| Roger Ailes Your Funny Valentine |
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Monday, March 12, 2012 Plus ca change Andy Sully, submitted without comment: Just to note that the new owner of The New Republic and its current editor are both openly gay men and that's so routine it barely merits a mention. Two decades ago, it was a very different world. Andy Sully, submitted with a great deal of laughter: Having Chris Hughes new media experience is a huge plus for the magazine - and, I hope, will sustain its continued excellence into a new century.posted by Roger | | 1:01 PM Roger's Screening Room: Game ChangeI don't subscribe to HBO, but I happened to be in a hotel on Saturday night, and the client was passed out in the bathroom, so I tuned in to the film adaptation of the execrable Heilmann/Halperin book, Game Change. Given the hours of positive promotion that Joe Scarborough and Chris Matthews had given to the film, I was certain the docudrama would suck harder than the A-Team movie which proceeded it.I was not disappointed. The film lost all credibility early on, when an scene of Steve Schmidt in a bucolic tree-filled park was labelled as taking place in "Sacramento." The filmmakers obviously have never been to Sacramento. At least half the scenes were recreations of public events (or video clips thereof) and thus lacked the dramatic tension of a real-time reenactment of Super Bowl VIII. The scenes in which Julianne Moore chatted with stand-ins for the backs of the heads of Joe Biden, Katie Couric, et al. were the most riveting television since Patty and Cathy Lane dined alone. In contrast, the recreated private scenes were written by a team of libel lawyers who had never seen a film, play or real-life interaction between people. Palin was portrayed as an idiot and an asshole, so HBO (like Heilprin) let her off easy. The rest of the Palins were non-entities, except for Track, who the movie claimed was serving in the vicinity of combat (is that true?) It was good to see Jamey Sheridan (who had to leave one of the Law and Order shows because he suffered from Bell's Palsy) in a featured role as Mark Salter, although he overplayed the role by depicting Salter as human. Wolf Blitzer was in the film for some unfathomable reason. In the end, nothing was illuminated, no entertainment was had, and Howie Kurtz's pinchloaf criticisms of the film were without merit. Like everything Howie says. posted by Roger | | 12:37 PM Saturday, March 03, 2012 Mickey Kaus' Version of HonestyA bitter hack writes: I would go so far as to say that Breitbart had an instinctive honesty -- pretty much the opposite of what Frum charges. I don't know the ins and outs of the Shirley Sherrod mess, in which Breitbart posted a video the end of which had been lopped off before he saw it. But I guarantee you Breitbart posted it because he felt it truthfully made a legit point (and he wasn’t aware what the rest of it would show). It's telling that Kaus' proof of Dimbart's honesty is something Kaus admits he doesn't know much about. Yet Kaus is willing to "guarantee" Breitbart acted in good faith because ... well, Kaus doesn't say why ... so, using Breitbart/Kaus journalistic standards, we can speculate that Breitbart never stole Kaus' blow when he left it sitting on the nightstand. It's even more telling that Kaus claims that Breitbart was honest because Breitbart felt he was making "a legit point," even though Breitbart knew he didn't have all the facts and did nothing to enlighten himself. Those who, unlike Kaus, are interested in the truth about the "Shirley Sherrod mess" should read Ta-Nehisi Coates, who did bother to examine the facts of the matter. Kaus also names "Wienergate" as Breitbart's "greatest triumph," and cites Breitbart's ass-covering when he thought he'd been fucked over by an anonymous source as an act of honesty. I guess when your biggest accomplishment in life is recalling a story about Arnold Schwarzenegger from your old copy of Oui magazine, you can't help but worship someone who was the recipient of a congressman's dick photos. posted by Roger | | 1:47 PMFriday, March 02, 2012 This, from the person who rendered articulate the lies of George W. Bush in service of the invasion of Iraq and the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of thousands of men, women and children: Many of our most important public figures have gained their influence and power by inciting and exploiting the ugliest of passions—by manipulating fears and prejudices—by serving up falsehoods as reported truth. In time these figures will one by one die. What are we to say of this cohort, this group, this generation? That their mothers loved them? That their families are bereaved? That their fans admired them and their employees treated generously by them? Public figures are inescapably judged by their public