Patterico's Pontifications

Perhaps next week I’ll roll out the collection of hatred that was spewed yesterday at Andrew. It doesn’t feel right today. I’m still full of warm memories from watching clips of him on RedEye last night. His humor and entertaining personality shined through in those clips. I don’t want to rain on that sunshine right now.

Patterico (feda6b) — 3/2/2012 @ 7:15 am

I’m not reading any of it. In this world there is good and there is evil. Andrew Breitbart was good.I know he is in a better place, but that doesn’t soften the blow. May he rest in eternal peace and may God give comfort to his friends and family.

slypork (31a840) — 3/2/2012 @ 7:29 am

I remember someone swearing “Breitbart, you magnificent bastard…” after the Anthony Weiner press conference. And that’s how I always thought of him. Brilliant man.

Book (672658) — 3/2/2012 @ 7:39 am

The part that no one gets is that Andrew Breitbart didn’t tolerate hypocrites from either party. Which is why the people who call him bigoted need to have their souls (if they have them) cleaned with steel wool to get that nastiness removed.

Disagree with the man if you like; he was committed to honesty and forthrightness.

Simon Jester (995bf7) — 3/2/2012 @ 8:02 am

Plus, he made me laugh when he guest hosted the Dennis Miller show.

Simon Jester (995bf7) — 3/2/2012 @ 8:02 am

Mickey Kaus as far as I can tell, is a moderate Democrat but someone I can respect.

http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/02/andrew-breitbart-r-i-p-2/

James Joyner, David Frum hail from the Right. I want no part of anything they believe in and will never knowingly stand with them.

http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/speaking-ill-of-the-dead/

Good and Evil may seem a bit of a muddle this side of the Great Divide, but it will not always be so.

gary gulrud (1de2db) — 3/2/2012 @ 8:14 am

I still can’t believe he’s gone. I think his genius, and what will be most missed, is his understanding of how important culture is. As a former liberal, I know that they know that!

I remember seeing a program about the origins of conservatism, and I thought, these eastern seaboard guys are interesting in one thing: electing a president. How short sighted. Andrew knew that was the end game, not the beginning.

Hopefully that message will not be lost.

Patricia (e1d89d) — 3/2/2012 @ 8:18 am

I’d forgotten he had a book

happyfeet (3c92a1) — 3/2/2012 @ 8:20 am

That was the man in a nutshell. From that Weinergate press conference he practically hijacked to Retracto the Correction Alpaca, Breitbart simply wouldn’t take the BS. He was going to stand up and point it out, and do it so well you’d either agree with him or stubbornly ignore him.

That’s what the subsequent smears really were. They were replacing Breitbart with a caricature, such as Frum’s completely unfounded and ridiculous race baiter myth or Weiner/Rauhauser’s insane hacker myth.

I do think the stress of showing what the news really is wasn’t nearly as great as the stress of fighting off these personal destruction myths. It’s probably unseemly to say, but I look to those who gleefully smeared Breitbart and his allies when wondering how Breitbart’s health failed.

But Breitbart wasn’t going to take it. He had to know this stuff was very stressful, but he just wasn’t going to let them lie.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/2/2012 @ 8:36 am

I am a lurker here, but I had to come out of the shadows to agree with gary gulrud’s 8:14 comment.

centralcal (d4318e) — 3/2/2012 @ 8:39 am

Gary, thanks for the link. I can’t say I’ve ever been to the daily caller before, even though the name Mickey Kaus is ubiquitous (when you get your stuff from patterico, who needs to go anywhere else?). But I must say, he seems to deserve respect as he so willingly gives it (where it is due).

MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 3/2/2012 @ 8:42 am

A reminder that Saint Shirly is still pursuing her lawsuit against the estate, as nice as her words were yesterday.

narciso (87e966) — 3/2/2012 @ 9:05 am

A reminder that Saint Shirly is still pursuing her lawsuit against the estate, as nice as her words were yesterday.

Comment by narciso

When she defrauded us for her USDA settlement. When she took a paycheck from the taxpayers even though she didn’t treat most of us as equals.
When she pursued a lawsuit against the family of a truth teller who is deceased.

It’s always been about the cash.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/2/2012 @ 9:09 am

You know it’s a shame, because both she and her husband, in a tough time, really were heroes in a way, it’s much like with John Lewis, who has become
yet another hack.

narciso (87e966) — 3/2/2012 @ 9:11 am

yes politico says the suit goes on…

I *think* this *might be* a defense fund that would help the Breitbart estate in this matter, but it’s not really clear

but if Miss Shirley believes she was defamed she deserves her day in court I think, just as Mr. O’Keefe deserves his

happyfeet (3c92a1) — 3/2/2012 @ 9:21 am

It’s amazing to me that you can show a video of someone confessing to being a racist and they sue you because you didn’t show the part where they talk about how classwarfare is more important than racism.

Like I even care.

If she didn’t want to be held responsible for her racism, she shouldn’t have given a speech about it.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/2/2012 @ 9:21 am

but if Miss Shirley believes she was defamed she deserves her day in court I think, just as Mr. O’Keefe deserves his

Comment by happyfeet

Yes, she deserves her day in court. But she is wrong.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/2/2012 @ 9:22 am

Miss Shirley said Breitbart wanted to go back to the days of slavery.

