In the land of progressive inteh-LEK-chew-als, it’s the Tea Party folks who are crude rubes. Dressing up in colonial costumes is corn pone and low brow. Conservatives and Fox News viewers are uncouth and uneducated.

But we’re not the ones snickering like Beavis and Butthead at photos of politicians eating corn dogs at state fairs.

No, that’s left to left-wing Berkeley sophisticates like prog blogger king Markos Moulitsas, who apparently collects GOP corn dog-eating images for his amusement and the titillation of his readers:

It goes on. And on. And on, with the de riguer gay rumor-mongering tossed in:

In complaining about “TMI (too much information) in Ames,” Kos confesses that “really, I’d shoot myself if I came across a photo of Newt Gingrich performing fellatio on a corn dog.”

Really, we have a feeling he’d drool rather gleefully as he added said image to his little blog photo album.

This all follows on the heels of London Telegraph editor Toby Harnden snarking about Bachmann chomping the “foot-long hot dog” with “gusto.”

Because, you know, re-printing candid photos of people with corn dogs is apparently so much more cultivated and distingué than actually digesting them. Heaven forfend.

Gotta love the “adult conversation” of our oh-so-tolerant left-wing betters making America proud…

***

From a Twitter follower: Democrats make fun of people eating corn dogs and defend people who tweet their weiners.

Go figure.

Background from Cynthia Yockey.

Hillbuzz responds here:

There have been many times in the last two years when we’ve been attacked by the Left, and we’ve thought about just giving all of this up and going back to who we were before 2008. Writing for this site takes a lot out of us, physically, emotionally, spiritually, financially, you name it. Our quality of life suffers, because we have to skip fun things we’d like to do because we have essays to write and strategy to get out to you. We do this because we don’t see anyone else doing it, and if we weren’t at this, the Left would win a small victory…since their goal is, clearly, to shut down all opposition and harass anyone who opposes them into submission.

You know you are getting to these Kossacks and Moveon.org-anisms when they come after you.

That means you are on to something, and they are afraid, so they throw everything they have at you to scare you into shutting up and running away.

After two years of this abuse heaped on us, it barely registers anymore. Not even when they cross a line and start attacking us personally, in our personal lives, the way some of them did yesterday. What may have scared us a few years ago instead just makes us get on a phone to a lawyer to begin procedures against these would-be bullies.

It is absolutely no fun standing up to Alinksy Methods and radical tactics. It is hard, hard work. You will be maligned for standing your ground. You will be personally attacked by these nuts if you are successful and they see you as some sort of threat. Somewhere, perhaps even originated at the White House itself, hit lists are made for distribution to the current president’s armies of trolls, orcs, and goblins, telling them whom to harass each week.

Michelle Malkin gets this. Glenn Beck gets it. Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Erik Erikson, Dennis Miller, and anyone else challenging the Left gets it.

We are in the very strange position now, as moderate Democrats, to be on the receiving end of this garbage ourselves, joining other PUMAs out there who’ve been targeted by the nutroots for refusing to be silenced as we watch Liberals on the far left destroy what used to be the Democrat Party.

They are furious at us for helping Scott Brown win on Tuesday. They are enraged we decided to do whatever we could to draw support to his campaign, and to mitigate any attacks the Left could make against Brown.

They are angry we’re goading Republicans to have a battle plan for January 20th, since the Left wants conservatives, moderates, and the entire GOP to drink themselves stupid celebrating on January 19th, so that the Left can find a way to keep Brown from being seated in the days after that — when Republicans normally go into hibernation and stop paying any attention to what’s going on.

We are not going to let that happen.

Courage.

Illegitimi non carborundum.

Hat tip: Instapundit.

He was found dead. Tied to a tree. Preliminary tests show he died of asphyxiation.

But the “cause of Sparkman’s death is under investigation, and authorities have not ruled out suicide, an accident or homicide, said Kentucky state police spokesman Don Trosper. A full medical report on Sparkman’s death is not complete,” according to the Washington Post.

Let me repeat that: The “cause of Sparkman’s death is under investigation, and authorities have not ruled out suicide, an accident or homicide, said Kentucky state police spokesman Don Trosper. A full medical report on Sparkman’s death is not complete.”