actions. When those public actions are poisonous, the obituary cannot be pleasant reading.Yours certainly will not be, David. At least in one sense. posted by Roger | | 8:14 AM Thursday, March 01, 2012 And It All Comes Tumbling DownAs usual, TBogg says it best. Koch FightBillionaires Charles and David Koch have filed a lawsuit against the Cato Institute, which Charles Koch founded in 1974, in a fight for control of the influential conservative think tank. Let the frivolous litigation begin! I suspect both sides will seek a change of venue to Montana. posted by Roger | | 8:28 AMIn Memoriam"Any man's death diminishes me" (1624-2012) Rest in Peace. posted by Roger | | 7:56 AMTuesday, February 21, 2012 She Pees FreelyOver at Big Depends, Dana "Golden Showers" Loush is dripping with excitement because a White House press release detailing Vice President Biden's itinerary misspelled Rhode Island. The pee-brained piss merchant has besodden herself with the idea that Dan Quayle has been vindicated at long last. (And Loush's mentally challenged fan boys are lapping up her latest urinary tract.) The idea that Joe Biden doesn't write White House press releases will occur to her, if at all, sometime during the second Obama Administration. Monday, February 20, 2012 Pictionary McArdle, Girl DetectiveMeeegan McArdle has pulled her magnifying glass and bubble pipe out of the toy chest, and is ready to assume the mantle of the World's Greatest Consulting Defective. As Sherlock Holmes didn't say, "Once you elminate the impossible, there is no explanation for Megan McArdle's continued employment." McArdle has volunteered her services for the Case of the Astroturfer's Fake Astroturf. The details aren't important -- to anyone -- so let's cut to the drawing room, where McArdle has assembled the 20 million most likely suspects: For me, this leaves the most fascinating question of all: who wrote it? We have a few clues: Okay, Nancy Drew, thanks for playing Clue Jr.! I think I hear your mother calling. posted by Roger | | 11:12 AMTuesday, February 14, 2012 The Triumph of Hope Over ExperienceAn intrepid peckerwood reports from CPAC, where the spotted youth have hope for change: Being the good, intrepid blogger, I ran across the street to a CVS to buy a notepad Interruption: Wouldn't a good, intrepid blogger have some sort of electronic device with which to record his precious thoughts? having left mine in my office back in Macon, GA. There in line were a half dozen young men, each with CPAC credentials around their necks and each buying condoms. (Pretending that this actually happened) And Oly isn't buying their excuse that they were going to waterbomb Occupy D.C. That is part of life on the college circuit. Young men, regardless of political persuasion or ideology, are intent on having sex, being boys, getting drunk — doing what young men in college often do. All to [sic] often there are also a few young ladies willing to shame their parents if their parents only knew. True, there is nothing more shameful than giving a handjob to a YAFer. But if they rinse their hands thoroughly, there's no reason the parents should know. Here comes Swen's summation: I am not even sure that there is a solution to the problem. But we should not think it is anything but a problem. It is not every young man, but there are many. They risk dragging the whole affair down to some bawdy, rowdy distraction. They risk embarrassing themselves and the conservative movement. They risk the perception premised on their own actions that conservative men of a certain age think that good manners and decorum around women of the same age is unneeded or unwanted. They're buying the condoms, Thor. How much more chivalry can you expect from these wingnut wankers? There really is, regardless of your age, no need to play the cad at CPAC to score points with conservative ladies. Points? You don't buy rubbers hoping to score points. Conservatives should, first and foremost, want to conserve the basics and good behavior should remain a basic characteristic of the conservative movement. As conservatives, we believe in self-government. With that belief comes the duty of personal responsibility. We should accept that duty as the opportunity to do what is right, not as license to behave like fools.So, even though Sven knows "young men, regardless of political persuasion or ideology, are intent on having sex," and everyone else, having at least 50 i.q. points on Sven, knows it too, these conservalads should just knock it off. Or, more specifically, rub it out, while watching porn on Rupert Murdoch's Spectravision in the semi-privacy of their shared hotel rooms. In summary, join Erick Erickson's Junior Anti-Sex League today. If Erick's not getting any, neither are you. posted by Roger | | 2:55 PM |
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