MayBee (081489) — 3/2/2012 @ 9:46 am

Yes, that’s right, Maybee. She said such awful things about Breitbart that only make sense to her because of the color of Andrew’s skin. That comment was baseless. And now she’s trying to sue his estate.

Was there any lie on Breitbart’s website about her? No.

Did the NAACP look awful in that video? Yes.

They say politics ain’t beanbag, but that’s really the understatement of all time.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/2/2012 @ 9:51 am

As much as I love, love, love Frum — he’s wrong on Breitbart.

acat (a426f2) — 3/2/2012 @ 10:02 am

Someone likes Frum still? Free country. I’m glad you see his error on Breitbart. I thought it was incredibly inappropriate to trash him with nothing but speculation about his motives (because the facts actually show the opposite of bigotry).

And to do it on the day the man died reeked of ‘I to get attention’. He didn’t just offer polite criticism, he tore into the man’s character when his friends and family were (and are) grieving.

I’m glad even a fan of Frum can see it.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/2/2012 @ 10:07 am

The press conference!

My god! After a day misspent at work surfing the web, reading everything I could about Weinergate (not least of all at this site) only to go home, and turn on the news to see The Magnificent Andrew Breitbart up on that podium!

Thrilling and surreal and genuine and brave. Which, I gather, was the real deal.

Pious Agnostic (7c3d5b) — 3/2/2012 @ 10:14 am

Miss Shirley is a stupid person and it’s hard to feel sympathy sometimes for stupid people when they say stupid things. But the poor dummy was thrust into a spotlight she didn’t really seek.

happyfeet (a55ba0) — 3/2/2012 @ 10:18 am

She was. But if Obama hadn’t been so hot to have her fired, she’d still be a-ok.
How is Obama still a hero if he’s fine having a black woman fired without due diligence just because Andrew Breitbart put a video on the internet?

MayBee (081489) — 3/2/2012 @ 10:22 am

yes Obama underbussed Miss Shirley lickety split

this is what cowardly job-rapers do

but poor dumb Shirley doesn’t seem to understand that Obama threw her to the curb like stinky stinky trash

bless her heart

happyfeet (a55ba0) — 3/2/2012 @ 10:27 am

But the poor dummy was thrust into a spotlight she didn’t really seek.

Yes, I understand that. When she gave that speech to the NAACP, which some have described as taking personal responsibility for her choices as a taxpayer funded bureacrat, she did not want me to ever even know about it, let alone complain. That was only for the NAACP… the guys who cheered. That was the context for the ‘let’s take that racism and funnel it into class warfare’ thesis.

That someone sent Breitbart part of this speech, and he honestly described and presented it… why that’s just not what Sherrod allowed him to do.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/2/2012 @ 10:35 am

I don’t think that much of the quote, because I’m a right winger, not a conservative.

Right wingers want limited government (ours is about ten times too big in my estimation), conservatives just want to keep things the way they are.

Dave Surls (46b08c) — 3/2/2012 @ 10:49 am

Good for Kaus. He’s another guy who has most always struck me as an honest/”let the chips fall where they may” sort.

Honesty, tenacity and courage are to be cherished.

Colonel Haiku (0d9d91) — 3/2/2012 @ 10:54 am

“Miss Shirley is a stupid person…”

Smart enough to ride for free her entire life, slopping at the public trough…and, without ever doing a single useful thing to boot.

Dave Surls (46b08c) — 3/2/2012 @ 10:58 am

He may have had some “South Park Conservative” values in relation to social issues, but I dare say none here would ever call him a “squish”.

We have lost a true-blue hero and, as others have suggested, the best tribute to him will be to carry on in the same spirit.

“You wish to honor the man? Very well then: take up his sword and fight as he did.”

– Josh Trevino

Colonel Haiku (0d9d91) — 3/2/2012 @ 11:00 am

what people forget is that Breitbart framed the speech as describing events as if they had occurred in her current position with the administration, even though that was belied by the video he released

that was the hook that launched the story and scared the crap out of the obama administration

but it was all stuff that had happened in a bygone era, and the Sherrod speech taken as a whole in the here and now was unremarkable and inoffensive, and at the end of the day there was no good reason for Breitbart to have demonized the reminiscings of some random dumb nobody, and he paid a price for that in reputation and credibility

happyfeet (a55ba0) — 3/2/2012 @ 11:09 am

what people forget is that Breitbart framed the speech as describing events as if they had occurred in her current position with the administration

Did he really? Perhaps he was simply under the impression that folks who have behaved that way should be held responsible, without giving much thought to if this happened today or 100 years ago.

And her comments did describe her conduct while being funded by the taxpayer, so why shouldn’t she be held accountable? How much should we trust this person in their loftier role?

the Sherrod speech taken as a whole in the here and now was unremarkable and inoffensive,

That’s your opinion, and I’m sorry you feel that way. She said those words in a speech to the NAACP, and if someone wants to put that on their website and criticize the attitude of the NAACP audience accurately, it doesn’t really seem relevant that someone else finds this speech inoffensive.

Suing this person, or really suing their bereaved family, doesn’t feel right just because the speech was ‘inoffensive’ after it’s spun just the right way.

She called whites their own kind and justified racism. Her argument against racism was not impressive… it was simply that it’s superceded by class warfare ism.

Breitbart is not psychic and did not have the full video (which actually still has a missing segment I doubt we ever see but the context suggests may have been offensive). He described what he had honestly, and far from hiding the rest of the video, pointed to it.

