Ellen DeGeneres Refuses To Be Shamed for Watching Football With George W. Bush

"When I say, 'Be kind to one another,' I don't mean only the people that think the same way that you do. I mean be kind to everyone. Doesn't matter."

On Sunday, Ellen DeGeneres attended a Dallas Cowboys football game. It was noteworthy because of whom she was seated next to: former President George W. Bush. The pair could be seen in pictures and a video clip enjoying the afternoon together. (Their respective partners, Arrested Development actress Portia de Rossi and former first lady Laura Bush, were there too.)

In 2019, everything must be political. And so the news that DeGeneres could make it through an entire football game seated next to the odiously conservative Bush and actually have a good time made people very mad. You will not be surprised to learn that some took to social media to vent. Here is a sampling of what they had to say.

ellen degeneres is rehabilitating a war criminal and any liberal who buys into the lie that gwb is a sweet old man is a trog

— hasanabi (@hasanthehun) October 8, 2019

https://twitter.com/owillis/status/1181603017700904960

This is what Bush brought Iraqi families, daily, for his oil friends. @TheEllenShow and @gwenstefani are patting themselves on the back for rainbow capitalism, comparing a war criminal to "disagreements" while actively sanitizing them in service of endless greed and selfishness. pic.twitter.com/dhwxZOehQi

— Rafael Shimunov (@rafaelshimunov) October 8, 2019

On Tuesday, DeGeneres addressed the controversy during her show. She highlighted a supportive tweet from someone who wrote, "Seeing Ellen and George Bush together makes me have faith in America again."

"Here's the thing," said DeGeneres. "I'm friends with George Bush. In fact, I'm friends with a lot of people who don't share the same beliefs I have. We're all different and I think that we've forgotten that's okay that we're all different."

Yes, that was me at the Cowboys game with George W. Bush over the weekend. Here's the whole story. pic.twitter.com/AYiwY5gTIS

— Ellen DeGeneres (@EllenDeGeneres) October 8, 2019

"Just because I don't agree with someone on everything doesn't mean I'm not going to be friends with them," DeGeneres continued. "When I say, 'Be kind to one another,' I don't mean only the people that think the same way that you do."

I'm with Ellen. This perspective is sadly all-too-often absent from our current cultural dialogue, with its emphasis on canceling anyone and everyone who did or said something wrong. It's becoming harder and harder for people to get along with each other, and be civil toward one another, when they disagree about the issues—even though, as Reason Senior Editor Brian Doherty has persuasively argued, it's rarely a good idea to end a relationship over politics. Gratuitous cruelty toward people who are part of the other side, tribe, or team does not make the world a better place.

Comments

[Mickey Rat]

Why don't we condemn W and Ellen for a reason that really matters. Being Cowboys fans, ugh.

[Chuck P. (The Artist formerly known as CTSP)]

Any fan of football is OK in my book. Except Eagles fans, those buncha shitstains.

[nrob]

Bill Burr made that abundantly clear in a certain rant..."4 minutes".

[IceTrey]

She's a Packers fan.

[John]

Poor Ellen. She seems like a nice person. Too bad she somehow didn't realize just how depraved her liberal friends are.

[Chipper Morning Wood]

I've always liked Ellen. God bless her.

[John]

Me too. She has this nerdy self effacing charm about her.

[Mr. Tibbs]

And she’s very funny. Her sitcom was one of the better ones.

[damikesc]

Well, until it became "I'm a lesbian", the sitcom.

But she was, easily, the best female standup comedian I've ever seen. She was a stellar standup.

[Zeb]

I don't think "poor Ellen". She seems to know who she is. Not everything has to be about politics. Even depraved liberals have redeeming qualities.

[John]

I say "poor Ellen" because I have sympathy for her. She is being attacked by a mob of crazed retards for doing something entirely innocent.

I think you misunderstood my use of the term "poor".

[Zeb]

Yes, I did.

[damikesc]

I guess it'd be dumb to ask if any conservatives are doing the critiquing.

[Finrod]

Ellen is a liberal in a Democratic Party that is now heavily dominated by intolerant leftists. I've never seen her nastily lashing out like leftists commonly do, and that's a rare thing nowadays.

[mad.casual]

Poor Ellen.

And poor Dr. Frankenstein, right?

I'm certainly not going to dictate who she and Bush should/shouldn't be friends with but she's the reason the beast that's trying to eat her exists.

