It was the Worst of Times… and TIME
[Posted by Karl]
TIME magazine has a piece from Michael Grunwald, “Republicans in the Wilderness: Is the Party Over?”, that is so packed with Democratic talking points that David Axelrod could have faxed it over from the White House. The result is cognitive dissonance:
That’s the problem. The party’s ideas — about economic issues, social issues and just about everything else — are not popular ideas. They are extremely conservative ideas tarred by association with the extremely unpopular George W. Bush, who helped downsize the party to its extremely conservative base. A hard-right agenda of slashing taxes for the investor class, protecting marriage from gays, blocking universal health insurance and extolling the glories of waterboarding produces terrific ratings for Rush Limbaugh, but it’s not a majority agenda. The party’s new, Hooverish focus on austerity on the brink of another depression does not seem to fit the national mood, and it’s shamelessly hypocritical, given the party’s recent history of massive deficit spending on pork, war and prescription drugs in good times, not to mention its continuing support for deficit-exploding tax cuts in bad times.
In short, the GOP’s problem is the unpopular, hard-right agenda it didn’t pursue. For that matter, a majority of Americans oppose gay marriage, favor harsh interrogation of suspected terrorists, and are unwilling to pay higher taxes for government healthcare. If I spent more than the three minutes it took to discover that much, I could probably find that Grunwald has nothing backing his claim about tax cuts for the “investor class,” though there’s a far amount of debate as to how that class gets defined in the first place. A solid majority still see big government as a bigger threat to the country than big business. As unpopular ideas go, Grunwald’s list seems pretty popular.
It is tempting to view Grunwald’s piece as yet another attempt at setting The Narrative to demoralize the Right. But Grunwald’s regurgitation is so shoddy that it is just as likely the lazy repetition of conventional wisdom, intended only to meet a deadline.
After all, it was only four years ago that Grunwald’s TIME colleague, Joe Klein, was bemoaning “The Incredible Shrinking Democrats”:
“Progressive” Dems—and I use the term advisedly, since liberals seem more interested in preserving the past than in discovering the future—are right to admire Roosevelt. But the Roosevelt they worship is a bronze sculpture, frozen in time. The real F.D.R. was a gutsy innovator. The current Democrats resemble nothing so much as the Republicans during the 25 years after Roosevelt’s death—negative, defensive, intellectually feeble, a permanent minority. There are reasons to oppose this President —arrogance abroad, crony capitalism at home—but undifferentiated opposition is obtuse and most likely counterproductive. The Democrats’ current crudeness is a function of their desperation, and the imminent ratification of Howard Dean, the least charming presidential candidate in recent memory, as their party chairman only serves to punctuate the problem.
It is the sort of piece I remember when I read people arguing about Reagan nolstalgia, or debating the merits of GOP chairman Michael Steele, or claiming permanent minority status for the GOP. The more things change, the more they stay the same. The conventional wisdom of the establishment press covers only the first half of that formula.
–Karl
[…] Cross-posted at Patterico. […]
The Greenroom » Forum Archive » It was the Worst of Times… and TIME (e2f069) — 5/9/2009 @ 11:22 amBut Grunwald’s regurgitation is so shoddy that it is just as likely the lazy repetition of conventional wisdom, intended only to meet a deadline.
That somnambulist stenography would not pass the Turing Test. Not a synapse was activated in its transcription.
Time and Newsweek have decided that attitude and point of view (along with heavier stock paper for Newsweek) will make them more appealing to the reader. Mere facts and evidence of thought aren’t considered necessary.
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407) — 5/9/2009 @ 11:36 amThe GOAL of the MSM is to push the dirt in on the grave of the GOP that the MSM has dug for it.
The best way to prevent the GOP from becoming a counter-balance to Obamania is to declare the GOP dead, hold a wake, and and MoveOn.Org.
For some reason, I suspect 47% of the electorate doesn’t agree.
WLS Shipwrecked (53653f) — 5/9/2009 @ 11:36 am“The conventional wisdom of the establishment press covers only the first half of that formula.”
The conventional what? If there’s one word I would never use in connection with the establishment press, it would be “wisdom.”
danebramage (700c93) — 5/9/2009 @ 11:37 amI’ve been reading a book called Millenium Makeover which Hugh Hewitt recommended a couple of months ago. The authors are obvious Democrats and are making some of the same points and call this generation, born in the 90s, a “civil generation” as opposed to “reactive” or their other categories. They make some good points about them being into My Space and other social networking sites but it is interesting that they trash another writer who wrote Generation Me, another look, although not so positive, at this group. Jean Twenge, the author, has now written The Narcissism Epidemic. The other writers attack her very personally saying she did not document her points about the Millenials. In the second book, she documents them in spades.
This is a generation that has a very high opinion of itself but is poorly educated and has a fund of knowledge about the world and history that is the depth of a My Space page. They are the perfect Obama voters, those old enough, and I fear they may be numerous enough and ignorant enough to keep this going.
It may be that the Democrats, and especially Obama, may be able to court this poorly informed but very self assured segment of the population. We may be in a new era of populism, of the sort that supported William Jennings Bryan in the 1880s and 90s. He was also a great orator and didn’t even have a TelePrompTer. He was also pretty ignorant, as came out in the Scopes Trial in the 1920s.
Certainly, the Republicans did not cover themselves with glory in the Congress after 2000 but I would not trust Democrats to assess any serious issues right now. They are on a high that has little to sustain it but hope.
Mike K (90939b) — 5/9/2009 @ 11:47 amIn the mid 1970s even Republicans were moaning “all is lost,” after the resignation of Nixon. And Gerald Ford was the archtype of what Democrats now say Republicans should be. He of course lost to Jimmy Carter who subsequently was instrumental the turnover of Iran to Islamic fundemantalists, allowed inflation to run rampant and was totally ineffectual in obtaining the release of our diplomatic hostages in Iran.
Within 6 years of Nixon’s deperture and within 4 years of Ford’s defeat, the Republicans took the White House and the Senate.
They didn’t do it with a McCain, they did with an individual with core values of individual rights and freedoms.
What Democrat wants to see Republicans succeed? Why should we even listen to their suggestions? They certainly don’t have our best interests at heart.
Corky Boyd (784aff) — 5/9/2009 @ 12:25 pmAs we’re discussing William Jennings Bryan, what’s missing from the Time piece is any discussion about opposing evolution curricula. Republicans disbelieve the theory by more than 2-to-1. A political albatross.
Bryan’s oratory propelled him. Style over substance surely will propel the coming turn of the political cycle, as well.
steve (8e2333) — 5/9/2009 @ 12:33 pmsteve, I too think that teaching creation as “science” is an albatross, and we won’t be getting any future GOP leaders from today’s Texas or Louisiana for that reason. However, that article you linked is an example of how poorly framed this argument is, and how it’s being used as a ‘gotcha’ for Republicans in the press and on the stump. Here is the headline, my emphasis added:
How exactly does the theory of evolution explain “creation?” What evolved into what before there was a universe? Did nothing ‘evolve’ into something? This is why when you ask Republican candidates yes / no do you “believe” in evolution, there can be no right answer, because the questioner isn’t asking an honest question. Republican candidates pander to silly constituents who believe that man walked with dinosaurs 6,000 years ago, that’s true. But the other side is dishonest with the “evolution vs. creation” meme, because the two are mutually exclusive.
carlitos (aa025a) — 5/9/2009 @ 12:46 pmTime magazine is biased. So is Ron Reagan. He hates his father and wants to settle the score with him, that is why he is liberal.
Jeffrey Diamond (fccb0b) — 5/9/2009 @ 12:54 pmI quit subscribing to Time Magazine years ago. Why pay to receive this kind of garbage when I can go over to The Huffington Post or Daily Kos and get it for free?
JVW (eabe68) — 5/9/2009 @ 1:16 pmI think we should waterboard people who disagree with us. America was founded by conservatives for conservatives.
