Friday, August 07, 2009

that keeping wildlife, an amphibious rodent, for uh, domestic, you know, within the city, that ain't legal either

Yes, but moreover, I think there is a creeping realization, manifesting predictably as hysterical cries that It's Just Not Fair, that American, ahem, progressivism has gotten just a little too bcbg for its own good, that while the political opposition actually opposes, the leftish side mostly writes mean, mean blog posts about Max Baucus.

Compare this to antiwar protests, when actual protesters were routinely disdained by the more responsible types, who were at pains to say that they would never break a window, stop traffic, close down a business, or, you know, protest, people who lamented the injustice of all those nice, professional mommies and daddies and liberal arts students getting rounded up by the New York gendarmerie when, of course, not nearly enough did get arrested; when, of course, they should have all done every goddamn thing they could to get arrested, to fill every jail cell and chain-link yard until it overflowed, and then fill some more.

Consider the upcoming Pittsburgh G20, when liberals will struggle mightly to gainsay those dirty hippie anarchist bombthrowers for interrupting the imporant gathering to address our problems children future crisis economy world blah blah etc ad inf forever amen hallelujah.

39 comments:

AlanSmithee said...

Protestors? Ha! When did protesting ever get anything done? Sending money to ActBlue and voting Democrat every two years - now thats the kind of activism we can believe in!

Mr.Fundamental said...

don't make me get up from this chair.

Anonymous said...

"if you had any respect for actual human beings, it might occur to you that rush limbaugh is reflecting more than driving the opinions of his audience. obviously. you might try to sort out objections, which take the form of fundamental questions about the scope and legitimacy of state power over the lives of citizens. instead, top to bottom and side to side, all you do is slander. that's because, i guess, you're so reasonable and informed."

"At a recent town-hall meeting in suburban Simpsonville, a man stood up and told Rep. Robert Inglis (R-S.C.) to “keep your government hands off my Medicare.”

IOZ said...

I don't think anyone is claiming that there aren't a lot of hilarious kooks protesting health care reform, just as there are in any protest.

Anonymous said...

g20 in pittsburgh? really?

Christopher M. said...

bcbg?

IOZ said...

bcbg = bon chic, bon genre = yuppie scum

Anonymous said...

"I don't think anyone is claiming that there aren't a lot of hilarious kooks protesting health care reform, just as there are in any protest."

What an opportune time to distinguish the the movement from the polemicists. You're above the fray, as usual, Monsieur.

IOZ said...

"The movement from the polemicists"? What does this even mean?

The standard tactic of the party in power, when confronted with protest or dissent, is to seize on the most ridiculous example of kookified fervor from the opposing side and use it to caricature their opponents as a bunch of geeks or yokels or freaktards, discrediting them all in the process.

Mr.Fundamental said...

the question a ruse; its author a falsehood.

I AM NOW JESUS.

druff said...

assuming that most if not all of these rabble-rousers are repubs (and i wouldn't assume otherwise), can we not agree that nothing they do is really based on principles or "fundamental questions" of any import? "demonstrably incoherent" is how you described their "ideology" in the past, i believe.

if all you're saying is that there ARE legitimate questions about proposed reforms, well duh, but no need to give these idjits too much credit in the process.

IOZ said...

idjits to the right of me, idjits to the left of me. Let me put it this way: the idea that this plan represents "reform" is just as moronic as the idea that the government is going to ruin medicare by taking it over.

Mr.Fundamental said...

WHERES MY GODDAMN PONY!!1!

I was promised a pony.

El Serracho! said...

its true, he WAS promised a pony.

Justin said...

We ceded investigating the crimes, err, mistakes of the past to focus our energy on getting this shit passed?

IOZ said...

It is dangerous to look backward when riding on a pony.

Anonymous said...

Unless you are a mongol. They conquered the world like that, kinda.

IOZ said...

Or a Hun! They could urinate and defecate while riding a horse. And not get any on the horse!

Mr.Fundamental said...

I can pee from the bike without any trouble at 25mph+. have to stop to poo though.

I would like a pony.

IOZ said...

You can probably buy some hipster's pony on craigslist.

Mr.Fundamental said...

killjoy.

IOZ said...

"This pony is bullshit, man! It doesn't look anything like the picture!"

Anonymous said...

I have to disagree with "creeping realization". The Demo-Libera-whatevers know that they keep getting rolled. And they know that it's because the opposition is willing to scream and yell and break windows and hit cops to get what they want, while "progressive action" is mostly limited to War Is Not The Answer bumper stickers.

There's a kind of cute cognitive dissonance about it all, of a piece with the "more and better Democrats" inanity. You have to wonder what it would take to get them to misbehave; what if Nancy Pelosi personally executed a falsely-accused black retarded minor on national television while failing to repeal DADT?

Mr.Fundamental said...

you've seen some spinals in your day, I'd imagine.

Anonymous said...

Then: Millions protest war in Viet Nam, a few thousand go bonkers and take up violence (amounts vary)....war continues until face saving surrender can be implimented.

Now: Hundreds show up at Town Halls. No significant violence. Significant social reform was already DOA. No battle, no need for surrender.

I am trying to draw a lesson from this.