No matter. A speculative rumor spread by the Associated Press that Sparkman may have been targeted because of his Census job — coupled with an unsubstantiated claim that “fed” was “scrawled” on his chest — was enough “evidence” for the nutroots to convict every outspoken conservative activist and advocate for limited government of a murder that has yet to be determined a murder.

Democratic Underground immediately posted a “Handy Guide to how Republicans and Fox News are responsible for Census worker being hanged,” where a DU user fumed:

We need to absolutely expose Glenn Beck, Michele Bachmann, Michelle Malkin, CNN’s Lou Dobbs, Michael Steele, Rush Limbaugh and the legion of others parroting right-wing lies for trumping up this nonsense and getting people to now commit murder in a hideous fashion.

The Democratic Underground is an unrepresentative fring voice, you say? Well, here’s the “respectable” New York magazine pointing hysterical fingers at Bachmann, Limbaugh, “conservative media personalities, websites, and even members of Congress.”

Newsbusters spotlighted HuffPo indictments issued against conservative talk radio for the Sparkman’s death.

Radio Equalizer has video and transcript of left-wing radio loon Stephanie Miller blaming the Tea Party movement.

And Allahpundit points to this heinous graphic of a hanged man implicating yours truly, Sarah Palin, the Second Amendment, and every blanket criticism of ACORN, the SEIU, illegal immigration, Obamacare, and socialism under the sun.

They did this with the George Tiller shooting and the Holocaust Museum shooting and the Binghamton immigration center shooting. Motives had yet to be determined and bodies were still warm, but that did not stop the stampede from exploiting every bloody opportunity to redefine conservative political expression as an incitement to violence.

Meanwhile, other details initially reported by the AP that sparked the Census worker-was-murdered-because-he-was-a-government-worker meme continue to crumble. From McClatchy:

William E. Sparkman, 51, of Laurel County, Ky., reportedly had the word “fed” scrawled on his chest. That raised questions about whether he was killed because of hard feelings against the government and catapulted the mysterious death into a national story.

However, on Thursday, police had not confirmed Sparkman was even doing census work in Clay County at the time he died, said Capt. Lisa Rudzinski, commander of the state police post handling the investigation.

One media report — which quoted a census official saying a computer Sparkman used for census work was found in his truck near the cemetery — wasn’t true, Rudzinski said.

Police found Sparkman’s red pickup truck, but the computer wasn’t in it, she said.

…”There are too many unanswered questions for us to lean one way or the other,” Rudzinski said. “We have not ruled this is a hate crime against a federal employee. We’re still trying to determine if foul play was involved.”

…Reports that Sparkman was hanging from a tree at the cemetery create an image that doesn’t fit the evidence where Sparkman was found, Rudzinski said. Sparkman had a rope around his neck that was attached to a tree, but he was not hanging in the sense that many people envision, she said. Sparkman’s body was in contact with the ground, state police said in a news release.

News that Sparkman had the word “fed” on his chest came to the Associated Press from a law enforcement official who requested anonymity. The official did not tell the AP what was used to scrawl the word on Sparkman.

David Beyer, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Kentucky, said the agency was assisting state police and trying to figure out if Sparkman’s death had anything to do with his being a federal employee.

State police contacted the FBI about the case because Sparkman was a federal employee, not because of a belief that his death resulted from his employment, Rudzinski said.

To recap:

1) Police have not determined yet that this was murder.

2) He wasn’t hanging from the tree.

3) It hasn’t been determined if he was even working as a Census data collector at the time of his death or whether that job had anything at all to do with his demise.

But:

I killed the Kentucky Census worker — along with every man and woman in America who is guilty of having said or written anything critical of government.

The criminalization of conservatism continues.

The national media doesn’t want to talk about the dominance of conservative books atop the New York Times best-seller list and other national lists.

But it’s clearly getting under the Left’s skin.

At HuffPo, a Soros-tied co-author has launched a bid to dislodge conservative authors — and he’s asking for help from every last nutroots activist out there.

The book that will save America from us evil right-wing extremists and rescue the Democrat agenda from oblivion?

50 Ways You Can Help Obama Change America!

Look, Obama-bots: The book has the weighty endorsements of starlets, rappers, and yes, Teddy Kennedy.