“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore,
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
The liberals came up with that crap… and that stupid free speech thing. Yuck.
Jeffrey Diamond (fccb0b) — 5/9/2009 @ 1:22 pmRepublicans disbelieve the theory by more than 2-to-1. A political albatross.
Bryan’s oratory propelled him. Style over substance surely will propel the coming turn of the political cycle, as well.
Comment by steve
There are lots of irrational beliefs in politics. Democrats are becoming ensnared in the vaccine-autism delusion. Look at Huffington Post for example. Creationism, however deluded, is not dangerous unless you are going to medical school. I even know at least one GP who is a creationist. The vaccine delusion, however, is very dangerous as public policy.
I would add that global warming hysteria is becoming very dangerous, as well, and the Democrats are committed to it. I’m not saying the planet has not warmed the past 150 years since the Little Ice Age ended. I am saying that the policies being advocated, like Cap-and-Trade, are disasters.
Mike K (90939b) — 5/9/2009 @ 1:30 pmI also quit my subscription to Time, in part due to the cover story on the Sopranos series. That Time-Warner owned HBO and was simply using a ‘news’ magazine to advertise a product line proved the unreliability of all the information in the mag.
There’s simply no reason to read a newspaper or magazine for actual content. Their only use now is to provide one of many paid-for opinions. But to cite them as a legitimate source? Wikipedia is far more accurate.
Apogee (e2dc9b) — 5/9/2009 @ 1:36 pmA hearty welcome to our new troll, Jeffrey Diamond (1:22 pm).
JVW (eabe68) — 5/9/2009 @ 1:38 pmthe policies being advocated, like Cap-and-Trade, are
Apogee (e2dc9b) — 5/9/2009 @ 1:38 pmdisastersscams.Whoops, accidentally clicked Submit too soon. What I was going to add is that, instead of waterboarding those with whom we disagree, what we ought to do is simply call their speech “hate speech” and seek to silence them through thuggish tactics. That seems to work on the leftist-dominated college campuses.
JVW (eabe68) — 5/9/2009 @ 1:40 pmI agree with Apogee. We should disregard the entire magazine and assume that every single piece of information in it is inaccurate because, as a national magazine intended to entertain and discuss news, it did a story on the most popular show at the time.
Jeffrey Diamond (fccb0b) — 5/9/2009 @ 1:40 pmI like it JVW! We should suggest that anti-water boarding speech is the same thing as using the N-word! Brilliant!
Jeffrey Diamond (fccb0b) — 5/9/2009 @ 1:41 pmsteve – I have not met any voters for whom evolution versus creation was a hot button issue relative to others. Have you? Chris Matthews seems to be pushing it as some sort of litmus test lately for some reason. Any idea why?
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 5/9/2009 @ 1:42 pmJeffy Diamond not troll! He another lifelong conservative Republican I met is my grade-school speling bee comptition! Another secret agent man like mee, friend of Von Braun! Now we do top-secret stuff on coputer in Jeffy’s mom basement, 1 cent per comment!
DCSCA Mitty (0ea407) — 5/9/2009 @ 1:44 pmExactly, mitty. Though, I am not a lifelong conservative. I was a liberal during my college days, but I found Jesus when I was 24 and he told me he was a republican so I’d better join up. Now I just tithe to the RNC instead of to my church. I mean, it is the same thing, right?
Jeffrey Diamond (fccb0b) — 5/9/2009 @ 1:46 pmRight! GOP and GOD same! We use Jesuseen make bad libruls afraid say anything about Buuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuush. 1 more penny Jeffy we can buy bubblegum from Rahmbo!
DCSCA Mitty (0ea407) — 5/9/2009 @ 1:49 pmI am having a hard time reading your posts, mitty. Perhaps you were educated in one of those ‘feel good first, educate second’ liberal schools. Perhaps you could waterboard your way into a refund.
Jeffrey Diamond (fccb0b) — 5/9/2009 @ 1:57 pmas a national magazine intended to entertain and discuss news, it did a story on the most popular show at the time.
Which would be ostensibly fine, except that it only does cover ‘stories’ on ‘most popular shows’ that coincide with their own corporate affiliations. Also, if it’s merely an opinion journal to ‘discuss news’, then it’s not a news source as it claims (Politics, world news, photos, video, tech reviews, health, science and entertainment news.), but an opinion source, which was my point exactly. What sets it apart from People magazine? Nothing, as far as I can tell.
Apogee (e2dc9b) — 5/9/2009 @ 1:59 pm=yawn= This mush was meant to move magazines. If Watergate didn’t kill the GOP, nothing will. And why would anybody want it to disappear in the first place.
Silencing an opposition party is an absurd notion to even consider and challenging voices are necessary for balance. If anything fresh ideas are needed in these changing times.
The problem with the Republican Party is simple. Very simple. Conservatism. The hard right and it’s rigid, reactionary refusal to evolve and change in changing times. And no amount of window dressing or rebranding is going to fool voters and change that perception.
There’s a related piece in TIME by Joe Scarborough, a former conservative Congressman and MSNBC host of late, that narrows the focus on the problem with some valid points, but he too fails to see that a mere rebranding or repackaging and avoiding moderation won’t work. It will keep spooking voters away. Cheney all but put a stake in the heart of that notion this week and Boss Limbaugh echoes it out 5 days a week.
Once moderates regain control of the GOP again and stuff the conservative minority monster back in the toy box, moderate voters will return.
When a man or woman steps up with the guts to challenge Boss Limbaugh and Darth Cheney in public, instead of kissing their… rings, Republicans will have found their new leader. Until then, enjoy the safari in the wilderness.
DCSCA (9d1bb3) — 5/9/2009 @ 2:00 pmI get the feeling that if the Democrats think if they repeat the mantra long enough that the GOP is dead, Republicans will start to believe it and just lay down their arms. Not going to happen. What will happen is the Democrats will over reach and in the days of instant news, they will have no time to take cover.
And perhaps Mr. Joe Klein should do a little research on FDR. “Gutsy innovator”? Hardly. FDR was a bully, a political savvay poltician that used federal money to secure his position. Get in FDR’s way as a Democrat? He would send in his shock troops to find another, more amiable candidate, and campaign in the primaries against the dissenting Democrat. Have a state that was leaning Republican in the national election? Dump tons of “patronage” (pork) into that state, hire thousands of greatful workers, make them pledge to vote for FDR, and then lay them off two months after the election by withdrawing the funding for the project they were hired for. Have the Supreme Court rule that the deals in your “New Deal” were unconstitutional, try to load the court with six more justices.
Not to mention the strong armed tactics FDR used against reporters and newpapers. Sicing the IRS on William Randolph Hurst was not done by FDR out of any sense of fair play.
The mental image of FDR that Democrats hold, of a man who was a leader, a “gusty innovator” has been written by those who do not want to look at a man who was dishonest, non-transparent and deceitful. Nor do Democrats want to look at the fact that we now have a POTUS that fancies himself the reincarnation of the idealistic version FDR.
The media, which is 99.9% left, will continue to tell conservatives the problem is that we are not liberal enough. Nevermind that the GOP gave them the most liberal candidate we have ever presented and he lost, as Ford lost to Carter. You see, the GOP did what the liberal, and pseudo-conservatives tell us we should do. They ventured left and it cost them in the last two election cycles. You cannot win by trying to be something you are not.
And the next time one of your liberal friends asks you “Well, who it the leader of the GOP now?” ask them, “Who was the leader of the Democratic Party in May, 2001 or May, 2005?” It certainly wasn’t a little known senator from Illinois with no accomplishments or history to go before him. I think your question will be met with silence.
retire05 (d38453) — 5/9/2009 @ 2:04 pmWho is this Boss Limbaugh character? Is he related to Rush?
