December 14, 2010
— Dave in Texas I guess we sorta took a pass on this nonsense the past 24 hours. I think because it's much ado about nothing, and others have already put it into the proper context. Meaningless claptrap from unimportant politicos.
We have our fair share of dustups and disagreements around this joint, because we're dorks, but at least we're informed dorks. It's just amusing to me to see the second pathetic attempt to shape public opinion about an actual grassroot movement with another contrived "movement" (Coffee Party II: The Reasoning).
The problem with this approach, aside from it being so very contrived (and that's no small problem), is the "label" charge doesn't stick like it used to. That was no accident, that upheaval in November, which shook not only the US House of Representatives like you're not supposed to shake a baby, but state houses throughout the country. As recently as this week, Dem state reps are defecting to the Republican "labeled" party. Two in Texas, giving Rs a 101 to 49 seat advantage.
The only politicians who want to shed a label these days are the ones who want to shed the "loser" label.
I mean, come on. Charlie Crist? Mark McKinnon? Really?
"No Labels" is like John Belushi's sweatshirt in Animal House. There's a kind of affinity expressed, "College", but you sorta get the feeling "Mr. Blutarsky, Mister. Blutarsky. Zero-point-zero" really isn't committed to the concept of higher education, except perhaps as it pertains to raising hell and falling off ladders.
It's not so much "shedding 'labels'" as it is trying to pin any label onto the conservative side and calling it "extreme" (extreme, it means "bad" to the "no labels" crowd, if it's conservative). A weak appeal to the middle. But the middle has already been exercised into motion at the ballot box, and oddly enough, they chose a label. Like Vikings they chose a label.
You can call it "Republican" or you can call it "Not this awful shit we've had for 2 years".
It's still a label.
*thanks Andy for the McKinnon link. Why this political whore has any credibility left is someone else's guess. Probably could have reduced this post to Mark McKinnon, No Label.
Posted by: Dave in Texas at
07:43 PM
| Comments (74)
Post contains 382 words, total size 3 kb.
I think that pretty much sums up those of us on the right. We'll admit that we're biased, and that we are fighting for our ideology. What we can't stand about the left is that they won't.
Posted by: Alex at December 14, 2010 08:08 PM (yY28H)
Those of us on the right are still racist Nazis, yes?
Posted by: mpurinTexas (kicking Mexico's ass since 1836) at December 14, 2010 08:09 PM (paOeu)
Posted by: wiserbud at December 14, 2010 08:10 PM (EW49d)
Posted by: Boots at December 14, 2010 08:11 PM (neKzn)
How structuralist. Apparently they don't teach reading to the left anymore. At least, they don't read their own authors, like Naomi Klein ("No Logo") and other postmodernists who might actually clue them in on their substantive failure.
Where they actually should read is Hardt & Negri, who predicted the arising of Multitude back in 2000 with the shifting of capitalism to the embrace of post-modern thought, as well as the anticipation of rhizomic evolution occurring within the people (aka multitude). As usual, history has one hell of a sense of humor and multitude has found itself on the "right" (bad model) within the autonomous movement we know as the tea party. Decentering is always a bitch, especially to the corrupt, malignant hierarchies that attempt to understand it through their useless hermeneutic.
So to the left, please keep spending union money on these image and branding consultants. It is working remarkably well...
Posted by: Multitude at December 14, 2010 08:11 PM (5vAVX)
Those of us on the right are still racist Nazis, yes?
Posted by: mpurinTexas (kicking Mexico's ass since 1836) at December 15, 2010 12:09 AM (paOeu)
The only reason you don't want a label is when the accurate one hurts you too much
Posted by: Oldcat at December 14, 2010 08:15 PM (CN+Qv)
Posted by: mark c at December 14, 2010 08:15 PM (SBIko)
Prescient, but I think he probably knows something about swarms of consultants telling him what he wants to hear.
Posted by: AmishDude at December 14, 2010 08:17 PM (BvBKY)
Liberal uh, progressive, um, well, no label! That's the way we'll sell our big government horseshit! We'll act like we're above it all! We're above the fray. Hell, it works for Obama. Look how well he's doing.
