Some of you fans of nostalgia teevee out there (or some of you survivors from back in the day when it was just teevee) will know about one Welcome Back Kotter's most famous running gags -- "Epstein's Mother".*
Never seen on-camera, the only other thing we ever knew about Epstein's Mother was that, whenever her son -- Juan Luis Pedro Phillipo de Huevos Epstein -- got into a jam, he would deliver into his teacher's hands a ludicrous work of short fiction excusing his behavior, and that excuse would always be signed, "Epstein's Mother".
Well through dint of sheer hard work, at long last Epstein's Mother made it out of the tenements of Brooklyn all the way to the tony Manhattan offices of The New York Times.
Liberals, You’re Not as Smart as You Think
Yes, Epstein's Mother has finally stumbled onto a scam where the invention of absurd excuses for inexcusable behavior is a staggeringly profitable endeavor. In this case, Epstein's Mother is working under the pseudonym "Gerard Alexander" who The New York Times tells us "...is a professor of political science at the University of Virginia."
What the NYT does not mention is that "Gerard Alexander" is also a Visiting Scholar at the right-wing American Enterprise Institute and a frequent guest columnist in such august pillars of the Wingnut Brain Caste as The Weekly Standard and National Review.
Also "Gerard Alexander"'s previous contributions to the flourishing and immensely lucrative genre of "Libtards Are Always To Blame For Every Horrible Atrocity Conservatives Commit" fan fiction include such gems as (h/t Alert Reader Paul G.) --
Why are liberals so condescending?
...This condescension is part of a liberal tradition that for generations has impoverished American debates over the economy, society and the functions of government -- and threatens to do so again today, when dialogue would be more valuable than ever.
-- and:
Conservatism does not equal racism. So why do many liberals assume it does?
And this very Sunday "Gerard Alexander"'s once again boldly ignored decades of actual Republican Party history in order to publish the umpteenth retread of this same fatuous hoax in which we learn that...
Liberals are trapped in a self-reinforcing cycle. When they use their positions in American culture to lecture, judge and disdain, they push more people into an opposing coalition that liberals are increasingly prone to think of as deplorable. That only validates their own worst prejudices about the other America.
So damn you Barack Obama for, y'know, wearing that damn suit and otherwise being so, well, y'know, suspicious.
And holy crap! Even as I was writing this, Epstein's Mother went and got a gig at the Washington Post too!
The Daily 202: Trump voters stay loyal because they feel disrespected
And holy crap again! Even as I was writing the thing about the Washington Post, Epstein's Mother scooted across town and landed a sweet interview gig at Politico under the name "Arthur Brooks"! This time Epstein's Mother mixes it up a little bit and instead of blaming Liberals for every act of Conservative depravity catastrophe in American politics, she goes goes with the biggest and most reliable Beltway Lie of them all...
‘Americans are Being Held Hostage and Terrorized by the Fringes’An exit interview with the American Enterprise Institute’s Arthur Brooks....Brooks: I have a book coming out next year called The Culture of Contempt. We’ve created a culture of not anger, not disagreement, it’s contempt. And we need to strike back. We’re the majority. We don’t want this. Americans are being held hostage and terrorized by the fringes. That’s what’s going on here. It’s not like 50 percent of Americans thinks one thing and 50 percent thinks another thing. No, 15 percent on each side are effectively controlling the conversation...
From here, it sure looks like Epstein's Mother is out to hit every single serving station at the Wingnut Welfare cafeteria.
Which is damn impressive for a woman her age.
Hell, if she keeps up this pace, pretty soon she may have to start calling herself "Bill Kristol".
*Thanks for the catch!
Behold, a Tip Jar!
10 comments:
"We"? That does not work the way he used it. There's "we" as applied to his point of view, and there's "the majority" but the overlap of those two sets is so small as to exclude the "majority" part altogether.
-Doug in Oakland
Unless I missed something, I don't think you mentioned Welcome Back, Kotter by name once in this post. I will concede, however, that when I see comments on ostensibly liberal sites mocking people for merely expressing a belief in God,it rubs me the wrong way. Not enough to support Republican ideas, mind you. Taking up a position just because someone criticizes you for holding it is just contrarian and no way to make a decision.
In the name of ideology?!
Discard facts. Bear false witness to the flock in front of your God. Defend the use of socialism for themselves but not for anyone else. So the GOP base can run on the Hamster;s inane wheel that gets them nowhere but exhausted.
There is a plantation owners commandment to restrain the slaves. Including promoting a slave to undermine any iota of thought they may have. Treat them with a bit of extra favoritism's to show the others becoming a dupe (uncle Tom) is better than the the other slaves existence.
An entire GOP business has been created and subsidized. Right down to the SCOTUS decision of Citizens United.
This agenda to tear it all down began after FDR. They never want to endure anything again the people of a country who were empowered to govern themselves by a document (promise) that sacrifice is rewarded.
here we are, "only I can fix it", "only I can do these things", "only I need to be able to break all the laws boundaries to accomplish what is best". The Trump ideology.