Her show(s) and comedy were terrible. *Clearly* second-rate to Seinfeld, Shandling, and several others. Her only draw was her is/isn't she? sexuality and once it was clear her "comedy" career evaporated. If she'd started her career whoring for SJWs a decade or even 5 yrs. later, she'd be stuck doing prop comedy with Carrot Top instead of daytime talk. She's maybe slightly less of a talking head than Rikki Lake or Montel Williams and slightly less gratingly obnoxious than Oprah.

She made a living sensationalizing her sexuality and now that sexuality complicates her relationship with her fan base? Boo fucking hoo.

[Zeb]

I think you underestimate her. I don't watch it, but people seem to really like her talk show. And her comedy is pretty tame and safe, but well done, I would say. It doesn't seem like she makes her career on "look at me, I'm a lesbian" all that much.
Maybe I'm wrong, I don't exactly follow her, but that's my impression.

[Zeb]

And plenty of people came out publicly before it was cool. You have to have some talent to back it up.

[mad.casual]

And, IMO, Ellen is the person that marks the turning point.

Freddie Mercury was a fantastic vocalist who happened to be gay. Martina Navratilova was a great tennis player who happened to be a lesbian. Ellen was a mediocre comedian who only got a talk show because Oprah felt daytime TV needed to be more inclusive and/or because upper class white women needed more television to confirm their SJW inclusiveness.

[damikesc]

Cannot say she was mediocre as a comedian. She was the best female I've still ever seen doing stand-up.

[mad.casual]

She was the best female I’ve still ever seen doing stand-up.

First, it's 2019. If men can play women's rugby, Ellen Degeneres can fail to stand up next to Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Jerry Seinfeld, etc.

Second, nowhere near the best. There are at least half a dozen female comedians who actually do stand up next to Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Jerry Seinfeld, etc.

[mad.casual]

It doesn’t seem like she makes her career on “look at me, I’m a lesbian” all that much.

This was pretty much the premise of her *two* sitcoms. They bombed.

She returned to comedy with a Netflix special, you probably didn't hear about it or see it either.

As I indicate, I'm pretty sure the only reason we don't have some more forgettable name and face doing daytime talk is because Ellen Degeneres is a lesbian and she wanted everyone to be sure they knew it.

[Zeb]

I saw her special and enjoyed it. No accounting for taste. I think she is talented and an appealing personality.

[Hit and Run]

Her androgyny gives me the willies, no lie.

[mad.casual]

It wasn't as good as Chappelle's (and several dozen others were as good or better than either of them) and I have similar misgivings about him.

The guy "tapdances over laser beams", calling out cancel culture after cancelling a himself because a (white) guy on set "laughed at his joke the wrong way". Don't get me wrong, he's still funny and the jokes are good but the whole "Now that cancel culture is obviously bad for me, I'm against it." stance takes a lot of the edge off and, for Ellen('s identity), she wasn't otherwise nearly as funny.

[handsoffmypineapples]

"Cancelling" yourself (aka - quitting) for whatever reason is not at all the heart of cancel culture. Chapelle didn't try to ban white people from attending his shows. He didn't go after other people for telling the same kinds of jokes. He just had a reaction to someone laughing "too much" at one of his jokes and he decided to take a sabbatical. You are comparing apples to kangaroos.

[damikesc]

Yeah, it seemed like Chapelle didn't like what HE was becoming and decided to take a break.

He still bitches at his audience, as he should, but he didn't let it overtake him. Which I gotta respect him for.

[mad.casual]

“Cancelling” yourself (aka – quitting) for whatever reason is not at all the heart of cancel culture.

He walked out on a contract because somebody laughed at his joke wrong. I get that he didn't like what he was becoming and/or liked the gig more when he was still up and coming, but he cancelled the show because of perceived racism. Maybe that was part of the break, wrapping his head around having to fire someone for laughing as a racist at a racist joke that he himself had made, IDK. I'm not saying he's not funny or that he shouldn't be able to make jokes about it. I'm just saying that, for me, the comedically calling out cancel culture fell flat.

[moidog]

Angry huh?

[mad.casual]

Nope. Irritated out of indifference? Maybe.

What's the description for the feeling where you watch someone set a trap that you know they're going to walk into and, when they inevitably walk into it, start moaning that they're trapped and you wish they'd just shut up and go away?

IMO, anger means I think they should be put out of their misery whether they step in the trap or not. I don't really care if cancel culture ends her career or not as long as I don't have to hear about it.

[Hit and Run]

Whatever happened to Rikki Lake anyway?

[Eddy]

Still pursuing an acting career, according to Wikipedia.

[Conchfritters]

She made a living sensationalizing her sexuality? She went on the Tonight Show and made it to the next level because Johnny Carson liked her and invited her back. When did she come out of the closet? In the 2000s? She isn’t my favorite comedian but she obviously has some talent.

