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge, various right-wing operatives and, more recently, the right-wing press led by Fox News.”
  • Here, Greenwald excoriates right-wing bloggers for “publicizing innuendo about private sexual behavior and exploiting sexual morality for political gain.”

(b) Greenwald engages in rank innuendo

  • Here, Greenwald trafficks in reckless, baseless, petty innuendo about private sexual behavior, in order to exploit sexual morality for political gain:

    If the term “moral degenerate” has any validity and can be fairly applied to anyone, there are few people who merit that term more than Rush Limbaugh. He is the living and breathing embodiment of moral degeneracy, with his countless overlapping sexual affairs, his series of shattered, dissolved marriages, his hedonistic and illegal drug abuse, his jaunts, with fistfulls of Viagra (but no wife), to an impoverished Latin American island renowned for its easy access to underage female prostitutes.

    Nudge, nudge. Wink, wink.

I previously discussed this issue here, in a post in which I applied Greenwald’s tactics to him. (Did you know that Brazil is renowned for prostitution and sex tourism? Did you know that Glenn Greenwald spends a lot of time in Brazil? And he does seem to be obsessed with both topics!)

Innuendo: it’s fun! As nobody knows better than Greenwald himself.

P.S. On a serious note, I don’t see how any fair person could sanction this sort of nasty rumor-mongering. I’d like to think that he lost a lot of fans with that post about Limbaugh. But, given the unquestioning sycophancy of so much of his readership, I’m sure that post only enhanced his stature among lefties.

15 Responses to “Introduction to Hypocrisy 101”

  1. You should read Greenwald’s post today.
    It reminds me of a farmer’s dog, Bingo was it’s name-oh.

    Robert (6e8424)

  2. Shouldn’t that be ‘accept a standard’? Or is that fancy lawyer talk? I’m not understanding the use of ‘excerpt’.

    Lefties are at least as mean as Righties in my experience. And vice versa, I’m sure. Nice takedown, though. Very nicely documented.

    David N. Scott (71e316)

  3. Thanks for blowing the lid off the Republicans “support the troops” meme. I totally agree that it’s just a saying used by Republicans to squash dissent.

    It took some work, but I was able to find it next to the “party of accountability” post.

    Keep up the good work.

    Robert (6e8424)

  4. Excerpt as in a qoute I believe…

    Jay (ec6ad0)

  5. Rumor mongering?? Now let see does not Sean Hannity constantly refer to Sen Byrd as “sheets” Byrd when Byrd left the clan a half century ago? Isnt that a nasty innuendo of racism?

    Did not Rush Limbaugh once say that there is no excuse for anyone getting hooked on drugs and then get involved with drugs himself? And then blame others? Does he not preach moral values and yet is on his third wife like Newt Gingrich who was always preaching the same values while cheating on both his wives?

    Did not Fox and Drudge and Limbaugh bring up a connection between John Kerry and Jane Fonda that did not exist? Did they not turn a man who served in Vietnam and won purple hearts and silver and bronze stars into a liar while making a hero out of one who used family influence to dodge the draft and then fail to show up for part of his National Guard stint? Kind of like what they did to triple amputee Max Cleland who they also lied about and smeared for political purposes all while professing love of vets?
    Did they not published every rumor that Clinton was involved with the murder of Vince Foster and numerous others? Has not Rush Limbaugh constantly sought to divide the nation into those that love this country, Republicans and Conservatives, and those that dont..the nasty liberals and Democrats. and then there is Ann Coulter and her statements about the 9/11 widows enjoying their status and on and on.. and yet she makes millions with such comments. Does this not tell you something about a large group of people in this country who eager await the latest Coulter rant? What kind of party embraces a woman like that

    Has not the entire Republican party sought to portray itself as the party of moral values when in fact its members are frequently engaged in questionable sexual activities, under the table dealings and character assassination?

    Did not Bush lie about warrentless wiretaps and then distort the reason why Democrats opposed him?

    Is it not true that the entire Republican party under the leadership of George Bush and Dick Cheney sold us a war under false and misleading circumstances with cherry picked evidence and then did everything in their power to smear and attack anyone that dared question them? Did not Bush lie about the role of inspectors in Iraq and did not Cheney continue to repeat false stories about Iraqi intelligence officials meeting with Al Quida in Prague long after the story was debunked? Isn’t it true that while asking others to sacrifice they have helped themselves to huge tax breaks while running up the national debt and avoiding military service themselves?

    No my friends, the conservative movement has been betrayed by this contemptible administration with its fascist-like manipulation of the people and its use of the military like pawns in their game. Of course Bush is not responsible for the deaths of so many Americans and Iraqis any more than he is responsible for the situation regarding their shameful medical care. No he is not responsible for anything except his brave stand against tyranny in the world and his noble war in Iraq which not a single one of his lame family is involved in..