Posted by: Arrogant Asshole at December 14, 2010 08:22 PM (Tam8O)
Posted by: JackStraw at December 14, 2010 08:23 PM (TMB3S)
Makes me really love the Tea Party now. And the Tea Party is supposed to be "astroturfing?" These m_____fuckers are so fucking dishonest, I really think they have started believing their own lies. This is totally fucking fake. "No-labels" is just more PC bullshit trying to put every Republican argument off limits before it can be had. And it's a way for these leftist, lying, loser assholes to make it out of bounds to call them the twinkle-toed communist cocksuckers they are. Can't call them "socialists" even, although fuck if I know why. If they're so proud of their worldview, and it's so great, then why are they so ashamed to be called by that name? That's what it is, right? Attention, you mealy-mouthed numbfucks: WE'RE not the ones who hide who we are, we're not the ones who have to fake grassroots support, we're not the ones who have to stealth-call radio stations pretending to be who we're not. Have you ever thought, "gee, if I'm so ashamed to admit honestly who I am and what I believe, MAYBE the problem is OUR SIDE is fucked in the head?" Consider it, and then leave me the fuck alone and get some fucking therapy!
Posted by: Bitsko at December 14, 2010 08:23 PM (8/KZN)
>> What's this "we" shit pool boy?
I wish I could teach Jackstraw to bite you in the face,
but he's too good a dog. And you likely have baconstrips in your pocket.
Posted by: Dave in Texas at December 14, 2010 08:27 PM (Wh0W+)
Posted by: nohammernosickl at December 14, 2010 08:28 PM (Z/zYN)
Posted by: JackStraw at December 14, 2010 08:35 PM (TMB3S)
Posted by: Darth Randall at December 14, 2010 08:48 PM (O/onO)
Oh, and Merry Christmas.
Posted by: Bitsko at December 14, 2010 08:53 PM (8/KZN)
Posted by: JackStraw at December 14, 2010 09:04 PM (TMB3S)
Posted by: JackStraw at December 14, 2010 09:08 PM (TMB3S)
It's an honor you could spit up a few just to check in here.
It's the holidays. Business is slow.
And thanks for the "little something extra" last week. That really helped with the broadband bill.
Posted by: wiserbud at December 14, 2010 09:10 PM (EW49d)
You still buying drinks for random lonely guys in bars?
Oh, and sorry I couldn't come home with you that night. We have rules, ya know.
Posted by: wiserbud at December 14, 2010 09:15 PM (EW49d)
Posted by: stuiec at December 14, 2010 09:15 PM (chhYn)
Posted by: JackStraw at December 14, 2010 09:16 PM (TMB3S)
Posted by: JackStraw at December 14, 2010 09:20 PM (TMB3S)
Damn.
Oh, well. See you at the greyhound station, then. I'll be the one with the ticks.
Posted by: wiserbud at December 14, 2010 09:24 PM (EW49d)
Posted by: JackStraw at December 14, 2010 09:30 PM (TMB3S)
Bullshit. I have more respect for a libtard than for these ciphers. At least the libtard has a philosophical position, as dumb as it is. These middle-of-the-roaders take the easiest route - "Let's all co-operate", "Let's work for the American people, not for parties", "Let's find common-sense solutions."
Right. Because all of that is so damned easy and obvious. Until you actually get down to business. "OK. let's work together and solve poverty. What's your idea? Government housing, huh? What about you? De-regulation of industry to promote increased employment opportunities. Hmmm. OK. I'm sure we can reconcile those two completely different approaches as long as you PARTISAN EXTREMISTS PUT ASIDE YOUR PARTISAN EXTREMING!"
Pathetic.
Posted by: schizuki at December 14, 2010 09:35 PM (M+lbD)
Posted by: George Orwell at December 14, 2010 09:39 PM (AZGON)
True enough. I think I should just let the easily-searchable youtube videos speak for themselves and let this thread get back on-topic.
Nolabels, amirite?