“This book is a great resource to help the President change America by encouraging young people to embrace their civic responsibilities. During his campaign, Obama empowered all of us to take part in initiating change and it’s imperative that we keep that momentum going by involving the next generation.”
—Jessica Alba

“In 50 Ways You Can Help Obama Change America, Michael Huttner and Jason Salzman have given us a practical handbook on how every American can do something for our country. This should be required reading for anyone interested in making a difference and helping President Obama get our nation back on track.”
–The late Senator Edward M. Kennedy

Co-author Michael Huttner urges his fellow Obama cultists to buy the book so they, too, can be inspired to “help Obama pass health care reform, enact other core campaign promises, and move the country forward.”

And the bribe?

It never hurts to offer a little incentive, especially if your incentive has the potential to drive extreme right wingers crazy, so among our prizes is a grand-prize of a trip for two to Honolulu, Hawaii for a private tour of the hospital where President Obama was born, followed by an opportunity to take part in a community service project there on MLK Day of Service, January 18, 2010.

Submit stories and ideas on how people can help Obama change America for the better. Anyone is welcome to enter by sending us their stories by September 30. The winners will be announced on November 4, 2009 – one year to the day that Obama gave his memorable victory speech in Chicago.

…The contest and book are designed to inspire more people to help–at a time when progressive values are under serious attack in Washington and across the nation.

“Under serious attack” apparently means under attack on the NYTimes book lists:

In its small way, we hope our book and contest will advance Kennedy’s vision of progressive reform in America. And we also hope it contributes to changing the dialogue in this country, at a time when it’s beginning to look a little too much like the Bush era with books by right-wingers Michelle Malkin, Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly topping this week’s national bestsellers list.

Something in the air tells us that in the next few months, progressives will make their voices heard even louder than they did during the campaign. Let’s get fired up, ready to go.

Translation: Please buy our book. Get those awful conservatives off our turf. Do it for Teddy!

***

Huttner is the founder of “Progress Now” – a Democrat group of non-profit satellites funded with start-up money from billionaire George Soros and the Democracy Alliance — whose board members include SEIU International Secretary-Treasurer Anna Burger and ACORN embezzlement cover-upper Drummond Pike.

This is what left-wing “grass-roots” look like:

Source: Center for Investigative Reporting

I noted in my column on the Internet Snitch Brigade this morning that former CAP operatives have been installed at HHS and work closely with the health care czar.

At Newsbusters, Seton Motley reports on the new FCC “Diversity Officer” — a racial engineering czar who has been targeting conservative talk radio since his days working for CAP.

Know your enemy:

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has announced a new “Chief Diversity Officer,” communications attorney Mark Lloyd.

But Doctor of Jurisprudence Lloyd is far more than merely a communications attorney. He was at one time a Senior Fellow at the uber-liberal Center for American Progress (CAP), for whom he co-wrote a June 2007 report entitled “The Structural Imbalance of Political Talk Radio.”

Which rails against the fact that the American people overwhelmingly prefer to listen to conservative (and Christian) talk radio rather than the liberal alternative, and suggests ways the federal government can remedy this free-market created “problem.”

* Restore local and national caps on the ownership of commercial radio stations.
* Ensure greater local accountability over radio licensing.
* Require commercial owners who fail to abide by enforceable public interest obligations to pay a fee to support public broadcasting.

These last two get perilously close to the use of “localism” to silence conservative (and Christian) radio stations, about which we have been warning for quite some time.

Transcript:

Dem. Rep. Steve Cohen (TN) – I submit to you, Mr. Speaker, that the parties have differences. But if you want change, you want the Democratic Party. Barack Obama was a community organizer like Jesus, who our minister prayed about. Pontius Pilate was a governor. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.

I mentioned Kos’s Jesus/Pontius Pilate meme last week. They won’t let it go.

Bob Owens’ rejoinder deserves reprinting:

Charles Manson organized a community of his own, one that Bernadine Dorhn was certainly impressed with. You remember Bernie Dorhn, don’t you? She and her husband Bill Ayers had helped form yet another community, one called the Weather Underground. Years later, when they were done with their declared war against the United States, they helped community organizer and friend Barack Obama organize his first political fundraiser in their home.