[Trainer]

She came out earlier than that but she already had a sitcom and stand up comedy career at that point. Honestly, she's one of the few truly naturally funny people in the business. I never watched her shows because I don't really watch TV but when I do see clips of her, I enjoy them.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

She came out as a lesbian in 1994 or 1995, I believe.

[rsteinmetz]

I think you got it backwards.

Ellen was a successful Comedy actress. The show ran for 5 years. The first 4 years it was about the funny Ellen. The last year was about "lesbian Ellen" and not so funny. It was a miscalculation but she overcame it.

[mad.casual]

Ellen was a successful Comedy actress. The show ran for 5 years. The first 4 years it was about the funny Ellen. The last year was about “lesbian Ellen” and not so funny. It was a miscalculation but she overcame it.

The first sitcom was riddled with 'is she/isn't she?' jokes. It ran for four seasons, never broke the top 10 and never won any awards. There's more evidence that any one of Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow, David Schwimmer, Jennifer Aniston, Matthew Perry, and Courtney Cox are each better comedic actors/actresses than Ellen.

She didn't overcome it because she started a second sitcom on the same premise that was the same thing.

[Zeb]

I thought Friends was terrible and Ellen was OK. I think we are arguing about taste.

[mad.casual]

I never said I liked Friends. They were both pretty equally ho hum in my book. I almost wonder if there isn't/wasn't a bit of anthropic principle working against Ellen, the overwhelming majority of my Friends viewing was pretty directly related to being involved with the opposite sex.

As much empiricism there is to be had, Friends is the better show.

[damikesc]

I'd argue Friends was benefitted by being part of the murderer's row of comedies on NBC on Thursdays back then.

[nrob]

Friends, Frasier, Seinfeld, and Will & Grace

[Think It Through]

And this after Cheers, then Cosby solidified the NBC sitcom Thursday night.

[icannotread]

I ripped down my Ellen portrait and removed the Ellen statue from my lawn when I found out she was friends with a Nazi.
Have an appointment to deal with the tattoo next week.

[DWB]

Make the political personal?

What could go wrong?

[Geraje Guzba]

If George Bush is a war criminal, then so are Chuck Schumer, John Kerry, Diane Feinstein, Joe Biden, Harry Reid, and Hillary Clinton.

Yet, I do not recall the manic throng of the political Left lifting so much as an eyebrow when this happened: https://www.nationaljournal.com/s/66481/hillary-clinton-is-leading-ellen-degeneres-primary?

I guess only old, reviled Republicans can be considered "war criminals."

[John]

If Bush is a war criminal, so is Obama. Bush never ordered the assassination of an American citizen. Bush's invasion of Iraq stands on much firmer legal ground than Obama's intervention in Libya. Obama expanded the use of drones and the number of permissible targets. Obama's solution to the problem of interrogation techniques was to stop capturing suspected terrorists and just kill them in a drone strike eliminating the problem of choosing a method of interrogation.

[JoeJoetheIdiotCircusBoy]

To this day, I am still astounded by the pathetic whimper I heard from the "anti-war" left when the issue of droning of an American citizen without any due process emerged during Obama's presidency.

[Hit and Run]

He's a Nobel Peace recipient. That's like a get out of jail free card for at least 100k fatalities.

[Geraje Guzba]

First, it's not a war crime if there is no "war." Obama never secured a congressional declaration of war. Therefore, the extrajudicial killings that occurred under Obama's command cannot be war crimes. No war, no war crimes; simple. Second, it's not a war crime if the President is popular. Third, it's not a war crime if the President is a Democrat. And, lastly, Bush lied, people died.

[Uncle Jay]

"...it’s not a war crime if the President is a Democrat."

So true.
Only the nefarious republicans are mean enough to bad things during war.
But we all learned that when we were in the first grade at Karl Marx Elementary School.

[John]

Sadly, this is what the typical Democrat thinks.

[Fancylad]

"Third, it’s not a war crime if the President is a Democrat."
I know you're being facetious, but it's amazing how much of America's clerisy and establishment actually believe this.

[Seamus]

If it's not a war crime because there's no war, then I guess that means that it's just garden-variety murder, right?

[De Oppresso Liber]

" Bush never ordered the assassination of an American citizen. Bush’s invasion of Iraq stands on much firmer legal ground than Obama’s intervention in Libya."

I'm not sure which terrible nonwar had better legal justification, but the whole fabrication of evidence presented to congress sort of nullifies the argument that Bush had legal cover, imo.

