I have a career-ending confession to make. During the heat of Washington state’s US senate campaign, a senior Cantwell staffer once bought me a beer. Oh sure, we were both understandably giddy after a successful campaign event. And a little drunk. But nothing can really excuse my stunning lapse of journalistic ethics.
Had I disclosed this compensation at the time, I suppose my credibility might have survived tattered but intact. But now that I’ve made my mea culpa, it’s hard to imagine that my once-loyal readers could ever trust me again. Nor should they.
Or at least, that seems to be the thinking of some of our nation’s “professional” journalists.
Today’s Seattle Post-Intelligencer features an editorial chastising bloggers for their “rather surprising ties to specific politicians or parties.”
A New York Times article and chart showed extensive financial links between some prominent national bloggers and politicians across the political spectrum. Most bloggers promptly disclosed roles as campaign advisers and the like, as the article said and offended bloggers emphasized in responses. As at least one poster mentioned, though, disclosures can easily get lost.
[…] There remains a disconnect, however, between bloggers’ image and their increasing ties to the political establishment, whether the pay comes from Republican Sen. John McCain, Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton or a host of other figures.
Um… I’m not sure what “image” they’re talking about, but I find it a little offensive that “real” journalists feel that they are entitled to earn a living from their profession, but apparently us bloggers are not. And if there’s a growing disconnect, it’s between the legacy media and the millions of Americans who are now getting their news and commentary from us bloggers. Breaking news guys: our readers aren’t dumb. They know we’re biased. In fact, they expect it.
For example, I once received a small speaking fee from the SEIU for moderating a panel discussion. Should my blogging on labor issues now be discounted as biased, due to this previously undisclosed payment? No, my blogging on labor issues should be discounted as biased because I’m, um, generally biased towards labor. I’ve never claimed to be objective. I don’t think it’s even humanly possible.
Likewise, I provided plenty of advice to the Darcy Burner campaign, solicited and otherwise. Had I been compensated for my valuable political and media consulting, could my coverage of the Reichert/Burner race in WA’s 8th Congressional District have possibly been any more one-sided? I sure hope not. Once I decided that Burner had a shot at winning I was determined to do everything possible to help boost her to victory.
The point is, my readers aren’t idiots. They read me in context.
On both my blog and my weekly radio show I make it absolutely clear that I am unabashedly liberal. I wear my bias on my sleeve. I aggressively advocate for candidates and issues — and should one of these campaigns choose to hire me to do additional work behind the scenes… how is that any less ethical than the publisher of the largest newspaper in Washington state shamelessly using his op-ed pages to shill for an initiative that will save him and his heirs tens of millions of dollars? How is a payment from a candidate you openly believe in and advocate for, any more compromising than a paycheck from a publisher you fear to contradict? No one seriously believes that there is unanimity at the Seattle Times in opposition to the estate tax, and yet on such a high profile issue, of all the editorialists and columnists, only Danny Westneat had the balls to speak out against its repeal; and even then, only briefly. The Seattle Times is a newspaper that claims to objectively serve one of the most liberal, Democratic cities in the nation, and yet it had the unmitigated gall to endorse a slate of Republicans in a Blue Wave election, and suggest that the region’s interests would be better served by a half-wit, two-term minority member of Congress than a Harvard educated member of the incoming Democratic majority?
If some wealthy, Democratic benefactor were to pay me a much-needed stipend to keep me blogging, how could that possibly make HorsesAss.org any less credible than the op-ed section of the Seattle Times given its shameless, self-serving shilling over the past election cycle?
So my question for those who question the propriety of political bloggers seeking political consulting work on the side is: what is it about blogging that makes you think that we must do it for free if we’re to remain genuine and relevant? The vast majority of bloggers can’t possibly garner enough readership to earn a living from online ads — should our voices be silenced because the free market can’t support our efforts? Must the very best of us commit to a life of poverty in order to pursue our vocation full-time, or seek meaningful remuneration only from work outside our area of passion and expertise? Is a corporate paycheck the only legitimate income for an ethical journalist?
The Seattle P-I editorial board fears that we are regressing to the days when newspapers were once as openly biased as, well… us bloggers:
There’s also a back-to-the-future aspect to the one-sided advocacy. American newspapers began as organs dedicated to serving particular political parties. Advocacy is a political right and a fundamental source of U.S. strength. But it’s not the main thrust of journalism. And in the journalism generally practiced in America, accepting pay from politicians — disclosed or not — is about as far off the map as one can go.
But the “journalism generally practiced in America” today is an historical anomaly that grew out of the media consolidation that shuttered the vast majority of dailies early in the twentieth century. “Objectivity” was a necessary sales pitch required to reassure readers that one or two dailies could adequately replace the many different voices to which they had grown accustomed. It is also a wonderful ideal, though unfortunately impossible to achieve in reality, for as Woody Allen astutely observed, even “objectivity is subjective.”
I’m not one of those bloggers who long for the extinction of the legacy media, nor do I think this modern American model of an objective, fair and balanced press will ever perish at the hands of us advocacy journalists. But there’s certainly more than enough room for both models to coexist, and to some extent, converge. Both models can be equally honest and informative, as long as the practitioners remain true to themselves, and to their slightly divergent ethical principles… principles which most definitely include disclosing all relevant financial relationships.
But in the end, how is my openly biased blog really any different from the op-ed section of any major daily? Facts are facts, and when I get them wrong my readers abrasively taunt me in my comment threads. The rest of what I write is nothing but personal spin and opinion, and as long as I remain honest about who I am and what I’m trying to achieve, does it really matter who pays me?
We know who pays the right wing bloggers – Murdock and Saife. That’s not a problem?
And who pays that transvestite wannabe Steffy? The state GOP? Faux News? KVI?
Are bloggers journalists, trying to report news? No, I don’t think so. Blogs are inherently biased, and the guys and gals that run ’em have their own point of view.
If Goldy got a free beer out of a Cantwell person, who cares? Anybody of any political point of view can by me a beer any time they feel generous.
Other people don’t have the same delusions about this ideal of “objective” reporting that we do in the U.S. In the UK, they have their liberal papers, and their conservative ones, everyone knows where they are coming from. Isn’t it a lot more honest to be up front about your biases than to pretend they don’t exist?
Oh, and Goldy, you may have seen this, but it appears that Larry Corrigan has been up to a lot more than just soliciting teens online. Man, I have been having a severe shadenfreude overdose since November 7.
You have let me down, Goldy. A beer? How could you? Shameful,simply shameful. All you had to do was ask and I would have sent you beer money. Isn’t that what friends are for? As soon as I hit send here, I will give you some more beer money. Next time, ask. OK?
Happy Chanukah! Merry Christmas! Happy Christmakah! There, that should cover it.
All you other blogers, how about sending Goldy a little something for Chanukah? Even you tight ass RightWingNuts, you blog here, you are entertained here….so show Goldy some love. Help him pay for the bandwith and a beer!
The same reasoning would suggest we need no campaign finance laws: Members of Congress don’t vote for industry/labor/special iterests because of their campaign donations. Those interests donate because Members are are already inclined to vote for them! See? Bias is an illusion!
Though bloggers don’t have the same duty to the public interest, your reasoning is just as specious. I love ya Goldy, but this sounds like angling for paying gigs. This is maybe OK; you do deserve to make a living. But the reason it’s OK is not that you can’t be influenced. It’s that readers do not expect the same impartiality, ethics, and insitutional safeguards of bloggers that they expect of journalists.
The Internet’s democratization of access to the ability to speak, and making the reach of one’s speech turn not on one’s wealth but on one’s persuasiveness and credibility, is a great thing.
The P-I has the right to protect its turf by pointing out the potential flaws of bloggers and blogging; bloggers can hit right back, thanks to the global reach and minimal marginal cost of a blog post.
