Dumbing it down

~ Patrick O'Grady

Anyone besides me miss the good ol’ days when our political adversaries were smart?

I have disagreed heartily, sometimes violently, with many a Republican over the years — Richard Nixon, Barry Goldwater, my father — but I never thought they were idiots. Even Dickless Cheney must be considered a sort of evil genius, the Doctor Strangelove of the previous administration, which ushered in the Age of the Boneheads with Alfred E. “What, Me Worry?” Bush as patron saint.

But Jesus, these shitheels we hear spouting off without letup in today’s 24/7 news cycle are feebs, dumb as a bag of hair, stupid all the way down to their bones.

• Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, who apologized to BP for its harsh treatment at the hands of Democrat green meanies — and quickly retracted said apology after John Boehner, Eric Cantor and Mike Pence (the holy trinity of fucktardery) called him an imbecile. This is like getting smacked down by Carrot Top, Howie Mandel and Pauly Shore. Barton’s chief corporate donor is (wait for it) Anadarko Petroleum, a 25 percent partner in the Macondo Prospect, which was the site of the Deepwater Horizon explosion.

• Bill Randall, a GOP congressional hopeful in North Carolina, who thinks the federal gummint and BP planned to spill that oil.

• And let’s not forget Michele Bachmann, Sharron Angle, Rand Paul, Haley Barbour, Tom Price, Dick Armey … the list goes on and on and on.

The real idiots, of course, are the people who voted for this lot. I hope they’re enjoying the show. To me, it looks like “Jackass: Dumbing It Down in D.C.”

15 thoughts on “Dumbing it down”

  1. you are an idiot. BP made the biggest political contribution EVER to a presidential campaign and it wasn’t to a republican. Get it?

  3. Yeah, add me to the “don’t get it” column. Do elaborate, TJ. If you’re getting your “intelligence” from Politico, you might try casting a wider net.

  4. If TJ is correct, it should be on the record somewhere. How ’bout a reputable source?

    I once said in all seriousness that in the toxic political climate of D.C., the Repugs would oppose ANYTHING the Donks and especially anything Barack “Chairman Mao” Obama does. Hence the Prez should immediately and forcefully come strongly out AGAINST gay marriage, AGAINST a carbon tax, etc., etc…

    Hence shit like this from the Wash Monthly:

    “…In Nevada, Senate candidate Sharron Angle has said the appropriate response to the disaster is further deregulation of the oil industry. ..”

    Uh…sure…Welcome to Nigeria, Sharon-Honey.

    On a different topic, well, how ’bout those Lakers?

  6. http://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/05/05/bp.lobbying/index.html. White House says,
    “Money didn’t come from BP, it came from employees..” Right, and Rose Kennedy never owned a black dress.
    There’s a reason this company was allowed to keep permitting with it’s terrible record, and the blame belongs to
    Washington, both sides. You liberals just can face the reality of that little sunshine BP logo you so loved has let you down.

  7. TJ,

    Speaking out of one side of your mouth, you say, “There’s a reason this company was allowed to keep permitting with it’s (sic) terrible record, and the blame belongs to Washington, both sides.”

    With the other, you sneer “you liberals” as though the left is solely to blame for BP’s spectacular failure in the Gulf (incidentally, I’m a radical, not a liberal, and I love individuals, not sunshine-logo’d corporations).

    I’ll take a wild guess and assume you are a “conservative.” How would your crowd have handled Deepwater Horizon? ’Bout like it did Katrina, the budget surplus, restraining the growth and power of the federal government — particularly the executive branch — and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? That ain’t much of a résumé.

    Furthermore, the blame-Washington bullshit is really getting stale. Anyone who drives a car deserves a share of the blame for this catastrophe. We’re addicted to petroleum, and like all addicts, we don’t care how we get our fix or who supplies it, whether it’s British Petroleum or Hugo Chávez. Deepwater Horizon is a botched shot dribbling down the arm of the body politic.

    And finally, this is your third comment on this site. Two of them have been low on data and high on belligerence. You’re more than welcome to hang around and chime in, but mind your manners. It’s my sandbox, and I decide who gets to shit in it.

  8. Ignore the troll.

    Obviously TJ’s a liberal extremist, posing as a conservative, trying to make all conservatives look like idiots. Hence, comments like, “the sunshine BP logo you so loved.” Like there’s some huge BP logo fan club out there?

    “… to keep permitting … ” That’s not even English. To keep permitting? BP was permitting … what? They were permitted to operate, they were granted permits, but “to keep permitting” means what?

    TJ’s a plant. A rouse. Trying to make one side think the other side is nothing but extremists. Like our host said, it wasn’t that long ago that both sides were filled with intelligent people who respectfully disagreed. I’d pay cash money for a good Patrick Moynihan / Barry Goldwater debate today, folks who used real world experiences to shape their ideological views, as opposed to today’s ready / fire / aim mentality, where an ideology is handed to you on a bumper sticker and no further thinking is required. We used to have brilliant conservatives and brilliant liberals, and they would argue why you should listen to their point of view, instead of telling you why the other guys are boogie men to be feared.

    Tell me what you’re for, not what you’re against, and you’ll have my attention every time, left or right.

    But start talking conspiracy theories and “taking back American” (from whom again?) and how “those guys” are ruining this country, and you’ve lost me.

    I love how TJ totally ignored O’G’s point and offered this non sequitur to try to stir the pot.