[John]

The legal basis for the Iraq war lied in the UNSC resolutions that occurred after the First Gulf War. Those resolutions required that Saddam abide by the terms of the ceasefire and that he give up his WMD program and submit to UN inspections to show that. Saddam broke the terms of the ceasefire on numerous occasions and finally refused to allow UN inspections. The US invaded to enforce those UNSC resolutions. The only debate was whether the US as a Security Council member had to go back to the UNSC to use force to enforce those existing resolution.

Bush argued that they didn't. His argument boiled down to that if you had to go back and get authorization to enforce an existing UNSC resolution, that the resolutions were meaningless and the UN and international order would become meaningless with it. If you take the perspective that preserving the power and legitimacy of the UN and the international order are important, he was probably right about that.

The irony of the Iraq war is that it was the most Wilsonian war the US ever fought. People fixate on the WMD issue but that was only a part of the justification given for going to war and it was never a legal justification. The legal justification was to enforce the UNSC. And indeed if you listen to Bush's actual speeches at the time, they focused on that issue much more than the WMDs. Bush was a Wilsonian Internationalists to the core. And Iraq a Wilsonian war.

[De Oppresso Liber]

I'm tracking your argument. In principal and before the law, Bush is correct.
However, I seriously doubt he would have gotten the votes to declare war if not for the fabricated evidence. Thus morally incorrect.

[Finrod]

Iraq had chemical weapons == WMDs, fucko. Even the NYT admitted as such five years ago.

[De Oppresso Liber]

What is your argument? That chemical weapons are not WMD, so therefore Cheney didn't whip up a bunch of fake evidence? I'm not following. Go ahead and link the NYT piece, please.

[Finrod]

It's linked below. Learn how to scroll a webpage.

[De Oppresso Liber]

Lol, I have to search the entire comments section before I ask for a link? Ridiculous.

[Finrod]

Ctrl-f http -- I guess that's above your mental ability.

[De Oppresso Liber]

Finrod, just put the fucking link in the comment you are responding to or at least point them to it before calling people names. I don;t scan the entire thread or ctrl-f for an unknown search term before every response. Neither do you.

[Finrod]

Since you're a lazy idiot fucker:

https://reason.com/2019/10/08/ellen-degeneres-refuses-to-be-shamed-for-watching-football-with-george-w-bush/#comment-7963695

[De Oppresso Liber]

Or are you saying that they had chemical weapons, therefore they had wmd? Because they had a very, very small amount of chemical weapons in probably forgotten caches, which was not the assertion from the Bush admin. Remember "yellow cake" nonsense?

[Jerryskids]

I still insist Bush knew for a fact that Saddam had WMD's (or at least did at one point) because his dad was the one who sold them to him.

[De Oppresso Liber]

Nice!

[Finrod]

You mean the "yellow cake" that Joe Wilson claimed didn't exist because the government of Niger told him so?

[De Oppresso Liber]

The yellow cake that did not exist, full stop.

[Finrod]

The UK disagrees with you. They're the ones that reported it in the first place.

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

The UK disagrees with you.

The people claiming Trump is taking orders from Putin to hide a golden showers tape?

[De Oppresso Liber]

"The UK disagrees with you. They’re the ones that reported it in the first place."

Are you seriously arguing that the nonexistent super secret Iraqi nuclear program in 2003 was real? Jesus fuckin A, now I've seen it all. And a point of clarification and correction on my part, "yellow cake" refers to natural uranium, which exists everywhere. Iraq never had the ability to enrich it.

[Finrod]

There are no uranium mines in Iraq, cretin.

[Finrod]

Care to revise your idiot lie there?

Secret U.S. mission hauls uranium from Iraq
Last major stockpile from Saddam's nuclear efforts arrives in Canada

The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program — a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium — reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.

The removal of 550 metric tons of "yellowcake" — the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment — was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam's nuclear legacy. It also brought relief to U.S. and Iraqi authorities who had worried the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions.

https://web.archive.org/web/20080706164927/http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25546334/

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

That was all known and accounted for. Remember Hans Blix and whathisname the American that turned out to be a pedophile?

[Naaman Brown]

"U.S. Secretly Takes Yellowcake From Iraq", CBS News, 5 Jul 2008.
"The last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program - a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two-week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans. The removal of 550 metric tons of "yellowcake" - the seed material for higher-grade nuclear enrichment - was a significant step toward closing the books on Saddam's nuclear legacy. It also brought relief to U.S. and Iraqi authorities who had worried the cache would reach insurgents or smugglers crossing to Iran to aid its nuclear ambitions."

The yellowcake from Iraq was processed in Canada into fuel for nuclear power plants.