On a side note, to the free marketeers out there: let’s not forget that the Internet was a government-sponsored project that thanks to capital costs, transaction costs and free rider problems, the private sector would never have brought us.
Hey Goldy – Why is it Eyman makes a pretty good living doing his brand of politics, and you’re going broke?
Why don’t you try Tim’s approach? Ask everyone to send you money to compensate you for generous public service.
Let me know how that goes…
The “objective media” was really a creation of the wire services, who sold their stories to a wide variety of newspapers with quite different political perspectives. For them to succeed, it was necessary to pare down their stories considerably, removing anything which could be deemed an “opinion”. Of course, the stories the papers chose to print, and their placement on the paper, and how they edited the wire service accounts, might vary greatly, and have a considerable impact upon how the story is perceived by the reader. But even now, if you want to follow a breaking story on the internet, you will usually find that the MSNBC, CNN, Seattle Times, Seattle P.I., etc. all carry virtually the same story, word for word, since they all got it from their wire services.
But the whole idea that the “mainstream media” is, or should be, objective is a an argument which should be made in the past tense. The Republicans argued for years that the four networks (ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN) had a liberal bias, yet they refuse to acknowledge that the most obviously biased network (FoxNews) panders to the Conservatives, even while trying to argue that it is “fair and balanced” (which any reasonable person would agree is a totally inaccurate description).
Since the 1990’s, the Republicans were sucessully able to manipulate the “mainstream media”, even while claiming it was biased against them. They knew that if they uttered a news-worthy sound bite, then the media would have to report it. They would also report the Democratic denial, at the end of the story. But often the truth would involve some complicated explanations which don’t lend themselves to sound bites, or would be so far removed from reality that it would take days to identify and deconstruct the Republican story. But by the next day, the Republicans had uttered yet another sound bite, so the Democratic rebuttal was “old news”, lost in the rapidly evolving news cycles.
Hypothetical example: “Newt Gingrich charged (ten minutes ago) that recent Congressional investigations have proved that Democratic politicians are overwhelmingly homosexual child abusers who have evaded prosecution through corruption at high levels in the Clinton administration. Democrats could not be reached for comment.”
(Of course, my example is hypothetical because I don’t have time right now to troll for old news stories. A more realistic example would be charges of wasteful spending (which couldn’t be verified, or was quite different than the story the Republicans were telling), or some other such pretext.
Anyway, viewers began to gradually see that the media was being manipulated this way, and have moved on to other sources (such as online news services) which can provide more detail than the fifteen seconds or so a news broadcast allocates to a major story. And by checking the partison bloggers, they can find people who are motivated to take whatever a politician says, investigate it rather thoroughly, and publish his arguments (either in support, or contrary to his statements).
In the non-political field, even “The Smoking Gun” serves this purpose. In the past the news media would report that a movie star was arrested or became involved in some other controversey, the star’s publicist would put out a spin which would essentially deny or explain away the story, and that would be the end of it. You wouldn’t know whether it was true or not. But tThe Smoking Gun’s publication of legal documents, including arrest reports and witness statements on their web site, has been much more revealing.
All of this, of course, is threatening the paychecks of reporters and commentators in the mainstream media. You have to wonder if they mentioned this rather obvious conflict of interest when they complain about bloggers not being “objective” enough.
“I once received a small speaking fee from the SEIU for moderating a panel discussion.”
Goldy — wouldn’t this make you biased AGAINST organized labor? I mean, they weren’t exactly generous in compensating you for your time and labor, were they? Hell, if the speaking fee didn’t even pay your gas to get there, wouldn’t you be pissed at the cheapskate unionists … and anti-union for the rest of your life? The operative word here is “small.” The real story here should be obvious to the “professional” (i.e., fat, lazy, paid) MSM journalists … labor is tight with its money, so Goldy had to turn to — who else — legacy media (i.e., KIRO 710) to make a living.
I provided valuable services to the Burner campaign, too. But I wasn’t paid for it, nor asked to do so. All I did was point out the truth — Darcy hugs rabbits, but after two years in office the 8th District’s no-nothing congressman Rubberstamp Reichert still hasn’t hugged a rabbit. And probably never will. The guy’s a fucking rabbit-hater. But what do you expect from a (gasp)Republican.
Goldy, didn’t you say that Stephan bought you a beer also? I call that a wash.
I also provided valuable services to the Cantwell campaign, namely point out on HA that Roadkill McGavick LIED to voters about his position on Social Security (he’s for looting it) and that his campaign ads conspicuously omitted any mention of his party affiliation (if I were a Republican, I wouldn’t admit it either) — but they didn’t even offer me a beer! And I wouldn’t have taken it, if they did. That’s because I don’t drink alcohol.
He did! The link is over on the right. Oh, and a six pack of Guinness (Goldy is a man of good taste, so I presume that is what he drinks) runs about seven bucks.
More to the point, so long as any financial ties are disclosed, where’s the conflict? Heck, if klake would just disclose that he’s a paid shill for Ann Coulter, we might pay more attention to him. (Ok, that’s a bit of a stretch, but he’ll never admit to that, because for Ann Coulter’s people, “honesty” is just a word in the dictionary between heresy and humiliation.
Undisclosed financial ties are more of an issue, for a couple of reasons. The first (and most important) would be simple honesty. A paid spokesperson is not necessarily dishonest, but a paid spokesperson that hides his financial gains is.
The other reason is pragmatic. Facts tend to come out. Eventually, people would find out about the financial ties, and then no amount of explanation would suffice to restore credibility.
MTR says: “Why don’t you try Tim’s approach? Ask everyone to send you money to compensate you for generous public service.”
Eyman didn’t ask everyone to compensate him. He told his contributors he wasn’t receiving any compensation for his services, and then took the money anyway. He only admitted he was taking their money after he got caught. He got caught because even his bookkeeper couldn’t take any more of his hypocracy, and informed the PDA on him.
Now he has no choice but to admit that he gets paid money by people who have a direct financial interest in his initiatives, and he then uses even more of their money to hire people who are paid for each signature they collect.
At least now, after the failure of his gambling initiative, he doesn’t have to pretend that he is merely a watch salesman who is leading a grassroots effort. It must have been tiring to try to keep up that front.
Well, since it doesn’t matter who pays you. I decided to stop reading for free and buy you a beer.
If the P-I’s stance is that if you’re paid, anything you say is untrue, then why should anyone believe anything the P-I says? Or a politician says? Or anybody says? Who the hell works for free in this world? Besides bloggers, I mean.
“accepting pay from politicians — disclosed or not”
Ummm … isn’t that what some MSM “journalists” have been doing? Hasn’t the Bush administration been paying “journalists” — WITH TAXPAYER MONEY — to plant pro-administration propaganda in the MSM? And didn’t the MSM publish that propaganda? Maybe MSM should clean up their own house before throwing rocks at bloggers.
Didn’t Peggy Noonan work for Reagan as a speechwriter? Wasn’t she paid for it? Didn’t she LIE when she wrote in the WSJ that Bush referred to Sen. Webb’s son as “son” instead of what Bush actually said — “boy”? Didn’t the WSJ knowingly publish that LIE? See what I mean about MSM cleaning up their own house before throwing rocks at bloggers? At least Goldy doesn’t pretend to be objective.
Oh — and where’s the P-I editorial decrying the partisan, self-serving LIES that WSJ knowingly published? Why doesn’t the P-I call “bullshit” on Noonan’s LYING?
Note: For those of you who may have missed it, Bush created a hornet’s nest of controversy earlier this week when he outdid Kerry in insulting our troops in Iraq by calling a soldier in Iraq as “boy.” At least Kerry wasn’t trying to insult the troops; all he did was trip over his tongue. With Bush, it was intentional. And then, just a day or so ago, the Wall Street Journal published a column by former Reagan paid speechwriter Peggy Noonan in which Noonan LIED by saying Bush referred to the soldier as Webb’s “son” when Bush actually called the soldier “boy.”
