As most of you no doubt already know, American Dad over at TPM has performed a profound public service by provided us with what may be the ultimate BFG in the ongoing Liberal-vs-Conservative, Truth-vs-Lies arms race (My thanks to the Demon Barrister who gave me the head's up).
It is the Bayeux Tapestry of lists.
The Louvre of Links.
In other words, guns.
Lots of guns.
Because it goes on like this – category by category --
Hypocrisy
You can't flip out -- and threaten impeachment - when Dems use a prlimentary procedure (deem and pass) that you used repeatedly (more than 35 times in just one session and more than 100 times in all!), that's centuries old and which the courts have supported. Especially when your leaders admit it all.
You can't vote and scream against the stimulus package and then take credit for the good it's done in your own district (happily handing out enormous checks representing money that you voted against, is especially ugly) -- 114 of you (at last count) did just that -- and it's even worse when you secretly beg for more.
You can't fight against your own ideas just because the Dem president endorses your proposal.
You can't call for a pay-as-you-go policy, and then vote against your own ideas.
Are they "unlawful enemy combatants" or are they "prisoners of war" at Gitmo? You can't have it both ways.
You can't carry on about the evils of government spending when your family has accepted more than a quarter-million dollars in government handouts.
You can't refuse to go to a scheduled meeting, to which you were invited, and then blame the Dems because they didn't meet with you.
You can't rail against using teleprompters while using teleprompters. Repeatedly.
You can't rail against the bank bailouts when you supported them as they were happening.
You can't be for immigration reform, then against it .
You can't enjoy socialized medicine while condemning it.
You can't flip out when the black president puts his feet on the presidential desk when you were silent about white presidents doing the same. Bush. Ford.
You can't complain that the president hasn't closed Gitmo yet when you've campaigned to keep Gitmo open.
You can't flip out when the black president bows to foreign dignitaries, as appropriate for their culture, when you were silent when the white presidents did the same. Bush. Nixon. Ike. You didn't even make a peep when Bush held hands and kissed (on the mouth) leaders of countries that are not on "kissing terms" with the US.
You can't complain that the undies bomber was read his Miranda rights under Obama when the shoe bomber was read his Miranda rights under Bush and you remained silent. (And, no, Newt -- the shoe bomber was not a US citizen either, so there is no difference.)
You can't attack the Dem president for not personally* publicly condemning a terrorist event for 72 hourswhen you said nothing about the Rep president waiting 6 days in an eerily similar incident (and, even then, he didn't issue any condemnation). *Obama administration did the day of the event.
You can't throw a hissy fit, sound alarms and cry that Obama freed Gitmo prisoners who later helped plan the Christmas Day undie bombing, when -- in fact -- only one former Gitmo detainee, released by Dick Cheney and George W. Bush, helped to plan the failed attack.
You can't condemn blaming the Republican president for an attempted terror attack on his watch, then blame the Dem president for an attemted terror attack on his.
You can't mount a boycott against singers who say they're ashamed of the president for starting a war, but remain silent when another singer says he's ashamed of the president and falsely calls him a Moaist who makes him want to throw up and says he ought to be in jail.
You can't cry that the health care bill is too long, then cry that it's too short.
You can't support the individual mandate for health insurance, then call it unconstitutional when Dems propose it and campaign against your own ideas.
You can't demand television coverage, then whine about it when you get it. Repeatedly.
You can't praise criminal trials in US courts for terror suspects under a Rep president, then call it "treasonous" under a Dem president.
You can't propose ideas to create jobs, and then work against them when the Dems put your ideas in a bill.
You can't...
For page.
After page.
After page.
To which I can only add my strong recommendation that you go over to American Dad's post, read it, thank him, bookmark it, and keep it in your holster all the time.
And this, by Mother Jones:
I am not afraid of the pen, or the scaffold, or the sword.
I will tell the truth wherever I please.
UPDATE: Based on an unscientific stroll through the comment section of this post, it seems that, with the utter predictability of a slab of concrete stubbornly refusing to see reason and stop being a slab of concrete, American Dad's herculean effort in marshaling seemingly the entire modern history the Conservative Movement in order to save it's soul hasn't raised so much as a crease in the fact-proof ablative shielding which two decades of listening to Rush Limbaugh has built around their little anthracite hearts.
No change at all, except for the inevitable increase in outbreaks of SUDDEN ONSET CONSERVATIVE CAPS+LOCKOSIS.
11 comments:
Don't miss this, either.
http://www.stonekettle.com/2010/03/and-day-after-that.html
This was a folding steel chair to the forehead of knuckledraggers everywhere.
Thanks Drifty, this is really good stuff. Enough ammo to keep me unpopular at neighborhood BBQ's for the whole summer!!
I wish he'd taken the time to source his arguments.
Yeah, even though it must've taken the poor bastard months to write that article, it still won't hold a candle to one of Rush's oracular farts, to which I wouldn't dare hold hold a candle, by the way.
Unfortunately the argument comes down to: You can't be a hypocrite. But of course, they can.
Saw this yesterday, it should be spread far and wide amongst the internets to every dark corner.
Of course the wingnuts simply dismiss it all by claiming that there is just as many examples from the left (although they have yet to show even one when pressed, just keep repeating the same talking point to better convince themselves).
Good luck reading the whole post - I've been trying for the past eight hours; every time (and we're talking hundreds of efforts, quite literally) I get an error page saying that they're experiencing "unprecedented traffic" and telling me to try again in a few moments. Anybody know of a real website that can actually handle the traffic it's trying so hard to attract that might have reposted the whole thing?
I think Josh's servers have the impression they're under attack. Try American Dad's home blog page -- it loads right up and the post you want is on the top.
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/a/m/americandad/
It's possible Josh's servers may be thinking they're being attacked. Try American Dad's home blog page -- it loads right up:
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/blogs/a/m/americandad/
Thanks so much StonyPillow - I've besieged TPM with requests for this article and been totally stonewalled...guess I'll stick with Salon. They're not perfect, but at least their site works and they respond when you report a problem.
Don't be hard on Josh at TPM, Ufansius. They're good guys over there, TPM hires actual repoters and pays them real money (as opposed to HuffPo Bux) and in our darkest hour (February 2005), Josh and his one-man website TPM stood alone to hold Democrats accountable for saving Social Security. Alone. Look it up.
In my book, Joshua Micah Marshall is a hero. And if you don't think they have enough server capacity or consulting web programmers, there's something you can do about it:
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/contribute.php
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