The only "yellow cake" nonsense is the claims that
(a) Saddam Hussein had no nuclear weapons ambitions when he was the one dropping hints and refusing to comply with UN inspections,
(b) one report that a deal had been reached in a buying mission to

[Naaman Brown]

The “yellow cake” nonsense includes the claims that
(a) Saddam Hussein had no nuclear weapons ambitions when he was the one dropping hints and refusing to comply with UN inspections,
(b) one Italian report that a deal had been reached in a buying mission to Niger turned out false (which does not negate the fact Saddam Hussein was seeking yellow cake in Niger and elsewhere), and
(c) 550 metric tons of yellow cake in Iraq can be handwavied away with Bush Derangement Syndrome memes.

[JesseAz]

Jeff is fucking stupid. Worthless trying to educate him. He will be back with bush lied people died tomorrow.

[Jerryskids]

Holy crap! I didn't realize there was anybody else besides me that remembers the actual legal basis of the war - that multiple UN resolutions had been passed threatening Saddam to open up for inspectors "or else" and when Iraq ignored the "we're telling you for the last time" resolution, Bush began girding for war. At that point Saddam said "Oh, you mean you really meant it? Then by all means, send in the inspectors." Next, the UN Security Council voted as to whether or not Saddam should get a pass on ignoring the deadline since they were now cooperating, as I recall the vote was to let it slide, but Bush said it didn't matter now, the previous resolution said we were going to beat the shit out of Saddam if he failed to meet the deadline, he failed to meet the deadline, we're going to beat the shit out of him.

The WMD crap was just further arguments as to why Saddam deserved to have his ass beat, the primary reason still remained that Iraq had failed to meet the UN demands that he allow UN inspectors in.

You can argue whether this was smart or fair or a legal fig leaf, it still remains that the war was over enforcement of a UN resolution and not WMDs.

[Finrod]

You're not the only one. That's pretty much how I remember it too.

[moidog]

There was no "legit basis" for the war never called that...murder plain and simple.

[Finrod]

Ignorant drooling idiot still doesn't know that Saddam had WMDs contrary to UN decree.

[De Oppresso Liber]

The admin presented ginned up evidence that the Hussein regime had a secret nuclear program. You can cite the legal justification for the war, but to say that the Bush claim of WMD was not relevant doesn't hold up. If it was not relevant then why the dramatic yellow cake testimonies before congress prior to the war vote? Remember Colin Powell holding that little vial and selling his credibility away?

[damikesc]

"The admin presented ginned up evidence that the Hussein regime had a secret nuclear program."

WHICH one?

Clinton also believed he had em. He launched an airstrike in 12/98 to allegedly deal with it.
Basically every other intel group out there ALSO believed he did. Saddam wanted people to believe it and, well, they did.

[DesigNate]

Jeff or shriek or whoever this is: “You can’t trust those intel agencies! They lied us into a war.”

Also these idiots: “You have to trust the intel agencies! They only have America’s best interest at heart.”

[nrob]

Bush using American process for war to declare war on a country on behalf of an organization that wishes to destroy nation states....hmmmm.

[Red Rocks White Privilege]

the whole fabrication of evidence

You mean the evidence presented by the same "career public servants" from the same organization that are now claiming Trump committed an impeachable crime?

[Juice]

If George Bush is a war criminal, then so are Chuck Schumer, John Kerry, Diane Feinstein, Joe Biden, Harry Reid, and Hillary Clinton.

Ok. And?

[Geraje Guzba]

Look, I understand that a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, but some consistency, any consistency, in the dispensation of leftist outrage would be refreshing. The same people losing their minds over the fact that Ellen Degeneres had the temerity not to murder George W. Bush on the spot for his "war crimes" were cheering with unbound enthusiasm when she endorsed Hillary Clinton.

[Naaman Brown]

They also cheered when the Bushes dissed Trump at the McCain funeral.
That was a real Orwellian Animal Farm pigs = farmers moment for me about the established parties.

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

If George Bush is a war criminal, then so are Chuck Schumer, John Kerry, Diane Feinstein, Joe Biden, Harry Reid, and Hillary Clinton.

"War criminal" sounds like some faggy UN thing. I want these lunatics tried for their crimes against Americans.

[Geraje Guzba]

Well, sir, you're in a pickle, because investigating them for war crimes would be an impeachable offense.

[Seamus]

From what I hear, investigating them for any crimes would be an impeachable offense, if (1) ordered by a Republican and (2) potentially causing political disadvantage to the target of the investigation.

[Zeb]

Good for Ellen. She seems like one of the least shitty people in the entertainment industry.