What Sherrod should have done was explain herself if she had a good explanation (Which I’ve never heard). Alternatively, she should have resigned and refunded her grants and salary to the taxpayers, apologizing.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/2/2012 @ 11:18 am

“the Sherrod speech taken as a whole in the here and now was unremarkable and inoffensive”

I find her entire life to be offensive.

1.) A lifelong practioner of racial discrimination (hint: that makes her a racist…by definition).

2.) A career welfare leech, who I’ve been forced to subsidize at the point of a gun, thanks to taxation and commie style government redistributionist programs (and bogus lawsuits).

3.) A complete waste of skin, who never did a useful thing in her entire life. See point number two for why that’s important to me.

I think she’s a worthless piece of garbage, which is neither here nor there, as long as I don’t have to support her.

Shining a spotlight on her and getting her fired was one of the best things Andrew Breitbart ever did.

Dave Surls (46b08c) — 3/2/2012 @ 11:28 am

Patrick, you got to see Breitbart up close and personal in a way that most people did not, and you therefore saw him at his best. He was a warm loving human being, devoted to family and firm in friendship, and always thought himself honest and with the best intentions. But he helped make American politics, and the world in general, an uglier place, and that is ultimately what he will be remembered for.

No one should be glad he is dead, but no one should see him as a force for the better, because, even with all his good intentions (and even perhaps misled by those good intentions) he degraded the world, not improved it.

That probably grates on your feelings, and I’m sorry that they do, but I think it had to be said. And I think that Breitbart, if he was as devoted to honesty and integrity as you think he was, would want it said.

And with that, I’ll shut up. I offered condolences yesterday to you, and that was truly meant, and still holds.

JBS (279857) — 3/2/2012 @ 11:42 am

#34

Baloney.

Scumbags like the kids at ACORN or Shirley Sherrod are the ones who degrade. Breitbart’s organization basically put them out of business (temporarliy, anyway) and that’s a plus.

Step one in fighting cockroaches is to shine a bright light on them, and he did a good job of doing that.

And, btw, it ain’t the flashlight’s fault that cockroaches are ugly.

Dave Surls (46b08c) — 3/2/2012 @ 11:55 am

no one should see him as a force for the better, because, even with all his good intentions (and even perhaps misled by those good intentions) he degraded the world, not improved it.

I’m sorry that you never understood this amazing man and what he was accomplishing. You missed out.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/2/2012 @ 12:00 pm

Kid asked me to look over a paper of his on Eudaimonia and Aristotle today.

I was fairly struck how much Breitbart seemed to embody that philosopher’s ideas of fulfilled potential.
I suppose that’s kind of a tangent to go off on thinking of Breitbart, but it also struck me how much AB did to help others realize their own potential and collective potential. He has brought a lot of that happiness into the word. He wasn’t just living but DOING well with his time.

Nobody can be him, but I will be thinking about him the next time I am virtuosly lounging around watching Toddlers and Tiaras.

Sarahw (b0e533) — 3/2/2012 @ 12:18 pm

==But he helped make American politics, and the world in general, an uglier place, and that is ultimately what he will be remembered for.==

American politics and the world in general was a very ugly place long long before Andrew arrived on the scene. If anything, I’ll always remember him as a person who tried to shine a light on some of the embedded ugly and change some of that. He certainly made me see things in a new way. I’m sorry that you seem to be so closed minded and narrowly focused that you cannot allow yourself to see any of his societal contributions–many of which have been clearly and prominently and poignantly covered in the past day.

elissa (097996) — 3/2/2012 @ 12:41 pm

Breitbart was to have released tape of Obama with Ayres and Dohrn on March 1st. His death delayed the event. Anyone know who has possession of those tapes now, and when they will be published?

ropelight (3341c7) — 3/2/2012 @ 1:16 pm

ropelight, those tapes will be published in 7-10 days.

According to Steve Bannon.

I don’t think it’s publicly known exactly where that material is, and I assume it’s digitized and in multiple places.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/2/2012 @ 1:20 pm

i think the graphic at the top of last night’s ONT says it all: Breitbart Expects You To Carry On

redc1c4, proud AoS moron (403dff) — 3/2/2012 @ 2:04 pm

JBS:

But he helped make American politics, and the world in general, an uglier place, and that is ultimately what he will be remembered for.

Andrew Breitbart helped launch the Huffington Post, a website originally conceived to bring together people from both sides that today’s Wiki describes as “a liberal/left commentary outlet and alternative to news aggregators such as the Drudge Report.” Is this an example of how Breitbart made the world an uglier place?

When you read obituaries and retrospectives about Andrew Breitbart from people who knew him, they describe a person who believed in reaching out to both sides. In fact, in the hours before he died, he was at a neighborhood bar engaged in a “friendly debate” about politics with a liberal. Is this an example of how Breitbart made the world an uglier place?

DRJ (a83b8b) — 3/2/2012 @ 3:59 pm

JBS,

I think what galls liberals the most about Andrew Breitbart is that he used the left’s tactics to make conservative points and expose the truth.

DRJ (a83b8b) — 3/2/2012 @ 4:02 pm

It’s a good thing that Sully isn’t a conservative anymore, or that quote would be provably untrue.

Kevin M (bf8ad7) — 3/2/2012 @ 4:03 pm

much like Fredo, with
The Passing of David Frum
he’s dead to me now

Colonel Haiku (9bb4a0) — 3/2/2012 @ 4:11 pm

But he helped make American politics, and the world in general, an uglier place, and that is ultimately what he will be remembered for.

