The Increasing Thuggery of the Fringe Left
A portion of Aaron’s post below about Sarah Palin deserves emphasis. Aaron adroitly shows how Erik Wemple of the Washington Post seems bizarrely preoccupied with the race of someone Sarah Palin allegedly slept with, but that’s not the part I want to emphasize. This is the part of Wemple’s piece I want to emphasize:
[P]eople should stop lobbying for abstinence -only education. It’s a bad idea on many levels. One of those levels is the media: It gives reporters every reason to investigate the most intimate moments of abstinence-only advocates.
Increasingly, this is how the fringe left in this country operates. If they don’t like your views, they will mischaracterize your position and use that as an excuse to attack you personally.
I don’t want to suggest this phenomenon is unique to the left; I have seen such personal vendettas on the fringe right as well. But more and more it seems like something the fringe left does. Whether it’s the thuggery involved in the Prop. 8 battles, the smears against the Tea Party, or the attempts at intimidation we have all witnessed in other areas (such as Weinergate, for example), it seems more and more common for people on the left to tell you that your beliefs make it fair game for them to try to rip your private life apart.
Every time it happens, it needs to be exposed. As long as we stay alert to it and refuse to be intimidated, it is not a winning strategy for them — as long as we keep the spotlight on the cockroaches. One such cockroach? Wemple.
O/T, but…
Another Drew - Restore the Republic / Obama Sucks! (7ce0f9) — 9/19/2011 @ 6:31 pmSpeaking of thuggery, didn’t we intervene in Libya to protect the people from assault by the government?
So, what are we going to do in Yemen?
Or, will the administration just label Yemen, Syria-South?
Hundreds/thousands dead in Syria; how many will pay the price for asking for Freedom in Yemen?
Obama shrugged, people got thugged……………..ok i got nothing.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/19/2011 @ 6:35 pmYou don’t even really have to have the opinions they mischaracterize. You just have to be someone who it seems like would have that opinion. Like Palin and abstinence-only education.
It is ridiculous that not wanting to spend taxpayer money on something has become the yardstick by which we measure whether someone cares about that issue, or what they believe in personally.
I don’t believe any of the sex ed programs people argue about are all that effective. So I can’t figure out why the arguments about them get dusted off every four years- but for the opportunity to question conservatives about sex.
Jay Carney himself did this to John McCain in the last election. What do you think of premarital sex? Do you think the pill should be covered by insurance? Why are you so cranky? Why are you cutting this interview short. OH MY GAWD! JOHN MCCAIN HAS CHANGED!
MayBee (081489) — 9/19/2011 @ 6:35 pmI think we need to start asking questions about the background of the appropriately named Pimple—I mean, Wempel.
Since he is all about uncovering hypocrisy, right?
Simon Jester (372b4e) — 9/19/2011 @ 6:44 pmClinton supported that.
Michael Ejercito (64388b) — 9/19/2011 @ 6:44 pmIs there any parent who sits around and frets that their child might not have gotten enough sex ed at school?
MayBee (081489) — 9/19/2011 @ 6:46 pmI did not have sexual abstinence classes with that women.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/19/2011 @ 6:47 pmWhy doesn’t the left call out China for overpopulation?
Is it because of their forced abortion policies?
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/19/2011 @ 6:49 pmBut more and more it seems like something the
fringeleft does.Fixed.
malclave (4f3ec1) — 9/19/2011 @ 6:49 pmIt is too easy for the Left to screech “Hypocrisy” in a crowded theatre. After all it’s difficult to betray your core beliefs, if you don’t actually have any.
Gazzer (538976) — 9/19/2011 @ 6:55 pmThe left and the left-wing are socialist dictators.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/19/2011 @ 6:57 pmRedundant i know.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/19/2011 @ 6:59 pmPatrick
makes sense to highlight it, yes. its a mixture of the personal and the political that is really toxic.
Aaron Worthing (73a7ea) — 9/19/2011 @ 7:05 pmThose lapping this story up, particularly the racial aspect, really are degenerates.