Anonymous said...

I can pee from the bike without any trouble at 25mph+. have to stop to poo though.

Going up steep hills, too? Turning left and right? Doing the slalom? In traffic? You be awesome.

Ripper said...

The enemy may come individually, or in strength. He may even appear in the form of our own troops. But however we must stop him. We must not allow him to gain entrance to this base.

Now, I'm going to give you THREE SIMPLE rules:

First, trust NO one, whatever his uniform or rank, unless he is known to you personally; Second, anyone or anything that approaches within 200 yards of the perimeter is to be FIRED UPON; Third, if in doubt, shoot first then ask questions later.

I would sooner accept a few casualties through accidents rather losing the entire base and its personnel through carelessness. Any variation of these rules must come from me personally. Any variation on these rules must come from me personally. Now, men, in conclusion, I would like to say that, in the two years it has been my privilege to be your commanding officer, I have always expected the best from you, and you have never given me anything less than that. Today, the nation is counting on us. We're not going to let them down. Good luck to you all.

Anonymous said...

I don't see any connection to Vietnam, Anonymous.

El Serracho! said...

in all my years riding a bike i have not perfect the ride 'n pee. its all spurts and dribbles.

hv said...

God damn you Anonymous! You fuckin' asshole! Everything's a fuckin' travesty with you, man! And what was all that shit about Vietnam? What the FUCK, has anything got to do with Vietnam? What the fuck are you talking about?

Anonymous said...

Maybe he was referring to Iraq

Anonymous said...

hv, other 'anonymous': Chill, fuckers. Moose-ier IOZ did not say WHICH war. I coooment only to show that wingnut violence in this country sometimes gets a pass, but strident left wing protest (at least since the 60's) NEVER gets a pass from our Wise Elders.

Perhaps you can think this through, perhaps not.

But I must commend you for your fucking attempt at engagement!

Thank you!

Christopher M. said...

"The standard tactic of the party in power, when confronted with protest or dissent"

"Protest or dissent," my ass. As you yourself have pointed out time and again, the party in power and the party out of power are distinguished only by the different coalitions of corporate interests they represent. The Republicans shrieking about socialism at these town halls are no more articulating any coherent voice of "protest" than are the teabaggers or the Kossacks or any other extension of the major parties. That these particular stooges happen to be opposed to a piece of legislation you don't like doesn't make their "protest" any more coherent, rational or genuine.

Anonymous said...

Word. It's actually Crispy who sounds like the liberals you like to mock, IOZ--claiming that a calm powerpoint by the townhallers, a well-organized Q&A, and a little sensitivity training to mitigate their yuppie snobbery would have mollified the mob. (And that even if it didn't, by God, it would have been the right thing to do!)

Even fully conceding your point about political spectacle, Sartwell's post is still batshit stupid. Loudmouth deaththreat Glenn Beck zombies as the noble misunderstood salt of the earth, libertarian heroes even? Who have an important perspective & who will engage in productive dialogue if only they re treated with a little respect? Jesus. It's something Katrina vanden fucking Huevel could have written.

Anonymous said...

"rush limbaugh is reflecting more than driving the opinions of his audience"

Reflecting the opinions of his audience is pretty important to legitimize those opinions, to inform listeners that there are other people out there, even a hidden majority, with the same opinions. Without conduits like Limbaugh and his peers in the radio anger brigade you wouldn't be seeing the stupid cranked up to eleven.

NutellaonToast said...

"I can pee from the bike without any trouble at 25mph+. have to stop to poo though.

Going up steep hills, too? Turning left and right? Doing the slalom? In traffic? You be awesome."

Dude's also so cool he's slept with three women, man.

Re: this isn't meaningful reform.

OK, whatever that means, but are you really trying to say that pursuing universal health care is silly prowgwessiwism? I mean, fuck, I think the Democrats are useless tools like the next guy, but I'll take the fucking bones they throw. It's not like us nihilsts are gonna cease power. Not until we run out of Kahlua (sp?) and Vodka, anyway.

Anonymous said...

anonymous 10:14 -- yer outta yer element.

dhex said...

breaking windows out of pique is disruptive for the maintenance service contract of the building owner, especially if they're a bit behind on paying the bill.

Christopher said...

I was stuck in a car dealership waiting room with CNN on the TV for a while last friday, and some show came on. Anderson Cooper 360, maybe.

Well, they started talking about the health care protests. Specifically, whether people should be drowning out the speakers and what the consequences of being loud in public are. They didn't actually talk about, you know, health care policy, just a bunch of fifth grade civics shit anybody watching could figure out for themselves.

You know, back when liberals were making fun of those Tea Parties for being very small protests, the Tea Partiers responded by saying that their protesters were all real Americans, not like the fake professional protesters that liberals were always bringing to their anti-war demos.

It made no sense to me then, and it makes no sense to me now. Protesters are protesters. The guys at these town hall things may be a passel of idiots, and probably are, but the germaine question is what they are saying, not whether they're loud or fakey.

If they aren't saying anything meaningful, that should be enough of an indictment right there, shouldn't it? And if they are saying something meaningful, who cares that they chose to express it uncouthly?