If fighting for truth, on behalf of truth and because truth compels, then yes, he made the world an uglier place – but one only sees and believes it is ugliness because it is filtered through a thick lens of dishonesty.

Dana (4eca6e) — 3/2/2012 @ 4:55 pm

34. When the shootin’ starts then you will know ugly. Keep your head on swivel because Left and Right won’t mean a damn thing, bro.

gary gulrud (d88477) — 3/2/2012 @ 5:31 pm

you know you got my sympathy but don’t shoot shoot shoot that thing at me

happyfeet (3c92a1) — 3/2/2012 @ 5:34 pm

48. You’re quite safe until you come for our water. But I expect things to fly apart long before then.

gary gulrud (d88477) — 3/2/2012 @ 5:45 pm

this isn’t going to end well you can tell by how viciously obama has rape rape raped our little country’s trembling and vulnerable little treasury

and how fast

and how remorselessly

America is the kitty genovese of nations anymore

happyfeet (3c92a1) — 3/2/2012 @ 5:52 pm

50 “America is the kitty genovese of nations”

At the risk of irking Icy, Greece gets pride of place her in the West(not ignoring Sudan or places south, just contagion is more likely).

They are entering 5th year of recession. January they were down 7% on GDP, in February they’ve fallen off the cliff.

The whole EU is optimistically pegged to contract 4%. Iran has stopped oil shipments to England, France and Greece and Israel is weeks from preemptive attack.

November is a very long way off.

gary gulrud (d88477) — 3/2/2012 @ 6:13 pm

but people are stopping and pointing at greece and calling the authorities in alarm at her plight

but for america, only silence but for a ceaseless droning buzzy yammer about the perils of contraception

happyfeet (3c92a1) — 3/2/2012 @ 6:23 pm

It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived. — George S. Patton

the Left wants a war, and i have no problem with giving them what they think they want.

bring it on.

redc1c4 (403dff) — 3/2/2012 @ 6:36 pm

It’s yet another unrevocable entitlement that the left wants, that feeds their primary business model
of Planned Parenthood, hence the whole Komen brouhaha, they cannot have their social preferences
inplemented into law, one might say state over church.

christopher boyce (87e966) — 3/2/2012 @ 6:53 pm

yes we should make this election a referendum on contraception

happyfeet (3c92a1) — 3/2/2012 @ 6:55 pm

Thanks, happy, because we all know that’s the most important thing.

Seriously, can we get off the contreception crap and talk about the important issues?

Ag80 (b0b671) — 3/2/2012 @ 9:00 pm

Well there is a prophylactic quality, to the shunning of the Keystone pipeline, the EPA regulations on coal plants, the rules against
Farm dust, raw milk, etc

narciso (87e966) — 3/2/2012 @ 9:08 pm

the republican party tried and failed to move a MAJOR contraception bill yesterday Mr. Ag, sponsored in part by Team R’s probable veep candidate

it would have helped more women avoid the evils of contraceptive devices, thereby securing for them a place in heaven with Lucille Ball and Kurt Cobain and Denis Thatcher

Cap’n Ed sez…

What now? This puts the onus right back on the White House. Clearly, this issue isn’t going away no matter how badly the media reports on it.

This is the hill.

Now is the time.

happyfeet (3c92a1) — 3/2/2012 @ 9:55 pm

And David Frum has solidified my decision not to respect Frum at all.

You are deciding this just now?

I came to that conclusion almost a year and a half ago, when he got mad at having to distance himself from an admitted, unapologetic pederast.

Scott Jacobs (2b95c2) — 3/2/2012 @ 11:25 pm

it would have helped more women avoid the evils of contraceptive devices,

You mendacious tw*twaffle, it would have done nothing of the f*cking sort, and you either know it but are being purposefully deceitful, or you are a f*cking moron.

What it ACTUALLY would have done is make it so that employers with strong convictions against BC were not forced to have BC be covered on the health insurance plans.

Which, I would point out – you slathering dips*th – MOST plans don’t cover it, because it is so god damned CHEAP, it is less than the co-pay limit, making it’s coverage pointless. The only time it gets covered is those rare instances when it is used as a treatment for other condition, in which case it isn’t being used as BC, but as actual medication.

In which case, the Church actually doesn’t say it is wrong, and would be OK with it. You just can’t take BC specifically so you don’t get knocked up.

And I just realized that typing that was f*cking pointless, because you’re too f*cking stupid for it to make it through the 8 or 9 layers of thick, lead-like skull.

Scott Jacobs (51c044) — 3/2/2012 @ 11:36 pm

the important thing is the contraception menace is on notice that Team R isn’t gonna turn a blind eye anymores

happyfeet (3c92a1) — 3/2/2012 @ 11:43 pm

Not having to associate yourself or your church with contraception is a fundamental liberty.

This is worth fighting for. Social liberals shouldn’t care that they favor contraception. Most people do. That’s not the point. The point is freedom.

How is this even controversial?

The idea the right has made this a hill to die on is frankly giving the right way too much credit. This isn’t a tough call and it is the democrats making this an issue in hopes of deflecting from the economy… from good energy policy… from the sliver of a vanishing chance the GOP might slow the rate of growth in the government.