If liberals want to play games about the meaning and definition of the words community organizer, then by all means, lets play.

It will be a lot more fun for us than them.

Indeed.

***

The Four Stages of Conservative Female Abuse
by Michelle Malkin
Creators Syndicate
Copyright 2008

There’s something about outspoken conservative women that drives the Left mad. It’s a peculiar pathology I’ve reported on for more than 15 years, both as a witness and a target. Thus, the onset of Palin Derangement Syndrome in the media, Democrat circles, and the cesspools of the blogosphere came as no surprise. They just can’t help themselves.

Liberals hold a special animus for constituencies they deem traitors. Minorities who identify as social and economic conservatives have left the plantation and sold out their people. Women who put an “R” by their name have abandoned their ovaries and betrayed their gender. As Republican officeholders and conservative public figures who are women have grown in number and visibility, the progression of Conservative Female Abuse has worsened. The astonishing vitriol and virulent hatred directed at GOP Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is the most severe manifestation to date.

The first stage of Conservative Female Abuse by the Left is infantilization. Right-wing women can’t possibly believe what they believe about the sanctity of life, self-defense, free markets, or foreign policy. They must be submissive little dolls of the White Male Hierarchy. Or, as a far Left (is there any other kind of Left in San Francisco?) San Francisco Chronicle columnist wrote of First Lady Laura Bush, they must be put in their place as “docile doormats” with no brains of their own. True to form, no sooner had John McCain announced Gov. Palin as his veep pick than jeers of “Palin = neocon puppet” sprouted across the Internet.

The second stage of CFA is sexualization. A conservative woman is not merely a sellout. She is an intellectual prostitute. Unable or unwilling to argue with them on the merits, detractors resort to mocking the physical appearance of their ideological opponents in skirts and denigrating them with vulgar epithets. MSNBC hosts insulted former GOP presidential candidate Fred Thompson’s accomplished wife and mother of two, Jeri Thompson, as working the stripper pole. Newspaper cartoonists Ted Rall, Pat Oliphant, and Jeff Danziger caricatured Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as a mammy, thick-lipped parrot, and Bush “House Nigga” armed with “hair straightener.” New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd derided former GOP Florida secretary of state Katherine Harris for applying “her makeup with a trowel.”

True to form, Dowd was first out of the box to snicker at Gov. Palin’s beauty pageant past, ridicule her “beehive and sexy shoes,” and compare her path to the vice presidential nomination as a “hokey chick flick.” Joe Biden backhandedly praised her as “good looking.” And left-wing bloggers worked overtime on lurid photoshops of Palin as a bikini model and porn star. At the Democratic Underground, a highly trafficked liberal website raising money for Barack Obama, members held a contest to come up with nicknames and posters to slime GOP Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin — and then to “spread [them] all over the ‘net.” Among the “nicer” entries: “Cruella,” “Gidget,” “Governor Jesus Camp,” “VPILF,” “Fertilla the Huntress,” “Iditabroad,” and “KILLER PYSCHO FUNDIE BITCH FROM HELL!!”

The third stage of CFA is demonization. When the Left tires of hurling whore insults, it turns conservative women in the public eye into nefarious creatures. Bill Maher called Laura Bush “Hitler’s dog.” George Carlin attacked Barbara Bush as “the Silver douchebag.” A Huffington Post website member wrote of Nancy Reagan: “Like her evil husband, she has lived far too long. Here’s hoping the hag suffers for several weeks, then croaks in the tub.” Another added: “I feel no pity for the bitch who took delight in watching thousands die of a horrible disease and watching the poor having to eat out of dumpsters because of her husband’s political beliefs.”

True to form, rumors of Palin being a crypto-Nazi surfaced on the Internet and the fringe media. And liberal critics used her gun-rights record to smear her as bloodthirsty.

And the final stage of CFA is dehumanization. Conservative women aren’t real women according to the liberal feminist establishment’s definition. Remember when Gloria Steinem called Texas Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison a “female impersonator?” Or when curdled NOW leader Patricia Ireland instructed Democrats to vote only for “authentic” female political candidates? Or when Al Gore’s fashion consultant Naomi Wolf described the foreign-policy analysis of Jeane Kirkpatrick as being “uninflected by the experiences of the female body?”