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 5/9/2009 @ 2:06 pmComment by Apogee — 5/9/2009 @ 1:59 pm
The free market is the answer to every single possible question one could frame. So it is tough for me to make a definitively conservative decision on this. I mean, if they were trying to sell magazines and give some news isn’t that the perfect marketing strategy?
I agree with retire05. FDR was the worst president ever (will I get kicked out of the party if I giggled a little while I typed that last sentence?).
Jeffrey Diamond (fccb0b) — 5/9/2009 @ 2:10 pmDCSCA:
If your prescription is followed, there’s no reason to have a Republican Party – you will have reduced elections to picking the color of the shirts worn by the people in charge.
You need to understand this, and soon: a party that stands for nothing isn’t worth the time it takes to cast a vote.
Instead of bitching about conservatives, would you care to enlighten us as to why putting the Republican Party you envision into power should matter to anyone.
BD57 (0e4cce) — 5/9/2009 @ 2:10 pm#22- =sigh= Imitation, however bent or warped, is the sincerest form of flattery, Goober. Drives traffic on the site, too. You do have an expense report to fudge, don’t you. Or don’t you.
DCSCA (9d1bb3) — 5/9/2009 @ 2:15 pmEvery attack from the Obamites and their little minions here only drive home how afraid they are of conservatives, Limbaugh and the “tea party fringe”, as called by Democratic stenographer Grunwald. If the opposition is dead, why waste time on it? Because they know the opposition is still very much alive, and The One is very vulnerable.
They’re not only drawing the public’s attention to the opponents of the clay-footed Messiah, they’re energizing the opposition. Expect to see far more of the “fringe” on July 4.
Keep it up, little minions.
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407) — 5/9/2009 @ 2:19 pmI mean, if they were trying to sell magazines and give some news isn’t that the perfect marketing strategy?
Apparently not to me, since I canceled the subscription. If their opinion of the Sopranos is questionable, due in large part to their corporate affiliation with HBO, then the ‘marketing’ part isn’t of interest to me. This is because their ‘marketing’ strategy plainly takes me as someone they can ‘sell’ to – IOW – package their product advertisement disguised as a review or story – and not the formulation of a quality review.
Understand?
Their abandonment of the idea that ‘reviews’ should reflect an objective opinion of the quality of the material reviewed caused me to question what else they were abandoning in their quest to sell magazines. Since TIME had blatantly attempted to disguise marketing as opinion, it colors their ability to put forth any opinion, including opinion on ‘news’.
Perhaps you should view Mann’s “The Insider”. It pretty much covers the problem.
Apogee (e2dc9b) — 5/9/2009 @ 2:21 pmCertainly the easy way for the GOP to mount a comeback is to sit back and wait for the smug Democrats to overreach, which should take about, oh, two more weeks or so. I hope they don’t do it this way, however. Although the Democrats had lots of political success watching the GOP implode from 2005 to 2008, the reality is that they never advanced a real agenda and consequently all they can do is fall back on a retrograde social spending orgy [I can now imagine all the lefties right now typing “What about the Bush deficits!”] that has no coherent theme other than attempting to buy another couple of generations of Democrat voters.
I hope the GOP spends the rest of the year developing a real party platform, similar to the Contract with America, that they can use as a viable alternative to Obamaconomics and Dear Leader’s ineffectual foreign policy. They can then emerge as a principled alternative to the Obama mess.
JVW (eabe68) — 5/9/2009 @ 2:22 pmComment by Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. — 5/9/2009 @ 2:19 pm
Alright! Conservatism lives! Whew. You and your half brother be careful at that barbecue, ya hear? Don’t blow off your hand with an illegal firecracker or anything.
Jeffrey Diamond (fccb0b) — 5/9/2009 @ 2:26 pmAnother moronic convergence in this thread …
JD (0c1fee) — 5/9/2009 @ 2:26 pm#29- Who’s bitching. This magnificent mess is of the conservatives making. There’s no reason to have hard right conservatives in a Republican Party that draws moderates, indies and right of center voters. The conservative movement has become so caustic, at least to the vast majority of moderates and indies, that it needs its own tent. If conservatives are so strongly married to their convictions, birthing a new party should be easy. Sustaining it is another issue. But third parties are a risk as conservatives know. So they must remain a parasitic element to the host GOP. Hence the moderates flee and the host begins to die. Conservatives should just start a new party, if they have the guts. They’ve got the means, in more ways than one.
DCSCA (9d1bb3) — 5/9/2009 @ 2:27 pmObama is heading into a storm that may do much to revive Republican chances, assuming we survive until 2012. The story is here. Obama is planning to do a Czechoslovakia on Israel except Israel will fight and the consequences are too awful to contemplate.
Using the annual AIPAC conference as a backdrop, this week the Obama administration launched its harshest onslaught against Israel to date. It began with media reports that National Security Adviser James Jones told a European foreign minister that the US is planning to build an anti-Israel coalition with the Arabs and Europe to compel Israel to surrender Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem to the Palestinians.
According to Haaretz, Jones was quoted in a classified foreign ministry cable as having told his European interlocutor, “The new administration will convince Israel to compromise on the Palestinian question. We will not push Israel under the wheels of a bus, but we will be more forceful toward Israel than we have been under Bush.”
He then explained that the US, the EU and the moderate Arab states must determine together what “a satisfactory endgame solution,” will be.
As far as Jones is concerned, Israel should be left out of those discussions and simply presented with a fait accompli that it will be compelled to accept.
Sound like Munich 1938 ? Except that Netanyahu is not Benes.
Mike K (90939b) — 5/9/2009 @ 2:27 pmExactly. If we repeat it enough it will be true.
Obama has an ineffecual foreign policy.
Obama has an ineffecual foreign policy.
Obama has an ineffecual foreign policy.
Obama has an ineffecual foreign policy.
Is it true yet? *closes his eyes and hopes really hard*
Jeffrey Diamond (fccb0b) — 5/9/2009 @ 2:28 pmThis little lying vermin is the worst of the bunch. It is a hate-filled lying homophobic racist.
JD (0c1fee) — 5/9/2009 @ 2:31 pmThe problem with the Republican Party is simple. Very simple. Conservatism.
How about we see how things look after we’ve had four years of unabashed liberalism and the slow dismantling of freedoms, higher expectations and demands of the taxpayer to fund a bigger and more bloated government, and the continued attempts to silence the right. I suspect conservatism will make a lovely comeback. It will be an appealing antidote as it will be the only sustainable remedy to staunch the wound. I’m a patient woman – things will need to unwind completely and then common sense will return.
When a man or woman steps up with the guts to challenge Boss Limbaugh and Darth Cheney in public, instead of kissing their… rings,
For the record, I have never kissed Limbaugh or Cheney nor have any intention to do so. Eew. What’s amusing though is you desperately try to convince us that they are our leaders and that they call the shots. How funny because I don’t think any conservative here has ever bought that. And you keep trying.
Dana (4a6e8c) — 5/9/2009 @ 2:37 pmI agree liberalism takes away freedoms. Like the freedom to outlaw gay marriage, the freedom to spy on our citizens, and the freedom to die in a fiery blaze if you are an Iraqi citizen. Liberals won’t stop there… oh! what about the freedom to get a tax cut for moving jobs overseas? That is another freedom that Americans will be begging to have back after 4 years of non-freedom freedom. Freedom ain’t free.
Jeffrey Diamond (fccb0b) — 5/9/2009 @ 2:43 pmJeffrey @41 – What an odd comment for a conservative. Are you feeling well?
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 5/9/2009 @ 2:49 pmThe Moby has revealed its true nature, which wasn’t hard to discover in the first place since its attempt to fake a “conservative” just showed its own cartoonish inability to understand others’ beliefs.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/9/2009 @ 2:56 pmBoss Limbaugh????
AD - RtR/OS! (b651c9) — 5/9/2009 @ 2:56 pmIsn’t that an off-screen character on “Dukes of Hazard”?