Folks like Santorum and other conservatives like him are superior to Obama on energy policy and many other issues, and defining their campaign by something very limited in potential changes to our society is irrational, in my opinion.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/2/2012 @ 11:44 pm

it has nothing to do with freedom at all.. the catholic bishops were smiling in high cotton as obamacare raped America… until their own stupid 7th century beliefs were threatened

then all of a sudden they discover the goddamn constitution

screw them

happyfeet (3c92a1) — 3/2/2012 @ 11:54 pm

the appropriate place to decide whether or not there’s a constitutional question implicated by obamacare’s inherent fascisms is in the courts I think

in real life, as our pitiful little country rests uneasily on a precarious precipice of squalor and debt and fail, Team R has no business carrying water for a handful of bishops with arcane contraception superstitions

Obamacare is wrong wrong wrong and decidedly not America from soup to nuts

if the catholic bishops want to fight the good fight, then I’m happy to stand with them

but I’m not going to worry my pretty little head about the bishops’ vaunted religious freedoms if they continue to not give a rat’s ass about my secular ones

happyfeet (3c92a1) — 3/3/2012 @ 12:18 am

Actually, that’s exactly what freedom is like.

I don’t even notice DADT or gay marriage. I do not notice the fifth amendment or the eighth. Depending on how minor the change is, I probably would not notice until it came to my doorstep.

Yes, plenty of fools palled around with the loss of freedoms they didn’t care about. But fundamental rights are not a matter of justice. I don’t need to take away the free speech of Mitt Romney just because of his second amendment record.

It’s not about what’s fair. That’s not what freedom is about at all.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg, as all freedom destructions are. First MA just wanted the register guns. Now it bans plenty of them and wants a $100 penalty per gun registered.

Wickard wanted Filburn to destroy his wheat. Now they can force me to enter into a contract for health insurance.

First Obama wanted to use Obamacare to force a subsidized class of products like condoms and the pill. They can and will do more, when they get away with this. They might even do something you don’t like.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/3/2012 @ 12:21 am

Mr. Dustin what I feel is that the freedoms implicated in the contraception kerfuffle pale to insignificance next to the ones implicated by the worstest most statist and fascist elements of obamacare

obamacare doesn’t become an iota more just or proper or condign if Team R were to succeed in carving out some tiny freedom for an incredibly small fraction of Americans

it’s an abomination, and one these bishops very much welcomed

happyfeet (3c92a1) — 3/3/2012 @ 12:25 am

the appropriate place to decide whether or not there’s a constitutional question implicated by obamacare’s inherent fascisms is in the courts I think

They are who decides what the law is. But the legislature has a responsibility to keep the laws constitutional and exercise oversight, so that the laws are executed as intended.

but I’m not going to worry my pretty little head about the bishops’ vaunted religious freedoms if they continue to not give a rat’s ass about my secular ones

That is a form of justice. And there’s logic in allowing Obamacare to blossom into the fully unfree monster, so that we can slay it.

I don’t really have confidence we would… we aren’t a strong society. But making the Catholic Church feel the error of Obamacare makes some sense.

This little contraception thing is wrong, though.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/3/2012 @ 12:25 am

Mr. Dustin what I feel is that the freedoms implicated in the contraception kerfuffle pale to insignificance next to the ones implicated by the worstest most statist and fascist elements of obamacare

Absolutely.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/3/2012 @ 12:26 am

I know the contraception thing is wrong.

Just for so you know I know.

happyfeet (3c92a1) — 3/3/2012 @ 12:30 am

I guess we could compare this to banning the democrat party.

I would oppose that. But they did usher in a freedom trashing Obamacare against the will of the American people. So many would probably laugh it off.

That’s overdramatic as we’re only talking about subsidizing contraception and aborti… facients? I never heard that word before a couple weeks ago.

I do worry that a GOP that lets this stuff slide for tactical reasons is underestimating Obama and overestimating loyalty of those this pisses off. So I’m glad they aren’t making the same mistake they made with prior issues.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/3/2012 @ 12:32 am

Just for so you know I know.

Comment by happyfeet

You just don’t think it’s worth a ruckus in context of pressing issues. I understand where you’re coming from.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/3/2012 @ 12:32 am

yes that’s it exactly

good night my sleeping pills are starting to hit me

happyfeet (3c92a1) — 3/3/2012 @ 12:40 am

You are deciding this just now?

Solidified vs. deciding?

Patterico (feda6b) — 3/3/2012 @ 2:59 am

even with all his good intentions (and even perhaps misled by those good intentions) he degraded the world, not improved it.

Your examples are compelling.

No, wait. They’re non-existent.

Did he screw up a couple of times? Sure. Did he degrade the world? Absurd. Just absolutely absurd.

Patterico (feda6b) — 3/3/2012 @ 3:01 am

Hope your doing alright, Patrick.

sickofrinos (44de53) — 3/3/2012 @ 3:11 am

34. The Rabboni:

[10] “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. [11] The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men — robbers, evildoers, adulterers — or even like this tax collector. [12] I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

[13] “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

[14] “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

gary gulrud (d88477) — 3/3/2012 @ 4:24 am

“And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months.”

gary gulrud (d88477) — 3/3/2012 @ 4:45 am

Make your travel plans before jet fuel doubles:

http://www.whatwillhappenin2012now.com/2012-prediction/what-will-happen-on-december-20-2012/

Enoch and Elijah were taken early too.

gary gulrud (d88477) — 3/3/2012 @ 5:16 am

It’s too bad we’ll never get to hear the kind words of support he would have offered to Sandra Fluke.