    And how do they get away with this? By the chorus of radical right wing ( not Conservative but radical right wing crackpots) that support them no matter what, because Drudge, Limbaugh, Coulter, Hannity, NY Post, Washington Times, Fox news and and others make millions in the media selling lies and demonizing the opposition. Plus they get big tax breaks for themselves and friends and always manage to get someone else to do the fighting and dying for their “noble” causes.

    Look around the world at the many liars and crooks that manage to get into power cheered on by the very people they oppress. You wonder how they can be so stupid, while confidently assuring yourself that such things never happen here….and you talk about hypocrisy on the part of Glen Greenwald?

    Charlie (55cd2b)

  6. Yea, I guess it’s just an awkward sentence.

    David N. Scott (71e316)

  7. Give it up, Patterico. Greenwald has a reading comprehension problem that can’t be surmounted by facts and logical arguments. It just passes through his eyes and dribbles out of his fingers without ever impacting anything in between.

    I swear, it’s innuendo and out the other with that guy. 😀

    Darkmage (a8ad78)

  8. You’re just rehashing stuff.

    TCO (6caa0b)

  9. I hate these bloggy battles.

    Russell (a32796)

  10. Many Republicans, especially white men, enjoy Ann Coulter because she says things that would have gotten them tarred and fired for the past thirty years.

    History reminds us that had Republicans exterminated all democrats after 1865, the 1964 Civil Rights Act, federal anti-lynching laws, and Brown vs. Board of Education would have been completely unnecessary.

    It is unfortunate that America is “too civilized” to engage on a REAL battlefield today. Republicans are supposed to satisfy themselves by pointing fingers at democrats who respond with “you do it too” arguments. In this cultural war, lefties defend themselves by creating silly rules like hate-speech and political correctness, and wax hysterical when Republicans SAY something questionably insensitive.

    On the subject of hypocrisy, Republicans are far from perfect. But while Republicans vilify, condemn, and force the removal of Republicans like Duke Cunningham, Richard Nixon, Bill Janklow, and Mark Foley, democrats like Alcee Hastings, Bill Clinton, Ted Kennedy, and William Jefferson are still celebrated and reelected by democrats. So much for hypocrisy – so much for the “party of corruption.”

    I won’t get excited about Ann’s comments until Democrats end the blatant anti-Semitic venom that flows so freely from our Democrat-controlled universities. Islamic students have re-introduced KKK-era speech about Israel, Jews, and Republicans and the Democrat administrators sit like a Jim Crow jury deciding a lynching case.

    Democrats feign outrage over the Coulter comment NOT because they care about slave-progeny or gay people, but to buy the innocence they so desperately seek to escape from their real history. Republicans came into existence BECAUSE of democrat behavior. And if we only look at democrat education; first outlawing black education, then segregating blacks from white schools and, today, flunking half of all blacks currently enrolled in LAUSD. Republicans went to war in 1861 against Democrats because of their behavior and not because Democrats “did too.”

    The casus belli still exists – and not because Republicans “do it too.”

    Clark Baker (337440)

  11. 5. You accuse Limbaugh, Hannity, et. al with rumor mongering, and then give us a litany of rumors yourself. Good job refuting yourself.

    Keep drinking that Kool-Aid.

    otcconan (2bddc8)

  12. Now let see does not Sean Hannity constantly refer to Sen Byrd as “sheets” Byrd when Byrd left the clan a half century ago? Isnt that a nasty innuendo of racism?

    Comical.
    Um, Strom Thurmond, who was never in the KKK, was called a racist by left wingers until the day he died.

    The Ace (ea76c3)

  13. And after he died… They don’t stop till after you’re dead and burried…

    And I have a hard time, personally, so quickly accepting someone just “leaving” the KKK… I mean, it’s the CLAN for goodness sake. And Byrd wasn’t just a member. He had a rank, didn’t he?

    I’m more than willing to accept that he’s likely moved past his VERY hateful days as a member of the KKK, but then again…

    Also, remind me… What party was Gov. Wallace from? Mr. “them colored kids ain’t goin’ to no white schools” Wallace…

    Yeah, you folks are swimming in tolerance.

    For the record, my Econ professor hates when I mention Wallace’s old Campaign Slogan when Mr Econ starts on about how “Republican is the party of racism”…

    Scott Jacobs (90eabe)

  14. Just look at AL GORE the Number 1 hypotcrit in the nation i mean he has three home and none of them have solar power he dont have one single hybrid in his garage none of his plane and rubberband powered he puts CO2 in the atmosphear when he was flying all over the world pushinhgg this global warming hoax and he suses more electctricity in one month then the avarge american family uses in one year

    krazy kagu (91408b)

  15. kagu, that’s pretty good 🙂

    carlitos (93a23f)


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