After getting bug-eyed incredulous over Donald Trump's "out-and-out" lying, Shuck Todd is asked by Joe Scarborough to comment on Marco Rubio's equally flagrant "flat-out" lying.
And Shuck Todd replies with the most perfect Shuck Todd sentence evah (h/t Heather at Crooks & Liars):
"I don't know what your definition of 'lying' is."
Jesus Polygraph Christ. The weaselry which Mr. Todd deploys here to reconcile diametrically opposing positions is what makes the wheel of the Beltway media turn. With all professional and ethical mooring long since eroded by ratings and expedience, Chuck blows with the wind.
And the prevailing wind happens to be from Vichy.
And for all your comments, kind words and even chop-busting all year round, thank you.
11 comments:
The guy doesn't even want to try and establish any form of morality or recognition of established definitions.
A simple check of Merriam Webster for lying, under the primary word LIE (as applies to debate, political discourse, and statements given by a person):
1. to make an untrue statement with intent to deceive;
2. to create a false or misleading impression
It's that simple, Mr. Todd. So did Marco Rubio and most of the Republican debaters this past Wednesday LIE or not?
And if they did not lie, then why are most of the fact-checkers who followed those debates telling us that nearly every statement by nearly every GOP candidate offered "untrue statements with intent to deceive" and otherwise worked "to create a false or misleading impression"?
Peak Todd got peakier today. Some bald guy with glasses (may have been Mike Allen) said that Cruz's criticism of the CNBC moderators was a great debate moment. Chuckles didn't even try to defend his own network or co-workers.
Also, too, David Brooks was on, so we got Peak Pussilanimous Pundit as a special bonus. I lasted about 15 seconds before flipping to Law and Order reruns on TNT.
Chuck Todd. If the GOP can be dissembling, so can the media! Both Sides do it! The media gives me the feeling that the dystopian future is now. Pravda of the Plutocrats. Of course, when they all fell in love with Ronald Reagan in the '80s, weren't we all saying the same thing? It is a strange, over long, poorly written movie we're in, and in with a bunch of B actors. Chuck Todd. The trouble is that they do real damage. On the plus side we get to see how honor among thieves (the GOP and the media) plays out in public!
So what is the role of the debate moderator?
Let us tune in to the Americans for prosperity republican annual Spelling Bee competition.
Moderator; Little Donny, please spell the word "Greed".
Little Donny; Spell Greed. I spell it P-R-O-F-I-T.
Buzzer------!
Moderator; I am sorry Little Donny that is wrong, it is spelled " greed ".
Little Donny; No the moderator is liberal and biased and has rigged this against me to lose. I demand the Koch Brothers approved Tea Potter judges review this.
Music-da dah da duh da dauh dah.
Moderator; The Judges accept the spelling for Little Donny and award him the point for blatant lying.
Moderator; Marsupial Rubino, your word to spell is " accountable ".
marsupial Rubino; How come I get a word with more vowels than Donny? Pretend this is a Senate vote and I am Marco Rubio.
,oderator; You are required to spell the word in this competition.
Marsupial Rubino; I never had to before I challenge the Moderator against the Koch Bros. approved Tea Potter Judges?
Music-da dah da duh da dauh dah...
Moderator; The judges ruled Rubino was close enough to Uranus from Earth and accept his answer and given 1 point.
moderator; Teddy Crud, your selected word to spell is "Sanity".
Teddy Crud; I do not accept the word. This is rigged! Why do I get the word with more vowels and consonants.
Moderator; Judge Limp-Paw has intervened and allowed for another word. The new word for you is " insane ".
Teddy Crud; How did the liberal commie Muslims infiltrate this spelling Bee and my Dad says God will smite you with his gay lightning bolt if you persist this way. This is rigged. I don't want to play unless the judges say I will be the winner.I demand the Judges rule on the bias of this spelling be and the infiltration of the Kenyan president who is, as any dictator would, secretly decree with an executive dictator's order to make me look worse than I expose myself as. I demand the judges rule on finding moderators and judges that will not make me compete like this.
Moderator; Okay, to the judges.
Music-da dah da duh da dauh dah.
Moderator' Judges rule Marsupial Rubino the victor in this Spelling Bee hands done on style and ability to not perform in this Bee.
Furthermore- the Judges ruled that future Spelling Bees and there formats are completely up to the Juvenile inmates of the county Juvenile Detention Center.
Thank you all for being here and participating. We were honored to present this Spelling Bee Contest along with it's donors to provide the most substantive competition for the most stylistic and creative fast thinking Spelling Bee.
For the record, it is not fair to the losers to pick a winner. But we sadly did and did not intend on making any of the participants cry.
To continue competition, we promise there shall be only winners in the next Spelling Bee.
Thanks to our participant, those of the audience. Special shout out to our Judges mr. Limp-Paw, Markus Livenious and Sean Calammity. Most of all,
the most special thanks to our owners the elite wealthy donors. That did not only make all this Possible but are the unltimate last word.
And finally, thank you Justices Scalia, Alito, Thomas Roberts and kennedy.
Good Night and Good luck..............................
It is a strange, over long, poorly written movie we're in, and in with a bunch of B actors.