TeleprompterJesus (826205) — 3/3/2012 @ 6:26 am

“what people forget is that Breitbart framed the speech as describing events as if they had occurred in her current position with the administration, even though that was belied by the video he released”

And then when called out on it, like a blowhard demanded that evidence be shown to counter his evidence-free claim. When the evidence was his video itself.

TeleprompterJesus (826205) — 3/3/2012 @ 6:30 am

80. Ankle biters love to go on and on about points they never get around to establishing:

http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=37954

Meanwhile the push candidates that are shameless lying cruds and tell the rest of us we’re responsible for the death of Amerikkka if we don’t vote for them.

GFY telly, you dumbazz coward.

gary gulrud (d88477) — 3/3/2012 @ 7:28 am

In the words of ‘Flounder, this is going to work out great’

http://proteinwisdom.com/?p=37957

herb simpson (87e966) — 3/3/2012 @ 7:32 am

If we take out Ogabe and leave Rove in place we’ve haven’t accomplished squat. Just helped the Mensheviks bulldoze the Bolsheviks.

gary gulrud (d88477) — 3/3/2012 @ 7:50 am

Herb, wow. Thank you.

I was right about Romney.

Unfortunately, this is a stunning indictment on the competence of everyone who ran against Romney. Romney wrote an op ed telling Obama to use the individual mandate at the federal level in USA Today, and they didn’t know about that?

They want to run for President, and they can’t put someone on reading every dame word Romney has written?

This makes Romney look… well… exactly as I’ve argued he is. His comments about how he never thought the ind mandate should be federal, and particularly about Perry’s criticism of his book discussing it, were simply deception. But that’s politics. Romney did what he had to do to win. The other guys didn’t.

That this would come out now, instead of months ago… that’s pathetic.

And the lessons we learned in Massachusetts could help Washington find it.

explained as

First, we established incentives for those who were uninsured to buy insurance. Using tax penalties, as we did, or tax credits, as others have proposed, encourages “free riders” to take responsibility for themselves rather than pass their medical costs on to others. This doesn’t cost the government a single dollar

and

se those funds instead to help the poor buy private insurance, as we did.

That’s what he told Obama to do in the run up to Obamacare. That’s why he was silent as the Tea Party emerged to oppose it. To those who have watched Mitt in these debates, he just doesn’t look very good.

Mitt wanted to take money from hospitals and use it to subsidize health insurance for the poor, but this in MA increased demand a great deal, and Hospitals still need the support. I understand the idea and a lot of people have offered it in good faith. I’m sure Romney thought the individual mandate on a federal level, when he called for it, was the right way to go. But that’s not what we’re seeing with it in practice. And for Romney to repeatedly and passionately claim he opposed this the whole time… I actually feel sorry for him for doing that to himself, although it’s also frustrating he didn’t just own his real record. That’s really the only thing he owes the GOP.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/3/2012 @ 7:56 am

Romney’s actual column.

How many people told me that Romney believed the exact opposite?

I remember Breitbart praising the authenticity of another candidate, but I also know Breitbart was not on board with this candidate on every issue. It’s worth thinking about what matters most here.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/3/2012 @ 7:59 am

85. Perhaps this occasion?:

http://www.jewishjournal.com/bloggish/item/breitbart_dishes_on_gingrich_weiner_palin_20110613/

gary gulrud (d88477) — 3/3/2012 @ 8:19 am

That’s a great post, Gary. I actually recall the candidate, but I think it’s unseemly to use Breitbart’s praise of this candidate as an argument. Breitbart’s views resonated with all the Romney fans here too, and I don’t want to make this about who agrees with that great man the most, so I didn’t name that candidate.

I merely note he was a fan of authenticity.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/3/2012 @ 8:26 am

Four to 6 weeks for exoneration:

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/03/us-breitbart-death-idUSTRE82203E20120303?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews&rpc=22&sp=true

All the dogsh*t will be fossilized in reprobates’ memories by then and we’ll have to put up with ‘plastic turkey’ in perpetuity.

gary gulrud (d88477) — 3/3/2012 @ 8:55 am

Romney’s actual column.

that the evidence suggests that this “Romney” is of an even more cowardly and whorish disposition than Team R’s last nominee is more a reflection on Team R than on this “Romney” I think

these revelations about his duplicity don’t change the sad sad fact that he remains the best we can do this cycle

happyfeet (3c92a1) — 3/3/2012 @ 9:04 am

these revelations about his duplicity don’t change the sad sad fact that he remains the best we can do this cycle

I really want to say you’re wrong. I cannot in good faith insist you are, because if these others were remotely decent candidates, they would have reported this stuff long ago. Perhaps even a year ago. This was an article in the USA Today… I know most folks don’t read it, but surely someone at a senior level in press and op research would know what all the major candidates had written over the past few years.

I guess I severely overestimated the GOP.

Romney flip flopping on this… even as shamelessly as he did with all those looks right into the eye of the debate cameras and insistence he had never had this position… that’s what he had to do to win. That’s what Romney does and I agree this news changes little about it for those who understood that.

For those who didn’t… who thought Romney’s honor was comparable to other politicians … this hopefully is blatant enough they will understand. At the very least, if we’re going in with Romney, we need to be ready for this.