DCSCA’s act got old a long time ago.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/9/2009 @ 2:58 pmNever been better daley, never been better. But I tell you what would make me feel better: throwing all the liberals out of our country. If we had them out we wouldn’t have to worry about preserving the freedom to take away the freedom of gay marriage.
Jeffrey Diamond (fccb0b) — 5/9/2009 @ 3:00 pmComment by Jeffrey Diamond — 5/9/2009 @ 2:43 pm
Oh Jeffrey, seriously?
Dana (4a6e8c) — 5/9/2009 @ 3:01 pm“… the freedom to take away the freedom of gay marriage …”
The Left sure hates democracy.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/9/2009 @ 3:02 pmThey sure do, spkyewer, they sure do. *high five*
Jeffrey Diamond (fccb0b) — 5/9/2009 @ 3:14 pmJeffrey, try to find an act that smells less of junior high.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/9/2009 @ 3:16 pmJeffrey, you may not care about the mundane freedom to hold a yard sale or the sacred freedom of a full-term baby being allowed to take it’s first breath but there are plenty of us who do. And we don’t rely on Cheney or Rush to instruct us on what to value – common sense and common decency has served the citizenry well.
You are right though – freedoms aren’t free. Untold people shed blood and died for them. They are invaluable. What a shame so many so many fools and blowhards are more than willing to surrender them.
Dana (4a6e8c) — 5/9/2009 @ 3:30 pmAh, so you went to a liberal school too, huh? Would you like me to dumb it down to grade-school level for you?
Jeffrey Diamond (fccb0b) — 5/9/2009 @ 3:31 pmI don’t think Jeffrey can dumb down his little troll act any further.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/9/2009 @ 3:33 pmThe yard sale link told me nothing other than that the government may or may not be concerned with unsafe toys being sold at yard sales.
But, if the liberals did it I say let little Bobby lose a finger. Screw the kids, I want to my political will to be done.
I want to preserve the freedom to tell a woman what she may or may not do with her reproductive system. I want to have absolute reign over her family planning, even though I know that I would fully support cutting every single possible program designed to help her care for the child once it was born. Who gives a crap about it once it breathes, am I right boys?
Jeffrey Diamond (fccb0b) — 5/9/2009 @ 3:38 pmDana, you know the saying about casting pearls before…well, you know the rest.
Eric Blair (34f123) — 5/9/2009 @ 3:41 pmThis troll sounds familiar. They all seem to attend the same seminar; I’d say read the same books but…
Mike K (90939b) — 5/9/2009 @ 3:42 pmJeffery, your disingenuous underpants are showing.
Dana (4a6e8c) — 5/9/2009 @ 3:42 pmHere’s a proposal for DCSCA, Jeffrey, et al. I present it in complete seriousness, as I would vote in favor of such a proposal tomorrow, and am already in the planning stages for a serious, nationwide push in this direction:
Let us separate. Let’s divide the country in half, into two new nations, so you all can go build your utopia unmolested and we can similarly live under laws pleasing to us. You could tax, spend, abort, sodomize, and maleducate each other to your hearts’ content, with no more opposition from us ignorant, mouth-breathing neanderthals. By the same token, no more would blacks, hispanics, etc. be forced to live alongside us racist bastards, but could come live with you in divine and everlasting harmony. Think of it: no more wars for control of Leviathan, no more worrying over each of our childrens’ souls and futures, no more of any of the evil that each side sees in the others’ positions and persons. Every person could take his place in the society he prefers and each side would then be free and clear to live as it pleases.
Acceptable?
danebramage (700c93) — 5/9/2009 @ 3:54 pmNow Dana, if you continue to talk about perverted things like my underwear you’ll be casted down with the Atheist, Heathens, and other liberal sorts.
Jeffrey Diamond (fccb0b) — 5/9/2009 @ 3:54 pmI want to live in your half, danebramage. I want to live in the half that ignores the parts of the Bible that discuss poverty and being your brother’s keeper and focus more on the hating that us conservatives seem to find in the Bible.
Jeffrey Diamond (fccb0b) — 5/9/2009 @ 3:59 pmafter reading these comments I have a better understanding of what is threatening the GOP
billkennedy (c00e9e) — 5/9/2009 @ 4:03 pmI want to live in Jeffrey Diamond’s world, with the unicorns and upside-down sky and endless fountains of wealth that just magically appear and endless deficits that just go away if we go deep enough into debt.
And, of course, the oleaginous Rev. Wright-style phony piousness. Next sermon: The parable of the peace-loving Hamas and those evil Israelis.
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407) — 5/9/2009 @ 4:07 pmYou give trolls like that too much credit, Bradley They aren’t for much; they are opposed to a great deal.
And check out this:
http://legalinsurrection.blogspot.com/2009/05/reaction-to-dijongate.html
Sounds familiar, huh? Especially the part about not being happy.
Eric Blair (34f123) — 5/9/2009 @ 4:11 pmI don’t live in that world, Brother Bradley. I live in the world where the libs are always wrong no matter what they do or say, and I am right because I’m right, by default. Like you guys! 🙂
Jeffrey Diamond (fccb0b) — 5/9/2009 @ 4:12 pmEB,
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407) — 5/9/2009 @ 4:19 pmI just linked on Facebook to Media Matters’ whining about conservatives making a few condiment jokes about their Messiah. Mustn’t make fun of The Precious!
#60, Jeffrey wrote: “I want to live in your half, danebramage. I want to live in the half that ignores the parts of the Bible that discuss poverty and being your brother’s keeper and focus more on the hating that us conservatives seem to find in the Bible.”
I’m not in a playing mood, kid. I asked you a serious question and I want a serious answer. Is my proposal acceptable to you? Would you be willing to split tomorrow and live among your own kind according to the principles you espouse?
danebramage (700c93) — 5/9/2009 @ 4:22 pmdanebramage,
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407) — 5/9/2009 @ 4:30 pmWould you allocate some territory for us Libertarians, say San Diego and Orange counties?
Bradley – I’m pretty sure Jeffrey is that guy Blowjob or whatever his name was from PW posting under his real name.
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 5/9/2009 @ 4:46 pmGood God are they missing the target.
This is another Alinsky program. Take on your opponent when you think he’s down and mash him into the ground to prevent him from getting up. Even now it’s astonishing how the media how much the media plays lapdog to Obama.
Grunwald misses the fact that more than 50% of Americans favor EIT’s and waterboarding. He also misses something really important.
Republicans haven’t fallen into disfavor because they aren’t enough like Democrats. They have fallen into disfavor because they have become Democrats.
drjohn (862e69) — 5/9/2009 @ 4:49 pmJeffrey, since you can’t find anyone here acting the way you claim all conservatives do, it remains just another dishonest stupid troll act.
Parody requires an element of truth to be effective. That’s why your parody attempt just fails.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/9/2009 @ 4:57 pmJeffrey thinks he is being too cute. Unfortunately, there are many drug destroyed brains like his in our nation. You know the kind; the ones that spent four years in some tony liberal university getting high instead of smart.
But don’t worry, liberalism is on it’s way out. One, maybe two, generations as they abort their children or marry someone they can’t reproduce with. You see, they have never figured out that in order to keep their kind going, they have to keep their numbers and the only way that is possible to have babies they can raise.
retire05 (add7cc) — 5/9/2009 @ 5:00 pmBrother Fikes, if Libertarians can muster the numbers to gain influence in a national referendum, then they will be part of the dividing-up process. It’s not like I personally get to decide, nor do I want to. I just want out.