I guess there’s no ignoring something this nasty. That’s how evil prospers.
Dustin (b2fb78) — 9/19/2011 @ 7:09 pmObama supports the criminalization of cocaine, yet admits that he did it college.
We need to find the name of his drug dealer.
Northeast Elizabeth (a6caf4) — 9/19/2011 @ 7:18 pmThe left supports the criminalization of guns but yet Gabriel Giffords owns one.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/19/2011 @ 7:30 pmWith the things kids and young adults freely say now and expose about themselves on social media it’s hard to envision what the minimum standards for elective office might be 20 years from now. Ah yes, fun with “journalism”, bumper stickers, and campaign ads circa 2032. What will the candidates be like? What youthful behaviors will still be considered taboo? What will voters then care about and expect/accept from candidates?
elissa (eb1e16) — 9/19/2011 @ 7:49 pmhttp://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/center-american-cronyism-and-saudi-progress_593703.html
ian cormac (ed5f69) — 9/19/2011 @ 7:51 pmPat,
Annd what if it wasnt private? What if Palin told people about it?
What about Palin trashing in her book for profit the private lives of people who trusted her, worked and sacrificed their career for?
Sure the left love sticking it to the right but Palin threw juuust as many elbows at her own people – this time she managed to catch herself in the face…
I know the left is going to be grossly unfair, but decrying the discovery of the public actions of a consenting adult who apparently didnt give her spouse the heads up (gauging by his upset behavior) is a large bell ringing.
EricPWJohnson (719277) — 9/19/2011 @ 7:52 pmdecrying the discovery of the public actions of a consenting adult
I remember when the left used to say the right wants to be in everybody’s bedrooms.
Now having sex is a public action.
MayBee (081489) — 9/19/2011 @ 8:08 pm“But more and more it seems like something the
fringe leftEPWJ does.”Fixed.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/19/2011 @ 8:09 pmin my experience most people what are abstinent aren’t doing it by choice
happyfeet (3c92a1) — 9/19/2011 @ 8:09 pmSounds like you’re mad that she put corrupt Republicans behind bars, like you wish she was like the Murkowski clan and less of a do-gooder.
You are a psychopath. In no way shape or form did Palin make this issue, which didn’t happen anyway, public. It’s none of your business, and you are seriously demented.
Dustin (b2fb78) — 9/19/2011 @ 8:10 pmif you like I could back up and miss the point by a larger margin
happyfeet (3c92a1) — 9/19/2011 @ 8:10 pmI bet you cannot find anyone on this earth besides Glenn Rice, Sarah Palin, and Todd Palin who actually care if Sarah and Glenn had sex when they were single adults. There is nobody that believes a 23 year old having sex has anything to do with abstinence only education.
The idea, of course, is to get her in trouble with her husband.
MayBee (081489) — 9/19/2011 @ 8:14 pmin my experience most people what are abstinent aren’t doing it by choice
I was abstinent completely by choice all through high school.
MayBee (081489) — 9/19/2011 @ 8:16 pmDude that scrunt will lie about anything.
Did you know Todd Palin had a one night stand with Mike Tyson when they were in HS.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/19/2011 @ 8:21 pmMaybee,
Not only are they probably the only three interested in it, but they are the only three whose business this is in the first place.
That Mike Tyson is trotted out for his opinion on this, vile and vulgar as he is, it speaks to the apparent audience Wemple seeks to draw. This is the sort of person who cares about this. Very fitting.
Dana (4eca6e) — 9/19/2011 @ 8:23 pmNo. The biggest difference between the fringe left and fringe right not that there is a growing number of wacko lefties or that they are becoming more vocal, rather that the views of the wacko left in becoming more integrated within, and more embraced by the left in general.
bains (59f792) — 9/19/2011 @ 8:31 pmThere is no real left in America. I find it humorous how so many of you actually think people like Markos Moulitsas and Arianna Huffington represent the left. Or that Obama is a socialist.