That has been the GOP ideology. Which is condensed into Paul Ryan receiving a $5oo K donation check from Charles Koch (on person) the day after giving the very financial vulnerable wealthiest tax cuts and the corporations they own as well.
The half a million check from one donor. barely keeping his head above financial poorhouse, Sheldon Adelson and his $400 million single check to Paul Ryan and the GOP wealthy Uncle Toms.
To control the people so they do not ever get the notion to aim toward another FDR moment in time.
Not the cost of doing business for them. More like the cost of holding the plantation power over the multi cultural unworthy 2/3 of a person.
If corporations are people. One has to ask, what becomes of what was the people?
Where now do the wealthiest throne sitters place themselves? It sure is not in equal under God nor law (at least those who adhere to the Constitution).
The GOP can "unionize" with media networks to Government positions like the Chamber of Commerce.
The labor of this country is to dangerous to unionize or even find common cause.
GOP unitary president vs the Democratic President being always a "Dictator".
The same Pharaohs want the same Pyramids built at the same low slave wage and under the same damn sun .
They can hide the slaughter of the hogs from most of the others. So they have less problems heading most of the hogs through the lanes to the slaughter.
making bacon Ditsy Devos calls it as she works to extract the education of hogs so they will never be able to contemplate their destiny next to the pancakes and eggs.
hey, what do I know. There is no fat check from Sheldon of the Kochs for me.
it is they now that decides the value of words. As long as those words are in protection of their falicy on others. It is worth being well paid.
This is not enough, they must address the enemy. Those who use words in manners they fear. That do not get financial support or rewards. Fear of their inheritance to the royal family in jeopardy or to that effect.
I mean, who doesn't give devoted loyalty for a better pay and life than others. Even if it harms those others.
It is about a sum game of life. " How can I benefit from harm to others?"
This is where, "Trump is the only one that can fix it". strives in the short term and collapses in the long.
Good evening, Mr. Glass.
Ms. Marcotte did a similar column, bringing in some other names of people making the "Gallant should be nicer to Goofus" argument...
https://www.salon.com/2018/05/15/conservatives-ludicrous-new-excuse-liberals-made-us-vote-for-donald-trump/
Now if you'll excuse me, I just finished reading Mr. Alexander insulting my intelligence. Therefore I have no choice but to join the Klan.
Be seeing you.
I'm going to have to agree with the headline, "Liberals, You’re Not as Smart as You Think."
I didn't waste time posting my retort on the NYT. So you're up, Drift.
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It's true, we aren't. But ever since grading on the curve became a thing, we can be forgiven for thinking so.
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Up until at least the 1990s, it was ostensibly still a chess match. Then came the Aughts, and then now-a-days. Now? Most of us are fucking geniuses by comparison.
What does the media do when the Republican President opens the moved U.S. embassy in Jerusalem with a bigoted, right wing, Evangelical Christian dominionist preacher that has previously made statements including, but not limited to, Jews going to hell and Muslims and Catholics being evil?
Run a shit load of columns stating it's Liberals that are arrogant, aloof, and demeaning to all around them, of course.
I was out of the country for the whole of the Welcome Back Kotter years, so it took me some minutes to figure out the Epstein's mother example. I don't think I ever saw even one episode of that show. However, I get the meaning.
Eh? Whaddo the froggies say? plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose
When I returned to the States in the mid-80s, my fundie rightwing family were already onna tear about the Librul media and how horrible their lives were because of it. At that time, I was genuinely confused. What liberal media? And that's back then when we were trucking more in reality than in fantasy land.
Point being: even prior to the insidious evil of Rush Limpdick and Focks, righties were being led down the path of how heinous the libtards were and how everything horrible was because of our very existences on the planet.
Of course the devolution continues apace to where one glances at the photo on the right side of this post and just shudders in horror. THIS is what my fundie rightie 'rents wanted? THIS?? Really???
The Oligarchs have dictated the propaganda bc it works so well on a signifcant minority of the populace: simply blame EVERYTHING BAD on liberals, no matter what, and it's a done deal. The gormless droogies get off on it, and reality never phases them.
Once again: there's no reaching out to these fuckwits. Best to find a way to register as many people to vote as possible. As gormless and witless as the Democraps are, it's better than this shithole sandwich.
onwards....
It's not blame everything on liberals, but it's those People, who the liberals give stuff to & protect, who really get their dander up.
You know, whenever I hear my dad’s girlfriend spew hate-radio talking points & freak out about Sharia law & transgender pedophiles, I think: “CPAC didn’t cause this. The NRA didn’t cause this. Rush Limbaugh didn’t cause this. Sinclair Broadcasting didn’t cause this No,. I caused it...
by not being more... understanding.”
I just emailed this post to the NYT.
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