February 20, 2014

Are We Getting Too Political About Everything?
— Ace

We discussed James Poulos' assertion that the right is making "everything" political on the podcast (which will be posted tomorrow).

I have a few thoughts. First, we generally tend to make fun of the left for reading a Political Message into every mundane act. Mary Katharine Ham related a story of a FaceBook friend who had -- oh no! -- been forced to buy Barilla pasta because it was the only gluten-free brand available. He had the vapors as he attempted to seek advice as to which gay cause he should donate to, to expunge himself of sin. (Barilla's CEO said a half year ago that he wouldn't feature gay couples in their ads, as the brand has a brand identity of traditionalism and traditional families.)

But are we following the left in this nonsense by ourselves overreading politics and ideology into things we, of all people, should know are fundamentally human in nature?

That is to say: It is the left which asserts -- or believes -- that people are essentially their ideology. The left asserts that someone is "good person" simply due to that person believing the right things; the ideology requires no actual action, just belief.

Thus, the left conceives people's primary identity as one of ideology, and conceives of humanity as being primarily ideological beings.

One the right, we generally say that ideology is important, but is hardly the sum of any man or woman. Chiefly ideology is important to the extent it creates real world goods, freedom of thought, freedom of worship, freedom to pursue a gainful trade without interference, and so on.

Freedom, in fact, to pursue happiness.

The right has been, historically, against this idea of humans' highest aspiration being a matter of purity of ideology -- that "The personal is political," as I think Gloria Steinem asserted -- and has championed at least three aspects of humanity as being more important than ideology (the metaphysical/religious, the familial/generational, and the ethical/moral; others may add the philosophical and intellectual).

Ideology, in fact, is chiefly important to the right to guarantee freedom to pursue these other aspects of human endeavor.

Sonny Bunch has also written on the emptiness of an entirely politicized life.

I do agree, as you know. One of the reasons -- you've probably gotten sick of me saying this -- but one of the reasons I post Honey Badger videos, or encourage people to post sci-tech stuff, or why I love the book thread, and the gardening thread, and so on, is that I do find a life which is full of nothing but politics is, sadly, empty of anything else.

I don't wish to define myself in such a manner -- I am ideological, but I am more than just ideological -- and will actively fight against being defined as nothing more than a vessel for ideology, for transporting it one from the ideological wellsprings to others' buckets (so that they may in turn deliver ideological water to others).

Is ideology important? Again, of course it is.

But is everything ideological? Surely not.

It occurs to me that attempting to be more than walking poster-board of ideological beliefs is a far more useful political posture in terms of outreach and persuasion. "LIVs" and swing voters and independents pride themselves on not being overly ideological -- they tend to scorn what they detect is "just ideology" from a party or politician -- and so anyone who permits himself to be defined as purely ideological has no chance whatsoever of persuading someone who prides himself on being ideologically flexible.

As silly as we find Barilla Panic Guy, an outside observer would find us pretty silly in asserting that virtually any evil that befalls a man is due to "liberal values" or the like.

We know better than that. We know human beings are more complicated than that -- which is part of the reason we resist so vigorously the One Size Fits All model of the leftist state. There are too many things going on in the human mind and human experience to say "This is due to liberalism" or even "This is largely due to liberalism."

As in many things, there may be some truth here -- may be -- but a little bit of truth can be so overstated as to become false.

I'm told that Ben Shapiro, who wrote the piece Poulous complains of (laying Phillip Seymour Hoffman's death at the feet of "liberal values" or "Hollywood values"), is one of the smartest people alive, and I believe that.

I do think he's misfired here, though. I know he's smarter than this, and I think his readership is smarter than this too. I think 80% of the movement is smarter than this (and 95% of this site's readers). So I don't think we should sell ourselves short in the brains department. I don't see what good it does anyone to pretend to be less smart than he actually is.

Some will say "But some people respond to this." And that is so. But so what? They'll also respond to a more nuanced piece. They may read all the nuance out of the piece, but, having done so, they will then respond to their version of the piece.

And of course this isn't just Ben Shapiro; most on the right (in fact, most anyone who's ever done anything political) are guilty of this. I'm guilty of this (though, like an alcoholic, I'm employing a One Day At A Time recovery strategy).

At the risk of offending people, when I was young and moving towards a right-leaning ideology, I rolled my eyes when Newt Gingrich traced Susan Smith's murder of her two children to the liberal ideology. I mean, come on. This is every bit as ridiculous and overreaching as the left's (and the media's) determination to claim that Jared Loughner's murderous, lunatic rage about English grammar was somehow traceable to Sarah Palin's "anti-government rhetoric."

There may be the glimmering of a point in this statement, but it's only a glimmering; how much weight shall we put on it? I don't think the structure is solid enough to bear but an ounce or two.

I've said this before, I think, but it's important to keep our humanity and our individuality front and center at all times. We may be fighting a political battle, but it's important to always return to why we are fighting it: we're fighting the battle to preserve our dignity as human beings, our freedom which is our right as thinking -- or ensouled -- beings, and our basic individual identity which is surely more than a series of bullet-point slogans and "COEXIST" bumper-stickers. (And for those whom this is not true: I truly pity those such as these.)

I believe -- though I'm not sure -- that part of the reason the military sends soldiers back home periodically is to remind them, tangibly, of what it is, exactly, they're fighting for in the first place. That the fight is not fought just for the fight; the fight is fought for something else again.

I think we're better than this and smarter than this, and I don't think we should be shy about letting people know that.

BTW: I know why people make these connections, because I know why I have often made such connections: Because writers write, and speakers speechify. The pressure to produce results in people putting out material that they might not have bothered with, if they didn't have a speech to give,or a number of columns or posts to write in a week.

So I'm honestly not really slagging either Gingrich or Shapiro (or myself) all that hard.

This stuff falls into the category of "easy content," and writers (or speakers) love no other category more than that of easy content.

That's human nature. Everybody does it. And no, seriously: Everybody does it.

Still, I think it's a tendency that is better checked and restrained than indulged.

Newt Gingrich is, I think, a genius.

Ben Shapiro is, I think, a genius.

And it's hard for geniuses to work at a genius level at all times -- only some of us are blessed enough to make it look easy -- but still, our geniuses should keep, mostly, to genius-level stuff. Or, when they want to take a break, they can slum it all the way down to the superior-IQ gutter.

There's plenty of non-geniuses for this other stuff, this shaky stuff.

Apologies: I had a clear memory of Limbaugh making this Susan Smith connection to liberalism, but Rockmom says my clear memory is clearly false:

BTW, Ace, it wasn't Rush Limbaugh who said that about Susan Smith. It was Newt Gingrich, when he was still Speaker of the House. And it was the day he jumped the shark. The backlash to those comments was tremendous.

Apologies to Rush Limbaugh for misattributing this to him.

As for Newt Gingrich -- I think he's a genius too. (I know he thinks he's a genius.) So the same caution to him as well.

I have deleted the references to Limbaugh, except here, in this correction, and replaced his name with Gingrich's.

Apologies once again.


Posted by: Ace at 08:19 AM | Comments (434)
Post contains 1549 words, total size 9 kb.

1 NEW YORK (AP) - Sbarro Inc. says it's closing 155 of its U.S. locations, mostly in mall food courts where traffic has declined.

The Melville, N.Y.-based pizza chain said Wednesday the closures affect 1,400 workers. The move comes as the company is trying to improve its financial performance and update its image under yet another CEO who took over just last year.

Jonathan Dedmon, a representative for Sbarro, says the targeted locations will close Thursday.

"The last day of business is today," he wrote in an email.

Posted by: Pizza the Hutt at February 20, 2014 08:21 AM (e8kgV)

2 No, its Libs that make everything a BFD.

Posted by: dananjcon at February 20, 2014 08:22 AM (NpXoL)

3 Excellent subject ace. I really hate how I analyze EVERYTHING for some hidden political or populist agenda.

Posted by: SIG NEEDED at February 20, 2014 08:22 AM (q177U)

4 It's the left that politicizes absolutely EVERYTHING. So at some point it comes up no matter what you're discussing, especially if there is a lefty in the mix.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at February 20, 2014 08:24 AM (olDqf)

5 You ignore a salient point though Ace. By politicizing everything the left has significantly advanced its agenda.

A portion of the right's political failure can be laid at our feet specifically for pushing politics into a box that is separate from your average conservative's other interests...

Posted by: 18-1 at February 20, 2014 08:24 AM (P3U0f)

6 Okay, I'm having dinner with CBD and Nevergiveup and I promise not to talk politics.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at February 20, 2014 08:25 AM (olDqf)

7 I find this post stimulating.

Posted by: Barabara Walters at February 20, 2014 08:25 AM (Xdn8D)

8 and is it better to indulge the same nonsense ourselves or call out the left for its nonsense and make fun of them for it?

Posted by: ace at February 20, 2014 08:25 AM (/FnUH)

9 I appreciate the many and varied topics that show up here.
And Ace is right.
A diet of nothing but politics lacks the mental nourishment to sustain one for the long haul.

But I try not to blame every misfortune on liberal values and ideas.

Like for example, SMOD.
Totally apolitical.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at February 20, 2014 08:25 AM (9muJv)

10 See any thread touching on pop culture. Inevitable comments about how we shouldn't listen to or watch something because of so-and-so's political comments, and the one-up manship of who consumes the least pop culture.

Posted by: brak at February 20, 2014 08:26 AM (iEoiA)

11 I agree. It's exhausting.

Posted by: Y-not on the phone headed off for fun at February 20, 2014 08:26 AM (3+F34)

12 The left picked these fights we didn't. Now they will accuse us of making everything political.



Fuck them. I could give two shits.




Posted by: dananjcon at February 20, 2014 08:28 AM (NpXoL)

13 The last day of business is today," he wrote in an email. Posted by: Pizza the Hutt at February 20, 2014 12:21 PM (e8kgV) That will become a very familiar refrain shortly

Posted by: Velvet Ambition at February 20, 2014 08:28 AM (R8hU8)

14 Stop whining Ace. The left has drug it in we must respond or lose. If only one side has to follow the rules they lose. Period.

Posted by: brainpimp at February 20, 2014 08:29 AM (d1LCL)

15 The left asserts that someone is "good person" simply due to that person believing the right things; the ideology requires no actual action, just belief. Not belief. Faith.

Posted by: AmishDude at February 20, 2014 08:29 AM (T0NGe)

16 Great points Ace.

Is there any particular reason you wrote this now? I don't recall you using any current examples in the piece.

Posted by: Guy with a Really Short Atten at February 20, 2014 08:29 AM (jjaLl)

17

I agree with you ace, in the respect that we don't need to just be walking amalgams of our biases and ideologies.  I do think, however some of the reason this might happen is that it seems to have worked for the left to do this.  It almost feels as if we're put at a disadvantage if we're the "better men" so to speak. 

Personally I tend to handle politics in bursts, I do burn out on them at times and take a break in discussing them (which is why I go through phases where I don't comment for awhile.)

 

Posted by: Heralder at February 20, 2014 08:29 AM (/Mxso)

18 All politics and no play makes Ace a dull boy.

Posted by: Lucky Pierre at February 20, 2014 08:29 AM (5fSr7)

19 So this Ace coming out for Sarah?

Posted by: Jean at February 20, 2014 08:30 AM (3O720)

20 OT/ Ladies Ice Hockey gold medal game on now... Americans vs Canadians... no score yet.

Posted by: Serious Cat at February 20, 2014 08:30 AM (4T5lL)

21 That's why the left is winning. We've got lives and tend to forget about politics from time to time.

Posted by: Clutch Cargo at February 20, 2014 08:30 AM (pgQxn)

22 6Okay, I'm having dinner with CBD and Nevergiveup and I promise not to talk politics.

Posted by: J.J. Sefton at February 20, 2014 12:25 PM (olDqf)

I wish you guys many hot waitresses.  Have a drink for me.

Posted by: Heralder at February 20, 2014 08:30 AM (/Mxso)

23 Stop gazing at me!

Posted by: Your Navel at February 20, 2014 08:30 AM (i68ps)

24 Part of the problem is that the left has gotten so good at sneaking their agenda into everything that it's kind of like a constant background hum where you hear it even when its absent.  I recall a story Insty had about a classical music concert where the conductor went on a rampage screaming about BOOSH between songs, which is just WTF.

Posted by: Ian S. at February 20, 2014 08:31 AM (B/VB5)

25 The NC gov was grocery shopping when he was accosted by a store employee. Do we do that on the right?

Posted by: NCKate at February 20, 2014 08:31 AM (4KFgL)

26 Mary Katharine Ham related a story of a FaceBook friend who had -- oh no! -- been forced to buy Barilla pasta because it was the only gluten-free brand available. He had the vapors as he attempted to seek advice as to which gay cause he should donate to, to expunge himself of sin. (Barilla's CEO said a half year ago that he wouldn't feature gay couples in their ads, as the brand has a brand identity of traditionalism and traditional families.) Barilla also makes plenty of whole-wheat versions of its pastas. (hint hint, other pasta makers) Barilla makes damn good pasta in general. So I would buy it anyway, but pissing off the Lefties makes it tastier.

Posted by: BlueStateRebel at February 20, 2014 08:31 AM (7ObY1)

27 I'm told that Ben Shapiro, who wrote the piece Poulous complains of (laying Phillip Seymour Hoffman's death at the feet of "liberal values" or "Hollywood values"), is one of the smartest people alive, and I believe that. Meh, not bad for Harvard Law...

Posted by: AmishDude at February 20, 2014 08:31 AM (T0NGe)

28 Well-said (and said and said), ace.

Posted by: Jenny Hates Her Phone at February 20, 2014 08:31 AM (Kksa8)

29 If you goddamned RINOs can't see the connection between those new Poblano Chicken hot pockets and a stealth grab for amnesty, then maybe you're part of the fucking problem!

Posted by: Gristle Encased Head at February 20, 2014 08:31 AM (+lsX1)

30 When there's a choice, I use the urinal or toilet furthest to the left; and I try as much as possible to urinate / defecate on the left side of the urinal / bowl.  Too political?

Posted by: microaggressor at February 20, 2014 08:32 AM (yhJhK)

31 Starting in the year 711, the Muslims invaded Spain.  It took until 1492 to finally take it back.  By the time the Spanish had finally won, their culture had absorbed many of the characteristics of the Muslims they had defeated and not all of those characteristics were all that attractive.


Like the Spanish, we don't get to choose who goes to war with us.

Posted by: Obnoxious A-hole at February 20, 2014 08:32 AM (BcCwi)

32 Barilla forever.

Posted by: Jean at February 20, 2014 08:32 AM (3O720)

33 19 So this Ace coming out for Sarah? Is Ace standing up for a fellow sista?

Posted by: Guy Who Doesn't Give a Shit at February 20, 2014 08:32 AM (7ObY1)

34 Come on! Life's so much easier when you view it through "Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy-Colored Glasses"!

Posted by: Hillary Clin... CLANTON heh! that'll fool 'em. suckers! at February 20, 2014 08:33 AM (jjaLl)

35 I would just like to take the opportunity to say how much I LOVE the book thread. I can't tell you the number of great books that I have read because of recommendations on that thread. Thank you Ace for allowing the co-bloggers to host these types of threads. p.s. of course I love many of the other non political threads as well. This place is a miracle in that it reflects the cluttered attic that is my brain.

Posted by: ParanoidGirlinSeattle at February 20, 2014 08:33 AM (RZ8pf)

36 30 When there's a choice, I use the urinal or toilet furthest to the left; and I try as much as possible to urinate / defecate on the left side of the urinal / bowl. Too political? In stores, I spit on magazine covers featuring Mooch (and/or Barky)

Posted by: Guy Who Doesn't Give a Shit at February 20, 2014 08:33 AM (7ObY1)

37 I go out of my way to support conservative, non-union business, period. Hollywood gets none of my money nor any liberal cause. Why should I fund people who hate my way of life and outlook? Screw them and the horse they rode in on. Starve the beast. Unless folks start fighting fire with fire we will lose. Losing sweet, sweet money is one way of bringing these people to heel.

Posted by: gdonovan at February 20, 2014 08:33 AM (ND+BS)

38 Feeling defeated. Just thinking about NOT making something out to be political feels like playing "the game" the liberals have set up. So I just lost "the game" again.

Posted by: SnowSun at February 20, 2014 08:33 AM (Wxdhz)

39 I only drink Soda-Stream Beverages while I eat my Barilla Pasta.

Posted by: garrett at February 20, 2014 08:33 AM (Xdn8D)

40 I was about to write the most astute comment since Plato's Republic or at least since Machiavelli but the damn cat yakked up something disgusting under the dining room table and I lost the train .

Posted by: awkward davies at February 20, 2014 08:33 AM (whqez)

41 If only one side has to follow the rules they lose. Period.
___
Wait...that's not right.

Speaking of which why the hell does Obama get to do anything he wants. That's not fair!

Posted by: The Republican Party at February 20, 2014 08:34 AM (P3U0f)

42 Lotta penalties in this Canada/US final.

Posted by: Waterhouse at February 20, 2014 08:34 AM (t8ySh)

43 Mary Katharine Ham related a story of a FaceBook friend who had -- oh no! -- been forced to buy Barilla pasta because it was the only gluten-free brand available.

...and he couldn't just not eat pasta until the Amazon drone dropped off a different brand two days later, because then he couldn't posture on Facebook.

The "everything must be political" goes with the thread yesterday about how "everything must be public."

Posted by: HR at February 20, 2014 08:34 AM (ZKzrr)

44 This also explains why the left has advanced their progressive agenda so successfully at every front --- media, culture, entertainment, government, education and now even sports. We actually find happiness through other means. I'm happier than the average liberal but we're losing. I don't know how we fix or if it's at all possible anymore.

Posted by: L, elle at February 20, 2014 08:34 AM (0xqKe)

45 "Barilla also makes plenty of whole-wheat versions of its pastas. (hint hint, other pasta makers) Barilla makes damn good pasta in general. So I would buy it anyway, but pissing off the Lefties makes it tastier.

Posted by: BlueStateRebel at February 20, 2014 12:31 PM (7ObY1)"



Is it flavored with hate like Chick-fil-A?  Cause that hate flavored chicken is mighty good.

Posted by: Obnoxious A-hole at February 20, 2014 08:34 AM (BcCwi)

46 "As silly as we find Barilla Panic Guy, an outside observer would find us pretty silly in asserting that virtually any evil that befalls a man is due to "liberal values" or the like." ***************** I don't necessarily classify many evils as "liberal values." I would mostly put the current societal ills into a broad category of "hedonistic" values (if hedonism can be labeled a value). I think most of our societal problems stem from decadence and a widespread taking for granted of our success as a nation and a culture. Where that gets translated, for me, into the political comes down to the fact that the left (especially the professional left, and I include politicians as well as the entertainment industry as a whole in that category) tends to encourage that decadence and hedonism, to the great downfall of our nation, in order to make the populace more compliant and amenable towards their ideas and solutions. On a personal level, I know plenty of lefties and am friendly with most. I try to steer clear of politics, though. It has been my experience that while most regular folks who are on the left side of the political spectrum (and I mean center left, because the hard core lefties I've encountered are just bizarre people) are usually fairly nice people, and I think they buy into the left's political agenda for completely different reasons the professional left does. Most regular lefties tend to be driven by the politics of emotion, and so they really are bleeding hearts in the voting booth. But I have to be very careful not to discuss politics if I want to keep them as friendly because, in my experience, they do tend to jerk their knees and will absolutely write you off as a person when they realize you're on the political right.

Posted by: Mandy P., lurking lurker who lurks at February 20, 2014 08:34 AM (qFpRI)

47 Its the left who wants to control what we learn (schools) how we entertain ourselves (Hollywood) They (the left) are the ones who bring race, gender, sexual orientation up in every thing. As a rightie, leave me to my religious beliefs (Christian) and my job. I'll take care of myself, my family, pursue my happiness (which by the way doesn't affect anyone else)

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at February 20, 2014 08:34 AM (HVff2)

48 37 I go out of my way to support conservative, non-union business, period. Hollywood gets none of my money nor any liberal cause. Why should I fund people who hate my way of life and outlook? Screw them and the horse they rode in on. Starve the beast. Unless folks start fighting fire with fire we will lose. Losing sweet, sweet money is one way of bringing these people to heel. Cut. Jib. Newsletter.

Posted by: BlueStateRebel at February 20, 2014 08:34 AM (7ObY1)

49 Are We Getting Too Political About Everything? This would be like a sports writer on espn.go.com worrying if sports are taking over our lives. No, we actually use the rest of the internet, too. ...As do you.

Posted by: t-bird at February 20, 2014 08:35 AM (FcR7P)

50 Damn cat is a commie .

Posted by: awkward davies at February 20, 2014 08:35 AM (whqez)

51 Unless folks start fighting fire with fire we will lose. Losing sweet, sweet money is one way of bringing these people to heel.
___
Don't worry we'll just stimulate "good" industries more.

Posted by: Barack Obama at February 20, 2014 08:35 AM (P3U0f)

52 Heh. I caution my friends about always being "on a war footing." And yet yesterday I was forced to ask a friend "am I just jumping to my war footing on this?" It's hard, in part because I don't believe "Everything is politics" but at the same time, culture matters and the left has made politics and culture overlap.

Posted by: tsrblke, PhD(c) (tablet) at February 20, 2014 08:35 AM (U8W/7)

53 Here's the thing: The right politicizing everything is reactionary. What's being politicized now? Health (Obamacare) and education (Common Core). Not at the company, school board or even state level but at the national level. High stakes. Life in the Federal lane. Everything. All the time.

Posted by: AmishDude at February 20, 2014 08:35 AM (T0NGe)

54 Is it flavored with hate like Chick-fil-A? Cause that hate flavored chicken is mighty good. Posted by: Obnoxious A-hole at February 20, 2014 12:34 PM (BcCwi) Oh yeah, it's even been reformulated with 20% more hate. Mmm mmm good!