The funny part of this is Patterico seems to think his blog has some form of political push or gravitas. No one cares about blogs. No one in “real life” cares what any of us think.
People go to the net for sports, stock #’s, the weather, to use email, etc..
Maybe most of you think the people cybersmearing me are part and parcel of this so-called fringe left or simply left as someone put it. No, they are not. Not even close.
If I had to guess, the people who helped force Weiner into resigning are simply on another Democrat’s payroll or of the old boy’s headquarters. Those aren’t the left. Have you never heard of triangulation?
That convolution, imho, is becoming clearer by the day. And you’re falling into the trap by succumbing to the same old same old libtard versus repukelican script.
Obama’s gonna get re-elected. His job bill was a masterful political move. Now Bill Clinton has come out with some opinions. Your only chance for conservative ideology to succeed politically is to also triangulate yourselves. If you don’t move to the left and soon, forget it. You won’t be winning the Presidency again for a very long time.
So keep yapping like know-it-alls of how eveil the left is, and you’ll find yourselves more and more aligned with the the fringe on the right.
You should be pushing for Ron Paul. Better yet, you need to find someone with a similar antiwar platform who doesn’t seem as nutty with everything else.
People want jobs. They want low taxes for regular people. They don’t want cuts in health care, schools, road repairs, you name it. The right historically has whined so much about spending, but take a good look at how much national debt was amassed under Reagan, Bush, and Bush. Look at how under Clinton, the budget deficit was drastically reduced and perhaps eliminated, and a plan was on its way to start paying off the national debt. It is because of Clinton that interest rates started to drop. The only reason they dropped under Bush was because they had nothing left in which to prop up their illegal war economy.
Most of you seem to be preaching to your own ever diminishing choir. You better hope voting apathy continues. Because the more people are registered, the more likely it is the Republican Party eventually branches off. Right now the Democratic Party is a blend of Republican and Democrat. The Republicans as constituted are turning into the main stream fringe.
You guys need to wake up and smell the inequality and collective fear for the future. People are tired of high unemployment. You may actually lose Florida. It’s been close of late. You guys are living in a plastic bubble if you actually believe things are looking good for your party’s political prospects.
People are sick of both parties. They are sick of these word games. They are tired of the Patterico’s of the world blabbing about the fringe left.
The dude’s a prosecutor in Los Angeles. He has more dogma than academic background. I just found out Breitbart is basically a regular guy for an extreme right winger who’s found 15 minutes of fame. I heard his bloggers aren’t even paid. He’s a big fish in a small pond, bigger than most of us, but not really in the grand scam of social reality. I’m telling you, this libtard versus repukelican noise pollution act has gotten beyond stale. No one is listening, and no one cares.
Prepostericity (5a9d3c) — 9/19/2011 @ 8:36 pmPlease go be an obot troll someplace else you worthless piece of trash.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/19/2011 @ 8:39 pmThe funny part of this is Patterico seems to think his blog has some form of political push or gravitas. No one cares about blogs.
Then why did you bother to comment dumbass?
peedoffamerican (ee1de0) — 9/19/2011 @ 8:40 pmPrepostercity is probably one of Charles johnsons anti-israeli minions.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/19/2011 @ 8:41 pmAnd a long winded POS comment at that.
peedoffamerican (ee1de0) — 9/19/2011 @ 8:41 pmI’m not going to pretend I don’t like gossip. I do. There is just no sense in pretending there is some higher purpose here in exposing this personal detail. No way to say she had it coming.
Really, the left used to love to say conservatives want to be in their bedrooms. Now that is reduced to saying conservatives don’t like abortion, don’t feel the government needs to provide a rigorous sex education program to all teens, don’t feel the government needs to mandate free birth control for all, and don’t support gay marriage.
The left, on the other hand, wants you to have your privacy unless you agree with any of the above ideas. Plus, they want to make sure all kids have had a thorough sex education, have been taught about gay history, and will get legally involved in disputes about whether an adult college student was too drunk to give a heartfelt “yes” to some guy.