[JesseAz]

Not a very high bar.

[Fancylad]

Measured in micrometers.

[Eddy]

No, but it seems they have to work hard to meet it, so nice going on her part.

[Juice]

"When I say, 'Be kind to one another,' I don't mean only the people that think the same way that you do. I mean be kind to everyone. Doesn't matter."

I cannot "be kind" to George W. Bush. Not because I think differently than he does. It's because of things he actually did.

[John]

Good for you. That however doesn't give you the right to insist and condemn everyone who sees it differently.

[Juice]

I have the right to condemn whomever I like. Thanks for the concern, though.

[John]

Yes you do. But you look like an idiot when you do so. And I have no concern for you looking like an idiot. I am just pointing it out.

[Juice]

Anyone who supported Dubya back then, bought the sales pitch for the war(s), and supported them was an idiot. Anyone who still supports him, his administration, or the Iraq War is a massive, incurable idiot and has no business telling anyone else they look like one.

[Finrod]

Well fuck off, slaver, then.

[Overt]

You do realize you can not support an administration, or his leadership of it, or the Iraq War, and yet STILL sit down to dinner, or a ball game with the man?

For fucks sake. I find myself working with, and sitting down with dirt bags all the time. Some guy left his wife and kids for his secretary. Some other dude cock blocked a project I was working with. And I manage to make it through life without making my every interaction with them some referendum on their faults like I'm fucking anubis waiting to cast them into the pit.

That is how societies work- and by the way, if you want even a modicum of the change in society towards some sort of better endeavor, I highly recommend you take this to heart. If you want someone to change their views, sit down with them at lunch. Facts, shaming, bitching, etc is nothing compared to a nice cold beer.

[Sevo]

"...I find myself working with, and sitting down with dirt bags all the time..."

I live in SF. If I wanted to avoid doing that, I'd probably have to turn into a hermit.
I also run a company; we don't ask our customers or suppliers questions regarding their political choices. It's dead certain that some would make most of us vomit.
We still take their money or buy our supplies from them.

[Tony]

Being an evil dick to your wife is between you and your wife. Bush got a million people killed for no reason.

[Finrod]

No, Saddam Hussein killed a million+ people, fucknut, including 400,000 children under the age of 5 via deliberate malnutrition.

[bevis the lumberjack]

"Anyone who supported Dubya back then, bought the sales pitch for the war(s)"

Wait....."wars"? Are you saying we shouldn't have done Afghanistan? Really. We were attacked by the de facto leadership of that country. Were we just supposed to shrug it off?

[Tony]

It probably wasn't necessary, and we're not there still because of Al Qaeda, who was not the de facto leadership of Afghanistan.

[Naaman Brown]

As my granma would say, the mercy and forgiveness you show is the mercy and forgiveness you deserve.

[Zeb]

Well, if that's you, then OK. I'll be kind to anyone who doesn't treat me like shit. Just about everyone has something interesting to say about something. Cutting yourself off from that is just shooting yourself in the dick, if you ask me.

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

"Doesn't treat you like shit" is a much more restrictive standard than "didn't lie us into a disastrous war."

[Finrod]

Fuck off. Even that right-wing rag, the New York Times, admits we found WMDs in Iraq.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/10/14/world/middleeast/us-casualties-of-iraq-chemical-weapons.html

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

Can you highlight the part of the article where Iraqi scientists (lol) created a functioning, secret, undetectable nuclear program? I'm especially eager to read about how they did it with the change left over from all the gold palaces.

[JesseAz]

Youd be better help getting a dictionary to learn nukes arent the only definition of WMD. Youd also be better off if you educated yourself that the NPT is about stopping countries from developing nukes, not waiting until they do.

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

WTF is this WMD shit. Finrod said that, not me.

NPT is about stopping countries from developing nukes, not waiting until they do.

Okay. What does that have to do with countries that can't conceivably make one?

[Finrod]

Chemical weapons are WMDs, fucko, just like biological weapons are. That's the standard fucking definition: nukes, chemical, biological.

Fuck, you're willfully stupid and ignorant.

[Zeb]

Guns and bombs are WMD if you have enough of them.

[Finrod]

For that matter, Saddam had more than a dozen ammo dumps each one of which was larger than the island of Manhattan.

[handsoffmypineapples]

I know, right!?!

I mean, if Hussein had even one semi-automatic assault rifle (the kind with the shoulder thing that goes up) he was in possesion of WMD!

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

I never brought up WMD's. You did.

[Finrod]

You said "didn’t lie us into a disastrous war."

What did people accuse Bush of lying about? WMDs.