Posted by: wiserbud at December 14, 2010 09:45 PM (EW49d)
Posted by: George Orwell at December 14, 2010 09:48 PM (AZGON)
Posted by: George Orwell at December 14, 2010 09:50 PM (AZGON)
Posted by: George Orwell at December 14, 2010 10:02 PM (AZGON)
Posted by: George Orwell at December 14, 2010 10:08 PM (AZGON)
Posted by: Jean at December 14, 2010 10:11 PM (CPefM)
Posted by: Sock Puppet 5000 at December 14, 2010 10:24 PM (W58PC)
Posted by: rdbrewer at December 14, 2010 10:27 PM (Tam8O)
No Traction Party
The Void Party
Washed Up Ass-hats Party
The Irrelevant Party
Polished Turd Party
The Party Who Shall Not Be Named
The Recycled Again Party
No Logo Party
OH WAIT THEY DO HAVE A LOGO
The American Flag Zoo Party or as apparently another man likes to call them
The Art Thieves Party
Posted by: Sock Puppet 5000 at December 14, 2010 10:33 PM (W58PC)
Posted by: Sock Puppet 5000 at December 14, 2010 10:52 PM (W58PC)
Clearly they didn't think this no label thing all the way through.
First point of order No Labels members shall not have names as well.
Obviously that means No One is in charge and the second in command is Nameless.
The Who's on First Party!
Posted by: Sock Puppet 5000 at December 14, 2010 11:01 PM (W58PC)
They get their mugs on (OMG! OMG! OMG! { * squeal * }) national television and a chance to express why they remain "undecided, yet persuadable" as Election Day approaches. Their profound reasons, eloquently expressed ( All this nasty partisanship really upsets me and serves no purpose other than to keep us from arriving at the really sound, collectivist, I mean, non-partisan solutions we need in order to solve the country's vexing problems { * sigh * } ... for the children!), will tug at the still barely alive consciences of the "labelists" - or so they'd like to believe - and lead to a genuine reawakening of all that can be good and right in America. 'Cause, after all, spineless squishiness is what got America through its past crises, amirite?
Life requires facts and choices, and both facts and choices carry labels. If labels upset you, "No ******" types, then die already, because life clearly is too difficult for you. Or move to Europe, 'cause they've evolved beyond and shed the limitations that "labelism" carries with it.
Posted by: ya2daup at December 14, 2010 11:59 PM (yRrAd)
Yeah, it seems like the only people who talk about "labels" are generally liberals. They're playing their usual game of trying to manipulate people's thinking by manipulating the language ("undocumented worker"? Please! ). Seems like they'll even throw around a label or two in the same sentence where they denounce labels. It's classic.
When I heard some political/philosophical types making a big deal out of Aristotle's "A is A" a few years ago, it sounded silly to me at first. This is what they were talking about. Trying to make one thing sound like another, so as to make an invalid argument sound valid. Kinda pathetic, but I suppose it works on the weak-minded (not unlike the celebrated Jedi mind tricks of SciFi).
Posted by: Optimizer at December 15, 2010 12:12 AM (2lTU+)
Posted by: torabora at December 15, 2010 12:38 AM (3RUIO)
ALL information on these people can be found on the Internet ...
Posted by: AmericanDawg at December 15, 2010 01:39 AM (sAmPK)
Posted by: billygoat at December 15, 2010 01:48 AM (5qJM5)
Posted by: CoolCzech at December 15, 2010 02:24 AM (tJjm/)
PACIFIC COASTAL SALMON RECOVERY
For necessary expenses associated with the restoration of Pacific salmon populations, $80,000,000, to remain available until September 30, 2012: Provided, That of the funds provided herein the Secretary of Commerce may issue grants to the States of Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, California, and Alaska, and Federally-recognized tribes of the Columbia River and Pacific Coast (including Alaska) for projects necessary for conservation of salmon and steelhead populations that are listed as threatened or endangered, or identified by a State as at risk to be so-listed, for maintaining populations necessary for exercise of tribal treaty fishing rights or native subsistence fishing, or for conservation of Pacific coastal salmon and steelhead habitat, based on guidelines to be developed by the Secretary of CommerceÂ….
As they rightly point out, NEVADA is land-locked from any salmon tributaries.
Posted by: billygoat at December 15, 2010 02:40 AM (5qJM5)
Posted by: billygoat at December 15, 2010 02:41 AM (5qJM5)
Labels, misused. Alinsky cowards. Can't take their own medicine.
But of course this "no labels" strategy follows dismal inability to deal with their own whoring identity, publicly revealed and reviled.
Funny thing. These losers scrambling for a no-label cover provide all the ridiculous entertainment, twisting on their own.
Posted by: maverick muse at December 15, 2010 02:54 AM (H+LJc)
“They are not on the ground living it day in and day out like our forces are, so they don’t have the proximity and perspective.” [Military critique.] But in Afghanistan, the intelligence agencies play a strong role, with the largest Central Intelligence Agency station since the Vietnam War located in Kabul. C.I.A. operatives also command an Afghan paramilitary force in the thousands. In Pakistan, the C.I.A. is running a covert war using drone aircraft.