That’s why MSM is losing its credibility with everybody. They don’t lie enough to make the wingers happy, but they lie too much for honest readers to tolerate, and end up pissing off everybody.
1 “And who pays that transvestite wannabe Steffy? The state GOP? Faux News? KVI?” 12/08/2006 at 1:08 pm
Naw, Steffy is mooching off a woman. His wife is a big-firm lawyer.
I know a federal judge who’s supporting her artist husband. But Stefan is no artist. He’s a Roger Rabbit, GOP-version. He’s a partisan hack and propagandist, just like me. There’s only two minor differences (and one big one) between me and Stefan:
1) I’m a liberal;
2) I don’t have a lawyer spouse raking in bucks; and
3) I admit I’m a partisan hack and don’t pretend to be a “journalist.”
I think there talking about mostly repugnican bloggers that are getting paid to blog bye the repugnican party. Or repugnican groups.
Roger there are other differences between you and Steffy.
In my Constitutionally protected opinion, Steffy is a coward, a liar and a traitor to the ideals that this country were founded on.
Roger Rabbit said:
Roger, while I like and respect you as the partisan hack you are (and freely admit to being), this really is a tempest in a teapot.
Yes, Republicans had even less to work with on Senator Kerry’s comment, and yet worked that for all it was worth (and then some), but they had to use that minor slip. They had nothing else to attack him with.
In this case, this isn’t even in the top 100 reasons to dislike and distrust the President.
There are so many better reasons.
@10
FOX news is a cable news outlet. I find it more right leaning, but no more than cnn, msnbc, cnbc, cnn headline news lean to the left. By the way, Fox kills all the other alphabet cable news channels in ratings combined.
I think it has been proven via insider reporting that the news desks of the 3 networks are very liberal. Dan Rather ladies and gentleman. Courage.
The hard-copy newspapers are pissed because their advantage is gone. In the past the high cost of entering the competative fray discouraged new competition. It is pretty hard to pay for a huge printing plant and distribution network throughout a large metropolitan area, especially when you find you have to “personalize” papers for Northend, Eastside, and Southend subdivisions.
People tend to forget that in the history of printing in this country, the advertising bills came first, and the newspapers, almanacs, and other periodicals came later. If the printing presses are busy and profitable churning out what is essentially home-delivered junk mail, what difference does it make if they also put out a daily paper to help hold it all together?
But now anybody with a $750 computer, some almost-free software, and a hosting service of considerably less than a hundred bucks a month can cherry-pick the areas of interest they want to cover, leaving the hard-copy newspapers with steadily declining readership.
Gee, most people get their international and national news from the internet these days, as well as sports, classified advertising (CraigsList or E-Bay), stock quotes, car prices, etc. Heck, I even get my daily comics from the internet every morning. I can go for weeks without reading the hard copy of a paper, and not miss a thing.
It kind of makes you wonder that if the Times is able to break the Joint Operating Agreement, perhaps the P.I. could continue as an online edition only? Perhaps that is a better promise of true independence commercial interests?
Or perhaps every reporter/commentator in the Times or P.I. should list their apparant or potential conflicts of interest by, at the top of their story, listing the names of every stockholder and advertisor in the paper?
I remember attending a court hearing, where there were a bunch of lawyers in the courtroom representing verious interests in a case involving a local bank. Before the hearing started, the judge asked: “Does anybody here have an objection to me hearing this matter, considering that I have a checking account with this bank, which has a current balance of a couple of hundred dollars?” The lawyers all smiled, and assured the judge that they were confident he could rule on their motions fairly, despite the potential “conflict of interest”.
Goldy
I think you should call the NYT and insist that you be added to their Blogger Payoff Summary chart, and ask them to list you, with “beer” to be listed in the “Payments” column…
I would have been more impressed, Goldy, if Cantwell herself had bought you the beer.
John Barelli at 15:
I know the link is always there. I just wish more folks would use it. The totals are available for all to see, and quite frankly, I think the total could be a bit larger. We are all undeniably entertained here.
‘Tis the season. Give.
Goldy: You said “The point is, my readers aren’t idiots. They read me in context.”
Your readers are not idiots but they do read you in context that you are an idiot.
cnn, msnbc, cnbc, cnn headline news are just as righteing as fox that is why I don’t have cable in my home.
The only news i would consider really fair and balinced is the BBC and CBC
FAUX NEWS – WE DISTORT – WE DECIDE
1 RightEqualsStupid says:
“…And who pays that transvestite wannabe Steffy?
So why do you insist on being an idiot like Goldy by endlessly trying to insult people that reply in this or others blogs. Your replies would be much more pertinent if you supplied facts and pertinent opinions to the discussion.
Does anyone believe that cum-drunk whore Steffy has had five million readers? If Steffy’s lips are moving – he’s lying.
And by the way SillyGuy – your wife says hi!
57 Again RightEqualdStupid shows he is an idiot by try to insult people rather than discussing facts and data.
Sillyguy @ 32
“Goldy….Your readers are not idiots but they do read you in context that you are an idiot.”
Most of us read the comment threads knowing full well that Goldy’s provocative style brings out idiots like you.
Thanks for playing the fool, again, sillyguy.
Oh…and just because I know “language issues” bother you…go fuck yourself!
Sillyguy @ 38
“RightEqualdStupid shows he is an idiot by try to insult people rather than discussing facts and data.”
Uh-huh…no hypocracy there…just move along…
Goldie: Please blog for food at Roger Furball’s.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....38;search= Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....38;search= Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v.....38;search= Part 3
Be sure to pay attention to Furball’s impressions. He’s no Danny Ganz!
During the heat of Washington state’s US senate campaign, a senior Cantwell staffer once bought me a beer… But nothing can really excuse my stunning lapse of journalistic ethics.
My world is shattered. After I post this, I’m going to hide all the straight blades in my house.
From the P-I piece:
A New York Times article and chart showed extensive financial links between some prominent national bloggers and politicians across the political spectrum.
B.S. Danny “Not the Good One” Glover included three Republicans (out of 13 bloggers) so that nitwits like those at the P-I could say this is a problem “across the political spectrum” while singling out Democrats. In particular, he went after the Lamont guys, but ignored the Lieberman bloggers, who, incidentally, went on to take positions with his Senate staff. Now, Lieberman’s not paying them, we are.
But more than the faux “balance” of the piece, it’s based on a fundamentally flawed premise. Glover claims to be demonstrating how the “revolutionaries” (his word) have become the “establishment” (again, his word). Frankly, it’s difficult to know where to start with such an asinine statement, so I’ll let David Sirota handle the most glaring error. After noting that 10 of the 13 worked for challengers, he continued:
… the Washington Establishment is so absolutely corrupt it cannot even comprehend just how out of touch with the rest of the country it really is. The claim that campaigns against incuments are “part of the establishment” tells us that those in Washington cannot even fathom the concept of movement politics. Was George McGovern’s campaign for President “part of the Establishment?” What about Barry Goldwater’s campaign? Was Ned Lamont’s? Of course not. Almost every campaign against an incumbent is a challenge to the existing power Establishment.
http://www.workingforchange.co.....764A734D2C
He goes on to point out that his work for Lamont was precisely in keeping with the rest of his political work and writing:
I would understand getting criticism if, say, I had gone to work for someone totally at odds with my writing, and my writing suddenly shifted to support that candidate. I would even understand the criticism if all I did was try to hide that I was working for a candidate. But as with almost every blogger who goes and works on a campaign, the campaign work is a logical extension of the writing, and I proudly disclosed who I worked for every single time I posted on the subject.
