Winos Directing Traffic Edition.
Mark Halperin, Hugh Hewitt, Rudy Giuliani, Matthew Dowd and Cokie Roberts are not just The Five People You Will Definitely Not Meet In Heaven.
No, if they were five leftovers you found in your fridge, you would be grabbing a HazMat suit, a cold chisel and a burn-bag, If these were five symptoms your doc discovered during your checkup, she would be recommending a grief counselor and some alternative medicine folks she knows, that she can't exactly approve of, but who are doing some interesting things with directed prayer and beer spas.
But instead, these were just some of the more prominent ambulatory human disasters that littered the media hellscape that was the Sunday Showz.
Wheee!
On "This Week With...Whoever Drew The Short Straw" there was a lively exchange of views between Martha Raddatz and the Emperor of 9/11, Rudy Guiliani, which went something like this.
RADDATZ: Donald Trump really stepped on his dick this week.GIULIANI: Hillary Clinton is an ax murderer!RADDATZ: OK, but what I was asking was...GIULIANI: She's an unhinged serial killer! She'll butcher us all in our sleep!RADDATZ: Let's go back to Donald Trump for a moment...GIULIANI: Benghaaaazi! Wake up white people!
And so forth.
Born-Again "Independent" (a fancy Conservative word for "opportunist") Matthew Dowd was out there getting paid to do the only thing he ever does -- claiming that Trump is some kind of Black Swan event that has nothing to do with the inherent character of the bigoted shitpile party that people like Matthew Dowd spent their life building (actual transcript) --
DOWD: [The Republican Party has] been hostilely taken over by Donald Trump. There is no national Republican Party anymore.
-- and blaming Both Sides --
DOWD: Listen, there's an understanding of why they're going to Trump, right. They've been lied to and misled by both political parties. ... For 40 years they've seen no increase in their pay, for 40 years -- through Democratic and Republican administrations.
-- while conveniently ignoring the fact that, even as Democrats have been forced over and over again to fight the savagery, sabotage and sedition of the bigoted shitpile party in order to get anything done, ordinary Americans still tend to do much better under Democrats than under the bigoted shitpile party.
Also it sure as hell sounded like Matthew Dowd -- the architect of George W. Bush's 2004 re-election campaign -- was suggesting that former Bushies who helped fuck things up so badly in this here Land of the Frees and who are now endorsing Clinton should maybe consider shutting their collective pie-holes for the duration (actual transcript):
DOWD: I have to say it's a little -- Mike Morell and some of the former Bushes who got us involved in the Iraq War, and Mike Morell who actually apologized to Colin Powell for false information, an Iraq War that cost of thousands of lives and trillions of dollars and who actually defended torture, for him to criticize Donald Trump as being unfit from some of the serious errors we've made, I think they ought to just stand down a little bit on that.
Which is genuinely hilarious, and I'm sure Ms. Raddatz would have followed up further on Mr. Dowd's jaw-dropping hypocrisy, but...
RADDATZ: And we're going leave it there. We're going to leave it there. You guys take it out in the green room.
Too bad. Sooo close.
Meanwhile. moments earlier while digging through her capacious purse, Cokie Roberts found a wad of tissues from that time she was at that show, a loose Chiclet, keys to a 1971 Chrysler Valiant and -- Eureka! -- a sack of half-eaten cliches that were still perfectly good that she generously shared with the other panelists:
ROBERTS: ... But I think that Trump can bring it back around. A couple of things can happen. Events can happen in the course of the campaign that bring people to him. She can make blunders that can bring people to him. And the debates can make a difference.
Also the Trump campaign is not looking ahead on the schedule, but taking it one day at a time.
Giving it 110%.
And they couldn't have made it this far this without the Lord above, their faith in Jesus, and Mom.
You know, teams win championships.
And they have the best darn fans in the world and they don't care who knows it!
And at the end of the day, it is what it is.