Echoing the bottom-feeders in the liberal blogosphere, mainstream journalists and Obama water-carriers now question Palin’s commitment to motherhood and even challenged her pre-natal care decisions in an effort to destroy her. Forget about questioning their patriotism. I question their sanity.

Reader Monica M. sent me a link to the Democratic Underground’s latest thread for commenters to come up with nicknames and posters to slime GOP Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin — and then to “spread [them] all over the ‘net.” There are now nearly 100 filthy, hate-filled responses and counting. Among the “nicer” entries: “Cruella,” “Gidget,” “Governor Jesus Camp,” “VPILF,” “Fertilla the Huntress,” “Iditabroad,” and “KILLER PYSCHO FUNDIE BITCH FROM HELL!!”

The link should have come with a blood pressure warning. These people make Palin-bashing prenatal care expert Alan Colmes look like a saint.

Peer with me further into the liberal sinkhole again and behold P.D.S. in full bloom. Note that this site is raising money for Barack Obama and that an ad for their fundraiser appears at the top of the thread. Is Obama going to accept their cash? Know your enemy:

itsjustme
Tue Sep-02-08 10:40 AM
Original message
To further define Sarah Palin, we need a unified nickname.

Words are important. Symbols are important, and we need to all get together on a cute nickname for Sarah. I’m not so clever with nicknames, but people that are please place your suggestions here. After I have enough I’ll post a poll.

Someone called her “Caribou Barbie” which I thought was pretty good. But I honestly feel we need a poll to vote for the best suggestion, and we can then all use it. Perhaps it could spread all over the ‘net.

The Photoshop entries getting thumbs up from DU commenters:

And the sickest attack of them all — mocking Palin for being a nursing mom:

And more:

These people are off their meds.

***

Memo to Daily Kos: You can try to erase the truth, but caches, screenshots, and blog posts are forever. The stain is permanent.

McCain P.O.W. mockery? Check.

Hack-edited video? Check.

Rampant sexism? Check.

Festering conspiracy theories? Check.

They can’t control themselves. Back off?

They just can’t.

Every major Democrat presidential candidate has attended the Yearly Kos convention. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid keynoted the nutroots’ annual gathering two years ago. Dick Durbin appeared via satellite with the official Senate seal in the background. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sat down with the Kossacks and their ilk for a chat at Netroots Nation this year. Hillary pandered to the Kos crowd last summer. So did Barack Obama.

Ever since John McCain announced his VP pick, the Daily Kos — the self-declared “New Center” of American politics — has been an out-of-control incubator of deranged conspiracy theories and attacks on GOP Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s family. Will a single Kos Democrat stand up publicly and specifically denounce the madness on the left side of the Internet? Or do they agree with the Kos smear merchants that monitoring Palin family pregnancies and jeering about 17-year-old Bristol’s situtation — as Kos himself does here in this post now featured on the front page of the site — is “fair game?

***

Via Allah, here’s Obama’s statement, which acknowledges his own teen mother:

Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama Monday afternoon issued a strong statement to “back off” reports of Bristol Palin’s pregnancy, telling reporters families — and especially children — are off limits in this presidential campaign.

Mr. Obama, campaigning here, also noted that his own mother was 18 when she gave birth to him.

“People’s families are off limits,” he said. “People’s children are especially off limits. This shouldn’t be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Gov. Palin’s performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president. ”

“I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories,” he added. “That shouldn’t be a topic in our politics.”

He vehemently pushed back against an unnamed McCain aide suggesting his campaign had any ties to the blogs that were spreading rumors before the news broke, saying he was “offended” by that and if any of his staff was involved in spreading the issue, “they’d be fired.”

The Kossacks aren’t listening:

First of all, who says that Bristol Palin really is pregnant right now? She could suddenly have a miscarriage down the road and poof baby gone.

Secondly, Bristol could have had a baby back in April, and be pregnant again.