And I guess that’s the bottom line point: separating out “bloggers” as some sort of special species different from the general pool of political activists and operatives is absurd. A blog is a kind of medium – that’s all. It’s like a telephone, or a newspaper, or a radio. The medium is a way for activists, organizers and operatives to get their message out – nothing more, nothing less. Just because you have a blog, does not mean you should be held to a different standard than any other political advocate, and it certainly doesn’t mean you should thus refrain from getting directly engaged in politics or make a living.
If individual bloggers are taking illegal payments under the table from campaigns or even not disclosing legal payments from campaigns, then they should be identified and exposed. But this “they totally sold out to the man” meme is silly and immature.
well said
9 “Hey Goldy – Why is it Eyman makes a pretty good living doing his brand of politics, and you’re going broke?”
The more pertinent question is whether his “customer” is getting his money’s worth, and how long his “customer” will continue paying.
10 “All of this, of course, is threatening the paychecks of reporters and commentators in the mainstream media.”
They (MSM journalists) wouldn’t have this problem if they had done their jobs, i.e., exercise sound news judgment instead of becoming mere stenographers for the GOP noise machine.
15 … a six pack of Guinness (Goldy is a man of good taste, so I presume that is what he drinks) runs about seven bucks.
Really? Where? Where can you get a six-pack of Guinness for $7! Last time I checked, it was $9.69 …
26 “Roger there are other differences between you and Steffy. In my Constitutionally protected opinion, Steffy is a coward, a liar and a traitor to the ideals that this country were founded on.”
True, but I didn’t mention that, because I was, you know, trying to be polite to the guy who plants the garden that feeds me.
27 “In this case, this isn’t even in the top 100 reasons to dislike and distrust the President.”
Much as I like and respect you, John, I’m compelled to disagree. Insulting the troops by calling a soldier “boy” easily makes Top 10.
Maybe you have to be a combat veteran to understand it.
For example, back in the ’60s the Army had an insulting alcohol policy: Access to hard liquor was based on rank, not age or maturity or ability to handle hard liquor.
The policy was, officers = hard liquor, enlisted men = beer only. So, a 19-year-old second lieutenant who didn’t know his asshole from a hole in the ground could (and did) get drunk as a skunk on Jim Beam; but a 37-year-old master sergeant could only buy 3.2 beer at the NCO club.
So, needless to say, all of my unit’s officers (who were worthless even when sober) were drunk all the time, and all of the enlisted men were stoned all the time.
27 (continued)
To avoid misunderstanding, I am in no way trying to minimize the numerous other compelling reasons to impeach him.
However, calling a soldier in a war zone a “boy” is what the Framers had in mind when they wrote “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
28 “I think it has been proven via insider reporting that the news desks of the 3 networks are very liberal.”
I’m forced to agree, given that the rightwing definition of “liberal” is “anyone who isn’t lying.”
BTW John Barelli — I don’t think Peggy Noonan’s lie about what Bush said is a little thing, and I don’t think WSJ’s publishing the lie is a little thing, either. Between the two, I think WSJ’s sin is the greater — Noonan isn’t pretending to be an objective newspaper. We all know who pays Noonan.
33 sillyguy says: … Your readers are not idiots but they do read you in context that you are an idiot. 12/08/2006 at 4:30 pm
As your post proves, some of Goldy’s readers ARE idiots. BTW how’s your constitutional amendment to require revotes in close elections coming along? Have you gotten that thing off the ground yet? http://tinyurl.com/yaj6qq
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39 “try to insult people rather than discussing facts and data”
And you guys don’t? You Republicans are Snow White and the Dwarfs?
HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR HAR
42 Thank you for your comment, MWS. Being attacked by a wingnut is the highest honor I can receive. Please do more of it. Sincerely, RR
Another right wing turd falls off the reservation. The GOP infighting is SOOOO FUCKING MUCH FUN TO WATCH.
From NBC’s Ken Strickland
Republican Sen. Gordon Smith says he’s tried to be a “good solider” for his party and his president, but has reached “the end of his rope” supporting the Bush Iraq policy and wants to bring the troops home whether it’s “cut and run or cut and walk.” Smith made his remarks in an emotional speech on the Senate floor last night to an almost empty chamber, feeling the need to “speak from my heart.”
His speech covered his problems with the Iraq strategy from the initial invasion to the Iraq Study Group Report. Smith said he would not have voted for the war if he’d known the intelligence was bad, adding that he’s tired of seeing 10 or more troops die per day in Iraq. He even echoed the sentiments of Winston Churchill from when the British held Iraq, quoting, “at present we are paying eight millions a year for the privilege of living on an ungrateful volcano.”
Newly Elected Democrat Majority in House Regarding Troop Levels
In a surprise twist in the debate over Iraq, Rep. Silvestre Reyes, the soon-to-be chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said he wants to see an increase of 20,000 to 30,000 U.S. troops as part of a stepped up effort to “dismantle the militias.”
60 Why is that a surprise? We’ve been criticizing Bush all along for sending only 130,000 troops when his generals told him they would need 500,000.
60 (continued) How do you think Bush got into this fucking mess? By sending too many?
I was not the one who said it was a surprise rabbit, that was an excerpt from a story in Newsweek which was entitled “We can’t afford to leave”
My point in posting it is that Reyes is saying the opposite of most in the Democrat party which wants to leave now.
What do you want to do about Iraq? Leave now or increase troop levels?
Democrats are so much fun to watch!
Rabbit 45 – Eight billion dollars and counting… yeah, I think the ROI is pretty good.
And why the fuck are you spending 10 bucks on a sixer of beer? I thought you paid 1/3 of your income on medical. Or did you find a Producer to pick up the tab for you… you fucking parasite.
Har! Har! The Rabbit sprouts nonsense again rather than discussing facts and data. Fact – The lonely government lawyer who tries to masquerades as a Rabbit is a total partisan idiot unable to discuss anything of value because of his partisanship. His only capability is to post multiple nonsense posts to this blog proving absolutely nothing!
Re: 64 and 65. I must say that I am confused. If rabbit is a Veteran I have no idea how he pays 1/3 of his income in medical. And if rabbit is a government lawyer I again have no idea how he pays 1/3 of his income in medical.
Rabbit, you care to explain?
re 63 – 66: You lost. You’re irrelevant. You are spouting the same old crap that made you losers:
1- Making the rich and powerful richer and MORE powerful is good for you.
2- Terrorists are going to rape your grandma and blow up her corpse.
3- People who disagree with you are evil and immoral.
4- Tax and spend liberals blah blah blah
Word to Conservatives: “Everything you Know is Wrong”
Here is a great quote from an interesting blog that I ran across:
“Given such severe cognitive deficits,Conservatives are prone to perseveration on a pathological level. Sadly,it’s all too easy to reduce the substance of Conservative arguments to these simple terms:
*Hillary
*Tax and spend Liberals
*You hate America
*Liberal Media
*Bill Clinton lied about a blow job
*Big Government
*Personal Responsibility
*Socialistic Program
*From my cold dead hands
*Gays are destroying the country”
To this list I would ad only one thing:
*Christian hating
When you are accused of this you’re not merely disagreeing with their politics, you’re gratuitously attacking their religion.
“…social security mess Ronald Reagan’s fault!
The current mess with Social Security began in 1983 in the administration of Ronald Reagan. Under Reagan’s direction Social Security withholding was doubled. The excuse for doing this was that because of the size of the baby boomer generation a “surplus” of funds would be needed to take care of the BOOMERS in their retirement years. The surplus was supposed to be what Reagan called “a trust fund” which would enable the country to pay the baby boomers their promised retirement without unduly strapping the upcoming Generation-X. Reagan, of course, spent the money as fast as he could get it on unapproved and even illegal operations—- calling the funds a “surplus” that he was free to spend in any way he saw fit. Now we have another Republican president who wants to tamper with your retirement money. If you think you’ll ever see any of the funds you put into your “private SS acount” you are seriously mistaken. My sources for this information are:
Ronald Reagan, “Remarks on Signing the Social Security Amendments”-1983, from: The Public Papers Of Ronald Reagan.