"Meet the Press" shoulda stood in bed. Tucked away under the long shadow of the Olympics, nobody cared what Hugh Hewitt and Mark Halperin had to say about the loose meat sandwich of August poll numbers and horse race gabble. However, if there was one standout, it was Joy-Ann Reid who was able to efficiently encapsulate the slow rolling Trumpocalypse as follows:
JOY-ANN REID: But how does a 70 year old man change his entire personality? How does he change his temperament? He's 70 years old. This is who he is. He's not pretending to be this way, he actually is this way. You can't change your fundamental nature.
And speaking of Ms. Reid, the only thing that was really worth seeing this weekend on public affairs teevee was her taking Official Trump Surrogate and 3rd-rate Paulie Walnuts caricature, Carl Paladino, out for a ride.
The thing is, this is all really, really simple and everyone who participates in these Sunday Morning puppet shows knows it.
They're just forbidden by a Higher Power to say it.
The Right has spent 25 years and billions of dollars manufacturing an electoral Doomsday Machine with no "off" switch.
The Left has spent those 25 years telling anyone who would listen (nobody listened) that this was a really horrible idea, that the Right was playing with dark and primal forces which they would never be able to control, and that one day the damn thing would kill us all.
The Center and the mainstream media spent most of those 25 years mocking and marginalizing the Left and helping the Right pretend that no such bigot-and-Bible-powered Doomsday Machine existed at all.
Well, now the Doomsday Machine which the Right built, the Center and the media lied about and the Left warned against is operating at peak efficiency. But instead of incinerating Evil Liberals, it is indiscriminately destroying anything in its path, while the bigots and imbeciles and various other Conservative Pakleds who operate the thing --
-- whoop and holler and high-five each other.
Trump is not the problem. The Republican party functioning exactly as intended is the problem. This is the single most important story in American politics, which is why no one in the media will touch it with a barge pole.
Ah well. As we on the Left know, twas ever thus.
Calling us unpatriotic? 59 districts not one Romney vote. So you are voting for the liar HRC. Did DNC hurt Bernie? https://t.co/Wuf5Sv9nCR— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) August 7, 2016
-- like Richard Pryor's wino on Sunday morning (Very, Very Not Safe for Work):
They are smart. They look for things.
ReplyDeleteYeah, they're bringing back that Philly cheated because it's impossible in liberal city precincts known for intentional diversity, and precincts with 100% black population, that nobody would vote for a poser like Mitt. Though the opposite was the case in Utah, which fits into the IOKIYAR rules. In one of those precincts, there were no Romney signs, no ground game, no calls, while the Obama signs were everywhere, we phone banked continuously, and got out the vote. Expect the same in my precinct come Nivember, which will be absolute proof the election is rigged by voters who have the nerve to think and vote. Thoug. It might not be 100%, there are some Greens around here...
ReplyDeleteYeah, they're bringing back that Philly cheated because it's impossible in liberal city precincts known for intentional diversity, and precincts with 100% black population, that nobody would vote for a poser like Mitt. Though the opposite was the case in Utah, which fits into the IOKIYAR rules. In one of those precincts, there were no Romney signs, no ground game, no calls, while the Obama signs were everywhere, we phone banked continuously, and got out the vote. Expect the same in my precinct come Nivember, which will be absolute proof the election is rigged by voters who have the nerve to think and vote. Though it might not be 100%, there are some Greens around here...
ReplyDeleteI particularly loved Joy's "...Oh yeah we're panicking..."
ReplyDeletegodDAMN that was good!
Enigma dilemma.
ReplyDelete*Trump's hostile takeover of the GOP base.
*GOP base angry with the GOP establishment.
More like the institutionalized assimilated base's yearn for the anarchy that Fascism has only promised.
From the beginning when Reagan brought the 11 conservative Commandments down from the shining House on the hill. That tax cuts for the elite will tinkle down your back and make you a wealthy plantation owner.
Is the GOP base truly angry that the establishment has not delivered repeal of ObamaCare, not impeached the foreigner president, Hang HRC from an old apple tree?
Is it disillusionment of lies and growing government while incredible big spending by the bases elected. The establishment that serves the elite. Never any reward for the base.
We saw the GOP base in Iowa with Romney during the 2012 election. Where they ridiculed Romney when he told them outright that corporations are people.
Maybe it was an awakening of a slow riser?