Posted by: BlueStateRebel at February 20, 2014 08:35 AM (7ObY1)

55 Posted by: Obnoxious A-hole at February 20, 2014 12:32 PM (BcCwi)

----

Hell.... it was alot more than Spain.   See Martel and the Battle of Tours..... in Northern France.

The Muslims were **this** close to subjugating all of Europe.

Posted by: fixerupper at February 20, 2014 08:36 AM (nELVU)

56 Gun threads.
Now those are apolitical.
And informative.
That is.....when we get them.

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at February 20, 2014 08:36 AM (9muJv)

57 I agree re Shapiro's misfire; I thought it at the time. The right does do this sometimes, just not nearly as much as the left. We do need to get beyond politics. I have a lifelong friend (met in 2nd grade) that I talk to 10x a year or so and email frequently, always on non-political topics. Happened to mention to me yesterday he was a life-long Democrat (in the context of his questioning of his allegiance due to Obamacare). I didn't know, but could have guessed about his leanings (working class Catholic NJ family). He's not strongly ideological and had the opportunity to try to talk him out of the dark side. One way we have influence in our daily lives is by being non-ideological. If we are smart, funny, friendly, kind, etc., we have much more influence than if we are raging politicos; like the left. Some hard core leftists are beyond repair. But we who pay very close attention to these things often forget that 72.6%* of people are non-ideological. Many Democrats do, in fact, have conservative tendencies. But all they know is the "Republicans are evil narrative" that they repeatedly hear. I treat them as future allies rather than current enemies. Breitbart is right. *87% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

Posted by: duke at February 20, 2014 08:36 AM (d3clc)

58 When being ghey ceases to a "conflict" with the world, what is the next taboo they are going to embrace to shock us?

Posted by: Jean at February 20, 2014 08:36 AM (3O720)

59 Lotta penalties in this Canada/US final. It shouldn't be a crime! Errr, I mean, uh, never mind...

Posted by: Billie Jean King at February 20, 2014 08:36 AM (FcR7P)

60 I think we're better than this and smarter than this, and I don't think we should be shy about letting people know that. If you give them a clue that you're smarter, they walk away. Or make some pithy statement like, 'You just don't get it.' Being smarter on paper, or electrons on a telescreen, has value, but on the people to people level I have given up. The indoctrination is just too deep ingrained to shift. Have you ever had an OMG moment? One that challenges your assumptions and convictions? I kind of enjoy those -- I feel my brain really working hard in the same way I enjoy the feeling of my chest and arm muscles hurting after a session with weights. In some ways I see the brain as a muscle that if not given proper exercise will atrophy. I think liberals are couch potatoes when it comes to using their minds. Little original thought, they simply wait for the latest son-of-an-alcoholic 'savior' to come along and tell them what to think. They then blindly follow along, never engaging their minds.

Posted by: SE Pa Moron [/i] at February 20, 2014 08:36 AM (CnA98)

61 For sci-tech stuff. Steve Perlman, genius inventor of QuickTime, WebTV, OnLive (which never really worked, but still), just unveiled a new company and tech. Company is Artemis Networks. Tech is pCell. Perlman says this will magically solve the wireless spectrum capacity problem. He's calling it like "fiber optics" of wireless data that eliminates interference so people in crowded cities will get full capacity of the high speed wireless plans. He unveiled it at Columbia. Here's a vid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bO0tjAdOIw He's a genius serial entrepreneur. That's undeniable. It's not clear if this tech will work in the wild, though. He's spent years building it. But despite his name and history ... he couldn't get venture capital investment cause many experts say what he claims he is doing is not possible. So he funded this himself cause he's super rich cause of his previous companies and inventions. It's a really big deal if what Perlman says he has done is true. Of course, OnLive was also unveiled with an amazing demo and with naysayers saying the tech would never scale up in the real world. And the naysayers were right and OnLive went bankrupt when their tech ... couldn't scale up and perform in the real world. OnLive was an amazing lab demo, though. Artemis' pCell tech is more important to society if it works. OnLive was just a streaming game service. I hope it does work, but I still don't understand his explanation for how it works.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at February 20, 2014 08:37 AM (ZPrif)

62 And in case no one said it, I would hit MKH.

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at February 20, 2014 08:37 AM (HVff2)

63 There's plenty of non-geniuses for this other stuff, this shaky stuff. you're talking about the ONT posters, aren't you?

Posted by: navycopjoe killing with his ninja killing shield at February 20, 2014 08:37 AM (At8tV)

64 A diet of nothing but politics lacks the mental nourishment to sustain one for the long haul. But what nourishment does a Kate upton provid it's possible to have non political content that is nourishing but a lot of stuff is just distracting. A person who watches Kate Upton jiggle on a horse isn't really adding his nourishment even if he does that instead of focusing on politics.

Posted by: tennvols87 at February 20, 2014 08:37 AM (/RKWU)

65 "And it's hard for geniuses to work at a genius level at all times -- only some of us are blessed enough to make it look easy" Hey! Being stupid is hard! Mr. Smarticist!

Posted by: tangonine (Entropy sucks) at February 20, 2014 08:37 AM (x3YFz)

66 Barack Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a malignant traitor.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) Ah, F It. at February 20, 2014 08:37 AM (PYAXX)

67 As a rightie, leave me to my religious beliefs (Christian) and my job. I'll take care of myself, my family, pursue my happiness (which by the way doesn't affect anyone else)
___
[Barack Obama] is going to demand that you shed your cynicism. That you put down your divisions. That you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed.

Posted by: Michelle Obama at February 20, 2014 08:38 AM (P3U0f)

68 "Are We Getting Too Political About Everything?" No. Next question.

Posted by: D-Lamp at February 20, 2014 08:38 AM (bb5+k)

69 Blaming 'liberal' culture for Hoffman's death is a stretch, sure, but I'm not sure 'Hollywood' culture should be judged as the same thing.

Hollywood has looked the other way on actor's heavy drug use pretty much since the industry located there in the 1920's. It's been pointed out in film histories that most film lots had the resident 'Dr. Feelgood' (note: not actually a doctor!) that would hook the personnel up with their cocaine, weed, uppers, downers, and, yes, heroin. The film companies couldn't care less as long as the film rolled.

You don't think that Hoffman's personal assistant didn't know when Hoffman was scoring? Or didn't have to field requests from the boss to go score for him? You think the directors and studios didn't know that good ol' Phil would need some 'help' to get through a picture?

So I'm splitting this; yeah, the old 'liberal culture' thing just sounds scoldy-pants. But we don't need to whitewash Hollywood on this.

Posted by: Sort-of-Mad Max at February 20, 2014 08:38 AM (DLu2s)

70 63 There's plenty of non-geniuses for this other stuff, this shaky stuff. you're talking about the ONT posters, aren't you? Posted by: navycopjoe killing with his ninja killing shield at February 20, 2014 12:37 PM (At8tV) /points to "navy" in your nic /dead silent stare

Posted by: tangonine (Entropy sucks) at February 20, 2014 08:38 AM (x3YFz)

71 So . . . you're going RINO on us?

Posted by: Banjo at February 20, 2014 08:39 AM (lMtGt)

72 "In stores, I spit on magazine covers featuring Mooch (and/or Barky)"

Early in Zero's Prezdintsee, I would go looking for a birthday, etc. card and come across all these cards with pro-Obama and anti-Palin themes, so I would take them and turn them around or move them to the back behind some other card.  Now all the cards are like "Sorry, the Democrats stole your birthday cake" so I haven't had to do this in a while.

Posted by: microaggressor at February 20, 2014 08:39 AM (yhJhK)

73 I agree Ace. Sometimes it's nice to step away from the politics, clear your mind of it. It is why I let myself enjoy movies with liberal actors and books by liberal authors. Sometimes I enjoy the story for the story's sake, without looking for the percieved slam at my ideology, whether there or not. I like to go to an art museum and look at a painting of flowers and enjoy it as a painting without thinking, "grrr this artist was a liberal grrrr." I think if I let politics rule my life, dictating where I shopped, ate, what I read, listened to or watched, I'd be a very lonely and sad person. Not that some may be able to live this way, I just simply can't.

Posted by: DangerGirl and her Sanity Prod (tm) at February 20, 2014 08:39 AM (1EJ2w)

74 35 I would just like to take the opportunity to say how much I LOVE the book thread. I can't tell you the number of great books that I have read because of recommendations on that thread. Thank you Ace for allowing the co-bloggers to host these types of threads. p.s. of course I love many of the other non political threads as well. This place is a miracle in that it reflects the cluttered attic that is my brain. Posted by: ParanoidGirlinSeattle at February 20, 2014 12:33 PM (RZ8pf) ^^^^^ I would like to second this comment. I mostly lurk, but I love, love, love the books thread. I've read so many good books via moron and -ette recommendations.

Posted by: Mandy P., lurking lurker who lurks at February 20, 2014 08:40 AM (qFpRI)

75 I think we're better than this and smarter than this, and I don't think we should be shy about letting people know that.
***
You can't reason someone out of a position they weren't reasoned into.

If the right wants to win, we have to reach the LIVs. And we won't reach the LIVs with dispassionate reason and logic.

Posted by: 18-1 at February 20, 2014 08:40 AM (P3U0f)

76 I kid. I kid.

Posted by: Banjo at February 20, 2014 08:40 AM (lMtGt)

77 "A diet of nothing but politics lacks the mental nourishment to sustain one for the long haul. " I have buckets of things I do that have little to do with politics, like my family for example. Sadly I have to watch what is going on in politics since it has such a huge impact on my children. For the most part I wish to be left the fuck alone and I'm getting sick and tired of the left trying to indoctrinate my children with lefty values.

Posted by: gdonovan at February 20, 2014 08:40 AM (ND+BS)

78 And in case no one said it, I would hit MKH.

Posted by: Misanthropic Humanitarian at February 20, 2014 12:37 PM (HVff2)


I say that about everyone, and everything!!

Posted by: HedonismBot at February 20, 2014 08:40 AM (jjaLl)

79 It's hard, in part because I don't believe "Everything is politics" but at the same time, culture matters and the left has made politics and culture overlap. Politics proceed from culture. This is a key point. Elections, legislatures--what those do is downstream from the culture. When it's this far gone, fighting there is little more than a holding action. Folks, all this talk about candidates and communing to Congresscritters and all, that's well and good...but we all need to be concentrating elsewhere, in the places these things flow from. Because that's our ruin or salvation. I'm not going to ask everyone to show cred here. It tends to be personal; I know it is for me. But I ask...where are you making your difference? But that all said, please be sure to enjoy life along the way. Just because they have to be miserable doesn't mean we do!

Posted by: Brother Cavil at February 20, 2014 08:40 AM (naUcP)

80 To expound on my comment that we aren't getting too political I wish to say that there is very little out there that has not become politicized. As with an Invasion, you might think you can refuse to participate, but this simply isn't true. You will participate whether you want to or not.

Posted by: D-Lamp at February 20, 2014 08:41 AM (bb5+k)

81 We live in 'the information age' and the important thing to me is be very discriminating in which information one consumes and to keep in mind that information is neither good or bad of itself, but can be manipulated to be either.  It is rarely only neutral. 

Advertising works and because of the amount of information available it can be precisely tailored.  This isn't lost on politics or politicians - from either side. 

Leftism is working well in this country now because it's analogue in advertising is The Gap, or Abercrombie & Fitch - it's  cool.

But that doesn't mean that rightism is innocuous.  Ask Karl Rove.

My moronic opinion.


Posted by: LoneStarHeeb at February 20, 2014 08:41 AM (BZAd3)

82 No. Next question. ---- How's the app for locating conservative-owned businesses going, D-Lamp?

Posted by: Jenny Hates Her Phone at February 20, 2014 08:41 AM (Kksa8)

83 And it's hard for geniuses to work at a genius level at all times -- only some of us are blessed enough to make it look easy -- but still, our geniuses should keep, mostly, to genius-level stuff. Or, when they want to take a break, they can slum it all the way down to the superior-IQ gutter. There's plenty of non-geniuses for this other stuff, this shaky stuff. Should I be suing for plagiarism?

Posted by: AmishDude at February 20, 2014 08:41 AM (T0NGe)

84 And in case no one said it, I would hit MKH. Me, too.

Posted by: Jackson Brown at February 20, 2014 08:41 AM (Xdn8D)

85 A person who watches Kate Upton jiggle on a horse ,,,,,, Awkward , with an idiot grin on his mug stares off into space for the rest of the day .

Posted by: awkward davies at February 20, 2014 08:41 AM (whqez)

86 >>>But what nourishment does a Kate upton provid it's possible to have non political content that is nourishing but a lot of stuff is just distracting. A person who watches Kate Upton jiggle on a horse isn't really adding his nourishment even if he does that instead of focusing on politics. I think people have a sort of bias against simple joy. Not everything needs to be *in service of something greater.* Yes, it is good to serve something greater. But at every moment? I believe that people tend to criticize or find fault with other people's pursuit of simple joy for joy's sake, while excusing their own. For example, if someone hunts but doesn't watch movies, he may find someone watching movies to be "wasting his life." But hunting is done for pleasure as well -- yes, it's done for other reasons, but people LIKE hunting. The activity is undertaken primarily for pleasure. People tend to be judgmental about other people's blow-off time, or pleasure-seeking time, while not noticing they themselves have blow-off time, and they themselves seek pleasure, too.

Posted by: ace at February 20, 2014 08:41 AM (/FnUH)

87 "Some hard core leftists are beyond repair. But we who pay very close attention to these things often forget that 72.6%* of people are non-ideological. Many Democrats do, in fact, have conservative tendencies. But all they know is the "Republicans are evil narrative" that they repeatedly hear. I treat them as future allies rather than current enemies. Breitbart is right.

*87% of all statistics are made up on the spot.

Posted by: duke at February 20, 2014 12:36 PM (d3clc)"



As Boyd Crowder said, "Why make an enemy when you can make a friend?"

Posted by: Obnoxious A-hole at February 20, 2014 08:42 AM (BcCwi)

88

Maybe "we" the involved classes are more political than we used to be.

But society as whole????   No...... not when 80% of the populace cant name the speaker of the house.... or effectively name the three branches of government.


Posted by: fixerupper at February 20, 2014 08:42 AM (nELVU)

89 70 points to "navy" in your nic watch out buddy, I have a ninja super murder killing death shield (that fucking idiot)

Posted by: navycopjoe killing with his ninja killing shield at February 20, 2014 08:42 AM (At8tV)

90 No, we don't really do this. Which is why so many companies push leftist agendas. Which is why Hollywood makes leftist movies. Because they know that conservatives will still buy their products and watch their movies. But if they went the other way, the left would boycott them.

Posted by: gm at February 20, 2014 08:43 AM (/kBoL)

91 I can't believe you blew your Honeybadger Wad before noon.

Posted by: garrett at February 20, 2014 08:43 AM (Xdn8D)

92 When your only religion is politics, you tend to become an absolutest. Catholics don't eat meat on Friday. Liberals don't eat GMA stuff or the new killer "Gluten" They are adrift with no faith except in material things that and astrology. Ace we know you are not religious, but from faith based readers, this nonsense is even sillier than you make it out to be. Oh, did I mention, NO ONE is allowed to watch NBC in my home? NO ONE.

Posted by: Nip Sip at February 20, 2014 08:43 AM (0FSuD)

93 Leftism is working well in this country now because it's analogue in advertising is The Gap, or Abercrombie Fitch - it's cool.
***
It is interesting, because objectively the left is ludicrous.

But conservatives don't have easy access to cultural communication channels, and generally when they do they want to come at it with an overly rational and reasoned approach.

Every conservative on TV should have been, literally, laughing when Obamacare and its website failure came to light a few months ago.

Ridicule is a powerful weapon.

Posted by: 18-1 at February 20, 2014 08:43 AM (P3U0f)

94 everything is political. home is political, work is political. We're human. We fight for the alpha position. Shoot, my birds, my dogs, they do the same thing. Asking "are we becoming too political" is like asking "are legs important?" Silly question.

Posted by: tangonine (Entropy sucks) at February 20, 2014 08:44 AM (x3YFz)

95 As Boyd Crowder said, "Why make an enemy when you can make a friend?" Because there is value in making an enemy of someone if, by making him an enemy, you can attract more friends.

Posted by: AmishDude at February 20, 2014 08:44 AM (T0NGe)

96 I have never gone to Sbarro, despite having it in malls all my life. Always a better option in the food court, and I don't trust mass market pizza. Did I miss anything?

Posted by: Lincolntf at February 20, 2014 08:45 AM (ZshNr)

97 The more government intrudes into every aspect of our lives, the more political everything becomes.  I would love to ignore the political, but it is     rapidly encroaching on everything I do.

Posted by: Vashta Nerada at February 20, 2014 08:45 AM (AskuI)

98 I stopped reading after the second line- "The right is making everything political"? The left is trying to control everything- what we eat, how we talk, what we think. Sorry after that I gaged on my bile and had to get a drink and some Mallox.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at February 20, 2014 08:45 AM (t3UFN)

99 "Are We Getting Too Political on Everything?" This is just the kind of candy-assed question that comes up in liberal ridden society. Of course we're not too fucking political, you commie. Move along.

Posted by: jwest at February 20, 2014 08:45 AM (u2a4R)

100 I am remnded of John Goodman's excellent portrayal of Walter in The Big Lebowski--EVERYTHING was about Vietnam. There are a couple of things at play here. First, is the neverending churn of issue organizations to fire up contributors. Follow the money on that. Second, is the lowest common denominator appeal to LIVs that the Obama campaigns especially have exploited. Kimmel had a segment on Presidents' Day where they informed some people on the street that FDR had died. Yes, it's funny--but really, really sad, too. When the nation's policies depend on five segment outrage snippets to ensure the LIVs get the "right" message, then we're doomed in trying to wall off our discourse in an era of near-immediate social media reaction. Remember when we scoffed at the guy claiming the rainbows "near ground level" from a sprinklerhead were due to global warming? Now, how many other LIVs treated that sentiment with respect?

Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at February 20, 2014 08:45 AM (659DL)

101 This is not a recent development ...

The other day, while taking a break by the Al-Hamra Hotel pool, fringed with the usual cast of tattooed defence contractors, I was accosted by an American magazine journalist of serious accomplishment and impeccable liberal credentials.

She had been disturbed by my argument that Iraqis were better off than they had been under Saddam and I was now — there was no choice about this — going to have to justify my bizarre and dangerous views. I’ll spare you most of the details because you know the script — no WMD, no ‘imminent threat’ (though the point was to deal with Saddam before such a threat could emerge), a diversion from the hunt for bin Laden, enraging the Arab world. Etcetera.

But then she came to the point. Not only had she ‘known’ the Iraq war would fail but she considered it essential that it did so because this would ensure that the ‘evil’ George W. Bush would no longer be running her country. Her editors back on the East Coast were giggling, she said, over what a disaster Iraq had turned out to be. ‘Lots of us talk about how awful it would be if this worked out.’ Startled by her candour, I asked whether thousands more dead Iraqis would be a good thing.

She nodded and mumbled something about Bush needing to go. By this logic, I ventured, another September 11 on, say, September 11 would be perfect for pushing up John Kerry’s poll numbers. ‘Well, that’s different — that would be Americans,’ she said, haltingly. ‘I guess I’m a bit of an isolationist.’ That’s one way of putting it.

The moral degeneracy of these sentiments didnÂ’t really hit me until later when I dined at the home of Abu Salah, a father of six who took over as the Daily TelegraphÂ’s chief driver in Baghdad when his predecessor was killed a year ago.

Posted by: Rurik the Damned at February 20, 2014 08:45 AM (e8kgV)

102 They've politicized sex. That pretty much makes it impossible to NOT respond in kind-- it's too fundamental to human society.

Posted by: --- at February 20, 2014 08:45 AM (MMC8r)

103 The assertion that the right is making "everything" political is comically stupid and I don't know why anyone would entertain the suggestion.

Posted by: Jay in PA at February 20, 2014 08:45 AM (3LaGb)

104 92 Catholics don't eat meat on Friday. I hear priests eat nun

Posted by: navycopjoe killing with his ninja killing shield at February 20, 2014 08:45 AM (At8tV)

105 I will say this- for decades, if not centuries, the Left has declared that "the Personal is Political." They have gone to great lengths to get to a world where there are people like Barilla Pasta Guy. It was not an accident, it was a long-term strategy. Meanwhile, the Right has been very live-and-let-live, very "I'll take care of me and mine," and very much "hands off." What's the result? Do we actually have more Liberty now? No. We have less (unless you want to substitute the ability to get high or "get married" to someone of the same sex). Want to remodel your house? Yeah, how much liberty is there? Want to go for a drive through the country? Good luck. A bonfire "just 'cause?" Nope. Wood-burning oven? Nuh-uh. Maybe the problem isn't that we're too political, but that as political as we've gotten, it's too little, too late.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) Ah, F It. at February 20, 2014 08:45 AM (PYAXX)

106 95 As Boyd Crowder said, "Why make an enemy when you can make a friend?" Because there is value in making an enemy of someone if, by making him an enemy, you can attract more friends. Posted by: AmishDude at February 20, 2014 12:44 PM (T0NGe) Because digging holes in the desert sucks. Did I say that out loud?

Posted by: tangonine (Entropy sucks) at February 20, 2014 08:46 AM (x3YFz)

107 O/T NY Slimes pre warns Ukrainian to bring out troops. Story reads as a justification for tanks etc.

Posted by: Nip Sip at February 20, 2014 08:46 AM (0FSuD)

108 "Everything has its season." Time to kick the money changers out of the temple. e.g. Bill Clinton needs to be called out all the time, everywhere he goes. His is the type of charm and clever that loses its luster as you suffer his results.

Posted by: Huggy at February 20, 2014 08:46 AM (jhRZ+)

109 But society as whole???? No...... not when 80% of the populace cant name the speaker of the house.... or effectively name the three branches of government.
***
When Obama voters went to the ballot box in 2008 to "throw the bums out" the majority of them thought the Republicans were running congress.