Shitty Pakistan hit the intel "reset" fan.
American military commanders say insurgents freely cross from Pakistan into Afghanistan to plant bombs and fight American troops and then return to Pakistan for rest and resupply. [US goal] build up the Afghan National Army to the point that the Afghans can at least contain an insurgency still supported by Pakistan. "We can’t make Pakistan stop being naughty.” (Riedel, retired CIA @ Brookings Inst.) Afghan officials say that the United States, which sends Pakistan about $2 billion in military and civilian aid each year, is coddling Pakistan for no end. concerns about Pakistan’s nuclear stockpile, particularly the risk that enriched uranium or plutonium could be smuggled out of a laboratory or storage site.
The report? Can't win Afghanistan given Pakistan. Stalemate.
/So wipe out Pakistan's nuclear stockpile.
Posted by: maverick muse at December 15, 2010 03:04 AM (H+LJc)
Posted by: Vic at December 15, 2010 03:17 AM (e4sSD)
Posted by: dfbaskwill at December 15, 2010 03:51 AM (ndlFj)
Posted by: connielu at December 15, 2010 03:53 AM (sWrXg)
A commenter after my own heart! Take that you ignorant Libs.
Posted by: dfbaskwill at December 15, 2010 03:58 AM (ndlFj)
Posted by: Farmer Joe at December 15, 2010 04:55 AM (z4es9)
Three people in a room. The first says they should spend $20 on ice cream.
The second says they should not spend any money. The third, who's a moderate, "in the middle" person says the other two are extreme and believes they should spend $10 on ice cream.
The "in the middle" person will never lead. They always have to wait and see what the others in the room are thinking so they can figure out where the middle is. These are the people who have no original ideas. They seek importance by positioning themselves to be the person who the other two seek to bring to their side. That is the only power they can have and they know it. Inspiring way to live your life, isn't it?
Fuck 'em.
Posted by: Dang at December 15, 2010 05:19 AM (TXKVh)
Posted by: JEA at December 15, 2010 05:45 AM (+Wvn3)
Posted by: Waterhouse at December 15, 2010 05:53 AM (mKp2c)
Everytime the liberals lose they blame the loss on either (1) we didn't get the message out, (2) the message was not 'framed' properly, (3) the conservatives cheated.
Never, ever do they stop and say "Hey - maybe the voters just don't like our message."
Posted by: Mikey NTH at December 15, 2010 05:56 AM (O9Cc8)
Waterhouse; what you said.
Posted by: katya, the designated driver at December 15, 2010 06:16 AM (66ev1)
Don't underestimate the power of idealism in the young or clueless. Everyone here is politically savvy and relatively experienced in how the world works, so we forget that there's a *huge*--as in, frighteningly large--group of folks who have only a vague notion of what "socialism" really is and whether it's ever been tried before, and who know nothing of George Soros or of the endless conflict between left and right.
What they DO 'know'--or more accurately, what they *think* they know because it sounds plausible and resonates with *them*-- is that 1) there are extremists in both parties; 2) "a house divided against itself cannot stand"; 3) so it's obvious that the way to solve all problems is to avoid joining either camp.
The folks who set up this group were a lot smarter than we'd like to think. Setting up this group has given them a fresh mailing list of folks who are idealistic and open to new ideas. It's then relatively easy for shills in the herd to talk up Dem/Leftist/socialist ideas while bad-mouthing proposals made by conservatives.
At that point, even if the group has a short life, it's served its purpose well.
Posted by: sf at December 15, 2010 07:30 AM (eSMQV)
Posted by: archie bunker at December 15, 2010 08:14 AM (0YS61)
And the year after they took Congress the deficit went from an average of about $140 billion to $680 billion, then to $1.3 trillion, then to $1.4 trillion. With no end in sight.
But other than that, great point, jackass.
Posted by: VJay at December 15, 2010 11:40 AM (gQ+XA)
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It's also a way to convince a billionaire (Bloomberg) to pay a bunch of out-of-work-for-the-next-ten-years political consultants to get paid to tell him what he wants to hear.
Posted by: AmishDude at December 14, 2010 08:02 PM (BvBKY)