***

Who believes this press release is true (3+ / 0-)

Recommended by:
dksbook, OleHippieChick, MinnesotaMom

just because the campaign says so does not explain why she missed 5 months of school prior i do not BELIEVE anything they say

by need pr on Mon Sep 01, 2008 at 10:56:49 AM PDT

*
Maybe she had morning sickness. n/t (0+ / 0-)

by concernedamerican on Mon Sep 01, 2008 at 10:57:43 AM PDT

*
Of course she’s lying. What politicians tells the (0+ / 0-)

truth about sex?

The press thinks being fair and balanced means if a comment is made about the pleasant smell of roses, not forgetting to talk up the smell of shit.

by Dungeon Dwelling Dragon on Mon Sep 01, 2008 at 11:04:03 AM PDT

*
Complete Horsesh*t (1+ / 0-)

Recommended by:
GirlZero

Me, either. The timing here is absolutely stunning. You’d have to be out of your mind or senile (like McSurge) to buy any of this tripe.

by Ninbus on Mon Sep 01, 2008 at 11:04:20 AM PDT

Commenter Will Amos: “Barry need to go on Kos himself with a post and tell them to knock it off. A press release isn[']t enough. It goes to his judgment.”

Thing is, it’s happened before–to Michelle. Those of you who have followed this site for a while might remember when Gawker came up with some inept photoshops of Michelle in a bikini and ran them, to cheers from Michelle’s critics who believed this proved she was a big stinkin’ hypocrite.

Why? Even if the picture weren’t a fake cobbled together from a private picture of a college student that someone ripped off the web, would that have proven hypocrisy? SHOCKER: CONSERVATIVE COLUMNIST DOES NOT SWIM IN A BURQINI.

Well, they thought–they hoped–that those fake photos of Michelle would somehow undermine her credibility with conservatives.

They don’t know us very well, do they? Even religious conservatives who emphasize modesty aren’t going to be wagging their finger and snarling “SINNER!” at someone who was once in a beauty contest or got her picture taken in a swimsuit. So once again, this is about to fall flat, like Brick Tamlin’s attempt to belittle his opponents’ sartorial taste:

See, the Left keeps on buying its own propaganda. There are a lot of slick hucksters there who tell them what they want to hear about how conservatives think and make decisions. Thomas Frank comes to mind, as does perennial tool George Lakoff.

Hey, it’s necessary to keep the liberal Strike Force! stoked at a fever pitch of seething hatred. That’s where the activism and the money and the silencing of opponents comes from. But then the problem is that they actually believe that this is how conservatives think and feel, and they make strategic mistakes because of it.

And then everybody laughs at them.

UPDATE: “Trollop“, eh? Somebody’s been reading the Dungeon Master’s Guide.

Thanks to commenter RetFireman.

________________

{Post by See-Dubya; opinions are my own, time is my own, computer is my own, bikini photos of me are my own and you may not publish them! I was young, I needed the money…}

Via Free Republic and Newsbusters comes news that the Austin American Statesman has caved into nutroots pressure to yank a front-page feature poking gentle fun at the Netroots Nation/Kossack blog convention last week. Who led the charge to censor the piece? Editor and Publisher’s Greg Mitchell, who whined about the article in a blog post at the Daily Kos (!) and then gloated about his role in yanking of the “snarky” article in E&P.

Kristinn Taylor at FR writes:

The Austin American-Statesman caved to pressure from the Daily Kos-Netroots Nation and pulled an article from the newspaper’s website that poked fun at the liberal convention being held in Austin last weekend.

The article, entitled Gore’s Surprise Visit Highlights Netroots Conference was published on the front page of Sunday’s paper.

It was written by feature writer, Patrick Beach–meaning the article was not a straight news piece (think Dana Milbank.)

Greg Mitchell, a writer for Editor & Publisher who blogs at the Daily Kos attended the conference as a panel speaker.

He brought attention to the article by posting about it [at] the Daily Kos. Mitchell says that Austin Kossacks claiming to know people at the American-Statesman promised to “work their magic” on the paper.

By Monday the article was pulled from the American-Statesman’s website, with the message: “The page you’ve requested is not available.”

The newspaper’s groveling apologia for daring to mock the un-mock-able is here.

Our front-page story Sunday about the Netroots Nation convention included doses of irony and exaggeration. It made assertions (that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi might find herself at home politically in Beijing, for example) and characterizations (“marauding liberals” was one) meant to amuse. For many readers, we failed.