I repeat: this is not a joke, and I think you’re making a big mistake to treat it that way. We can no longer live together (the “we,” meaning broadly the left and right). Something has to give. What I’m interested in finding out is if the left is actually willing to live in the kind of society they advocate or whether their program is, as I’m convinced, solely concerned with the destruction of Christian civilization and dictatorial control of its former citizens. I suspect that any call for a referendum like I’m suggesting would be opposed by the left because they’re not concerned with each person being allowed to live under laws pleasing to him or her (i.e. self-government), but rather in forcing everyone to live according to their will. But we’ll see. I’m offering Jeffrey, DC et al a chance to declare otherwise.
danebramage (700c93) — 5/9/2009 @ 5:00 pmHeck, DB, if they went forward with your proposal, who would pay the taxes necessary to keep them in weed and booze and video games? Not them, of course.
They want to tell everyone else how to live. You know how you can tell? Their continual harping on (1) who Republicans really are and how they really think, and (2) the projective slandering of Republicans as authoritarians.
The DMV is not a Republican kind of entity. Statism is statism.
Eric Blair (34f123) — 5/9/2009 @ 5:09 pmSPQR, you are leaving out the weed factor. The habitually stoned think everything is funny, especially themselves.
Eric Blair (34f123) — 5/9/2009 @ 5:11 pmTrue, Eric.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/9/2009 @ 5:12 pmI had to flunk three of them last semester, SPQR. In class, every day at 9 AM, they were toked to the gills. Smart kids, but only firing on a couple of cylinders due to the cannabis. I still don’t know if they were staying up all night several times a week, or if they really and truly got up in the morning and sparked up.
The sad part, again, is that they were and are smart and decent people. Just being “cool” and so angry that their test scores were two sigmas below the average for the class. So it sure wasn’t my fault.
Life is about choices, I know. But I sure do hate to see waste. And the “wasted” are one of the best examples of that.
Eric Blair (34f123) — 5/9/2009 @ 5:19 pmThis is someone doing Jeffrey’s act better:
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/9/2009 @ 5:21 pmmuch better in fact
Eric, and of course their attitude was that it was you who was at fault.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/9/2009 @ 5:22 pmWake and bake Eric.
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 5/9/2009 @ 5:22 pmAnother moronic convergence in this thread …It will just ramp up its inanity until it gets bored or banned. Thrown in a swimming Kennedy troll …
JD (931f72) — 5/9/2009 @ 5:22 pmSPQR, the funny part is that I also sit on our academic standing committee here on campus. So after one of the Spicoli Brigade guys complained about how unfair I was, I had to file a report (and all I needed to do is show class averages, quiz by quiz, test by test, and my log book of who comes to office hours, as well as the list of who e-mailed questions). Guess what? My department chair told me that I was working too hard defending myself.
Then Stoner Boy had to appear before a committee on which I was a member (he did not know that)—to plead not to be dismissed for a year. Guess what? He flunked two other classes besides mine.
The chair of the academic standing committee asked him if all three of his professors who failed him “sucked” or was it just Dr. Blair? Then they started dissecting his performance in each of the failed classes. I kept quiet. The guy couldn’t really defend himself.
Well, he is gone now. And I’m not happy about it, though he deserved it. It was a waste.
Eric Blair (34f123) — 5/9/2009 @ 5:29 pmdanebramage – Be careful for what you wish. As far as I can tell from at least the comments on this and other sites on the net, the left’s energies seem to focus almost exclusively on division. Division is a means of distraction that allows them to avoid detailed examination of their arguments.
Look at the troll madness (and I don’t use that word figuratively) at this site. It is literally all ad homynim attacks and wild, unsupported statements. The one common element of all of the ‘trolls’ is a complete inability to relate to others in a straightforward, rational dialogue. While I disagree with you on your statement, I can discuss this difference without demonizing you and/or taking on an alternate fantasy persona.
I used to believe that the troll commenters didn’t engage rationally because they understood that their arguments were unable to withstand the discourse. From what I’ve observed here, it is obvious that they simply do not have the mental capability (or perhaps stability) to intellectualize a concept according to its own standing. Everything is personal, because to them, everything outside of their own person is foreign and incomprehensible.
Locked in the mind’s room indeed, ranting at the outside world.
Apogee (e2dc9b) — 5/9/2009 @ 5:32 pmEric, let me guess. At no time did he simply say, “Yep, I screwed up and it won’t happen again.”
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/9/2009 @ 5:35 pmTIME magazine has piece from Michael Grunwald, “Republicans in the Wilderness: Is the Party Over?”
While he’s at it, he should apply the phrase of “is the party over?” to publications like the one where his commentary appears.
Time magazine was born not too much before the Great Depression–although back then its editorial slant (influenced by founder Henry Luce) was to the right, or certainly not of the limousine-liberal demeanor of 2009. Nowadays, it’s anyone’s guess how such publications — which, because of their dependence on wood pulp, are bad for the environment!!! Carbon tax, carbon tax, carbon tax, rah-rah, hip-hip-hoorah!!” –will fare during these early decades of the Internet-oriented 21st Century.
Mark (411533) — 5/9/2009 @ 5:37 pmThese trolls do go on and on with the same old same old.
Do you think they’re assigned to post here by Boss Rahm?
Whether they are, or not, I will admit that Boss Rahm’s strategy is working. They own the narrative in the media. So, why not keep hammering on it.
Also, can someone give me an example of these intelligent, “moderate” Republicans that will lead the Party out of the wilderness. If no one is available, then please tell me what policies they should endorse to turn this calamitous collapse of conservatism around?
Then, I can research their records and beliefs and make a decision as to whether I should support them in the future.
Ag80 (b683da) — 5/9/2009 @ 6:03 pmSPQR, spot on. He had “problems,” and was “self medicating.”. Besides, he had a different “learning style.”
I guess that learning style involved getting more baked than a bag of Lays potato chips nightly.
As I say, a waste.
Apogee, you should have a look at Jean Twenge’s books on narcissism. It ties well into your argument.
Eric Blair (2e1461) — 5/9/2009 @ 6:03 pmEric, so he managed to deceive only himself that his failed approach was in fact a success.
Sounds like another Obama voter to me.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/9/2009 @ 6:05 pmKarl and Patterico: don’t get me wrong, PP has been on a real tear lately, but…
Would you ban me if I suggested we liven things up a bit with an easygoing early-spring/summer post similar to this one? (My mouth has been watering all afternoon already.) There’s gotta be more to life… 😉
And, Professor Blair: hope you got the e-mail I sent you last week.
qdpsteve (5eb540) — 5/9/2009 @ 6:10 pmThree factors that helped the Dems to come back.
The Emperor7 (0c8c2c) — 5/9/2009 @ 6:10 pm(1) George Bush.
(2) An Economy in distress.
(3) A historic and popular candidate.
That plus a general dissatisfaction with the way things were and a hunger for change.
If the Reps must come back, they must have an answer for each of these points.
Nonsense, TheEmperor7. The main factors were the syncophantic media and the economy. Obama’s “popularity” existed mainly because the media conspired to hide that he was an empty suit.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/9/2009 @ 6:13 pmEmperor:
Good response.
1) Eventually people will realize that Chimpy McHitlerburton didn’t really do all the things the left and the lap dog media accused him of. Especially as President Obama continues his policies.
2) President Obama owns the economy now. I wish him well. And, things seem to be looking good for him so far.
3) Time will tell on this one. Time is always on the side of those affected by decisions, not those that make the decisions. (See 1).
Ag80 (b683da) — 5/9/2009 @ 6:20 pmHey, look at that. We on the right can disagree and not call each other names.
How’s that working for you guys on the other side?
Ag80 (b683da) — 5/9/2009 @ 6:22 pmFrom what I’ve observed here, it is obvious that they simply do not have the mental capability (or perhaps stability) to intellectualize a concept according to its own standing. Everything is personal, because to them, everything outside of their own person is foreign and incomprehensible.
I don’t know about mental instability or capabilities because some have obviously been smart trolls but there does seem to be an underlying inherent dishonesty in their argument. Perhaps when the focus is oneself, that myopic view limits one’s ability to look at outside facts objectively without needing to make them adjust to their own need for validation and to their own agendas. No matter, it’s tiring.