The left has managed to make most of its electorate willfully ignorant...but highly ideological which is an interested combination.

Posted by: 18-1 at February 20, 2014 08:46 AM (P3U0f)

110 Everything is awesome!

Posted by: the littl shyning man at February 20, 2014 08:46 AM (XbsgW)

111 I thought ScarJo was meh until she came out behind Soda Stream. Now I think she's hot. I'm doing my part in the culture wars.

Posted by: JackStraw at February 20, 2014 08:46 AM (/miWO)

112 If the right wants to win, we have to reach the LIVs. And we won't reach the LIVs with dispassionate reason and logic. Posted by: 18-1 at February 20, 2014 12:40 PM (P3U0f) Correct. We have to teach them while entertaining them, and we also have to appeal to their emotional handles. The left is very good at emoting, it's pretty much the only thing they do. It helps that emoting tends to be part of their nature. Actors are mostly leftists because, I think, they are more suited to making emotive arguments, which is what acting is, more or less.

Posted by: D-Lamp at February 20, 2014 08:47 AM (bb5+k)

113 I have never gone to Sbarro, despite having it in malls all my life. Always a better option in the food court, and I don't trust mass market pizza. Did I miss anything? Posted by: Lincolntf at February 20, 2014 12:45 PM (ZshNr) No not unless you where in Jerusalem on August 9th 2001.

Posted by: Nevergiveup at February 20, 2014 08:47 AM (t3UFN)

114 Welcome to post-constitutional America...  where one must be constantly vigilant against government abuse.

Posted by: phreshone at February 20, 2014 08:47 AM (Q6pxP)

115 and is it better to indulge the same nonsense ourselves or call out the left for its nonsense and make fun of them for it?

Posted by: ace at February 20, 2014 12:25 PM
======
I read the post AND the comment above.  So that's for the record   Here's the thought that came to mind about the Left today:  Forrest Gump doing his run across America thing .  First, one, then a dozen, then hundreds of people following Gump for reasons that only exist in their own minds. One day, Gump just ups and stops.  And they stop.  Now what?

Posted by: mrp at February 20, 2014 08:47 AM (JBggj)

116 53 Here's the thing: The right politicizing everything is reactionary. What's being politicized now? Health (Obamacare) and education (Common Core). Not at the company, school board or even state level but at the national level. High stakes. Life in the Federal lane. Everything. All the time. Posted by: AmishDude at February 20, 2014 12:35 PM (T0NGe) I think this is a great point. I am a huge introvert, so I really don't care what other people think, believe, or do, so long as you leave me and mine alone. My political activism and activity really started when the lefty crap was so apparent in almost everything that it really did intrude on my private life. You can do almost nothing in the public square without being slapped in the face with political propaganda, and all of it's from the left. I don't want that. Leave me alone.

Posted by: Mandy P., lurking lurker who lurks at February 20, 2014 08:47 AM (qFpRI)

117 The Right is generally more conservative and therefore inherently reactionary. I don't think the Right, as a whole, is politicizing everything any more than all SoCons espouse one political strategy. But I think we see an increase on it in the right because of how an intolerable amount of our lives that was never subject to it before has now been politicized. Race, sex, sexuality, gender, gender identity, health, healthcare, health insurance, the weather, etc, etc, etc... You'd be harder pressed to name an aspect of our daily lives that isn't affected by the political in some way.

Posted by: Burn the Witch at February 20, 2014 08:47 AM (YbyjT)

118 Ridicule is a powerful weapon.

Posted by: 18-1 at February 20, 2014 12:43 PM (P3U0f)


And to ridicule is easier when you're perceived as cool.  The thing to keep in mind imo, is that it is starkly obvious that leftism is not working because there is any truth in it,  it is working in spite of it being a provable lie.  Several hundred million people murdered under its banner bear witness.

Posted by: LoneStarHeeb at February 20, 2014 08:47 AM (BZAd3)

119 The problem is Maslow's hierarchy of needs is wrong. It has the top as self-actualiszation. The actual top is other-domination. The ruling class are people who have everything. And people who everything turn their attention to ... forcing other people to bend to their will. Cause nothing feels better than forcing others to kneel. At least for a large % of people. Hell, many people will forgo other life comforts just for the opportunity to dominate others. Political zealots will live lives of poverty and constant rage -- just for the thrill of really fucking over people they hate.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at February 20, 2014 08:47 AM (ZPrif)

120 Ahhh, looks like I wasn't the first person to hit the "reactionary" line.

Posted by: Burn the Witch at February 20, 2014 08:48 AM (YbyjT)

121 102 They've politicized sex. That pretty much makes it impossible to NOT respond in kind-- it's too fundamental to human society. Posted by: --- at February 20, 2014 12:45 PM (MMC8r) They have made lightbulbs political. Lightbulbs.

Posted by: AmishDude at February 20, 2014 08:48 AM (T0NGe)

122 An antiwar reader writes: “It is not wrong to root for your country’s defeat if your country is evil.”

Posted by: Kahless the Unforgettable at February 20, 2014 08:48 AM (e8kgV)

123 But conservatives don't have easy access to cultural communication channels, and generally when they do they want to come at it with an overly rational and reasoned approach. I wonder on occasion--if the great national media were to suddenly go away, what would happen? No coast to coast networks. No bland uniform format radio. No live by satellite. Just a thought experiment, a parlor game...

Posted by: Brother Cavil at February 20, 2014 08:48 AM (naUcP)

124 There are other things. I've noticed that those on our side who focus entirely on the political 24/7/365 either burn out or go nuts.

Posted by: CAC at February 20, 2014 08:48 AM (hrO1U)

125 Nope

Posted by: Hillary Clinton at February 20, 2014 08:48 AM (GjPnA)

126 The political right, though, will increasingly politicize all aspects of life as time goes on.  I was actually thinking about this very thing after reading Maet's ONT last night:

----
Radical politics usually develop when classic politics fail. According to an Ipsos/Steria poll published on January 21 by Le Monde, 8% of the French - only 8%! - trust the political parties. Only 23% trust their National Assembly representatives. Trade unions do not fare much better: 31%. Nor does the judiciary, at 46%.
Real confidence starts only with local powers: 63% of the French trust their mayors. The increase culminates with such last-resort players as the police and the army, credited, respectively, with a 73% and a 79% confidence rate.
----

Our politics are failing us in the USA.  If this cannot be stopped, then I think that (unfortunately) we may see a radicalization of the right, just as we have seen a radicalization of the left.  What form this will take I don't know.

Posted by: dan-O at February 20, 2014 08:49 AM (D0bIN)

127 103 The assertion that the right is making "everything" political is comically stupid and I don't know why anyone would entertain the suggestion. Posted by: Jay in PA at February 20, 2014 12:45 PM (3LaGb) straw man, red herring, distraction. Pick one. By making the claim, the assertion itself is political. Which, to those who possess an IQ over room temperature, is, as you noted comedicaly ironic.

Posted by: tangonine (Entropy sucks) at February 20, 2014 08:49 AM (x3YFz)

128 See any thread touching on pop culture. Inevitable comments about how we shouldn't listen to or watch something because of so-and-so's political comments, and the one-up manship of who consumes the least pop culture. Posted by: brak at February 20, 2014 12:26 PM ...........I guess when it comes to Hollywood or music and their products, for me there's a line. For instance I know most actors and or musicians are lefties. Yet I will still watch or listen to someone I disagree with. For instance, I would go watch something with say, Ben Stiller. Lefty? Sure. But he's never said anything that I know of that I find particularly egregious. Would I go see something with Sean Penn. Not a fricking chance. If someone says something so offensive as to whom I am as a being I simply cannot look past it and refuse to give my hard earned dollars to it. Everyone has their threshold and makes their decisions on what's best for them. I don't do it because conservative actors are shut out many times as a way to retaliate. It's just if someone crosses that line and offends me I am liable to take my money elsewhere.

Posted by: Minnfidel at February 20, 2014 08:49 AM (/o+xv)

129 Race, sex, sexuality, gender, gender identity, health, healthcare, health insurance, the weather, etc, etc, etc... SPORTS.

Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at February 20, 2014 08:49 AM (659DL)

130 An unknown artist is covering the streets of Santa Monica, Calif., with posters declaring President Obama to be “subpar.”

The artwork, which features images of Obama golfing with the message, can be found on trashcans, in Porta-potties, and on street benches, according to a taco blog in Los Angeles.

... golf is political .. as in Augusta Ga

Posted by: Kahless the Unforgettable at February 20, 2014 08:49 AM (e8kgV)

131 How's the app for locating conservative-owned businesses going, D-Lamp? Posted by: Jenny Hates Her Phone at February 20, 2014 12:41 PM (Kksa I'm not working on such an application. I have too many other projects of more immediate necessity to myself and my family. (And My community.) I simply have no further time or brainspace left for another project.

Posted by: D-Lamp at February 20, 2014 08:50 AM (bb5+k)

132 The more government intrudes into every aspect of our lives, the more political everything becomes.
***
In a conservative society liberals could mostly live as they want, they just couldn't do it with our money or force people into it.

In a liberal society not only will you pay for and live whatever the latest liberal whim is, but you will damn well celebrate it or face the consequences.

And yet the left is much more animated and political then the right.

Though I think a large measure of that is that they are winning.

Posted by: 18-1 at February 20, 2014 08:50 AM (P3U0f)

133 "I know why people make these connections"

Because making connections between unrelated events is human nature.

Posted by: Dave in Fla at February 20, 2014 08:50 AM (ViC0h)

134 The best verse, the second, cue it: Have you heard the news, everyone's talking Life is good 'cause everything's awesome Lost my job, it's a new opportunity More free time for my awesome community

Posted by: the littl shyning man at February 20, 2014 08:50 AM (XbsgW)

135 This this is how the left is reporting the fired cook who verbally assisted a customer (nc governor) --- In more than one post, Swope referred to McCrory as a "fag." The openly gay Swope said those insults were motivated by what he detected as prejudice from McCrory. "When he started yelling at me, it was a sudden turn because I made sort of a swishy move," Swope said. "IÂ’ve been discriminated against a lot, and I can see that moment when someone just suddenly goes ballistic because of this other thing, not what you said or did." He acknowledged that he "canÂ’t get inside [McCrory's] mind," but is certain that homophobia was at work. "I donÂ’t know what he was thinking, but IÂ’ll tell you from man to man: He was hating on me for being a fag," Swope said. --- Now, you can sit back and take that shit or you can attack.

Posted by: traye at February 20, 2014 08:50 AM (QMvmE)

136 When I watch a tv show, I don't want liberal values or conservative values, I just want entertainment. Ditto for music - "Shut up and sing" When I watch a game, please give me the score and some interesting points of what is going on. Either lay off the agendas or just STFU and let me watch the game

Posted by: kbdabear at February 20, 2014 08:50 AM (aTXUx)

137 BTW, Ace, it wasn't Rush Limbaugh who said that about Susan Smith.  It was Newt Gingrich, when he was still Speaker of the House.  And it was the day he jumped the shark.  The backlash to those comments was tremendous.

Posted by: rockmom at February 20, 2014 08:51 AM (Q4elb)

138 103The assertion that the right is making "everything" political is comically stupid and I don't know why anyone would entertain the suggestion.

Posted by: Jay in PA at February 20, 2014 12:45 PM (3LaGb)

 

It's not just a simple assertion, it was a pretty well laid out argument.  Even if you don't agree with it, calling it comically stupid is just ignorant.

Posted by: Heralder at February 20, 2014 08:51 AM (/Mxso)

139 Lightbulbs.

Posted by: AmishDude at February 20, 2014 12:48 PM (T0NGe)


------


Lightbulbs..... and fish, and birds, and fireplaces, and livestock, and medicine, and TV and Radio, and beejers.   And those are just the threads we've had THIS week.

Posted by: fixerupper at February 20, 2014 08:51 AM (nELVU)

140 How's the app for locating conservative-owned businesses going, D-Lamp? Just make an app for liberals to locate liberal businesses. They'll love it and won't realize what they're doing.

Posted by: AmishDude at February 20, 2014 08:51 AM (T0NGe)

141 Mundane things the left have recently made political:

Light bulbs

20 oz. sodas

Salt

Fat

Pop tarts chewed into gun shapes

Names of sports teams

Recycling

They are everywhere and into everything.  So we have to fight them on stupid mundane topics or choose to just roll over.




Posted by: Dang at February 20, 2014 08:51 AM (MNq6o)

142 >>> Maybe the problem isn't that we're too political, but that as political as we've gotten, it's too little, too late. I'm not arguing for political disengagement, for God's sakes. Most of my admiration for the Tea Party is due to their *engagement* with politics, something long needed. I am arguing against politicizing *Everything.*

Posted by: ace at February 20, 2014 08:51 AM (/FnUH)

143 People tend to be judgmental about other people's blow-off time, or pleasure-seeking time, while not noticing they themselves have blow-off time, and they themselves seek pleasure, too. Posted by: ace at February 20, 2014 12:41 PM (/FnUH) My "Blow off" is coming here and to other websites and arguing politics with people.

Posted by: D-Lamp at February 20, 2014 08:51 AM (bb5+k)

144 And it's hard for geniuses to work at a genius level at all times -- only some of us are blessed enough to make it look easy Well, now you're just making me blush...

Posted by: Barack H. Obama, Esq. at February 20, 2014 08:51 AM (FcR7P)

145 Ordinarily, I would never want to apply a political lens to things as it's one of those subjects we were all told to avoid in polite conversation.  However, when a damn chicken sandwich from Chik-Fil-A is instantly equated to political hate by major television networks, newspapers, etc. and those who consume them are by default "haters" and evil, then how can we not do the same?

Same thing with Christianity.  All of a sudden it's an enemy to everything.  Why? When did this happen?  I am only 37 years old.  Until about five years ago, it was rare for me to hear people openly criticizing Christianity on such a large scale.  It's everywhere now - newspapers, TV, Internet.  Not a day goes by that I don't see Christianity being equated with hate.

When one side politicizes every damn thing, down to the amount of water a person uses in the shower, then it's impossible to NOT look at things like that.  It's not my fault that I live in a country where more and more normal things are being turned into political battles - workplaces, health insurance, chicken sandwiches, marriage, or pasta.  It's only normal to respond accordingly.

Just my two cents.  I'm really tired today, there's a steady heavy cold rain outside, and I'm over it all.

Posted by: bicentennialguy at February 20, 2014 08:51 AM (vg8iE)

146 One of the reasons -- you've probably gotten sick of me saying this -- but one of the reasons I post Honey Badger videos, or encourage people to post sci-tech stuff, or why I love the book thread, and the gardening thread, and so on, is that I do find a life which is full of nothing but politics is, sadly, empty of anything else.

I find myself reading the headlines, then maybe the post body, and then leaving -- on most of my favorite sites exactly because of that.  Weasel Zippers, Breitbart, you name it.

I will not, however, miss the Gardening thread, and I at least browse the Gun thread.

Posted by: jwb7605 [/i][/u][/s][/b] at February 20, 2014 08:52 AM (ZALPg)

147 >>>BTW, Ace, it wasn't Rush Limbaugh who said that about Susan Smith. It was Newt Gingrich, when he was still Speaker of the House. And it was the day he jumped the shark. The backlash to those comments was tremendous. are you sure? Hm.

Posted by: ace at February 20, 2014 08:52 AM (/FnUH)

148 It's fine to point and laugh, but never forget. We may never be able to square things with the Left, but then we might.

Posted by: spongeworthy at February 20, 2014 08:52 AM (g3wv2)

149 You'd be harder pressed to name an aspect of our daily lives that isn't affected by the political in some way. Posted by: Burn the Witch at February 20, 2014 12:47 PM ...Good point. But I guess I see it as maybe finally returning fire as opposed to sinking to their level.

Posted by: Minnfidel at February 20, 2014 08:52 AM (/o+xv)

150 Food is political to them.

Posted by: --- at February 20, 2014 08:52 AM (MMC8r)

151 Are We Getting Too Political About Everything


This, in many ways, is much like the story of Obama

Posted by: George Orwell at February 20, 2014 08:53 AM (Q6pxP)

152 For decades I have been making the obvious case that the Left's greatest success has been the making of *every* issue a political issue.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at February 20, 2014 08:53 AM (aDwsi)

153 ....James Poulos' assertion that the right is making "everything" political.... Haaahahhahahahhahhahahahahahhaahahahaaaa.... I know he's smarter than this,... Writing a piece that claims the Right is making everything political (when it's the Left that's doing the actual deed) proves otherwise.

Posted by: Blacque Jacques Shellacque at February 20, 2014 08:53 AM (vd7A8)

154 Yes, everything is political now.  But it's the left that created this...they invade everything with their fairness/equality politics, even areas where normal people least expect politics to exist.  The left is forcing the right to defend everything from a political standpoint.

Sometimes war is thrust upon you, on battlegrounds you least expect or desire.  Doesn't mean you shouldn't fight.

Posted by: frode at February 20, 2014 08:53 AM (8z3Pa)

155 Overt insertion of agendas make any show extremely boring after a while. When's the last time people quoted something funny from a Simpsons episode since the 90s? Boredom kills lefty shows, not boycotts

Posted by: kbdabear at February 20, 2014 08:53 AM (aTXUx)

156 As I posted on a previous thread, I just finished reading two books by David Welky, the first was "Everything was Better in America: Print Culture in the Great Depression" and the last one was "The Moguls and the Directors: Hollywood and the Coming of World War II".

The first book examined how the press worked to convince the people that by holding on to conservative middle-class values would get them through hard times. It was interesting to see how the main stream media created a message that their target audience wanted to hear.

The second book was how the film industry, politicians and private interest, colluded on how to present Nazism, the overseas conflicts, FDR's policy to rearm the US, etc to the public.

If the majority of things that we see, read, hear are based on the 'selling' of a particular philosophy, maybe not everything is political, but the cake is a lie. 

Posted by: Usedtocould at February 20, 2014 08:53 AM (Q5wIZ)

157 I've noticed that those on our side who focus entirely on the political 24/7/365 either burn out or go nuts. ----- I honestly wonder if the politics-all-day-all-night types weren't a little nuts to start with. I think, just like being an actual politician self-selects for a certain, slightly-disordered type, people who are just extra-interested are probably a little more vulnerable to the temptation to take it far.

Posted by: Jenny Hates Her Phone at February 20, 2014 08:53 AM (Kksa8)

158 143 My "Blow off" is coming here whoa where does the line start? do we have to take numbers?

Posted by: navycopjoe killing with his ninja killing shield at February 20, 2014 08:54 AM (At8tV)

159 We have yet only begun to become too political

Posted by: Saul Alinsky at February 20, 2014 08:54 AM (Q6pxP)

160 hi tangonine!

Posted by: concrete girl at February 20, 2014 08:54 AM (LhAqq)

161 Posted by: Flatbush Joe at February 20, 2014 12:47 PM (ZPrif) This also explains the growth of bureaucracy. That way those that lack the talent for large scale domination can still get their fix.

Posted by: Burn the Witch at February 20, 2014 08:54 AM (YbyjT)

162 They are everywhere and into everything. So we have to fight them on stupid mundane topics or choose to just roll over.

Posted by: Dang at February 20, 2014 12:51 PM (MNq6o)

----

And all of those are......... social issues.

But . . . . we've all been scolded that the first rule of social issues is we don't talk about social issues.

Posted by: fixerupper at February 20, 2014 08:54 AM (nELVU)

163 Whew. In-Law coefficient has momentarily dropped to 0.0, as Mrs. Hammer has packed up the entire tribe and carted them off to the mall.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at February 20, 2014 08:54 AM (aDwsi)

164 113 I have never gone to Sbarro, despite having it in malls all my life. Always a better option in the food court, and I don't trust mass market pizza. Did I miss anything? Not unless you like industrial grade overpriced Italian food that was usually cold.

Posted by: Nip Sip at February 20, 2014 08:54 AM (0FSuD)

165 But conservatives don't have easy access to cultural communication channels, and generally when they do they want to come at it with an overly rational and reasoned approach. Every conservative on TV should have been, literally, laughing when Obamacare and its website failure came to light a few months ago. Ridicule is a powerful weapon. Posted by: 18-1 at February 20, 2014 12:43 PM (P3U0f) I agree. We need to use the emotional arguments, such as mockery and ridicule to make our points. One only look at what they did to Romney to realize the effectiveness of this methodology. "Binders full of Women!" "Dog on Roof!" "Gay Haircut!" "Tax Returns!"

Posted by: D-Lamp at February 20, 2014 08:54 AM (bb5+k)

166

The more authoritarian a state and society become, the more politicized--politically aware and politically personalized--its people become out of sheer necessity.  For example, I was audited by the IRS two years ago. My girlfriend thinks it's because I'm on Republican and conservative group donor lists and because I'm dumb enough to use my real name online when I agree that, yes, President Obama is indeed a stuttering clusterfuck of a miserable failure.

 

She may be right, especially given what's happened to prominent conservative activists such as Catherine Englebrecht and her husband, but I'm not so sure. I can't be sure. I think it's probably because I have freelanced commercial art and design for years and following the money trail from various projects from different clients raised a flag somewhere with someone in some obscure IRS basement office. Or my number just came up. Who knows?

 

My point is that the personal becomes political when one's day-to-day life becomes politicized, when every move we make is possibly/probably watched and noted by an increasingly tyrannical government keen on growing and maintaining its power and punishing its perceived enemies. You know, a government like ours.

Posted by: troyriser at February 20, 2014 08:54 AM (O66NZ)

167 150 Food is political to them.

Posted by: --- at February 20, 2014 12:52 PM (MMC8r)


No shit.  Just ask the farmers in the San Joaquin valley.