The awkward strain of the deadly virus with no known cure is equivalent to the republican with the ego notion that being conservative will prevent him from becoming homosexual. The very self made man believing conservative senses he may not get his plantation as advertised and realizes his self made wealth trip is an empty conservative value. All 3 Bushes, Romney all worked and chose well the family to born into. But Trump ?
It appears the college educated republicans get the GOP Brooks and Gerson indoctrination and the Trump beloved uneducated get the Alex Jones and Hannity indoctrinaire. While the GOP senior citizens get the oiled legs of FOX topped with sprinkles of O'reilly and Megyn Kelly. Paid for by the GOP elite and establishment through our own tax cut dollars. No one ever said greed makes you stupid.
The right's base supporting Trump claim patriotism and manhood that liberals are not. I have experienced this too often. How I am told I don't care about this country (liberal) that he a conservative republican is the patriot. The machismo that is slathered as spoken. So what branch of service did you serve in, I ask. What? I had the Donald and Cheney sickness and could not serve. Oh, that is right. I did.
Juxtapose John Kerry who was smeared for his service and decorations. How unpatriotic for Kerry to throw his medal over the White House fence in protest of the Governments handling of the Vietnam War. A man who actually was present and accounted for to earn those medals. His to do with as he pleased.
To;
Some guy at a hate rally who gives Trump his Purple Heart. Donald who thinks he deserves it and earned it. Did the guy really earn that Purple Heart or bought it at an army surplus? Never the less it was his to do with as he pleased.
Which action held more honor and value
Kerry throwing his over the White House fence in protest?
or
Some anonymous campaign goer who gives his Purple Heart to a candidate that never cared to serve.
The ridiculous thing is, most GOPers will tell you democrats / liberals lie.
When you can pile mile high evidence of conservative republicans lying badly. They retort grudgingly, all politicians lie.
But in the spirit of "bothsiderism" I like my guys lies.
The enigma dilemma?
ReplyDeleteThere appears to be something in human psychology where humans presented with facts that prove their beliefs wrong are not only not persuaded but instead double down on their beliefs, becoming even MORE committed to the beliefs. Sort of a negative feedback loop.
Why Debunking Myths About Vaccines Hasn’t Convinced Dubious Parents
https://hbr.org/2015/02/why-debunking-myths-about-vaccines-hasnt-convinced-dubious-parents
This effect has obviously got to have a lot of religious as well as political examples.
Drew Westen even found that political partisans get a jolt of endorphins as a reward for reinterpreting facts to fit their prejudices.
DeleteI dallied a bit on National Public Radio yesterday morning. They were strumming the Both Sides!! Banjo pretty hard. On the one side was Trump's Very Bad Awful No Good Week, and on the other side was some massive reeeeaaaacccchiing to demonstrate that Clinton had The. Exact. Same. Problems. As. Trump!!1! with some questions she got about emails. Exactly the Same!! So there!
ReplyDeleteThis is why I mostly listen to music stations, and even then, I'm very selectic.
Still not decided if this is truly the GOP, as a political party, freaking out or just conservative media people freaking out over job security. Since the GOP, as a party, has done nothing but double down on the crap that brought us here, I don't think it's the former.
ReplyDeleteCandidates like Trump (remember mini-Trumps have already captured down ticket elections without peep from the media) allow GOP voters to let their freak flag fly on the national stage beyond the primaries.
As such the business case media owners were sold that they needed to hire and pay "intellectual centrists" 6 plus figures to sell the pivot and tax cuts/deregulation platform has been largely negated. The GOP base doesn't care as long as they are allowed to punch "THOSE people" and no one else that isn't directly benefiting from that platform is buying it.
Several of these "freaking out" pundits are, at best, facing fewer Sunday Morning invites (career stagnation) if not outright unemployment through obsolescence as TV news continues its purge of journalists and adds more Lewindowskis. Especially when the same ratings (if not better ones) are achieved when someone is willing to go on live TV and feed the GOP base with unchecked Killary talking points for a ham sandwich and the increase twitter followers.
John Oliver on modern journalism:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq2_wSsDwkQ
-Doug in Oakland