Dana (4a6e8c) — 5/9/2009 @ 6:29 pmSeriously, folks:
http://www.narcissismepidemic.com/
This book explains a lot, both about TrollFest 2009 and society at present.
Dana, ask your father to compare students then and now. Twenge’s earlier book, “Generation Me,” is also good.
Eric Blair (34f123) — 5/9/2009 @ 6:55 pm#58- You don’t get it. Americans have already split– from you, from conservatism and its reactionary mindset. They have left conservatives behind, consigned to the past, where conservatives are most happy- with themselves. And a ‘teaching tour’ by Boss Limbaugh will only clarify the division between the vast majority of Americans, and the shrinking clique of conservatives. No moderation. No compromise. Just No. The Party of No.
Conservatives don’t (or won’t) realize that ironically, they have ‘no’ argument to make, as it has been discredited over the past 30 years. A changing America with new generations, modern problems and a hunger for fresh ideas has moved on. Nobody is listening– except Dittoheads. The left, left of center, center, right of center and indie moderates big and small of all colors creeds and walks of life have rejected the hard right conservative philosophy. No more Schaivo nonsense; no more ‘freedom fries;’ no more trickle down and no more creationism creep and scientific denial.
And your response is to propose separation. You don’t seem to comprehend that you HAVE been separated out, isolated and continue to shrink in numbers under the guise of a Republican Party banner. Conservatives are the true RINOs.
I propose to you that you start a fresh Conservative Party with the flowering core values you embrace and which are repeatedly barked by the likes of Boss Limbaugh, Fox News lackeys and Darth Cheney. No Powells, McCains or Specter-types allowed. They can be at home in the Republican Party. Welcome the Gingrich-minded, the DeLay-thinkers and the Palins-types et al into your. These are the core of your Conservative Party. It may start small, even regional, but if you truly believe the values at its core, then it can survive, perhaps thrive one day.
Conservatives need their own party. They want their own party. And the energy for one to explode on the scene may just be approaching critical mass.
DCSCA (9d1bb3) — 5/9/2009 @ 6:55 pmIt’s not ElIZA. It’s more like PARRY.
Eric Blair (34f123) — 5/9/2009 @ 7:01 pmDCSCA:
Thanks. We’ll take that into consideration at our next club meeting.
Then everyone will say “What?”
Ag80 (b683da) — 5/9/2009 @ 7:02 pmNo, Ag80. They’ll ask “who?”
Eric Blair (34f123) — 5/9/2009 @ 7:04 pmEric Blair,
He just finished his first semester upon returning after a 25+ year absence and he remarked that “they just don’t make them as smart as they used to”. Ill prepared and unable to critically think without their hands being held….
Dana (4a6e8c) — 5/9/2009 @ 7:07 pmActually, Dana, I wish I could chat with your father about this sort of thing.
What I think is going on isn’t about smarts. I think it is about a culture that encourages a lack of engagement, and ownership. They sit there, and expect osmosis to put information in their heads.
Even if that could be true, they would only get 50% saturation.
Add to it all the PC nonsense throughout the secondary schools, and here we go. The good ones do well regardless, but the regular folk are very shortchanged, I think.
Have your father read Twenge’s book, and see what he thinks. Dr. K. is reading it now.
Eric Blair (34f123) — 5/9/2009 @ 7:13 pmIt’s a joke son, it’s a joke!
Foghorn Leghorncroaks out some more laughers but ignores the logs in the eye of his own party.
Promises of the Democrats to be fulfilled upon taking control of Congress in 2006 and now the Presidency in 2008:
Cut off funding for the war in Iraq – Oops!
End warrantless surveillance – Oops!
Close Guantanamo Bay detention Center – Oops!
End military tribunals for enemy detainees – Oops!
Frogmarch Karl Rove and Dick Cheney out of the White House – Oops!
Try George Bush amd others for war crimes – Oops!
I could keep going, but what’s the point?
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 5/9/2009 @ 7:13 pmSlow down there, son, you’ll sunburn your tongue!
FL was a trip, truly.
Eric Blair (34f123) — 5/9/2009 @ 7:14 pmEric Blair, just a turn of phrase – he’s well aware it has nothing specifically to do with smarts but with a lowering of expectations coupled with a lack of self-reliance, accountability and perpetual indulgence. Childhood lasts much longer these days.
Dana (4a6e8c) — 5/9/2009 @ 7:18 pmEric:
Good point. All they know is what they read in the media, without realizing the media is simply regurgitating their own talking points about conservatives. So, that must be what is “true.”
DCSCA keeps giving advice based on a biased understanding without knowing anything about the people he’s giving advice to other than what Boss Rahm, Olbermann and the New York Times, et al, say.
It’s interesting an a way, sometimes amusing, but mainly indicative of cognitive dissonance.
Ag80 (b683da) — 5/9/2009 @ 7:20 pmDana – …limits one’s ability to look at outside facts objectively without needing to make them adjust to their own need for validation…
Very well put. I would note that mental instability and smarts are not mutually exclusive. Intelligence coupled with an inability to rationally engage others occurs more often than we would perhaps like to imagine.
Eric Blair – thanks for the recommendation, I will try to read it. As I have not, do you have an idea of the authors’ definition of narcissism? I ask because it would seem that many if not all of the behavioral practices illustrated at your link emanate from low, rather than high, self image – almost to the point of an incapability of recognizing the concept of self image. If this is accounted for in their explanation, then I would certainly agree with your statement.
Apogee (e2dc9b) — 5/9/2009 @ 7:24 pm“All they know is what they read in the media, without realizing the media is simply regurgitating their own talking points about conservatives. So, that must be what is “true.””
Ag80 – When the media uses sources like Media Matters for fact checking with a straight face, see Rick Sanchez, it all becomes literally and figuratively one big circle jerk as well as one big circle of jerks.
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 5/9/2009 @ 7:26 pmRepublicans have three problems, two external and one internal. The first two can only be addressed by solving the last. They are:
1. A hostile and totally dishonest opposition party which constantly lies cheats and steals ( see Pelosi, Nancy ACORN and Porkulus )
2. A hostile and totally dishonest media which aids and abets the Democrats in their every effort.
3. Most importantly, failure to live up to the principles of limited government and fiscal integrity. So long as Republicans act like Democrats in trying to buy votes with taxpayer money, the GOP will lose. The big tent/small tent debate is nonsense when the tent has no roof.
Democrats believe that the way to win is to promise everything to everybody and when it inevitably fails, blame Republicans. Republicans cannot outpromise Democrats. They will simply raise the bar. They have no intention of fulfilling their promises, so it doesn’t matter to them. The Democrats and the lapdog media will blame Republicans regardless so caving in just gives them what they want without any gain whatsoever.
Democrats always overreach. They will again, and soon. As the far left imposes its will on the country, “moderates” will find that, as always, they have a choice of compromising with conservatives in the Republican Party or submitting totally to the extreme left in the Democratic Party. I expect that more than a few have already discovered that dissent is no longer patriotic. In spite of the best efforts of the lapdogs, more and more will. We’ll see.
Ken Hahn (253a60) — 5/9/2009 @ 7:39 pm#97- Say ‘what’ is right. You just don’t get it. Start the Conservative Party. After all, conservatives are just RINOs at heart.
DCSCA (9d1bb3) — 5/9/2009 @ 7:46 pm#101- The point is nobody gives much weigh to anything conservatives have to say anymore– except for Boss Limbaugh. You’re the minority voice in a shrinking party. Start a new one.
DCSCA (9d1bb3) — 5/9/2009 @ 7:52 pmDCSCA said:
#97- Say ‘what’ is right. You just don’t get it. Start the Conservative Party. After all, conservatives are just RINOs at heart.