MayBee (081489) — 9/19/2011 @ 8:43 pm“I find it humorous how so many of you actually think people like Markos Moulitsas and Arianna Huffington represent the left.”
Prepostericity – I find it humorous you think you understand how people here think and illustrate that by brandishing stereotypes. Very deep.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/19/2011 @ 8:52 pmI have said some things i’m not proud about.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/19/2011 @ 9:09 pmAnd yes the left believe in privacy unless you disagree.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/19/2011 @ 9:11 pmSpeaking of the fringe, Misfit Politics, who did Attaaaack Watch, has another classic out (see Gatewaypundit): Days of Rage. Funny!
Patricia (1832e5) — 9/19/2011 @ 9:15 pmFunny thing is, Palin supports teaching kids contraception, meaning she doesn’t support limiting sex ed to “abstinence-only”. She wants kids to be told the truth, which includes both knowledge of sex and when and how to politely decline it.
alwaysfiredup (23de9f) — 9/19/2011 @ 9:23 pmI know i mean i don’t always agree with Palin supporters but they are right on about this.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/19/2011 @ 9:25 pm“Comment by DohBiden — 9/19/2011 @ 9:25 pm”
I loves me some Palin. Especially the way she makes libturds head assplode all over the place. 😆
peedoffamerican (ee1de0) — 9/19/2011 @ 9:34 pmOops ” heads”
peedoffamerican (ee1de0) — 9/19/2011 @ 9:35 pmApproximately what year did condoms and bananas become a staple in Health Science classes? We did not have any bananas in my health science class that I remember and I think I would have remembered it.
elissa (eb1e16) — 9/19/2011 @ 9:37 pmTo those who say Palin set up a windfalls profit tax you must realize that started in 76 with the permanent fund…………don’t agree with Palin on that but that is true.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/19/2011 @ 9:40 pmNever mind head romneytard Dreadnought just said Palin was responsible for it never mind.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/19/2011 @ 9:44 pmSo when the left starts to praise Perry and or Cain can we thrwm them under the bus too?
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/19/2011 @ 9:45 pmthrow*
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/19/2011 @ 9:46 pm“We did not have any bananas in my health science class that I remember and I think I would have remembered it.”
elissa – Next year Obama has mandated the use of F*cksaws as a teaching aid.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/19/2011 @ 10:08 pmI just got a dog. As for that “dogma” word, you’ll have to explain it to me. I’m just a prosecutor in Los Angeles and don’t have much of that, whaddya call, book learnin’.
I’ll echo the irony noted by others: that you are commenting on a site that you say nobody cares about.
Patterico (f724ca) — 9/19/2011 @ 10:15 pmI’ll note that there are certain elements of the fringe left who care, very deeply, about this blog.
Some of them are mentally ill, of course. But they care! And that’s what counts.
Patterico (f724ca) — 9/19/2011 @ 10:17 pmYou know you better be afraid he has karma so he can run over your dogma.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/19/2011 @ 10:23 pmI went to Prospericity once…it was closed. (Channeling W.C.Fields)
Gazzer (538976) — 9/19/2011 @ 10:29 pmThose that the Left fears, it attacks.
Another Drew - Restore the Republic / Obama Sucks! (7ce0f9) — 9/19/2011 @ 11:04 pm…it’s going to be a long election year.
Another Drew - Restore the Republic / Obama Sucks! (7ce0f9) — 9/19/2011 @ 11:05 pmYou missed that I was slagging both sides. I was voicing my opinion of how futile the internet is as a vehicle for positive social change.
How is Markos Moulitsas the left? How are those goon e-thugs the left?
Where are their campaigns to help the poor? Where are their campaigns to cut the military industrial complex by even a mere 50%?
What exactly are they trying to accomplish with blogging? To be actual activists or to make money?
You know I like you Patterico.
But it is what it is.