Posted by: LoneStarHeeb at February 20, 2014 08:55 AM (BZAd3)

168 I have not watched and will not watch "House of Cards" because I know without even checking that Kevin Spacey's character is an EEEVVVILLL Rethuglikkkan It would never have made it on TV otherwise

Posted by: kbdabear at February 20, 2014 08:55 AM (aTXUx)

169 There are other things. I've noticed that those on our side who focus entirely on the political 24/7/365 either burn out or go nuts. Indeed--just look at the leftards! You can't tell me having to walk on eggshells through a shifting minefield like that is good for ya! Still, yeah, gotta throttle it back every now and then. Stop to smell the roses, don'cha know.

Posted by: Brother Cavil at February 20, 2014 08:55 AM (naUcP)

170 Well I have deferred to Rockmom's memory. She's probably right.

Posted by: ace at February 20, 2014 08:55 AM (/FnUH)

171 The Right makes everything political? The Right? Oh, the irony, it burns. Look, I am sitting here happily nomming a Sammich of Intolerance and Fries of Oppression (no Hate Shake sadly) because they taste awesome. I call them such specifically to mock the Left for freaking the fuck out about Chick Fil A. The clothes I wear and the car I drive and the food I eat do not and should not tell you a single thing about how I vote. That the Left demands that they do infuriates me. No. I will not accept the politicization of everything. I decline. -- only some of us are blessed enough to make it look easy -- That. Is. Awesome.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Mmmm. Blondies with whipped cream. at February 20, 2014 08:55 AM (VtjlW)

172 Not unless you like industrial grade overpriced Italian food that was usually cold. Posted by: Nip Sip

You must have eaten there on a good day.

Posted by: Dang at February 20, 2014 08:55 AM (MNq6o)

173 "95 As Boyd Crowder said, "Why make an enemy when you can make a friend?"

Because there is value in making an enemy of someone if, by making him an enemy, you can attract more friends.

Posted by: AmishDude at February 20, 2014 12:44 PM (T0NGe)"



Perhaps the context was too obscure.  On a recent episode of "Justified", someone who owed Boyd a favor not only did not do him that favor but betrayed him for relatively trivial reasons.



Boyd Crowder was imparting this bit of advice after having the fellow beaten to a bloody pulp.

Posted by: Obnoxious A-hole at February 20, 2014 08:56 AM (BcCwi)

174 Don't worry.  We'll wipe-away your politicism in the camps

Posted by: Bill Ayers at February 20, 2014 08:56 AM (Q6pxP)

175 A corollary to this topic is how the Left has in a very short time more or less merged politics and culture.  Voting "progressive" is now more of a cultrual signifier than a political statement of policy preferences and hopes.  Cultural issues such as marriage, legislation of pot and other drugs, abortion and birth control, have become more important on the Left than actual policies that used to matter most to them, i.e. full employment, free trade, education, etc.  This necessitates the "othering" on cultural issues as well as traditional political issues.  Beleagured cultural conservatives are forced to get more political about everything because of this constant drumbeat of "othering" from the left.

Posted by: rockmom at February 20, 2014 08:56 AM (Q4elb)

176 I WILL admit to finding I have a moonbad tolerance when it comes to movies; for instance, the first ad I saw for 'Monuments Men' I first recognized John Goodman as a character. 'Great!', says I, 'I'll make sure to watch this!', as I really like John Goodman's acting.

Next I see George Clooney's in it, and that kinda takes the gloss off of the film, because not only is Clooney a screechy Obamite, but his brief turn in 'Thin Red Line' brought that film to a screaming halt. But I liked him in 'O, Brother Where Art Thou' and 'Burn After Reading', so no big problem. Although Clooney co-produced, directed and co-wrote the thing, so this could be way too much Clooney for me.

Then I see Matt Damon's in the film, too. MATT DAMON!. So that's it: one mouthy lefty jagoff I can stand, but TWO? I'll watch 'Kelly's Heros' again. Besides, the reviews aren't too good for 'Monuments Men' anyhow, so no loss! Just another flop.

Posted by: Sort-of-Mad Max at February 20, 2014 08:56 AM (DLu2s)

177 In-Law coefficient has momentarily dropped to 0.0, as Mrs. Hammer has packed up the entire tribe and carted them off to the mall. Speaking of 'nobody's looking'...

Posted by: garrett at February 20, 2014 08:56 AM (Xdn8D)

178 Actors are mostly leftists because, I think, they are more suited to making emotive arguments, which is what acting is, more or less.
***
A side point to your main post, but I think there are actually many reasons for this..

I agree with yours above, but I think one also must include;

1) The entertainment industry is largely the sterotype the left makes about private enterprise in general - cheating, theft, casting couches, etc are common. I don't think it is an abnormal reaction to dealing with this to trend left economically at least.

2) Most actors succeed because of luck, connections, or the genetic lottery. Success has only the most tenuous connection to ability or hard work. It is very easy to see "the rich" as undeserving of the fruits of their labor when you've because right because you look good in your underwear...

Posted by: 18-1 at February 20, 2014 08:56 AM (P3U0f)

179 Everyone has their threshold and makes their decisions on what's best for them. I don't do it because conservative actors are shut out many times as a way to retaliate. It's just if someone crosses that line and offends me I am liable to take my money elsewhere. Posted by: Minnfidel at February 20, 2014 12:49 PM (/o+xv) I have no issue with this and agree we all have our own thresholds. Where I start to take issue with any side is when I comment that I enjoyed a particular movie/book/tv show and inevitably someone feels the need to comment, "oh I don't watch/read x because of political reasons.". As if somehow my enjoyment of something makes me less of a warrior or they are so much better than me. No fuckhead, maybe I just enjoyed the movie for the sake of themovie? I see it happen here all the time. In everypop culture thread. No ine can just keep their mouth shut, they have to act superior by stating that they don't watch/read/etc. Fucking annoying.

Posted by: DangerGirl and her Sanity Prod (tm) at February 20, 2014 08:56 AM (bxpf3)

180 An antiwar reader writes: "It is not wrong to root for your country's defeat if your country is evil" Ask those who were forced to become East Germans about that.

Posted by: rickb223 at February 20, 2014 08:56 AM (XCfYI)

181 The Left projects everything they do on the Right. Our exception is their rule.

Posted by: Vin Weasel at February 20, 2014 08:56 AM (RM1gx)

182 You could probably do this: -- and has championed at least three aspects of humanity as being more important than ideology--The State (the metaphysical/religious, the familial/generational, and the ethical/moral; others may add the philosophical and intellectual).

Posted by: tasker at February 20, 2014 08:57 AM (RJMhd)

183 @145 TELL IT BROTHER! PREACH IT! Just had a H8ter chicken salad sandwich.

Posted by: Nip Sip at February 20, 2014 08:57 AM (0FSuD)

184 143 People tend to be judgmental about other people's blow-off time, or pleasure-seeking time, while not noticing they themselves have blow-off time, and they themselves seek pleasure, too. Posted by: ace at February 20, 2014 12:41 PM (/FnUH) LOL... ace... you've been at this long enough to know that you don't throw the Horde read meat like: "blow-off" "seek pleasure" low hanging fruit for me, so I won't take the bait, but... LOL

Posted by: tangonine (Entropy sucks) at February 20, 2014 08:57 AM (x3YFz)

185 62 And in case no one said it, I would hit MKH.

I hope you don't mean Ray Rice hit.

Posted by: Peej at February 20, 2014 08:57 AM (xYVem)

186 I like to go to an art museum and look at a painting of flowers and enjoy it as a painting without thinking, "grrr this artist was a liberal grrrr."

I would like to go see art without having to think about the artitsts' political leanings, but they won't let me. Last weekend I went to see a Robert Indiana exhibition at the local art museum--didn't particularly care for his most popular work going in but I figured I'd learn something, and I did--and I was going along, enjoying his not-popular works on display and having a nice politics-free time, and then in Room 5, BAMF! Gratuitous slam of Ronald Reagan as "anti-immigrant" (...wasn't there an amnesty...?)

Then more work I liked in Room 6, and then a painting that got reprinted as an Obama campaign poster, although by that time I was in a bad enough mood I just sort of harrumphed. 

I don't want every thing I do every day to be political, but the only way to avoid it is to never leave the house.  And that's bad, too.

Posted by: HR at February 20, 2014 08:57 AM (ZKzrr)

187 No, Underwood is a Blue Dog Democrat, somewhat like Hollings, of South Carolina,

Posted by: coriolianus snw at February 20, 2014 08:57 AM (Jsiw/)

188 Our shows aren't political, they're RIPPED FROM THE HEADLINES!!

Posted by: Law and Order at February 20, 2014 08:57 AM (aTXUx)

189 I'm glad there are attack dog sites on the Right. This isn't one of them and doesn't need to be.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at February 20, 2014 08:57 AM (ZPrif)

190 Well I have deferred to Rockmom's memory. She's probably right. Posted by: ace at February 20, 2014 12:55 PM (/FnUH) Layers of fact checkers.

Posted by: garrett at February 20, 2014 08:58 AM (Xdn8D)

191 Then how, exactly, can conservatives counter the left's politicization of everything?

Posted by: Rush Shapiro at February 20, 2014 08:58 AM (jjaLl)

192 O/T Looks like some 1%er won the $400 mill lottery. It was sold in one of the highest income area's in CA. Maybe a maid bought it?

Posted by: Nip Sip at February 20, 2014 08:58 AM (0FSuD)

193 Maybe the problem isn't that we're too political, but that as political as we've gotten, it's too little, too late. Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) Ah, F It. at February 20, 2014 12:45 PM (PYAXX) We engage in Politics as a means of self defense. Liberals engage in Politics as a means of effecting change.

Posted by: D-Lamp at February 20, 2014 08:58 AM (bb5+k)

194 I have not watched and will not watch "House of Cards" because I know without even checking that Kevin Spacey's character is an EEEVVVILLL Rethuglikkkan Don't waste time on the American version, watch the orginal BBC miniseries (all three--House of Cards, To Play the King, and The Final Cut). And yes, the antagonist is a Tory (and evile), but he is an unapologetic evile. Ian Richardson is fantastic in the role.

Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at February 20, 2014 08:59 AM (659DL)

195

Oh horseshit. A great big horseshit on this.

 

If Leftists make everything political ... then guess what. Everything just got political.

 

Ace, you might as well just ask the Left "Hey folks, would you tone it down a bit ? 'Cause I don't like to fight all the time."

 

All the self-justification in the world won't change it. One side will completely destroy, personally and professionally, all opposition. Their targets, however, would like to turn off the conflict on weekends, holidays, and evenings.

Posted by: ScoggDog at February 20, 2014 08:59 AM (PdJhk)

196

In the pre-information age there was really know way of knowing what, for example, Henry Ford was thinking, what he wanted, etc.

 

Things are different now.  Liberals want me largely enslaved.  It is here, on Ace, where we see how British Labour voters think about taxation.  This isn't a joke - we are against two crusades: Radical Muslim, and Radical Liberalism.  Neither want to leave me alone.

 

So whenever I *do* know the politics of that which I buy, I weigh it into my decision.  Yes, I shop Amazon... but I prefer Hobby Lobby.

 

Every decision is political for me, if I have information that informs me of a position.  Every damned one.

 

If you see me buying Citgo gas, for example - that ain't me.

Posted by: RobM1981 at February 20, 2014 08:59 AM (dFemX)

197 If it's wrong to point and laugh at Bob Costas' swellheadedness pinkeye, I don't want to be right.

Posted by: Fritz at February 20, 2014 08:59 AM (UzPAd)

198 Liberals engage in Politics as a means of effecting change. What you are looking for there is "seizing power and keeping it."

Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at February 20, 2014 08:59 AM (659DL)

199 The left has managed to make most of its electorate willfully ignorant...but highly ideological which is an interested combination. Posted by: 18-1 at February 20, 2014 12:46 PM (P3U0f) Amazing what you can accomplish when you have all sources of Entertainment, and All sources of "News."

Posted by: D-Lamp at February 20, 2014 09:00 AM (bb5+k)

200

For myself, i would like to publically apologize for politicizing Barbara Walters vibrator yeasterday.

Posted by: Buzzsaw90 at February 20, 2014 09:00 AM (SO2Q8)

201 rockmom-- thank you so much for your correction. I think now the post is scrubbed and now appears accurate (unless I've missed something).

Posted by: ace at February 20, 2014 09:00 AM (/FnUH)

202

With regards to Shapiro and Limbaugh,   I guess it depends on whether you take a longer view or a shorter view.    If you take the short term view, then no, I wouldn't say that either PSH's death   or Susan Smith's crimes are    connected to    leftist ideology.  

 

But if you take the longer view, and look at how leftism has affected our CULTURE, then yes,   it's a contributing factor, particularly in PSH's case.   It's no secret that Hollywood is a cesspit of leftwing extremism,   nor is it a secret that   leftwingers   don't particularly value the more conservative  values of   fidelity, temperance, faith, and family.   These are values  which can, when given proper   place    in your life, help to overcome things like addiction, or prevent a person from falling under its auspices in the first place.    The more virulently leftwing a person is, the less and less those typical values matter   and the more they need external validation    in order to feel any kind of self worth,   and Hollywood is all about external validation.  

 

In the case of Susan Smith, the fact that she felt it was okay to murder her children so she could   marry a wealthy man who didn't want kids   makes it pretty easy to glean a leftist ideological connection, since it's the kind of selfish, immature,  ghoulish thing that many leftwingers -- especially of the Planned Parenthood variety -- seem to espouse every day.   "I don't want my daughters punished with a baby," etc.   But in the case of Smith, I think it was more a    matter      of undiagnosed (or at least improperly treated)    depression and mental illness.       But      the leftwing   belief that     life ISN'T precious -- that certain life CAN be sacrificed and it's not a big deal --     has saturated our culture.    It is there, if anywhere,   that     you can draw "leftwing ideological influence" into the case of Susan Smith; although in the mid-90s I don't think it was anywhere NEAR as bad as it is today.   So I agree that Limbaugh was reaching, but not that it was an insane leap of logic.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/b][/i] at February 20, 2014 09:00 AM (4df7R)

203 We are not political enough - Democrats are no longer just wrong about their preferred policies, they are quite literally interested in depriving you and everyone you care about of your rights and destroying your life.  No kidding - if they could do it, they would come and take everything that you own and give it to someone they feel is more deserving. 

Posted by: Geraldine Ferraro at February 20, 2014 09:00 AM (XpAxm)

204 Lefties politicize everything because the State is their god. The State is Mother. The State is Father. The State is all. All is The State Or as Dems say "Government is the only thing we all belong to!" Yay! So if you are concerned about not looking cool when you push back, enjoy the camps. Many recreational activities. #WAR

Posted by: Votermom at February 20, 2014 09:01 AM (GSIDW)

205 So I attended Little VIA's IEP meeting today.

What does that have with politicization, you might ask.

One of the questions that I asked was..

"After our son discussed the Constitution, and our founding fathers with me for over an hour yesterday, he asked me if it was acceptable for a teacher to bring their personal political viewpoints concerning the Constitution into the classroom lesson plan?"

Could have heard a pin drop.


Just because I said earlier that a diet of nothing but politics is not nutritionally satisfying, it doesn't mean that I won't go rolling in the mud and dirt when it's appropriate.
 

Posted by: Village Idiot's Apprentice at February 20, 2014 09:01 AM (9muJv)

206 Looks like some 1%er won the $400 mill lottery. It was sold in one of the highest income area's in CA. Maybe a maid bought it? The way his luck runs, it was probably that malignant shrimp Seacrest.

Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at February 20, 2014 09:01 AM (659DL)

207 "blow-off" "seek pleasure" low hanging fruit for me, so I won't take the bait, but... LOL Craigslist ad?

Posted by: rickb223 at February 20, 2014 09:01 AM (XCfYI)

208 Ah, I correct my own comment in response to rockmom's correction.   Not Limbaugh then, but Gingrich.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/b][/i] at February 20, 2014 09:01 AM (4df7R)

209 A bourbon drinking Civil War re-enacting Citadel 'they call it the Sentinel' graduate,

Posted by: coriolianus snw at February 20, 2014 09:02 AM (Jsiw/)

210 It's not just a simple assertion, it was a pretty well laid out argument. Even if you don't agree with it, calling it comically stupid is just ignorant. Posted by: Heralder

================

Except it is a simple assertion.

What follows is stupid bluster.

See, I'm old enough to remember when the left rushed around congratulating themselves that they were keeping the hand of government "off my body" and would never, ever ban smoking in a public place.

5 other people pointed out the folly in the assertion.

It is comically stupid.

Posted by: Jay in PA at February 20, 2014 09:02 AM (3LaGb)

211 193 I have not watched and will not watch "House of Cards" because I know without even checking that Kevin Spacey's character is an EEEVVVILLL Rethuglikkkan Don't waste time on the American version, watch the orginal BBC miniseries (all three--House of Cards, To Play the King, and The Final Cut). And yes, the antagonist is a Tory (and evile), but he is an unapologetic evile. Ian Richardson is fantastic in the role. Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at February 20, 2014 12:59 PM (659DL) ***Spoiler Alert*** we loved season 1 of house of cards. Last 3 episodes of season two left me feeling like I needed a shower and I won't watch season 3 (if there is one). Decrepit just full on debauchery. I want those 3 hours of my life back, that's how bad it was. Disgusting.

Posted by: tangonine (Entropy sucks) at February 20, 2014 09:02 AM (x3YFz)

212 I am arguing against politicizing *Everything.* I'm sitting here trying to think of an aspect of daily life that isn't affected by the political, or at least soon to be in political crosshairs. I'm having a hard time. Food, air, sex, sports, religion, psychology, education... I'm pretty sure the Right didn't make all of those political.

Posted by: Burn the Witch at February 20, 2014 09:02 AM (YbyjT)

213 Ace, As was said, everything from what we drive, where we live, where we eat and what we eat, down to light bulbs has become politicized by the left. We didn't start the fire. But at what point do we fight back? I don't see it as sinking to their level. I'd be happy to let people eat, live etc. and I wish things weren't politicized. But I won't sit by idly while we lose a bit of ourselves everyday.

Posted by: Minnfidel at February 20, 2014 09:02 AM (/o+xv)

214 202 they would come and take everything that you own and give it to someone they feel is more deserving. yeah, like me hey, I deserve something for hanging with you RINOs

Posted by: navycopjoe killing with his ninja killing shield at February 20, 2014 09:02 AM (At8tV)

215 I really and truly would like to not notice politics all the dayum time.  For instance, I would like to read books that do not keep tossing in snide comments about evil Conservatives.  I would especially like this in books for which I shelled out my McEvil shekels.  I always watch television and movies with  a jaundiced eye knowing that somewhere during the program, there will a completely gratuitous shot at me and my values usually accompanied by a positive comment about some or several Liberal shibboleth(s).  I don't spend much time on FB, but, if one of my FB Friends posts something political with which I disagree, I don't got to war with them, I just unfriend them.

Posted by: Sherry McEvil, Stiletto Corsettes, think mink. at February 20, 2014 09:03 AM (kXoT0)

216 Radio GOP-fluffer, Hugh Hewitt, used to like to say about Democrats... 'Not evil, just wrong'...

The last 5+ years have demonstrated that statement is no longer operational

Posted by: phreshone at February 20, 2014 09:03 AM (Q6pxP)

217 GO DUKE! Beat Chris "tingle legs" school tonight.

Posted by: Nip Sip at February 20, 2014 09:03 AM (0FSuD)

218 The Weather is Political.

Posted by: garrett at February 20, 2014 09:03 AM (Xdn8D)

219 Ace sez: I know why people make these connections, because I know why I have often made such connections: Because writers write, or talkers talk. The pressure to produce results in people putting out material that they might not have bothered with, if they didn't have a show to do, or a number of columns or posts to write in a week. There is a closely related but I think even more powerful reason for why pundits and bloggers make an issue out of everything: (To paraphrase the old joke about the dog) Because we can. I know this is true for me and I suspect it is true for many others: I have the ability to make a really convincing argument on any side of any issue. I've had this capability since high school. And I wasn't even on the debate team, where teens are explicitly taught to develop incisive arguments on positions they don't even hold -- sometimes they'll even switch sides in practice and see if they can win the debate arguing the opponent's position. When I was a liberal, I especially gloried in this capability: No matter what the topic, or what the news event under discussion, I could ALWAYS put a liberal spin on it. Effortlessly. I did so first as a game, a challenge, and eventually it became a knee-jerk reaction, to treat every single topic as a brainteaser: How can I twist this so that my ideology is triumphant and the other side is discredited? It was so easy that after a while just out of boredom and snark, purposely started goofing around and reversing things, and began to argue the "counter-intuitive" position on every topic. Just to freak people out. And I was so good at it, it did upset people. And it was this snarky urge to always seek out the ha-ha "opposite" position which eventually led me to actually adopt the opposite ideology when I began to realize that deep inside I actually felt more comfortable with the "counter-intuitive" (which I now recognize and conservative and thus plain ol' "intuitive") positions. But I still retain the capability. I could make a really good argument for taxation and big government. I could make a really good argument for low/no taxation and small government. I could make a really good "pro-choice" argument. I could make a really good "pro-life" argument. I could make a really good argument against Affirmative Action. And yes, despite myself, I could still make a really good argument for Affirmative Action. Etc. etc. And I think that the Pundit Caste and the Blogger Caste have risen to these positions because many of us are just like me and have this capability -- we can out-debate the average joe. So, we have this skill. And along with any skill comes an urge: Why waste it? I see that for many conservataive bloggers, it always becomes a game: How can I so cleverly spin this current event to my favor? Easy-peasy, effortless, that's how. And so we do it. It's very hard to suppress this urge. It's not just that "writers need to write," but that "debaters need to debate and to WIN that debate." It's almost like an addiction, or a behavioral tick. irrepressible.

Posted by: zombie at February 20, 2014 09:03 AM (+cx5n)

220 Hmm, I think I might have watched that BBC version of House of Cards.  Is that where the guy has a young mistress who calls him Daddy?