Sometimes, people say things that are so totally nonsensical that you have to go back to the classics:
“Yes, well, that’s the sort of blinkered philistine pig ignorance I’ve come to expect from you non-creative garbage.
You sit there on your loathsome, spotty behinds, squeezing blackheads and not giving a tinker’s cuss for us struggling artists. You’re excrement!
You whining, hypocritical toadies with your color TV sets and your Tony Jacklin golf clubs. Well I wouldn’t become a Freemason now if you got down on your lousy, stinking, purulent knees and begged me!”
Ag80 (b683da) — 5/9/2009 @ 7:59 pm#104- Conservative cognitive dissonance is denial that the electorate- left, left of center, center, center right and moderate indies simply have shrugged your message off and moved on and away, leaving y’all to yourselves.
DCSCA (9d1bb3) — 5/9/2009 @ 8:15 pmHow do you feel about The Piranha Brothers, Ag80?
Thanks for the laugh. More about Twenge later—it’s storytime for my two sons.
Goodnight…
Eric Blair (a2c90b) — 5/9/2009 @ 8:15 pmMy college roomate was a big wake and bake guy. Mostly on non-class days, to his credit. He doesn’t do that anymore 🙂
If there is such little interest in conservative thought, how do we explain the persistent liberal commentary here? Couldn’t they make the same points somewhere where they wouldn’t have to see “conservative” points of view?
carlitos (aa025a) — 5/9/2009 @ 8:19 pm#110- Yes and you’re conservative and you’re okay; you sleep all night and you steal all day; You cut down trees, you kill wildflowers, etcetera, etcetera. You just don’t get it. Conservatives are the true RINOs. Start the Conservative Party and be happy again.
DCSCA (9d1bb3) — 5/9/2009 @ 8:22 pmIs Foghorn still trying to diagnose Republicans and conservatives? Why should anyone believe a thing he says about that when he can’t even be honest about his own party? The stupidity of the troll is mind boggling. He’s still conversing with astronauts and Ginga Dan, though his teeth.
What’s the frequency Foghorn?
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 5/9/2009 @ 8:29 pmHey, the little troll can copy memes!
What drives me insane is that these “social/religious conservatives” are the true RINOs. The Republican party used to be about less government intrusion but ever since they embraced the Christofacists, the party has become all about the government controling your personal life.
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407) — 5/9/2009 @ 8:36 pm#115- What’s the frequency— for the conservative message it’s six-two-and-even, you’re over and out.
DCSCA (9d1bb3) — 5/9/2009 @ 8:45 pmI think that you guys would do well to re-read Apogee’s note from the other day. Debating with the mentally ill won’t solve anything.
carlitos (aa025a) — 5/9/2009 @ 8:55 pmcarlitos, thanks for that terse, well-phrased reminder.
Brother Bradley J. Fikes, C.O.R. (0ea407) — 5/9/2009 @ 8:56 pmCarlito:
Who’s debating? Of course you’re right. DCSCA really doesn’t matter. He’s just fun to play with.
Eric:
I just hope Dinsdale doesn’t think my name is Clement.
DCSCA:
Check out your benzedrine. It’s not working.
“I was brain-dead, locked out numb, not up to speed.”
Thanks Micheal. Pretty much sums it up.
Ag80 (b683da) — 5/9/2009 @ 9:10 pmMichael, of course.
Ag80 (b683da) — 5/9/2009 @ 9:15 pmcarlitos – It’s impossible to debate DCSCA even if there was any point to it. He’s too much of a coward to engage in debate based on his asspulls and faulty history.
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 5/9/2009 @ 9:24 pmBetter half and myriad co-workers and employees will tell you that I can do terse pretty well.
carlitos (aa025a) — 5/9/2009 @ 9:40 pmWait second. I have an idea:
From now on, DCSCA will be Doug and Boss Rahm will be Spiny Norman.
And, as advised by carlitos, will be my last response to this irritating nothing.
Ag80 (b683da) — 5/9/2009 @ 9:42 pm#122- See #95. Debate assumes you have a position to defend. Conservatives have none. When voters identifying themselves with the GOP dips below 10%, you’ll still be in denial. Start a new party. Clensed and free of the impurities you find in the GOP and with everyone else.
DCSCA (9d1bb3) — 5/9/2009 @ 10:12 pm“…Dins-dale…“
Eric Blair (34f123) — 5/9/2009 @ 10:18 pmAg80, it’s The Other Other Operation.
Eric Blair (34f123) — 5/9/2009 @ 10:19 pmEB,
Brother Bradley J. Fikes (0ea407) — 5/9/2009 @ 10:29 pmSo how are your students taking their (perhaps) first brush with external reality? You appear to put them through intellectual boot camp.
Well, time to harsh that mellow from reading stories to my sons. The Hermux Tantamooq series is popular with both of them. Watchmaker mice, indeed! I give Hermux a James Mason vibe as I read aloud, which they seem to like.
Anyway, sad stories on campus quite often. There are several things I notice about students today. The first is that they are overbooked. They don’t understand that they only have so much time; so they sacrifice the time they have available on too many outside activities.
By the way, what used to be called “extracurricular activities” are now called “co-curricular activities.” Sigh. I routinely run into students who are involved in five clubs on campus, and needless to say, they crash and burn scholastically.
They other thing unique to the last seven or eight years—and I cannot emphasize this enough—is that the students flatly refuse to study a little bit each day for each of their classes. They study for the next exam, quiz, term paper, etc. And this sort of works, until the end of the term, when everything comes due, like God’s credit card bill. It’s like running downhill: it works until you stumble.
I cannot shake them of this “chain study” habit. At the end of the semester, they are all zombis.
My seniors do fine. They are bleary, amped on caffeine, but they drag themselves across the finish line. My freshmen, however…
I do this great exercise for them, since I usually get them during the first semester, flush with their Grand High School Successes. I make them fill out a form. Part of that form asks: what grade do you expect to get in this class, and how many hours a week, outside of class time, will you commit to studying for this course?
After the first exam, when students segregate themselves around that bell shaped curve, I call each student into my office, and we chat. Everyone wants an “A” of course, and most students seriously claim to study twelve hours a week for my class. Riiiggghhhht.
So I hold up the C-minus exam. I open my binder to that form I just mentioned, and ask the student if she or he really did study twelve hours a week for the exam in question.
Most of them admit that they didn’t. I ask them how many hours they did study, per week, outside of class. They tell me maybe two hours a week, generally speaking. This is usually leavened with a laundry list of other things that take up their time.
I tell them that that is great news! That C-minus fits with that amount of studying! If they really had put in 12 hours a week, and received that grade, I would be worried.
Then we talk about the student center for study habits. And office hours. And review sessions. And the “optional questions” at the end of each lecture.
And that works for about 75% of the students. 5% don’t need my help at all, and do wonderfully. The other 20% have a rough education; it make take a couple of exams. Or changes in majors.
Sadly, it doesn’t work for some students. I could be from issues outside of school. It could be from character flaws (and testosterone poisoning, I find). But it is mostly about choices, and owning those choices—good and bad.
Sorry for the lecture, Bradley, but you asked.
I have many success stories to match the Spicoli Brigade. Why, I even get “thank you” notes from students who get “C”s, because they expected a whole lot worse. And I refuse to abandon any student who is trying. And no matter the grades, the majority of students appreciate that. Too many professors pitch to the “100% Club.” But I think I am the class’s professor. Even the students who are struggling are on my team, and I try to help them.
Again, off topic. Time to clean up the kitchen a bit.
Eric Blair (34f123) — 5/9/2009 @ 10:54 pmFoghorn Leghorn has not learned that endlessly repeating the same meaningless debunked lefty tripe merely proves my point. Heh!
He’s a joke son, he’s a joke.
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 5/10/2009 @ 5:27 amThe same election that handed the Dems 58 or 59 Senate seats — and was, indeed, one of the worst results the Republicans have seen in recent history — also gave the Democrats the Presidency, by a 53-47 margin.