There is a compelling case that Obama was more honorable in his health care reform record than Romney, now. I will support Romney vs. Obama, but I do not know how to defend him on this and I have never seen a defense that is more advanced than merely saying ‘oh yeah? well you suck and he sucks a lot too’.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/3/2012 @ 9:08 am

the only reason he flip-flops shamelessly is because he has no shame but there’s one point upon which Mitt Romney brooks no equivocation

he wants to be president

really bad

So I say we elect him and then elect a bunch of Rs what promise to stand up to this Ikea-sized bag o’ douche.

happyfeet (3c92a1) — 3/3/2012 @ 9:16 am

That’s the Breibart Spirit, feets!… oh… wait…

Colonel Haiku (0b9d52) — 3/3/2012 @ 9:17 am

happyfeet, I do agree that congress is the real hope we have.

And I think it is a realistic hope though the Presidential ticket will have a huge impact on turnout.

Breitbart was not in service to partisanship or ideology. But he also isn’t ours to use as a playing card in our primary arguments.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/3/2012 @ 9:22 am

the key Mr. Dustin is for Team R voters to be as shameless as Romney in their single-minded desire to evict one particularly trashy trashy rapist from our little White House

happyfeet (3c92a1) — 3/3/2012 @ 9:25 am

If I’m certain I’d vote Romney over Obama, I think most conservatives can be persuaded. I’ve been convinced about Romney’s honor for a long time, and it’s only been reconfirmed abundantly, yet the idea of not supporting him only comes up when his supporters talk about knocking my teeth out… which fortunately for them is not nearly as bad as what Obama’s fringe supporters say and do.

Romney sucks. Obama sucks a lot more.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/3/2012 @ 9:29 am

89. ” don’t change the sad sad fact that he remains the best we can do”

Oxymoronic genius.

Reminds me of the worst accident I ever had, in my tricked out ’78 Civic Wagon on an empty two-lane highway on the way to work.

Young ladies in a Buick Regal sedan pulled out with me right on top of them. Had a choice to pile into the hill behind them or just break straight into their rear quarter.

Closed me up with a few staples to the scalp and a couple stitches above the eye. Great uni-body. Fortunately had the 3/4 ton C-20 as a backup.

gary gulrud (d88477) — 3/3/2012 @ 9:33 am

“And then when called out on it, like a blowhard demanded that evidence be shown to counter his evidence-free claim.”

Like most lefties, you lie.

The one part of the story that was wrong, was subsequently corrected in the original piece at Big Government…and, the correction appears right at the top of the piece.

“Correction: While Ms. Sherrod made the remarks captured in the first video featured in this post while she held a federally appointed position, the story she tells refers to actions she took before she held that federal position.”

http://biggovernment.com/abreitbart/2010/07/19/video-proof-the-naacp-awards-racism2010/

Of course, no one with a functional brain expects lefties (like yourself…or Shirley Sherrod) to tell the truth, so don’t worry about getting caught lying. Happens all the time.

Andrew Sullivan (46b08c) — 3/3/2012 @ 9:58 am

No, pikachu, Team R are Mitten’s retainers, you have it backwards, not surprisingly, and this Obamacare behemoth, like the facehugger, in the Alien series, feeds off and distorts the economy.

narciso (87e966) — 3/3/2012 @ 9:59 am

#97 was mine, and I’m not really Andrew Sullivan.

Thank God.

Dave Surls (46b08c) — 3/3/2012 @ 10:01 am

We know Dave, you showed too much common sense,

narciso (87e966) — 3/3/2012 @ 10:03 am

yet the idea of not supporting him only comes up when his supporters talk about knocking my teeth out

Hyperbolic hysteria.

Colonel Haiku (0b9d52) — 3/3/2012 @ 10:04 am

I’m not terribly surprised, just like the Oxford debate with Ortega, which made Abrams column very silly, didn’t get nearly as much attention, but it
this kind of ‘accepting the memes’ that drove Breitbart right up a wall,

narciso (87e966) — 3/3/2012 @ 10:08 am

“If you are not on the side of the Republican candidate, you are on the OTHER side!”

– Andrew Breitbart

Colonel Haiku (0b9d52) — 3/3/2012 @ 10:10 am

“What’s round on the ends, high in the middle? O-HI-O”

– Mark Mothersbaugh

Colonel Haiku (0b9d52) — 3/3/2012 @ 10:14 am

“If you are not on the side of the Republican candidate, you are on the OTHER side!”

that’s demonstrably not true

happyfeet (3c92a1) — 3/3/2012 @ 10:25 am

Some people just need decaf.

The downward spiral of the GOP is always going to be proportional to the demands for loyalty. If the GOP deserves loyalty it isn’t going to need to demand it. If it demands it, it probably won’t deserve it.

What we need is a candidate who doesn’t require the blind worship and obedience that Obama requires.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/3/2012 @ 10:29 am

“that’s demonstrably not true”

I think it pretty much is true in practice. And, that’s why, come November, I’ll probably hold my nose and vote for Romney, ’cause it looks like it’s either going to be him or Obambi…and there ain’t no third party choice that has any viable chance of winning.