If so, that was one evil evil character.

Posted by: Dave in Fla at February 20, 2014 09:03 AM (ViC0h)

221 I going to disagree with you here Ace. I think you're looking at this backwards. You're saying politics is first, and has an effect on everything else. I'd say politics is last, the result of everything else, and particularly culture. People don't start with a set of beliefs and then apply them to the surrounding world, they start with the surrounding world and apply it to a political belief system.

Posted by: Big T Party at February 20, 2014 09:03 AM (tE2TK)

222 211 down to light bulbs has become politicized by the left a republican wrote that bill

Posted by: navycopjoe killing with his ninja killing shield at February 20, 2014 09:04 AM (At8tV)

223 The malls I knew as a kid always had Orange Julius, Pizza Hut and a hot pretzel kiosk, not much more than that. I usually scarfed a pretzel with cheez on the way in, and grabbed a Julius Dog if we stayed for a while.

Posted by: Lincolntf at February 20, 2014 09:04 AM (ZshNr)

224 Though I think a large measure of that is that they are winning. Posted by: 18-1 at February 20, 2014 12:50 PM (P3U0f) And that many of them don't have real jobs, or anything better to do.

Posted by: D-Lamp at February 20, 2014 09:04 AM (bb5+k)

225 When you insert politics into the healthcare of 330 million Americans, everything, by definition, is politicized

Posted by: phreshone at February 20, 2014 09:04 AM (Q6pxP)

226 Three things are simultaneously true: 1) Living in a state of constant political outrage and anger and vigilance is exhausting and unsustainable for most people 2) Everything is political and the Left dominates Culture in a way that directly harms us. 3) The Culture Wars are more exhausting for the Right since we are constantly smeared and pushed back against. The Hollywood Leftist who throws a casual anti-conservative smear into an interview receives no pushback. All the people around him will laugh and cheer him. The terrain battleground favors the Left because those who wage the Culture War on their side -- Entertainment and Academia -- are mostly in Leftist bubbles so they don't suffer personally from their culture attacks. It's physically and psychologically more difficult for the Right to fight the Culture Wars than the Left, given the Left's dominance of the institutions of Culture and Entertainment. Which is why the Left is winning.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at February 20, 2014 09:05 AM (ZPrif)

227 Ask the residents in Venezuela if they waited to long to realize everything had gotten political. Once the state controls all, you may not be interested in politics - but Politics is damned sure interested in YOU!

Posted by: Tom Servo at February 20, 2014 09:05 AM (8Fa5Z)

228 Last 3 episodes of season two left me feeling like I needed a shower Not me. Seeing Charles* (still can't believe the BBC aired this) get kicked in the nuts was awesome.

Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at February 20, 2014 09:05 AM (659DL)

229 193 I have not watched and will not watch "House of Cards" because I know without even checking that Kevin Spacey's character is an EEEVVVILLL Rethuglikkkan
posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at February 20, 2014 12:59 PM (659DL)

Nope, he's a Democrat.  I was actually shocked by that.

Posted by: Sherry McEvil, Stiletto Corsettes, think mink. at February 20, 2014 09:05 AM (kXoT0)

230

Some of you (you know who you are, the ones who disagree with me) are ridiculous.

 

I have a fishing buddy who is a serious talking head in the NBC-verse.  When I see him on TV I generally disagree with him.  Do you know what I like about him?  He's a good fishing buddy. Takes it seriously, shares his spots, will fish til dawn.  Good company.

 

Sean Penn is a douchebag, but State of Grace is a great movie.  Matt Damon is a pinko, but who doesn't tear up watching Good Will Hunting?  The Lyman guy who made the first Bourne movies is the son of a Watergate prosecutor and hates conservatives.  So fucking what?  The first Bourne movie was epic.

 

You can wall yourself in and say "I can't appreciate anything that didn't spring from my tribe", and in doing so you will miss out on a lot of what the world has to offer.

Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at February 20, 2014 09:05 AM (A0sHn)

231 I try not to let politics intrude every part of my life, and be "go with the flow", but honestly, the Left NEVER stops shoving their politics into my face.  And even into my kids face, I'll watch "innocent" shows on channels like Disney, and even then, they have to intrude with messages about how swell gay marriage is.  Do you think they would EVER have a message about how great traditional, Christian families are?

When was the last time you EVER watched any sort of media and said "wow, this is an over the top conservative message" on something in your life that had nothing to do with politics? 

Believe me, I would rather not worry about politics, it must have been a blessing to have lived in an era where most people were on the same page and the issue Washington fought about were mostly trivial and there wasn't a constant Culture War.

Posted by: McAdams at February 20, 2014 09:05 AM (0XUBg)

232 And another point, I couldn't tell Ben Shapiro from Ben and Jerry, and the idea that he (who is he?) represents "the right" is laughable and preposterous.

This type of "it was well thought out" response, when the appropriate response is mockery, drives me nuts.

Posted by: Jay in PA at February 20, 2014 09:05 AM (3LaGb)

233 Every mass shooting is the Republican's fault.

Posted by: Vin Weasel at February 20, 2014 09:06 AM (faahM)

234 Is that where the guy has a young mistress who calls him Daddy? Yes. The MacBeth allusions are rather obvious.

Posted by: Circa (Insert Year Here) at February 20, 2014 09:06 AM (659DL)

235 "If Leftists make everything political ... then guess what. Everything just got political."
=====

And what happens when the Lefties can't find evidence of rightwinger hate that they can denounce as a means of declaring their ideological purity?  They manufacture it.  Hoaxes.  Nooses, scribblings on doors, etc.

Posted by: mrp at February 20, 2014 09:06 AM (JBggj)

236 Is this all that Ben Shapiro wrote: Philip Seymour Hoffman was one of the most talented actors of his generation, a leading man without leading-man looks, an actor whose magnetism onscreen sprang from intelligence and fervor rather than appearance. But his self-inflicted death is yet another hallmark of the broken leftist culture that dominates Hollywood, enabling rather than preventing the loss of some of its greatest talents. Libertarianism becomes libertinism without a cultural force pushing back against the penchant for sin; Hollywood has no such cultural force. In fact, the Hollywood demand is for more self-abasement, less spirituality, less principle, less standards. No one knows what sort of demons plagued Seymour Hoffman. But without a sound moral structure around those in Hollywood who have every financial and talent advantage, the path to destruction is far too easy.

Posted by: tasker at February 20, 2014 09:06 AM (RJMhd)

237 Let me put it this way: I can't even enjoy a movie if it has certain actors in it. Is that *my* problem? Yes of course. But it was they who politicized themselves first. Monuments Men -- wont watch it. It looks terrible anyway. Batman -- nope, won't see it.

Posted by: soothie at February 20, 2014 09:06 AM (0zKHM)

238 209 193 I have not watched and will not watch "House of Cards" because I know without even checking that Kevin Spacey's character is an EEEVVVILLL Rethuglikkkan


I'm pretty sure I'm a Democrat....

Posted by: Frank Underwood at February 20, 2014 09:06 AM (jjaLl)

239 Here's the reason I want to turn off the politics regardless of which side and probably the reason Ace does too ... Politics tends to make me angry, and I don't want to be angry all the time Sometimes I think of those on the left and right who can't shut off the politics as two sides of the same coin, the same personality types. Each could have been a fanatic for the other side if circumstances had been just a little different.

Posted by: kbdabear at February 20, 2014 09:07 AM (aTXUx)

240 Matt Damon is a pinko, but who doesn't tear up watching Good Will Hunting?
posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch


Heterosexuals?

Posted by: Dr Spank at February 20, 2014 09:07 AM (hn70M)

241 I think this is fantasy politicization:

http://tinyurl.com/nsbsxzx



Megyn Kelly, Shannon Bream, Katie Pavlich discuss FCC's attempted nullification of the Constitution.

Posted by: LoneStarHeeb at February 20, 2014 09:07 AM (BZAd3)

242 Phil Robertson loves the Bourne movies.

Posted by: Vin Weasel at February 20, 2014 09:07 AM (faahM)

243 So..., Obama wants Political Officers in every newsroom. Stalin called them 'Commissars'.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at February 20, 2014 09:08 AM (aDwsi)

244 A thought: Who are the lefties we are willing to read and seriously ponder their points of view? Kaus, Paglia, etc. It's because they stray from the reservation occasionally. We need to keep that in mind in attempting to persuade the other side.

Posted by: Furious George at February 20, 2014 09:08 AM (yFb77)

245 Monuments Men -- wont watch it. It looks terrible anyway.

Batman -- nope, won't see it.

Posted by: soothie at February 20, 2014 01:06 PM (0zKHM)


-----


Add Enders Game to the list.    I was **furious** with the ending.

Posted by: fixerupper at February 20, 2014 09:08 AM (nELVU)

246 a leading man without leading-man looks Oh, really?

Posted by: garrett at February 20, 2014 09:08 AM (Xdn8D)

247

I'm trying to think of a recent situation, actually, that was politicized by the right.  I can't think of one.  Was PSH's death politicized?   I don't remember that.  I remember it generating a lot of conversation about

 


A) How much we could call it a tragedy, considering the guy killed himself with his own addiction and in so   doing abandoned his children to a life without him.

 

 

AND

 

 

B) The fact that many of his movies were not necessarily to our      tastes,    but    that he was nonetheless a very good actor.

 

 

To my knowledge the majority of the politicization that our side takes part in is reflexive; namely, responding   to    the ubiquitous politicization    espoused by the left.   Whenever there's a shooting, we all know the drill:    "How long until the left starts blaming this on rightwing extremist Teabagger Jesus freak Klansmen?"  

 

 

This is an honest question:   what has the RIGHT politicized recently that wasn't in reaction to the left's provocation?

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/b][/i] at February 20, 2014 09:08 AM (4df7R)

248 I'm sitting here trying to think of an aspect of daily life that isn't affected by the political, or at least soon to be in political crosshairs. I'm having a hard time. Food, air, sex, sports, religion, psychology, education... I'm pretty sure the Right didn't make all of those political. Posted by: Burn the Witch at February 20, 2014 01:02 PM (YbyjT) Precisely. Everything we do as human beings is political. Every discussion, with friends or enemies or neutrals is designed around an agenda; be it our agenda or the agenda of who we're working for. Ignorance of this simple fact will equate to failure. Does it mean your agenda has to be bad? Nope. You can have a "good" agenda. I try to. Every word uttered, typed, every facial expression, all body language, is communication. You can figure out how to interpret it, this isn't a master's level class on manipulation/opportunity, it's just a blog ; )

Posted by: tangonine (Entropy sucks) at February 20, 2014 09:08 AM (x3YFz)

249 I can't believe the disproportional response of The Left to the few words that Ben Shapiro wrote. They've got to be kidding? The Left peddles in that --all the time.

Posted by: tasker at February 20, 2014 09:08 AM (RJMhd)

250 And what happens when the Lefties can't find evidence of rightwinger hate that they can denounce as a means of declaring their ideological purity? They manufacture it. Hoaxes. Nooses, scribblings on doors, etc. Or they lower the bar to 'microaggressions.'

Posted by: --- at February 20, 2014 09:08 AM (MMC8r)

251 I've never had any inclination to watch Good Will Hunting, even when I was younger and didn't care about politics. Never heard of State of Grace, and while The Bourne Identity was good it was hardly "epic".

Posted by: Adam at February 20, 2014 09:08 AM (Aif/5)

252 I'm with you kdabear, I don't want to be angry all the time either. Which is why I can enjoy The Bourne movies for pure entertainment.

Posted by: DangerGirl and her Sanity Prod (tm) at February 20, 2014 09:08 AM (P1Tw6)

253 I am arguing against politicizing *Everything.* And I would love to agree with you. I would love to go, for instance, to a kids' movie (haven't seen the Lego movie yet, but I've heard good things) and not worry about what message the malthusian Left is trying to teach my kids. I would love to be able, if I were a business owner, to do business (or refuse to do business) with whoever I choose for whatever reason I choose and be responsible to no one but my own bottom line (and any stock-holders, of course). I would love to take my kid to a Cub Scout meeting and not worry if *this* is the time they'll bring up sexual orientation or (gag me) try to assert that Kwanza is exactly like Chanukah or Christmas. I would love to be able to discuss the tragedies in people's lives as what they are- times when another human being needs help from other human beings- rather than worry about politics. It's the Left who have changed that, not the Right. Do we sometimes commit the occasional faux pas and bring in politics when *this time* the Left was going to just leave it alone? Yeah. But that's a natural thing when *everything* becomes a cudgel with which the Left attempts to bludgeon the Right. Contrariwise, I *do* believe that by adopting the "go-along-to-get-along" mentality of "eh, it's not my business" we've lost a lot of battles that were winnable, and we're having a much harder time winning battles that should be gimmes. Because we didn't make *enough* political. I'll take the occasional excess if that's what it takes to start getting us back on equal footing.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) Ah, F It. at February 20, 2014 09:08 AM (PYAXX)

254 The way to make your point is to state it *without* using the terms "left/right" or "liberal/conservative." Much more persuasive to make a common-sense point without plastering labels on everything.

Posted by: Dr. Varno at February 20, 2014 09:09 AM (V4CBV)

255 Zombie wrote: "But I still retain the capability. I could make a really good argument for taxation and big government. I could make a really good argument for low/no taxation and small government. I could make a really good "pro-choice" argument. I could make a really good "pro-life" argument. I could make a really good argument against Affirmative Action. And yes, despite myself, I could still make a really good argument for Affirmative Action. Etc. etc. And I think that the Pundit Caste and the Blogger Caste have risen to these positions because many of us are just like me and have this capability -- we can out-debate the average joe. So, we have this skill. And along with any skill comes an urge: Why waste it?" You should have been a Lawyer. Where else do you think people like you get paid well to do what we do? I feel like chanting "Gooba gaba, gooba gaba, One of Us, One of Us!"

Posted by: Tom Servo at February 20, 2014 09:09 AM (8Fa5Z)

256 Where I start to take issue with any side is when I comment that I enjoyed a particular movie/book/tv show and inevitably someone feels the need to comment, "oh I don't watch/read x because of political reasons.".

Fucking annoying.

Yes.  I'd honestly like to see TBH3K deployed on people who do that.  It's literal moral preening.  I mean, Will Ferrell's a lefty asswipe, but I pity the fool who can't quote the first Anchorman at will.

Posted by: Ian S. at February 20, 2014 09:09 AM (B/VB5)

257 Ah, thanks, I didn't remember the name.  I watched it because my wife was watching it, didn't know the connection to the Spacey show everyone is discussing.

The scene where he throws her off the roof, and she screams "Daddy" all the way down to the ground was one of the most chilling things I've ever watched on TV.

Posted by: Dave in Fla at February 20, 2014 09:10 AM (ViC0h)

258 But you and I refusing to watch certain actors in movies is NOTHING compared to the Fringe Left seeing such things as the promotion of 'rape culture' in just about everything. We're principled. The Left is mad. That's the difference.

Posted by: soothie at February 20, 2014 09:10 AM (0zKHM)

259 it was a pretty well laid out argument.

Laughable.

He states:
A conservative movement convinced that The LEGO Movie is “anti-business”

Uh, I was part of the 'conservative movement' when this author was in diapers.

I've never seen or criticized the Lego movie.

The suggestion that the "conservative movement" believes the Lego movie is "anti-business" is comically stupid.

Posted by: Jay in PA at February 20, 2014 09:10 AM (3LaGb)

260 I had some similar thoughts the other night. Went to a Valentine's Day dinner at church with the wife. Shared the table with a couple of other couples. They were talking about the Olympics (not Michael Sams) and about Costas not being able to report. And they missed him, becaused they liked his sportscasting. These people are not raging liberals - as far as I know. Couldn't tell a darn thing about their politics, aside from some assumptions I would make based on their age, where they live, how many kids they have. I would presume they are probably Republican voters, but not terribly political. They didn't hate Bob Costas with the hate of a thousand white hot suns occurred to me. I am not much of a sports consumer, so I don't really care about Costas, but I thought, wow, it would be inappropriate to interject into this discussion that he is a Communist gun grabber or whatever. I thought, wow, there is no way that some motivated group of politically knowledgeable people could care enough to make up for these folks genuine like of Costas. I also thought, I need to get out more often.

Posted by: blaster at February 20, 2014 09:10 AM (4+AaH)

261 Same thing with Christianity. All of a sudden it's an enemy to everything. Why? When did this happen? I am only 37 years old. Until about five years ago, it was rare for me to hear people openly criticizing Christianity on such a large scale. It's everywhere now - newspapers, TV, Internet. Not a day goes by that I don't see Christianity being equated with hate. Posted by: bicentennialguy at February 20, 2014 12:51 PM (vg8iE) When I was young, My family attended Church regularly. Before I turned 18, we switched churches about three times. Everything you are seeing now, (and worse yet to come) was predicted by all of those pastors of all those churches forty years ago. Back in the 1970s, they were telling me that a time would be coming when Christians were hunted down and arrested for being Christians. As a matter of fact, they made a movie about it 40 years ago. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Thief_in_the_Night_%28film%29 Scared the shit out of me when I first saw it back in 1972. Yeah, it's going to get worse, I expect.

Posted by: D-Lamp at February 20, 2014 09:10 AM (bb5+k)

262 In short. Yes I unplug from politics. But I refuse to not return fire when fired upon. I'd be happier than heck to not have everything be politicized. But the left has perfected it and the slow march and rot has left me with no alternative.

Posted by: Minnfidel at February 20, 2014 09:10 AM (/o+xv)

263 I'm pretty sure I'm a Democrat.... Posted by: Frank Underwood at February 20, 2014 01:06 PM (jjaLl) Who is, apparently, laughably, afraid of the media.

Posted by: AmishDude at February 20, 2014 09:10 AM (T0NGe)

264 You can wall yourself in and say "I can't appreciate anything that didn't spring from my tribe", and in doing so you will miss out on a lot of what the world has to offer.

I've noticed this lecture only goes one way.

Posted by: HR at February 20, 2014 09:10 AM (ZKzrr)

265 People age out of attack dog politics. It's still needed though. Young people full of piss and vinegar go about swinging fists and picking fights. Then they get older and tired and see how the fights aren't really gonna ever end and thing, can't we all just calm down a bit? At which point a new young man full of piss and vinegar steps in and starts swinging and picking fights. This is normal. What's rare is the person who revels in political fights into middle-age. The Left's control of Academia also helps supply them with more angry, young people looking to fight. There's a natural cycle to all this. Mostly related to age.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at February 20, 2014 09:10 AM (ZPrif)

266 I mean, Will Ferrell's a lefty asswipe, but I pity the fool who can't quote the first Anchorman at will. I hate Will Ferrell not because of his politics, but because he is unfunny.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) Ah, F It. at February 20, 2014 09:10 AM (PYAXX)

267 I think Ben Shapiro hit a nerve right here: Libertarianism becomes libertinism without a cultural force pushing back Boom! ^ there it is.

Posted by: tasker at February 20, 2014 09:10 AM (RJMhd)

268 Then how, exactly, can conservatives counter the left's politicization of everything? Posted by: Rush Shapiro at February 20, 2014 12:58 PM (jjaLl) I do it by existing. That's not actually a joke. Okay, I'm having dinner with CBD and Nevergiveup and I promise not to talk politics. Posted by: J.J. Sefton at February 20, 2014 12:25 PM (olDqf) Oh. Hey. I'm just going to shove this box through the USB port. Will you be sure to give it to CBD for me? Thanks!

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Mmmm. Blondies with whipped cream. at February 20, 2014 09:10 AM (VtjlW)

269 Ace, I was mistaken only in that the Susan Smith murders took place just before the 1994 elections, so Gingrich was not Speaker yet, he was still House Minority Leader.  But he definitely said it. Tom Brokaw interviewed him shortly afterward and beat the shit out of him over those comments, and he more or less retracted them.  But the episode has come up over and over again when Gingrich is in the news.

Posted by: rockmom at February 20, 2014 09:11 AM (Q4elb)

270 Watch State of Grace around St. Paddy's Day. It's an Irish gangster movie from the eighties/nineties. Set in Hell's Kitchen I believe. Penn is in it, but the movie is apolitical. Just a good crime story.

Posted by: Lincolntf at February 20, 2014 09:11 AM (ZshNr)

271 It would be much easier not to politicize a liberal actor's movies if they would not have fired the first shot and continue to fire thereafter .

Posted by: Vin Weasel at February 20, 2014 09:11 AM (faahM)

272 104 92 Catholics don't eat meat on Friday.

I hear priests eat nun Posted by: navycopjoe killing with his ninja killing shield at February 20, 2014 12:45 PM (At8tV)

====

I hope not on Fridays though, right?

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at February 20, 2014 09:11 AM (IN7k+)

273 fixer, I turned off Enders Game after 10 minutes

Posted by: soothie at February 20, 2014 09:12 AM (0zKHM)

274 Let us not forget that we have never had a jughead quite like Obama in office before, and his culties can't resist inserting his dopey face into everything. 

How do we rid ourselves of this cult of the JEF?

Posted by: Fritz at February 20, 2014 09:12 AM (UzPAd)

275 >>>And I think that the Pundit Caste and the Blogger Caste have risen to these positions because many of us are just like me and have this capability -- we can out-debate the average joe. So, we have this skill. And along with any skill comes an urge: Why waste it?" yeah plus there is the "First to Make This Argument" thing. One thing that's driving me nuts is the Viral Mentality, where there is such a high premium on writing something new (even if not correct), biting or snarky (even if not fair), etc., all for that damned viral SEO traffic spike. I'm not saying this of Shapiro and certainly am not saying it of Gingrich (who didn't even know of the internet until Al Gore invented it). But that mentality is out there, and it's in all of us. The "Faster-Nastier-Snarkier-Dumber" ethos is the current ethos not just among the internet-based but in the straight media too.