Note those numbers well: 53 to 47. In one of the worst-performing years in Republican history, when a lot of voters bought into Obama’s empty “Hope and Change” motto (meaning what, exactly? Nobody could say for certain), the Grumpy Old Guy still picked up 47% of the vote.
Yeah, the voters are abandoning the Republican party in droves. Droves, I tell you!
Robin Munn (d48bd0) — 5/10/2009 @ 6:02 am[…] it Time, or the Democrat Party? Karl at Patterico’s Pontifications […]
Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup » Pirate’s Cove (6f92d7) — 5/10/2009 @ 7:25 amDCSCA’s pathetic shtick does not amuse, not least because each time he’s purported to make a substantive contribution to a discussion, once he’s cut and pasted his Michael Moore propaganda, he’s been shown to be ignorant and incompetent.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/10/2009 @ 8:38 amDanebramage! It is quite amusing that somebody could comment with absolute absurdity and nobody on this wing-nut site says ‘whoa, whoa, hold on a minute’.
However, in all seriousness, I would welcome the opportunity for you to strike up arms against the government and attempt to establish a ‘foreign’ sovereign nation without our United States. Before you do, I would caution you to research the last ‘states rights’ group that tried to do that and what ended up happening to their ‘revolution’. You may find that it ruined the rest of their century and well beyond. 🙂
the million dollar man (7906b8) — 5/10/2009 @ 8:45 amThe candy bar is back!
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 5/10/2009 @ 9:05 amIf Grunwald is this bad now, just wait until Time goes on the government dole.
trentk269 (ec7ce3) — 5/10/2009 @ 9:25 amWill the last person to leave the Republican party please turn out the lights.
David Ehrenstein (0c2de8) — 5/10/2009 @ 9:44 amI am in favor of allowing the Democrats and Psuedo-Journalist dominated media full reign with their ideas(aka Hope and Change) to come to full fruition and then let the nation observe the consequences of such choices. A child does not know the glowing red stove burner is hot until they touch it once. Reality is the best teacher and liberals need to learn the lessons of their choices. America can survive liberal ideology only after those who are liberal learn the consequences of their choices. Conservatives know the current folly of this Administration. The Obama supporters will in time learn the folly of their Hope and Change. I’m content to endure until they do.
Greg (facb16) — 5/10/2009 @ 11:36 ammillion dollar man — 5/10/2009 @ 8:45 am – It is quite amusing that somebody could comment with absolute absurdity and nobody on this wing-nut site says ‘whoa, whoa, hold on a minute’.
Try #82 – 5/9 – 5:32pm – of course, you might not be able to read, which would explain quite a bit.
Apogee (bb0883) — 5/10/2009 @ 12:33 pmKarl notes that most Americans do not want to pay more taxes for “government healthcare,” whatever that is, but he ignores the fact that Obama is not raising most Americans’ taxes for this purpose.
Andrew (fb70a0) — 5/10/2009 @ 12:45 pmAndrew really is dummerer than a sack of Andrews. You have to have not read the post, were unable to comprehend the post, or had your ideological blinders on so tight that it choked off oxygen to you brain. All the accounting gimmicks in the world do not pay for this wrecking ball of an idea, and will just add to the deficit and the debt. Barcky ain’t payin’ for none of it. That will be up to peole in the future. Barcky wants it now, does not have the money, and does not mind trillions in deficits. The idea that taxes are being cut in any meaningful way is laughable, if not an overt lie, given the fact that they will allow the Bush tax cuts to lapse, and claim they are not raising taxes.
JD (adecf2) — 5/10/2009 @ 1:22 pmAndrew, I don’t think I’ve seen so many falsehoods packed into one sentence since DCSCA last wrote.
SPQR (26be8b) — 5/10/2009 @ 1:23 pmWhat is the purpose of his raising taxes then, Andrew? Spite?
JD (adecf2) — 5/10/2009 @ 1:45 pm“he ignores the fact that Obama is not raising most Americans’ taxes for this purpose”
Andrew – Money is fungible. It doesn’t really matter what he SAYS he is raising taxes for unless the tax levy is segregated and restricted, does it?
daleyrocks (5d22c0) — 5/10/2009 @ 1:51 pmTelling someone to be careful what they wish for, then agreeing with their really really stupid post does not count as telling someone they have gone too far, amigo.
the million dollar man (c76791) — 5/10/2009 @ 3:32 pmAgain:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2y8Sx4B2Sk
Eric Blair (34f123) — 5/10/2009 @ 3:45 pmDo you know what the word “annoying” means?
How about “troll”?
I’m just sayin’.
Eric Blair (34f123) — 5/10/2009 @ 3:50 pmLike I said on the other thread, we need some birth control for trolls. Another one just appeared and sounds familiar. We really don’t need this sort of thing and with DRJ coming back, I think it is a good time for the leader to think about that.
please send me more information about the free enlargement pills along with my official University of Extenze PhD in general studies’ box?
This is what I mean. It nothing to do with any subject under discussion and is the standard rebuttal by the clueless on left wing blogs.
And of course the courageous commenter is anonymous.
Mike K (90939b) — 5/10/2009 @ 4:07 pmThe $5 whore is spewing its standard claptrap, again. SHOCKA.
JD (e66bfa) — 5/10/2009 @ 4:33 pmActually, Dr. K., comments like the one made—including what sure looks like a misunderstanding of the word “obsequious”—may be a sign of someone who feels a little threatened.
I have posted many times that having a Ph.D. does not equate to smartness or niceness or any other “ness.” It’s interesting how often people assume that I feel superior to people without doctoral degrees. It’s not so, and I have never stated otherwise.
This guy just likes to troll. That’s all. If he was polite, he would be treated politely. But that isn’t a TrollGoal™.
It’s just part of Trollfest 2009. Which is why Inigo Montoya’s statement is so relevant.
Eric Blair (34f123) — 5/10/2009 @ 5:47 pmAnd again, posts by one person have evaporated. Hmmmm.
Eric Blair (34f123) — 5/10/2009 @ 6:12 pmWe do not need birth control, they already exist. Maybe the morning-after pill …
JD (03fb69) — 5/10/2009 @ 6:12 pmI vote for the Iron Fist of Justice.
Techie (9c008e) — 5/10/2009 @ 6:21 pmRule-7.62 always worked for me.
Mao Zedong (b39970) — 5/10/2009 @ 6:33 pmJust when we have Colin Powell saying that Republicans should act like Democrats, the two seem the same (for a moment).
I wonder how the “Code Pink”-ers will take this …
US officials responded with massive diplomatic pressure, publicly accusing Pakistan of “abdicating” to the Taleban. Behind the scenes, they also threatened to launch missile attacks on Swat and to withhold — or at least attach strict conditions to — billions of dollars in military and civilian aid. Yesterday the House Appropriations Committee approved an initial package of $1 billion (£665 million), including $400 million for improving Pakistani forces’ counter-insurgency abilities and $600 million for education and democratic reforms.
It’s dated yesterday, so it must be Obama pressuring a poor 3rd world country by threatening military intervention.
Can you say … ‘cowboy’ diplomacy ?
Neo (46a1a2) — 5/10/2009 @ 8:04 pmAround the Conservative Web – Weekend of May 10…
This is the weekly post where I celebrate the fact that I have successfully made it through another weekend without posting anything on Saturday or Sunday. I offer this up to those – like me – who need to catch……
Conservatism Today (95cfaf) — 5/11/2009 @ 1:28 ammillion dollar man – Telling someone to be careful what they wish for, then agreeing with their really really stupid post…
From my #82 – While I disagree with you on your statement, I can discuss this difference without demonizing you and/or taking on an alternate fantasy persona.
You have just provided proof that you really don’t know how to read.
Apogee (e2dc9b) — 5/11/2009 @ 11:12 am