"If I'd paid to see this war in a theater, back in the World, I'd have walked out and demanded my money back, and I don't think I'd have been the only one. If I were at home, watching it on the Late Show, I'd change the channel. But since I'm right in the middle of it, on the set as it were, the mutiny was my only option. Do you see now, Lt. Eacher?"
"Oh, I see all right... and I think we've got a winner. See, the JAG's office is getting tired of hearing people say they were reading the Bible and all the sudden they saw a WHITE LIGHT and Jesus told them to Study War No More. But you? You sound like an authentic nutcase! I might even be able to get you a medical discharge!"
(freely adapted from The Universe Next Door by Robert Anton Wilson, the first Book One of his Schrödinger's Cat Trilogy)
To the present Robt: All things considered, insanity may be the only sane option.
Robt:
Calling him "Marsupial Rubino" is an affront to every self-respecting wombat who ever shat a cube-shaped turd in the outback. Funny as hell, though...
-Doug in Oakland
I wrote the following some time ago, but I submit it now, as it is, I think, aproppos the present situation:
As I hovered between sleep and wakefulness a few minutes ago (now, as I review, a few hours ago), I was struck with the thought that we need a new word to describe the activity of people, usually politicians or pundits, when they repeat statements, talking points, or anecdotes that have been shown to be false. Somehow, the press, and even opposition politicians, are reluctant to call a lie a lie, because that word is too harsh, or they somehow think that, contrary to the rules of logic, which are only rules for clear thinking, a statement can be "partially true."* Or perhaps they feel that if the person making the statement -- having repeated it so often, or heard it repeated in their "echo chamber" (which I often think to be a reference to the inside of their cranium)-- "sincerely believes" in the falsehood then, morally, he or she is not lying. Maybe in that case it isn't lying, for lying connotes that the liar knows the truth and makes a conscious choice to withhold, distort, or deny it. Speaking in ignorance, even when it is wilful ignorance sometimes doesn't seem to reach the threshold of a lie.
So there is a real need to have a word that simply describes this complex activity, and this morning, it hit me: gop.
gop v (gawp) gops, gopped, gopping
1) to lie, usually for political reasons. 2) to repeat a statement or "talking point" that has been demonstrated to be untrue and/ or misleading. 3) to disseminate "truthiness."
I really think, based on my understanding of Lakoff, that we all desperately need a word that encapsulates this behaviour, the complement of Colbert's coinage, truthiness. It might enable the spineless press (I'm talking about you, Chuck Todd) to inform us of what's going on without actually having to call someone who is making a false statement a liar.
For example:
"From the start of the "telephone town hall meeting," Representative Chabot was gopping about the Affordable Care Act, claiming that it was "stealing funds from Medicare."
I wish I had an inside track to one of the writers at the Colbert report, or that we Dems had enough message discipline to begin using the verb "gop" when describing this activity, as the Republicans invariably misuse the noun, "democrat" as an adjective or adverb.
Another example:
"The new law requires doctors to gop by mandating they tell their female patients seeking the procedure that there is a connection between abortion and breast cancer."
* It's known as the law of excluded middle: a statement is either true or false. In logic, if any part of a statement is false, the statement is false. Sorry "fact checkers" a statement cannot be "partially true" or "mostly false." Any taint of "untrue" makes the entire statement false.
@Richard Luken
Do we have the privilege of sharing Congressman Combover?
Are you related to the famous Cincinnati Luken family? Inquiring minds want to know!
For Ms. O'Neill:
Yes, I reside in OH 1, and as a result my official representative is Steve Chabot, whom you call "Congrssman Combover." This district had been one of the more competetive, but that changed with the latest round of gerrymandering, which has wed the people who time forgot and who ignore reality here in Southwest Hamilton County with their analogues in Warren County who can be held responsible for the second term of "C-Plus" Augustus", after the terrorist threat led to the "lockdown" of the board of elections there in 2004. I call the new first district, "the double blockhead." On a map, it rather resembles a dumbell turned counter clockwise to about a 45 degree angle.
To answer your second question: no, I am not related to the "famous" Cincinnati Luken family, if you are referring to one time Congressman Tom Luken and his son Charlie. I have twice run for office myself as a Democrat, as part of my own little "preserve democracy" movement: democracy means that everyone has a choice on election day. In the course of those campaigns I have met and talked with Tom Luken
In 2010 I ran for the Ohio House in the 30th district, losing to Robert Mecklenborg who was forced to resign his seat following his arrest in Indiana for driving with an expired license under the influence of alcohol and viagra. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Mecklenborg).
In 2012 I ran a "forlorn hope" campaign against Bill Seitz Jr. the senator from ALEC, for the 8th district Senate seat. Senator Seitz was at that time beloved by all because he had the good sense to oppose Senate Bill 5, the attempt by the Kasich administration to destroy public employee unions.
I am related to the "famous" Cincinnati Luken family that runs a fish and poultry stand at Findlay Market, and who play a central role in organizing the annual Opening Day Parade. Those are my father's cousins.
Quick answers for the quesitons posed by Ms. O'Neill:
I live in Ohio 1, so Steve Chabot is, unfortunately, my representative in Congress.
If you mean the famous Luken family that includes Tom Luken and Charlie Luken, no I am not relatied to them.
For more information please cotact me directly. To find out how, visit my web site: Luken4OH.com
@Richard Luken
Thanks!
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