In trying for a humorous take on the Netroots phenomenon without labeling it something other than a straightforward news story, we compromised our standards.

— Fred Zipp, editor

The Forbidden Piece by feature writer Patrick Beach is still cached here. A taste:

There was even one panel Friday featuring Princeton economics professor and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman (wearing, as if to galvanize stereotype, what appeared to be Birkenstocks) that was essentially about how the media weren’t liberal enough.

As they say, only in Austin.

Filmmaker Paul Stekler, who teaches film production and politics at the University of Texas, said:”As you have greater democratization (through the use of technology to distribute one’s message), you also have a greater degree of what’s called confirmation bias. We live in a very different and weird world in terms of dissemination of information right now.”

Indeed, you couldn’t find anybody who disagreed that President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were “two ignoramuses,” a label hurled by Parag Mehta, the Democratic National Committee’s director of training.

Big names? Got ‘em. There was Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, founder of the Daily Kos political blog, who hatched the idea a few years ago to get his like-minded pals together and who, in a Friday lunchtime keynote with Harold Ford Jr., chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, seemed amazed at what the notion had unleashed.

“We’re going to keep growing; we’re going to keep pushing for an unapologetic Democratic Party,” Moulitsas said.

Then there was John Dean, the former Nixon White House counsel who has made a second career of railing against what he considers right-wing excesses the way recovering alcoholics preach against strong drink.

“I have deep fear of my former tribe, and what they might do particularly in the law,” Dean said, before going on to refer to former Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani as “Richard Nixon on crystal meth.”

It’s plinking bass in a barrel to paint liberals as overly intellectual types incapable of having fun unless reading Noam Chomsky counts, and it sure does for them. And there were a handful of colorful characters, including some men from Cedar Creek who looked like bikers and represented the Warrior Wolf Society, which they described as “a group of pagan warriors with wolf totem spirit,” and a guy in a Bush mask and clothing with prison stripes.

But for the most part, these were serious-minded people, and decorum prevailed.

When a few people had the temerity to shout at Pelosi and Gore, they got shushed as mercilessly as they would have at a Nanci Griffith concert.

The no fun thing? Maybe it’s because, as Democrats, they’re not used to having it.

Hit the nail on the head. And we can’t have that.

Shusssshhhhhh.

If they really wanted to push his buttons and address a real policy issue, they would press him hard about his open-borders Hispanic outreach director Juan Hernandez and his anti-assimilation campaign finance co-chair Jerry Perenchio, challenge his coziness with La Raza, and expose his border security double-talk.

But they’re the nutroots.

So never mind.

***

More from the Des Moines Register:

A Clive man drew gasps from fellow audience members at today’s presidential candidate forum by using a four-letter word in a question to Sen. John McCain.

A member of the audience, identified as Marty Parrish of Clive, asked McCain during the event at the Polk County Convention Complex about a rumor that McCain had once used a profane word referencing female genitalia to describe his wife.

A book, “The Real McCain” by Cliff Schecter, accuses McCain of using the word in an exchange with his wife, Cindy, in 1992.
Advertisement

Here’s a transcript of today’s remarks:

PARRISH: This question goes to mental health and mental health care. Previously, I’ve been married to a woman that was verbally abusive to me. Is it true that you called your wife a (expletive)?

MCCAIN: Now, now. You don’t want to … Um, you know that’s the great thing about town hall meetings, sir, but we really don’t, there’s people here who don’t respect that kind of language. So I’ll move on to the next questioner in the back.

The audience gasped at the question and applauded at McCain’s handling of it. Parrish was escorted from the event and questioned by Secret Service, but not charged. Parrish had checked in to the event as a member of the press.

Parrish is identified as a “Baptist minister.”

He’s a former Joe Biden campaign worker and Obama supporter.

Jim Hoft has photos and background.

The e-mail exchange seemed vaguely familiar.

Hmmmm. Where have I seen those e-mails before? What intrepid investigative techniques did the superior left-wing blogger use to obtain those e-mails?

Thinking, thinking….

Oh, wait a minute. I’ve got it! They’re the same e-mails I published on this blog more than a month ago.

Way to go, Scoop.