    So, TJ, get a grasp on the English language, stop mixing your arguments in mid-stream, and lay off the histrionics, and you’ll have my attention. But until then, gotta file you under “Self-mocking Trolls.”

  9. Thanks for the CNN reference, TJ. The list of recipients is what I would expect: anyone in a key position to influence exploration and development, regardless of party. The usual suspects, from Joe “B.P.” Barton to Obama bin Laden.

    Having seen up close how the system worked in Hawaii, I agree that it is not inconceivable that BP funneled money to its employees, or at minimum, encouraged them to do the donating because of the concern with Obama being tainted by corporate money. In Hawaii, corporate campaign fund donation through employees was common practice. Independent journalist and “fellow traveler” Ian Lind uncovered a lot of it. The job of the independent press and prosecutor was to dig through the tax records and make the connections.

    The Minerals Management Service (disclosure–I once was a co-PI on a grant from them involving fisheries research in the Gulf) has been a disaster under multiple administrations, in part because of its impossible dual mission to both encourage and regulate exploration. That’s besides the point. As several of us have said or alluded, few are digging beneath the surface of this disaster for fear that the truth might hurt closer to home rather than to our usual partisan targets. The Right “doesn’t want to know” for fear it will have to let go of its “drill, baby, drill” and deregulation mantras. The Left “doesn’t want to know” because it will have to spend less time blaming Big Corporations or Dick Cheney and more time trading in the Range Rover and McMansion for a Prius, a smaller home, and a bicycle. There is certainly enough hypocrisy to go around.

    As far as cheap shots? Mea culpa. Most of us, unfortunately, are guilty of railing about The Other Side in less than flattering terms from time to time. But frankly, some of them are really, really, tempting targets of derision.

    My impression was it was OK to throw out insults as long as they were not directed at anyone posting here. But really. If we all held ourselves to the rhetorical standards of a Javits, Goldwater, or Moynihan, the nation would be a better place. Or something.

  12. How about this gem I linked to off the Political Animal article Patrick linked:

    STEPHANOPOULOS: So, you believe that the regulation of BP was adequate?

    PAUL: I don’t know exactly what the regulation of BP is. I think there’s hundreds of pages of regulation of drilling in the ocean and I think most of that’s justified. I think we’ll have to figure out from this accident, is there anything that could have beend one to prevent it? What can we do in the future to make sure that it doesn’t happen again?

    So this is an “accident”? I thought “accidents” were events that happen for or from no substantive reason. But then he goes on to talk about finding ways to prevent it? Talk about talking out both sides of your mouth…

    Where have all the smart politicos gone?

  13. It is amazing the assumptions you have made about me. I am a libertarian, I give generously to charities especially animals, I support the gay marriage as I think denying them is trampling on their “pursuit of happiness”. I am not fond of Sarah Palin, Pelosi, Obama, and Rumsfeld…. – don’t pigeon hole me.
    SteveO – cleaned up just for you

    I will address Khal as he appears to be rational and not into grading English papers. I am not blaming one entity as there is plenty of blame to go around. This includes the companies that should be operating in a prudent and honest manner, the government agencies that exist to enforce our laws and expectations. My comment about the logo is that BP represents itself as a “green” company and many took them at their word. We get to decide on that collectively. Khal, since you have been in Hawaii I’m sure you have seen the sewage from the big cruise lines floating around a pod of dolphins. It is disgusting and Hawaii refuses to address this disgusting practice. The cruise lines bring in too much money and you obviously have seen the level of corruption in that state. This is off track, but it applies in that the corruption exists throughout the U.S.
    In the current gulf situation, yesterday’s public flogging of the BP CEO was nothing more than an opportunity to try to appear as hero’s to the constituents’. This does nothing in solving the current problem. There as been an assumption that BP will not do the right thing as far as reimbursement for the damage, loss of livelihood, etc. If BP is forced into bankruptcy, no one will see any money for years. The small business people who are have been hurt need the money desperately. If it goes into bankruptcy, they will quickly find themselves on a long list of creditors in the bankruptcy papers. BP executives will be around for a while, we can flog them later. I think stopping or controlling that catastrophe in the Gulf should be our #1 priority. Good Day – I’ll stay out of your sand box, it’s getting pretty full.

  14. TJ
    As a Libertarian, I find your lack of post-middle school grammar to be disturbing. I was really trying to comprehend your point of view on this matter but I only made it to “…as there is plenty…” in your above missive when my mind shut off. Might I suggest that you at least learn proper English grammar. You know: nouns and verbs matching tenses; subjects matching their predicate; etc. I think you have a good point…it is just really hard to follow along when you are talking from center field and the rest of us are in the upper deck. I know that this is a nit to pick – and I am far from being perfect on this matter – but if you want positive responses, then please offer something that is constructive and well written. Otherwise your fellow shit stirrers don’t give an effin’ rat’s patoot what you have to say.

  15. // It is amazing the assumptions you have made about me. //

    You start off with, “you’re an idiot.” Then, every other word out of your mouth is “you liberals … ” And it’s amazing the assumptions WE’ve made about YOU?

    Cracks me up … in this country, not only can you just call someone a name when you don’t feel like any heavy thinking, but you can call yourself anything you like without actually having to act in an appropriate or corresponding manner. Like anyone gives a shit what you call yourself.

    And then, when your argument is weaker than a Leno monologue, you fall back on “you big bullies are picking on my grammar.” Yeah, and no one respects Kenny G because his hair’s parted on the wrong side. Whatever helps you sleep at night …

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