Posted by: ace at February 20, 2014 09:12 AM (/FnUH)

276 Don't be this guy ....

There's a place in the world for the angry young man
With his working class ties and his radical plans
He refuses to bend he refuses to crawl
And he's always at home with his back to the wall
And he's proud of his scars and the battles he's lost
And struggles and bleeds as he hangs on his cross
And likes to be known as the angry young man

Give a moment or two to the angry young man
With his foot in his mouth and his heart in his hand
He's been stabbed in the back he's been misunderstood
It's a comfort to know his intentions are good
And he sits in his room with a lock on the door
With his maps and his medals laid out on the floor
And he likes to be known as the angry young man

I believe I've passed the age of consciousness and righteous rage
I found that just surviving was a noble fight
I once believed in causes too
I had my pointless point of view
And life went on no matter who was wrong or right

And there's always a place for the angry young man
With his fist in the air and his head in the sand
And he's never been able to learn from mistakes
So he can't understand why his heart always breaks
And his honor is pure and his courage is well
And he's fair and he's true and he's boring as hell
And he'll go to the grave as an angry old man

Yes there's always a place for the angry young man
With his working class ties and his radical plans
He refuses to bend he refuses to crawl
And he's always at home with his back to the wall
And he's proud of his scars and the battles he's lost
And struggles and bleeds as he hangs on his cross
And likes to be known as the angry young man

Posted by: kbdabear at February 20, 2014 09:12 AM (aTXUx)

277 They were talking about the Olympics (not Michael Sams) and about Costas not being able to report. And they missed him, becaused they liked his sportscasting. That's what the Left does well. They cover up their hatred with sugar. Lots of sugar. Tons of sugar.

Posted by: AmishDude at February 20, 2014 09:12 AM (T0NGe)

278 Who is, apparently, laughably, afraid of the media.

And he also reads through the education bill he brings to the House. Hilarious!

Posted by: Waterhouse at February 20, 2014 09:13 AM (t8ySh)

279

238 Matt Damon is a pinko, but who doesn't tear up watching Good Will Hunting?
posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch

---

Me

Posted by: John Boehner at February 20, 2014 09:13 AM (SO2Q8)

280 That's what the Left does well. They cover up their hatred with sugar. Lots of sugar. Tons of sugar.

 

Posted by: AmishDude at February 20, 2014 01:12 PM (T0NGe)

 


They take their hatred    and say it with a smile    and call it love.

Posted by: MWR, Proud Tea(rrorist) Party Assault Hobbit [/s][/u][/b][/i] at February 20, 2014 09:13 AM (4df7R)

281 Phil Robertson loves the Bourne movies.

Posted by: Vin Weasel at February 20, 2014 01:07 PM (faahM)

 

The only reason I watched the first Bourne movie is because I loved the book and because Franke Potente was in it. She was amazing in 'Run Lola Run' (a must-see for lots of reasons but the main reason is that Franke Potente is in about every second of the movie).  Then they inexplicably killed her off in the beginning of the second Bourne movie. Then I stopped watching them.

Posted by: troyriser at February 20, 2014 09:14 AM (O66NZ)

282 Back in the 1970s, they were telling me that a time would be coming when Christians were hunted down and arrested for being Christians. They predicted it because it's in the Bible. :^)

Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 20, 2014 09:14 AM (XyM/Y)

283 I hate Will Ferrell not because of his politics, but because he is unfunny.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) Ah, F It. at February 20, 2014 01:10 PM (PYAXX)

 

Will Ferrell's primary comic 'technique' is too make a situation so uncomfortable for so long that you are forced to laugh to relieve the anguish and tension.

Posted by: Beastie Boys at February 20, 2014 09:14 AM (Q6pxP)

284 There's a place in the world for the angry young man With his working class ties Even when Joel wrote that song, the "angry young man" was privileged and, at the least, upper-middle class. More likely, trust fund babies. They wouldn't know the working class except to spit on them.

Posted by: AmishDude at February 20, 2014 09:14 AM (T0NGe)

285 There's tons of good movies and TV these days. You really aren't losing out if you do a personal boycott of the most vicious leftists. The idea of, when possible, not giving money to a person who hates me and publicly demonizes me -- doesn't seem that radical.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at February 20, 2014 09:14 AM (ZPrif)

286 Goaaaaal!

USA up 1-0 over the Canuckleheads.

Posted by: Hate Miser at February 20, 2014 09:14 AM (cDSCB)

287 Even when I was a teen and believed the Republican Party was evil because that's what I was taught, I was drawn to the idea of not having everything being political.  The parties generally agreed (or pretended to) on things I agreed on, except for the vocal Democrat celebrities who were turning on Christianity and such.  Now of course the Democrat Party has gone full blown kook and is trying to make everything about sex or race or class. 

And it's not helping that the Right is adopting some of the Left's worst traits.  Playing the victim card when it doesn't get its way, making Karl Rove into their own Koch Bros. caricature, turning groups into designated heroes and designated villians...  Sometimes I want to run away to a tropical island for the sake of my health.

Posted by: Shoot Me at February 20, 2014 09:15 AM (qiXMt)

288 It was sold in one of the highest income area's in CA. Milpitas? Nah. Although it is more or less decent, it doesn't compare to, say, Los Altos, or Menlo Park, which are both true one-percenter territory.

Posted by: Blacque Jacques Shellacque at February 20, 2014 09:15 AM (vd7A8)

289
Ace, you say this, but the Jugeared Dummy is installing his henchmen in newsrooms across America, and those news rooms as as anxious to get boned as the Raw Muscle Glutes power bottom.

So yeah, the politics thing...if you don't use that tactic, you are losing.

And of course, John Boner, the other DC moron, is completely unable to figure this one sided Rubik's cube out.


Posted by: Rev Dr E Buzz Commissar at February 20, 2014 09:15 AM (HQml1)

290 Posted by: kbdabear at February 20, 2014 01:12 PM (aTXUx) It's easy to be the angry young man. It's difficult to be the selfless man, but it's worth it.

Posted by: tangonine (Entropy sucks) at February 20, 2014 09:15 AM (x3YFz)

291 Posted by: troyriser at February 20, 2014 12:54 PM (O66NZ) In a totalitarian regime, there is nothing which is not political. Jackie Chan is one of the most hated men in the world. (I read the other day.) Apparently he said that "the sky was beautiful in Beijing." You wouldn't think such a simple comment would engender much hatred, right? Apparently most people regarded it as toadying for the government, because most of the time the skies in Beijing are suffused with smog and pollution, and they regarded Jackie Chan's offhand comment as supporting the government's lies. In totalitarian regimes, everything is political.

Posted by: D-Lamp at February 20, 2014 09:15 AM (bb5+k)

292 I get the "the left politicizes EVERYGODDAMNTHING so we're behind the curve if we don't respond in-kind" mentality. But we're never going to out-vocalize the left on . We don't have the media and let's face, we absolutely suck at messaging. So if we can't beat them, why not attempt to mock them in their lunacy to politicize all things. Take the Super Bowl as an ex. Leftists organized some retarded boycott over commercials they deemed sexists. What a fun way to spend the Super Bowl. No, they're not at all kiljoys. I've started referring to liberals as the preacher Dad from Footloose. These assholes would ban dancing if they could. Their misery knows no bounds. I say Flip the script on which political party is uptight.

Posted by: laceyunderalls at February 20, 2014 09:15 AM (dv3+Q)

293
I am arguing against politicizing *Everything.*




"If I shut my eyes, you can't see me!"

Sorry, but we live in a world where the bathroom each of the 56 genders chooses to use has been made a political act.

Deal with it.

Posted by: Laurie David's Cervix at February 20, 2014 09:15 AM (kdS6q)

294 Everything seems political because we have been lead to believe that government (politics) has the answer for everything.  Campaigns, for ever, have promised to fix everything or give stuff to people to make things better for them.  Children in schools are taught that virtually everything can be solved by (generally certain) politicians or political programs or policies. 

The fact that the majority of Americans believe that government can cure all ills is exactly why government is so enormous.

If it is ever exposed that government is what leads to many of the ills government is purported cure, less would be political.

Posted by: LoneStarHeeb at February 20, 2014 09:16 AM (BZAd3)

295 But is everything ideological? Surely not. Love and family.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette at February 20, 2014 09:16 AM (IXrOn)

296 Sam Adams and the Sons of Liberty made everything political, too, in the years leading up to the outbreak of war.  Sam Adams also wanted to turn Massachusetts into a Christian State, but was thwarted by the people of the Bay State.

Posted by: mrp at February 20, 2014 09:16 AM (JBggj)

297 264 I mean, Will Ferrell's a lefty asswipe, but I pity the fool who can't quote the first Anchorman at will. I hate Will Ferrell not because of his politics, but because he is unfunny. I feel very alone on this, but in my humble opinion, Anchorman is one of the most over-rated movies ever. The fight scene between the networks would have made a great SNL skit, but the rest of the movie? Meh. And I agree, Ferrell=not funny.

Posted by: BlueStateRebel at February 20, 2014 09:17 AM (7ObY1)

298 261 I'm pretty sure I'm a Democrat....
Posted by: Frank Underwood at February 20, 2014 01:06 PM (jjaLl)

Who is, apparently, laughably, afraid of the media.

Posted by: AmishDude at February 20, 2014 01:10 PM (T0NGe)


Yeah, wait a minute, what the hell am I worried about? They'll have my back for anything I do.


In fact, I think I'll throw a reporter in front of a train.


Why not?

Posted by: Frank Underwood at February 20, 2014 09:17 AM (jjaLl)

299 I am not really understanding the concern of US becoming political o overly so. This to me is just a reaction to having hte left politisize everything. Look we have a community organizer in the WH, That is using those skills to agitate the population how can we not respond to the constant bashing of anything traditional , slightly religious, etc?

Posted by: willow at February 20, 2014 09:18 AM (nqBYe)

300

Frumious ...

 

.... you're free to fish with whomever you please, of course. Just keep in mind, all the NSA spying, all the incremental abridgements of your freedoms ? Your fishin' buddy supports that.

 

Personally, I don't freely associate with anyone who supports my partial enslavement as their "political opinion".

Posted by: ScoggDog at February 20, 2014 09:18 AM (PdJhk)

301 There are so many times I don't want to talk about politics ..

Those are the times I want to look at boobs


Posted by: kbdabear at February 20, 2014 09:18 AM (aTXUx)

302 160 hi tangonine! Posted by: concrete girl at February 20, 2014 12:54 PM (LhAqq) just saw that. Hi right back at you!

Posted by: tangonine (Entropy sucks) at February 20, 2014 09:18 AM (x3YFz)

303 When I was young, My family attended Church regularly. Before I turned 18, we switched churches about three times.
Everything you are seeing now, (and worse yet to come) was predicted by all of those pastors of all those churches forty years ago.
Back in the 1970s, they were telling me that a time would be coming when Christians were hunted down and arrested for being Christians
As a matter of fact, they made a movie about it 40 years ago.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Thief_in_the_Night_%28film%29
Scared the shit out of me when I first saw it back in 1972.
Yeah, it's going to get worse, I expect.
Posted by: D-Lamp at February 20, 2014 01:10 PM (bb5+k)

Wow.
I didn't know there was a film by that title.
I've read this book, though: http://tinyurl.com/loqt82u

It sounds like the movie and William Sears have a slightly different take on the issue.

We have similar religious backgrounds, BTW.

Posted by: jwb7605 [/i][/u][/s][/b] at February 20, 2014 09:18 AM (ZALPg)

304 lol, it's really become self defense .

Posted by: willow at February 20, 2014 09:18 AM (nqBYe)

305 Posted by: 18-1 at February 20, 2014 12:56 PM (P3U0f) You fleshed out their working environment very well. Why is it so full of lying, cheating, casting couches, etc? Because it is dominated mostly by leftists.

Posted by: D-Lamp at February 20, 2014 09:19 AM (bb5+k)

306 I ♥ Ben Shapiro.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette: USA 1 Canada 0 at February 20, 2014 09:19 AM (IXrOn)

307

@256

Well said

Posted by: RobM1981 at February 20, 2014 09:19 AM (dFemX)

308 Shapiro must be a lot smarter in person or in his scholarly output than he comes across as a political commenter. I wouldn't rate his columns as useful or even amusing as the median of the commenters of teh Horde. He outdebated Piers Morgan, but who here couldn't? Seriously, I'm just not seeing his brilliance. But then, George Martin is good at writing books and comes across as an absolute HODOR when he gets into politics.

Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at February 20, 2014 09:19 AM (m5+rk)

309 Those are the times I want to look at boobs


Posted by: kbdabear at February 20, 2014 01:18 PM (aTXUx)


----


Patriarchal Oppressor!!!

Posted by: fixerupper at February 20, 2014 09:19 AM (nELVU)

310 Will Ferrell? Anyone see 'Ladie's Man'? Funny little movie until Will Ferrell blunders into frame, and then it sucks harder than a thousand Electroluxes.

Fie on Will Ferrell. Fie!

Posted by: Sort-of-Mad Max at February 20, 2014 09:20 AM (DLu2s)

311 Yes. I'd honestly like to see TBH3K deployed on people who do that. It's literal moral preening. I mean, Will Ferrell's a lefty asswipe, but I pity the fool who can't quote the first Anchorman at will.

Posted by: Ian S. at February 20, 2014 01:09 PM (B/VB5)


the videogame thread with that one retard who always talks about the politics in videogaming drives me nuts (probably more that that fucking Mirror Universe Romney retard)

Posted by: The Dude at February 20, 2014 09:20 AM (bStrg)

312 Those are the times I want to look at boobs Posted by: kbdabear at February 20, 2014 01:18 PM (aTXUx) Implying there's times you *don't* want to look at boobs? which is just pure nonsense.

Posted by: tangonine (Entropy sucks) at February 20, 2014 09:20 AM (x3YFz)

313 Are we getting to Political over everything? Hey who's idea was it to let the Gov get involved in my Colonoscope? Talk about personal!

Posted by: Nevergiveup at February 20, 2014 09:20 AM (t3UFN)

314 When was the last time you EVER watched any sort of media and said "wow, this is an over the top conservative message" on something in your life that had nothing to do with politics? Aside from certain episodes of South Park, not much. I still remember the original airing of "Rainforest Shmainforest" and thinking, am I missing something here or is this episode really, really conservative? I wasn't missing anything.

Posted by: BlueStateRebel at February 20, 2014 09:20 AM (7ObY1)

315 The left has turned everything into a political battlefield, so we need to fight them everywhere and on everything we can.

Posted by: Temper Tantrum at February 20, 2014 09:20 AM (AWmfW)

316 I do not understand Podhoretz's review of the Lego movie. The headline does not match the review, and the review, where it does touch on the actual movie, it accurately captures it. He does note that Lefties think that the movie is subversive and anti-business because the lead villain is named President Business. Podhoretz seems to say that well it is ironic that it is subversive because the Lego Corporation is involved. But that is really the point. The Federalist or somebody had a good review, and also called the Lego Movie subversive - a subversive movie that is pro-Freedom. Which I think is a much more accurate view of the movie. It is NOT anti-business, there is a joke at the expense of Starbucks (not by name, of course, and it is actually funny, not "clapper" humor).

Posted by: blaster at February 20, 2014 09:20 AM (4+AaH)

317 I must just not have seen the good Shapiro articles yet.

Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at February 20, 2014 09:21 AM (m5+rk)

318 "...low hanging fruit for me, so I won't take the bait, but... LOL" ______________________________________ Tango, I remember when I first heard this buzz-phrase. My CO was droning on in corporatespeak as though we were widget manufacturers, and when he used such a deliciously visual turn of "frass" I busted out laughing, as one will when you are blessed with Pervert Brain. Do they not hear themselves?

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 20, 2014 09:21 AM (QBm1P)

319 I might agree with Ace's over-arching theme but I don't agree with the specific example of the few words that Ben Shapiro wrote. (which take several links to get to.) I think Ben Shapiro hit a nerve because Libertarians want to have their cake and eat it too--in many, many ways. They want to be able to sit back and say--everyone sucks. That's a luxury of course because they've never had to make too many decisions. On top of that being a Libertarian almost devolves to a debate strategy. Ask any lawyer or debater--it is a lot harder to play defense--therefore a "Republican" or declared 'Democrat" have to defend a long history-- a Libertarian by definition does not. Now on top of that advantage the Libertarian always--and at the same time--demands another advantage-- he will not be defined. He is amorphous. And you when trying to debate him, since most of us do not know the defined Libertarian Platform(--or what special flower of a Libertarian he might be) -- when you ask him- (or you try to find out if he is like the last kooky Libertarian you debated)-- he decries that you are being -- Unfair! Well sorry Chief--life is mostly unfair--deal with it.

Posted by: tasker at February 20, 2014 09:21 AM (RJMhd)

320 Every decision is political for me, if I have information that informs me of a position. Every damned one. If you see me buying Citgo gas, for example - that ain't me. Posted by: RobM1981 at February 20, 2014 12:59 PM (dFemX) Ah, another potential user of a "Conservative Business" phone app. We need something like that.

Posted by: D-Lamp at February 20, 2014 09:21 AM (bb5+k)

321 Competitive argumentation is a young man's game. As people get older they slow down, get less competitive, don't enjoy being angry and self-righteous as much, get less quick-witted, have other things to think about and care about. But there's always a new crop of angry, young men.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at February 20, 2014 09:22 AM (ZPrif)

322 the videogame thread with that one retard who always talks about the politics in videogaming drives me nuts (probably more that that fucking Mirror Universe Romney retard)

Posted by: The Dude at February 20, 2014 01:20 PM (bStrg)

 

That's that Ben idiot right?  (not the Ben idiot that posts the Link Dump.)  Yeah he's an insufferable asshole.  Haven't seen him for a while.

Posted by: buzzion at February 20, 2014 09:22 AM (LI48c)

323

Not sure I agree with this. I do agree with the left, everything is political, because everything you do is judged through their political lens. But I don't agree that everything on the right is politics. Even if this site didn't post non-poltiical stuff, it wouldn't matter, because I don't spend my entire day on this site, or on a collection of political sites. Sure, I spend some amount of time, but I also work, I play golf, I play bass guitar, I read, I watch a little TV, I exercise, etc etc etc. When I converse with others, sometimes it's political, sometimes it's about the weather, sports, movies, etc etc etc.

That's the way most of the people I interact with are. When we talk football, we don't talk about how "brave" Michael Sam is for coming out. We think all the attention to it is stupid because it's about football, not about being gay. For the left, it's the reverse, it's all about him being gay, as though that's his defining characteristic. I don't care whether he's gay, straight, bi, trans, gender neutral, and so on. I don't care if he's white, black, yellow, red, blue, green, or purple. I only care about him as it relates to football, because that's the only way I even know about the guy.

So I disagree with the sentiment that the right may also be making all things political. I suppose some do, but I have never seen it as I do with the left.

Posted by: Leprechaun at February 20, 2014 09:22 AM (PYAXX)

324 USA penalized for too many ladies on the ice.

Posted by: Serious Cat at February 20, 2014 09:22 AM (wLibB)

325

The basic difference  in balancing the political/personal  is: Are you playing offense or defense?

 

Are you trying to change the country (progressives) or are you trying to save the country (conservatives)?

 

When youÂ’re remodeling a house, you have to act. Tear things down, replace them. Paint, move stuff. If youÂ’re just maintaining the house, you do less. Some painting, tightening of screws, cleaning.

 

Liberals live and breathe politics because they are on a mission to change the country. The mission of  most conservatives is to excel at our job and raise a family.  TheyÂ’re playing offense. WeÂ’re playing defense. Which takes less time, but, as sports fans know, is ultimately  not enough to win.

Posted by: CJ at February 20, 2014 09:22 AM (9KqcB)

326 Blaster: the "president business" thing turned me off too. Glad it's not as kneejerk as it seemed on its face.

Posted by: boulder toilet hobo at February 20, 2014 09:23 AM (m5+rk)

327 Canada will get that penalty tomorrow, too.

Posted by: Lincolntf at February 20, 2014 09:23 AM (ZshNr)

328 230And another point, I couldn't tell Ben Shapiro from Ben and Jerry, and the idea that he (who is he?) represents "the right" is laughable and preposterous.

This type of "it was well thought out" response, when the appropriate response is mockery, drives me nuts.

Posted by: Jay in PA at February 20, 2014 01:05 PM (3LaGb)

The reason why I commented on what you said is that my preference is to at least examine questions fully and think about them before I dismiss them out of hand as comical, or stupid, or preposterous.  You may do that because you're so 1000% sure of everything.  I've not always been a conservative, like many here.  I arrived at conservative thought through asking questions and challenging myself, and I'm still doing that.

Mockery is sometimes the right response, but not to honest questions and honest introspection.  You obviously disagree. 

Posted by: Heralder at February 20, 2014 09:23 AM (/Mxso)

329 There are so many times I don't want to talk about politics .. Those are the times I want to look at boobs Posted by: kbdabear at February 20, 2014 01:18 PM (aTXUx) Pssst. C'mere. http://bit.ly/1d5CEwP http://bit.ly/1eb4N5t http://bit.ly/1jSXuYc Shh, don't tell anyone else.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Mmmm. Blondies with whipped cream. at February 20, 2014 09:23 AM (VtjlW)

330 So what does this have to do with rampaging chihuahuas?

Posted by: joncelli at February 20, 2014 09:24 AM (RD7QR)

331 the tv show Game Of Thrones is senseless and pointless and sometimes absurdly insulting to the audience's intelligence. Are the books different?

Posted by: soothie at February 20, 2014 09:24 AM (0zKHM)

332 Debbie Wash-Your-Damn-Hair Schultz just Tweeted a pic of her holding a sign showing solidarity with Venezuela and "all the peaceful protestors".

Irony could stalk the Earth like Cthulhu and leftists would be as aware of it as an ant is of the Marianas Trench.

Posted by: B at February 20, 2014 09:24 AM (twiRb)

333 >>>One thing that's driving me nuts is the Viral Mentality, where there is such a high premium on writing something new (even if not correct), biting or snarky (even if not fair), etc., all for that damned viral SEO traffic spike.