You’ve got drool coming out of the side of your mouth talking about the fringe left. Those elements are more right or self-interest wooing left than close to being actual supporters of socialist philosophy. They are closer to Libertarian than Left. I’m saying those people are in actuality apolitical. They are opportunistic capitalists, and they don’t care who gets hurt.
There’s something else going on here that transcends traditional politics. The internet is mirroring the wild, wild west with its rise in fascism, war, and an escalating police state with its increasing dependence on spy factories.
Of course, if people realised no one actually cares about anything we say in the blogosphere, those donation boxes would dry up very quickly. As someone who’s never made one cent off the internet, and who went into this thinking it could be a vehicle for positive social change, I am no longer so naive. Don’t sound dogmatic, and you won’t be easily pinned as such.
Prepostericity (5a9d3c) — 9/19/2011 @ 11:24 pmMERE????
Cutting it in half is “mere“????
So cutting 50% from Social Security (which is an even bigger budget item than the military) would be a “mere”?
Scott Jacobs (d027b8) — 9/19/2011 @ 11:38 pm“I was voicing my opinion of how futile the internet is as a vehicle for positive social change.”
Everybody knows that if you’re not working for positive social change, you’re not working for anything and that if nobody important says they’re paying attention to the internet, it’s just not cool anymore.
Kumbaya, that is all.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/19/2011 @ 11:42 pmI think the MIC should be cut by at least 80%.
Prepostericity (5a9d3c) — 9/19/2011 @ 11:43 pmThat would solve all economic problems. Everyone should have the right to a job with a decent minimum wage or given a livable dole if that opportunity is not provided. So where are these ideas being spouted by who ye label the fringe left? They are the fake fringe left! That’s my point.
Prepostericity (5a9d3c) — 9/19/2011 @ 11:46 pmWow. I had forgotten just how stupid you were.
Thanks for reminding me.
Scott Jacobs (d027b8) — 9/19/2011 @ 11:49 pmScott – We are all supposed to bow before the received wisdom of Prepostericity, otherwise we and the rest of the internets are doing it wrong and are worthless.
GET WITH THE PROGRAM!!!!!
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/19/2011 @ 11:52 pm#40 Alwaysfiredup:
There is no reason that supporting an abstinence only (until marriage) program is incompatible with a program teaching about contraception. The whole point of abstinence only was that the govt. would increase the funding for teen sex education by about 10% if the new funding were only to be spent of abstinence education. It was never intended to be exclusive of other sex education, but instead to insure that abstinence could be taught. There are other reasons to dislike abstinence only programs but that they prohibit teaching about contraception elsewhere is not a legitimate one, since they don’t.
max (2f2a28) — 9/20/2011 @ 12:35 am“You guys are living in a plastic bubble if you actually believe things are looking good for your party’s political prospects.”
The Republicans are doing a lot better (at the national level, anyway) the last couple of decades then they have since the 1920s.
It’s the other guys that are losing ground.
Might want to check election results, sometime.
Dave Surls (be1956) — 9/20/2011 @ 1:15 amYou have to love it when some @$$hat tries to seem objective, but fails miserably. The irrelevancy of telling others how irrelevant they are is quite amusing. Bravo!
∅ (e7577d) — 9/20/2011 @ 2:03 am“Scott – We are all supposed to bow before the received wisdom of Prepostericity”
Yeah?
If he’s so wise, then why is he getting sued by a loser like Brett Kimberlin?
Dave Surls (be1956) — 9/20/2011 @ 2:48 amI think the MIC should be cut by at least 80%.
Oh, heroic, leftwing vanguard! The peeples need clear thinkers such as Comrade Preposterous!
ColonelHaiku (87d081) — 9/20/2011 @ 4:09 amI give you indication that Think REgress is in part funded by the Sauds, in a similar way, that Arianna’s fortune was staked with oil money, from Indonesia, that the Sr. Brown helped secure.
ian cormac (ed5f69) — 9/20/2011 @ 4:58 amIrony, it what’s for breakfast:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2011/09/20/2011-09-20_mr_prez_youre_too_upbeat_gotta_go_negative_say_experts.html
ian cormac (ed5f69) — 9/20/2011 @ 5:23 am“There is none so devout as a newly reformed whore.”
mojo (8096f2) — 9/20/2011 @ 7:39 amApproximately what year did condoms and bananas become a staple in Health Science classes? We did not have any bananas in my health science class that I remember and I think I would have remembered it.