Second-graders could follow that logic, but you can't.

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

What did people accuse Bush of lying about? WMDs.

I'm just one guy, not "people."

You going to explain how a bunch of inbred goat herders were going to build a nuclear bomb?

[Finrod]

I told you already that chemical and biological weapons are WMDs, illiterate jackass.

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

And I never said anything about "WMDs" because I've never given a shit if some dictator on the other side of the planet has some gas canisters. Why would I? I'm not some lunatic neo-con who thinks we can turn the planet into Peoria.

[Finrod]

Because we don't have any allies or anything like that in the region for Saddam Hussein to use that nasty shit on.

Do you ever engage your brain for anything other than masturbation?

[Seamus]

Oh, puh-leeze. Did you notice the part of the article that described the munitions as "abandoned"? Did you understand that they were no longer usable as weapons, and were more dangerous to any Iraqis unfortunate enough to stumble across them than to any of Iraq's enemies? And I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that the people in Baghdad telling the U.S. and the U.N. that they didn't have any WMDs had no idea of those "caches."

[Finrod]

You really think those were the only ones?

We found barrels and barrels of "pesticides" in ammo dumps.

Figure it out.

[Zeb]

I think he did some bad things as president. I'm not trying to rehabilitate his image. I'd still talk to him. I suspect it would be an interesting and enjoyable conversation.

[Jerryskids]

I wouldn't mind talking to him, but I suspect the conversation would go rapidly downhill after I asked him, "Exactly how many demons are ramming red-hot pokers up your dad's ass right now, do you suppose?"

[Sidd Finch v2.01]

I'd love to talk to him like the guy on Mindhunter talks to serial killers. But I wouldn't hang out in his suite at a football game.

[Uncle Jay]

Now don't any of you kind folk out there fret none.
The Thought Police will be visiting Ms. DeGeneres soon complete with batons, tasers, guns, whips, rabid dogs, pliers, baseball bats, and other instruments of reeducation.
Everything will be OK once the Thought Police are through with her.

[Longtobefree]

Everything will be OK once the Thought Police are through with her.

But what if she has dogs? Will they survive?
Oh, wait. Hollywood; who cares?

Besides, they were both attending an evil, corporate, America hating, NFL game. Did they stand for the National Anthem?

[Rich]

george w bush got thousands of americans killed and hundreds of thousands of iraqis killed, nobody should ever be cordial or friendly with them.

*** scratches head ***

Because they're dead, or what?

[Longtobefree]

Because USA public schools teach socialism, not punctuation.

[Finrod]

Ain't that the bloody truth.

[Krokko]

I'm sure there was a huge twitter outrage by those narrow-minded hicks who support GWB because he had the audacity to sit next to that gay Hollywood liberal, Ellen, right? RIGHT? That must have happened, because GWB supporters are not in the party of tolerance.

[JesseAz]

Of it was flake next to maddow....

[Jerryskids]

Frankly, I'm surprised the Left isn't bashing GWB for sitting next to that traitorous friendly-to-GWB bitch, Ellen DeGeneres.

[The_Unknown_Pundit]

And if Ellen was seen at a game with Obama, my guess is these critics wouldn't say a word. Selective outrage is so selective.

[Fred B]

Ah yes, there is a difference:
1) Two people with way different ideas, backgrounds and lifestyles get together: This is how people begin to understand each other.
2) Commentators who think they are virtue-tolerant of other's and then bash someone WHEN IT DOESN'T COMPUTE in their pre-fixed, put-you-in-a-box mentality: HYPOCRITE
GTFOH !

[Colossal Douchebag]

You know Reason, I could read a whole lot more stories like this, and a whole lot less of the hate-mail-dressed-up-as-blog-column stuff.

[Finrod]

Hear, hear.

[Eddy]

When even a commenter styled "colossal douchebag" thinks the political debate has gotten too toxic, we need to have a good look at ourselves and...

I mean shut up cucks.

[Jalene]

LOL.

[Chest Rockwell]

There is one detail I feel is being overlooked. It's not the pathetic desperate leftists who got upset over this. Surely they are sad and not very bright.

The detail being overlooked is who didn't get butthurt over this: the conservatives. Who didn't pitch a fit: the conservatives.

[DenverJ]

Good for Ellen. The homosexual liberal who will burn in hell. I keed. I like her, and this only reinforces that.

[Eddy]

She seems nice, and obviously I'm not saying that just to get on her good side, because where's the payoff, am I right?

In fact, it was people like her who helped persuade the public that gay people are regular ordinary folks who just want a bit of love and fairness.