“Bush’s Financial Folly”, The New York Times”, 2-15-’05.
Re: 67 to that I say have another on me libtard (whatever it is you are having) your’s is one of the most incherrant rants I have seen since the WTO protests. Keep up the message of what libtards are all about though.
I Hate Ronald Reagan
Corporate taxes under Reagan and now GWB have reached their lowest point since 1929. This fact alone should give any reasonable person a good idea where things are headed in this country and the world. Corporations, who DO use water, electricity, garbage collection services and all the other things provided by government through taxes, are now taxed at a lower rate than individuals are. They also receive special discounts on the resources that they use. This trend in America, for individual citizens to pay for the services used and the collateral environmental damage caused by corporations through their payroll taxes, began in the administration of Ronald Reagan. The now discredited theory used to describe this situation was aptly called the “Trickle Down Theory.” We were promised a trickle and we did not get even that. Real wages, after adjustment for inflation, fell in the Reagan years as they have in both Bush administrations. -(1)-
Labor was also hard hit during the Reagan administration
After Reagan fired all the air traffic controllers for striking for better working conditions and hired permanent replacements, corporate employers followed suit, thereby, for all intents and purposes, emasculating the Labor movement and turning the clock back on the decades of progress made for the American working man. Far from being upset by these developments the majority of voters inexplicably were enthused by them.-(2)-
So, during the Reagan years taxes were lowered on the upper 1% of the income tier, thereby increasing their wealth tremendously, and those in the lower income tiers received meaningless decreases accompanied by a DOUBLING of withholding on their Social Security. In addition, the Reagan administration could spend this “surplus” on whatever they chose. And they did– every cent of it– with no accountability to anyone but themselves. One of the things that they spent the money on was right wing death squads south of the border. They also spent the money that they acquired illegally through arms sales to the Iranians on similar projects south of the border. This was the famous Iran-Contra scandal that many of Reagan’s minions were convicted of master- minding and participating in. Reagan, of course, alleged that he had no memory of these dealings-(3)-, hence his other popular moniker: “The Great Forgetter”, a name that would prove to be ironically apropos in the ensuing years.
Reagan,as well as George W. Bush, ostensibly believe in smaller government, a strong military, lower taxes, and a balanced budget. However, both presidents have lowered taxes for the rich, increased military spending, and almost paradoxically created larger government and crippling budget deficits.-(4)- which they then leave for their successors to deal with. My belief is that these presidents did and do believe in a weak and small government and concurrent unanswerable and vast power in “private” multi-national corporations. The strategy now is to weaken our government,which is the only force powerful enough to control the corporations, by deliberately bankrupting it. There is no other reasonable explanation for their behavior.
This is why I hate Ronald Reagan.
Knowing these things, would you consider Reagan to have been a patriot, a knowing traitor, or an unwitting dupe of huge corporate interests? This fracturing of governmental power is a worldwide phenomenon and the way it’s being done is similar in many respects for the different countries involved. The power vacuum is, of course, being taken up by huge multi-national corporations. This is what is being referred to by scholars who know as “the New Feudalism.” But that is a topic for a different post.
-1- Mark Weisbrot,”Ronald Reagan’s Legacy”, Knight-Ridder,6-7-2002.
-2- Randy Schweitz, NATCA press release, 1-28-1997.
-3- P. Kunhardt, Jr., The American Presidency (NY, Riverhead Books,
1999), pp. 292-301.
-4- Joe Strupp, “Ronald Reagan: still the teflon president”, in Editor and
Publisher, 6-8-2004.
Re: 68 now there is another country heard from. Ted Bessel says raising taxes on SS was a bad thing. I agree with you whole heartedly Bessell. Of course if he didn’t do it SS would be bankrupt now instead of 2022.
Liberals are so much fun to watch!
Thanks Ted.
Roger Rabbit says:
However, calling a soldier in a war zone a “boy” is what the Framers had in mind when they wrote “high crimes and misdemeanors.”
12/08/2006 at 6:29 pm
Yeah you can feel the outrage cant ya. heehehe. You would think Bush was planting crosses with soldiers names on it or something. hehehehe
http://www.homestead.com/homefront/samclemens.html
Sam Clemens, Union man
I know that Twain wrote about the riverboat captains’ strike, but I cannot remember what the name of the work was that contained the narrative. Anyhow, what I remember is that, as Twain related the story, the riverboat captains of the Mississippi went on strike for higher pay and the owners of the riverboats finally gave in to the raise. However, the riverboat owners then raised the fares ten times what it would cost to cover the raise and blamed the boat captains’ greed as the cause of the steep rise in fares.
This is typical of the duplicitous tactics of management to this very day. That is: to blame the victims of their socially irresponsible practices on the victims themselves!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/.....40,00.html
“How Bush’s grandfather helped Hitler’s rise to power
Rumours of a link between the US first family and the Nazi war machine have circulated for decades. Now the Guardian can reveal how repercussions of events that culminated in action under the Trading with the Enemy Act are still being felt by today’s president”
Roger Rabbit says:
28 “I think it has been proven via insider reporting that the news desks of the 3 networks are very liberal.”
I’m forced to agree, given that the rightwing definition of “liberal” is “anyone who isn’t lying.”
12/08/2006 at 6:30 pm
Whoa. A liberal who doesnt say anything? Now that is a twist. hehehehe
73: now that is relevant. I am not sure to what exactly but if the libtards bring back riverboats I am sure it will be relevant!
Senator Prescott “Nazi Traitor” Bush
ted bessell says:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/ story/0,12271,1312540,00.html
“How Bush’s grandfather helped Hitler’s rise to power
Rumours of a link between the US first family and the Nazi war machine have circulated for decades. Now the Guardian can reveal how repercussions of events that culminated in action under the Trading with the Enemy Act are still being felt by today’s president”
12/08/2006 at 9:14 pm
Bush’s grandfather cant hold a cadle to my dad Joe. We Kennedys love Nazis.
re 75: How ya like that apple schnitzel ya smartass little puss?
re 75: I’d crack your head open like a fuckin’ watermelon “mano a mano”
re 78: Where’s your link you sour period piece.
RightEqualsStupid says:
FAUX NEWS – WE DISTORT – WE DECIDE
12/08/2006 at 4:34 pm
Hey they ripped me off. CBS – WE FORGE- AND WE DENY. Those assholes.
Re: 80, now that’s a brave statement from some libtard in his mothers basement.
Senator Prescott”Nazi Traitor” Bush says:
re 78: Where’s your link you sour period piece.
12/08/2006 at 9:20 pm
I love the public schools system. With dumbasses like this no wonder there are so many liberals. hehehe Look it up yourself idiot. I will get you started. Look up some quotes from Joe when he was the ambassador to the United States. What a moron.
“Look up some quotes from Joe when he was the ambassador to the United States. What a moron.”
That would be never. Put on your thinking cap. Or just put something large and confining on your head — like Barbara Bush’s dry sour old cooter!
85: you still hitten your mom’s dry old sour cooter?
re 75: That “hehehe” stuff is really unusually gay.
It’s a scientific fact that Republicans are cocksucking pussies.
88: where is your link?
Senator Prescott”Nazi Traitor” Bush says:
re 75: That “hehehe” stuff is really unusually gay.
12/08/2006 at 9:40 pm
Versus you who is usually gay. Yeah I agree.. hehehehe
Here is a link about democrat cocksucking pussies.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....gobie2.htm
Here is another about cocksucking pussy democrats.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOL.....reevey.nj/
want me to go on, it will take awhile?