Right?
I don’t remember learning anything about birth control in high school. I also don’t remember anybody being confused about its existence and purpose.
I do think there might have been an optional class that students could take- but maybe that was in college. The textbook included vivid descriptions of things like circle jerks. To this day I wonder if they were ever really common enough to warrant a spot in a text book.
MayBee (081489) — 9/20/2011 @ 7:56 amMaybee – I remember banana eating contests which were usually an alternative to wet T-shirt contests and neither took place in educational institutions of the variety of which you speak.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/20/2011 @ 8:32 am______________________________________________
There is no real left in America. I find it humorous how so many of you actually think people like Markos Moulitsas and Arianna Huffington represent the left. Or that Obama is a socialist.
Your main problem is that I bet you fall for the notion that liberal biases and liberal voting habits somehow mean a person therefore is generous, compassionate, sophisticated, educated, benevolent and wonderful in general. Or that those qualities certainly are far more evident on the left than what’s true of those in the middle or certainly on the right.
Time for more of you on the left to start looking in the mirror…
______________________________________________
Mark (411533) — 9/20/2011 @ 8:53 amJust to be clear, I know what the textbook said because I read a friend’s copy (who wouldn’t?). I didn’t take the class, which is why I can’t remember if it was in high school or college. I thought it would be embarrassing to have that on a transcript. I suppose if I ever run for office that will be used as justification to inspect every inch of my private life.
MayBee (081489) — 9/20/2011 @ 9:49 amWhat is a circle jerk, MayBee?
JD (318f81) — 9/20/2011 @ 10:06 amCrickets chirping .. 😉
JD (318f81) — 9/20/2011 @ 10:53 amOh, the temptation, JD. Oh, the temptation.
SPQR (26be8b) — 9/20/2011 @ 11:04 amSaw that in Eye-talian movie I watched back in a college film course. Actually got credit.
I’m not grateful to you for bringing that memory back.
Pious Agnostic (7c3d5b) — 9/20/2011 @ 11:20 am“What is a circle jerk, MayBee?”
JD – Not to speak for Maybee, but I believe a circle jerk is what the Democrats have been engaging in in the U.S. Senate over the past 32 months.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 9/20/2011 @ 11:36 amI await MayBee’s description 😉
JD (318f81) — 9/20/2011 @ 11:45 amA circle jerk is the sex position that Bawney Fwank uses on his male escorts.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/20/2011 @ 11:54 amNobody told me there’d be a test.
MayBee (081489) — 9/20/2011 @ 12:33 pmThat’s OK, MayBee, JD already passed.
SPQR (26be8b) — 9/20/2011 @ 12:52 pmOT, but I didn’t see another convenient thread:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/09/19/lightsquared-second-witness-rejects-white-house-testimony-guidance.html
ian cormac (ed5f69) — 9/20/2011 @ 1:07 pmWhy do the left consider palins racist that is projection.
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/20/2011 @ 2:09 pmhttp://www.washingtontimes.com/blog/watercooler/2011/sep/20/picket-wasserman-schultz-resigns-house-judiciary-c/
ian cormac (ed5f69) — 9/20/2011 @ 2:25 pmIndeed, the fringe right does the same things. The only problem is that the fringe left controls academia, the unions, the media and the Democratic Party. It sort of gives them more oomph.
Ken Hahn (76cb4f) — 9/20/2011 @ 6:43 pm🙄
DohBiden (d54602) — 9/20/2011 @ 7:23 pmTake me down to Prepostericity
Icy Texan (db1b3b) — 9/21/2011 @ 1:03 amWhere the grass is green and the girls are pretty
Take . . . me . . . home!