Now they've moved beyond that image and are like "do what I say or I'll get you punished."

[kojagat]

hello

[Conchfritters]

I’m sure the lefty heads will really explode when they find out they probably watched and talked about football, and didn’t get into a bull shit conversation about politics. I don’t tweet, but I’d wager $10 some fucking idiot questioned why they didn’t discuss climate change during the game.

[IceTrey]

Bush shouldn't be shunned for his beliefs but for what he's actually done. ISIS for instance was a direct result of his decisions.

[Finrod]

No, that was because Obama suffered premature withdrawal.

[Trainer]

Guess who's been a happier person this week- Ellen or the haters?

[BLPoG]

I like Robby. For all his linguistic equivocation over the years, he's usually always been on point. Beyond that, he's gotten better and better in an environment in which others have steadily declined.

Robby, you should come to some of the DC-area non-fancy-hair-oriented-libertarian social events. I'd bet we'd all have a good time. We could brainstorm on pop songs to unite America. I am a proponent of Miley's Party in the U.S.A. I will also tell you a brief, silly story about Matt and Nick.

[BLPoG]

"usually always"

goddamn, give me a fucking edit button

[Naaman Brown]

I have seen commenting systems that have an edit time window so you can correct typos and other mistakes.

One that allows me to delete a comment and either repost after editing or ferfettaboutit.

I think this politic blog does not allow edits to keep folks from changing their comments in response to replies. That requires the original commenter to reply to replies, not change the comment others replied to.

[D-Pizzle]

"I think this politic blog does not allow edits to keep folks from changing their comments in response to replies.

This is exactly why.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I condemn President George W. Bush for sitting with that person!

[niy24198]

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[Quo Usque Tandem]

She stood up for Kevin Hart, and now W. I wonder if the wokes will ever get to the point of saying "oh, that's just Ellen."

Just kidding, they would never do that. Intolerance forever.

[Tony]

Wellll. Some people think he's a war criminal. What with the massive quagmire in Iraq started on utterly false pretenses. And the torture and indefinite detention. "I try to be friends with everyone, including Hitler" wouldn't fly with Ellen, I bet.

There's an argument to be made that George W. Bush's cutesie phase is normalizing the horrors he and his administration committed. He's getting the same post-presidency PR treatment (complete with some of the same PR dudes) that Saint Reagan (peace be upon him) got, to uncountable dividends.

On the other hand, gay rights might be 10 years behind where they are now if Ellen hadn't decided to become America's lesbian best friend and instead became a militant. This is her role.

[Dillinger]

dummies think W is some kind of right-winger lol

[Tony]

One of his primary campaign strategies in 2004 was scapegoating gay people. If that's not progressive, I don't know what is!

[Dillinger]

i don't remember him needing a campaign strategy in '04 other than "not John Kerry"

[Tony]

Gay marriage bans were on state referenda all over the country. That arguably was enough to put him over the top in what was a close election.

John Kerry also went windsurfing. Apparently that was a bad thing, though the why escapes me.

[Cool Mountain]

He's certainly not a left winger. Moderate conservative with neo-con sensibilities perhaps. Republican for sure. But it depends how people define 'right winger'. Both the right and the left get defined in very broad terms by the side that doesn't like either. So all Democrats tend to be lumped in with the 'left' and all Republicans tend to be lumped in with the 'right'. It's never that simple.

[Dillinger]

>>>But it depends how people define ‘right winger’.

Bushes are Establishment there is no left/right only them and Peasantry

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[Zo]

It's just a good thing it was Ellen and not a straight white man. If it had been, their career would be over. They'd get cancelled.

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[Friend of Freedom]

Ellen is a world-class human being. "Love the sinner; hate the sin."

[bth73]

The Bush's are Nazi supporters and U.S. war criminals that are personally responsible for hundreds of thousands deaths throughout the middle east. Bush senior committed treason with Reagan during the iron contra affair. No one should be friends with these psychopaths. Sociopathy is the root survival trait that is counter to civilized society. It takes a highly developed prefrontal cortex to control and moderate these primitive impulses that arise from sociopathic survival traits. Republicans mostly lack a developed prefrontal cortex. Maybe it's the midwestern diet.

[Finrod]

Fuck off and die. Literally nothing in that verbal spew is true.

[Fancylad]

"11 Therefore do not consort with the revellers and idolaters of the Cowboys, for they are an abomination unto the earth" - Thaddeus 3:11

[De Oppresso Liber]

Let me know when you have a single substantive thing to say.

[De Oppresso Liber]

No one likes you and you are going to die alone.

[Finrod]

Nice bit of projection, there.