Cultural detritus item one: John Edwards is whimpering about Ann Coulter, leading Ben Smith to ask:
Is Ann Coulter good for anything other than Democratic fundraising any more? It's the only context in which I ever see her name.
Here's what's harshing Edwards: A video in which it sounds
like Coulter is ululating for his murder by terrorists.
Look, Edwards is being unfair to Coulter. She was making a joke
about her "faggot" gaffe. Here's the
whole bit:
Oh yeah, I wouldn't insult gays by comparing them to John Edwards. That would be mean, but about the same time—you know—Bill Maher was not joking and saying he wished [Vice President] Dick Cheney had been killed in a terrorist attack. So I've learned my lesson. If I'm going to say anything about John Edwards in the future, I'll just wish he has been killed in a terrorist assassination plot.
If John Edwards was still running for president this would look really bad for his... wait, he's still in it? Nevermind.
UPDATE: On Hardball just now, Elizabeth Edwards called in to challenge Ann Coulter not to use any more "personal attacks" against her husband. Yes, that's the way to rebut charges of wimpery: Send your wife to beg people to stop hitting you.
Item two: Video of Michael Savage doing stand-up. Your brain
will melt.
By no means watch all of it, but check out the bit at the end when
Savage asks "Does anybody in this crowd give a shit about the
Iraqis?"
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|6.26.07 @ 5:39PM|#
Dear God. The Michael Savage video is going to drive me to drink.
|6.26.07 @ 5:41PM|#
I unwisely watched a bit of the Michael Savage video. I feel like someone has shit on my soul. I'm going to lie down now.
|6.26.07 @ 5:42PM|#
Someday, it will be revealed that Savage was a plant by some radical left-wing organization. I really believe that, too.
thoreau|6.26.07 @ 5:45PM|#
Weigel, you've got to find a beat other than partisan politics. Reading a post that includes John Edwards, Ann Coulter, and Michael Savage is enough to make me cry.
The only way such a post could be amusing is if it included the sentence "The production crew for the new reality show lost the keys to the house, at the same time that a freak storm cut off power to the house and cut the video feed."
|6.26.07 @ 5:45PM|#
Pro Liberate-
The most likely candidate for a left-wing plant to make conservatives look bad is probably Fred "God Hates Fags" Phelps.
Minion of URKOBOLD|6.26.07 @ 5:47PM|#
For other mortals -
The terror of JasonC's beshitted soul is nothing next to the awesome horror of a whithered soul!!!!!
bohahahahahahahaha!
(or a whithered taint, for that matter)
|6.26.07 @ 5:48PM|#
I think I'll email Savage and let him know that as a homo helping to bring down America, I strongly support his choice of the totally hot (male) piece of ass who introduced him.
David Weigel|6.26.07 @ 5:48PM|#
Weigel, you've got to find a beat other than partisan politics.
Good timing: Monday is my first day on the Missing White Woman beat!
The most likely candidate for a left-wing plant to make conservatives look bad is probably Fred "God Hates Fags" Phelps.
Unless he's changed his registration recently, Phelps is actually a Democrat.
|6.26.07 @ 5:50PM|#
Unless he's changed his registration recently, Phelps is actually a Democrat.
Thats exactly why I think hes a bit of a plant. He was a liberal civil rights attorney in the 60s and supported Gore for president in 88.
Mike Laursen|6.26.07 @ 5:51PM|#
I've always suspected both Savage and Phelps are undercover liberals. Or maybe Phelps is just undercover in a different way.
|6.26.07 @ 5:54PM|#
I don't understand why anybody pays any attention to anything Ann Coulter has to say.