Dave Surls (46b08c) — 3/3/2012 @ 10:30 am

The problem, Dustin, is the party is not loyal to it’s own values, like when Mike Murphy, Mitten’s Tom Hagen, thought the GOP would be out of power
for an “Ice Age’ because there was any resistance
to the Obama agenda.

narciso (87e966) — 3/3/2012 @ 10:31 am

“The downward spiral of the GOP…”

The Republicans are doing a lot better than they were at their absolute low point, during the period from the 1930s through the 1960s, when the Dems essentially owned the federal government…unfortunately for America.

I don’t see a downward spiral. I see a slow increase in Republican fortunes (at least at the national level), as people in this country gradually come to their senses. At least I hope that’s what I’m seeing.

Dave Surls (46b08c) — 3/3/2012 @ 10:35 am

I’ll probably hold my nose and vote for Romney

Me too,

but that kind of argument is not going to help the GOP win elections. We demand more from the party. The party needs to shut the hell up about demanding anything from us. It needs to sit and listen and obey for a change… show us it’s earned our support in 2010.

Romney needs to look us in the eye and admit he supported the in mandate at the federal level, explain why he said he didn’t, and work to earn our trust.

The problem, Dustin, is the party is not loyal to it’s own values,

It concedes too easily. I know that seems like a short term good idea, but long term it’s why folks lose faith in even bothering.

But the answer to that problem is to GOTV on a congressional basis. There are plenty of good candidates worth support, and while you’re there, go ahead and vote against Obama if that’s what you think is right.

Those who just can’t betray their values for the upteenth time… I don’t agree but I respect where they are coming from. Having principles the whole time… that probably is what we all should have been doing for the past twenty years. The GOP we’d have now would be more successful.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/3/2012 @ 10:39 am

At least I hope that’s what I’m seeing.

Time will tell. I hope you’re right and I’m wrong. At the end of the day, there isn’t a third party worth support so this is an academic discussion.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/3/2012 @ 10:40 am

It is, it’s just the Kultursmog as Tyrell dubbed it,
that obfuscates the whole thing, I mean go the grocery store, the gas station, tell me there is something to cheer about.

narciso (87e966) — 3/3/2012 @ 10:44 am

“What we need is a candidate who doesn’t require the blind worship and obedience that Obama requires.”

Rick Perry! “Perry’s ads have been fantastic. I hope there’s not so much bad blood that these staffers don’t happily reunite with Newt in a few months, assuming he is the nominee, because I really like Perry’s ads.”

Colonel Haiku (0b9d52) — 3/3/2012 @ 10:55 am

“I have my own politicians I just cannot resist trashing, such as Obama and Romney.”

Colonel Haiku (0b9d52) — 3/3/2012 @ 10:57 am

I don’t really care whose nose I have to hold to vote for Romney

I just want the raping to stop

real people are getting hurt

happyfeet (3c92a1) — 3/3/2012 @ 10:58 am

Well, the primary isn’t over yet, Happyfeet.

And there are candidates who poll a hell of a lot better with independents who aren’t so flagrant about their flip flops that they actually make one end of it a campaign platform.

Beating Obama is the primary reason I prefer Santorum. Electability is important, and he’s more electable. Conventional wisdom says he’s not… he won’t get any women and he won’t get any educated and yadda yadda. It’s just not true.

Dustin (401f3a) — 3/3/2012 @ 11:03 am

No, the beatings will continue, Diane ‘thousands of countries’ Sawyer, John ‘Hm’ King will make sure of that.

narciso (87e966) — 3/3/2012 @ 11:05 am

#97 was mine, and I’m not really Andrew Sullivan.
Thank God.
Comment by Dave Surls — 3/3/2012 @ 10:01 am

— Yeah, but will you play him in the movie?

Icy (8c44ff) — 3/3/2012 @ 11:18 am

Here would’ve been a better choice, Icy… if only.

http://wizbangblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/stephen-stucker.jpg

Colonel Haiku (0b9d52) — 3/3/2012 @ 11:34 am

Here are the conditions on the ground in Europe:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/lull

There is no hope of avoiding this status here in twelve months–entering depression with no political wiil to cut the rich off cold.

You may save yourself a few freedoms but life as you know it today, forget yesterday, is over.

Time to start thinking outside the box.

gary gulrud (d88477) — 3/3/2012 @ 1:01 pm

I clicked Mr. gary but I don’t see what any of that has to do with contraception

we need to stay focused

happyfeet (3c92a1) — 3/3/2012 @ 1:05 pm

It’s more like that scene in one of the ‘Naked Gun’ films writ large;

narciso (87e966) — 3/3/2012 @ 1:06 pm

121. “we need to stay focused”

Then get off the santimonius hoss.

gary gulrud (d88477) — 3/3/2012 @ 4:58 pm

If Fluke isn’t paying for it, someone else is. No free lunch.

Colonel Haiku (63f20b) — 3/3/2012 @ 5:17 pm

Mickey Kaus nails it again…

“Regretfully, I must remind these deans of civility that when Tony Snow announced that his cancer had returned, gleeful cheers rose up from prominent quarters of left. Tony, as absolutely everyone knew, was courtly, contained, a devout Evangelical Christian, who’s unflappable public style could not have been more different than Andrew’s flamboyant, and, yes, often combative personality. It didn’t matter. It doesn’t matter. Low key, or fever pitch. The standard that counts is influence. If a conservative has it, they can expect to be savaged, even in death. And Andrew knew this.”

http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/04/its-not-because-breitbart-was-combative/

Colonel Haiku (8bcbba) — 3/4/2012 @ 7:56 am

3/2/2012

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