I have a link for democrat woman drowning murdering pussies. hehehehe
but then again I thought that democrats supported the cocksucking pussy democrats. I guess I was wrong about that.
I am setting the pace and topic of the conversation here. Because you guys are “reactionaries”. That means you have no forward movement.
You can only “react” — like a one-celled paramecium cocksucking twat.
Try dunning me for saying “politically incorrect” things, like: Conservatives are penis-sucking homos.
See. All you can do is react. I lead. I’m the man.
I know you are feeling small.
Get hysterical. You guys are good at that.
Goldy, your missive reads like an announcement rather than a query. Nevertheless, my two cents.
Yes, you should be able to earn a decent living. I suspect that you have the talent to develop a business model that sustained the blog without you having to do outside work. Apparently you disagree.
Fair enough. All I’d like to see is that you let your readers know who is paying you. At issue aren’t a few beers here and there, or consulting work unrelated to your postings. What matters is when you are making money from folks who directly benefit from your blog’s coverage. Tit for tat.
If you engage in full disclosure then you shouldn’t lose too much credibility. But if you keep it a secret you’ll have sewn the seeds of your blog’s demise. I’ll bet you on that one.
re: 96 Actually it’s called Paramecia and had no ability to either have a TWAT or suck cock like you do Prescot.
I would love to whip you conservatives with a black leather bullwhip and force you to eat the wriggling maggot covered scum off the bottom of a tin garbage pail in the middle of August. HHHHWICHAAAAH!!! CRAAAAAAAAACK!! On your knees, scum!
97
You can say that again. When it come to penis sucking you are definately a leader. heehehe
101: well you could try that but keep in mind I don’t play fair asswipe.
OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH!!!! the whipmaster, the whipmaster!!!
He never used a gun or a knife, he only used a whip!!!
HHHWWWWIIICHAH!!!! CRRRAAAAACK!!!!
You know you love it. You sniveling wuss conservative.in a seeeeeersuckah soooot!!!
RE: 104 Oh I use guns and whatever else I can get my hands on so if you want to be the ultimate libtard and bring your whip that you use on your bitch husband to a gun fight be my guest.
You lost your nerve. You are reacting. Try to come up with something original.
You can’t. You follow. It’s all you know.
You not even pussy-whipped. Youare just whipped. When will it sink in?
You can’t become a jockey by kissing the horses’ ass.
RE: 106 do you have someone delivering that crack to you or do you make it yourself. Just wondering.
re 105: It takes a very special kind of person to coldly walk up to a person and pull the trigger. I have so much confidence in myself that I would walk up to you, take your gun, and blow your ass away without a second thought.
I am your enemy now. Not the old time Democrats. You pull a gun on me and I will shove it up your ass and pull the trigger.
Good thing we have elections, huh? I would liove nothing more than to confront your sorry ass on this kind of turf.
re: 108 that sort of thing was already tried in 70 and 71. I am still here asswipe and I plan to be for awhile longer so take you best shot!
re: 108 another liberal pussy bites the dust.
Laura Bush Killed A Guy!
re: 111 Ted the drunk Kennedy left a woman to drown so what’s your point?
Hey Rob at too many to list:
Welcome to HA.
Fuck you!
Again, welcome.
Now go fuck yourself!
RE: 113 thanks for the welcome asswipe. Do you have anything intelligent to say or would that be asking to much from a libtard?
Republican TV REV.Jimmy Swaggart drove around in his worshipper paid for Cadillac Seville wearing a “hippie” bandana on his head and paying prostitutes to masturbate in front of him while he jerked off and cried to Jesus to save his einful soul.
re 115: erratum: “sinful”
Thanks, Roger Rabbit.
Re: 115 you have to get off that crack pipe Nazi, you make absolutely no sense whatsover
Rob:
Well, I would like to thank you, and the rest of the conservative losers, for playing this time around. While the last 14 years were hell, they are now in the past. We have our country back, a president who is imploding right before our eyes and a public who is better than 70% in favor of implementing the ISG findings.
Things could not be much better politically for us.
How is that working for you guys?
I know you are now calling fellow Republicans cut and runners and appeasers. Edwin Meese, Google him, is no appeaser. You have senator, who on the Senate floor said he can no longer tow the company line. I sense we will hear more of this and you may have some Republicans who will make the switch to the party of the people.
Let me wish you the very best as we repair the damage your president has caused, at home and abroad.
Rabbit:
Do you think the line being touted by Rob is very similar to LSoS (MTR)? I think they might be one and the same.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12.....ref=slogin
Report Says Oil Royalties Go Unpaid
“WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 — An eight-month investigation by the Interior Department’s chief watchdog has found pervasive problems in the government’s program for ensuring that companies pay the royalties they owe on billions of dollars of oil and gas pumped on federal land and in coastal waters.”
http://www.afterdowningstreet.org/december10
December 10, 2006: Human Rights and Impeachment Day
December 10 is Human Rights Day, and this year we’re making it Human Rights and Impeachment Day. Slogan: “Putting Impeachment on the Table.”
re: 118, Ok I was never for the war before is started. Having served in one I got on board after it started. I am confused on how to proceed now. Having beeing pulled from a war by a republican president and seeing what happened afterwords I would say we should stay. I am not really strong on that point though.
As for your selfserving democrats will fix it. You are full of crap. You have Murtha wanting to pull out now and Reyes wanting to increase troop levels by 20,000 to 30,000 thousand. The rest of the dems are hiding behind the Iraq Surrender Group and not taking a position.
Re: 121 good luck with that one pussy.
http://mediamatters.org/index
“It remains the case that the primary prerequisite for being considered “serious” on matters of foreign policy and national security is that you were wrong on the most momentous foreign policy and national security decision of the last few decades. If your judgment was faulty, your understanding lacking, your foresight non-existent, your ideology blinding, then you are someone whose opinions should be listened to.”
re 123: Who just lost. Do some research on Henry Waxman. Your ass is grass.
Rob @ 122:
Did you miss the part where the majority of experts now agree that Iraq is now consumed by civil war? And what about the opinions of noted experts, Henry Kissinger among tham, that Iraq is no longer winable?
The was no contain and control plan. Iraqis do not want democracy, it is as foreign to them as Islam is to most of us.
There is no shame in admitting a mistake, something our president is incapable of, and cutting your losses (in this case, American lives) and pulling back.
And please, Murtha’s military service record is beyond reproach.
http://preemptivekarma.com/
Terrorism only counts if you’re not a Christian
In a not-so-predictable prognostication, I made note earlier this week of the southern white Christian farmer who was sentenced for trying to blow up Congress. Nary a mention in the nation’s major papers, much less the rightosphere’s bloviating pages. I mused that if the man in question were a Muslim, there’d be a series of loud rants from the right (and the major papers).
Voila!:
A Muslim convert who talked about his desire to wage jihad against civilians was charged Friday in a plot to set off hand grenades at a shopping mall at the height of the Christmas rush, authorities said. Investigators said Derrick Shareef, 22, an American citizen from Rockford, was acting alone and never actually obtained any grenades. He was arrested Wednesday when he met with an undercover agent in a parking lot to trade a set of stereo speakers for four hand grenades and a gun, authorities said.
Predictably the bloviatings commenced:
Hot Air
Wizbang
Malkin
Blogs of War
Ace of Spades
Odd how these web outlets were so cypherically silent when a terrorist attack by a white Christian from the South was foiled.
Re: 126 can you liberals ever say anything without inclucding a red herring. I never said anything about Murtha’s military record asshole. It just pisses me off that you libtards will resort to that. As for the rest of your rant I said I was confused about how to proceed from here regarding Iraq. Maybe you should try reading instead of belching out your rhetoric.