Michael Savage is a...fake? Phony? Whatever he is, he's not coherent about it. But I don't know who's worse- him, or the grinning idiots in his audience.
|6.26.07 @ 5:59PM|#
Oh, I get it. Shiite Shrines. Has an extra I. Shit Shrines. Comedy gold, Mr. Savage.
|6.26.07 @ 5:59PM|#
Let's face it Ann Coulter is a dumb blonde. In the world of dumb blondom, Ann Coulter is considered the slow one in the group, the "retarded stepsister" as it were. As for Michael Savage, not funny, not relevant and not welcome on MY television screen. Phelps is just too fucking evil to discuss. Another conservative, right wing rant brought to by, J sub D.
highnumber|6.26.07 @ 6:00PM|#
I read or heard something about a conservative media figure who was quite a liberal privately, but knew he would make the money as a conservative. Could it be Savage?
I've flipped around on the AM dial before, and stopped on his show. I've never felt like I was anywhere near agreeing with him on anything I've heard, but it's weirdly engrossing at times, almost hypnotic. Then I'll snap out of it and get upset.
|6.26.07 @ 6:03PM|#
Didn't Savage used to be a liberal? I believe he has written a few liberal books, no?
He seems to me like a guy who has no real ideology except making money. Conservative radio is lucrative if you are willing to serve red meat to the masses, and thats what he does.
Personally, I don't think any of those guys (Rush, Savage etc) believe half the tripe they are spewing -- they just know it brings in the money.
|6.26.07 @ 6:03PM|#
Phelps loves to have people hate him, and I think that's his motivation for all the hatred he spews now. It's also why he was a civil rights lawyer in Kansas during the 60's: It was a guaranteed way to get the white population to hate you.
Or maybe he just does hate gays.
|6.26.07 @ 6:06PM|#
I think there's something wrong with my browser.
I clicked on the Ann Coulter video, and all I could see were the words "Pay Attention to Me" repeating endlessly across my monitor.
Randolph Carter|6.26.07 @ 6:09PM|#
Although Michael Savage is a grade-A moron (Red diaper doper baby? What the hell is that?), I think Rush Limbaugh is pretty interesting. He obviously lives in a fairly libertine manner, and used to changes wives like pairs of socks.
What's his deal? He even endorsed Reason... what's holding him back from the inevitable slide into Blue Druidry?
|6.26.07 @ 6:11PM|#
I don't really listen to any of the AM radio shows anymore, but I used to crave talk on the way home from one of my previous jobs. I listened to Savage for a brief time, kind of perversely fascinated by his weird and awful statements. Almost from the beginning, though, he sounded to me like a far-leftish nightmare of right-wing discourse. He's a fake--I'm almost completely sure of it. Maybe he originally intended to reveal himself only to later find gold in dem thar hills.
That said, there appear to be people who listen to him and nod their heads in agreement. Humanity is nuts, that's for sure.
As for Coulter, Malkin, or Limbaugh, I think they're pandering, but I think they are all at least somewhat legitimately "conservative", whatever that means. Malkin is very likely a libertarian in her personal beliefs, which makes her heresy all the worse. Burn her!
|6.26.07 @ 6:15PM|#
As for Coulter, Malkin, or Limbaugh, I think they're pandering, but I think they are all at least somewhat legitimately
"conservative",Republican whatever that means. Malkin is very likely a libertarian in her personal beliefs, which makes her heresy all the worse. Burn her!Fixed that typo.
There is nothing "conservative" about them. If the GOP tomorrow decided that their platform was going to include a huge welfare state and universal health care and gay marriage, they would be the first ones applauding and explaining how it isn't an about face at all.
|6.26.07 @ 6:18PM|#
ChicagoTom,
Fair enough. The greatest shill of them all is Hannity, though. Is he capable of disagreeing with anything Republican™? At least I've heard Limbaugh criticize the GOP on occasion. And some of his stuff is over the top on purpose. Hannity is neither entertaining nor honest. How useless.
VM|6.26.07 @ 6:19PM|#
High#:
spoken like a true Eric and Kathy listener
[keed keed]
Randolph Carter|6.26.07 @ 6:19PM|#
ChicagoTom,
True, they are more or less party hacks. But how to explain the recent immigration fooferaw? Is it just a play to make talk radio seem independent of the regime?