>>>I'm not saying this of Shapiro and certainly am not saying it of Gingrich (who didn't even know of the internet until Al Gore invented it).

Yeah, but before there were the virtual memes on the internet, there was CNN and the 24/7 news cycle. And there were sharp politicians like Gingrich who knew how to play it.

Posted by: Anon Y. Mous at February 20, 2014 09:24 AM (IN7k+)

334 313 The left has turned everything into a political battlefield, so we need to fight them everywhere and on everything we can. Posted by: Temper Tantrum at February 20, 2014 01:20 PM (AWmfW) So correct. And when you do it? call their women fat and question the manhood of the "men." Drives them crazy.

Posted by: tangonine (Entropy sucks) at February 20, 2014 09:24 AM (x3YFz)

335 Or they lower the bar to 'microaggressions.' Posted by: --- ---------------------- And 'Dog Whistles", which, curiously, only they can hear.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at February 20, 2014 09:24 AM (aDwsi)

336 Isn't ace just saying the equivalent if "sometimes arugula is just arugula"? I like arugula. I drive a VW. I liked the English Beat. I think George Clooney is handsome. I think higher education is good.

Posted by: Y-not on the phone headed off for fun at February 20, 2014 09:24 AM (tNMLW)

337 Figures that RINO Dana Perino is a big House of Cards fan.

Posted by: BlueStateRebel at February 20, 2014 09:24 AM (7ObY1)

338

Implying there's times you *don't* want to look at boobs? which is just pure nonsense.

 

That's the beauty of all of this.  After all the intramural knife fights we can gather around the fire and agree on the many merits of boobies.

Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at February 20, 2014 09:25 AM (A0sHn)

339 That's that Ben idiot right? (not the Ben idiot that posts the Link Dump.) Yeah he's an insufferable asshole. Haven't seen him for a while.

Posted by: buzzion at February 20, 2014 01:22 PM (LI48c)


yeah, that's him. Dunno why he annoys me more that the racist piece of fucking shit stuck to your shoe MUMR either

Posted by: The Dude at February 20, 2014 09:25 AM (bStrg)

340 There's no points trying to convince each other of how to react to the Left's politicization of everything. Some want to fight back, some want to ignore it, some want to mock it. There's no right answer. Do what you want. You'll never convince others with a different temperament to follow your example.

Posted by: Flatbush Joe at February 20, 2014 09:25 AM (ZPrif)

341 Debbie Wash-Your-Damn-Hair Schultz just Tweeted a pic of her holding a sign showing solidarity with Venezuela and "all the peaceful protestors". -------- She probably is torn, in the case of Ukraine.

Posted by: Mike Hammer at February 20, 2014 09:25 AM (aDwsi)

342 Do they not hear themselves? Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 20, 2014 01:21 PM (QBm1P) Heh... no. Self-awareness is magnificently absent from liberals.

Posted by: tangonine (Entropy sucks) at February 20, 2014 09:26 AM (x3YFz)

343 Implying there's times you *don't* want to look at boobs? which is just pure nonsense.

Posted by: tangonine (Entropy sucks) at February 20, 2014 01:20 PM (x3YFz)

Then I look for boobs stuffed into an American flag bikini

OK, ya got me on that one. Mea Culpa


Posted by: kbdabear at February 20, 2014 09:26 AM (aTXUx)

344 Since Ben Shapiro (who's comments are being purposely distorted in support of a bad argument) represents the entire "conservative movement" is it not fair to say that the 21% of Democrats surveyed that believe the government intentionally blew up the Pentagon on 9/11 represent the liberal movement?

When do we get the column/podcast on why Democrats are 9/11 truthers?

Posted by: Jay in PA at February 20, 2014 09:26 AM (3LaGb)

345 The Barilla case: when the gheystapo threw their usual hissy fit, the CEO was forced to grovel and apologise profusely. In Italy the gheystapo has started again buying Barilla, it's the rest of the population, fed up with the ghey-stasi that stopped. History is written by winners and winners are often the ones that can convince most people that they are winners. The left owns academia, the press and pop culture. They have been working relentlessly to submit everybody to their whims. This is why it is important to support Putin and Russia's laws.

Posted by: fromabroad at February 20, 2014 09:27 AM (rnV3B)

346 a republican wrote that bill Posted by: navycopjoe killing with his ninja killing shield at February 20, 2014 01:04 PM (At8tV) Have read very good articles asserting that the light bulb ban had more to do with General Electric's desire to push more expensive products while destroying the ability of anyone else to produce a cheaper alternative. It seems G.E. and other light bulb manufactures don't make much profit on the easy to produce bulbs, so they needed to ban them to make their much more expensive LED product line economically profitable. I, for one, find this a perfectly plausible explanation for what I have seen.

Posted by: D-Lamp at February 20, 2014 09:27 AM (bb5+k)

347 Only got a brief glance whilst on lunch break, but this made me think:

"The right has been, historically, against this idea of humans' highest aspiration being a matter of purity of ideology -- that "The personal is political," as I think Gloria Steinem asserted -- and has championed at least three aspects of humanity as being more important than ideology (the metaphysical/religious, the familial/generational, and the ethical/moral; others may add the philosophical and intellectual)."



I concur and would sum it as: The individual on the Right's ideology is driven by those aspects of life; conversely, the leftist's view of those aspects of life are driven by their ideology.


Posted by: Country Singer at February 20, 2014 09:27 AM (L8r/r)

348 "One thing that's driving me nuts is the Viral Mentality, where there is such a high premium on writing something new (even if not correct), biting or snarky (even if not fair), etc., all for that damned viral SEO traffic spike. I'm not saying this of Shapiro and certainly am not saying it of Gingrich (who didn't even know of the internet until Al Gore invented it). But that mentality is out there, and it's in all of us. The "Faster-Nastier-Snarkier-Dumber" ethos is the current ethos not just among the internet-based but in the straight media too." Honestly I see this too frequently even amongst some conservatives friends on facebook, who reflexively share sensationalist stories even when they are dubious. Sometimes it's even from a conservative blog (not this one) that is taking quotes of some Dem politician out of context and trying to make some sensationalist point that isn't there. The conservative blogosphere revolution needs to provide an alternative, rational voice to the mainstream media, not just essentially replace one partisan bullhorn with another. Long story short, too many Pamela Gellars and not enough Ace of Spades. To stay level-headed I try to remind myself that the point isn't about "winning" or cheering Team A against Team B, but just protecting my life and the pursuit of my happiness.

Posted by: Roadrunner at February 20, 2014 09:27 AM (SOKoI)

349 That's the beauty of all of this. After all the intramural knife fights we can gather around the fire and agree on the many merits of boobies. Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at February 20, 2014 01:25 PM (A0sHn) Someone who is not me because I am energy conservant needs to link to the part of my one rant where I get super pissed about the politicization of my tits.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Mmmm. Blondies with whipped cream. at February 20, 2014 09:28 AM (VtjlW)

350 >>>The left has turned everything into a political battlefield, so we need to fight them everywhere and on everything we can.<<<




... We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender...

Posted by: Zombie Winston Churchill at February 20, 2014 09:28 AM (cDSCB)

351

Silly mindless triumphalism over the election of a preposterous disaster as president in RESTAURANT REVIEWS.

 

Sports on TV where (as never before in history) lame and inappropriate attention-whoring messages of "congratulations" from the president appear on-screen, instantly.

 

97% of all content, TV theater etc., increasingly crudely politicized from the racist/fascist/enviro-cultist angle ("left"), after decades of relentless demonization of producers and real public servants in those same media.

 

Elementary school kids being led in creepy Khmer Rouge-like chants praising the absurd disastrous president, and being suspended for carving a Pop-Tart in the shape of a pistol.

 

Private citizens (CEOs, donors to Prop 8, et al) being openly publicly intimidated/harrassed by gangs of idiots pushing the fascist/racist/enviro-cultist cause, and sometimes actual individuals being named by the president in public events.

 

OK, the "right" (whatever that is) is politicizing life in the US.  Which only makes sense, since the "right" is focused on big govt., powerful govt., govt. fixing and regulating everything and controlling people's lives.  Oh, wait ....

 

ace, the assertion you're considering is as baseless and offensively stupid as so much else that you respond to with derision and disbelief ("is this still America" sort of posts).  Dunno why you give it any serious treatment.

 

 

Posted by: non-purist at February 20, 2014 09:28 AM (afQnV)

352 I liked the English Beat Me too, except their anti-Thatcher song "Stand Down Margaret.". Remember when it seemed that every damn album of the 80s had an anti-Thatcher or anti-Reagan song? The Smith's particularly "tolerant" song"Margaret on the Guillotine" The Violent Femmes "Old Mother Reagan" (which was neither funny nor clever, nor, well, good.) Even the Ramones, who endorsed Reagan got into the act with "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg." (that song almost broke up the band. Conservative Johnny Ramone hated it and didn't want to do it.) And then there's every fucking Billy Bragg song ever.

Posted by: BlueStateRebel at February 20, 2014 09:28 AM (7ObY1)

353 There's an idea for a thread ...

"Open Thread for those who want to look at boobs instead of talk politics"

After all, I don't care what Kate Upton, Christina Hendricks, or Kat Denning think about the debt ceiling


Posted by: kbdabear at February 20, 2014 09:28 AM (aTXUx)

354 That's the beauty of all of this. After all the intramural knife fights we can gather around the fire and agree on the many merits of boobies. Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at February 20, 2014 01:25 PM (A0sHn) Infantry troops have in-fighting, there's jockeying for position, testosterone, bloody noses, but throw some boobs in and we remember what we're all fighting for.

Posted by: tangonine (Entropy sucks) at February 20, 2014 09:29 AM (x3YFz)

355 This is why it is important to support Putin and Russia's laws.

Posted by: fromabroad at February 20, 2014 01:27 PM (rnV3B)

Yes....we too support the rule of law...that's why we change them to suit our needs.

Posted by: National Socialist German Worker's Party at February 20, 2014 09:29 AM (QFxY5)

356 You can wall yourself in and say "I can't appreciate anything that didn't spring from my tribe", and in doing so you will miss out on a lot of what the world has to offer. Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at February 20, 2014 01:05 PM (A0sHn) I don't mind watching their movies, just so long as I am able to do so without putting any money in their pocket.

Posted by: D-Lamp at February 20, 2014 09:29 AM (bb5+k)

357 Someone who is not me because I am energy conservant needs to link to the part of my one rant where I get super pissed about the politicization of my tits.


We love your lefty tit just as much as your righty tit!


We love both sides!!!


Posted by: EC at February 20, 2014 09:30 AM (GQ8sn)

358 I feel very alone on this, but in my humble opinion, Anchorman is one of the most over-rated movies ever. The fight scene between the networks would have made a great SNL skit, but the rest of the movie? Meh.

And I agree, Ferrell=not funny.

Posted by: BlueStateRebel at February 20, 2014 01:17 PM (7ObY1)


Loathed Anchorman.  It is very unfunny.  WF is very unfunny.  I hated it so much that all the commercials for Anchorman II made me want to break my TV.

Posted by: Sherry McEvil, Stiletto Corsettes, think mink. at February 20, 2014 09:30 AM (kXoT0)

359 No getting past it.
Group Wants Obama To Kick Ex-Olympian Michelle Kwan Off Presidential Fitness Council For Holding A Non-Diet Coke In AdÂ…

Weasel Zippers:  http://tinyurl.com/mwqel7z

Posted by: jwb7605 [/i][/u][/s][/b] at February 20, 2014 09:30 AM (ZALPg)

360 also, if you have a business that is surviving Obama, never hire a leftist, make researches on public profiles and see if they display the usual crap of leftists (Obama, planned parenthood, etc). This is the first step, if we can take care of our own, Darwinism will take care of the others.

Posted by: fromabroad at February 20, 2014 09:31 AM (rnV3B)

361 My phone screen is so small I thought ace apologized to Rush Limbaugh for masturbating on him. Never mind.

Posted by: Beagle at February 20, 2014 09:31 AM (sOtz/)

362 I get super pissed about the politicization of my tits.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Mmmm. Blondies with whipped cream. at February 20, 2014 01:28 PM (VtjlW)

Ah yes...the Left manages to take to one thing that should be axiomatically apolitical and make it angry and nasty and, quite frankly, not sexy at all.

Your revenge of course is to have more fun than they do.

Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at February 20, 2014 09:32 AM (QFxY5)

363 We love your lefty tit just as much as your righty tit! We love both sides!!! Posted by: EC at February 20, 2014 01:30 PM (GQ8sn) So have we discovered an area in which the Horde thinks being in the center of the topic is the most cromulent choice?

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Mmmm. Blondies with whipped cream. at February 20, 2014 09:32 AM (VtjlW)

364 "The Barilla case: when the gheystapo threw their usual hissy fit, the CEO was forced to grovel and apologise profusely. In Italy the gheystapo has started again buying Barilla, it's the rest of the population, fed up with the ghey-stasi that stopped. History is written by winners and winners are often the ones that can convince most people that they are winners. The left owns academia, the press and pop culture. They have been working relentlessly to submit everybody to their whims. This is why it is important to support Putin and Russia's laws." If you're going to make opposing gays the single defining issue that determines whether a leader and his nation of laws is good or not, you're crazy; not because being gay is right or wrong, but because this is irrational political tunnel vision.

Posted by: Roadrunner at February 20, 2014 09:32 AM (SOKoI)

365 Nice post (finally finished reading it). It's a sad thing, but people need to be reminded of this from time to time, or often, depending on how entrenched you are in politics. I think some people would benefit from having a home blood pressure kit, to check their blood pressure... Another good reason to exercise daily. And, read fiction, and go outside, and play, etc... Put your brain on holiday every day, at least for a while. It's refreshing, and lovely.

Posted by: artisanal 'ette: USA 1 Canada 0 at February 20, 2014 09:32 AM (IXrOn)

366 "After the war is over, every man will be judged politically..." - Political Officer in 'Doctor Zhivago'

Posted by: Mike Hammer at February 20, 2014 09:33 AM (aDwsi)

367 I'm telling you: Afghanistan and Iraq could have been won in 1 week with C-130s air dropping boob pics. No one believes me.

Posted by: tangonine (Entropy sucks) at February 20, 2014 09:33 AM (x3YFz)

368 My last post seems to have eaten. Weird.

Posted by: Serious Cat at February 20, 2014 09:33 AM (49lPc)

369 It's the Left that politicizes everything. They coined the phrase "the personal is political", which means that every single choice and decision we make has political implications, from what we eat to who we screw. I am sure that previous generations of Americans didn't spend their time obsessing over politics, because the government wasn't in their faces 24/7. In other words, they were free people living in a free country. Alas, that is no longer the case.

Posted by: rickl at February 20, 2014 09:33 AM (zoehZ)

370 So have we discovered an area in which the Horde thinks being in the center of the topic is the most cromulent choice?

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Mmmm. Blondies with whipped cream. at February 20, 2014 01:32 PM (VtjlW)


Yes!   The center is good.


*jumps up and down in the center*



Posted by: EC at February 20, 2014 09:33 AM (GQ8sn)

371 Everything is political because it is MADE political, even if it isn't normally.  The focus should be on who does this in each given situation. 

I've taken great pains to avoid doing this in my own life, but if someone else brings it up, I let them get a sentence or two out, and then I bring the hammer down.  I won't start it, but I will finish it.  Not to insult my "opponent" but to illustrate my point to onlookers who may be swayed by what I say. But I'm not pushing my way into their house to influence them.

The Left lives and breathes the Rule of A.B.P. - "Always Be Politicizing".  And that's why they've so morally/socially/politically inverted our nation. They control the agenda, they control the debate.  And that has to stop.  I can scarcely think of one area of life they haven't invaded in some way to push some jack off agenda - media, entertainment, law, education, etc.

The Feds did it with "badger your family about Obamacare at Christmas and Thanksgiving" last year.  Absolutely over the line, and they needed "checked" over it ala Charlie Murphy.

NFL on NBC is another great example - if I tune into an NFL game on NBC, odds are Bob Costas is going to use his air time to give his take on gun control, same sex marriage or the social implications of the name "Redskins". To an audience that tunes into watch a game.

Ah, Bob, can I just watch a f**king NFL game, please?  The hate I wanna feel when watching a football game is a good, pure, clean hate of my home team's bitter rivals and the clearly blind officials.  I don't wanna hear your political spew du jour.

Bob's punishment?  Hosting the Olympics.

But put Rush Limbaugh on Sports Center and oh boy are the protests a startin'.

Focus on WHO is doing it and call them out. And keep on it, keep doing it. Don't let them get their message out that way. treat it like a fart in an elevator and make a huge to-do over it, "man, stop that shiat". That puts a stop to it.

Posted by: Saltydonnie at February 20, 2014 09:33 AM (i6shs)

372 I hate Will Ferrell not because of his politics, but because he is unfunny. Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) Ah, F It. at February 20, 2014 01:10 PM (PYAXX) I have seen several movies with Will Ferrell in them. In my opinion, he contributed nothing of value to any of them. Will Ferrell is unfunny.

Posted by: D-Lamp at February 20, 2014 09:34 AM (bb5+k)

373 noodt

Posted by: soothie at February 20, 2014 09:34 AM (0zKHM)

374 359 Your revenge of course is to have more fun than they do. --------------------------------------- THIS is our winning strategy.

Posted by: All Hail Eris at February 20, 2014 09:34 AM (QBm1P)

375 There are/have been some liberals who are "mostly decent" that I've hung out with - but something near half of them are of the "can't help themselves" persuasion, and insert "tribal identifiers" in their conversation, as a sort of demand and challenge - either agree and join the tribe or be shouted at as a "TEA Party idiot." It's insulting and unpleasant and I generally ignore them and move on (which they no doubt see as some kind of childish victory), not because there's no counter-argument, but because they are incapable of learning. Seriously, you can actually bring people around on a narrow subject with reason, logic, and by getting them to do their homework on a subject, and a week later they've "reset" and are back in their original position. People with that tribal mentality take whatever opinions they're most surrounded with. Which is why the Long March was so important to the left. I don't have an answer to that. I agree it's not healthy to live only for that, but unhealthy people can hurt you and screw up your life, too, even if you're trying to be healthy. I don't generally pre-judge movies by actors but I am annoyed by politicking in movies, especially when it's out of place. Doubly so when it's just a "tribal identifier" slap, like the "NRA Spokesman" reference in Lethal Weapon 4.

Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith at February 20, 2014 09:34 AM (qyfb5)

376 And it's not helping that the Right is adopting some of the Left's worst traits. Playing the victim card when it doesn't get its way, making Karl Rove into their own Koch Bros. caricature, turning groups into designated heroes and designated villians... Sometimes I want to run away to a tropical island for the sake of my health. Well said. I can sympathize with the "Well they did it first!" excuse, but it's still bullshit. I understand why people on our side of the political spectrum feel like they must always be on the defensive. From grade school and college lefty indoctrination to a liberal bias in pop culture and the MSM it's not difficult to adopt a bunker mentality where everything outside the wire must be viewed as an enemy. It's still wrong, for the same reasons it's wrong when the Left does it. Do people really think that the average person doesn't get turned off by this nonsense, be it from the Left or Right? That they don't find it absurd when a liberal colleague gets offended by a Chick-fil-A sandwich? Emulating them in this regard is self-destructive and unpleasant.

Posted by: Hollowpoint at February 20, 2014 09:34 AM (SY2Kh)

377 Shh, don't tell anyone else.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Mmmm. Blondies with whipped cream. at February 20, 2014 01:23 PM (VtjlW)

Your secret's safe with me

Reciprocation for your generosity

http://tinyurl.com/mdgnnfs


Posted by: kbdabear at February 20, 2014 09:34 AM (aTXUx)

378 If the left would have left me alone all would be good. Since they've decided that I am somehow automatically racist and uncaring of the less fortunate. I want to kill the planet and I hate nature. I desire to convert them all to Christianity, I want to shoot everything I see. I am somehow against women or their rights, they can go fuck themselves sideways with a rusty hay bailer.

Posted by: Minnfidel at February 20, 2014 09:35 AM (/o+xv)

379 fixer, I turned off Enders Game after 10 minutes Posted by: soothie at February 20, 2014 01:12 PM (0zKHM) They made a hash out of it, didn't they?

Posted by: D-Lamp at February 20, 2014 09:35 AM (bb5+k)

380 341 Since Ben Shapiro (who's comments are being purposely distorted in support of a bad argument) represents the entire "conservative movement" is it not fair to say that the 21% of Democrats surveyed that believe the government intentionally blew up the Pentagon on 9/11 represent the liberal movement? When do we get the column/podcast on why Democrats are 9/11 truthers? Posted by: Jay in PA at February 20, 2014 01:26 PM (3LaGb) ************** Ya, it seems disproportional to me--that's for sure.

Posted by: tasker at February 20, 2014 09:35 AM (RJMhd)

381

Loathed Anchorman. It is very unfunny. WF is very unfunny. I hated it so much that all the commercials for Anchorman II made me want to break my TV.

 

You know what make Anchorman double-loathesome?  Every single idiot who makes his or her living standing in front of a TV news camera thinks it's the Best Thing Evah and they get all goofy about how cool they are. 

 

Anchorman II gave them all an excuse to reprise it.

Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at February 20, 2014 09:35 AM (A0sHn)

382 One thing that's driving me nuts is the Viral Mentality, where there is such a high premium on writing something new (even if not correct), biting or snarky (even if not fair), etc., all for that damned viral SEO traffic spike. ... Posted by: ace I really hate that too and yet I am pressured into it constantly these days. Used to be, in my case, that when I went to a protest and made a photo essay out of it, my reportage consisted of a thousand little subtle observations, things the average reporter wouldn't notice, which all added up really effectively conveyed the essence of the event. Because any large event with a lot of people is complicated and hard to summarize. But I found a way to do it, to let the world see liberalism through a skeptic's eyes, and thereby internalize the wisdom of my observations. But nowadays, especially since Nov. 2008, that won't fly. I must try to seek out and identify the one single OUTRAGE in any complicated event over which we on the right must get OUTRAGED. If I find a good enough OUTRAGE, I'll get a Drudge link or get mentioned on Fox. And with it, a torrent of traffic, which pleases my owners -- and increases my Social Standing in conservative circles. But I pins for the simpler Olden Dayes when subtle observations build on each other to slowly develop a very clear and accurate picture of any event, without there needing to be some flashpoint of OUTRAGE. The left, needless to say, does this constantly. They even manufacture it to get the point across. A good example: In leftist theory, minorities on campus can't concentrate and don't do well in school because there are a million subtle discriminations against them, which lower their self-esteem. A clutched purse, a quickening pace, an avoided glance, etc. But this can't be captured on camera or proven, plus each instance of Social discrimination seems utterly trivial. But how to convince the public that it is happening? Bingo -- fabricate an OUTRAGE! So out come the fake nooses, the self-inflicted racist graffiti on the dorm room door, the fabricated racist hate crime. It becomes a flashpoint, and the public finally sees the otherwise too-subtle racism that the left is trying to prove exists. What we need to do on the right is not to fall for the leftist gimmick of fabricating outrage, but also not fall for the necessity of focusing on real micro-outrages all the time as well. But I must admit, economics makes it difficult to suppress. Could you bring yourself to out away the flaming skull gif forever? Doubtful.

Posted by: zombie at February 20, 2014 09:35 AM (+cx5n)

383 Shh, don't tell anyone else.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Mmmm. Blondies with whipped cream. at February 20, 2014 01:23 PM (VtjlW){/i]


Thanks. I needed that. And now I owe you one. Crap. How about this?

http://tinyurl.com/qyyvno2


Posted by: physics geek at February 20, 2014 09:36 AM (MT22W)

384 I live in a culture that labels me a racist because I do not acknowledge the existence of "institutional racism" and "white privilege." It's true that everything has become political. It's part of our devolution to leftie totalitarianism. Are we supposed to pretend it isn't happening?

Posted by: Harrison Bergeron at February 20, 2014 09:36 AM (JQuNB)

385 Infantry troops have in-fighting, there's jockeying for position, testosterone, bloody noses, but throw some boobs in and we remember what we're all fighting for.

Posted by: tangonine (Entropy sucks) at February 20, 2014 01:29 PM (x3YFz)

Why We Fight


Posted by: Band of Boobies at February 20, 2014 09:36 AM (aTXUx)

386 A short clip from Dr. Zhivago, "...the personal life is dead in Russia.." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6raF7kcJJs

Posted by: Mike Hammer at February 20, 2014 09:36 AM (aDwsi)

387 I can see where criticism of heroin guy's OD as a consequence of liberal values goes along with yesterday's post about the 12 year old girl who wants to be "DTF." In each case, ace wants to divorce the cultural atmosphere from the outcomes that are associated with them. Sure, there are people who profess conservative values who also die from substance abuse. But are the destructive behaviors proportionately distributed?

Posted by: blaster at February 20, 2014 09:36 AM (4+AaH)

388 Oh great, I improperly closed an italics tag and am unable to fix it. Anyone?

Posted by: physics geek at February 20, 2014 09:37 AM (MT22W)

389 They predicted it because it's in the Bible. :^) Posted by: FenelonSpoke at February 20, 2014 01:14 PM (XyM/Y) Careful there. People might mistake you for suggesting there is some sort of higher spiritual significance to the book, or something.

Posted by: D-Lamp at February 20, 2014 09:37 AM (bb5+k)

390 So have we discovered an area in which the Horde thinks being in the center of the topic is the most cromulent choice? Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Mmmm. Blondies with whipped cream. at February 20, 2014 01:32 PM (VtjlW) The words. They don't actually go together.

Posted by: tangonine (Entropy sucks) at February 20, 2014 09:38 AM (x3YFz)

391 "If you're going to make opposing gays the single defining issue that determines whether a leader and his nation of laws is good or not, you're crazy; not because being gay is right or wrong, but because this is irrational political tunnel vision." GHEY ISSUE = big pet cause of the left Opposing GHEY issues = mandatory in the long term strategy to stop the giant leap forward Favouring GHEY issues = does no good to any conservative cause and undermines conservativism, makes conservatives look weak, divided, spineless, bandwagon jumping whores for popularity purposes (exactly like the democraps are) people like Roadrunner = USEFUL IDIOTS that will be thrown away when not needed anymore by his tolerant and good GHEY friends.

Posted by: fromabroad at February 20, 2014 09:38 AM (rnV3B)

392 to out away the flaming skull = to put away the flaming skull

Posted by: zombie at February 20, 2014 09:38 AM (+cx5n)

393 Could you bring yourself to out away the flaming skull gif forever? Doubtful. Posted by: zombie at February 20, 2014 01:35 PM (+cx5n) When is the last time we saw the flaming skull?

Posted by: blaster at February 20, 2014 09:38 AM (4+AaH)

394 Ace's Law:

Any thread surpassing 200 comments, no matter what the subject, will turn to talk of boobs.


Posted by: kbdabear at February 20, 2014 09:39 AM (aTXUx)

395 Always glad to see I'm not the only one who doesn't find Will Ferrell that funny. He's a blind squirrel when it comes to comedy. He's made me laugh a few times, but hell my son can do that and he doesn't get paid.

Posted by: Burn the Witch at February 20, 2014 09:39 AM (YbyjT)

396 Why We Fight Posted by: Band of Boobies at February 20, 2014 01:36 PM (aTXUx) Can't think of a better reason.

Posted by: tangonine (Entropy sucks) at February 20, 2014 09:39 AM (x3YFz)

397 No. Fox cast a black actor as Johnny Storm for the FF reboot, and Kate Mara as Sue. The left brings politics into literally fucking everything, when all that is necessary is to respect the characters and tell a fun story. Instead we'll get a "they aren't really related" or "he was adopted" bullshit line that takes away from the popcorn nature of the flick. Also, see "Happy Feet"

Posted by: grognard at February 20, 2014 09:40 AM (/29Nl)

398 Posted by: Y-not on the phone headed off for fun at February 20, 2014 01:24 PM (tNMLW) RINO!!!!

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) Ah, F It. at February 20, 2014 09:41 AM (PYAXX)

399 Your revenge of course is to have more fun than they do. Posted by: CharlieBrown'sDildo at February 20, 2014 01:32 PM (QFxY5) It is true that I really do. Oh, I sent JJ a little something to give you at your dinner. Enjoy. Thank you, kbdabear and physics geek. The Horde knows my tastes so well.

Posted by: alexthechick - SMOD. Mmmm. Blondies with whipped cream. at February 20, 2014 09:41 AM (VtjlW)

400 I would like to be the first to thank our benevolent Leader for saving the middle class another $8k. “Now, because of these new standards for cars and trucks, they’re going to — all going to be able to go further and use less fuel every year. And that means pretty soon you’ll be able to fill up your car every two weeks instead of every week — and, over time, that saves you, a typical family, about $8,000 a year.”

Posted by: RWC at February 20, 2014 09:42 AM (fWAjv)

401 Any thread surpassing 200 comments, no matter what the subject, will turn to talk of boobs. Posted by: kbdabear at February 20, 2014 01:39 PM .Well it's kind of like gravity or any other law of nature. Boobehs are the opiate of the Horde It calms and soothes them.

Posted by: Minnfidel at February 20, 2014 09:43 AM (/o+xv)

402 “Now, because of these new standards for cars and trucks, they’re going to — all going to be able to go further and use less fuel every year. And that means pretty soon you’ll be able to fill up your car every two weeks instead of every week — and, over time, that saves you, a typical family, about $8,000 a year.”



Too bad the car will only seat one person.

Posted by: EC at February 20, 2014 09:43 AM (GQ8sn)

403 There's no right answer. Do what you want. You'll never convince others with a different temperament to follow your example. Posted by: Flatbush Joe at February 20, 2014 01:25 PM (ZPrif) Organizing conservatives is like herding cats. A lot of independent thinking in this group. I count that as a good thing.

Posted by: D-Lamp at February 20, 2014 09:44 AM (bb5+k)

404 Too bad the car will only seat one person. Posted by: EC at February 20, 2014 01:43 PM (GQ8sn) And be almost as safe as your average crotch-rocket.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) Ah, F It. at February 20, 2014 09:44 AM (PYAXX)

405 Why We Fight

Posted by: Band of Boobies at February 20, 2014 01:36 PM (aTXUx)

Can't think of a better reason.

Posted by: tangonine (Entropy sucks) at February 20, 2014 01:39 PM (x3YFz)



BOOBS!!!



Posted by: Gen. Anthony McAuliffe at February 20, 2014 09:44 AM (GQ8sn)

406 "Do people really think that the average person doesn't get turned off by this nonsense, be it from the Left or Right? That they don't find it absurd when a liberal colleague gets offended by a Chick-fil-A sandwich? " no, they aren't turned off because leftism controls the narrative, thanks also to enablers of the right we have on display here. It the conservatives were united in saying that there was nothing wrong into thinking the traditional family is superior to anything else and there is nothing wrong into thinking that a child needs a mother and a father, you wouldn't have the left advancing at this speed. But we have self proclaimed Samaritans that are afraid to offend their ghey hairdresser. In Switzerland a lot of parents are rising up against leaflets to 6 year old kids given in school to advocate homosexuality. See? this kind of news doesn't make it to the airwaves in the USA because otherwise conservatives might actually see that in other 'evolved' parts of the world are saying NO to this crap. So better sweep it under the rug and pretend all the rest of the world is in this idiotic ghey bandwagon. This is how you win war, by propaganda. CUE Putin and his long term vision.

Posted by: fromabroad at February 20, 2014 09:46 AM (rnV3B)

407 231 Every mass shooting is the Republican's fault. Posted by: Vin Weasel at February 20, 2014 01:06 PM (faahM) And EVERY mass shooter in the last ten years is a democrat or from a democrat home. CO Theater shooter even worked on Obama campaign. Hear anything about that? TRUE.

Posted by: Nip Sip at February 20, 2014 09:47 AM (0FSuD)

408 AoS has lawyers, generals, congresscritters, SEALs, Regiment, mechanics, teachers, hound dogs, cops. Throw 2 bewbs at us and it's the equivalent of a stun gun. Being male is what it is.

Posted by: tangonine (Entropy sucks) at February 20, 2014 09:48 AM (x3YFz)

409 Who here was raised with the edict or idea that "There are two things you don't talk about in casual company, politics and religion".  I just figured that was being mannerly.  Don't cause people to be uncomfortable.  Live your values and all is well.  I can't even think how many times I have had to bite my tongue and try and steer the subject elsewhere because a lefty wants drag politics into casual  conversation.  Sweet Mother Mary, can I just eat my waffle!?

Posted by: sweet...ish at February 20, 2014 09:48 AM (bj+Nc)

410 And be almost as safe as your average crotch-rocket. Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) Ah, F It. at February 20, 2014 01:44 PM (PYAXX) You say that like it's a bad thing. -Member of VHEMT

Posted by: RWC at February 20, 2014 09:49 AM (fWAjv)

411 375 If the left would have left me alone all would be good. Since they've decided that I am somehow automatically racist and uncaring of the less fortunate. I want to kill the planet and I hate nature. I desire to convert them all to Christianity, I want to shoot everything I see. I am somehow against women or their rights, they can go fuck themselves sideways with a rusty hay bailer. Posted by: Minnfidel at February 20, 2014 01:35 PM (/o+xv) My favorite Walter Williams Quote: "My problem with communism is that they always want to include me in it. "

Posted by: D-Lamp at February 20, 2014 09:49 AM (bb5+k)

412 no, they aren't turned off because leftism controls the narrative, thanks also to enablers of the right we have on display here. The other members of my Cub Scout Pack Committee are perfect examples of this. They're actually fairly conservative by temperament, yet *everything* has a lefty bias. The folks who started the Trail Life group (I think it's called) aren't "people who have strong convictions," they're "fake scouts." Anyone who mentions that they don't like where the Girl Scouts spend their money are "ignorant." Yet once you get them to speak to specifics, and actually talk about a given issue, they're fairly conservative- just "apolitical." It's like the line from the Matrix- "Everyone one of them is a potential enemy." Not because they're actively our enemies, but because the system has been rigged such that oppose us out of shear cultural inertia (or "momentum" depending on how you wish to characterize it). I mostly keep my trap shut about the politics, because I'm there for the kids, not to get in a shouting match with people whose only "sin" is their own ignorance. But I notice it.

Posted by: AllenG (DedicatedTenther) Ah, F It. at February 20, 2014 09:51 AM (PYAXX)

413 333 Isn't ace just saying the equivalent if "sometimes arugula is just arugula"? I like arugula. I drive a VW. I liked the English Beat. I think George Clooney is handsome. I think higher education is good. You forgot, I don't drink tap water.

Posted by: Nip Sip at February 20, 2014 09:51 AM (0FSuD)

414 398 Any thread surpassing 200 comments, no matter what the subject, will turn to talk of boobs. Don't forget the 250 rule. Any thread over 250 can become a gun thread. Going to Bass Pro shop tomorrow to look for a gun case for Win 1984 I got at gun show. Any suggestions?

Posted by: Nip Sip at February 20, 2014 09:53 AM (0FSuD)

415 I went to UCLA at the same time as Ben Shapiro. Te sorts of columns he writes aren't a function of intelligence, but of some combination of branding, markets, and phychology, He's had the same fundamental style since he was an angry teenager writing for the Daily Bruin. It was my sense that he was patterning after old school Ann Coulter except with the "Orthodox Jewish Wunderkind" odd demographic component replacing the "Blond Woman" one. He's been very successful building that brand over the years. Ben Shapiro with nuance or without bomb-throwing wouldn't be Ben Shapiro . Whether he's so far down the path with that brand that he's stuck with it, or if positive reinforcement throughout his late teens and entire 20s has shaped him as a person into the incarnation of that brand, I dont't know. Probably somewhere in between.

Posted by: AGuy at February 20, 2014 09:54 AM (HKPap)

416 Going to Bass Pro shop tomorrow to look for a gun case for Win 1984 I got at gun show.

Any suggestions?

Posted by: Nip Sip at February 20, 2014 01:53 PM (0FSuD)


Plano or Pelican?


Posted by: EC at February 20, 2014 09:55 AM (GQ8sn)

417 The left, needless to say, does this constantly. They even manufacture it to get the point across. Posted by: zombie at February 20, 2014 01:35 PM (+cx5n) Of course, looking too closely at the details does not benefit them as much. Also, everyone's gone to the new thread, so my whole "motorboating" idea in response to an *obvious* prompt from ATC is out the window. *sigh* It's all about timing.

Posted by: Merovign, Dark Lord of the Sith at February 20, 2014 09:55 AM (qyfb5)

418 the greatest part about AoS is that when threads degenerate into bewbs and guns (which are two critical components of Life), the 'ettes likely possess all of the above. And that's why we love you.

Posted by: tangonine (Entropy sucks) at February 20, 2014 09:56 AM (x3YFz)

419

Also, everyone's gone to the new thread, so my whole "motorboating" idea in response to an *obvious* prompt from ATC is out the window.

*sigh* It's all about timing.

 

Cheer up.  I came back to this thread hoping we'd be motorboating AtC.

Posted by: Frumious Bandersnatch at February 20, 2014 09:58 AM (A0sHn)

420 Ask yourself, how Hitler was able to turn a normal population into Rabid jew haters bystanders. Even kids were waving at the trains full of jews with 'go away jews'. It was the best propaganda machine of the last 100 years, until it lasted and it only stopped because Germany lost the war. They have mass brainwashed the people into thinking some people were inherently 'good' and others were trash. Don't you see a parallel when they speak of ugly 'rethuglicans'? Christianists? Christonazis? Bigots? Homophobes? I see a pattern here and I do not like it at all. I would suggest to at least reciprocate, it is a matter of survival. Also, what appreciation can you have of people who are strong with the weak (Obama towards the nuns) and weak with the strong (leftists towards muslims)? Isn't this enough telling about the level of scum we have on the other side?

Posted by: fromabroad at February 20, 2014 09:59 AM (rnV3B)

421 Yea whatever ace as if enjoyment and nourishment are at all the same. You are incapable at arguing in good faith.

Posted by: tennvols87 at February 20, 2014 10:00 AM (/RKWU)

422 no, they aren't turned off because leftism controls the narrative, thanks also to enablers of the right we have on display here. If you believe that, I suggest you get out of the conservative blog bubble for a bit and spend more time in meatspace amongst average people.

Posted by: Hollowpoint at February 20, 2014 10:16 AM (SY2Kh)

423 I get what you're saying, ace, and I'll admit it makes me facepalm when those on the right try to preempt the left on making something political before the left invariably does.  I think the thought process is "Hey, this pasta is good! We'd better make it a conservative issue before the leftists inevitably turn it into "food justice" issue." (Yes, "food justice" is a thing. As if you needed yet more evidence that the professional left can't not politicize everything)

The problem is that it rather defeats our nature as conservatives, our actual belief (as opposed to the professional left's lip service to) in a live-and-let-live philosophy.  We do have identities other than our politics, race, gender, sexual preferences, and so on, where someone like Amanda Marcotte has nothing more than her gender (and possibly her narcissism disguised as atheism) to substitute for an actual personality. 

But I also think it comes down to psychology. Many times, our ideologies are a reflection of the base elements of our personalities...or personality disorders.  Why do you think the overwhelming number of lunatics and various psychotics claim to be leftists? As poisonous as Marxism is, it's not their ideology which made them that way.  They were drawn to those politics because of their mental illnesses.  So I'm not sure that anyone who politicizes everything is necessary truly political.  it may actually be psychological.

Posted by: Saber Alter at February 20, 2014 10:19 AM (DNu5Y)

424

>>"But are we following the left in this nonsense by ourselves overreading politics and ideology into things we, of all people, should know are fundamentally human in nature?"

 

No. We're fighting back. And if it means being "too political" for awhile, that's the way war works. The guys who dropped bombs in WWII weren't bomb droppers by nature, they were teachers and engineers and businessmen and athletes. And when the war was over, they went back to being those things. But they became pilots and bomb droppers because we had to fight fascists who were bomb droppers and bomb throwers by nature and never would have stopped if we hadn't become better at it than they were.

So I don't mind politicizing every fucking thing now to get in the face of the Left.

Still, the truth is -- I don't have to. The Left ALWAYS beats me to it -- they've already politicized it by the time I get there.

As Breitbart said, they picked this fight, we didn't.

Posted by: rrpjr at February 20, 2014 10:25 AM (s/yC1)

425 13 The last day of business is today," he wrote in an email.


Posted by: Pizza the Hutt at February 20, 2014 12:21 PM (e8kgV)
That will become a very familiar refrain shortly Posted by: Velvet Ambition

Businesses here are still dropping like flies.
Real Estate is moribund and has been since, oh, 2008?
Co-incidental, I'm sure with Barky's coronation.

Posted by: backhoe at February 20, 2014 10:30 AM (ULH4o)

426 Hey, Pasta Boy, why not try this? Be true to your principles. Skip spaghetti night this week. Eat vegetables instead. Take an extra five minutes to drive to a different supermarket and stock up on politically approved pasta for next week. Paying out a guilt fine because you were too lazy to do the right thing in the first place? Unacceptable.

Posted by: Little Miss Spellcheck at February 20, 2014 10:35 AM (a5ljo)

427 "We discussed James Poulos' assertion that the right is making "everything" political on the podcast"
Its been said but yeah. Its the right, that's doing it. Sure, that's the ticket. The right, not the left. What was that quote again? OH yeah.
"Everything is political."
-Karl Marx

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at February 20, 2014 10:35 AM (zfY+H)

428 "I rolled my eyes when Newt Gingrich traced Susan Smith's murder of her two children to the liberal ideology. I mean, come on. This is every bit as ridiculous and overreaching as the left's (and the media's) determination to claim that Jared Loughner's murderous, lunatic rage about English grammar was somehow traceable to Sarah Palin's "anti-government rhetoric." So you are comparing a single persons rhetoric to an entire political parties rhetoric ... nice try but bad fail ... Newt had a point ... roll your eyes all you want, you where young, ignorant and probably alittle stupid it too be expected ...

Posted by: JeffC at February 20, 2014 11:04 AM (TR6Cq)

429 I'd love to not have to read a political motive into everything. However, I am just a middle-aged male, of mostly European descent, trying to make a better living and enjoy the fruits of my labor. I am constantly told that I am a racist, a sexist, I hate children and I hate the planet, etc ad nauseum. When everything has a political motive, a fool wouldn't try to see one. That being said, making a big stink probably isn't a good thing, especially if you are painting with a broad brush like most of the Left does (& Newt too).

Posted by: aka.john at February 20, 2014 11:27 AM (zPa3K)

430 Gotta go a bit OT here, but that sidebar thing on the Underdog theme song? That reminds me of Kresmer music. Is that just me?

Posted by: Erowmero at February 20, 2014 01:37 PM (OONaw)

431 I've noticed this with the Lefties who have made a career out of REALLY hating Sarah Palin. They have no other real lives other than what Sarah Palin is doing that they can critique. It's rather sad.

Posted by: section9 at February 21, 2014 04:27 AM (CUoon)

432 This is one of several recent posts in which Ace is disengaging himself ever so gingerly from solidly conservative positions across a range of topics and all in the name of sweet reason and rational middle-of-the-roadery. Visions of little green footballs are beginning to dance before my eyes.

Posted by: Liamascorcaigh at February 21, 2014 04:33 AM (pnGwD)

433 here we go!

Posted by: bonnie wyll at February 23, 2014 07:00 PM (rrAA4)

434 so, buy the island?

Posted by: bonnie wyll at February 23, 2014 07:01 PM (rrAA4)

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