Re: 126 Also I didn’t say anything about Murtha’s problems with ABSCAM, his designation as the the King of earmarks or his miserable defeat as Majority leader by 2 to 1 from members of the communist party. But since you brought it up why not?
Do you have anymore to say left foot? You could get out how like the Nazi pussy or Roger Rabbit.
I did read it, Sparky. I was insulted that you would dismiss Murtha’s position. He is qualified to have an opinion. So is Senator McCain.
And you know have Republicans who are hiding behind the Iraq Study Group. A group of of luminaries, by the way, from both sides of the isle. But since you don’t like what they said you find it convenient to dismiss them. I love how wingnuts simply dismiss out of hand (you get it from your president) any report or evidence that does not fit your agenda. This is known as the Ostrich Effect. Head in sand, ass in air just waiting to get kicked.
Kind of how yours is getting kicked right now.
Funny how that works.
re 129: What’s up, chickenbutt?
131 : who in the hell is sparky? Maybe it is my computer but I don’t see a sparky here?
132: another brain dead liberal. Whut up asshole
Rob @ 133
Well, Sparky. I was calling you Sparky. Would you prefer Sport?
No one cares what you think or feel. You are a conservative Republican. You need not just FEEl any longer that you are hated and reviled.
You are. You earned it all, big guy!
Roy”Just another mean Republican Queer”Cohn says:
It is funny thinking about how the real queers which are a significant part of the liberal party like their comrads on this post. too funny.
136: could you either sober up or send an arab interpreter?
What we have here is Sparky (Rob). A lonely young man, home alone, drinking his dad’s beer, pimples on his face, low self-esteem, few friends, no ability to think for himself, so he logs on and begins to atempt to irritate folks on whatever blog he can find.
Very sad, Sparky. Perhaps you could try a good book? Dean Koontz and David Morrell are two authors I can recommend. In a few years, come back and play with the adults. Right now, you just can’t keep up.
re 129: Name one communist in the Congress. You are such a jerkoff.
If you called me a communist to my face I would drop you with one punch like a fucking sack of rice.
Are you feelin’ the love?
spelling error in 139 atempt should be attempt. Sorry.
re 141: Well, at least you atemptid to make it right.
139: sorry prick but tell me where I am losing this debate and I will buy you unheard of books. As for lonely young men. I am 54 married and enjoy messing with libtards. Sorry to bust your preconcieved bubble asswipe.
140: Ever heard of a guy named Bernie Sanders? He is one of yours. I didn’t come here to feel the love Nazi, I came here to joust with pussies.
Sparky @ 143
I would submit that you either are not 54 or you are developmentally disabled. Your syntax sucks ass, your vocabulary is sorely lacking and you are one ugly mother-fucker. I shudder in fear just imagining what your wife must look like.
My bubble was not preconcieved. My observation was based on a wealth of experience in dealing with under-educated, ignoranus’s such as yourself.
Definition: IGNORANUS- One who is not only stupid, but an asshole too.
How is that working for you, Sparky? Can you keep your head up long enough to try to understand or did I confuse you?
re 144: “… joust with pussies.” A fine conceit!!! Do you see yourself swaggering about, waving your “lance”, and tilting your turgid penis into us “so-called” weak and wilting, latte-sipping, pinkie in the air liberal pussies????!!!!
Wow!!!!!!!! I’m great!!!!!! I really got a way wit words!!!! MAN!!! I am just so fucking impressed with myself!!
Sorry, Rob, what were you saying?
Roy @ 146:
ROFLMAO!!!!!!
Re: 145 I was wondering, do liberals have anything to say other than attacking people they don’t know. In my years in the military and college the least amongst us would resort to personal attacks as they had nothing intelligent to say. I have noticed that alot about liberals.
As for you left foot, do you consider yourself a liberal elite enableing you to judge other people. If so exactly what are you credentials?
Roy @ 146:
Deja Vu.
I just read it again. You are one funny faggot! ROFLMAO!
I know one thing, you are too old (and dead) for Mark Foley and Rev. Haggard.
Re: 146 Uhmm well yes i do pussy
149: and too old for Barnie Frank, Jerry Studds and Mark Reynolds all democrats
Well Sparky (Rob)
Lemme see (reaching for wallet and credentials):
Drivers license.
Credit cards.
Insurance card.
Condom (from 1974, it has sentimental value) still in wrapper.
Ahhhh here it is. List of credentials:
Graduated: USC
Military service: 20+ years, officer, Special Operations last 18 years.
Will that do, Sparky? I assure you, I am no pussy.
So did you asswipes give up? If so I am going to bed. If not I will stay here awhil to keep up the beat down? I assume you have already surrendered as in keeping with your party.
Sparky, the only ass you get is when your finger “accidentally” breaks through the toilet paper when you are wiping.
Rob. I am still here. Watching Jimmy Kimmel and kicking your ass. I like Jimmy, nice Jewish boy. Just like me.
Well left foot I serveded as an active marine for 3 years and didn’t graduate from the Univeristy of Spoiled Children in Kalifornia but I did graduate from the University of Washington with a degree in Architecture before they cancelled the program. I did figure that you were from Kalifornia though. I am not sure that you are not a pussy.
by the way , I am watching fox news. I can entertain myself kicking army ass.
Sparky:
For a koledge graduate ur speling is atrosious. HEHEHE
I am not buying the bullshit you are selling.
I will make you the standard offer. Meet anywhere in the Puget Sound area, I will buy you a beer (though I think you might have an alcohol problem) and we can talk as long as you want.
I promise, I am no pussy. The Huskies seem to have that down. Is it true you guys hang your diplomas from your rear view mirrors so you can use disabled parking?
By the way, while you have been watching Fox News for the past several years, I was crawling around Afghanistan looking for a tall Arab and eating sand in Iraq looking for non-existent WMD. Now tell me why my men were placed in harms way? Tell me why it is OK to lie to further ones own personal agenda?
I live in Kirkland where are you?
Left foot, I was in Vietnam. I don’t know anything about what you guys went through. I do know that there was no public outcry about body armor or up arormed vehichles.
Other side of the water, Bainbridge.
Well we should get together. I have a project in Sequim and it’s not a far drive to get to Brainbridge
Rob:
I married up. Both college graduates, she is an attorney, I am just an old soldier, tired and deciding what to do next. I was recruited by Home Depot, they love military officers to run their warehouses. Retail is not for me. Thinking about hanging a shingle out and using my psychology degree, but after the Army I don’t particularly listen to fools, idiots or crybabies.
Might could do that. I love Sequim. We could meet in a local watering hole in either place. Island Grill is easy to find.
I develop real estate and am married 2nd time. I have to admit if there is one profession that I decry it’s psychology. Could be because I am crazy. My liberal daughters tell me that because I am secretly in love with Ann Coutler
165. Sounds good to me. Will have to be after the holidays though. I would give you my email here but I would be inundated with hate mail.
You just posted your love for Ann in public. On that account your daughters might be right. LOL.
My mom wanted me to be a doctor, I did the psychology as a compromise. Then partly to please my father and partly to test myself, I joined the Army. Found that I flourished there and never left.
I am married for the second time. Wonderful woman who would like for me not to work. Likes that I take care of the animals and putter around. Says I deserve a rest.
ahh so true. you can send me email to clickvalu@gmail.com if you do it quickly it will be at the top. I don’t use the address anymore so don’t care if they fill it.
Sent you my email. Let’s do it sounds like fun
Well, I am still working. no rest here. I sent my email so after the first let’s have a beer and talk about past expereinces instead of lib/dem.
Sent you my real email too. I have friends with all kinds of views. Gives us something to talk about over cigars and beer.
I look forward to meeting you.
Thanks enjoyed meeting you . Off to bed now.
Now watch some RightWingWacko say this has turned into a meeting site. Nite.
Senator Prescott”Nazi Traitor” Bush says: http://mediamatters.org/index
Using Media Morons for libtards is equivalent to using the Free Republic for neocons.