Every time I'm thoroughly convinced that talk radio people are just roving White House Press Secretaries, someone throw a little curve ball.
|6.26.07 @ 6:21PM|#
Those are the bluest pants I've ever seen.
God I feel dirty for watching that
Randolph Carter|6.26.07 @ 6:22PM|#
Pro Lib,
Mucho agreeance on Sean Hannity. I've never seen a someone so incapable of independent thought. Although, for those of you in the New York area, Mark Levin. Yes, Mark Levin. How can so many people who claim to be constitutional lawyers have such a strong desire to shred the constitution?
|6.26.07 @ 6:22PM|#
I agree with ChicagoTom. Obviously there are similar types on the Dem side. All of them are like those sports fans who always think the guy on their team should have been MVP, every close call that goes against their team was due to a blind umpire, and throws things at the other players. I think "classy" and "thoughtful" are the words I'm looking for.
|6.26.07 @ 6:31PM|#
Anyone else here watch Glenn Beck on occasion? You can make a pretty good drinking game out of it by taking a shot every time he predicts the end of the world.
|6.26.07 @ 6:31PM|#
But how to explain the recent immigration fooferaw?
This is a case of putting profits over party.
They know their audience and what their audience believe on issues of race. What do you think would happen if the typical Savage/Hannity/Coulter listener heard the host talking about the merits of foreigners being allowed to immigrate here legally?
They would fucking flip out. I think immigration is an issue where lots of people's passion runs higher than many other political issues.
I also think the immigration issue is a tricky one for the GOP -- the base is at odds with the corporate wing of the party wants. I don't think the base wants guest worker programs etc. since once "they" get into the country the can easily disappear if they choose to.
Talk radio, in turn, caters to base.
|6.26.07 @ 6:32PM|#
spoken like a true Eric and Kathy listener
Moose watch it pal, that's my wife you're insulting :)
|6.26.07 @ 6:33PM|#
Radio died for me when Penn's show got canceled.
|6.26.07 @ 6:34PM|#
Moose watch it pal, that's my wife you're insulting :)
Upon further review, I believe clarification is order.
I did not mean to imply that ProLib is my wife, but rather that my wife is an Eric And Kathy listener.
VM|6.26.07 @ 6:39PM|#
Apologies to Mrs. Chicago Tom!
(makes "White Zin" drinker comment instead!)
|6.26.07 @ 6:40PM|#
I, too, am strongly denying wifehood, being in fact a husband of a wifely woman. Though I thought VM was talking to highnumber, so I'm not sure how I got involved.
Boortz used to be libertarianesque. Haven't listened to him in a long while, though.
|6.26.07 @ 6:44PM|#
Though I thought VM was talking to highnumber, so I'm not sure how I got involved.
My inability to read, that's how.
Apologies to ProLib.
And for the record, highnumber is not my wife either.
|6.26.07 @ 6:45PM|#
ChicagoTom,
You need to make an honest woman of highnumber! For shame!
Urkobold™|6.26.07 @ 6:49PM|#
SINNERS! REPENT, THE END IS NIGH!
|6.26.07 @ 6:51PM|#
ChicagoTom, you really need to make an honest man out of ProL, highnumber, or whoever else you are stringing along on this board.
|6.26.07 @ 6:52PM|#
Oh, I see ProL has already set you straight. Never mind.
highnumber|6.26.07 @ 7:00PM|#
I'd like to see any one of you make an honest woman out of me!
(No. No, I really wouldn't like to see that. Not at all.)
BTW, although I have never listened to Eric & Kathy, but I met them once briefly at some sort of promo event. He looks even toadier in person, but she's pretty cute.
miche|6.26.07 @ 7:17PM|#
A really funny "Ann, STFU!" video