Posts by Craig Ranapia
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Hard News: Holiday Open Thread 2:…, in reply to Russell Brown,
And this:
What's wrong with a nice commemorative coffee mug?
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Hard News: Holiday Open Thread 2:…, in reply to Stephen Judd,
As others have noted, when even Jonah “Liberal Fascism” Goldberg can’t get behind you, you’re doing something wrong.
Yeah, but even then Jonah Goldberg is so half-arsed about it he might as well have said nothing. “I should have said this a few days ago, when my friend Glenn Reynolds introduced the term to this debate…”
Too farking right you should have, Jonah. Instead you posted it on The Corner, without comment. (And, incidentally, when I sent him a snarky tweet about that post the reply was: “What are you talking about?”)
And, naturally, the comment are predictably vile – all about how touchy Jews and crybaby liberals should STFU with the “hysterics” and “manufactured outrage” and leave Sarah alone.
Not for the first time, I picture National Review founder William F. Buckey (who made it quite clear neither anti-Semites not Catholic-baiting cranks would be welcome on his porch) spinning in his grave. I predict he'll hit the Earth's core before Easter.
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BTW, will anyone ask Sarah Palin if she includes Garbielle Giffords herself -- who happens to be Jewish herself, and the first Jew from Arizona elected to the House of Representatives -- is part of that media/political "blood libel" against her?
I'd certainly like to know if Abraham Foxman thinks that is merely "unfortunate".
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Hard News: Holiday Open Thread 2:…, in reply to Gareth Ward,
I really think the line should be made clearer in all your discussions that you are condemning the absurdity of the rightwing rhetoric (especially in light of someone having just undertaken the worst possible natural conclusion of it) without laying specific causation between the rhetoric and the specific act here.
*head-desk* How many farking times to I have to say I DON"T BELIEVE SARAH PALIN SAID TO LOGHNER "GO PUT A CAP IN THAT COMMIE HO'S MELON FOR ME, BIG BOY" before we can all take it as read?
Seriously, I have to presume that PAS readers don't suffer from ADHD or neurological deficits that lead to short- and mid-term memory loss. Nor am I going to try everyone's patience by starting every comment with an epic man-splain of the bleedingly obvious.
M'kay?
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In other news, the Anti-Defamation League’s Abraham Foxman issues a stirring condemnation of Palin’s “blood libel” canard, and demands a retraction and apology.
Oh… wait a mo’:
It is unfortunate that the tragedy in Tucson continues to stimulate a political blame game. Rather than step back and reflect on the lessons to be learned from this tragedy, both parties have reverted to political partisanship and finger-pointing at a time when the American people are looking for leadership, not more vitriol. In response to this tragedy we need to rise above partisanship, incivility, heated rhetoric, and the business-as-usual approaches that are corroding our political system and tainting the atmosphere in Washington and across the country.
It was inappropriate at the outset to blame Sarah Palin and others for causing this tragedy or for being an accessory to murder. Palin has every right to defend herself against these kinds of attacks, and we agree with her that the best tradition in America is one of finding common ground despite our differences.
Still, we wish that Palin had not invoked the phrase “blood-libel” in reference to the actions of journalists and pundits in placing blame for the shooting in Tucson on others. While the term “blood-libel” has become part of the English parlance to refer to someone being falsely accused, we wish that Palin had used another phrase, instead of one so fraught with pain in Jewish history.
Three brief paragraphs of false equivalence bingo, no unequivocal condemnation of the use of a term denoting vicious anti-Semitism to attack her political enemies and (most curiously) no demand for a retraction and apology.
Weak. Though it is rather funny how Mr. Foxman takes a much stronger line with Arab politicians and media when they insinuate American media are are Muslin-hating Zionist tools...
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Hard News: Holiday Open Thread 2:…, in reply to Caleb D'Anvers,
In a way, that’s kind of a relief. Because the idea of Palin knowing enough about history to understand what a blood libel actually is is actually terrifying.
Nah, don't be relieved. Don't you think someone so clueless she'd mouth a canard like that without know what the frak she's saying is even worse than consciously dog-whistling that anyone who dares to criticise you is as bad as a Jew-hating bigot?
I'm also rather scared that someone who casually smears political enemies as practitoners of "blood libel" in an already tendentious op-ed (and also runs of the US's more widely read right-wing blogs) is a law professor, teaching constitutional law no less. With tenure.
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Hard News: Holiday Open Thread 2:…, in reply to Caleb D'Anvers,
Wow. Blood libel, huh? Er, if you say so, Sarah.
The really creepy thing is that she doesn't even come up with her own vile talking points. The "blood libel" canard spread through the right-o-sphere like a horse laxative after that repulsive Glenn Reynolds WSJ op-ed I posted a link to up thread.
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And one last time, Kyle:
I’ve been a “foot soldier” on political “campaigns” for twenty years – even worked in laying seige to a “target” or two. (See what I did there?)
Never, ever have a seen campaign material using gun-sights or cross-hairs as a graphic device. Nor have I been involved in a campaign event where the hook was being able to fire a semi-automatic assault weapon, while exhorting the troops to “RELOAD”.
I’m rather glad of that, because I really don’t think whipping up the base with a constant hum of violent militarised language ends in a good place. Then again, with what I do for a living, I would believe that words mean things, they affect how people interact with the world around them, and they also have consequences. But I guess in Teabagistan, that's out-of-touch liberal elitist jibber-jabber…
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Hard News: Holiday Open Thread 2:…, in reply to Kyle Matthews,
What you’re seeing at present pales in comparison to the ‘dialogue’ that took place in the 1950s and 60s around Civil Rights issues.
Where do I start calling bullshit on that? Well, here’s a start – Senator Stom Thurmond, un-repentant pro-segregationist that he was, (in)famously attempted to filibuster the Civil Rights Act of 1957 by speaking for 24 hours and 18 minutes. At no point did he start muttering about “second amendment solutions” to his opponents and the Eisenhower administration. Doesn't make Thurmond any less of a no-account white trash sum'bitch, but even he had limits.
I’ve also posted the notorious “crypto-Nazi”/“faggot” exchange between Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley, during live coverage of the 1960 Democratic convention. That was a real scandal. Now, it would just be a slow day on talk radio.
I really don’t need a man-splain on how hard and ugly the civil rights struggle was in the United States. Nor do I need you to remind me that it had a body count. Perhaps you, however, need a reality check on the kind of air men like Byron De La Beckwith – the assassin of Medger Evers – breathed. Anyone who tried to assert that Beckwith was a “lone crazy” and the profoundly racist culture he lived in was totally irrelevant, would not be taken seriously. Nor should it – it required a level of obtuseness that would be funny if it wasn’t so dangerous.
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Hard News: Holiday Open Thread 2:…, in reply to Kyle Matthews,
I also find the use of people who aren’t even the ground yet to score political points lacking in class.
*cough* How is the weather in Touscon?
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