So we now have a free pass for a freeper quote. Thanks Prescott. Please keep us the good entries. YLB AKA Clueless will love you!
Prescott and Furball: Looks like your two-bit whore is at it again. I thought your pimp-sharing duties put this whore out of business: http://www.breitbart.com/news/.....24S80.html
That may be but Yos Lib Bro and Clueless are the same. Fess up Clueless tell the truth for the second time in your life!
Many on the right have truthfully claimed you selected your name for Horsesass because you were/are and ever shall be clueless!
My Left Foot says: Rob @ 122: Did you miss the part where the majority of experts now agree that Iraq is now consumed by civil war? And what about the opinions of noted experts, Henry Kissinger among tham, that Iraq is no longer winable?
Henry Kissinger? You libtards were all over him in the seventies. He was a pariah to the military you libtards claimed. Now he’s a hero to you libtards? Sorry, but that is illogical!
But then it came from Carl Left Foot Grossman. Too many special ops left him deficient in cerebrum operational matter.
Continuing on Carl Libtard Grossman, is this the same group of experts who claimed 2006 would be a banner year for hurricanes and now are claiming 2007 will be one?
Concensus – a political term used to ram something down others throats!
Many of the Iraq group workers under the commission leaders were libtards appointed from libtard congressional committees. Look it up Carl!
Furball and LeftStillStupid: You can call your libtard cronies in the House and ask them to reopen the Foley case January 3, 2007. Since the Justice Department has had problems determining probable cause (I wrote this when the scandal broke due to consent laws in DC at 16), you libtards went ballistic. Once again MWS has been proven right and now you libtards cry coverup. Since this had real implications, do you think the libtards on the Ethics Committee would allow this to be closed? Man you are two stupid libtards. Well call Pelosi and ask her to reopen the case.
‘EL SAUCE’ – YOU ARE A SUCH A BRAINDEAD LOOOOOOOOOOOOOSER. THE CRAP YOU “PUT UP” IS WINGNUT BOOOOOOOOOOOOOLSHIT.
IT STILL HASN’T DAWNED ON YOU: NOV 7.
YOU ARE A DINOSAUR. YOU WORSHIP BUSH. YOU’RE PART OF THE 30 PERCENT AND DROPPING CROWD.
180 The WELCHER LSoS (MWS)
You fucking moron. Now you want to blame the staffers for a report with unanimous support from all the comission memebers. Edwin Meese is now an appeaser?
You are the dumbest, most ignorant motherfucker on this board. Again, the biggest ego with the least reason to support it.
Fuck you!
LSoS Fucktard:
How about the good senator from Oregon making his stand part of the record with an impassioned speech decrying the administrations Iraq quagmire policy. His will be the first of MANY Republican voices crying out against your president and his FAILED policy. A policy that, again, only he believes is working.
Now, asshole, please continue your partisan hacking.
“The Seattle P-I editorial board fears that we are regressing to the days when newspapers were once as openly biased as, well… us bloggers:”
Thank God – we went a long time without real coverage on the political front. Now if we could attract a real newspaper to the west coast to take on the corporate suck ups we currently have…are you listening Guardian News and Media Limited?
rob @128 When you say that you’re confused about how to proceed with Iraq, I take that to mean you don’t know the solution. So you’re solution is to just keep sending other people’s children to die there, until someone thinks of something. Fine, now we know your position, and our answer is that’s unacceptable.
How about this?
Option A. We ostensibly invaded Iraq to eliminate a threat against America from Iraq’s WMDs. There were no WMDs. Declare the mission accomplished, and come home.
Or, try this.
Option B. We ostensibly invaded Iraq to save the Iraqi people from an evil dictator. The dictator has been overthrown, is in jail, and soon will stretch a rope. Declare the mission accomplished, and come home.
Or, try this.
Option C. We ostensibly invaded Iraq to give the Iraqi people a democracy. It turns out they don’t want a democracy; they’d rather fight among themselves. Admit we made a mistake about what the Iraqi people wanted, and come home.
Or, try this.
Option D. Admit that we invaded Iraq to install a U.S. puppet government for our own selfish reasons. Unfortunately, it’s not working for us any better than it worked for the Russians when they tried to do the same thing in Afghanistan. The problem is, those irascible insurgents will fight forever. Admit we didn’t learn from the Russians’ mistakes, acknowledge defeat, and come home.
Option E. Continue aimlessly beating your head against an impenetrable stone wall, out of sheer stubbornness, until you knock yourself in to an irreversible persistent vegetative state. If this option is selected, please do it with your own head, instead of the lives of our troops.
erratum
“your” not “you’re” in the second sentence of preceding post
To wingnuts like rob who call us “Defeatocrats” or “the cut and run crowd,” I’d like to point out that America’s defeat in Iraq was not engineered by us, but by the incompetent Republicans running our government. So if you want to blame someone for the disastrous outcome of Bush’s military adventure in Iraq, blame the people who created it, not the people who are simply pointing out the fact that we’re losing in Iraq.
We liberals didn’t create the defeat by saying, “We’re losing.” The defeat is a result of several mistakes by the Republicans running our government, the most serious of which were:
a. not sending enough troops to occupy Iraq
b. not listening to the generals
c. invading Iraq with no occupation plan in place
d. alienating the Iraqi people by torturing innocent Iraqi civilians
e. miscalculating the reaction of the Iraqi people to a U.S. invasion
f. thinking it’s possible to win an urban guerrilla war against a resisting indigenous population when no country has ever succeeded in doing so
There’s more, but that should get you started in your Reality Check.
Needless to say, rob, we liberals are feeling a tad miffed that you wingnuts are trying to blame your colossal fuckup on us; and you should expect us to be a little cranky about it.
ROGER @ 186:
THAT’S A DAMN GOOD LIST AND YOU SHOULD REPEAT IT WHEN THERE’S A NEED TO KNOCK A WINGNUT OVER THE HEAD.
NOT THAT IT WOULD DO ANY GOOD.
188 – Again you you continue to sprout a totally defeatist attitude
RRDP=(Roger Rabbit Drivel Percentage)= 15%
You accounted for 15% of the comments. Go start your own blog, or get back to work. Oh wait, you’re a liberal, you don’t work.
My Left Foot says: 180 The WELCHER LSoS (MWS)
You fucking moron. Now you want to blame the staffers for a report with unanimous support from all the comission memebers. Edwin Meese is now an appeaser?
You are the dumbest, most ignorant motherfucker on this board. Again, the biggest ego with the least reason to support it. Fuck you! 12/09/2006 at 10:45 am
I am so glad Carl is demonstrating his total vocabulary in this entry.
I said the staffers are moonbat appeasers not the top level people. Look it up Carl before you show us the full extent of what you learned in the military.
Goldy, you do not deserve to profit from biased mouth-spewings. That is what real professional journalists are for. No offense, but you’re certainly not as famous and important as you’d like to think. Don’t break your arm patting yourself on the back too hard there big guy.
The obvious difference. Professional journalists gets paid by the public, who apparently find what they have to report and say worth something. They do NOT take their money from politicians.
Not surprisingly, nobody wants to pay for your incoherent ramblings.
The simple point was: You can be as biased as you want. But be upfront about the payoffs you’re taking. Is that so hard to understand?
“Likewise, I provided plenty of advice to the Darcy Burner campaign, solicited and otherwise. Had I been compensated for my valuable political and media consulting, could my coverage of the Reichert/Burner…..”
have you heard? burner LOST. so just how valuable was that advice, hmmmm? and why didn’t you mention the fact that you were ‘working’ for her in all those posts you made? because you were really really hoping that she would get elected and HIRE you on. you know it, i know it….everybody knows it.
but your political advice is as “off’ as your business plan………